Archive for Economy

America’s Literal Collapse

October 7, 2013 Economy One comment

Our readers are more than versed on the figurative collapse of the United States, but today it is important to look at the literal collapse of America.  A key indicator of whether a nation is waxing or waning is the condition of its infrastructure.  Specifically, is the infrastructure modern, maintained, robust, and operating efficiently or is it dated, failing, vulnerable, poorly maintained, and inefficient?  When one assesses the condition of the US infrastructure, one finds a massively inefficient system that is becoming increasingly costly, breaking down, and in desperate need of repair and/or complete overhaul.  Today we will specifically look at the condition of the US transportation sector, which is quite literally, collapsing.

 

On September 24th a major bridge in Wisconsin near Green Bay had a 400-foot section suddenly sag forcing police to close off the span that carries Interstate 43 over the Fox River some 120 feet below.  The bridge carries over 40,000 vehicles a day and will be indefinitely closed.  Perhaps even more disturbing is that the bridge was recently renovated and last inspected in August of 2012, when it was declared sound.  If a recently inspected and renovated bridge that was deemed sound has failed, what does that say for the older bridges that haven’t been renovated and are already deemed at risk?  The answers are dire and supported by the latest civil engineering research.

 

A US Senate report just released coincided with this latest bridge failure.  The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE’s) 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure graded the nation’s infrastructure a “D+” based on 16 categories and found that the nation needs to invest approximately $3.6 trillion by 2020 to maintain the national infrastructure in good condition. The following are the grades and the investment needs by 2020 for the surface transportation area:

o Bridges received a grade of C+;

o Transit received a D;

o Roads received a grade of D, and combined with bridges, and transit, have an

estimated investment need of $1.7 trillion; and

o Rail received a grade of C+ and has an estimated investment need of $100 billion.

 

Based on this, the US has to somehow find almost $4 trillion (estimates always go up, never down) in new revenue in what effectively amounts to five fiscal years (funding due in 2020 would need to be programmed no later than Fiscal Year 18 to pay out in Fiscal Year19).  Further, to receive C and D ratings, the majority of our transportation infrastructure has to be at risk of failing.  The bottom line is the money is not going to be appropriated because we don’t have it.  Even if we did, the bureaucracy with its pork, inefficiency, and regulations won’t be able to put the money into effect.  This means the repairs will not get done before 2020.

 

We can expect more and more major infrastructure failures across the nation as corrupt leadership and an overly burdensome bureaucracy continues to siphon off more and more money from the taxpayer.  Instead of going directly to maintenance projects where it was earmarked to be spent, the money ends up going to welfare programs, campaign donors, and interest payments on the exponentially increasing state and national debts.  None of these recipients add value to the society and will only contribute to the further deterioration of the infrastructure.

 

The huge problem with the infrastructure collapse is that it is not linear and it has ripple effects.  By not linear I mean that failures do not occur along a nice even line that gradually increases or decreases as bureaucrats would like.  Our collapse will resemble a more exponential trend similar to power grid failures where a small failure in the network cascades into a major grid failure.  Specifically, as one piece of infrastructure fails, it places greater pressure on other parts of the network.  This overstresses these nodes and causes them to wear out quicker and catastrophically fail long before their expected service life has occurred.  This trend will occur faster than money can be raised and maintenance conducted.  This accelerates the collapse of other nodes.  Further, as key nodes in the infrastructure network begin to fail, it has a direct negative impact on local, regional, and national economic conditions.  To offset the conditions, governments historically have opted to raise even more overly burdensome taxes on the few remaining productive citizens with jobs, which in turn actually reinforces the collapse cycle.  In fact, as major hubs begin to fail, businesses begin to lose greater percentages of their revenue, which forces prices higher and causes shortages of goods and services.  This reduces government revenues raised in the form of taxes and further reduces the amount of money available to be dedicated toward infrastructure maintenance.  Raising taxes higher only further magnifies this problem and creates even worse economic conditions.  This creates a viscous downward spiral that accelerates a nation toward total collapse.

 

Today we are caught in the downward spiral.  It is not when or if it occurs.  No ladies and gentlemen, we are in the midst of the collapse right now.  There has been no economic recovery and only lies and fudged economic numbers.  Even Wall Street, which has been booming, will face another even greater collapse when the Federal Reserve is finally forced to stop counterfeiting money, handing it for free to their banker allies, and then billing the taxpayer.  Make no mistake, it won’t be your grandchildren that inherit this unimaginable debt as politicians tell you; it will be you.  As such, you have two options.  The first is to ignore reality and succumb to a new Dark Age and slavery.  The masses have repeatedly done this throughout history when faced with a painful choice between immediate gratification or a tough, slow recovery that requires personal sacrifice.  The second option is to awaken your mind and open your eyes to what is going on around you and take action.  You few that choose the later will be in the minority.  You will be persecuted, harassed, and potentially even jailed for taking a stand to right the wrongs, but you will be the few that always change history.  Remember, it is never the masses that change history.  You know the collapse is coming and can’t be stopped, but you can be prepared for it.  Do all that you can in the time you have to prepare yourself, your family, and your community to rebuild.  Don’t waste your precious little time trying to fix what amounts to the Titanic sinking for the ship is lost.  No, be a Last Minute Survivor.  Go and get in a life boat and start paddling while the others remain convinced the Titanic is unsinkable.  You may still make it, but they will continue to dance until they drown.  Good luck.

