I’m sorry, I forgot; I’m just some brain-dead, fluoridated, prescription-drugged and debt-strapped moo whose only reason for an IRS and Social Security tracked existence is to be out working to produce a revenue stream for the aristocrats and the rest of the world. - One Rather Upset Monster

A Nation Of Sheep Will Beget A Government Of Wolves - Edward R. Murrow

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. - Plato

Rumor: Smith & Wesson Too Big To Fail…You Know What That Means

UPDATE: 5/5/09

This post is creating quite a stir among patriots and obots alike, so if the site is slow – deal.   I still have not been able to reach anyone at S&W to confirm or deny any of what was posted on JumpingInPools as “satire”.  I wanted to be thorough, (and my readers know I am that), and check and make sure it was just satire, BUT THE WHOLE POINT OF THE POST was NOT Smith & Wesson, BUT Cerberus and Remington and what would happen if the government takes control of Cerberus or their holdings, (including gun manufacturers), because Cerberus received TARP MONEY…just like the banks…is any of this ringing anybody’s bell?

…end update…go about your business….

********

There is another rumor floating around the internet right now and I have calls and emails into Smith & Wesson to get the real story.  I was going to wait until I was actually able to confirm this story one way or another, but ended up going down a completely different path while investigating, and felt that the information revealed required immediate dispersal to the roundtable.  I will let you know as soon as I get more information about the rumor.  In the meantime, some of you may already know about the second part of this post; most will not.

Here is the rumor…

From Jumping In Pools:

Gov’t Attempting to Seize Smith & Wesson

Marie Llosander
4/29/2009

Seemingly in line with other corporate seizures, the United States government appears to be attempting to gain a majority stake in prominent firearms company Smith & Wesson.

Smith & Wesson, one of the oldest weapons company in the United States, is currently on sound economic footing. However, a clause in the 2009 Stimulus Bill calls for the federal government to seize industries and companies that are essential to the economy or ‘government function.’

The Treasury Department contacted the company in March 2009, asking to buy shares at $10 above market price. However, this offer was sharply rebuffed. Similar offers have been made to Remington.

After this rejection, the Treasury Department has declared that it will use mechanisms in the Stimulus Bill in order to override the corporate decision. Smith & Wesson’s board of executives have also been informed that this decision by the Treasury Department could not be appealed to any superior court.

Which brings us to the very interesting part of this story while I wait for confirmation from Smith & Wesson.

“Similar offers have been made to Remington.”

That statement is very interesting since Cerberus owns Remington and bought the gun manufacturer on April 5, 2007.  Who is Cerberus you ask, and what else do they own?

From Wikipedia:

Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by 49-year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle has been a prominent Cerberus spokesperson and runs one of its international units.

History

Founded in 1992, Cerberus is named for the mythological three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades. Feinberg has stated to his employees that while the Cerberus name seemed like a good idea at the time, he later regretted naming the company after the mythological dog.[1]

The company has been a very active acquirer of businesses over the past several years and now has sizable investments in automotive, sportswear, paper products, military services, real estate, energy, retail, glassmaking, transportation, and building products. In 2006, its holdings amounted to $24 billion.

On October 19, 2006, John W. Snow, President George W. Bush‘s second United States Secretary of the Treasury, was named chairman of Cerberus.

J. Ezra Merkin is a partner in Cerberus. Merkin invested his funds into Cerberus and its portfolio companies. His Gabriel fund invested $79 million in Chrysler, $66 million in GMAC and $67 million in Cerberus partnerships, according to year-end statements.[2] The Gabriel Fund was a feeder fund for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.[3]

Japanese bank, Aozora, a Cerberus company lost $137 million to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Aozora was part of the investment group that acquired 51 percent of GMAC from General Motors. [4]

Chrysler

In 2007, Cerberus and about 100 other investors purchased an 80% stake in Chrysler for $7.4 billion,[5] promising to bolster the auto maker’s performance by operating as an independent company. In 2008, the plan collapsed due to an unprecedented slowdown in the U.S. auto industry and a lack of capital.[6] In response to questioning at a hearing before the House committee on December 5, 2008 by Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, Chrysler President and CEO Robert Nardelli said that Cerberus’ fiduciary obligations to its other investors and investments prohibited it from injecting capital.[6]

On March 30, 2009, it was announced that Cerberus Capital Management will lose its equity stake and ownership in Chrysler as a condition of the Treasury Department’s bailout deal, but Cerberus will maintain a controlling stake in Chrysler’s financing arm, Chrysler Financial. Cerberus will utilize the first $2 billion in proceeds from its Chrysler Financial holding to backstop a $4 billion December 2008 Treasury Department loan given to Chrysler. In exchange for obtaining that loan, it promised many concessions including surrendering equity, foregoing profits, and giving up board seats:

“In order to achieve that goal Cerberus has advised the Treasury that it would contribute its equity in Chrysler automotive to labor and creditors as currency to facilitate the accommodations necessary to affect [sic] the restructuring.”[7]

Chrysler Financial refused to take $750 million in TARP government bailout aid because executives didn’t want to abide by executive-pay limits, and because the firm doesn’t necessarily need the money.[8]

On April 30, 2009, Chrysler declared bankruptcy protection and announced that GMAC will become the financing source for new wholesale and retail Chrysler cars.[9]

GMAC

Cerberus acquired 51 percent of GMAC, General Motors‘ finance arm, in 2006 for $7.4 billion.[10] It appointed Merkin as nonexecutive Chairman.[11]

As of October 15, 2008, GMAC had $173 billion of debt against $140 billion of income-producing assets (loans and leases), some which are almost worthless, in addition to GMAC Bank’s $17 billion in deposits (a liability). Even if GMAC liquidated the loans and leases, it could not pay back all of its debt.[12]

On December 10, 2008, GMAC said, “GMAC LLC, the auto and home lender seeking federal aid, hasn’t obtained enough capital to become a bank holding company and may abandon the effort, casting new doubt on the firm’s ability to survive. A $38 billion debt exchange by GMAC and its Residential Capital LLC mortgage unit to reduce the company’s outstanding debt and raise capital hasn’t attracted enough participation.” This was due in part because Cerberus had raised the credit requirements for car loans so high, virtually eliminating leasing, that they have been responsible for a sizable chunk of lost sales at GM due to customers inability to secure financing, in order to pressure GM into selling or trading their remaining stake in GMAC.[13] GM stands to write-off over a billion dollars in lost residuals – which they paid up front to GMAC. GMAC’s exposure to the gap in residual values is around $3.5 billion.[14]

In December 2008, Cerberus subsequently informed GMAC’s bondholders that the financial services company may have to file for bankruptcy if a bond-exchange plan is not approved. The company had previously said it may fail in its quest to become a bank holding company because it lacks adequate capital.[15]

