Monday, February 21, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Scapegoating Public Employees
DICK MEISTER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Let's pause for a moment to recognize some of our most important, yet most maligned workers. They are teachers and librarians. Police officers and firefighters. Bus drivers, doctors and nurses. Judges, lawyers, gardeners. They're laborers and other maintenance and construction workers, and many others who provide us vital services.
They are public employees. There are millions of them, who every day do the essential work that keeps our country going.
It is they who keep our streets and highways, our parks and playgrounds safe and clean, who collect our trash. It is they who help educate our children, who provide emergency health care, who convey us to our jobs and back home after our day's work, who sometimes risk their very lives to protect us from harm.
Yet despite all that - and more - public employees have come under heavy bipartisan attack by politicians who find them easy targets to blame for the budget shortfalls that have beset government at all levels. Labor costs, after all, make up the bulk of government spending everywhere.
There's no way around that basic fact. So if we want all those vital services public employees provide - and we do - that's the price we must pay, and should be happy to pay. Certainly no group of workers has done more for us, none who are more important to our welfare, none more deserving of their wages.
Yet we seriously shortchange many of those workers. And some people, including political leaders who obviously know better, ludicrously cite public employees as a major cause of the economic recession that just won't go away.
The blame, of course, clearly rests elsewhere. The culprits, as the Portside Labor website noted, include "the super-rich who will continue to enjoy immensely lucrative tax breaks enacted during the Bush administration," and the Defense Department officials who want "a budget blowing $78 billion over the next year to fund the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and maintain a military machine that spends more than all its rivals combined."
No, it's not obscenely wealthy tax-dodging greedheads or the war-happy folks at the so-called Defense Department who've caused record budget deficits. Oh, no. It's that "greedy public employee who pulls in an outrageous $19,000-a-year pension." You know, one of those public employees Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana actually characterized as members of "a new privileged class."
Public employee unions are striking back at such foolishness. For instance, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is waging a nationwide "Stop the Lies" campaign. Union President Gerald McEntee has been arguing that "hundreds of thousands of public employees, just like private sector employees, have been laid off, and taken pay and benefit cuts - even as Wall Street executives lined their pockets with taxpayer money and took home huge bonuses."
The union's retirees, meanwhile, are getting rich on pensions of, indeed, $19,000 a year.
There's this, too: Government workers generally get less in pay and benefits than workers holding similar jobs in the private sector. As Portside Labor and others have pointed out, public sector workers don't seem to resent the fact that their pay lags behind pay in private employment, "because most choose public service for other reasons than pay." That's obvious, and another reason to quit scapegoating the undercompensated workers who are among our most valuable.
The latest and perhaps best defense of the scapegoated public employees has come from President Harold Schaltberger of International Alliance of Firefighters .
Schaltberger notes the attacks on public employees are "like a tsunami rolling across the country." He says the attacks have never been greater, more serious or as vicious." As he says, "Wall Street's recklessness, not public employee pensions, caused our nation's financial collapse. Scapegoating workers won't solve anything."
In a full-page newspaper ad, Schaltberger noted that "Firefighters and paramedics are dedicated to the lives of our neighbors. Whether it's a natural disaster, terrorist attack or another tragedy, we answer the call. We understand that many Americans are hurting because of the recession, but we will not apologize for putting our lives on the line, the dangerous work we do, or the pensions we've earned."
Part of the reason for the strong attacks on public employee unions is that they have become the vanguard of the labor movement. They've been growing as unions in private employment have declined. Union membership overall dropped by about 600,000 last year, lowering the percentage of union members in private and public employment combined from just above12 percent to slightly below that figure. The percentage of public employees belonging to unions also shrunk slightly, but still stood at about 36 percent.
So, more than one-third of the country's public employees now belong to unions, but only about 7 percent of workers in private employment are unionized. Which explains why the country's anti-union forces are concentrating so heavily on public employees, and seeking to enlist broad public support for their anti-unionism by blaming public employees for our serious economic troubles.
Dick Meister is a San Francisco based columnist who has covered labor and politics for a half-century as a reporter, editor, author and commentator. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com.
Let's pause for a moment to recognize some of our most important, yet most maligned workers. They are teachers and librarians. Police officers and firefighters. Bus drivers, doctors and nurses. Judges, lawyers, gardeners. They're laborers and other maintenance and construction workers, and many others who provide us vital services.
They are public employees. There are millions of them, who every day do the essential work that keeps our country going.
It is they who keep our streets and highways, our parks and playgrounds safe and clean, who collect our trash. It is they who help educate our children, who provide emergency health care, who convey us to our jobs and back home after our day's work, who sometimes risk their very lives to protect us from harm.
