"War is a Racket" Redux

I posted this essay about a year & a half ago.  It's still brutally relevant today, especially with the NeoCons in the current Administration--- Bolton, Pompeo, Pence and the like ---up to their usual Warmongering.
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"As I look back on my 33 years of service in the Marines---from Second Lieutenant to Major-General---I realize that I've been nothing but a thug for Bankers and Big Corporations."  ~ General Smedley Butler

See brainyquote.com for more quotes by General Butler.

Only people who don't know what's going on still believe that our brave & well-meaning military folks are fighting for freedom, democracy, etc.  In actual fact, they are the unwitting enforcement arm of our Fed Reserve Bank and other Western World Mega Banks, as well as other major Corporations whose leaders believe they are the real rulers of the world.  Butler clearly pointed that out in his book, War is a Racket.

Now (& for some time) that both Repubs & Dems in DC pretty much ignore and/or violate key parts of the U.S. Constitution, the Corporatists are free to complete their establishment of Global Private Rule.  Public Governments still will exist, but only as window dressing.  By the way, none of this is a "grand conspiracy"; to the Powers-That-Be, it's simply "good business practice" and "the best thing for the world".  It's also important to grasp the fact that Corporatists are NOT Free Market Capitalists; instead, they are Fascists.  The very last thing they want is a Free Market.  They prefer a series of Monopolies supported by their puppet governments.

To those who believe Trump is fighting all this, and is the champion of the Common Man, you are sadly mistaken.  Trump is the quintessential elitist, Corporatist, Establishment, Crony Capitalist...the worst kind of capitalist.  He's a serial liar, a Super-Rich snob, a gaslighter, and doesn't care at all about the bottom 90-99% of the USA's citizens.  He's just telling you what he thinks you want to hear.  His whole history proves all the above.  Study it, and then you'll see.  A good start is the documentary, "Meet the Trumps:  from Immigrant to President"; it can be found online.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

p.s.  I'm an Army Vet and a gun owner.  Not only Vets, but ALL of us need to wake up to the fact that War (especially the current & recent ones) is not about "spreading democracy".  Instead, it's about economics and finance.  The main beneficiaries of it are Mega Corporations, especially Mega Banks.

"The Clown Who Plays King" - NY Daily News

The NY Daily News recently commented on the Clown King, Trump.
My reaction is---

He's got 'em all fooled.  They don't seem to realize that it's all about enriching himself even more via the Presidency.  He has played the Clown his entire life simply to get attention.  

Mega Bankers bailed him out in the '80s only because they figured the name "Trump" would get them more than his complete bankruptcy.  Then they put him on an allowance and nursed his failing business ventures back to some degree of health.  

Those Bankers are very pleased now.  Deregulation of the Financial Sector is the flavor of the day in DC.  All this other stuff, though important, is distraction and deliberate misdirection by The Don & Crew.  The Elites/Crony Capitalists/Plutocrats win again.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Part 2: Paying Homage to Gonzo

The other day in the grocery store, I watched as the lady just ahead of me paid an incredibly high total for her goods with a credit card.  Shortly thereafter, that brought to mind the largest scam in the history of the USA.

When the Fed Gov't bailed out the speculative banks (and AIG, et.al.) a few years ago, I suspect that the public in general missed the biggest part of that scam.  But before I get into that portion of the story, let's consider the following.  [If this weren't so tragic, it would be comical beyond belief.]

Here's what happened.  The richest one-tenth of one percent of the people in this country, through speculative banking, did this:
1. created bizarre financial instruments such as credit default swaps which were supposed to guarantee or "insure" investments;  [Technically, they weren't "insurance policies", so no money reserves were required to back them up.]
2. created mortgage-backed securities, lied about their quality, and sold them to investors on a grand scale...along with the bogus credit default swaps.

As we all know, the whole scam went bust when subprime mortgages defaulted in large numbers.  But they were just the trigger of the crisis.  The underlying causes were:  the lying about the quality of the mortgage-backed securities; and the phony credit default swaps which were backed by zero reserves.  Then the investment banks told the Fed Gov't that they were "too big to fail", and the Gov't sold that lie to the public.  Next came the $787 billion bailout.  Unfortunately, that was just a small part of the scam.

The main ripoff was the following.  The Gov't made approximately $13 TRILLION in loans available to those banks...at far less than one percent interest.  They were the same banks that were the richest in the country, fraudulently sold shabby products, gambled it all...lost...and then had the Gov't bail them out AND loan them huge amounts of money at almost zero percent interest.