In January 2009, Merkin resigned from his chairmanship as a condition by the U.S. government.[16] Five days earlier, the Federal Reserve granted GMAC bank holding company status, so it could get access to the bailout money.[17] On December 29, 2008, the U.S. Treasury gave GMAC $5 billion from its $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Cerberus’s investments in Chrysler and GMAC totaled about 7 percent of its assets under management.[5]

Broken deal for United Rentals

In the summer of 2007, Cerberus agreed to buy 100% of United Rentals, the world’s largest equipment rental company and traded on the NYSE. After the credit markets began to tighten in August, Cerberus attempted to reduce the deal price. United Rentals refused to reprice the deal, and in November sued in the Delaware Court of Chancery for specific performance (i.e., a court mandate that Cerberus complete the deal). Cerberus took the position that the deal agreements capped its liability for walking away from the deal at $100 million. After a two-day trial, Delaware Chancellor William B. Chandler, III ruled for Cerberus in a closely watched decision, allowing it to pay United Rentals the agreed-upon $100 million “reverse termination fee” and terminate the merger agreement.[18]

Notable acquisitions

  • Pharmaceuticals – In December 2004, the company announced the acquisition of Bayer‘s plasma products business and renamed it Talecris Biotherapeutics.
  • Real Estate – Through investment affiliate Cerberus Real Estate, the company has been making direct equity, mezzanine, first mortgage, distressed and special situation investments in all asset types. It also controls Miami Beach-based LNR Property, a large real estate development and investment firm through subsidiary Riley Property. Cerberus also controls Kyo-ya, a Japan based group of entities that owns several Starwood managed assets in California, Hawaii and Florida.
  • Retail – Cerberus purchased 655 of the 2,500 Albertson’s, Inc., grocery stores, forming Albertsons LLC of Boise, Idaho, in June 2006. They also had an ownership stake in the now-bankrupt Mervyn’s department stores, which was acquired from Target Corp. In June 2007, Cerberus acquired Torex Retail Plc., a retail solutions provider in troubled waters, for approximately 400 million US dollars.[19]
  • Financial Services – General Motors sold a 51% stake in its GMAC finance unit to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management in November 2006. GM expected to receive $14 billion over the next three years from the sale of General Motors Acceptance Corp. In December 2006, Cerberus acquired the Austrian bank BAWAG P.S.K. for a reported EUR3.2 billion. In August 2007, Cerberus announced that it was closing one of their mortgage companies, Aegis Mortgage. It owns half of a 9.9 % share (5%) with the Gabriel Group in Bank Leumi, purchased in 2005,[20] but as of April 19, 2009, it was decided to sell in order to boost capital.[21]
  • In 2007 Cerberus took over Corvest a promotional products company based out of Largo, FL with arms based in Simi Vally, Ca & Thorfare, NJ.

From ModernHistoryProject:

Life RemingtonArms Division CerberusCapital Division DuPontCo DuPontCo Owner USWarInd Client PryorSF Officer RockefellerPA Director

^ Remington Arms Company (1816 to present) | Google | SrcWatch | NNDB | NamBase | SchRoot
Weapons and ammunition manufacturer (See: Remington company history)
History of the Remington family (See: Rootsweb history)
^ Cerberus Capital Management (Division of, 2007 to present) | Google
2007-06 : Cerberus acquires Remington (See: Article)
^ E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Division of, 1980 to 1993) | Google
1980 : DuPont acquires remaining shares of Remington Arms
1993 : DuPont sells Remington Arms
^ E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Owner of, 1933 to 1980) | Google
1933 : DuPont acquires controlling interest in Remington Arms. (See: DuPont history)
^ U.S. War Industries Board (Client of, 1917 to 1919) | Google
Remington was a major supplier of arms and ammunition during WW1.
^ Pryor, Samuel F. (Officer of, dates uncertain) | Google
Chief Executive
^ Rockefeller, Percy A. (Director of, dates uncertain) | Google
(click to view)
^Related Articles — click title to view
George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography (6 refs)
Secrets of the Federal Reserve (1 ref)

Here is the link to the list of executives of Cerberus Capital.  Take a moment, go over, and click on the links to each executive and see how they are connected to other interesting businesses.

I also ran across this interesting tidbit from the New York Observer:

Cerberus Capital Management: You Cannot Be Serious

For reasons that defy both logic and recent history, Cerberus Capital Management, a New York–based private equity firm, has purchased a controlling interest in Chrysler for nothing, while taking the German automaker Daimler off the hook for almost $20 billion in pensions and health-care benefits. The sale comes about nine years after Daimler bought Chrysler for $36 billion in hopes of restoring the company to its former glory. (The biggest joke of all is that Kirk Kerkorian, Chrysler’s then-biggest shareholder, thought Chrysler had made a bad deal, and went on to sue DaimlerChrysler. Now he’s taking a big stake in General Motors—maybe a good short sale.)

This latest sale—if you can call it that—is being hailed as a milestone in the storied history of American automaking. Chrysler, once an icon of mid-century American economic power, will become the first privately owned U.S. car company. The question for Chrysler’s new owners is simple: Why do they think they can rescue the company when Daimler, one of the world’s smartest automakers, clearly could not?

This is not just a question about Chrysler’s future; it’s a question about the entire U.S. auto industry. Chrysler was in bad shape when Daimler bought it, and has only gone south since. Meanwhile, it seems only a matter of time before the Ford Motor Company goes broke, thanks in part to William Clay Ford Jr., the great-grandson of Henry Ford, and his family counterparts, who have managed to fritter away their ancestor’s legacy.

If you are still interested in a thorough bio of Steve Feinberg and Cerberus after all that, go here.  I found it fascinating and more names that we have heard over and over before came up.

So I guess the question would be, “what does Cerberus know that we don’t know when it comes to Chrysler and Remington?”  Hopefully, I will have some sort of confirmation on the Smith and Wesson rumor soon.  Please keep in mind that if Texas passes their firearms freedom act, there will be ground-floor investment opportunities for the brand new gun companies springing up in Montana, Texas, and any other state that wants to shelter them from the feds and big business.

27 Responses to Rumor: Smith & Wesson Too Big To Fail…You Know What That Means
  1. InsightAnalytical-GRL
    May 4, 2009 | 6:46 pm

    Cerberus seems to be another Carlyle Group…Dan Quayle and GHW Bush, nice connection.

    So, they’re going to take away guns this way, right??

    Amazing. I wonder what the NRA will do??

  2. Iris
    May 4, 2009 | 8:16 pm

    They will stop at nothing. Just bought an additional beauty to add to my collection this weekend, a Glock 19, nice.

  3. Granny Gripes
    May 4, 2009 | 8:31 pm

    Beware the hot air that they are blowing up your pants while they are raping you.

    WELL, in college we were assigned to begin with a “conclusion” then search only for points and “out of context exerpts” from publications to prove our point as a fact.