Yet despite all that - and more - public employees have come under heavy bipartisan attack by politicians who find them easy targets to blame for the budget shortfalls that have beset government at all levels. Labor costs, after all, make up the bulk of government spending everywhere.
There's no way around that basic fact. So if we want all those vital services public employees provide - and we do - that's the price we must pay, and should be happy to pay. Certainly no group of workers has done more for us, none who are more important to our welfare, none more deserving of their wages.
Yet we seriously shortchange many of those workers. And some people, including political leaders who obviously know better, ludicrously cite public employees as a major cause of the economic recession that just won't go away.
The blame, of course, clearly rests elsewhere. The culprits, as the Portside Labor website noted, include "the super-rich who will continue to enjoy immensely lucrative tax breaks enacted during the Bush administration," and the Defense Department officials who want "a budget blowing $78 billion over the next year to fund the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and maintain a military machine that spends more than all its rivals combined."
No, it's not obscenely wealthy tax-dodging greedheads or the war-happy folks at the so-called Defense Department who've caused record budget deficits. Oh, no. It's that "greedy public employee who pulls in an outrageous $19,000-a-year pension." You know, one of those public employees Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana actually characterized as members of "a new privileged class."
Public employee unions are striking back at such foolishness. For instance, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is waging a nationwide "Stop the Lies" campaign. Union President Gerald McEntee has been arguing that "hundreds of thousands of public employees, just like private sector employees, have been laid off, and taken pay and benefit cuts - even as Wall Street executives lined their pockets with taxpayer money and took home huge bonuses."
The union's retirees, meanwhile, are getting rich on pensions of, indeed, $19,000 a year.
There's this, too: Government workers generally get less in pay and benefits than workers holding similar jobs in the private sector. As Portside Labor and others have pointed out, public sector workers don't seem to resent the fact that their pay lags behind pay in private employment, "because most choose public service for other reasons than pay." That's obvious, and another reason to quit scapegoating the undercompensated workers who are among our most valuable.
The latest and perhaps best defense of the scapegoated public employees has come from President Harold Schaltberger of International Alliance of Firefighters .
Schaltberger notes the attacks on public employees are "like a tsunami rolling across the country." He says the attacks have never been greater, more serious or as vicious." As he says, "Wall Street's recklessness, not public employee pensions, caused our nation's financial collapse. Scapegoating workers won't solve anything."
In a full-page newspaper ad, Schaltberger noted that "Firefighters and paramedics are dedicated to the lives of our neighbors. Whether it's a natural disaster, terrorist attack or another tragedy, we answer the call. We understand that many Americans are hurting because of the recession, but we will not apologize for putting our lives on the line, the dangerous work we do, or the pensions we've earned."
Part of the reason for the strong attacks on public employee unions is that they have become the vanguard of the labor movement. They've been growing as unions in private employment have declined. Union membership overall dropped by about 600,000 last year, lowering the percentage of union members in private and public employment combined from just above12 percent to slightly below that figure. The percentage of public employees belonging to unions also shrunk slightly, but still stood at about 36 percent.
So, more than one-third of the country's public employees now belong to unions, but only about 7 percent of workers in private employment are unionized. Which explains why the country's anti-union forces are concentrating so heavily on public employees, and seeking to enlist broad public support for their anti-unionism by blaming public employees for our serious economic troubles.
Dick Meister is a San Francisco based columnist who has covered labor and politics for a half-century as a reporter, editor, author and commentator. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com.
FREEDOM MATTERS
Dear Free-Thinker,
We have a lot of discussion this month on the Middle East not because Egypt is really important or of vital interest to the United States but because what happens there is so important to the Anglosphere and their future plans and objectives for the world. In this area of oil riches, Islam and dictators, we have our first head-to-head confrontations between the old empire politics as usual and the growing power, organization and educational efforts of the internet and social media like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.Are we watching a temporary reprieve for the freedom forces against those who would enslave the people of the world? They seek to harness our private wealth for a centralized rule by a tiny monopoly of wealthy families who think they know best and have appointed themselves to lead?
Will the manipulation lead to war and a way out for the financial elites to escape the sinking future of a world burdened by too much sovereign debt?
Finally will the financial and political front men seeking to escape the blame for a world they have brought to the abyss of debt and fiat currency collapse repudiate the debt and write the standard historical cover-up as in the past where the worst leaders often come out looking the best?
