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The Science of Getting Rich: CHAPTER VII [excerpt] by Wallace D. Wattles #Gratitude

--- Gratitude THE ILLUSTRATIONS GIVEN IN THE LAST CHAPTER will have conveyed to the reader the fact that the first step toward getting ...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

My Manifesto

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Lets do some basic stuff and start with what I AM for...

I am for cleaning out as many incumbents as is humanly possible in November of 2010. BOTH parties.

I am for ending a fraudulent Federal Reserve banking system that has intentionally eroded the value of our dollar through hidden inflation for decades. A federal reserve banking system that engages in, probably illegal, secret currency swaps with foreign central banks. A federal reserve that has kept interest rates artificially low since the dot com bust of 2000 to drive an economy based solely on debt, a house of cards. A federal reserve and government that intentionally fueled an artificially created housing boom that relied in large part on risky bank loans. A federal reserve bank that was instrumental in the bank bailouts via TARP. A federal reserve banking system that twisted law makers arms to give the banks whatever they wanted in exchange for "saving" our economy. A federal reserve banking system and government that offered NO reliable financial over-sight what-so-ever!

I am for ending whatever the hell form of government we currently have. Our representatives, for the most part, are completely ridiculous, ineffective and irrelevant. Politicians driven ONLY by the pursuit of MONEY from whatever source they can find it and nothing more than that.

Sometimes I think it would be so cool if money simply vanished off the face of the earth, instantly. Can you imagine the sheer panic and horror?! lol

That we, Americans, people and governments and business' around the world, have allowed ourselves to become so horribly addicted to small pieces of paper and electronic zeros and ones that many people KILL for it! In fact nearly ALL governments are willing to kill for it in the end...

Money? What is the source of the power it wields over mankind?

It seems that nearly all that is wrong in the world is the direct or indirect result of not having enough of the commodity we call money... Worthless little scraps of paper... meaningless digital zeros and ones stored on a secure hard drive somewhere in cyber space...

Tax revenue is collapsing everywhere. I see it in my local paper on a daily basis. Tax revenue has collapsed in nearly every state, county, city and township in America...

Most of our banking system is currently insolvent right now. Propped up by government and federal reserve accounting shenanigans... Government and federal reserve manipulations of economic data to paint the picture they want people to see. (Check ShadowStats.com for more on economic data manipulation).

The entire medical industry is in a monetary panic. Including insurance companies, medicaid, medicare, drug companies, hospitals and doctors. They have ALL priced THEMSELVES right out of business! And now they all need more money...

Where is all the money supposed to come from? As always... American tax payers... Our government seems a little leery about borrowing freshly printed dollars from the federal reserve forever... Thank God for small favors...

==========================================
The total debt has increased over $500 billion each year since FY 2003, with increases of $1 trillion in FY2008 and $1.9 trillion in FY2009.

The United States Congress has raised the debt limit several times in recent years. The debt limit was raised to $12.394 trillion by H.R. 4314, which was signed into law on December 24, 2009 (Pub.L. 111-123). A further increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion by H.J.Res. 45 was sent to the president on February 4, 2010. President Barack Obama signed this ceiling of $14.3 trillion on February 12, 2010.

source Wikipedia: United States public debt
===========================================

Talk about bailout fatigue... Bailing out banks and companies and people is ALL we have done as a nation for two solid years now!

This is, supposedly anyway, real debt people. We can't pay back that amount, ever. China knows that. So does the rest of the world. Nothing 'good' can possibly come out of any of this.Things eventually, I do not know the exact date, will collapse. These sort of economic problems, historically, have ALWAYS ended in disaster. Disaster defined as depression, deflation, hyper-inflation... whatever the poison ends up being.

Whether we like it or not America is in decay and decline. And it is happening on our watch. I might predict that someday soon China may be the lone Super Power in the world. And that India will surge into a leadership role on the world stage. Shit happens, the world changes. Sometimes, sometimes, even America gets the short end of the stick...

We just don't have anymore money! Not the government, except through fraudulent federal reserve monetary manipulations and trickery. Not business. Cost cutting and layoffs to drive profits can last only so long... Not the American people. Saving has become something that our parents parents worried about long ago...