 

By Guiles Hendrik

All rights reserved.

 

http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=a810613a-c18c-46fd-b38b-e8d4028c23fb

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/24817517

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130926-906190.html

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/us/wisconsin-bridge-sagging/index.html

 

How Good are our Analysts? Homeland Security Issues Facing the Next Administration.

September 19, 2013 Domestic Terrorism, Economy, Energy Security, Oil and Gas Comments Off on How Good are our Analysts? Homeland Security Issues Facing the Next Administration.

We have said from the beginning that predicting the past is for amateurs and academics, but accurately predicting future events is for true professionals.  Rather than pointing out that our previous articles have been spot on and proven out by recent events we will reach back to 2007.  The following memo was written by one of analysts as a short brief for whoever became the staff for the next president back in 2008.  We believe the accuracy of the predictions are a shocking testament to our accuracy.  Not only were the effects of natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy predicted, but the housing collapse, economic recession, failing infrastructure and power grid, dysfunctional health care, and even forest fires being set by terrorists were accurately identified as problems the Obama Administration would face!

The following is an exact cut and paste without edit of the August 2007 memo:

Homeland Security Issues Facing the Next Administration

 

The security of the homeland will face an unprecedented list of complex challenges in the coming year.  The next President can expect to inherit numerous lingering security issues as well as new and dire threats that will require fast and adaptive solutions.  This paper identifies critical shortfalls in contingency planning regarding how overlapping effects of a crisis significantly increase the overall magnitude of the threat.  

 

In short, a single limited crisis incident can usually be contained and reacted to.  These type contingencies have been analyzed and prepared for in detail.  Unfortunately, this one dimensional approach only identifies point of impact operations and does not deal with the much more catastrophic results of multiple overlapping incidents that occur whether by design or chance.  These type scenarios could be deemed as “worst case” and will quickly overwhelm even the combined capabilities of regional emergency services.  Even more frightening is the fact that not only can these events happen by chance, but a multi-dimensional attack can be planned and orchestrated by terrorists utilizing low technology and minimal coordination.  

 

Historically speaking, a single incident of even massive magnitude such as a natural disaster, bombing, or economic crash has been recoverable.  On the contrary, recovery against multiple disasters within a short time frame has crippled nations and brought about entire geopolitical shifts.  This ripple effect can begin quietly in a realm such as economics, but when coupled with a terrorist attack and or a natural disaster, the effects are dramatically magnified.  A real time sample vignette to illustrate this ripple effect could transpire as such:

 

Time: Labor Day Weekend 2007

 

Background:  A downturn in housing has caused the economy to slide into a recession while the federal funding has already been strained to the limit by a still on-going war.  Further, money to fund infrastructure modernization and repairs has been diverted to fund the war leaving bridges, damns, and power grids dangerously ill maintained.  Record heat waves have caused droughts across the nation and set record demand for energy that has increasingly relied on gulf oil imports as a result of the war in the Middle East.

 

Situation:  A Category 4 hurricane strikes the still recovering Gulf Coast turning the region into a flooded disaster zone.  Further massive fires have been spreading across the dry drought stricken United States as small bands of terrorist cells initiate a low tech coordinated arson attack across the country.  

 

Effects:  Normal emergency response teams are paralyzed to act in the flooded hurricane effected regions as they have been over committed fighting massive forest fires that have now begun to spread into residential and urban areas.  Due to power lines being damaged by fire, wind, and water and a high energy demand for cooling, power grids have begun to shut down leaving entire regions of the country without power.  The combined effect sparks looting and riots further deteriorating the system.  Martial law is declared, but implementation becomes difficult as forces are unavailable, not networked, and unable to span the massive scale of the crisis leading to a vulnerability culminating point.

 

The direct attack:  Just as the nation is most vulnerable, a terrorist sleeper cell is activated to conduct an attack of mass effect.  The results are catastrophic and will require years and perhaps decades for America to recover from.

 

Latent effects:  General anarchy develops leading to a massive economic downturn.  Further, failure of health care facilities and standing water from flooding leads to outbreaks of disease further exasperating the already critical situation. 

 

The above vignette is not a doomsday prophecy, but rather a very realistic scenario that could play out in present time across the nation.  DHS and the incoming administration must prepare the department for these ripple effect contingencies.  Although much more difficult to prepare for, immediate actions must be taken to specifically address the potential for ripple attack style events like above to be initiated by terrorists seeking to asymmetrically cripple the United States.  