Or has the internet and social media revolution sweeping the globe empowered individuals and free associations private groups with the necessary Human Action to open the world to real history, opportunity and individual liberty. Only time will tell but we are in the middle of a quantum shift in power, knowledge and the ability to resist those who would rule over us and make us subject to their every wish and whim.
We find ourselves today smack in the middle of a massive political change, an enlightenment as the flood gates of information, history and communications make the most dramatic move forward since the invention of the Gutenberg press. If we win, future generations will thank us for our efforts. If we lose, all accurate descriptions of these events and how close we came to victory will be erased from history just like many times in the past.
If you have watched the coverage of the demonstrations and actions of the Mubarak regime and secret police you will understand why such a large majority of the people of the Middle East hate America. Mubarak isn't the worst of our puppets in the region rather his 30 year reign of terror and oppression is typical for American supported authoritarian regimes. They don't hate us for our freedom but because of American hypocrisy and the dictators who remain in power because of American support.
Stay tuned, the internet and social media revolution is here but the outcome in Egypt is still in doubt. Many reports show Israel and the American governments prefer the status quo of Suleiman fronting for Mubarak. After reading the essay following you will see why we believe this is the likely outcome for now.
I urge you to support the Foundation and other means at your disposal to advance the cause of liberty as freedom matters to this generation and the next.
Anthony Wile
Mubarak's Trump Card Over Washington
I'm sure all of our readers who value freedom are thrilled with following the ongoing uprising in Egypt. While we will discuss later in this newsletter additional thoughts on what might be behind the revolutions and protests we share in their enthusiasm to over throw regimes who work to increase the profits of elites at the expense of the rest of society. In the ongoing battle against long-term Washington financed and supported dictators, we have no doubt that the majority of people in the streets desire a better life and more individual freedom.Still it is important for readers not to confuse a revolt with a successful revolution which often brings more tyranny instead of less. Most revolutions succeed with popular support but quickly turn into more of the same or worse. We feel the organized transition hype of Obama and Hillary is just code language in support of another American puppet leader who will do the bidding of Washington. But there may be more to the story and seemingly inability of the Obama Administration to throw Mubarak under the proverbial bus like we did with the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein and numerous other former Washington friendly dictators.
I'm sure we have plenty of dirt on Mubarak and enough to get him to leave quickly if we wanted to but Washington blackmail can work in both directions. There just may be some reason to the madness of former Vice President Dick Cheney describing Mubarak as a good friend and US ally as the Obama Administration parses words of timid encouragement for him to leave after the transition period is over.
Could Mubarak's trump card be he has proof regarding secret renditions of terrorist suspects in Egypt, illegal jailing and torture by the US and their Egyptian cohorts? This isn't a secret and only the proof is missing showing what obviously took place in Egypt and many other locations around the world. Allegedly Egypt was a major location for this during the Bush and Cheney Administration.
Just this week, former President Bush decided to suddenly cancel a speech here in Switzerland scheduled for February 15 because several human rights organizations wanted Swiss prosecutors to serve Bush with an arrest warrant for torture. Imagine the news coverage and photo op of Bush being served in the Arab world. I venture to say Washington is negotiating with Mubarak with both hands tied behind them so don't expect him to go quietly into the night except on his own terms.
I guess if the tyrant and war criminal Saddam Hussein who was rightfully executed for war crimes were here he would say something to the effect that "what goes around comes around" but he would be wrong again". If you know history, you'll recognize that torture and war crimes charges are almost always reserved only for the losers in wars and politics and never the winners. Still the risk of embarrassment does give Mubarak substantial power to remain in control as president or behind the scenes.
The bottom line is Bush is not likely to be doing any skiing in the Swiss Alps any time soon regardless of the guilt or innocence of he and Dick Cheney. So here in Switzerland we probably have a better chance of seeing the aging 82 year old Mubarak on a Swiss vacation than George Bush.
When Only A Good War Will Do!
By Ron Holland
It is political suicide for politicians in the west to make the necessary cuts in government expenditures to limit the explosive growth in government debt at the federal, state or local level. It is also impossible without force for governments to steal enough additional revenue and private wealth from Americans and the productive working citizens of other nations to generate enough government revenue to make a dent in the growth of the national debt. In addition, overt hyperinflation or massive government debt repudiation is unacceptable to foreign nations, central banks and investors who hold much of dollars and national debt. Therefore:• What course of action is left open to Washington politicians to get out of the national debt and dollar crisis they have created?
• How do they create an enemy and blame another nation for the wealth and property confiscation necessary to survive?
• Also how do they cut the government payrolls, benefits and expenses in an equal measure to guarantee their survival against the power of entrenched union power?
