Those Who Do Not Learn From History...

This cartoon was published in the Chicago Tribune in 1934. We all know what was happening to our country during that time. 

Are we so ignorant as to not have learned our lesson from history? 

 

Click on image to enlarge

Wake Up America!

LESSONS FROM EGYPT

For the sake of the safety and well-being of our Republic, there are at least two lessons to be learned from the current Egyptian Event:

1.       America's leaders have been hypocritical, pretending to be what we have not been for far too long - i.e., defenders of the essential Principles underlying America's system of governance, and  

2.       A critical mass on the streets, imposing economic sanctions on the government, can peacefully remedy violations of natural Rights, when individuals and small groups cannot.

"All Men (including Egyptians) are created equal."

How utterly hypocritical it is for any public official in America, elected or appointed, to favor or facilitate despotism and its companion, "stability," at the expense of Individual Rights, limited government and democracy, whether in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Israel, China or anywhere else.

For far too long, America's leaders have been selling our souls for a plate of beans, pretending to be something they are not - i.e., defenders of the essential Principles underlying America's system of governance.

For decades, over many administrations and by both political parties, the public promises and assurances of America's leaders regarding limited government, individual Rights and the equality of man have been a deception, masking the true character of their collective acts, which actually sustain abusive government power over individual Rights.

Their acts, speaking louder than their words, have instead institutionalized abuse of power and populations around the Earth, all for the purpose of securing material bounty and geopolitical advantage, not in the national interest but for the few and privileged. 

The proof of this is demonstrated by America's foreign policy and its devastating, adverse impacts on the ordinary, non-aligned People of other countries. Egypt is but one example.

During the last three weeks, the political leadership of the United States, particularly the Executive, have appeared frequently on world-wide television to present statements regarding the obligation of Egypt's leaders to "address" the Grievances of the Egyptian People, respect the Natural Rights of Individuals and avoid violence.

These broadcasted claims by America's leaders, however, are nothing short of sheer hypocrisy when contrasted against the similar refusal by America's leaders to "Redress" the Grievances of the American People, repeatedly served via First Amendment Petitions for Redress, concerning gross violations of Rights guaranteed by our Constitution - (allegedly, still) the Law of the Land.

After America's leaders were finally shamed into finding quiet words of support for the unalienable Rights of common Egyptians, and forced to tacitly admit to America's policy of enduring support of the Egyptian dictator's despotic regime, we offer this reminder. These same U.S. leaders have, for over a decade now, steadfastly REFUSED  to Redress similar Grievances of the American People, that is, violations of our Constitution that continue to adversely impact the Life, Liberty and Prosperity of the American People, while continuing to wreak havoc, unrest and injustice abroad.

America's leaders during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations have refused to respond to the People's Petitions for Redress of Grievances, including those relating to: the application of the armed forces in hostilities overseas without congressional authorization;  the cartel of private banks known as the Federal Reserve System; the fiat (paper) Federal Reserve currency and fractional banking practices; the imposition of direct, un-apportioned taxes on labor; the virtual evisceration of the Bill of Rights by the USA Patriot Act; the failure of the Executive to "faithfully execute" existing immigration laws; the giving and lending of public funds to private entities for definitively private purposes; the use of public funds to bail out foreign currencies without congressional appropriations; the eligibility requirements of the office of President; and the movement towards a North American Union.

In true authoritarian style, between December 2006 and May of 2007, cornered by the persistent, highly visible pressure brought by members of our organization in the public exercise of the unalienable Right to Petition for Redress to hold the government accountable, the leaders of all three branches of the U.S. Government went as far as to collude in an veiled attempt to outlaw the First Amendment Right to Petition.

In short, just as we have witnessed in Egypt, Liberty is a force of Nature and no People can be expected to forever be deprived of their individual, unalienable and natural Rights, Freedoms and Liberties.

We, the People of America must hold America's leaders accountable to the following essential principles of Just and Lawful Governance:

·         All men (including Egyptians) are created equal; equality is not an American monopoly.

