The false left-right paradigm that divides Americans over this financial crisis continues to crumble, in spite of the tea parties which seemed to divide. I believe this divisiveness was stoked by the media and then latched onto by far too many participants and critics.
People seem to want to blame the financial crisis on conservatives in bed with the banking industry (deregulation) and excessive spending on liberals. I understand how tempting it is to have a party to believe in but sadly, these views are both incorrect in my opinion. Both parties are guilty on both counts.
Our problems as a nation are going to badger us until we realize that both Republicans and Democrats are in the pocket of the banking industry and other special interests (please see the “Buried News of the Week” below).
Bi-partisan action led to this crisis, and we’ll probably need bi-partisan action to get out of it, assuming politicians have the power and motivation to help in spite of the special interests.
This is a time to unite instead of fighting each other and pointing fingers at one party or the other. (Oh, I’ll so some finger pointing in this post, but it won’t have anything to do with one political party being superior to the other.)
The Monday, March 30 issue of the Rapid City Journal had a ground-breaking column by Robert Scheer on page A13. I’ve read several of Scheer’s columns in the past and walked away thinking that while the guy has interesting things to say from time to time, he seemed like a partisan hack and cheerleader for Obama. I was wrong about that.
I suspect Scheer just had unrealistic expectations of Obama after eight years of Bush and the Bush banker bailout.When he saw how Obama was going to govern, he again found the critical voice that he wielded against Bush.
For one of the best explanations of whom to blame for bringing us this financial crisis, please read Scheer’s column, “Obama’s toxic advisers are keeping the country from the bigger issue.” (Available online here.)
Scheer mentions Greenspan as one engineer of the economic crisis, but doesn’t mention the fact that Greenspan also helped fuel the housing collapse by slamming the accelerator down on the housing market with artificially low interest rates, thereby helping to create the housing bubble.
What’s Scheer upset about in regard to the housing and financial crisis?
Obama has appointed Gary Gensler to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
From the article, Scheer writes, “Gensler helped create this financial crisis when he was in the Treasury Department back in the Clinton era, when bipartisan cooperation with Wall Street lobbyists was all the rage.”
Scheer then quotes Sen. Bernie Sanders, explaining his reason for blocking Obama’s nomination of Gary Gensler for head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission: “Mr. Gensler worked with Sen. Phil Gramm and Alan Greenspan to exempt credit default swaps from regulation, which led to the collapse of AIG and has resulted in the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. history.” The disastrous legislation that these men supported was known as the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. (It was signed by former President Bill Clinton.)
It gets better (I mean worse). Who else supported this legislation during the Clinton years? Obama’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence Summers.
When Clinton’s CFTC appointee Brooksley Born “attempted to sound a warning (about the legislation), she was treated by the rest of Clinton’s team as the enemy. In response to Born’s warning, they drove her from government…”
Can you think of a better interview for 60 Minutes than a hard-hitting piece with this very bright and courageous woman? I don’t think they would touch it with a ten-foot pole because it would be too embarrassing for some very powerful people.
How ironic is it that the woman who sounded a very prescient warning on the credit default swap deregulation was driven out of government, while the man who was blind to the coming crisis gets her job?
How could so many smart people get this so wrong?One factor is that money from the banking industry greases the wheels of action with our Senators and Congress people.
Greed over-rides common sense, along with an arrogance that comes from being “too big to fail.”
Quote of the Week: “And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”
In several prior blogs, I’ve noted the alarming executive orders and policy changes that seem to suggest that the U.S. may be moving from an open society to a closed one-from a constitutional republic to some form of tyranny.
I’m now suggesting that these moves may be leading up to the implementation of a North American Union tying Canada, the U.S. and Mexico together with open borders and one currency. I wonder if the next step could be global governance and if our current economic crisis may be used somehow as a catalyst-a pretext-to eventually bring all of this about.
The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch ran an article on Tuesday, Jan. 28 2009 stating that Uniting U.S., Canada, Mexico money could result from crisis. The article also said that, The New World Order is upon us, full of hope, promise and a fair amount of fear.
As previously posted, the respected Financial Times of London also ran a recent commentary considering the increased likelihood of world government due to the financial crisis and other factors.
The above articles are well-done, but failed to cover the news items below, which lend credence to the idea that we could be headed for historic and unconstitutional changes in how our government functions.