• Finally how do the politicians and financial elite cover-up their actions to avoid the blame and retribution for what they have done to the global financial system?
When there is no way out the political answer is always WAR! Carl von Clausewitz said it best in his quote, "War is merely the continuation of politics by other means". This is what we may be facing soon in the Middle East.
The Daily Bell article, "The West Builds Islam To Create A New War" is certainly not to be missed in understanding the wave of violence and revolution sweeping the Middle East. "Anglo-American elites are indeed attempting to destabilize the Middle East, creating a spectrum of national unity governments that must evolve in some cases into "militant" Islam. This too is apparently part of the plan....as an expanded Muslim scourge justifies further authoritarianism in the West and simultaneously a necessity for ongoing military preparedness and even expansion."
The article goes on to describe how the Obama Administration has appeared clueless and unprepared for the social media organization of the opposition to Mubarak and the possible end to his 30 year dictatorship. US intelligence again has egg on its face and Hillary is attempting to create an "orderly transition" from Mubarak to his new Vice President while the people in the street want a total end to the regime now.
As usual, Washington will do whatever is necessary to make the worst possible decision and come out as the real loser in the Middle East revolutions. Remember, what is best for the Anglo-American Axis doesn't have to be what is best for America or our government. Their control over Washington is a means to an end, not their ultimate goal and right now these few, privileged wealthy families, their mega banks and investment firms as well as the central banks they control are in serious trouble far exceeding the Great Depression.
They Need A War!
Therefore I want to submit a hypothesis which goes even further than using a future war to create a more unassailable police state at home and further military expansion abroad. I want to make the case, how a future limited war in the Middle East involving relatively fundamentalist regimes and even China as a co-belligerent just might be the ultimate plan by the Anglo-American elites. A war could protect the financial elites from full retribution due to their central bank created mania, bubble and collapse they have inflicted on the world now over shadowed by 100's of trillions in sovereign debt and unfunded social program liabilities.Over time, their establishment media and opinion makers need to set the stage for the following to happen during a war. There is a tried and true playbook for this as most wars are manufactured and created for economic purposes just as this one will be. Most of America's wars have been started this way as dictators can just attack and invade other countries while democracies are forced to go through the charade of creating an enemy and then responding to popular enthusiasm or some contrived black flag event.
They need to create war hysteria, manufacture patriotism and the spirit of shared sacrifice so much of the private wealth in the western world can be transferred to governments to meet war crisis revenue needs. At the same time benefits and programs will be slashed and we will part with our remaining wealth and freedoms while our leaders protect us from a manufactured foreign threat. This is their goal but whether they will succeed is up to us.
Given past Washington policies, actions and Arab resentment, the revolutions however originally incited will tend to take on a life of their own. Causes of revolution can range from American supported policies and dictators, the falling world economy or a real desire for freedom from the status quo, it really doesn't matter. The movements will likely spiral out of control due to the power of the internet and social media organizational capabilities.
While the Obama Administration would certainly prefer the usual open-door policy of simply replacing one authoritarian leader with another allied to Washington to release internal social pressures, this time it could be different. Still in the region, the present grab bag of dictators and false monarchies is likely to be replaced temporarily with transitional fragile democracies which will fail and evolve over time into somewhat fundamentalist regimes.
America can put whatever spin it wants on the outcomes but the bottom line is they will be far more unfriendly and uncooperative with the United States and Israel than those in power now. Second, since fundamentalist leaderships will often put religion and culture above wealth and the fair weather friendship of the USA, the new crop of leaders might be far more difficult to buy off and or blackmail.
Shared Sacrifice is a Powerful Motivator
Looking back at history we see how citizens will usually pay any cost and take any deprivation during a war which threatens their nation or homeland. We saw this very clearly during World War Two in England during the Blitz and in Germany during the American and British nightly terror bombing of cities and civilian targets. The same outcome happened in the Philippians at Corregidor and in the trenches on both sides during World War One. Similar situations took place across the American southern states with civilians in Vicksburg living on rats, the burning of Atlanta, the bombardment of Charleston and countless other towns and villages.Shared sacrifice brings people together and you can see it during major snowstorms, hurricanes, power outages and terror attacks like 9/11 on New York City. Often the same thugs who would rob you at gunpoint during normal times will be transformed into a lifesaver, friend or protector during disasters.