·         All men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, including Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Egyptians, too, have them simply because they are alive. Life-furnished Rights are not an exclusive American commodity.

·         To secure these Rights, governments are instituted among men; Government's sole purpose in America and elsewhere is to protect the Rights of their sovereign People.

·         People everywhere have the unalienable Right to Petition their Governments for Redress of Grievances if their Rights are being repressed, ignored and violated; All governments of, by and for the People are obligated to respond.

·         Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it; the Right to think freely and to hold the Government accountable extends to all People in America and beyond. 

Governments that prefer the calm seas of despotism rather than the boisterous sea of Liberty, where waves crash whenever Freedom is challenged, ought to be avoided like the plague by Americans and their leaders.

What is America after all, if it has all but abandoned its essential values both at home and abroad?  How can We, as a People, continue to claim moral primacy and spiritual authority for our acts when as a nation we have essentially forsaken our Founding Principles? 

The truth is coming to the surface and cannot be hidden; for decades America's leaders have used the unlawfully extracted wealth of this nation's citizens and violated its Constitution almost without restraint, to immorally and unlawfully meddle in the internal affairs of foreign countries, taking sides and assisting knowingly corrupt governments that openly oppress and violate the natural Rights, Freedoms and Liberties of the Free and Equal People within their borders.

America is now paying a heavy price for our hypocrisy.

As Ronald Reagan put it, "Government is the enemy of Freedom." Thus, every country has its Freedom Fighters whose Natural causes are limited government, individual Liberty and equality under the Law.

When the populations of despotic, authoritarian regimes realize the United States is the "friend" of their Governments, is it any wonder that America would have hostilities directed at us by those people, knocking down our buildings and the like? Even Osama Bin Laden and Michael Scheuer have told us this is so. Click to read the Petition regarding unconstitutional Foreign Aid.

So in the end, it is you and I, the working citizens of America, who end up not only financing, but becoming enduring victims of a "War on Terror" and its companion police state, all in the name of "security," but in clear violation of the Constitution which begins:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Despite the fact our nation may well have enemies, ironically many created as a product of our own ill-conceived foreign policies, a global war on terror and domestic police state do not serve the general Welfare of the People of the United States of America and should not be tolerated.

Where will it end?

Is there an alternative to a critical mass on the streets of America, imposing economic sanctions on the government, demanding an end to the police state and rising en masse to call for a foreign policy centered on the belief that the principal obligation of all governments is to protect the Creator-endowed, equal Rights of all men? 

 

Could a critical mass of Americans peacefully remedy the continuing violations of our Constitution, where individuals and small groups have thus far failed?

Article Courtesy of We The People

San Diego Port Officer Says Nukes Have Been Found In San Diego by 'Partner Agency' (Videos)

This video should make ALL Americans think twice about this country's border security and their own safety as a result. DHS (a misnomer if there ever was one) is at it again with their lies, denials, and excuses, however thankfully sometimes the truth seeps through the BS. 

Watch the video interview of a San Diego Port officer and his honest answers to some very tough questions. 

Wake Up  America!! Our border are a sieve and our government will not admit to the fact. The administration's reputation takes precedence over your safety any ol' day...

Please watch the follow up interview below

The REAL Reason Ben Bernanke Leaves a Paperweight on the “Print” Button When His Finger Gets Tired

We’ve been over the numerous BS excuses that US Dollar destroyer extraordinaire Ben Bernanke has made for QE enough times that today I’d rather simply focus on the REAL reason he continues to funnel TRILLIONS of Dollars into the Wall Street Banks.

I’ve written this analysis before. But given the enormity of what it entails, it’s worth repeating. The following paragraphs are the REAL reason Bernanke does what he does no matter what any other media outlet, book, investment expert, or guru tell you.

Bernanke is printing money and funneling it into the Wall Street banks for one reason and one reason only. That reason is: DERIVATIVES.

According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities for the Second Quarter 2010 (most recent), the notional value of derivatives held by U.S. commercial banks is around $223.4 TRILLION.

Five banks account for 95% of this. Can you guess which five?