Unfortunately, most Americans are still unaware that 4,700 troops were deployed stateside on Oct. 1, 2008; that Congress was threatened a few days later with martial law if the No Banker Left Behind Bail-out wasn’t passed; that the Pentagon has admitted that 20 thousand more troops are on the way for deployment stateside-duties to include civil unrest and crowd control; that Congress-even members of the Homeland Security Committee-have been denied access to executive branch continuity of government plans (PDD 51) (aka, NSPD 51) which authorize martial law; that American citizens can be declared enemy combatants and lose their constitutional rights-even if they’ve never left our country (Military Commissions Act of 2006); that evidence of detention camps being constructed or refurbished-potentially to confine American citizens-goes back to 1999, before the attacks of 9/11; that HR 45 calls for gun licensing and registration; that if/when reintroduced and passed, HR 1022 would allow Attorney General Eric Holder-who is an anti-second amendment activist-to confiscate virtually any firearm he chooses from the American people. The list goes on and on.
Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard about all this. If you want to hold your breath waiting to see the mainstream media put all these puzzle pieces together for you, you’re going to turn blue and keel over.
The agenda setting mainstream media is complicit in keeping the American people from seeing the big picture. (Note for those who haven’t read Chomsky: The Rapid City Journal isn’t part of the agenda setting mainstream media. If they were, this blog probably would’ve been shut down by now, or more likely, never offered in the first place.)
Based on the comments I’ve received, a minority of my readers still think the prospect of global governance is something to laugh about and ridicule. Even if these people are paid posters, hopefully this blog will help quell the laughter and bring about what we need instead: motivation to hold our leaders accountable, especially in regard to respecting our Constitution.
Now onto my headline: Legislation has been introduced in the form of House Resolution 645 that lends credence to the story about detention camps for American citizens, as discussed in this San Francisco Chronicle article and other publications.
As noted by infowars.com, the National Emergency Centers Act or HR 645 mandates the establishment of national emergency centers to be located on military installations for the purpose of providing temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster, according to the bill.
The legislation also states that the camps will be used to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations.
Ominously, the bill also states that the camps can be used to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security, an open ended mandate which many fear could mean the forced detention of American citizens in the event of widespread rioting after a national emergency or total economic collapse.
Will the camps be used to detain American citizens who are declared enemy combatants and stripped of their constitutional rights?
Since the Army Times originally reported that the battle-hardened troops to be deployed stateside would be responsible for civil unrest and crowd control, this also raises the suspicions of many people regarding the use of these camps.
If troops were deployed stateside on Oct. 1 because of terrorism fears, why weren’t they sent until over seven years after the 911 attacks?
Is it possible that late last year, certain elements within our government knew more about what was coming than they told us?
Now, I’m sure there are explanations for all of this, but would they be true If the Constitution was still in place to protect Habeus Corpus from arbitrary revocation by the executive branch (Military Commissions Act of 2006), and Congress was allowed access to all of PDD 51, and if the Posse Comitatus statutes hadn’t been subverted, etc., etc., etc., I would feel much more comfortable.
As things stand, I wonder if certain elements of our government are gaslighting us and then providing us with the solutions they want to ease the anxiety they created. Could this be a deliberate strategy to implement policies and consolidate power in a way that Americans wouldn’t otherwise accept?!
Our country seems to be establishing the framework for socialism and tyranny!
Is the banker bailout a fraud that was never intended to help?!
If this is true, then I believe we will see more bail-outs approved even when we have proof that they don’t work.
For an eye-opening and fascinating lecture, please scroll down and listen to New York Times best-selling author Naomi Wolf discuss the 10 signs that an open society is transforming into a closed one. Wolf has studied history and sees all ten signs occurring today in the United States. I tend to agree with her.
Hearing a politically liberal person passionately defend the 2nd Amendment at 23:06 is worth the price of admission alone! Which would be, let’s see, ZERO! What a bargain!
Please keep in mind that when Wolf made this defense of the 2nd Amendment she was worried primarily about Blackwater Security.
Now there are 4,700 Army troops stationed stateside with another 20,000 admitted to be on the way, as I wrote earlier. I predict that we’ll see more than another 20,000 and sooner than 2011.
Wolf also gave this lecture before the banker bail-outs were even dreamed about. I think these facts make her presentation even more prescient.
Please check it out!
CALL TO ACTION: Please contact your U.S. Representative (Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin for South Dakota) and politely ask him/her how the abuse of these new governmental powers is going to be limited.
I recommend that PDD 51 (aka, NSPD 51) would be a good starting point. As I wrote earlier, this is the directive that includes executive branch continuity of government plans authorizing physical martial law in America, in the event of a catastrophic emergency.
The Homeland Security Committee and the entire Congress have been denied access to the classified portions of this document! THIS IS NOT THE AMERICAN WAY! Here’s a link to the clip I referred to earlier regarding PDD 51. Please ask Rep. Herseth Sandlin if congressional hearings on this power grab are forthcoming. WE NEED SOME ACCOUNTABILITY!
Contact Information:
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, 331 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, Ph: 202-225-2801.