 

As we further improve the security of our homeland, our enemies continue to adapt and find new ways to strike and the foundations of the United States.  Based on this, the Department of Homeland Security must work in concert with the next administration to continue to invest in threat analysis that seeks to predict how terrorists will asymmetrically evolve and develop new and to date unseen tactics for offensive attacks.  Recommended actions for DHS include war gaming the potential impact of different ripple chains, developing disaster drill scenarios that take the ripple effect into account, and developing a hardened and redundant logistics infrastructure that is reminiscent of the Cold War era.  A premium must also be placed on unconventional creative thinking as well as the development of agile, adaptive, and networked plans that can be rapidly implemented.

August 31, 2007

 

No one has a crystal ball, but they myriad of events illustrated in this memo certainly have come to pass and are developing as of the writing of this post.  We will continue to provide you visionary analysis with an unprecedented record of accuracy.  We hope that our analysis will help you understand the daily events happening globally and how they will affect you.  Armed with this knowledge you will be better able to make decisions critical to the protection of your life, liberty, and wealth.

See link for more information on arson as a terrorist weapon:

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/are-terrorists-setting-u-s-wildfires/?cat_orig=us

By Guiles  Hendrik

All rights reserved

JM Bullion-Precious Metals Sponsor

May 25, 2013 Economy Comments Off on JM Bullion-Precious Metals Sponsor

It is with great pleasure that I get to unveil our newest precious metals sponsor, JM Bullion. While they have only been around for a short period of time (20 months), they are quickly becoming one of the internet’s top outlets for precious metals. The JMB website can be seen at http://www.jmbullion.com/.

JM Bullion boasts having the best prices anywhere and challenges you to find better deals. In addition to this, they also do not require you to purchase a minimum amount of metal like many other sites do. Lower prices and no minimum order requirement are two of the main reasons why people have been flocking to JM Bullion increasingly over the past year or so.

Another aspect of JM that separates them from the rest of the internet’s dealers of precious metals is the fact that they do not force you to use only one payment option. There are three different options you are able to use when purchasing metals online through JM Bullion and they are:

  • Credit/Debit Cards ($0-$3,000 Orders)
  • Paper Check/Money Order/Cashier’s Check ($0-$10,000 Orders)-4% Discount
  • Bank Wire ($2,500-$100,000)-4% Discount

JM Bullion, being as concerned with the customer’s satisfaction as they are, is even willing to offer discounts for those who use certain payment methods. Discounted payments are yet another facet of JM Bullion’s customer-centric approach to business.

Once you have paid for your purchase the next issue that must be tackled is that of shipping. More often than not your order will be shipped within 3 to 4 business days and will arrive to your door through USPS or UPS.

JM Bullion prides themselves on quality in just about everything they do, something that seems to have been forgotten by many other online dealers of precious metals. Whether it be the fact that they have live phone and chat customer service to answer any questions that you might have, or the fact that they thoroughly inspect every order before it is shipped, “quality” is JM Bullion’s middle name.

If you are worried about purchasing precious metals from outside the US, no need to worry here because JM Bullion is headquartered in the United States. They are a wholly legitimate company whose adept customer service staff will be able to address any and all concerns that you may have.

Economies are taking huge hits all the time, and no one is to say for sure when the next recession will be, but you don’t want to be caught without precious metals when it happens. It is never a bad idea to invest in precious metals and now that JM Bullion is taking the internet by storm, it has never been easier to do so.

It’s happening. Momentum builds as world drops the US Dollar as its reserve currency

April 3, 2013 Economy, Politics Comments Off on It’s happening. Momentum builds as world drops the US Dollar as its reserve currency

For years economists have warned of the time when international trade will begin decoupling from the U.S. Dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  As the theory goes, the United States will face financial and economic collapse if the position of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is undermined.  In short, the U.S. can finance its massive debt because it can print its own money and nations will buy its debt.  However, if the dollar was no longer the standard world currency for trade, the U.S. could not endlessly print money and sell its debt.  The result would leave the U.S. with a choice between being unable to service payments on its debt or continue to print money and hyper inflate its currency to valueless.  Both scenarios lead to financial and economic collapse.  The U.S. would cease to exist as we know it if the theories prove true.

 

Until recently, these currency naysayers were slandered as alarmists or conspiracy theorists.  However, their predictions have begun coming to pass at an accelerating rate.  Already, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) nations have formed a financial block that seeks to reduce and then remove the dollar as the standard currency for trade.  Many other countries have bought into this transition to include key energy trading partners of the Gulf Cooperation Council such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.  Further, the world’s second and third largest economies (China and Japan respectively) have already dumped the dollar and began directly trading in their respective domestic currencies.  Specifically, in December of 2011 China and Japan agreed to direct currency trading in an effort to explicitly limit the role of the dollar [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/business/global/china-and-japan-in-currency-agreement.html?_r=0].

 

As this trend away from the dollar has accelerated, even traditional “Western” allies have begun to buckle to the pressures of economic reality as the dollar continues its decline.  The latest of these appears to be Australia, which just last week announced its intention to convert billions of dollars in trade with China to their own domestic currencies.  In effect, now that China, Japan, and Australia are eliminating trade in the dollar, which sets the stage for effectively closing the dollar out of Asia.

