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Empire Of Lies

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

We are living in an era where a single statement of truth will drive a pin into the global bubble of phantom assets and debts, and the lies spewed to justify those bubbles.

How many nations are blessed with political and financial leaders who routinely state the unvarnished truth in public?
 
Only two come immediately to mind: Greece and Bhutan: Greece, where the new leadership repeatedly states the nation is bankrupt and extend-and-pretend policies are finished, and Bhutan, which explicitly rejects worshipping the false god of growth as measured by GDP (gross domestic product).
 
Bhutan has opted to measure well-being not by bogus "growth" (digging holes and filling them, and other Keynesian Cargo Cult nonsense), but by Gross Domestic Happiness: It's Time to Retire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a Measure of Prosperity (April 18, 2014)
 
In other words, with remarkably few exceptions, the global Status Quo is a vast Empire of Lies.
 
I have used the phrase empire of lies since 2007:
 
 
 
Ron Paul used the phrase in his book The Revolution: A Manifesto which was first issued in January, 2008, which means he probably drafted it many months or even years before.
 
Regardless of its origin, the phrase perfectly captures the total dependence of the Status Quo on a constant spew of lies. The complete and total dependence on lies was cemented on December 5, 1996, when Alan Greenspan's injudicious tidbit of truthtelling--Greenspan hinted that the stock market might be manifesting irrational exuberance--caused the stock market to plummet sharply.
 
Political and financial leaders took notice of the incredible fragility of the inflating financial bubble and vowed to never publicly state anything remotely close to the truth lest the entire contraption of debt, waste, fraud and bogus accounting collapse.
 
What would happen if national and corporate accounts met the guidelines of strict accounting? We all know the flim-flam falsehoods of fake numbers would vanish and the nakedness of our bankruptcy and low net profitability would be revealed.
 
And what would be the immediate consequence of strict accounting? The collapse of asset bubbles predicated on the belief that the bogus numbers accurately reflected reality.
 
What would happen if the unemployment rate was calculated on the number of full-time jobs and the number of people who are ages 18 to 65? Given that only 44% of employable people have full-time jobs, the true unemployment number would not be a rosy 5.6%.
 
 
If corporate profit statements were stripped of accounting gimmicks, would the stock market continue rising at a rate that is five times the expansion rate of the economy? Nobody dares speak the truth lest the equity market bubbles collapse.
 
What would an honest accounting of government's unfunded liabilities for promised pensions and healthcare find? As Jim Quinn recently observed, the most accurate such accounting for the U.S. government found $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities--a staggering sum that is roughly twelve times the entire U.S. GDP--a sum that will require far higher taxes and a dramatic reduction in promised pensions/healthcare.
 
Does any political or financial leader dare speak this truth in public? What would happen if someone did declare that the monetary Emperor had no clothing?
 
We are living in an era where a single statement of truth can act as a pin on the global bubble of phantom assets and debts, and the lies spewed to justify those bubbles.
 

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Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:13 | 5775194 101 years and c...
101 years and counting's picture

in 2001, they flew 2 planes into 2 buildings in NY and then blew up 1 side of the pentagon. in 2008 they let ONE INVESTMENT bank go bankrupt, which wiped out the entire financial system, what will the grand finale be in 2015?

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:14 | 5775198 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

PULL IT!

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:17 | 5775208 Richard Chesler
Richard Chesler's picture

S C U M BA G S.

 

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:23 | 5775229 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

SCAM BUGS

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:29 | 5775258 MarketAnarchist
MarketAnarchist's picture

SCAB MUGS

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:47 | 5775325 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

SMUG SCAB

GUMS CABS

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:57 | 5775376 BLOTTO
BLOTTO's picture

Our life is one giant cosmic lie.

.

w in t flying f

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:32 | 5775533 The Wizard
The Wizard's picture

 

I will post this once again. We live in a lie because people prefer the comfort of it. If that is what people want, that is what God will provide for them. When the truth finally hits, look out.

Below excerpt from:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/goldberg-economy

THE WAY I SEE IT, it’s all a con game,” Cody Lundin was saying. “What I mean is that Wall Street has always been an illusion. Now it’s an illusion that’s crumbling. Wall Street is like someone who’s having heart trouble. It’s in constant need of resuscitation, but after a while, it just doesn’t work anymore. People think that Bernard Madoff was unique, that he was an illusion, but he’s just an extension of the same illusion, the same con game. This is one of the reasons I don’t like to have any debt. When you have debt, you become part of this illusion, and sometimes you get trapped by it.”