In Rapid City, 343 Quincy St., Suite 102, Rapid City, SD 57701, Ph: 605-394-5280
Contact Kim and Don with VOH at : kim_don2001@yahoo.com
Put in the subject line, “Film Suggestion,” and ask them if they would please consider The End of America, and if you’d like, please add why you think this film is important for VOH to show to the Rapid City community.
Thanks to everyone who writes!
Please check out the Youtube video below featuring the trailer for Naomi Wolf’s new documentary film.
We can get the film below shown at the Elks Theatre in Rapid City! Please contact Kim and Don and encourage VOH to show it! The agenda-setting mainstream media in the U.S. is not doing their job, so I believe we MUST step up to the plate to get the word out!
Quote of the Week: “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.”
~Edward R. Murrow
Does anyone else see the irony of a (Naomi) “Wolf” warning us about the “wolves” in the government? Is this the Universe’s/God’s sense of humor? Anyway…
PS: Check out this music video featuring A Perfect Circle at 2:13 for the sequence with the hooded sheep running around scaring the other sheep. (Be forewarned, it is graphic.) I see this as a metaphor for the reaction to the sort of warnings I talk about in this blog. Like the sheep that run away from the black ones, a certain percentage of the population will run away from what people like me say but won’t bother to check the facts and seriously consider them because of fear and/or denial. That, I believe, is the true source of the laughter in some cases.
If you’d like to hear ideas similar to what Naomi Wolf has to say but would rather hear it from a more politically conservative source, I recommend the following documentary from Alex Jones, which is available for free viewing on Google video. Please keep in mind that I don’t agree with everything Jones says and he’s not known for subtlety! However, he is good at citing sources for many of the allegations he makes and he’s obviously very intelligent and articulate, similar to Wolf-just with a different flavor.
If you like Police State 3: Total Enslavement, you can find more videos at Google video and Youtube, or you can go to his Websites to find more information at www.infowars.com or www.prisonplanet.com
Another good conservative voice is former Presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Someone was published in the Rapid City Journal’s “Two Cents” on Sunday (09-21-08), complaining, “Where else can you sell something you don’t own except the stock market? Short selling should all be banned.”
Well, I’m all for the banning of so-called naked short selling, a situation where you can short stock you don’t own.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer complained about this situation and how the current administration’s laissez-faire SEC was unwisely allowing it, even though the rules against it were supposedly already on the books.
I don’t, however, agree that all short selling should be banned.
I don’t even agree with the SEC’s recent decision to ban short selling in just the financial sector. We’re supposed to be a capitalistic country, and we could see unintended consequences.
As our financial situation continues to worsen and the markets continue to slump, we may see a time in the near future when the SEC bans short selling in other sectors, especially if we see a crash similar to what happened during the Great Depression. At any rate, the more bans you see, the more desperate the situation has become.
I believe today’s (09-22-08) poor market performance was related to a shift in thinking about financial institutions, from them being “too big to fail” to being “too big to bail.” In other words, the smart money is realizing that our government can’t afford these bailouts, as I alluded to in a previous post.
At the same time, Democrats are complaining that the bailouts aren’t big enough! Nancy Pelosi is asking for money to go to the little guys hurt by the sub-prime crisis, when we can’t afford to bail out the big guys! (And should we even be bailing out anyone?)
We’re in a rough situation with or without bailouts, but I’m afraid that a precedent has been set which will eventually make a bad situation worse.
I’ll write more about this in a future post, especially since I got killed on Friday with ProShares UltraShort Financials (SKF). I sent $47.96 a share to money heaven, largely because of this ban on short selling in the financials.
Yes, this may have been a stupid panic sell, but how about a bailout for me, Nancy Pelosi? Wasn’t I smarter than those who were LONG financials and housing? After all, I was just a victim of the SEC!
The Youtube.com video below is a must-see for all investors.
I would call it entertaining, but I’m far too nervous about the financial sector to say that.
There is some debate about whether J.P. Morgan rescued Bear Stearns this last spring, or if J.P. Morgan was “on the prowl for acquisitions.”
However, before all that went down, many people could see that there was very serious trouble in the financial sector and that the Fed wasn’t taking any action.
Jim Cramer was one of those people.
In this video, Jim complains about Bear Stearns not buying back its own stock in order to confound the shorts and support the stock, but Jim’s main impassioned plea was for the Fed to lower the discount window to help keep these firms afloat.
I’m going to make a prediction: We will see another meltdown from Jim Cramer, and I’m afraid it will be related to the sub-prime crisis and/or the financial sector.
Financial shares appear to be on rebound for now, but I suspect we’re far from a bottom here.
My post on peak oil theory is a work in progress. Please stay tuned!
Comments, anyone?
Quote of the day: “If CNBC is like MTV for old people, when did I get old?” Aaron