 

Also this week, in support of the momentum away from the dollar, Brazilian Minister of Finance Guido Mantega (L) and Chinese Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei signed a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Brazil and Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China on Bilateral Cooperation in Macroeconomic, Fiscal and Financial Policies at the 5th BRICS Summit in Durban, March 26, 2013.  The deal eliminates the dollar in about $100 billion in direct trade between the countries over the next three years and marks another milestone in the shift in international trade away from the U.S. dollar.  Alarmingly, China has now replaced the U.S. as Brazil’s main trading partner with over $75 billion in annual business.  Next up at the BRICS summit in Durban will be discussions to establish an international development bank to serve as a counter-balance to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.  All of this ultimately combines to decouple world markets from the dollar, which will undermine the U.S. strategically.

 

The fact is the world is dropping the dollar.  The dollar has been all but destroyed by the policies of the Federal Reserve and massive U.S. deficit spending and debt.  Regardless of what the likes of Tim Geithner or Ben Bernanke tell the American public, the rest of the world sees the US and European economies as terminally ill.  The pace of decoupling will continue to accelerate as more and more trade is conducted without the dollar.  This creates a catastrophic downward spiral of self-perpetuating collapse.  As the dollar is weakened, more countries will stop using it, and as they stop using it, the dollar will become weaker.  This trend then becomes a self-fulfilling currency disaster for the U.S.

 

The dire predictions of the “alarmists” are coming to pass.  It still is not known if this decoupling will lead to the dollar’s disaster, but the fact that the move from the dollar was accurately predicted lends credit to the forecasters’ conclusions.  Inflation has already affected every American at the grocery store and gas pump.  A shopping cart of groceries now costs nearly $500 and a gallon of gas $4.  Americans are at their breaking point.  Sadly, this is just the beginning.  It will get much worse as the value of the dollar continues to plummet and the cost of basic goods and services skyrocket.  As Americans suffer and elitist bankers cash in on record profits, anger may finally boil over into the streets as it has across Europe.  Any objective observer can see jobs are gone and not coming back and it’s only the elites that are getting richer while the remaining members of the middle class are bled dry with ever increasing taxes, costs, and premiums.

 

One does not need a crystal ball to see how this is likely to end and it isn’t pretty.  Even if suddenly Congress and the President decided to act decisively, the U.S. economy and financial system is by many accounts too far gone to be salvaged without a complete collapse and restructuring.  This means that greater pain for nearly all Americans waits in the near future.  By pain, picture pensions robbed, savings accounts pilfered, entitlements cut, spending eliminated, services non-existent, infrastructure crumbling, and even higher unemployment…and this is the best case!

 

By Guiles Hendrik

 

Additional resources:

 

http://www.ibtimes.com/so-long-yankees-china-brazil-ditch-us-dollar-trade-deal-brics-summit-1153415

 

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/03/30/China-Russia-Coalition-Creates-Alternative-to-IMF-World-Bank

 

http://dilemma-x.net/2013/03/29/australia-wants-to-cut-out-us-dollar-in-trade-with-china/

A Vet Speaks Out Against the Useless Insanity of Government “Jobs” Programs

December 31, 2012 Big Government, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Economy, Jobs, Politics Comments Off on A Vet Speaks Out Against the Useless Insanity of Government “Jobs” Programs

President Obama’s much publicized “you didn’t build that” comment reveals much about the misguided and ill-informed logic of our senior political leaders.  Implied in the statement is the notion that your job or business would have been impossible to obtain without direct government assistance.  As a small business owner, combat veteran, and self-made man, I tend to take a bit of offense.  I would go on to say the real point should be that it is amazing anyone is still able to build a thing in spite of the government, which from oppressive regulation and endless taxation, to not enforcing fair trading practices with foreign nations and cronyism, seems to have done everything in its power to prevent one from succeeding.

When it comes to business, nothing is better for a strong economy than developing and growing actual profitable businesses.  This profoundly obvious reality is completely foreign to the career bureaucrats that believe only through social programs and endless website links can businesses be built.  Perhaps if we just taxed you a few percentage points more and paid for thousands more government bureaucrats to teach you how to do a web search for “job seeking” we would all be better off?  Not likely, unless you consider endless and unsustainable growth paid for by the private sector a healthy economic trend.

If one actually takes the time to really look at the massive number of loosely categorized government “jobs” programs and agencies, one will find no real programs that produce jobs.  Mainly, the money being spent goes to big businesses or local and state governments that will then hand the money off again (after taking a cut) to other useless entities such as centers for helping someone look for a job that doesn’t exist.  I am particularly fond of my tax dollars going to fund ever growing armies of social workers to repeatedly attempt and fail to provide job training to felons on welfare that never had a job nor intend to since they are already collecting unemployment, Medicaid, Social Security, and various other forms of welfare and food stamps when not living in publicly funded prisons or housing.  In fact, a detailed review of government “jobs” programs reveals the only thing you will find is an endless chain of bureaucrats creating more bureaucratic positions at the taxpayers’ expense.  What is really occurring, it appears, is that you are taxed at incredibly high rates so that the government can fund an infinite number of useless, feel good programs that purportedly are there to help you.  When these don’t work, the answer is to tax you more and create even more useless and bureaucratic programs that “talk” about job creation, but never actually accomplish it.

