Changing Horses!

I've been doing this Blog for a bit over nine years now.  This is post number 301.  One can say only so much about the philosophy and actions of the State-Corporate Complex, aka, the Corporatocracy, the Plutocracy, the Oligarchy, the Shadow Government, the Plutonomy (Google it), CRONY Capitalism, the Rule of the Super-Rich, etc.  I find that mostly I'm repeating myself nowadays...or merely commenting on some current event.  It's time to change horses.

After watching a couple of short documentaries on the "Urban Homestead" on YouTube, it came to me that the guy & his family featured in those films are right on the money--- that's a good way to overcome the System described in the paragraph above.  It's not apparent at first, but the more one thinks about it, the more the truth of it comes out.

Consequently, I'll be cutting way back on posts here.  Last night I launched a new Blog, www.ContainerGardening2016.blogspot.com  ...please have a look.  I thank all the viewers, from all around the world, for spending your valuable time here for the past nine years.  That's very much appreciated.  From time to time, as the Economic Crash proceeds, I'll post a piece here again.  My main focus, though, now will be on the new site.

I urge everyone to view the YouTube pieces on the Urban Homestead, especially the one that was an award-winning short film in 2009.  In this technology-crazy modern era, we simply must become more self-sufficient.  That's one reason I started ContainerGardening2016.  Even if you have zero interest in the subject, please have a look.  Container gardening is relatively easy, inexpensive, saves you money, and, believe it or not, it's a way to fight/shun the Corporatocracy.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Some of the Corporatists Finally are Waking Up re: the Economic Collapse

Quotes from---
Goldman Sachs:  "We are witnessing a Stock Market exodus.";
Bank of America:  "The U.S. may already be in a Recession.";
Wall Street Journal:  "A Hedge Fund Exodus";
CNBC commentary:  "This [the weak consumer] could be the 'Black Swan' for the economy.";
                                 "We are in the midst of a deceleration in the economy, and the chain of                     dominoes leading to a recession has started to fall.";
                                 "This is the foreshadowing of a recession.";
JP Morgan:  "An economic crisis is inevitable.";
                   "The U.S. economy is steamrolling toward a Recession."
                   "Recession risk in the U.S. is rising rapidly.";
Bloomberg:  "The Shipping News Says the World Economy is Toast.";
                    [The Baltic Dry Index is way down.]
                    "The clouds are gathering again over the global village we live in; they are getting darker every                        day.";
CitiGroup:  "The global economy is on the brink of a Recession.";
                  "The global economy seems trapped in a death spiral...";
US Bank CEO:  "I worry that the economic, political issues can impact people's incentive to consume and                                their optimism to go down. That's what worries me."
                          [Well, it's difficult to maintain an incentive to consume when:  your wages are stagnant; or                                you have a part-time or temporary job; or you're unemployed; and the cost of living                                     (especially groceries and rent) keeps going up.  Hello.]

The above institutions/people have only scratched the surface relative to the Economic Crash that already has started, but at least it's a start.  Now, if we can get the politicians to admit what's going on, maybe we'll get somewhere.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well, and Best of Luck to Everyone

Ten Steps for Instituting Corporatism in a Society

This is from the superb documentary, "Requiem for the American Dream", with Noam Chomsky.  Chomsky often is regarded as a socialist, or even (especially by some on the political Right) as a communist; in reality, probably the closest thing to his political beliefs is a specific type of anarchism---anarcho-syndicalism, a type of direct democracy.  In any case, in the film mentioned above he shows in great detail how Corporatism essentially has taken over America, and how both the Right and the Left have been duped.  He refers to the ten points in my title as the "10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth and Power"---

1.  Reduce democracy.
2.  Shape ideology.
3.  Redesign the economy.
4.  Shift the burden.
5.  Attack solidarity.
6.  Run the regulators.
7.  Engineer elections.
8.  Keep the rabble in line.
9.  Manufacture consent.
10.  Marginalize the population.

Rich in detail and historical news clips, the documentary shows how Mega Business has manipulated American society through means such as Propaganda, Financialization, Lobbying, Consumerism, Crony Capitalism, political ideologies, undue influence, etc. to the point where genuine participatory democracy is pretty much long gone.