    We were directed to discard anything that even gave a hint of facts to dispute our predetermined conclusion.

    IT WORKS!

    Therefore when you are picking a specific color of grain of sand from the sand on the beach, and declaring that your findings support that only that color of sand is “the beach” your are so lost.

    Plucking names of coicidence from a long list of high profile names and or from the vast amount of “conspiracy theories” published on the web, especially those that are planted by Soros, the enemies of the state, the expert “SPOOKS” as referenced so many times, you might find yourself missing the true enemy right under your foot.

    Beware the hot air that is blown up your pants while you are being raped.

    KEEP your eye on the man of the hour who is the man in power and watch that slight of hand. ALL of the side shows are whistle and bells to cover up what is really going on in the middle of the night and under the cover of the most sophisticated propaganda machine in the history of the World.

    READ beyond the fine print. Listen when you cannot watch, you truly hear more.

  4. Diamond Tiger
    May 4, 2009 | 8:34 pm

    Granny, have you taken the time to go up and read about the pilgrims society. Bambi is definitely the least of our concerns. I wanted to know who was pulling his strings….

  5. Granny Gripes
    May 4, 2009 | 8:39 pm

    This “alert” article means only one thing:

    JULY 4th is pitchfork and torch time, and it may be
    our last chance.

    Everyone’s efforts should be 100% devoted to the resistance movement and advancing to the end game
    of throwing all of the bums out 2010 and 2012.

    There is a critical need to shake up congress right now to stop all of this radical crap. And there is some evidence that a significant block are becoming as concerned as we are and let us hope they are becoming more educated every day.

    There are less than 90 days left to save this nation from total destruction and a fate we cannot tolerate but will be forced to accept;

  6. Internet Voice
    May 5, 2009 | 1:43 am

    Someone put that article on FR and everywhere!

  7. Kathy
    May 5, 2009 | 1:45 am

    Well this will certainly stimulate the gun industry some more.

    Diamond traffic may be a little busy today, you know how I like to drop links.

  8. tsiegtiez
    May 5, 2009 | 2:30 am

    Rumor: Smith & Wesson Too Big To Fail…You Know What That Means: Cerberus seems to be another Carlyle Group…D.. http://tinyurl.com/cfw8jp

  9. The Dame
    May 5, 2009 | 7:22 am

    Bombs…er…LINKS AWAAAAAYYYY!

    [Can I help it if I'm the daughter of B-17 officer? ;) ]

  10. Kathy
    May 5, 2009 | 7:32 am

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/05/the_cias_fight_with_obama_96333.html

    The CIA’S Fight with Obama.
    Has Barack Obama made an enemy who can sabotage his Presidency.

    GOD I HOPE SO.

  11. Terry Short
    May 5, 2009 | 8:27 am

    Rumor: Smith & Wesson Too Big To Fail…You Know What That Means http://bit.ly/cZLt6

  12. FollowsTheWay
    May 5, 2009 | 8:54 am

    RUMOR: Fed Government to use Stimulus loophole to take over Smith&Wesson and Remington? http://is.gd/wZ9Z #secondamendment #guns #2nd

  13. The Dame
    May 5, 2009 | 9:36 am

    kathy, amen! a girl can dream!

    ;) )

  14. 77Jack
    May 5, 2009 | 10:44 am

    Well I just did a little searching and didn’t find any other articles saying anything about S&W being seized by the Gov. Also found some other forums that this thing was posted on and a few people pointed out that one of the tag lines is “satire” so it looks as though it may just be a joke. Also if you search for “Marie Llosander” the only thing that comes up is the article that is posted here.

    With everything that’s going on it’s very easy to believe that something like this can happen, but hopefully this is just someone’s attempt to get everyone all riled up.

    • Diamond Tiger
      May 5, 2009 | 11:07 am

      I know you are right jack, but everybody seems to be missing the actual point of this story, Cerberus, Remington, Chrysler, GMAC and the TARP Money. This story was for the readers of the monster…a small devoted group of reseachers…did not realize it was going to turn into a circus with the whole point of the story being missed. Though, on the other hand, someone else who has more clout may actually get through to S&W to get some kind of confirmation/denial. I surely cannot – they aren’t talking to little ole me.

  15. Kathy
    May 5, 2009 | 1:11 pm

    Diamond I hope that I did not cause you any grief with posting this. Would it been better If I had asked you first?

  16. Diamond Tiger
    May 5, 2009 | 1:44 pm

    Kathy – no grief at all…I have pretty thick skin and I would not have put this up if I minded what other people thought. What is important is Cerberus and the TARP money and hopefully somebody bigger than me will pick up the story and get it out there. As for S&W, I am still trying to contact them.

  17. exDemocrat
    May 5, 2009 | 2:58 pm

    From what I’ve seen about the Pilgrims and related secret societies, they love being involved with “finance.” Look at Soros. He produces nothing. Likewise, with these financing, insurance, and holding companies.

    Also: that name of “Cerberus” is no accident folks. The occult and luciferianism run rampant through the secret societies (go to youtube.com and search on “Bohemian Grove” or “John Todd Illuminati”….scary stuff).

    Nice job LM…..you do get the goods.

  18. Mark L Harvey (aka Snooper)
    May 5, 2009 | 4:25 pm

    Jumping In Pools categorized the post as “satire”.

  19. Grail Guardian
    May 5, 2009 | 4:34 pm

    Interesting thing on the Cerberus execs – all but 3 of them are members of Romney for President. Guess who’s up next, folks!

  20. InsightAnalytical-GRL
    May 5, 2009 | 7:00 pm

    The same Romney who was BUSH’s pick and who is now saying that Palin might be on the “most beatiful list” but is utterly meaningless otherwise…

    MMM…Romney may be the next one installed…

  21. Practical Madman
    May 6, 2009 | 2:07 am

    Oh what a web “they” have woven! It just keeps getting more and more interesting, and tangled! Good work DT! It really is interesting how often the same puppets..I mean names.. keep coming up, and how often references and ties to Hell, Satan, and the Occult creep in! I like the line where he said “he wished he would have chosen another name”…yea right! He was probably getting some flack from his employees and tossed them a bone to settle them back down to get them back on the oars! Can’t have a mutiny now, can we? Keep your powder dry and dig your foxholes deep!! Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes!