Let's imagine this---  I interview Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and several prominent economists, and they all agree...  "Yes, obviously it was a scam.  If those few banks had failed, the economy would not have collapsed.  Things would have gotten bad, but with adjustments, the market would have corrected itself.  Smaller banks would have filled in the gaps.  We should have let them fail and made the $13 trillion in loans (at less than 1% interest) available to American housholds.  They borrow money every single day with credit cards...at anywhere from 9% to 22% interest.  Imagine what it would do for Main Street and the economy if every household had a $15,000 loan at less than 1% interest, instead of a credit card balance of thousands at, say, 12-15% interest."

Not only was the financial bailout and loan program a scam, but the money was not used as intended.  Originally, the Gov't was going to buy up all the "toxic assets"; instead, the money was simply given to the banks to do with as they pleased.  They made more bets.  There are still approximately one quadrillion dollars worth of credit default swaps out there...guaranteeing nothing.

So, as I sit here sipping Wild Turkey and shooting through my window at a target outside, I wonder:  why does the Gov't loan money to super-rich banks at almost zero percent interest instead of to households?...and, why do we commoners put up with mega banks at all?  There are plenty of smaller, local banks that would love to have our business.  I suggest we boycott the big boys.  Immediately.  Let them eat credit default swaps.

By the way, I heartily recommend the movie, Where the Buffalo Roam... and the documentary film, Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride.  Gonzo galore.

Just my opinion.
Dr. Gonzo

The Fed Government & the Corporatocracy

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that our Govt virtually has been hijacked by the Corporatocracy. But unlike many people, I believe that it started decades ago...not just recently with the NeoCons. To me, it started in 1913 when bankers like Paul Warburg, et.al., ramrodded the Fed Reserve Act through Congress at a time when most politicians were on vacation---Xmas-time, I think. At the same time, they knew that money would be necessary to pay interest on what would be a huge debt, so they also managed to push through the 16th Amendment. Bankers would receive some of those interest payments because they would "buy" some of the debt---in other words, they would loan money to the Govt. [The Supreme Court almost fouled up that plan with rulings (never reversed) stating that the word "incomes" in the 16th Amendment meant "gain from corp activity"; but that didn't stop the IRS from levying an income tax on wage-earners...it was a "voluntary " tax---that part was buried in the Code & in very small print.]

Then there was WW I...a war in which we had no business whatsoever, but a war in which some folks made lots of money.

The next big move was in 1933 when Roosevelt declared a national "emergency" (due to the Depression) and outlawed the private possession of gold (except for jewelry). Roosevelt and others, according to many reports, also probably allowed Pearl Harbor to happen...much like certain NeoCons PROBABLY allowed 9-11 to happen...in order to get us into war. There are always big bucks to be made when we are at war. [People forget their history---the majority of Americans did not want to participate in either World War...they had to be sold on the idea in each case...and it wasn't an easy sell.]

Next, in 1940-something, the Govt pushed through the income tax withholding law, wrapping it in patriotism vis-a-vis WW II. [It was voluntary by the way.] In 1951 (or thereabouts), the Govt abrogated the Constitution by going to war with N. Korea without a Declaration of War and at the behest of the U.N., setting a dangerous precedent. Again, the military-industrial complex made big bucks.

In 1954, the Congress and the IRS finally removed the word "voluntary" from the Individual Income Tax Statute and Regulation, because by then everyone thought that taxes on wages were mandatory.

And on & on...right up to the present. Now don't anyone misinterpret what I'm saying here. I'm NOT saying that all just described was planned from the beginning in some giant master plan or conspiracy. Quite the contrary...at each point in time, bankers and/or other corporatists and/or rogue elements of the Govt most likely simply recognized situations that could be subverted to their mutual benefit. They more or less just stumbled from one rip-off to the next. What they had (and have) is some sort of loose amalgamation...not a tight-knit organization. [I fully realize that some people think there's a giant conspiracy of "Illuminati" out there, and a Master Plan that goes way back in time. I've researched their claims, and I don't believe it. But, to each his own, as the saying goes.]

But there can be little doubt---each subverted situation benefitted part or all of this group: bankers, corporatists, and Elitists in Govt...in other words, the rich and/or powerful...and they manipulated either events or the Fed Govt, or both, to get what they wanted. That's how the Corporatocracy operates---it is essentially a shadow govt "run" by nutcakes like David Rockefeller. [They view the rest of us as not much better than ants.]

Just my opinion.