Apologies for the brevity of this piece, but I don't have the time or energy to adequately detail each of the ten points.  See the film; currently it's on Netflix, and probably found elsewhere online as well.  It shows exactly how a bloodless coup has taken place in the USA.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"The Drone Papers", and Obama the Assassin

This piece is a 10-16-15 REDUX---

"The Drone Papers", and Obama the Assassin

For a great overview of this subject and interviews with the investigative journalists involved, see today's newscast at Democracy Now (Friday, October 16, 2015).  I doubt you'll see anything like it on the Corporate Media outlets...which seem to be obsessed with the weather.

A whistleblower has supplied The Intercept.com with official secret documents regarding Obama's Drone Wars in Yemen, Somalia, & Afghanistan.  At their website (The Intercept), there's a series of articles based upon those documents:  "The Assassination Complex", "A Virtual Glossary", "The Kill Chain", "Find, Fix, Finish", "Manhunting in the Hindu Kush", "Firing Blind", "The Life and Death of Objective Peckham", and "Target Africa".  In a classified Pentagon study, officials found significant flaws in the Drone Program, including faulty Signals Intelligence (cell phone calls, texting, emails, etc.) and serious limitations in the drone technology itself.

Other of the Papers revealed that sometimes nine out of ten people killed are not the intended target.  [Anyone killed in a drone attack automatically is classified as an EKIA (Enemy Killed in Action)... even if that person is the target's grandmother.]  Also, reliance upon foreign intelligence is heavy, and in some cases, it's entirely possible that political opponents (especially in Yemen), not terrorists, were killed.  The Papers also revealed that in a few Afghan provinces, the residents opposed/resisted the Taliban...until Americans invaded their land.  There's much, much more, but I don't have the time or energy to cover it.  See the newscast at Democracy Now.

Obama is unconstitutionally targeting people for death.  A clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution makes it clear that only Congress, not the Executive Branch, can issue "Letters of Marque and Reprisal" (assassination orders).  Perhaps some people think, so what, he's killing terrorists who are a threat to us.  Too bad that's not always true...too bad that many more innocent people are being slaughtered than what we've been told by the Executive Branch, and too bad that we're not even at war with Somalia, Yemen, or Pakistan... all sovereign nations.  Pakistan, in particular, repeatedly has told our Gov't to stop bombing in their country.  Too bad that the Taliban now control more of Afghanistan than they ever did in the last fourteen years.  Too bad that Afghanistan is known (for very good reasons) as "The Graveyard of Empires".  The old Soviets had 500,000 Russian troops there...they lost that war.

Obama just recently stated (paraphrased):  "You know I'm not in favor of Endless War.".  All I know, Mr. President, is that's what you keep saying.  I see little to no evidence of the truth of that.  You claim these Drone Wars are not "war".  If that's true, then here's a thought for you:  you have no legal authority to order the murder of people around the world.  Who died & thus made you King?  Some of the people you're having killed probably were toddlers on 9-11-01.  Have they attacked us?  The fact is, even more than Bush-Cheney, you've maneuvered us into a present & future of perpetual war.  There's no end in sight.  There's no reasonable plan in sight.  Drone wars, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, and who knows what's next--- you're a warmonger, all in the name of national security.  Wow, what an original justification.  Here's another fact:  your military actions are making new terrorists and stirring up the old ones.  A final fact:  IT IS LAW ENFORCEMENT and everyday citizens who are keeping us safe from Terrorism...not your terrorist-creating, military maneuvers.  You've succeeded in making our Gov't's actions the number one generator of terrorists in the entire world.  You've beaten out Bush-Cheney in that regard.  I didn't think that was possible.

