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"It's not WHAT backs our money, it's WHO controls the QUANTITY!"
-Bill Still
-Bill Still
It is a rare prospect throughout history that in one person's lifetime they see the progression of their money; from thousands, to millions, then billions, and finally trillions. There is no currency in the history of mankind that has ever successfully made the transition to quadrillions. The U.S. Dollar will not be the first. The math of debt to income will not allow it and will produce "events" that interrupt the current parabolic growth. Supporters of Freedom's Vision would prefer not to allow such "events" to unfold. We are getting close. Should we fail to take action and affect real change soon, then we will undoubtedly be living through such historical events. Truly, this fight could be the last fight.
Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund during 2007 and 2008, and is an outspoken critic of the way money is influencing politics in America. The opening to his article titled The Quiet Coup, had this to say about the relationship of money to politics:
The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government's a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we're running out of time."
It is a rare prospect throughout history that in one person's lifetime they see the progression of their money; from thousands, to millions, then billions, and finally trillions. There is no currency in the history of mankind that has ever made the transition to quadrillions. The U.S. Dollar will not be the first. The math of debt to income will not allow it and will produce "events" that interrupt the current parabolic growth. Supporters of Freedom's Vision would prefer not to allow such "events" to unfold. We are getting close. Should we fail to take action and affect real change soon, then we will undoubtedly be living through such historical events. Truly, this fight could be the last fight.
Most may not realize it, but our money system is failing right now. Our nation is practicing piecemeal default as it is no longer able finance its debts and thus we have resorted to the practice of "quantitative easing" and the buying up of toxic debts cast into citizen's laps by the private financial industry. How could this happen in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave? It shouldn't. We must understand history and our money system or we are destined to repeat past failures.
In the video that follows, money expert, Bill Still, producer of The Money Masters and The Secret of Oz, explains how the British successfully used "Tally Sticks" as their currency for 726 years, more than seven times longer than our current debt backed system! This system of debt free, government-issued money gave rise to the greatest empire in history:
Bill Still - The History of Non Debt-Backed British Tally Sticks...
Right now there is a huge backlash growing in the United States - many people view their government as the source of the problems, the reason that the quantity of money has allowed to get out of control. But that's simply not the entire story; the origins of their mistake were made in the year 1913 with the creation of a "Federal Reserve" who is no more Federal than Federal Express. The bankers are the ones who created out-of-control credit dollars. They fought to create a money system that is backed by debt and uses taxpayer productivity to pay themselves interest! Since that time, our money systems' days have been numbered. The compounding math of debt works against the people and in favor of these now very powerful special interests!
Bill Gross, Managing Director of one of the world's largest bond management companies, Pimco, recently spoke out about the need for political reform:
Bill Gross Investment Outlook 2010:
"Question: What has become of the American nation? Conceived with the vision of liberty and justice for all, we have descended in the clutches of corporate and other special interests to a second world state defined by K Street instead of Independence Square. Our government doesn't work anymore, or perhaps more accurately, when it does, it works for special interests and not the American people. Washington consistently stoops to legislate 10,000-page perversions of healthcare, regulatory reform, defense, and budgetary mandates overflowing with earmarks that serve a monied minority as opposed to an all-too-silent majority. You don't have to be Don Quixote to believe that legislators - and Presidents - often do not work for the benefit of their constituents: A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reported that over 65% of Americans trust their government to do the right thing "only some of the time" and a stunning 19% said "never." What most politicians apparently are working for is to perpetuate their power - first via district gerrymandering, and then second by around-the-clock campaigning financed by special interest groups. If, by chance, they're ever voted out of office, they have a home just down the street - at K Street - with six-figure incomes as a starting wage.
"What amazes me most of all is that politicians can be bought so cheaply. Public records show that combined labor, insurance, big pharma and related corporate interests spent just under $500 million last year on healthcare lobbying (not much of which went to politicians) for what is likely to be a $50-100 billion annual return. The fact is that American citizens have never been as divorced from their representatives - and if that description fits the Democratic Congress now in control - then it applies to Republicans as well - past and present. So you watch Fox, or is it MSNBC? O'Reilly or Olbermann? It doesn't matter. You're just being conned into rooting for a team that basically runs the same plays called by look-alike coaches on different sidelines. A "ballot box" pox on all their houses - Senators, Representatives and Presidents alike. There has been no change, there will be no change, until we the American people decide to publicly finance all national and local elections and ban the writing of even a $1 check for our favorite candidates.
