Justified True Belief or Complete Paranoia?

The Capitalist Conspiracy is a 1969 film (47 minutes) about, yet again, the power hungry bankers. When I saw it linked on another blog, I thought 1969? Really? People thought this even then? I suppose I thought it was more recent than that, like say Regan.

***Sorry to have linked so many films that at least circle around this idea. I feel like I'm starting to sound like a paranoid twit, talking about the Federal Reserve, etc. was never something that was supposed to be a reoccurring topic on this blog.

Do We Have Cause for Hope? Or Do I Just Spend Too Much Time on the Internet?

Firewall: In Defense of Nation-State

As if I didn't have enough videos already linked. For about the first 20 minutes are so it felt more like a repeat, but instead of a recap of all the problems with our financial system Firewall offers real world solutions. I would rank The Money Masters which I linked in my previous post as a higher priority view than Firewall, but still a worth while to view at some point. It's just under 90 minutes.

One thing that Firewall does explain is public-private partnerships, the latest ripoff proposed by Tim Geithner as a solution to clean up toxic assets. I realize that this is a completely ridiculous idea, but as credit-default swaps aren't tied to anything of actual value, just tell all the purchasers tough luck. They wasted money on insurance and guess what? In typical insurance policy style, your claim has been denied! But that would just be far too logical for Wall St.

The thing the the segment on public-private partnerships most reminds me of is Huey P. Long. He was definitely a corrupt official in true Louisiana fashion, guilty of quite a few schemes that later earned him the title the Kingfish. However, he was a populist and accomplished tremendous good on behalf of Louisiana citizens. One thing being he drove a privately owned bridge that reeked huge profits by charging toll fees for use out of business by convincing the state legislature to give him funds to build his own bridge, at a "different" location.

The History and the How

The Money Masters: How International Bankers Gained Control of America

The Money Masters is a three and a half hour video that covers this an entire history of banking in America, our constant struggle against central banks, a sobering history of the Rothschild family, and various ways former presidents killed the central bank.

No summary I could give of this video can do it justice. I can only urge you to watch it. It is by far the best video I have seen that discusses central banking and the Federal Reserve.

What I Would Do To the Markets

*A preliminarily opinion piece that I hope to be able to follow up and expand upon in the future.



Policies of the last 25 years, the last ten in particular, have been snowballing ever so slowly until it just all blew up. After the first financial disaster of the 20th century we had the Glass-Stegall Act that kept companies in check until it was gutted in the last 90s under the Clinton administration by "reform" measures put forth by senators that received large campaign contributions from Wall St companies. This allowed insurance companies, investment banks, and commercial banks to be able to merge. Also, there used to be an eight percent cap on lending whereas now lenders can charge any rate they wish, which has led to loans with rates as high as thirty percent in some cases.

What we need to do, rather than giving the Treasury expansive power, is go back to tighter regulations that prevent companies with massive conflicts of interest from merging together. For massive corporations, the high level executives reap massive rewards from these deregulatory measures, and as such the ability to wield a very powerful influence on Washington policy.

What we should do is 1) reinstate Glass-Stegall in its original form, 2) never allow investment banks, insurance companies, and commercial banks to merge, 3) require greater capital and more collateral in reserve, 4) reinstate a lending cap, 5) put an end to credit-default swaps as a market (a CDS encourages banks to engage in risky lending because they face no loss in capital if the borrower defaults which also encourages making loans to borrowers that will default because the banks are guaranteed the money; which means the insurance company is effectively the lender and they have no say in who can borrow), 6) repel The Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950, which prevents the Federal Reserve from being audited by Congress in section 31, USC 714(b), and 7) centralize the Federal Reserve back under the control of Congress because as it is currently the Federal Reserve is in fact a private institution with no government oversight and currently Congress has no legal right to oversee or investigate ANY of activities and actions by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a privately owned and operated central bank with complete autonomy from any and all government action, sanctions, and regulations.

These actions would allow the markets to regulate themselves while protecting the public interest because it prevents institutions from gaining to much power and control; and institutions that get labeled "too big" to fail will not be able to develop. Under these measures the Treasury would have no need for expansive powers that place far too much control in the government.

The "New" Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to Timothy Geithner
of the united Wall St bankers,
and to Goldman Sachs for which he works:
one Nation under the Federal Reserve, unequal,
with a sixpence and crumbs for all.

A Face is Given to Big Brother

The Big Takeover

"The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution."

By Matt Taibbi The Rolling Stone

Ever wonder what the hell a credit default swap was anyway? Well, that's not the only thing Matt Taibbi explains in this article. (And he does a damn good job of explaining the prior.) There are many, myself included who want the Federal Reserve to be abolished. However, I do not think any of us dissenters knew that the Fed in-and-of itself, as an establishment, isn't the culprit. (Now I've really got your attention, huh?)

Many pundits (almost all on alternative news networks) have called Obama a corporate puppet. And those of us who have a clue have realized this, especially with his administrative picks. However, I do not think we could have imagined exactly how closely they are all tied together. And it will shock you.

Europe Sticks It to the US

EU summit rejects US demands

I just have one thing I really want to say, /clap. I am unbelievably proud of Europe at this moment. Since I have such high disdain for my country, I have been dying to see someone to just tell the US to fuck off and mind their own business. Europe has the loudest voice to do this with because of our close ties.