I (& many reputable analysts) think your military misadventures are because the economy here is in bad shape, our fiscal & monetary conditions are appalling, the dollar's world reserve currency status is being seriously threatened, and your implementation of the Big Stick around the world supposedly will hold it all together.  All you're doing is making enemies around the Globe, while at the same time, destroying our economy.  You people in the DC Ivory Tower need to wake up and pay attention.  You're not the Master, you're the Servant.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

At Last, Obama is Being Sued by an Army Officer

Captain Nathan Michael Smith, an Army Intelligence Officer stationed in Kuwait, is suing the President for violating the War Powers Act and the U.S. Constitution in relation to the Iraq-Syria ISIS War.  It's about time someone did...kudos to Captain Smith.

Months ago, the New York Times Editorial Board came to the same conclusion:  that war is illegal; Obama does not have Congressional Authorization to prosecute the war.  No one seemed to care.  It took Captain Smith, who believes the war needs to be fought, to bring the issue once again to the forefront.  He, like all significant public servants, took an oath to "preserve, protect, & defend" the Constitution.  He stated that his conscience bothered him when he realized that the ISIS War is not legal.  He's correct...it's not.  Any 12th-grader of average intelligence who has read the Constitution from stem to stern knows that.  Anyone with an ounce of common sense and a cursory knowledge of the 1973 War Powers Act knows, despite what Obama claims, that the Authorization from the Dubya Bush 2003 Iraq War cannot be used to fight the current ISIS War.  ISIS had nothing whatsoever to do with the 9-11 attacks and it didn't even exist in 2003.

I don't expect Captain Smith's lawsuit to gain any traction at all for the following reasons---

1.  War is BIG Business...and a great distraction from our crashing economy.
2.  The Powers-That-Be don't appear to give a damn about the Constitution; they seem to view it as an anachronism.
3.  Our Judicial System seems to be corrupt a good deal of the time.
4.  Oligarchs usually get what they want...and they usually want war.
5.  Very few in Gov't dare to challenge the ongoing expansion of Executive Branch Power.  The Executive already has Power today approaching that of a Monarch or dictator.
6.  Edward Bernays style Propaganda seems to have convinced most of our citizens that ISIS is a grave threat to the USA.  It isn't.  Very few people in-the-know, such as retired Colonel and Boston University Professor Emeritus Andrew Bacevich, have stated--- as has Colonel Bacevich ---that ISIS is not any significant threat to our country.  People believe the Propaganda to the contrary, and thus the legality of that war seems to be unimportant.

The Rule of Law in this country is on a downhill slide at the speed of light...and not just regarding the Constitution.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The American Empire and the Democrat Hawks

Yes, the Republicans (in general) are Hawks, too; but this is about the Democrats.

See the last featured piece on the news broadcast of DemocracyNow.org for May 3, 2016.  The title is something like, "Clinton is a Legendary Hawk"; the interview is with Jeremy Scahill (NYT best-selling author) & Glenn Greenwald (Pulitzer Prize in journalism), both co-founders of TheIntercept.com.  They discuss the foreign policy Hawks, Obama, Clinton, & Sanders...and the Democratic Party Establishment that supports a militaristic foreign policy.

Misinformation & outright Propaganda have resulted in much public support for a militarized U.S. foreign policy that is not only unAmerican, but unethical, immoral, & illegal as well.  Never mind that the Corporatist, Crony Capitalist, Super-Rich are the primary beneficiaries.  

The lesser of two evils is still evil.  The game is rigged...don't play.  Boycott all national elections...it doesn't much matter who is in high office.  [If you absolutely can't give up the opium of the masses (voting), then at least vote for a worthy Third Party candidate.]

The probability is very high that sometime (no one knows when) after the election, one of two things---or both---will happen:  an Economic/Financial Crash and/or a major War.  [Of course, they possibly could happen before the election, but I doubt it.]

The "international financial coterie", to which Professor Carroll Quigley (Bill Clinton's mentor at Georgetown U.) referred, will oversee the aftermath...elected U.S. politicians will not.  [It's not a "conspiracy"; it's simply political reality.]

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Dollar's Days are Numbered - the Crash, Central Banks, Fiat Currency, & Gold

I'm not an economist, monetary theorist, or anything of the sort; however, I can read and I have a fairly good grasp of Logic.  Consider the following.