Nothing brought the German population together more and solidified the people behind Hitler during World War Two than the allied bombing raids. Although people were hungry and many had already lost everything there was very little looting or unrest. After 9/11 the American people and much of the world were behind the United States, even Syria and Iran for a time because of our misfortune. Remember, 9/11 wasn't perceived as just an attack on a building, Wall Street or America, it was an attack on all civilized people. We certainly wasted and destroyed all of the resulting goodwill but this is a subject for another article.
We also see the result of shared sacrifice in the Moslem world today as every drone attack, every battle in Afghanistan and every action by Washington puppets in the Middle East angers most Moslems even those far removed from the conflicts, occupations and latest civilian attack. America has built up tremendous anger and hatred aimed at us because of our actions and this resentment can last for decades and generations.
Force or Coercion Creates Opposition
A simple definition is when individuals and groups are forced to act or think in a certain way due to outside pressure, threats or intimidation they tend to oppose such actions.Here in a modern context think of how you feel about paying taxes, penalties and fines just to fund more make-work jobs for bureaucrats and vote buying schemes for politicians. Or consider the draft if you oppose the military action or war in progress. Note how Saddam Hussein's army of conscripts melted away within a few days of the Washington invasion of Iraq. But compare this to the voluntary resistance of individual Iraqis after the invasion probably never exceeding 5% of the conscripted army were able to hold the most powerful army in the world at bay for several years.
Other historical examples might be the wholesale desertion of Russian armies during World War One or the Christmas Truce in the trenches of the western front when the soldiers began to realize they were suffering excessively for fools in political and military leadership in the high commands of France and England. In the United States, consider the New York draft riots against Lincoln's unfair draft rules which targeted the poor while allowing the wealthy to buy conscripts to take their place
Again shared sacrifice is a far stronger motivator than force or coercion and we have seen an identical result in Afghanistan. Another way to look at this is the forced trillions in bailouts for Wall Street placed on the American taxpayers and future generations by Congress while their corporate profits and salaries soared. Everyone would have been glad to pull together during the crisis but the force and coercion will be remembered for decades.
The American people will not be fooled again and agree to selective coercion and sacrifice with the coming dollar and Treasury debt collapse hence maybe we see another reason for the madness in the Middle East.
War Always Brings Out Shared Sacrifice at Home and on the Battlefield
In the coming decade, America, Europeans and the Chinese will like have more economic destruction and wealth loss to deal with than in many years. For China, when their economic bubble bursts, they will face relative economic hardships not seen since Mao's Great Leap Forward, for Europe World War Two and for the US, the Great Depression and Civil War.For Chinese politicians and China, the largest holder of US treasury debt outside the Federal Reserve, they cannot sit idly by if the US should repudiate the treasury debt. Chinese leaders like politicians everywhere want to stay in power and they would look stupid and lose face before the nation. A limited war where they were just allied with Islamic factions would provide the necessary political cover while the US and China traded sanctions, debt repudiation and currency threats back and forth all for public show.
Should America's over sovereign indebted allies in Europe join with us against the Islamic nations and oil producing regions, we could under cover of war, repudiate our sovereign debts, move to a new world crisis currency, confiscate much of the private wealth and drastically cut government payrolls and Social Security and welfare payments and blame it all on the war. The West would have shared sacrifice, shared poverty and a war hysteria driven police state at home, a strong military abroad and most of the world's oil resources directly under our control.
While they might not get away with this today because of alternative news and communications, don't think for an instant properly conditioned people would not fall for something like this. This happened to our parents, grandparents and past generations. All wars are economic in nature and usually looting expeditions by powerful interests. The propaganda, patriotism, hate, revenge and prejudice and historical cover-up is just for public consumption.
Washington: Tear Down Your Neocon & Financial Empire Walls!
Neocons have controlled American foreign policy for decades and their Middle East actions have been to install and support dictatorships to control the nations and people in a plantation overseer type arrangement. This guaranteed that favored international oil conglomerates and financial elites made big money off Arab natural resources, primarily oil which is why the Anglo-American Axis has controlled the region since the First World War.In return, these favored authoritarian leaders, their extended families and special interests shared in the wealth pillaged from their countries and they were protected by American military hardware, training and funding from the United States and the United Kingdom. Their successful administration and forced "regional stability" for overseeing and safeguarding our "Arab oil plantations", allowed the vassal state leadership free rein to rule as they thought best.
As you can see with leaders like Mubarak, the priority is always profits and stability rather than human rights and overall prosperity. Yes Washington would sometimes wink and utter platitudes about jobs and democracy but as long as the puppet leaders followed the empire rules and directives, we generally left them alone.