  22. Jez
    May 6, 2009 | 6:04 pm

    There is a world of difference between satire and rumor. Satire is not true. Not even remotely. It is a literary device that uses circumstances so bizarre that it could not possibly be true to prove a point. Directly from Merriam-Webster:

    1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
    2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly

  23. DaddysDarlin
    May 8, 2009 | 7:53 am

    I have always been against guns, but I feel I should get one now. It seems to me that this administration is trying to control my right as an American citizen to bear arms!
    I am pissed!
    I will save up my money and buy a gun to protect me and mine from the likes of this criminal administration.
    Now the problem is trying to obtain ammunition since there seems to be quite a shortage!
    Many Americans are arming themselves and rightly so. We must be ready for anything!
    Food storage and water storage is a good idea, also collect seeds in case you need to grow your own food, this is very important, yea you can live off of venison, but you will wish you had some veggies to go with it.
    Have a plan, head for the hills when the shit hits the fan, and it will.
    Obama and this corrupt congress and senate are out to control everything, every freedom we currently have. They want us totally dependant upon them, the leaders, because we aren’t smart enough to take care of our own.
    Watch out Obama, there is going to be an uprising, I am not the only one who sees through your disguise and we will rise up and take care of this country we love so much.
    Obama is an interloper, he does not belong in the White House and we know it, he thinks we are stupid, we know the truth about how he got where he is, and we have the truth on our side. We will take Obama down, he is NOT looking out for America or Americans, his plan is to destroy our country and in his first 100 days he has done a damn good job of it.
    There isn’t one group of people that he promised to help that have received that help, he used our fellow Americans, he promised our GLBT community that he was in favor of their rights as American citizens, he has forgotten every promise ever made, they were all lies, and they are still lies.
    If his lips are moving Obama is lying.
    Let him buy our banks, control our money, give our money away, buy up all the gun manufacturers, buy all the ammo, soon he will control our food sources.
    We are in for a battle, and we are readying ourselves, we are not alone, we are in this battle together.
    True Americans that love this country and our Constitution have already joined in the battle, we are a strong people who will not allow Obama or anyone else to fuck with us, our country or our way of life.

  24. Amy
    June 15, 2009 | 4:57 am

    The Most important challenge GM faces is to win back the trust of the tax payers. Giving away billions of tax payer money is not going to go under good sights of the consumers

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Pat Condell: Common Sense About A Mosque At Ground Zero

Big Brother’s Lock On Your Money Is Complete

I wrote about it; I tried to warn people, but after the healthcare fight we just went through, I think most people just wanted a breather from battling the fascists in Washington (to our long-lasting detriment).

Now we have the financial reform bill that includes the new federal agency Office Of Financial Research, and the Bureau of Consumer Protection keeping track of every single financial transaction you could possibly imagine; including your bank balance, and when you walk to the ATM to take cash out.  I wasn’t lying, but I do think I was one of very few writing about it.

The fascists have the banks, the insurance companies, the credit card companies, the car companies, OUR healthcare, and now Americans’ financial transactions.

Senate Democrats Pass Bill Allowing Govt to Collect Addresses, ATM Records of Bank Customers

(CNSNews.com) – Senate Democrats united to pass a financial regulatory bill that allows the government to collect data on any person operating in financial markets at any level, including the collection of personal transaction records from local banks, including customers’ addresses and ATM receipts. (emphasis mine)

The Senate voted 59-39 on Thursday to pass the bill – the chief aim of which is to more-heavily regulate the financial industry – sending it to a conference committee in the House of Representatives, where differences between the House and Senate versions will be ironed out.

The bill, if it becomes law, will create the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and empower it to “gather information and activities of persons operating in consumer financial markets,” including the names and addresses of account holders, ATM and other transaction records, and the amount of money kept in each customer’s account.

The new bureaucracy is then allowed to “use the data on branches and [individual and personal] deposit accounts … for any purpose” and may keep all records on file for at least three years and these can be made publicly available upon request.

*break*

Shelby slammed the new consumer bureaucracy, saying that it was meant not to protect consumers but to “manage” them by monitoring their behavior.

“Mr. President, make no mistake, behind the veil of anti-Wall Street rhetoric is an unrelenting desire to manage every facet of commerce under the guise of consumer protection.

“They may be interested in protecting consumers, but they are more interested in managing them,” Shelby said.

Shelby also criticized the idea that Americans need government to watch over their every financial move, saying that it was better to allow people the freedom to make their own choices and fail than to never allow them the freedom to choose at all.

“Mr. President, I have faith in the American people and their ability to make good choices,” said Shelby.  “Granted, we do not always choose well.  But I believe that a poor choice freely made is far superior to a good choice made for me.”

“I am afraid that the architects of this bill do not share this sentiment,” he said. “Nor do they share my faith in the American people.”

Shelby further said that the ability of the Federal Reserve to collect such detailed information about the most basic of financial transactions was the beginning of an effort by government to regulate every financial action of every American citizen.

“This new consumer bureaucracy is intended by its architects in the Treasury to begin the process of financial regulation with the intent of changing the behaviors of the American people,” said the senator.

Shelby appears to be correct. The bill allows the bureau to collect any and all information on any person operating in the financial markets.

As it reads: “[T]he Bureau shall have the authority to gather information from time to time regarding the organization, business conduct, markets, and activities of persons operating in consumer financial services markets.”

Meanwhile, depending on the conference version of this bill, you may be able to fund a new federal agency that takes idle appropriations, invests them, and keeps the profits.  Those profits are ‘not considered the government’s property’. I am still trying to ascertain who that money actually belongs to because it is not yours anymore.

4.15.2010

Obama Turns Financial Reform Into A Political Fight

I am currently reading this bill and wanted to drop an interesting tidbit on you. For those interested in reading the 114 page Manager’s Amendment, go here. I am only a couple hundred pages into this POS but starting on page 60, a new government office is to be established. The “Office Of Financial Research” will be part of the Treasury, and will have a Director appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. This office will also have a data collection center to keep track of all financial and nonbank financial institutions so as to be able to report to Congress on companies that ‘threaten’ the economy. It is unclear how big or how many new government employees this office will create, but considering how events are unfolding now with Obamacare, I’m assuming pretty large.

The interesting tidbit pertains to the Financial Research Fund that is to be established and the ability of the Office that is providing Congress with reports to invest monies they aren’t using. Let me know if you think that’s a conflict of interest, and if you would like to know exactly how much money that is?

“Funds obtained by, transferred to, or credited to the Financial Research Fund shall be immediately available to the Office, and shall remain available until expended, to pay the expenses of the Office in carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the Office.”

The above quotes are from Chris Dodd’s markup draft. I went to the actual amended bill (Amendment No. 3739 of Bill S. 3217) that was passed and found the pertinent information starting on page 62, with the investment and non-governmental monies section on page 78. It’s still in there.

At this point, the underground economy is about to get a bit larger.

UPDATE: More information on the Office Of Financial Research, here.

11.2.2010...
How The Elites Are About To Make Us Serfs And Then Kick The Door Shut Behind Them

Tea Party Patriots Vs. The Master Class

Still have that sinking feeling in your midsection every time you think about the District of Criminals, The Fed, Bernanke, etc.?  Are you still not sleeping well at night because you know something is “so wrong” but the scope of the problem is just getting larger each day?

Remember when we spoke about giving up every last penny of our wealth to get rid of the bloodsucking elites that are killing our childrens’ futures?