The game is rigged people!   First, the government takes your money by force via the IRS.  If you don’t believe the money is being taken by force, try not paying your taxes and let me know how that goes.  Next, the money stolen from you is used to fund hundreds of useless bureaus, agencies, and boards that claim to “help” you find a job or build a business.  These agencies then demand mountains of paperwork and approvals that all combine to employ thousands more useless bureaucrats so that you can apply to have them give you your money back with interest in what they call a “business loan.”  Of course if you have somehow managed to acquire any real property by this point in life, the government will make you risk it as collateral so that it can minimize its risk when loaning your “your money” back.  This is big money for the government and it actually profits from loaning you your own money.  This is why when it comes to jobs programs, be it the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Bureau, the Department of Labor, or your state and local economic development boards, they all seem to want to give you loans.

The fact is, that whenever money is directly provided for economic development, it is not provided for starting a business, but rather, it is used to fund more government programs designed to sound good.  However, these programs fail to create a single non-government job.  Sometimes though, the money will be earmarked for a big utility to cover the costs of renovating its facilities all while still billing the consumer for “needed upgrades.”  Other times it is earmarked for local governments and small businesses to purchase obsolete, inefficient, or overpriced services and equipment no one would ever purchase if subjected to a true fair market.  This is the essence of crony capitalism.  The point is that none of this money is actually going to create businesses.  Say what you may about communist China, but at least when the government gets involved, it funds actual hard industry and businesses that do employ people!

Sometimes it is easiest to define what a government program does by defining what it doesn’t do.  This may be the case for the host of government “jobs” programs.  What you won’t see from a government jobs program is a single government program that will give you a grant to actually start a business.  That is unless you are a friend of the President and operate a completely fraudulent company producing nothing functional, but maintain a catchy eco-friendly name and allegedly produce “green” alternative energy products.  That may not be a totally inclusive statement though so one must also include union bailouts at the expense of taxpayers in right to work states.  That said, this is disastrous for American competitiveness and a healthy free market.  Disagree this is the case?  I urge you to go to the Department of Veterans Affairs website and see for yourself.  In plain English, in their words, on their deceptively named “VetBiz” webpage will tell you:

“Grants are a form of funding for specific federal research and social programs. Contrary to popular belief, there are no Federal grants made specifically for the purpose of starting a business.”

I couldn’t have stated the absurd reality and waste of government funds more honestly and to the point.  You can read this under the grants paragraph at http://www.va.gov/osdbu/veteran/vepFunding.asp

If not a big enough waste, the VA also likes to add insult to injury.  Under “Education Benefits” it notes it will only pay for programs offered by government run Small Business Development Centers even if they are absurd, useless, and not at all what one may need to be competitive or gainfully employed in today’s market.  The “excellent” careers veterans can look forward to being trained for are a barber/beautician, HVAC repairman, and a truck driver.  Wow, I wonder if I can also aspire to be a janitor!  This isn’t meant to disparage anyone performing these jobs, but only to point out the degree to which the government believes veterans are capable of performing.  A more reasonable person might suggest that a computer scientist, electronics engineer, or hedge fund manager might be a more challenging and profitable career path for veterans, but apparently the government sees those that served and protected our nation as the few, the proud, the minimum wage workers.

The point ladies and gentlemen is to reiterate that the government cannot and does not produce jobs.  At best, it can only create more bureaucracy that stifles jobs and destroys a healthy economy.  In fact, government should completely remove itself from this farce that by any reasonable estimate is costing taxpayers with actual jobs billions and providing a negative net return.  No Mr. Obama, we did not build this worthless bureaucratic nightmare, you did.  Now please, “Mr. #Ineverhadarealjobinmylife,” stay out of the way and allow those with actual skills, motivation, and experience to get back to what we know best, creating real jobs!

 

The Final Presidential Debate: Lies, Truth, and the Collapse of US Foreign Policy

October 21, 2012 Al Qaeda, Big Brother, Big Government, Constitution, Economy, Liberty and Freedom, Politics, Terrorism Comments Off on The Final Presidential Debate: Lies, Truth, and the Collapse of US Foreign Policy

President Obama and Mitt Romney find it amusing you believe anything they say.

At first it might be hard to decide what candidate for president to believe, but the answer in truth is easy.  NEITHER.  Both have been part of the lies and corruption too long to provide any real positive substance to the debate.  Beyond more of the same political spin on old failed policies, you will hear no new ideas, many excuses, lots of finger pointing, and most importantly, no real strategy that departs from the failings of at least the last 11+ years.