In the article, Germany says that you cannot just print money to get out of the crisis and that it would lead to hyperinflation. Well, they would know. Post-WWI they tried doing precisely that because of demands to repay their massive war debts. Their currency went to practically zero and their economy collapsed. That was bad enough in and of itself, however that was not the end of Germany's woes. Those precise measures [to just print more money] that blew up in their faces led to Hitler's rise to power.

When the US dollar collapses (and it will), we can only hope that we do not see the rise of a modern-day Hitler to power in the US. For if one did, it would not be the Jews this time around (we kiss Israel's ass), but the Muslims. Bin Laden, al Quadea, the Taliban...... we've already seen the lack of popularity and dissent against those groups arise in the US because of lies perpetrated by our government.

*A note, I by no means advocate violence against any group, especially the aforementioned. I also oppose and detest any notion that would imply or explicitly implicate the above groups as guilty in any such way of the calamity of the US, directly or otherwise. I by no means think that these groups are responsible for any American troubles and would defend them against any such claim. They are the victims, not the guilty. America's problems are American made home grown by the military-industrial complex and I am forever sorry to every nation and their peoples for our gross foreign policy and destruction of their governments to serve the greed of our shadow government. It is my sincerest desire to see justice brought to those guilty in the US who have wrecked havoc internationally and I offer my deepest personal apologies.

What Aaron Russo Missed

In my previous post I linked, Aaron Russo's film: America: Freedom to Fascism.

Well, I did eventually make the trip to Wikipedia to get the Cliff Note's version on American tax laws and a link in the article led me to the bit on tax protesters. While I remain skeptical of the legality, the information on Wikipedia definitely makes a strong assertion that we are required to pay federal income taxes (note my word choice). After my spring semester ends, this is something I'd definitely like to look further into as Russo's film does not cited specific court cases, as I recall.

However, that is a bit off topic for this post. Russo's film, along with other tax protesters, miss the bigger issue in regards to the federal tax code. A popular argument against the requirement is that the 16th amendment was never properly ratified, Wikipedia disputes this claim.

The 16th amendment is objectionable, not because of claims against its ratification but because of its constitutionality. But, like Jay Leno said, "Let's just give our Constitution to the Afghans, we're not using it."

We all remember studying the Boston Tea Party and what it stood against: Taxation without Representation. Because of this strong belief when drafting the Constitution our Founding Fathers included taxation laws in the document. Most importantly (paraphrased), that taxes will be apportioned based on population of the states.

I feel that it is own these grounds that one should protest the 16th amendment; as unconstitutional in-and-of itself.

Granted this argument does not give wiggle room around tax requirements (the IRS can be quite ruthless).

The constitutionality of the 16th amendment was a key element overlooked in the film. However, I imagine if Aaron Russo was still alive, there would be an America: Freedom to Fascism Part II in which this would have been discussed.

Hopefully someone else will, since I own neither a video camera nor mad editing skills.

Welcome to the Brave New World

America: Freedom to Fascism
The Director's Cut

I don't know how to critique this film and still do it justice. [edit: I forgot to add this earlier, at this time I haven't personally looked up the laws discussed in this film, and thus can't say if they're valid or not.] This is the second film I've linked on this blog that references George Orwell. I'm starting to wonder why 1984 isn't required reading in all high schools across America. The scarier thought I had immediately following this was, would it even make a difference? I think we have all heard references to Big Brother at some point in our lives, but I don't see a mass protesting in the streets against things. But maybe, even if there was such a group, I wouldn't see it on the news.

While watching this film it reminded me of a quote from my favorite TV show, Joss Whedon's Firefly. Jayne had said:

"Do you want to know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with."

Nifty T-Shirts

AnarchTee Political and Social Activist T-Shirts

I stumbled across this site while surfing the web, and I thought their t-shirts had unbelievably witty slogans so go forth and spend ye ole prosperity, err, I mean credit card.

A Must Watch Documentary

Orwell Rolls in His Grave

Wake up! Orwell is perhaps one of the most famous authors. Best known for his novel 1984. Written in 1948, it tells of a future run by Big Brother. The Patriot Act and the Real Id Act are prime examples.

Orwell did warn us about totalitarian governmental control, which does make us wary of big government. However, maybe we mistook Big Brother to only be Big Government. If so, this film should be regaled as the Orwell warning of its time. This film draws upon parallels from the Orwellian world to illustrate where Big Brother has been hiding in ours.

Value Free Speech? A Must Read Poem

Pastor Niemöller Quote

The following is reproduced here because of its relevance to this critical moment in history. This is adapted from a statement by a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps (Pastor Martin Niemöller).

First they came for the hackers.
But I never did anything illegal with my computer, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the pornographers.
But I thought there was too much smut on the Internet anyway, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the anonymous remailers.
But a lot of nasty stuff gets sent from anon.penet.fi, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the encryption users.
But I could never figure out how to work PGP anyway, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for me.
And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

— Alara Rogers, Aleph Press

In September 1996 anon.penet.fi ceased operations (as a result of attempts by the Scientology organization to force the operator to reveal the identity of people who had posted anonymously certain documents concerning that organization).