After reading this commentary, you will have the concise MATH, (there’s that word again), and course of the nation that  explains why you feel like a hamster on crack, and can’t sleep at night.  The numbers do not lie.

This piece is long, it’s brutal, and it will make you weep, but I urge you to read every single word because it will resonate. Remember it when the epitome of the elite class gives his State of The Union Address, and then it will be time to get the little gray cells working because I refuse to allow these bastards to keep raping us into indentured servitude.

America’s Impending Master Class Dictatorship

Copyright 2010 by Stewart Dougherty, with all rights reserved.

FOREWORD: At certain times, focusing on the big picture is important not just for investment success, but for personal welfare, and even survival. We believe such times are here. It is estimated that 98% of Americans have never held a gold coin in their hands. Yet 100% of Americans regularly handle Federal Reserve Notes. From a contrarian standpoint, the financial message from those two statistics is clear. Even so, gold is much more than money or an investment medium; it stands for liberty and throughout history has facilitated escape and ensured freedom. Never having touched a gold coin is the monetary equivalent to never having breathed fresh air, felt the warmth of sunshine, looked up at the stars or risen from the gutter. Fiat Federal Reserve Notes are becoming nothing more than sewage decomposing in the vast, toxic septic tank of predatory Washington politics, epic Federal Reserve arrogance and error, blatant Wall Street fraud and outright Master Class plunder. Below, we outline America’s troubling and compounding predicament, and urge you to think about how to protect yourself from its consequences, both financially and personally.

Thanks to the endless barrage of feel-good propaganda that daily assaults the American mind, best epitomized a few months ago by the “green shoots,” everything’s-coming-up-roses propaganda touted by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, the citizens have no idea how disastrous the country’s fiscal, monetary and economic problems truly are. Nor do they perceive the rapidly increasing risk of a totalitarian nightmare descending upon the American Republic.

One stark and sobering way to frame the crisis is this: if the United States government were to nationalize (in other words, steal) every penny of private wealth accumulated by America’s citizens since the nation’s founding 235 years ago, the government would remain totally bankrupt.

According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent report on wealth, America’s private net worth was $53.4 trillion as of September, 2009. But at the same time, America’s debt and unfunded liabilities totaled at least $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion), or 225% of the citizens’ net worth. Even if the government expropriated every dollar of private wealth in the nation, it would still have a deficit of $66,600,000,000,000.00 ($66.6 trillion), equal to $214,286.00 for every man, woman and child in America and roughly 500% of GDP. If the government does not directly seize the nation’s private wealth, then it will require $389,610 from each and every citizen to balance the country’s books. State, county and municipal debts and deficits are additional, already elephantine in many states (e.g., California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York) and growing at an alarming rate nationwide. In addition to the federal government, dozens of states are already bankrupt and sinking deeper into the morass every day.

The government continues to dig a deeper and deeper fiscal grave in which to bury its citizens. This year, the federal deficit will total at least $1,600,000,000,000.00 ($1.6 trillion), which represents overspending of $4,383,561,600.00 ($4.38 billion) per day. (The deficit during October and November, 2009, the first two months of Fiscal Year 2010, totaled $296,700,000,000.00 ($297 billion), or $4,863,934,000.00 ($4.9 billion) per day, a record.) Using the GAAP accounting method (which is what corporations are required to use because it presents a far more accurate and honest picture of a company’s finances than the cash accounting method primarily and misleadingly used by the U.S. government), the nation’s fiscal year 2009 deficit was roughly $9,000,000,000,000.00 ($9 trillion), or $24,700,000,000.00 ($24.7 billion) per day, as calculated by brilliant and well-respected economist John Williams. (www.shadowstats.com) Fiscal Year 2010’s cash- and GAAP-accounting deficits will likely be worse than 2009’s, given government bailout and new program spending that is on steroids and psychotic.

Putting Fiscal Year 2009’s $9,000,000,000,000.00 ($9 trillion) deficit another way, 17% of America’s private wealth, accumulated over a period of 235 years, was wiped out by just one year’s worth of government deficit spending insanity.

Given this, is it any surprise that Treasury Secretary Geithner has announced that the release of the nation’s FY 2009 supplemental GAAP financial statements has been delayed? Remember, this is the same Secretary Geithner who bullied people to cover up the sordid details of the AIG, or more accurately, the taxpayer-funded, multi-billion dollar, Santa Claus bailout and bonus bonanza for Goldman Sachs. Do you really think this government, characterized as it is by fiscal and monetary secrecy, lies, chicanery, cronyism and stonewalling, wants the people to know what is actually happening? Obviously, it does not, so it hides from the public the inexcusable facts.

It is estimated that the top 1% of Americans control roughly 40% of the nation’s wealth. In other words, 3 million people own $21,400,000,000,000.00 ($21.4 trillion) in net private assets, while the other 305 million own the remaining $32,000,000,000,000.00 ($32 trillion). 77,000,000 (77 million) Americans (the lowest 25%) have mean net assets of minus $2,300 ($-2,300.00) per person; they live from paycheck to paycheck, or on public assistance. The lower 50% of Americans own mean net assets of $27,800 each, about enough to purchase a modest car. Obviously, it would be impossible to retire on such an amount without significant government or other assistance. Meanwhile, the richest 10% of Americans possess mean net assets of $3,976,000.00 each, or 143 times those of the bottom 50%; the top 2% control assets worth more than 1,500 times those in the bottom 50%. When you combine these facts with Wall Street’s typical multi-million dollar annual bonuses, you get an idea of wealth inequality in America. Historically, such extreme inequality has been a well-documented breeding ground for totalitarianism.

If the government decides to expropriate (steal) or commandeer (e.g., force into Treasuries) America’s private wealth in order to buy survival time, such a measure will be designed to destroy the common citizens, not the elite. Insiders will be given advance warning about any such plan, and will be able to transfer their money offshore or into financial vehicles immune from harm. Assuming that the elite moves its money to safety, there would then be $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion) in American debt and liabilities supported by only $32,000,000,000,000.00 ($32 trillion) in private net worth, for a deficit of $88,000,000,000,000.00 ($88 trillion). In that case, each American would owe $285,714.29 to balance the country’s books.  (Remember to multiply this amount by every person in your household, including any infant children.)

If the common people suspect that something diabolical was in the works, a portion of the $32 trillion in non-elite wealth could be evacuated as well prior to a government expropriation and/or currency devaluation, resulting in less money for the government to steal. What these statistics mean is that it is absolutely impossible for the government to fund its debt and deficits, even if it steals all of the nation’s private wealth. Therefore, the government’s only solutions are either formal bankruptcy (outright debt repudiation and the dismantling of bankrupt government programs) or unprecedented American monetary inflation and debt monetization. If the government chooses to inflate its way out of this fiscal catastrophe, the United States dollar will essentially become worthless. You can be absolutely certain that a PhD. in economics, such as Dr. Bernanke, is well aware of these realities, despite what he might say in speeches. For that matter, so are Chinese schoolchildren, who, when patronized by Treasury Secretary Geithner about America’s “strong dollar,” laughed in his face. One day, perhaps America’s school children will receive a real education so that they, too, will know when to laugh at absurd propaganda.