On occasion, some national leaders of the empire states would fail to keep order or attempt to skim too much money off the top and our intelligence services would replace them in a faux revolution but only the leaders changed seldom their policies. In extreme cases such as Panama under Noriega or Iraq under Saddam, our military would from time to time remove one dictator from power by military force and install a more pliable puppet to manage the individual nations in the empire.
The simple fact is British and American elites have ruled the Anglo-American Empire in the Middle East for well over 100 years in a way very similar to the Soviet control over the Warsaw Pact nations following World War Two. Indigenous leaders, powerless parties, fake elections always with the US behind the scenes guaranteed the 30 plus year reigns of monarchies and dictatorships against the will of the people.
Recently while the initial overthrow in Tunisia may well have started as another leader replacement cycle by foreign intelligence, the outcome has been anything but what was expected due growth of the internet and social media. Today, the internet, Twitter and Facebook now allow oppressed citizens to organize and communicate across national boundaries (taxing jurisdictions) and Washington now has an uprising against US puppets and dictators growing across the Middle East.
This freedom virus using the internet to spread and organize across the region from Egypt, Yemen to Jordan may l soon threaten the pro-Washington, oil producing nations of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the gulf states with disastrous economic and financial consequences for oil prices, the dollar and the treasury debt. But as we've written earlier, there may be a silver lining and plan over all the perceived chaos.
While I normally would recommend that Washington stay out of the internal affairs of other nations, due to the actions of dictators and leaders under our past sponsorship and protection, I urge the Obama Administration to either get ahead of the political tidal wave now washing away our neocon empire across the Middle East or get out of the way.
• A good place to start would be an apology for our past actions in the region, explain how some of this might have been warranted by the Cold War but declare an end to the practice and promise an immediate cessation of our backing for corrupt regimes.
• Second we should announce plans to end our Neocon inspired wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as our drone attacks in Pakistan and other nations in the area.
• Finally we should offer friendship and urge private financial and economic help for the region and for peaceful efforts to topple remaining corrupt authoritarian regimes.
Thanks to the internet and social media, the tides of politics and history are quickly changing in the Middle East and these actions may well move to China, Africa, Asia, Europe and yes even here in the United States.
I believe historians will someday write about how the internet or Facebook Revolution created more freedom and less oppression in the world. Historians should point out how the use of the internet to provide alternative news, organization and individual human action against powerful elites actually started in the United States during the Ron Paul For President Campaign in 2008. Who knows, these changes might well sweep the globe between now and 2012 and even begin to restore limited government to the United States.
As it all began here with Ron Paul, maybe it will blossom again with Ron Paul in 2012 but this is a political decision for Ron Paul. Still, if I were a member of one of the two party political establishments, the Federal Reserve or the financial elites, I would pay close attention to Egypt and the Middle East. Just maybe it is time for them to begin to worry if the eventual overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt might be the beginning of the end for political and financial tyranny over free people around the world. This could real upset Washington's plans as well as the hidden motives of the Anglo-American elites.
By 2012 we might see rallies filling the Washington Mall against Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the closed two-party monopoly.
I can hear the crowds now, "Geithner, Go Back To Brooklyn, Bernanke, Go Back to Dillon SC and maybe even "Obama, Go Back To Somewhere,". It is time to certainly begin to dismantle the Neocon empire walls protecting dictators around the world as well as the Walls of Washington here at home.
As a child I often sang the old black spiritual about oppression, Go Down Moses in elementary school. Two lines I remember were, "Tell ole Pharaoh, To let my people go". Contrary to the perception of the citizens of Egypt, Mubarak is not a modern day pharaoh but rather just one of many petty dictators supported by Washington.
If there is a real pharaoh attempting to control the world today, it is a group of wealthy Anglo-American elites in Washington, the City of London and on Wall Street who manipulate our foreign policy, our markets through the central banks around the world. We need to tear down the empire walls abroad and build a high wall around the neocon advisors and Wall Street elites at home
What You Might Have Missed In the Press
AOL Buys Huffington PostYou might wonder why a conservative or libertarian should care about what is happening with the "Huffington Post"? First, I read the publication everyday right after LRC and The Daily Bell because there are some great articles on the website and it is important to know what the left is reading. Second, although rightwing, alternative news originally took the lead on the internet, the death throes of print news publications mean all views from freedom, to establishment and the left will soon only be promoted on the internet. The internet revolution has killed print media and the next victim will be conventional political action. I will be writing about this dynamic development next month in The Daily Bell.