For almost four years President Obama has continued many of the Bush-era policies while adding his own flavor of failure.  Libya is just one of the most recent examples of an Obama owned foreign policy disaster as the return of four dead Americans can attest.  By arming and supporting known jihadists, he set the stage for greater bloodshed throughout Africa and the Middle East.  Even worse, Obama also quietly sold American sovereignty down the river to push an internationalist agenda.  By allowing the United Nations Security Council and not Congress to be the single authoritative body to send Americans to war and placing Americans under foreign command without objection, Obama intentionally set a new precedent in international law that further erodes American sovereignty.  Obama just recently was stating how Al Qaeda was decimated, but unfortunately for him and his propaganda machine, reality reared its ugly head all across North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.  To illustrate his colossal failure in the Middle East and beyond it is worthwhile to highlight some key events from just a couple short weeks in September.  During this very short timeframe a US diplomatic motorcade was blown to pieces in Peshawar, Pakistan wounding an American diplomat, four Americans to include an Ambassador were assassinated in Libya, numerous NATO forces were killed and wounded in Afghanistan by “friendly” troops and the Taliban, our embassies and consulates were attacked and torched in countries like Egypt and Sudan, Syria continued to deteriorate, and bomb blasts ripped through Iraq to name just SOME of the major events that affected Americans.  Moving beyond our unending wars with Islam, Japan and China moved closer to war, Russia reinforced units with elite combat troops on the border with Georgia, North Korea threatened America and South Korea with a nuclear attack, and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant continued to release massive amounts of radiation…again, to just identify a few highlights.  On the economic front a near imminent disaster is facing Europe that will certainly collapse the global economy and take the US down with it.  Further, the US debt has spiraled past 16 Trillion and is picking up speed with no end or even cuts in sight for spending.  The true magnitude of the impending economic disaster will only be seen after the election and the temporary Band-Aids placed on the world economy to support President Obama’s re-election fall away.  No Mr. President, Al Qaeda is not on the run, we are.  No Mr. President, the world is not safer.  No Mr. President, our debt and spending have not decreased.  No Mr. President, our economy has not recovered.  No Mr. President, you do not deserve another term!

As for Romney, this is a man with no foreign policy credentials.  He is the man who somehow managed to already offend even the British before he was in the U.K. for a day.  This is a man who has already kissed the ring of Netanyahu and sworn allegiance to a foreign power in exchange for political support.  This is a man who thinks the policy era of George Bush was a success and should be brought back.  So much so, his advisors and potential appointees are all Bush-era retreads reshuffled.  To think America would allow Bush-era policy “experts” back into the White House after what we already lived through and expect anything to improve is simply beyond comprehension and must be put squarely in the court of idiocy.  In respect to Romney’s stated Middle East policy, war mongering would be an understatement.  Even though Romney is nothing more than a well-endowed draft dodger, he apparently thinks nothing of putting your sons and daughters lives in danger as he plots an even more disastrous round of wars with Syria and Iran for Israel’s security.  I guess he didn’t get the memo regarding how “well” the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq went.  Nonetheless, he seems to think he can start a war with Iran and that somehow will benefit America although I would challenge him to justify this argument in the upcoming debates.  Further, he somehow believes that by giving more tax dollars to the incredibly over funded Department of Defense and starting a war with Iran he can simultaneously balance the budget.  In one of the rare cases of Bill Clinton being right, Romney’s numbers just don’t add up.  As a purported businessman, Romney must know this flaw in his arithmetic so it is fair to conclude he is stupid or lying to the public.  Beyond the Middle East, Romney has also managed to pick a premature fight with Russia and risks restarting the Cold War.  If Romney can’t even understand the consequences of wars in the Middle East, he is woefully unprepared to take on the likes of Russia and China in strategic policy.

America, your candidates chosen for you by the elites will not return peace and prosperity as they claim.  Instead, you will get greater debt, a worse economy, unending bloody and costly wars, and further destruction of your freedom and liberties at home.  We have seen both parties’ policies and they are abject failures, ignore the rule of law, and trash the Constitution.  Neither is acceptable.  Only by ditching the two very unqualified candidates and their establishment parties en masse can America hope to avert total disaster during the next four years.  The Democrats and Republicans do not represent your best interests unless of course you are an extremely wealthy donor, financial institution, or mega corporation.  Whether you disagree or agree, you, the citizens of the United States of America, will get the government you collectively deserve come November so choose wisely.

 

Below are links to a few recent articles illustrating the US strategic failure in Afghanistan:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/21/al-qaeda-in-afghanistan-is-attempting-comeback/

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/06/insurgents-kill-2-us-troops-in-eastern-afghanistan-bombs-kills-2-afghan/?intcmp=obinsite

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/13/blasts-in-southern-afghanistan-kill-2-afghan-policemen-3-intelligence-officers/?intcmp=obinsite

Why the Time is Right for Independent Political Parties to Rise in the United States

October 21, 2012 Big Government, Constitution, Economy, Liberty and Freedom, Organization, Support, and Advice, Politics Comments Off on Why the Time is Right for Independent Political Parties to Rise in the United States

 

Greek rioters clash with government forces

We have all probably heard the common retort from the brainwashed about how you will waste your vote if you don’t vote for a Democrat or Republican candidate.  However, now more than ever, your future depends on breaking with the elite establishment politics that have destroyed our once free Republic.  Neither a vote for Romney nor a vote for Obama will result in substantive change to our government as both will ultimately lead America to both domestic and international ruin.  Yes, it is safe to say a vote for Gary Johnson or another independent candidate will not result in a victory this round, but it sends a clear message to the establishment that the time for change is here.  Either the establishment gets on board and adopts real policy change or their days of control are numbered.  No matter whether they ignore the independent “majority” voice of Americans or not, they will soon be swept from power.  This much in inevitable.