The government has announced that during the fiscal years from 2010 through 2019, it will create an additional $9,000,000,000,000.00 ($9 trillion) in deficits, an amount that is almost certain to be understated by trillions given the country’s current economic trajectory. The government assumes that this vast additional deficit will be funded by others, such as the Chinese, as it is a statistical fact that the United States will be incapable of funding it.

Furthermore, with the budgetary equivalent of a straight face, the Office of Management and Budget reports in its long-term, inter-generational budget projection that the United States government will experience massive, non-stop deficits for the next 70 (SEVENTY) years, requiring the issuance of tens of trillions of dollars of additional debt. The OMB does not project even one year of surplus during the entire seventy year budget period.

These deficits and debts are now so gargantuan that they have become surreal abstractions impossible even for sophisticated financiers to begin to comprehend. The common citizen has absolutely no idea what these numbers mean, or imply for his or her future. The people have been deluded into thinking that America’s arrogant, egomaniacal, always-wrong-but-never-in-doubt fiscal witch doctors and charlatans, including Greenspan, Rubin, Summers, Geithner and Ponce de Bernanke, have discovered a Monetary Fountain of Youth that endlessly spits up free money from the center of earth, in a geyser of good will toward the United States. Unfortunately, this delusion is false: there is no Monetary Fountain of Youth, and contrary to the apparent beliefs of the self-deified man-gods in Washington, D.C., the debt and deficits are real, completely out of control, and 100% guaranteed to create catastrophic consequences for the nation and its people.

When government “representatives” deliberately sell into slavery the citizens of a so-called free Republic, they have committed treason against those people. This is exactly what has happened in the United States: the citizens have been sold into debt slavery that they and their descendants can never escape, because the debts piled onto their backs can never, ever be paid. Despite expensive and sophisticated brainwashing campaigns emanating from Washington, claiming that America can “grow” out of its deficits and debt, it is arithmetically impossible for the country to do so. The government’s statements that it can dig the nation out of its fiscal hole by digging an even deeper chasm have become parodies and perversions of even totally discredited and morally disgusting Keynesianism.

The people no longer have elected representatives; they have elected traitors.

The enslavement of the American people has been orchestrated by a pernicious Master Class that has taken the United States by the throat. This Master Class is now choking the nation to death as it accelerates its master plan to plunder the people’s dwindling remaining assets. The Master Class comprises politicians, the Wall Street money elite, the Federal Reserve, high-end government (including military) officials, government lobbyists and their paymasters, military suppliers and media oligarchs. The interests and mindset of the Master Class are so totally divorced from those of the average American citizen that it is utterly tone deaf and blind to the justifiable rage sweeping the nation. Its guiding ethics of greed, plunder, power, control and violence are so alien to mainstream American culture and thought that the Master Class might as well be an enemy invader from Mars. But the Master Class here, it is real and it is laying waste to America. To the members of the Master Class, the people are not fellow-citizens; they are instruments of labor, servitude and profit. At first, the Master Class viewed the citizens as serfs; now that they have raped and destroyed the national economy, while in the process amassing unprecedented wealth and power for themselves, they see the people as nothing more than slaves.

America’s public finances are now so completely dysfunctional and chaotic that something far worse than debt enslavement and monetary implosion, terrible curses unto themselves, looms on the horizon: namely, a Master Class-sponsored American dictatorship.

Throughout history, the type of situation in which America now finds itself has been a fertility factory for tyranny. The odds of an outright overthrow of the people by the Washington and Wall Street Axis, or more broadly, the Master Class are increasing dramatically. The fact that so few people believe an American dictatorship is possible is exactly why it is becoming likely.

Dictatorships have blighted history and ruined lives since the beginning of civilization. In recent times alone, tyrants such as Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Ceausescu, Amin, Hussein, Mussolini, Tojo, Kim, Pinochet, Milosevic, Tito, Batista, Peron, Pol Pot, Mugabe, Marcos, Somoza, Mengistu, Bokassa, Sese Seko, Franco, Ho Chi Minh, Mao, and Castro have power-sprayed blood onto the screen of time and ravaged mankind with murder, torture and human oppression. A full catalog of history’s tyrants would require a book of hundreds of pages. In the past 100 years alone, over 200 million human beings have been annihilated by wars, ethnic cleansings and government assassinations. Just when we think that civilization has been able to rise above tyranny’s inhumanity and disgrace, a new dictator appears on the scene to start the process all over again. Every time this happens, fear and submission paralyze the vast majority of the affected masses, leading them to “follow orders” and lick autocracy’s blood-stained boots.

History has proven to tyrants that oppression works. In fact, it is easy to control a populace, once you control the money, markets, military (including police), media and minions (the recipients of welfare, social security, free health care, government jobs and the like, who are dependent upon the state and likely to be compliant). This is exactly where the United States is today.

Recent American events paint an ominous picture of a Master Class that is now in total control.

When 90% of the American people vehemently rejected the $700,000,000,000.00 ($700 billion) TARP bailout plan, the Master Class put it on a fast track and approved it anyway.

When a clear majority of the American people said no to a government takeover of Chrysler and GM, the Master Class poured billions of taxpayer dollars into those corporate sinkholes and took them over anyway.

When the people said no to multi-trillion dollar crony bailouts for the bankers and insurers whose corruption had caused global financial mayhem, the government pledged to those elite insiders more than $13,000,000,000,000.00 ($13 trillion) of the people’s money anyway.

When the people expressed astonishment and anger that Wall Street planned to pay itself record 2009 bonuses, in the midst of America’s worst-ever fiscal and financial crisis caused by them, Wall Street stuffed its pockets with taxpayer-supported bonus money anyway.

When the people said no to a proposed $40,000,000,000.00 ($40 billion) bailout of AIG and its elite trading partners such as Goldman Sachs (an amount that subsequently exploded to $180,000,000,000.00+ ($180+ billion)), the Master Class went underground, covertly misappropriated taxpayer money and made the payoffs anyway.

When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were nationalized at enormous taxpayer expense, the government approved $6,000,000.00 individual pay packages in 2009 (150 times the average American wage) for the CEOs of both failed companies anyway.

When a clear majority of the people said no to nationalized health care, even after being bombarded by a multi-million dollar, lie-drenched propaganda campaign designed to bamboozle them, the House and Senate passed nationalized health care bills anyway.

When more than seven million American workers lost their jobs and were subsisting on unemployment benefits and food stamps, federal government employees, who now earn DOUBLE what private sector workers earn, were given another round of pay and benefits increases anyway.