Retiring Outside the US Is No Longer A Foreign Concept
This article is very timely because many readers with substantial assets or nearing retirement age should be educating themselves on the many advantages and lifestyle benefits of retiring and or living offshore. A necessity is for readers to do their own due diligence and take real stock of themselves to determine if and where they might consider in a foreign retirement jurisdiction. Do not let foreign real estate agents or others hustle you into making a quick decision on such an important change in your life. In business, you should hire slow and fire fast when employees do not workout. In making a retirement lifestyle decision move quick and rent and wait at least 12 months before buying a property for full-time retirement living.
Hezbollah Chief: Egypt's Unrest Will Change Region
I certainly hate to agree with Hezbollah on anything but on this forecast, they are correct. In the Middle East and for that matter national politics globally will likely never be the same again. It would appear that only the speed of the spread of social media and internet based political organizing and promotion may depend somewhat on what happens in Egypt but in any case the genie is out of the bottle. Oppressed people everywhere with access to the internet can now make an easy impact against entrenched forces of unpopular political leaders and political organizations. Although we are closely watching the oil producing region, Egypt's internet and social media uprising can easily be copied in China, Europe and even America.
A Fair Election For Secession in the South
South Sudan that is where 98% of voters vote to leave Sudan and form the new nation of South Sudan. As citizens from overly indebted, centralized nation states look for ways to escape the illegitimate debt burden created by politicians, peaceful, democratic secession can be the best way to leave corrupt politicians, big government and national debts and unfunded liabilities behind.
Hackers Penetrate NASDAQ Computers
Hackers gaining access to the NASDAQ computers might concern some readers but not me. Investors have far more to fear from government threats, Wall Street manipulation, flash trading and the Federal Reserve than lapses in computer security.
Thank Goodness Presidential Alert Tests Are Coming
Washington's objective is to make announcements during a crisis very available to all the American public first on radio and cable but soon on the internet. Think of this as a modern-day version of President Roosevelt's old Fireside Chats during the Great Depression.
Imagine, you might be working on your laptop or Blackberry and suddenly a Presidential Executive Order will be announced and we are notified when Washington demands our gold, our guns or our passports. You learn first-hand when bank accounts are frozen, safe deposit boxes are locked and new crisis taxes and penalties are levied. What a great idea and future for the United States of America. This is just more to worry about and plan for in the coming dollar and treasury obligation crash and collapse or other threats which might require or Washington might take advantage of to issue Presidential Executive Orders.
How Presidential Executive Orders Threaten You
"Occasionally words must serve to veil the facts, but this must happen in such a way that no one becomes aware of it; or if it should be noticed, excuses must be at hand, to be produced immediately." -- MachiavelliFollowing is a very brief discussion of Presidential Executive orders. First, there are plenty of websites and rightwing conspiracy organizations constantly warning about the many Presidential Executive Orders currently threatening the Constitution and allowing the President and the feds to run unchecked over our constitutional freedoms, financial rights and civil liberties.
Frankly most of this prior to 9/11 was more doomsday mongering and scare tactics by writers, editors and others marketing to Americans concerned about big government than any real threat. But like everything else in the United States today, these former trumped up concerns are now real threats to your liberty and wealth. With the power of Executive Orders, the president can basically rule the nation by executive decree in times of severe emergency as the presidential powers are quite broadly defined by the Constitution. According to our reading of the Constitution, it does not define or limit the power of the president to rule by executive order except in the larger context of the Constitution in general and we all know what the average politician or bureaucrat in Washington thinks or knows about the Constitution, nothing!
Today with threats of terrorist attacks, a looming financial crisis and the possible use of weapons of mass destruction, Presidential Executive Orders are a real threat. They are simply quasi-dictatorial powers given to the President for appropriate use in times of national emergency like war, economic collapse or the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Although they bypass the right of Congress established by the Constitution to make laws, they could become a necessary government emergency action during a real crisis – if they were only used for this situation.
What really happens are these orders are published in the Federal Register and after 30 days they become law just as if they had been passed by Congress. Be aware that all of these types of non-constitutional actions including Executive Orders, Presidential Proclamations, Presidential Declarations, and Presidential Decision Directives are considered executive orders and some have been sealed and aren't even publicized to Congress.
Here is a partial list of some of the original executive orders that have been issued by presidents of the United States. They provide unprecedented authority at the president's disposal, that he can enforce during a national crises. He can declare a national emergency for any reason whether the American people or Congress agree or not. This frightening power gives the president the unlimited power of a dictator in the event of a real or contrived crisis situation. You can see the potential for tyranny here if these unconstitutional powers are used in the wrong way and remember the president would also have total control of the armed forces to enforce executive orders.