It seems that all the American people, government, business need is forever easy credit so our entire lifetime can be 'party like it's 1999'...

Trouble is... the money is gone now. The bill is coming due. The party's over.

America needs to return to her roots... Built on the self-reliance, prudence and thrift of her citizens. Not on the military might and financial manipulations of a corrupt government and corporate sector. A plutocracy, oligarchy or kleptocracy (please choose your favorite definition).

So what is wrong in America this very moment?

In a single word debt/credit/money...

What happens when the federal government itself can no longer afford to pay the salaries, with tax payer dollars, of all those policemen, firemen and teachers whose unions got them such nice wage and pension plans?

So what happens when the federal government itself can no longer afford to pay the missing wages, through extended unemployment benefits, of millions of unemployed Americans who need to make car payments, mortgage payments or buy FOOD?

So what happens when the federal government itself can no longer afford to prop up AIG, GM, Chrysler, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, subsidies, medicare, medicaid, welfare, food stamps and national freaking parks? What then?

So what happens when the federal government itself can no longer afford to fund multiple wars all over the globe? Wars for which the purpose of seem to have been largely forgotten now...

17 million Americans cannot find work. Where are all those jobs anyway? China, India, Mexico. Wherever our corporations can find cheap/slave labor... to... produce something.

We don't actually produce much of anything anymore in America. There was a time in America that blue collar jobs could comfortably support a family. For the most part those jobs no longer exist. If you don't work in the 'services' industry you're pretty much out of luck these days as far as finding a job. But the 'services' industry is being hit hard by this economic downturn as well... Seems all those 'people' they have been forced to let go to support, largely imaginary, profits can no longer afford to purchase their 'services'.

Darn that viscous cycle anyway...

I knew that this could not, would not, last forever. The federal government cannot afford to prop up itself, every business sector in America and every American family who needs help indefinitely...

The government's main problem is that it panicked and made bad decisions... When the government saw that the entire financial system was imploding it panicked and falsely believed that it could prop up EVERYTHING, with the complicity and encouragement of the federal reserve and central bankers, until the economy had enough time to recover on it's own.

The government's main problem, in my opinion, is that it went 'all in', pushing not only every chip it HAD to the center of the table but continued pushing TRILLIONS of chips in that it DIDN'T have! Borrowed from the same federal reserve banking system that is largely responsible for the majority of our problems.

None-the-less, the government went 'all in' with every dollar it could beg, borrow or steal, with little or no regard for what might happen on the outside chance that the economy did not recover... Which, as it turns out it hasn't... Regardless of how government and the federal reserve might play with the numbers in an attempt to make it appear otherwise (ie; CPI (inflation), GDP, unemployment...)

It is my opinion that our economy will not recover... Why? Because 'trust' in the American systems of government and finance have been utterly destroyed like they haven't been since the early 1930's. It will take MUCH more than manipulated numbers to correct that... Now nearly everyone in America is onto the financial slavery game played by Washington and Wall Street.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me...

More than two years ago the entire banking system fell into bankruptcy itself but for the government 'seizure' of tax payer dollars, against an uproar of protest, to save them.

Thus far our 'reward' for our 'generosity' has been the continuation, and even ramping up, of usurious interest rates of 20% and 30%. This while the banks themselves continue to be coddled by government and the federal reserve, given the ability to borrow money themselves at 0 to 0.25% !!!

These financial 'games' need to stop! The banks borrow money at 0% from the federal reserve and use it to buy treasuries from an insolvent government to 'simulate' earnings. lol What a joke! The federal reserve prints TRILLIONS of dollars out of thin air to 'loan' to a federal government that is, or at least should be, a higher risk than most, if not all, sub-prime housing borrowers...

It's total insanity, in my opinion, to think that the government can spend it's way out of debt, a recession/depression, or deflation. It's pure folly! Especially when consumer trust is now, for all practical purposes, non-existent.

This is indeed a time for thrift and self-reliance.