 

Looks a lot like a list of the banks that Ben Bernanke has focused on bailing out/ backstopping/ funneling cash since the Financial Crisis began doesn’t it? When you consider the insane level of risk exposure here, you can see why the TRILLIONS he’s funneled into these institutions has failed to bring them even to pre-Lehman bankruptcy levels.

Ben Bernanke is a stooge and a fraud, but he is at least partially honest in his explanations of why he wants to keep printing money. The reason is to try to keep interest rates low. Granted he’s failing miserably at this, but at least he understands the goal.

Of course, Bernanke tells the public and Congress that the reason we need low interest rates is to support housing prices. He doesn’t mention that $188 TRILLION of the $223 TRILLION in notional value of derivatives sitting on the Big Banks’ balance sheets is related to interest rates.

Yes, $188 TRILLION. That’s thirteen times the US’s entire GDP and nearly four times WORLD GDP.

Now, of course, not ALL of this money is “at risk,” since the same derivatives can be traded/ spread out dozens of ways by different banks as a means of dispersing risk.

However, given the amount of money at stake, if even 4% of this money is “at risk” and 10% of that 4% goes wrong, you’ve wiped out ALL of the equity at the top five banks.

Put another way, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Goldman, and Citibank would CEASE to exist.

If you think that I’m making this up or that Bernanke doesn’t know about this, consider that his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, knew as early as 1999 that the derivative market, if forced into the open and through a public clearing house would “implode” the market. This is DOCUMENTED. And you better believe Greenspan told Bernanke this.

In this light all of Bernanke’s monetary policies and efforts are focused on doing one thing and one thing only: trying to shore up the overleveraged, derivative-riddled balance sheets of the Too Big to Fails.

The fact that the bank executives taking this money and using it to pay themselves and their employees record bonuses only confirms that these folks have NO interest in taking care of shareholders or their businesses. They’re just going to take the money and run for as long as this scheme works.

I don’t know when this will come unraveled. But it WILL. At some point the $600+ TRILLION behemoth that is the derivatives market will implode again. When it does, no amount of money printing will save the Too Bloated To Exist banks’ balance sheets.

At that point, it’s game over for Wall Street and the Fed.