One of the most relevant chapters in Scripture:

2 Thes 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

14 Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:50 | 5775622 Rock On Roger
Rock On Roger's picture

god is the greatest lie

 

amen zion wants human distracted

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:10 | 5775708 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

How do you know that?

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 14:08 | 5776654 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

The Zionist God has been sold by a small group who have the most to gain from being "god's choosen people". They wrote the Bible and gave themselves top billing! Perfect.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 14:24 | 5776749 The Wizard
The Wizard's picture

It depends on who you listen to and claim as to who are God's chosen people. Your assessment as to who wrote the Scriptural text reveals a little deeper dig into the rabbit hole is required. Don't believe everything "they" are trying to indoctrinate us with as to who are the authors.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:37 | 5776073 elephant
elephant's picture

GUM SCABS

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:02 | 5775397 kingstukie
kingstukie's picture

Jews

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:13 | 5775451 CH1
CH1's picture

Pollution.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:16 | 5775742 Urban Roman
Urban Roman's picture

Pull it? I can't even get it up any more.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:16 | 5775203 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

I'm going with cloud....could be toxic, could be mushroom, could be AWS, but definitely cloud-based.

 

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:19 | 5775213 toady
toady's picture

But everyone loves the cloud! It's the hottest thing in computing!

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:43 | 5775314 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

All hail the glow cloud.

 

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:17 | 5775753 Urban Roman
Urban Roman's picture

or clod, as the case may be

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:21 | 5775221 kowalli
kowalli's picture

shale oil will die. We will see it after 3 months

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:13 | 5775195 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

This wouldn't have anything to do with Bhutan doubling it's debt to GDP ratio in the last five years would it? LOL

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:14 | 5775200 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Some one lied!??

I don't believe it...

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:15 | 5775201 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

 

 

That's what happens when your puppets get into the cialis cache...

Sorry - was I supposed to comment on the content?

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:28 | 5775254 zuuma
zuuma's picture

When banksters take too much Cialis, they're liable to pull a boner.

When that happens... game over.

The end of the bubble only needs one prick!

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:15 | 5775202 fascismlover
fascismlover's picture

"We are living in an era where a single statement of truth will drive a pin into the global bubble of phantom assets and debts, and the lies spewed to justify those bubbles."

Actually we are not...no one believes the truth so not a problem for the elite.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:17 | 5775207 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

"My American friends know what to do, but I'll wait a long time for a Beverly Hills coup."

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:20 | 5775218 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Exactly. The truth is imperceptible. The lies are so voluminous and the truth is so improbable that few if any, even those who should be in the position to know, actually do know what the truth is. As Clinton so famously said, it depends on the meaning of "is". We knew then we were officially fucked for any foreseeable future.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:51 | 5775355 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

I think most folks with a brain knew that about the US circa 1977 or so...we papered over it with debt, inflation, and flag-waving jingoism for decades, but the end was baked into that cake the whole time.

 

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:29 | 5775248 semperfi
semperfi's picture

People choose the blue pill 99 out of 100 times

 

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:27 | 5775249 semperfi
semperfi's picture

"It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled."

-- Mark Twain

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:16 | 5775205 toady
toady's picture

I prefer to think of myself going Galt. Being unemployed just doesn't sound sexy...

I guess I'm lying to myself.

Time to start saying I'm retired.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:18 | 5775209 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Plant two weed plants, then you're a farmer and eligible for aid.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:26 | 5775242 semperfi
semperfi's picture

unless you do it in a "wetlands" - then you are a criminal

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:24 | 5775986 Refuse-Resist
Refuse-Resist's picture

In this state, two weed plants is a more severe crime than a meth lab.

Why? Because Murderjuana, that's why!

 

 

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:25 | 5775240 semperfi
semperfi's picture

try "disabled" - you'll get more of your money back from the govt that way

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:32 | 5775273 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

 

 

Actually, he'll get more of my great-grandkids money.  And yours too.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:19 | 5775214 eddiebe
eddiebe's picture

Doesn't matter who tells the truth if you have control of the markets.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:25 | 5775239 Mrs. Cog
Mrs. Cog's picture

And it's a sad thing that "con"fidence is dictated to most by the markets rather than the truth.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:02 | 5775395 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

You can fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time. But you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Therefore 'controlling' the markets is simply fooling all the people some of the time. The 'control' is a facade, an illusion, and thus quite destructible and unsustainable.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:19 | 5775216 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Sounds like an Obituary.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:23 | 5775230 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

The Big Lie - an enormously powerful propaganda technique.

Ex: 911 and The New Pearl Harbor

The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously."