If you can't take care of yourself and your own family then I suggest you start looking in earnest for someone who CAN take care of you. It's not going to be the federal government forever. It can't be... they're broker than you are...

It appears that raising taxes may be the next fiscal trick employed by our government... If they do so it will only cause even more damage to our shattered economy. Tax revenue is collapsing everywhere due to economic problems. Raising taxes will only exacerbate the problem.

An unconstitutional individual mandate on American citizens to purchase a product from a private sector (ie; health care 'reform') amounts only to a bailout of greedy insurance companies by placing their own financial burdens directly onto the backs of healthy young Americans who, many for financial reasons, choose not to purchase inflated insurance premiums. Healthy young Americans already burdened with too much personal debt if not job loss as well...

It would do more harm than good...

Cap and Trade legislation that would increase, some/many say double, the utility bills of millions of Americans who are already struggling just to get by and pay the bills. American families struggling to keep a roof over their head and food in their mouths.

The government already placed a hefty new tax on tobacco. I smoke and I feel like everyone, including government, should do everything in their power to convince people either to not start smoking or to quit. It never should have been legalized. The federal government legalized a poison to be distributed to it's citizens in the name of profits for big business. So what else is new?

But, besides that point, how is it a good idea to hammer, largely, the poorest in our society with a large tax increase at the outset of a recession/depression?!

It did more harm than good...

We don't have any more money with which to pay increased taxes! Doesn't our kleptocratic government get that?!

So sure... *I* wonder about what 'could' happen... Doesn't everyone? And I feel the best place to look for answers is in history. As we all should know, history tends to repeat itself...

Argentina, the British Empire, Rome... and many more examples are available. They all experienced economic and social collapse. Due for the most part to debt and eventually hyper-inflation as their money became worthless.

America in 2010 is not some special case protected from the historical norm... That would be preposterous.

Being the committed and admitted pessimist that I am ;) I say our future looks bleak indeed.

Is it possible our economy could collapse?

Many authors seem to think it's both possible and plausible.

I have read 'The Great Depression Ahead' by Harry S. Dent Jr. myself... Much of his focus is on demographic changes which are occurring over which we have no control.

I have read some others as well...

A Google search on 'book economic crisis' returns 23,600,000 hits... So you shouldn't have much trouble finding one to read yourself... Arm yourself with knowledge. Knowledge is power.

This is a crisis in economic terms and I also feel it is a crisis in political terms as well...

So what could possibly happen? without even going into 'worst case' scenarios?

Our entire financial system, banking system, economic system could experience a total collapse. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person out there who believes that this is a possibility.

It could collapse for any number of reasons... It's only barely propped up with imaginary government cash right now... It wouldn't take much to send it toppling.

The point that I like to try to make is that IF our economy does collapse completely there no doubt would be dire consequences. It is my opinion that total economic collapse would soon be followed by total governmental collapse. That is the definition of anarchy.

I, personally, am not nor do I ever 'call for' anarchy. I merely attempt to warn that it is a distinct possibility that could be the result of economic collapse.

I, personally, do not 'call for' civil unrest and violence. I merely attempt to warn that it is a distinct possibility that could be the result of total economic collapse.

I DO call for peaceful resistance and civil disobedience at every opportunity because it seems to me that the ONLY people on the side of the American people are the American people themselves! And I feel we can remedy the situation by eliminating greed and corruption throughout government and corporate America. i hope the ballot box in November of 2010 will be a sufficient way to accomplish this.

If Americans can all agree to stop working, stop borrowing and stop spending then we ourselves can take matters into our own hands and put a stop to all the dishonest economic manipulations that we are being subjected to.

But I fear also... That any attempt by the American people to take matters into their own hands would be met forcefully by an American government out of control.

Some out there have been known to call me paranoid... or on the lunatic fringe of this party or that... I'm not on the side of any political party... I'm only on the side of fairness and honesty, the side of the American people.

I have suggested and stand by the suggestion that faced with total economic collapse and civil unrest our own government's reaction would likely be very nearly identical to the government reaction we have seen taken recently by the Iranian government...

Outrageous? I don't think so... Because what would that mean?