William Gross
Managing Director
"Question: What has become of the American nation? Conceived with the vision of liberty and justice for all, we have descended in the clutches of corporate and other special interests to a second world state defined by K Street instead of Independence Square. Our government doesn't work anymore, or perhaps more accurately, when it does, it works for special interests and not the American people. Washington consistently stoops to legislate 10,000-page perversions of healthcare, regulatory reform, defense, and budgetary mandates overflowing with earmarks that serve a monied minority as opposed to an all-too-silent majority. You don't have to be Don Quixote to believe that legislators - and Presidents - often do not work for the benefit of their constituents: A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reported that over 65% of Americans trust their government to do the right thing "only some of the time" and a stunning 19% said "never." What most politicians apparently are working for is to perpetuate their power - first via district gerrymandering, and then second by around-the-clock campaigning financed by special interest groups. If, by chance, they're ever voted out of office, they have a home just down the street - at K Street - with six-figure incomes as a starting wage.
"What amazes me most of all is that politicians can be bought so cheaply. Public records show that combined labor, insurance, big pharma and related corporate interests spent just under $500 million last year on healthcare lobbying (not much of which went to politicians) for what is likely to be a $50-100 billion annual return. The fact is that American citizens have never been as divorced from their representatives - and if that description fits the Democratic Congress now in control - then it applies to Republicans as well - past and present. So you watch Fox, or is it MSNBC? O'Reilly or Olbermann? It doesn't matter. You're just being conned into rooting for a team that basically runs the same plays called by look-alike coaches on different sidelines. A "ballot box" pox on all their houses - Senators, Representatives and Presidents alike. There has been no change, there will be no change, until we the American people decide to publicly finance all national and local elections and ban the writing of even a $1 check for our favorite candidates.
William Gross
Managing Director
The spiral into special interest influence is insidious and is about to get much worse despite the current crisis:
Courts Roll Back Limits on Election Spending
WASHINGTON Even before a landmark Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance law expected within days, a series of other court decisions is reshaping the political battlefield by freeing corporations, unions and other interest groups from many of the restrictions on their advertising about issues and candidates.
Legal experts and political operatives say the cases roll back campaign spending rules to the years before Watergate. The end of decades-old restrictions could unleash a torrent of negative advertisements, help cash-poor Republicans in a pivotal year and push President Obama to bring in more money for his party.
If the Supreme Court, as widely expected, rules against core elements of the existing limits, Democrats say they will try to enact new laws to reinstate the restrictions in time for the midterm elections in November. And advocates of stricter campaign finance laws say they hope the developments will prod the president to fulfill a campaign promise to update the presidential campaign financing system, even though it would diminish his edge as incumbent.
"It will be no holds barred when it comes to independent expenditures," said Kenneth A. Gross, a veteran political law expert at the firm of Skadden Arps in Washington.
WASHINGTON Even before a landmark Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance law expected within days, a series of other court decisions is reshaping the political battlefield by freeing corporations, unions and other interest groups from many of the restrictions on their advertising about issues and candidates.
Legal experts and political operatives say the cases roll back campaign spending rules to the years before Watergate. The end of decades-old restrictions could unleash a torrent of negative advertisements, help cash-poor Republicans in a pivotal year and push President Obama to bring in more money for his party.
If the Supreme Court, as widely expected, rules against core elements of the existing limits, Democrats say they will try to enact new laws to reinstate the restrictions in time for the midterm elections in November. And advocates of stricter campaign finance laws say they hope the developments will prod the president to fulfill a campaign promise to update the presidential campaign financing system, even though it would diminish his edge as incumbent.
"It will be no holds barred when it comes to independent expenditures," said Kenneth A. Gross, a veteran political law expert at the firm of Skadden Arps in Washington.