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:25 | 5775238 Fukushima Fricassee
Fukushima Fricassee's picture

The only real solution to get at the truth would appear to be,  "get a rope" .

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:37 | 5775835 Boubou
Boubou's picture

"The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine."

 

- George Bernard Shaw

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:28 | 5775252 TheRideNeverEnds
TheRideNeverEnds's picture

Say what you want, we are clearly going substantially higher.

 

You are either long or wrong.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:44 | 5775320 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Only one of us will be solvent after all is said and done though. ;)

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:34 | 5775275 russwinter
russwinter's picture

Incredible Radar Image of Huge Chem-Trailing at Key West

http://winteractionables.com/?p=18398

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:46 | 5775334 Buenaventura
Buenaventura's picture

Bhutan has opted to measure well-being not by bogus "growth" (digging holes and filling them, and other Keynesian Cargo Cult nonsense), but by Gross Domestic Happiness: It's Time to Retire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a Measure of Prosperity (April 18, 2014)

Which means Buthan instantly went bust.


Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:54 | 5775363 Deathstar
Deathstar's picture

I can't wait until the Ruskis release what they know about the "terrorist planes" in the rotting apple.

Maybe it will finally wake some americants up to the fact that their beloved gov loves them.

NOT!

(LULZ)

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 09:57 | 5775380 brushhog
brushhog's picture

"Truth is treason in the empire of lies" - George Orwell 1984

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:35 | 5775824 Boubou
Boubou's picture

duplicate

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:35 | 5775826 Boubou
Boubou's picture

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. Orwell

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:11 | 5775442 nooyawka
nooyawka's picture

You are aware, of course, that many people in Bhutan practice polyandry ( = one wife, many husbands). Their idea of a 'good time' is not exactly the same as yours (I assume you're not from Bhutan).

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:12 | 5775447 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

For some relief: http://ragingbullshit.com/

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:38 | 5775573 jakesdad
jakesdad's picture

here's what scares me:  money supply is really just a bunch of #s in a bunch of computers at this point.  if you really think about it the global financial system is arguably just a LOW tech/obsolete version of bitcoin...  I can pull my account balances on my bank's or financial planner's mobile apps but those #s don't represent gold in gringot's, they're fundamentally not that different from my waze points/rank.  that, however, is not the actual scary part - the scary part (at least to me as a middle-aged american) is potential mass scarcity of critical goods/services.  if I were an alien observing humans from orbit/sigint(s) I might conclude that there's a country called "china" that manufactures the bulk of the world's widgets, there's a country called "india" that supplies mass quantities of cheap remote white collar labor, there's a group of countries that pump ancient hydrocarbons out of the ground & there's this country called "united states" that seems to be something of an "alpha" country despite the fact that it's chief export seems to be bad debt...  when the 1st three realize they've traded a couple of generations of labor & finite hydrocarbons for glass beads it may become an interesting time to be american...

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:08 | 5775698 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

The problem is that the liars have good, well paying jobs and those jobs depend on the lies they tell.  If they told the truth about how badly they have failed, they would be out on the street in about 3 seconds.

 

 

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

 Upton Sinclair

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:17 | 5775750 gcjohns1971
gcjohns1971's picture

"How many nations are blessed with political and financial leaders who routinely state the unvarnished truth in public?"

If any come to mind then you are fooling yourself.

In politics everything is a strategem.

Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:47 | 5775865 SmittyinLA
SmittyinLA's picture

Bhutan is a sattelite commie slave state where the dictatorship that runs the country tells everybody to don't worry be happy while looting everything in sight.

Russia is telling it straight, Bhutan not so much.

Fri, 02/13/2015 - 13:29 | 5781296 maskone909
maskone909's picture
`;;;. @ +; :@+;+#. . :' .@. # ` .#+;;++. + . : ; # : ; ,+` + # # : ` + # , ; ` , # . ` . + + : @ , # # ; ' ' `, + ' . # + `` . , .+++' ;+ ; # # @ + + . + ` ;@+#` ' # . : # , # # @ . ; , + ` ; ' ; ; ' # @ # # # ; + '`# . # @ + ' + ` , @ # `. # # ` , # .; : + + # .` ` #` # ` ., : ' ' ' # + # ` ` ' # # `#. + ` .. # + + . . `' .;@; + # + `;+ + `` ' +;. ,#
Fri, 02/13/2015 - 18:16 | 5782772 mkhs
mkhs's picture

Silly rabbit.  If 100 trillion is due the older population (social security, medicare, medicaid, whatever), what happens if those populations are vaporized?  Debt goes to zero.

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