When private sector workers’ 401Ks and IRA retirement plans plummeted in value due to economic collapse and endemic Wall Street-orchestrated market corruption (including systemic front running, flash trading, naked short selling and other manipulations), government “defined benefit,” lifetime-cost-of-living-adjusted pension plans, despite already being underfunded by $2,000,000,000,000.00 ($2 trillion), were made richer than ever anyway.

The long, shameful litany of events signaling the total divorce between the Master Class and the people of the United States doesn’t stop there. It goes on and on.

The message from the American Master Class to the American people is simple and clear:

We Defy You.

Governments that openly defy the people are either already totalitarian or in the process of becoming so. Monetarily, the United States clearly functions as a totalitarian dictatorship already, with a Federal Reserve that operates in secrecy, creates limitless amounts of debt and currency at will, and showers trillions of dollars upon favored Master Class insiders with zero transparency or accountability whatsoever. The Federal Reserve is so shameless about its dictatorial powers that it flatly refuses to provide details about multi-trillion dollar bailouts and rescues of privileged elites, in open defiance of Congress and the people. The fact that they get away with these blatant acts of defiance demonstrates the true extent of the Master Class chokehold on America.

If the Master Class were a benign despot and if its policies and programs actually worked, that would be one thing. But that is not the case. Rather, its programs are in a complete shambles.

Every single government entitlement program in the United States is bankrupt. This includes Social Security ($17,500,000,000,000.00 underfunded; $17.5 trillion); Medicare Part A ($36,700,000,000,000.00 underfunded; $36.7 trillion); Medicare Part B ($37,000,000,000,000.00 underfunded; $37 trillion); Medicare Part D ($15,600,000,000,000 underfunded; $15.6 trillion), Government and military pensions ($2,000,000,000,000 underfunded; $2 trillion), Food Stamps (current underfunding difficult to measure because the number of recipients is exploding; hundreds of billions underfunded versus original projections, minimum); and the list goes on. The above underfunding amounts are NET of projected tax receipts over the next 50 years. But the current recession has invalidated virtually all long-term budget and tax receipt assumptions, meaning that the true underfunded amounts are now greater than current, already mind-boggling estimates.

While the above statistics are terrifying enough to any citizen with a functioning brain, what is Twilight Zone-eerie and a far more serious cause for alarm is the casual indifference with which the Master Class is now making the country’s dire and irreparable fiscal circumstances even worse.

The nationalized health care program will cost at least $1 trillion over the next ten years, and most likely multiples of that. It is being crammed down America’s throat by a bankrupt government that does not have the money today and will not have the money tomorrow to pay for it. Worse is the fact that the same government that has bankrupted each and every existing social program now intends to directly or indirectly control the health care of all citizens. Based on the government’s existing track record and the health care program’s enormous complexity, invasiveness and cost, the probability that it will become a national fiscal and humanitarian catastrophe is roughly 100%.

“Cap and Trade” is a multi-trillion dollar tax scam being foisted onto the American public without a legitimate debate or popular referendum. You might be surprised to learn that “Climate Revenues” are already included in the federal budget, starting with $79,000,000,000.00 ($79 billion) in fiscal year 2012, which begins only 20 months from now. During fiscal years 2012 through 2019, the government expects to collect $646,000,000,000.00 ($646 billion) in “Climate Revenues,” a completely new tax category. Have any of your elected traitors told you that they have enacted $646,000,000,000.00 ($646 billion) in “Climate” taxes beginning twenty months from now and continuing forever? These “Climate Revenues” are based on junk science, lies and hysteria, and have been pimped by greed-diseased parasites who seek to make billions from operating and manipulating the Cap and Trade “marketplace.” Favored elitists such as Hank Paulson, Al Gore, General Electric and Goldman Sachs, among others, have positioned themselves to profit from the nation’s upcoming Cap and Trade tax misery and economic debilitation.

The reality is that the giant Ponzi scheme called the United States of America is running out of money. In any Ponzi scheme, money must constantly be poured into the top of the funnel in order to pay the redeemers at the bottom. As the number of redeemers has grown, tax receipts have fallen far short of covering their withdrawals, a problem that has now become an outright government funding emergency further aggravated by the fiscal, financial and economic crises.

If the Washington and Wall Street Axis were not legally able to create and distribute counterfeit American money, the Ponzi scheme would have collapsed already. Trillions of new, out-of-thin-air, printing-press and electronic “dollars” have bought the Axis additional time, but new sources of revenue must immediately be found to keep the scam alive. Congress is fully aware of this reality. Outright tax increases would be bad politics during a recession that is morphing into a depression, and also bad for 2010 re-election campaigns, so they cannot be implemented. Therefore, Congress continues to advance the health care and Cap and Trade agendas, which are nothing but taxation Trojan Horses festooned in righteousness and sanctimony, despite overwhelming popular opposition.

If the nationalized health care program is passed, revenues and fees will kick in immediately in 2010, whereas costs will not begin to accrue until 2012 and later. The government plans to spend the revenues immediately to forestall a total fiscal collapse. Nationalized health care has absolutely nothing to do with health care; it has to do with creating an immediate revenue stream to help fix the current government funding crisis. Similarly, Cap and Trade has nothing to do with fixing the environment. It, too, is nothing more than a massive tax increase similarly designed to address the government’s epic funding shortfall, with thick slices of pork thrown  in for privileged insiders and deceitful propagandists like bloated “Father of the Internet” and now “Savior of the World” Al Gore.

The last thing the Master Class wants is for the people to understand the disastrous state of the nation’s finances. Master Class brainwashing tells the people that it is “negative” and “pessimistic” to look at the facts, despite the fact that psychological health is characterized by the ability to identify and deal with reality. The Master Class wants the people to put on Bozo the Clown happy faces and let sugar plums and green shoots dance in their brains as they write one check after another to pay for Cap and Trade, nationalized health care, and a mind-numbing assortment of other taxes and fees.

On Sunday night, November 30, 2009, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Il (a name that says it all, even better than Made-off’s), an international poster child of Master Class psychological illness, devalued his country’s currency by 99%. This vicious tyrant, who has given birth to a national hell on earth, is chauffeured in Mercedes Benz limousines, drinks the finest imported whiskies and dines in imperial dignity on foods prepared by personal chefs while his citizens starve to death on the streets or, at best, eke out a subsistence living. Kim became paranoid that the people were actually figuring out how to improve their pitiful, impoverished lives in tiny ways, so he decided to wipe them out. The people were given one week to exchange their money at a rate of 100 old Won for 1 new Won. Any lifetime family savings in excess of roughly $700.00 were simply confiscated by the North Korean government. To keep the people in line, the military and police were put on high alert, fully prepared to kill or arrest any protesters.

On January 9, 2010, Venezuela’s strong man Hugo Chavez devalued his country’s currency by 50%, overnight and without warning, causing immediate inflation, shortages of food and supplies, and general financial chaos throughout the nation.