Why am I so confident?  It is because history has provided us with a very strong lineage of case studies from both contemporary and past perspectives.  To simply break down this progression of the destruction of the old political order and the emergence of the new one, a rather obvious theme is present.  That theme is the rapid decline in the relative quality of life of the people of a nation.   This has often been associated with economic decline, wars, and repeated large-scale natural disasters including disease and famine whether independently or combined.  The result of any or all of these shocks to a society appears to be a complete loss of faith with the established ruling elite and break towards new ideas, solutions, and leadership for better or worse.  Note that I state “for better or worse.”  It is true that some breaks from European monarchy and the Catholic Church may be perceived by many as costly and bloody, but ultimately worthwhile; however, more often than not we have seen this break toward radical ideologies or dictators promising a return of stability.  Since the early 20th century this has ushered in the age of communism and socialism, and most recently, the return of religious extremism.  The deaths of hundreds of millions of people resulted from these new radical governments led by the likes of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao.  Most recently, we have seen a new wave of Islamism spreading across the globe and infecting countries like Libya, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq that have led to an increasing number of deaths of innocent civilians as entire regions are being ethnically cleansed of various religious minorities such as Christians, black Africans (Libya), or foreigners.  Europe in particular has witnessed a right-wing, xenophobic resurgence as well as a rise in secessionist movements that threaten to leave Western Europe aflame.

What does this have to do with me, one may ask?  Well, if you are paying attention, you will be acutely aware of the impending financial collapse of the global economic system and the likely default of the United States barring extreme fiscal austerity measures like what are currently being implemented across Europe.  Since that is soon to come to America (think fiscal cliff), you might want to consider how that austerity is working out for Europeans.  In short, it isn’t.  Massive protests from London to Greece have left these countries in a perpetual state of riot as the living conditions and quality of life plummet across Western Europe barring for the most part Scandinavia.  Athens in particular is burning, jobless rates are unprecedented, and there is zero hope of a turnaround anywhere in sight.  As a result, we have seen a dramatic rise in extremist political parties from the left and right in Europe that previously enjoyed little to no support in their respective countries.  If you see a resemblance here to the failure of Weimar Germany and the rise of the National Socialists (Hitler), you may quickly understand why this could be a problem for us at home.

As the living conditions in the US continue to deteriorate and it becomes clear no real recovery on “Main Street” has or will take hold, the reality of the situation will hit Americans both in the pocket books and stomachs.  As this worsens, people will turn to the streets in mass protests and seek new alternatives to our failed political party system, just as in Europe.  The “fringe” and independent parties that maintained their organizational structure through the rough days will soon find out that business is booming and their numbers of supporters rapidly growing.  Parties that previously didn’t even exist will sprout up.  Both the Democrats and Republicans will find their numbers, power, and influence rapidly decreasing.  This tipping point will be the moment when Americans find themselves at a crucial crossroads of ruin or prosperity.  One path leads almost assuredly to totalitarian control, destruction of freedom and liberty, and a lifestyle of slavery.  The other path will lead to a return of America’s greatness, liberties and freedoms, a healthy economy, fiscal discipline, and improving quality of life.

Sadly, the easy path, the path that appeals to the masses, the path that proclaims to provide an ever increasing bounty for free, the path that promises everyone everything is also the path of destruction.  This path has been walked many times by foolish and lazy subjects that believed the government could and would provide them everything and it only led to their death and enslavement at the hands of Marxist and Socialist regimes.  The second path, a path of responsibility that appears rocky and difficult is a path that leads to renewed independence, a turn from greater government control, a return of civil liberties and freedoms, and ultimately peace and prosperity.  Only the few intrepid peoples have trod this path to create great nations and it is yet to be seen whether that fire of “live free or die” still exists in the heart and soul of Americans.

For those of you disillusioned by the political system, now more than ever you need to break ranks.  No longer can you save our nation by adhering to the absurd notion that a vote for the “lesser of two evils” is a legitimate political choice.  You CANNOT, as many Dr. Ron Paul supporters found out in Florida, work from within the system to change it under the current circumstances; albeit there is a time and place for this and it is productive to have people working from the inside.  Remember, the system as we know it is now on a countdown to extinction and thus, working from within is simply a massive counterproductive waste of your limited time.  For those that worked so hard on campaigns and political platforms of change this year, I am sorry your hard and honest efforts were hijacked and used by the system for their ends at your expense.  As should now be obvious, the parties only gave lip service to real policy change in an attempt to placate independent, freedom minded voters just long enough to keep them from jumping ship to the other side while enjoying their financial donations, grassroots support, and overall silence.  Learn from this hard lesson and carry it with you.