1.  The Dollar has been described as the best of the worst houses in a really bad neighborhood.  To one degree or another, all fiat currencies in the world are in deep trouble.  The great, decades-long Fiat Currency Experiment is on the brink of going down in flames.

2.  Supposedly, the USA (& thus the world) ended being on the Gold Standard in 1971.  If that's completely true, why are Central Bankers (except for Canada) so concerned about gold...and especially, the price of gold?  Why is China buying tons of gold per month?  Why are India, Russia, & every other country that can afford it adding to their stockpiles of gold?  Why is the Gov't of the USA keeping any gold at all?  [Especially given the tremendous public debt we've accumulated; it would appear that we have no intention of ever repaying the principal on that debt.]

3.  Deutsche Bank recently confessed to gold (& silver) price-fixing/rigging, and is informing on the other banks in the price-fixing/rigging cartel...including some Mega Banks on Wall Street.

4.  Prices of gold (& silver) have been illegally, artificially suppressed for years because the price of gold (in particular) is an indicator of the health of the Dollar...and of the health of any other fiat currency.  When the price of gold goes up, that means the Dollar has weakened.

5.  Gold is a store of wealth & confidence...confidence in the value of precious metals.  Fiat currency is a store of confidence only...confidence in paper and gov'ts.

6.  I don't recall the details, but just recently, China pegged the value of the Yuan to gold...some sort of benchmark.  It seems obvious that once China has accumulated a sufficient amount of gold, it's going to issue a Gold-Backed Currency...backed to one degree or another.  If and when that happens, that's the end of the Dollar as the world's reserve currency.  [Of course, that end can occur in other ways, as well.]

7.  Some people argue that a Gold Standard nowadays is not feasible because of the greatly expanded (compared to, say, 1930 or 1950) money supply versus a finite amount of gold in existence.  As the international economist, Jim Rickards, points out:  that's a fallacious argument because what matters is the price of gold, not the amount.  At $10,000 per ounce, no problem.  As the currency supply expands even more, the price of gold would go up even more.

8.  A new Gold Standard would put a clamp on unrestrained spending by gov'ts...that's why some Oligarchs and most of their minions in gov'ts everywhere are against returning to any kind of Gold Standard.  It appears that China soon may change all that.

9.  Countries already are dumping Dollars, but it's not much more than a trickle compared to what's likely coming.

10.  In addition to all the above, world debt is at $225 trillion...the highest it has ever been, the total value of bizarre financial derivatives out in the Market is now estimated to be about $1.5 quadrillion, Stock Markets are giant Bubbles, unemployment is soaring (our Gov't doesn't have a clue as to what the unemployment rate is...their markers for calculating that are grossly incomplete), the real estate market is a Bubble, manufacturing is declining fairly rapidly, part-time and temporary jobs are on the rise, the Dollar continues to be debased by the Fed, the economy is deflating, real wages either are stagnant or declining, the Middle Class continues to shrink, 51% of American households now earn only $30K or less per year, debt (both public & private) is crushing the Dollar and the economy, the incomes of the Super-Rich continue to increase, the world economy is stagnant, the People are pissed off, and Gov'ts continue to placate everyone with Edward Bernays style Propaganda...but that's not working very well anymore.

11.  To top it off, we're in the beginning stages of a worldwide Economic Crash.  Some analysts say it will be as bad as, or worse than, the 1930's Great Depression.

12.  And finally, several high-level politicians in several different countries appear to be attempting to provoke a major war...that includes some high-level politicians in the USA.  Historically, that's what the Powers-That-Be do when economies are failing and the monetary system is crashing.
......................................................
The good news is that educated People everywhere are rising up peacefully and rejecting SSDD by protesting, boycotting, shunning, rejecting, and refusing to be silent.  The Propaganda Kool Aid is being thrown out.  The Sheeple have become the Lions. I suspect that Oligarchs everywhere are beginning to tremble.  All across the political spectrum, We the People (many of us, anyway) have had enough.  It's past time to peacefully dethrone the CRONY Capitalists, Globalization Gurus, and Financialization Elites.  It will be a long haul, but it's do-able.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well