While you might be shaking your head in pity over the plight of the citizens of North Korea and Venezuela, ask yourself this: could this not happen in the United States?

On April 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, an Obama hero, outlawed gold ownership overnight by signing Executive Order 6102, which gave the people three and one-half weeks to surrender all privately-owned bullion to the government for a price of $20.67 per ounce. On January 30, 1934, nine months after collecting the people’s gold, Roosevelt devalued the dollar 69% overnight, by raising the gold price from $20.67 to $35.00 per ounce.

Since its founding in 1913, the Federal Reserve has devalued the dollar by 98+% thanks to endless money printing and debt creation, a corrosive and impoverishing process that is now accelerating. In the past year, the Fed has engineered $20+ trillion in bailouts, subsidies and guarantees for well-connected and lucky scavengers and opportunists, an amount equal to roughly 40% of the total private wealth created in this country since its inception. All because a few elitist government man-gods with an almost perfect record of error and failure have deemed in their imperial wisdom that it shall be so. The citizens, whose hard-earned wealth is being systematically destroyed by this continual, government-decreed monetary debasement were never invited to the debate or given a say, which is par for the course for dictatorships. This massive de facto devaluation now hangs over the people’s wealth like a great monetary sword of Damocles.

Conceptually, whether it is a 50% overnight devaluation in Venezuela, a 69% overnight devaluation in the United States, a 98% devaluation in America over time, or a 99% overnight devaluation in North Korea, what is the difference? The fact is: there is no difference; monetary debasements are all the same. In each and every case, the people’s wealth is stolen via government edict, while the people stand by helplessly and in shock.

So one must ask: For whom does the bell toll? A foreign “them,” or a domestic us? Who is to say that you will not be told tomorrow morning that, effective immediately, in accordance with some perversely named mandate such as the “American Monetary Security, Wealth Preservation and Terrorism Prevention Act,” enacted by emergency for “the safety of the nation and the financial well being of the citizens,” all existing currency and bank balances will be redenominated in “New Dollars,” at a conversion rate of 1 new for every 100 old currency units? Would this not simply be another, almost predictable act of defiance toward the American people by the Master Class? And if that happened, do you honestly believe that the Master Class would not have been alerted in advance and allowed to make special preparations for itself ahead of the devaluation? Do you think they intend to go down in the same ship as the people they defy? If such a currency devaluation were announced, what could you do about it? March on Washington? But how would you get there if your money had been wiped out?

Despite what you may hear from State Media, which includes virtually all establishment news organizations, particularly financial ones (e.g., CNBC), America is on the precipice. No bankrupt nation in history has ever defended or preserved the freedoms of its citizens. In fact, it has been the exact opposite: in desperation, bankrupt governments have routinely plundered their citizens’ wealth and imposed totalitarian controls. What will make things different for the United States, the largest debtor nation in all of recorded civilization?

The United States government cannot ever, possibly pay its debts, is pathologically incapable of controlling its spending or curbing its hunger for both domestic and international empire and persistently refuses to tell the American people the truth. If America’s citizens were told the truth and given the benefit of true leadership, as opposed to the guile and dishonesty of an endless array of political liars and hacks, perhaps they could rally and defeat the problems that afflict them. But instead, they are fed by the Master Class a steady diet of narcotic propaganda that deludes, confuses and enervates them. The truth cannot set people free if it is never told, and that is the essence of America’s gathering tragedy.

In a future article, we will detail specific developments you should watch for to chart the course of America’s ominous and potentially deadly national storm. The current, grave situation is already a clear call to action. When the signals become even more urgent, it will be late in the game to take protective action, and possibly too late. Citizens should begin to prepare now not just for financial survival, but for the personal security of themselves and their loved ones should a Category 5 economic and political hurricane rip into the nation, something that becomes more likely every day.

With respect to personal finances, in virtually every national currency devaluation and major political upheaval in the past, gold has represented sanctuary for the affected people. Gold has not just preserved wealth, but personal freedom as well. While governments can devalue fiat currencies, they cannot, by edict, devalue gold. Yes, they can try to manipulate its price, but unless all governments join in the collusion, ultimately the price will return to market. The market for gold is global, and demand exists in all nations and among all peoples. Should the government attempt to confiscate gold, it will be an outright admission that the financial system is collapsing, and the people will know better than to hand over to a corrupt government their only means of survival. The most important point is this: devalued currencies never rise again. Once they are destroyed, they are gone forever, and those whose wealth had once been denominated in them are wiped out. As you have no doubt heard before, not one fiat currency has survived over time, and that is an indisputable fact. More significantly, no fiat currency has ever suffered the abuse that has been inflicted upon the United States dollar, meaning that it is at extreme risk. Gold has been money for 5,000 years. It has not merely survived, it has prevailed over each and every fiat currency collapse throughout history. Given this, the most important financial question a person can ask him- or herself today is: How is my wealth denominated at this time? And given its denomination, is my wealth likely to be safe in current and evolving circumstances?

One thing is certain: as the epic David and Goliath monetary battle unfolds, between the people fighting to defend their hard-earned wealth on one side, and a Master Class that greedily and pathologically wants to plunder them on the other, the price of gold will become extremely volatile for a period of time. Volatility will, in fact, tell you that the War on Wealth has officially been declared, and will be your signal to do whatever you must to protect what is yours. As the government Goliath and its Master Class allies short tonnes of bullion into rigged futures markets in a desperate attempt to make gold look dangerous and risky, the Davids will be coming forth not just in the United States but from all corners of the globe, buying 10 grams here and one ounce there. There are 6.8 billion Davids, versus one diseased Master Class that numbers in the small millions. There is no way the Master Class can defeat the people, if the people finally rise up and say “No More of Your Plunder. No More of Your Cold and Soulless Financial Oppression. No More of Your Cynical and Godless Exploitation.”

If you find the above argument compelling, you should consider how to protect yourself from Executive Orders that could be issued at any time, under any pretext, and that could be extremely hostile to your financial and/or personal health and well being. One simple way to start is to purchase one ounce of gold for yourself and each member of your household, and much more if you can afford it. That is not financial advice; it is merely the common sense generously communicated to you by history.

Stewart Dougherty

Stewart Dougherty is a specialist in inferential analysis, the practice of identifying historic and contemporary patterns and then extrapolating their likely effects upon the future. Dougherty was educated at Tufts University (B.A., magna cum laude), and Harvard Business School (M.B.A. and an academic Fellow). He can be reached at stewartdougherty@cs.com. He is not affiliated with or compensated by those he references or recommends. He does not offer investment or trading advice, and nothing in this article should be construed as such. This article represents the author’s personal opinions, and nothing more. The reader has the author’s permission to share, print, forward or post this article provided that the content is not changed and the author is acknowledged.

(H/T Mike)

"On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 1823
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