Article by Graham Summers, Phoenix Capital Research

Tracing the Fed’s Vital Role in the Decline of the US Dollar

A Century of Ineptitude…Almost

Tracing the Fed’s Vital Role in the Decline of the US Dollar

Eric Fry Reporting from Laguna Beach, California… In 2013, we Americans will commemorate a century of wealth destruction in the United States – the Federal Reserve will be 100 years old. In 1913, the Federal Reserve Act became law – granting sole authority to the Federal Reserve to “issue legal tender.” Armed with its new power and its good intentions, the Fed embarked on a 98-year process of currency debasement. That’s not what the Fed set out to do; it’s just what it did do. In the early days of the Federal Reserve, this monetary authority enjoyed the support of a gold standard. Few Americans doubted that the Fed’s new greenbacks would be as good as gold. As such, gold coinage and paper dollars intermingled effortlessly in the US economy for most of the Fed’s first two decades. But as the wheels of progress roared ahead, America’s “hard money” coinage disappeared and soft promises took its place – soft promises and lots of chatter about hard money. As it turns out, chattering about hard money does not preserve wealth as well as hard money itself. The purchasing power of a one dollar bill has plummeted more than 95% since the Federal Reserve first began printing its legal tender in 1914. Although the dollar’s epic decline began glacially, it has gathered luge-like momentum. The greenback’s value dropped only 50% during the first 33 years of the Fed’s stewardship – i.e. between 1913 and 1946. But the 1946 dollar would lose half its value in just 24 years, while the 1970 dollar would lose half its value in just nine years. The rate of decay slowed somewhat during the Volcker years, as the 1979 dollar did not lose half its value until 14 years later. Nevertheless, the dollar’s progression toward zero since 1913 feels more geometric than arithmetic. In 1914, the year the Federal Reserve began conjuring dollar bills into existence, 700,000 shimmering new $10 Indian Head Gold Eagles rolled out of the Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver Mints. Once in the hands of a working stiff, each $10 coin would buy $10 worth of goods and services. Likewise, the Fed’s crisp, new McKinley $10 bill would also buy $10 worth of goods and services. Over the ensuing 98 years, a succession of Federal Reserve Chairmen labored to “preserve” the purchasing power of their McKinleys, Washingtons and Lincolns. The Gold Eagles had to take care of themselves. The results are in; the unprotected Gold Eagles flourished, while the “protected” Mckinleys withered. Based on its metal content, a 1914 $10 Indian Head Gold Eagle is worth $643.45. A 1914 $10 bill is still worth ten dollars. To examine this contrast from a slightly different perspective, consider the divergent paths of the two $50 bills pictured below. The first $50 bill is a 1913 “Gold Certificate,” issued directly by the US Treasury and fully convertible into gold. The second $50 bill was issued by the Federal Reserve in 1914 and was convertible into nothing. Both versions of this $50 bill circulated freely in American commerce. Any holder of the $50 Gold Certificate held title to 2.41896 troy oz. of Gold – at the fixed rate of $US20.67 per troy oz. These certificates could be redeemed at any bank or from the US Treasury itself at any time…until 1933, when FDR outlawed gold ownership. Notwithstanding this little nuance, let’s consider the plight of two hypothetical buddies from 1914. The first buddy, Caleb, stashes a $500 “rainy day” fund under the floorboards of his house – a roll of ten $50 Ulysses S. Grant dollar bills. The second buddy, Josiah, also stashes $500 under the floorboards – he walks into the neighborhood bank with ten $50 Ulysses S. Grant Gold Certificates and exchanges them for gold. Josiah then takes his gold and hides it under his floorboards. Both buddies forget about their hidden stashes. Eventually, let’s say 2010, the respective heirs of these two long-deceased buddies happen to conduct simultaneous renovations of their respective residences. Caleb’s heirs find the ten ancient $50 bills. “How quaint,” they think to themselves. Josiah’s heirs find $32,172 worth of gold! Thus, 98 years of history demonstrates conclusively that a blind monkey could have preserved the dollar’s purchasing power better than a Federal Reserve Chairman. Unfortunately, it’s tough to find a blind monkey who will take the job.

Mexican Government Successfully Sheds the US Dollar From Its Economy… Aaaay Carumba!

Remember when you could exchange a few of your gringo dollars for a fist full of pesos at any Mexican border town? Cheep beer, food and a great time was what you expected for your dolares. Well... now it seems the Mexican government doesn't want to be caught holding the bag...literally! As in bags of continuously depreciating US greenbacks. 

According to this article, you will not be able to use the trusty Buck. If you plan on making a trip south the question will be: pesos or plastic, Senor? Add that to cartel kidnappings and murders of US citizens and it looks like the fiesta is about over. Hasta la Vista...Baby!

Mexico has always considered the US dollar almost a secondary currency to their Peso as the fact that billions of US dollars spent their way through the Mexican economy in 2009 and 2010 which speaks for itself, but sometimes even the best of friendships come to an end.

The Mexican government in September 2010 enacted a new law which basically restricts the use of US Dollars for almost all purchases inside of Mexico.

In early 2010 travelers and visitors could shop at many of the large US corporations inside of Mexico such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot or even one of the hundreds of American food establishments such as McDonalds or Dominoes Pizza and pay for their meal using US Dollars but under the new law using US Dollars is no longer an option.

Just image the surprise of many Americans being told by Wal-Mart that US Dollars are no longer accepted at their store especially since Wal-Mart is one of the most iconic “American” businesses in the world with such buying power that they set the prices which manufactures must sell them their items for.

Wal-Mart´s buying power is so well known in fact that most people would normally be able to safely assume that with such buying power that Wal-Mart could also force almost any country into allowing them to accept the US Dollar to further their in store sales, but apparently not even Wal-Mart is that powerful.