For those of you that have long since washed your hands of the Democrats and Republicans, congratulations for your time has finally arrived.  Now more than ever it is critical that like minded, freedom loving people join together to create the solid organizational infrastructure that will rise as a truly better alternative while the old elitist regime crumbles.  Now more than ever the fate of the free world relies on the immediate need for a new political movement that will structurally return and enshrine the rule of law that protects our freedoms and liberties.  People around the country are clamoring for a real alternative.  This “will” occur whether by design or by necessity as the global economy implodes for better or worse.  Whatever  political “alternative” is the best organized as the collapse quickens will be the ultimate victor; again, for better or worse.  Turn your energies and votes from the campaigns of unqualified walking political disasters such as Romney and Obama toward a new alternative political organization that seeks to end the elitist stranglehold on our nation.  I am not the one to tell you what that organization is, but I can tell you that you will find good company here.  I challenge each of you to stop complaining and take action today.  Organize, communicate, and build this organization that will first become the opposition block and then the political mainstream as we run off the corrupt politicians, their lobbyists, and erase the failed elitist order that is now threatening to destroy our way of life.

http://www.france24.com/en/20121020-tens-thousands-rally-london-against-austerity

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-10/21/c_131919373.htm

More Clues War with Iran is Near: Tapping Strategic Petroleum Reserves

August 20, 2012 Department of Defense, Economy, Energy Security, Iran, Military, News and Intelligence, Oil and Gas, Politics Comments Off on More Clues War with Iran is Near: Tapping Strategic Petroleum Reserves

President Obama recently announced his desire to dust off plans for tapping the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserves.  This is the latest in a series of actions by the Administration suggesting the U.S. is quietly preparing for a war with Iran in the near future.  Further, this closely held knowledge is a tell-tale indicator that senior U.S. planners expect a war with Iran to disrupt oil supplies.  As such, Americans should prepare to see gas prices easily double and rationing as early as this fall if Israel is not prevented from attacking.  Prepare now.

The Obama Administration suggested this move was to help bring the gas prices down and counter heavy speculation on the futures market.  The problem is this explanation fails to neither make sense nor justify its use.  Tapping the reserves will have only minimal impact on prices and the U.S. will ultimately need to replenish the used petroleum so the purchasing of petroleum by the U.S. will actually show no net change.  Granted, the cost of gasoline in the U.S. is at oppressive levels, but has been for years now without any need to draw from strategic reserves.  If this was effective, it could have been done years ago.

Others have suggested political motives stating Obama wanted to lower gas prices before the election and to help the economy, but for the already aforementioned reasons, this at best, would be limited and short-term.  At current consumption rates for imported petroleum, U.S. reserves would barely last two months.  However, even that is misleading because the maximum withdrawal capacity is only around 4.4 million barrels per day…roughly a fifth of what the U.S. uses per day in unrefined capacity.  Production is currently above demand so additional reserves being added to the already abundant oil market will again do little.  Further, U.S. refineries already operate at peak capacity so the “extra” oil would go nowhere.  If this was actually a feasible plan for jump starting the economy, why didn’t Obama do this long ago?

Finally, some Administration insiders have leaked that this was in fact a way to drive down increased oil prices to hurt Iran.  Since additional sanctions went into place on July 1st against Iran, oil prices have climbed due in part to approximately 1 million barrels per day of oil being taken off the market.  However, Iran has still found markets, as we predicted and is actually enjoying increased revenue from the price spike.  If the U.S. was serious about sanctioning Iran, they would not have given exemptions to nearly every country, such as China and Japan, that were already importing Iranian oil.   Considering that the markets had over a year ago priced in this event, the Saudis have increased production, and the U.S. has a surplus of oil, as identified above, this explanation too fails to justify tapping the reserves.

In reality, the Obama Administration is “dusting off” plans to draw on the strategic reserves because they are expecting disruptions to oil supplies in the near future.  The strategic reserves serve one purpose.  This purpose is to provide essential petroleum to refineries to support critical U.S. infrastructure including power generation plants, key industry, heating, and transportation.  Oh, and the military is who gets first dibs!  This is only done to supplement imports during emergency situations such as war or natural disaster.  The last two uses were to supplement production knocked offline by Hurricane Katrina and the temporary loss of Libyan production during the height of its civil war.

The major disruption that the U.S. is getting ready for without setting off alarms is an attack on Iran.  The U.S. knows that even in the best of outcomes, a military strike on Iran will spike fuel costs and cause at least a temporary disruption in global oil supplies.  At worst, production throughout the entire Gulf region could be destroyed and the world would face a chain of catastrophic events beginning with a massive price spike and shortages.  Further, the U.S. (taxpayer) most likely is going to get stuck with resupplying Israel with oil as it has previously done when oil to Israel has been cut off due to its wars.  Either way, it is a prudent move for any commander about to attack a country with one of the largest reserves of oil to be ready for supplies to be shut off.  A war is the single reasonable answer to this so be forewarned.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C08%5C19%5Cstory_19-8-2012_pg5_25

 

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