To me it would mean the government would put down, using force as necessary, a public uprising of citizens against a fraudulent insolvent government. That our own government would use every means available to it to stop anything it considered close to anarchy. Including the arrest and detention of American citizens.

Argue with that thought as you like...

I suggest that the laws that give the president of the United States the legal authority to enact Martial Law have been on the books since at least the 1980's.

Those are not the only laws that have been slipped on the books over the last few decades that give the federal government the legal authority to execute ever more power and control over the American populace.

it never seems important to anyone when it's happening... Except maybe those on the 'lunatic fringe'.

But 'laws' currently exist and or are in the works at this moment that give American government ever more control over our lives. Who the hell has time to keep track of what government is up to while trying to raise a family and do all the things we Americans feel are expected of us?

Much of what goes on in government is done in secret, behind closed doors, slipped into bills that have absolutely nothing to do with the added content. We have been unknowingly, unwittingly surrendering our individual freedoms in this country for decades now...

My point is the government already has the legal authority to institute Martial Law for ANY reason the president decides, personally, to 'declare' a national emergency.

I suggest that such a national emergency declaration is a possibility in the event of economic collapse followed by civil unrest. I also would further suggest that anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling only themselves...

You see I truly believe that there has already been a sea change in public opinion when it comes to debt and credit. Apparently our government hasn't yet caught on lol But *I* feel that millions of eyes have been opened to now be able to see the debt trap, and financial slavery that was intended to ensnare as many millions of Americans as possible.

Capitalism is not at fault... In my opinion, consumerism is at fault. When American business decided to make a science out of consumer emotional triggers and behaviors we were doomed to this current fate. The, even attempted, mass manipulation of consumer purchasing was an experiment doomed to failure and implosion from the start. The very concept of consumerism and planned obsolescence was and is evil on the face of it. It was never about improving value for consumers it was always about taking ever more money from American consumers, in part, to support a fraudulent debt/credit driven economy.

I often complain about complexity in society... And how *I* believe it is used intentionally to trick and/or control people. As it was on sub-prime loans. As it is in cell phone contracts and nearly every other consumer product you can think of. Complexity, in my opinion, is used at great length by our government as well. Through tax code as well as many other legal areas.

I feel most Americans are now interested in a simpler life. And I think that is a wonderful concept.

But if our economy were to collapse for any of a large number of reasons what effect would it have on our government? And why does our government seem to be in such a huge panic constantly these days?

Money...

Apparently NOTHING in society works without it... Not people, not business' not governments.

I guess some of the best advice that I have received is to just ignore them... Just ignore the government and corporate elites and their own irrelevance will bring them to an end...

Sounds good to me...

Greg

5 comments:

  1. Hi Greg: Robert Bumbalough here, aka fx_infidel. This is a pretty good piece you covered a lot of territory. Thanks and all the Best.

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  2. So true my friend but, frankly, the just rewards for many people who "had it good" while their government (hey, they elected Republicans to majorities in both houses and the presidency) committed genocide against the peoples of the world, ethnic cleansing and the crack epidemic against minorities here at home and who knows what else these scumbags have done.

    I see it as poetic justice.

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  3. Thanks Robert. I can't believe I left out Social Security in the what if we can no longer afford it piece...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Greg, Great article even for a european. There is no difference between the US and europe. The are all criminals holding on to their last piece of straw to stay in control. Well just like in the middle ages when the french didn't take it anymore we have to be ready for what is to come and I believe this will be sooner then many of us think. But hey that's just me and I only predicted the crisis since 2006 without a Phd and according to those who are in control it means I am just plain stupid. :-)

    Erik

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Erik ;)

    Yes I agree with what you say... I spend a lot of time trying to convince people that yes, history really does repeat itself... I always thought everyone already knew that...

    So talking about revolutions and martial law and tyranny civil war even, while looking through the lens of world history doesn't seem very conspiratorial at all really...

    It's all happened many times and in many places already throughout history and I'm sure will happen many more in many other places around the world.

    We are all human after all... And, sadly, seemingly, doomed to repeat our mistakes for all eternity...

    Greg

    ReplyDelete