Therefore it was no surprise that when this story broke in late September of 2010 that Mexico was no longer accepting US Dollars the internet was abuzz with conspiracy theories claiming a banking holiday was in short order or the crash of the US dollar was intimate while others were raising the “BS” flag and claiming Mexico would never stop accepting US Dollars because those dollars were its economic life support but as the year closed out and those “end of the world” predictions didn’t come to pass and the fact Mexico did stop accepting the dollar, well that only left many people wondering what really was going on south of the border.

The Mexican government had made it clear that they will no longer allow ANY businesses to accept US dollars including American companies regardless of the operation or who is paying in American dollars. That’s right, this means if you’re a US citizen and fly into Mexico for vacation or business your hotel is no longer allowed to exchange cash dollars into pesos at the front desk which was customary up until 2011.

Also in Mexico if you travel to a local bank regardless of the bank name or national origin including HSBC from China which is the fastest growing bank in Mexico you are no longer able to exchange US Dollars for pesos. Only account holders at banks have the option of depositing US Dollars into their bank accounts but this is for deposits only and not exchange and then you have to have a special type of account set up that is more costly. Of course even if you do have a special account that allows you to deposit US dollars your bank will charge you a service free for depositing foreign currency into your account and then probably another service fee for a withdrawal but that’s another issue all together.

Ok so many readers are probably asking if the banks no longer exchange money or business are no longer allowed to accept US Dollars then what is a person who has US dollars suppose to do.

For those who have traveled to Mexico there is a good chance you are familiar with Casa de Cambios which are small exchange centers for US dollars and often littered on every corner of any large tourist city or the closer to the border you are, however these Casa de Cambios themselves have come under strict new regulation as well as have been greatly reduced in numbers as more are closing every day faster than “one hour” Kodak film processing centers or Blockbuster video locations.

Part of the new regulations is that anyone exchanging money for any reason must now present a valid government ID which is copied and placed on file with a copy of the transaction and amount of money being exchanged. This additional paperwork and hassles now mean higher operational costs for these businesses which in turn mean those costs will be passed onto the consumers who are often the one that end up paying for everything anyway.

Another drawback is that since there are now fewer Casa de Cambios this means less competition and so the exchange rate doesn’t have to be as competitive or even what the banks posted exchange rate is, after all you really have no other option in exchanging your US dollars. Gone are the days of such advantageous exchange rates that allowed anyone exchanging US Dollars into Pesos additional purchasing power by walking away with more for your money south of the border.

The Mexican government wants everyone to believe that these new laws were enacted because the war on drugs and the inability to track all these US Dollars floating around their economy which they claim the drug cartels are using in a black market way but a closer look indicates something completely different.

As the dollar continues to lose purchasing power so does the ever enjoyed exchange rate the US Dollar held for so long. This is a way to actually help devalue the US Dollar while protecting the Mexican economy from going down with the US financial Titanic that has been taking on way too much water in the form of overspending and red ink.

With the value of the dollar sliding lower each day there are some experts who are predicting the US Dollar to reach a point that it will either collapse or need to be reevaluated but either way the Peso is expected to be worth more than the US Dollar and this looks like it will happen sometime very soon at the rate of how things are changing for the Dollar around the world.

This is why it looks as if the Mexican government is doing everything it can to remove as many US Dollars from their economy so there are fewer US Dollars in circulation inside of Mexico so that when the US Dollar does finally go by the wayside there will be less of a direct affect on the Mexican Economy as a whole.

It has now been almost 5 full months since this law took effect and Mexico has been successful in eliminating millions of US fiat Dollars out of its economy and taking steps to vamp up the removal of all remaining dollars by recently instigating even stricter rules at the Casa de Cambios preventing them from exchanging more than $300.00 dollars per transactions. This means it will be much more difficult for Mexicans to send US Dollars home to their families without enriching the pockets of the bankers and the money transfer companies. These caps on exchanging Dollars will also cause the people to want to get away from the dollar faster as it’s more difficult and costly to do business with dollars.

On a side note it´s also important to note that the Mexican economy grew at a rate of just over 5% in 2010 and by the year’s end many large companies in Mexico were reporting stronger than ever revenue and sales at rates not seen in many years. Many large companies are actually in hiring frenzies and some companies are desperate to fill slots with qualified workers.