Order # Authority Granted to the President
10995 Right to seize all communications media in the United States
10997 Right to seize all electric power, fuels and minerals, both public and private
10999 Right to seize all means of transportation, including personal vehicles of any kind and total control of highways, seaports and waterways
11000 Right to seize any and all American people and divide up families in order to create work forces to be transferred to any place the government sees fit.
11001 Right to seize all health, education and welfare facilities, both public and private
11002 Right to force registration of all men, women and children in the United States
11003 Right to seize all air space, airports and aircraft
11004 Right to seize all housing and finance authorities in order to establish "Relocation Designated Areas" and to force abandonment of areas classified as "unsafe".
11005 Right to seize all railroads, inland waterways, and storage facilities, both public and private
11051 This gives the Director of the Office of Emergency Planning the right to put Executive Orders into effect in "times of increased international tension or financial crisis."
11490 Enforces Presidential power over all US citizens, businesses and even houses or worship during "an emergency".
11921 Allows the feds to seize control over education, welfare, mechanisms of production and distribution, energy, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money to and from American financial institutions and to do this under total or partial censorship of the press.
12919 Provides the president the authority to seize and allocate all public and private materials, services, facilities, food, farm equipment, fertilizer, construction materials, energy and all forms of civilian transportation.
13010 Orders the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assume control over all government agencies during an emergency.
13011 Created a national information system to control all U.S. citizens by linking data from all government agencies into a single database.
Presidential Decision Directives (PDD) Are Even More Frightening
These directives are additional presidential dictatorial powers that do not even have to be published in the Federal Register and are not a matter of public record. Most of these concern national security and are used to provide guidance on these issues to the National Security Council (NSC) hence most are classified.What should concern Americans and foreign investors in the USA are two PDD's, which are linked to Executive Order 12919 above as they relate to "services". Services sounds innocuous enough until you realize they include telecommunications, energy, finance, transportation and all emergency services.
President Clinton signed both Presidential Decision Directive #62 concerning "Combating Terrorism" and #63 which relates to "Protecting America's Critical Infrastructure". There was of course far more added on top of existing orders during the Bush Administration.
It is important to remember that both of these two directives were issued prior to 9/11 but would come into action in the event of a major terrorist attack or serious financial collapse. This directive gives the control of all "critical infrastructures" from telecommunications (including regular and express mail, phones, e-mail and the Internet and provides for the interception and monitoring of all such communications), energy, transportation, and, do not forget, banking and finance to the NIPC. Even private businesses involved in critical infrastructure will be "strongly encouraged" to share information with NIPC. Everything is then reported directly to the National Security Advisor thus making the information and records classified.
The stage is now set for the implementation of a total police state in America. All that needs to happen is another major terrorist attack or a collapse in the dollar or treasury debt market.
Readers should take steps now to protect their wealth and liberties.
In Closing
I hope this issue of Freedom Matters has brought some clarity for you about the fast changing world around us. Threats to our freedoms and liberties start at the top with the Anglo-American Axis and their plans to consolidate countries and governments into a global order under their rule.We can expect Egypt and much of the Middle East over time to journey from pawns and oil plantations of the American Empire maybe to fragile democracies which in turn will slide into some type of radical Islamic states. The control of oil resources and military intervention will continue to be US foreign policy in the region with the ultimate result a regional war and conflict. This war will provide the necessary cover for a profitable financial elite solution to the global sovereign debt crisis while curtailing the freedom movement with police state security solutions.
Their goal is for the establishment media and experts to create war hysteria, manufactured patriotism and the spirit of shared sacrifice so much of the private wealth in the western world can be transferred to governments to meet war crisis revenue needs. At the same time benefits and programs will be slashed and we will part with our remaining wealth and freedoms while our leaders protect us from a false foreign threat they actually created for the purpose. This is their goal but whether they will succeed is up to us.
On the other hand, this might be their last chance for victory as the internet and social media are making public opinion manipulation by the media elite about as effective as arrows against gunpowder weapons and their time is running out. The internet allows bottom-up organization and person-to -person communications outside the control of government bureaucracy.
This makes the battle between top-down, centralized, bureaucratic leadership and decentralized human action. A.J. Liebling wrote many years ago that "freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." He was right then but not now. Today each of us have access to YouTube, cell phones, Twitter and Facebook just to name a few of the internet communication and publishing alternatives. These are our 21st century newspapers and together working in our own unique ways I believe we will win the battle for freedom and information.
For financial freedom, personal liberty & free-markets,
Anthony Wile
Executive Director
The Foundation for the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking
Sunday, February 6, 2011
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