Now while some will argue that any cash regardless if it is drug money or laundered is actually good for an economy but most people can also understand it’s not good if that cash you have is losing its value so fast that it isn’t going to be worth the paper it’s printed on so it´s best to get rid of that money as fast as you can.

There has been a rush to sell off US Dollars inside Mexico because the people are sensing a coming financial storm with the US Dollar and they too don’t want to be stuck with worthless paper or allowing that worthless paper to drag down their economy especially while their overall economy is going through a growth trend but until that time does come you will still be able to use your credit and debit cards as those funds are simply automatically converted at the time of a transaction but are not physically in the economic system as fiat paper money but rather electronic funds.

A good conspiracy theorist will argue the point that the removal of paper money and forcing people into electronic transactions and requiring those who do use cash to provide ID to be Orwellian and that the bankers come out winning might have a point to some degree but in Mexico the fiat currency in the form of Peso bills can still be used for most transactions. The irony is that many Americans for so long often use to complain about how so many Mexicans living in the United States were sending US Dollars back to Mexico and how it hurt the US economy. The irony is now those Americans are getting their wish that little if any US dollars are being sent to Mexico and in turn this is actually greatly helping the Mexican economy while drastically hurting and aiding in the devaluation of the US dollar.

SO for those planning to travel to Mexico be sure to take your Kevlar and your American Express card (don’t leave home without it) and remember Visa is everywhere you want it to be, even in Mexico where the Dollar is no longer accepted. 

Article by Von Helman, The People's Voice

David Walker - Former US Comptroller General: Obama Has "No Coherent Strategy" for Tackling Deficit or Creating Jobs

 

Every good fight needs a good strategy. But, the fiscal fight this country has been battling for the last few years hasn’t got one says David Walker – the so-called “Paul Revere” of fiscal responsibility.

“We have no coherent strategy to be able to improve our competitive posture, to be able to generate job growth [or] to be able to deal with our structural deficit,” says Walker, Founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative and also the former U.S. Comptroller General.

If Walker is right, the United States is in serious trouble. This year the U.S. deficit will hit $1.5 trillion and if left without remedy will grow to $18 trillion by the end of 2021. (See: Dangerous Debts: Holtz-Eakin “Infinitely” Concerned U.S. Is Next Japan)

President Obama touched on our dire deficit situation during his second State of the Union last week, but Walker felt he did not go far enough.  He believes as the executive of the country President Obama should have laid out specifics on out how to move this country forward. “We heard a lot of talk about it in the State of the Union,” he says. “We hear a lot of talk about it from politicians on both sides of the political aisle. It is time for action. We need results, not rhetoric.”

But, with a newly elected divided Congress, are these results achievable?

Moody’s Investors Services doesn’t think so. Last week the ratings agency expressed concern that even in the face of these dreadful problems, Congress will not be able to find common ground.

Walker does not agree entirely. “There is a growing consensus that we need to do something. There is [just] not a consensus on what needs to be done,” he tells Aaron in the accompanying clip, suggesting we should focus primarily on these actions to fix our long-term structural deficits:

• -- Lower discretionary spending – including defense (excluding war costs) - to 2008 levels adjusted for inflation and population growth.

• -- Set discretionary spending caps.

• -- Set pay-as-you-go rules for both spending programs and tax cuts.

• -- Set debt-to-GDP targets with automatic spending cut/tax surcharge enforcement mechanisms to start in 2013 or 2014.

“Without a strategic planning framework that is future focused, results oriented, geared towards outcomes where we are trying to achieve specific results,” we aren't going to make any real progress, he says. “We have too many career politicians in office that are focused more on getting re-elected rather than keeping America great and keeping the American dream alive."

Still, Walker is optimistic that the voting public is much smarter than politicians give them credit. “When you tell them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and help them understand that this country’s future is at risk…they will support action,” he says.

What the country really needs now, he says, is leadership and that leadership must first come from the President of the United States.

Article by Stacy Curtin, Yahoo Finance