The oligarchs profiting from the current system have aggregated more wealth in the hands of the few than at any time in modern history. They use this wealth to finance both parties in the United States, thus ensuring their interests are protected no matter which candidate wins.
They create "hot button" issues that pit one American citizen against another - divide and conquer is what that is called, and we're seeing more division now than at anytime in the past century.
They use our two party system to box the issues and "solutions" between the "left" and the "right," again buying both sides and profiting from either outcome. The solutions that benefit the vast majority of our citizens are hardly ever discussed and are never the solution that occurs. Once citizens are duped into believing they have a voice when in truth they do not.
The fourth branch of government has turned our citizens into "consumers," and our politicians into debt pushers. They now "must get credit (debt) flowing again" at all costs including our children's future, our morals, our ethics, our sense of pride, our well being, and quite possibly the very existence of our country.
Thus it is time for the people to step up and enforce the rule of law. This is the very act of self-determination that made America the greatest nation on Earth and it is time to end the advantage that special interests and their money have. Below are the simple and common sense Political Reform suggestions found within Freedom's Vision.
POLITICAL REFORM
While we are blessed with our Constitution, special interests have grown so rich and so powerful that they have achieved super human influence in the realm of influencing politics and politicians. The following rules set about to separate the money those special interests possess from our government (the word "politician" below includes all elected and appointed government representatives on all levels of government, including judges and members of the military. The term Congress generally means the entire legislative branch unless the power is already specifically Congress's. Exact legal language is required).
This addresses the root causes of our financial crisis as without pressure from these mega companies, politicians on the national level will be able to mount effective campaigns that no longer run in the hundreds of millions of dollars, while all will be able to make decisions that support the collective people in the long run, not just the profit oriented short run. Therefore:
A. No form of Corporation or business shall be permitted to donate any more than the personal campaign limit to any political campaign regardless of size. It shall be illegal to set up shell corporations to circumnavigate said rule.Doing these simple things will accomplish more for America than it would appear at first glance:
B. Personal campaign contributions to any single politician shall be limited to no more than 5% of the median annual household income level at the time of the previous election cycle. For example, in 2007 that level was $50,233. Thus the maximum individual or corporate contribution would be 5% of that figure, or $2,511(the corporation still has the advantage as they can make this donation to an unlimited number of politicians). This amount should remain relatively stable over time once the above economic reforms are instituted. No candidate may spend more than 1,000 times the maximum individual amount of their own personal money on any single personal campaign.
C. Corporations, businesses, and their representatives shall not be permitted to pay lobbyists or hire employees for the purpose of lobbying government. Corporate officers and employees may, however, meet with politicians with the same access and rights of any individual. Groups of people may form together in "lobbying groups," however such groups cannot be backed with any corporate money or benefits whatsoever.
D. Politicians shall not, while in office, influence any fiscal decision regarding any industry in which they were previously a Corporate Officer (Vice President or equivalent or higher). This does not prevent politicians from working on legislation in fields which they are familiar unless they were on the Officer level. It also does not mean that government representatives cannot contract to have private work or development accomplished on behalf of the people.
E. Politicians after leaving office shall not go to work for any corporation following their service for which their office had any oversight, contractual connections, or control over while in office for a period of 5 years following their time in office.
F. All bills must be single-subject. A per-page "waiting period" on bill passage will be implemented to allow them time to be read and understood. For each ten pages of legislation one day must pass from publication until a vote can be taken. Each edit, whether removal, change or addition adds one more day.
Huge special interests would no longer be the largest contributors to political campaigns. This shifts the power from the special interests and back to the people where it rightfully belongs.
The amount of money spent on campaigns would fall dramatically.
Our REPRESENTATIVES could then get elected on a level playing field where they could make long term decisions on behalf of the people, not the military industrial complex, not the health care insurance industry, and not the bankers!
The incentive to attach "earmarks" and to insert other loopholes into legislation is greatly reduced.
Without this pressure to return the support those interest groups who support them, politicians can then make decisions that don't spiral the quantity of money out-of-control.
There is still time to improve this language and to make it even better, thus we are open to receiving your input before we begin our push for actual legislation.
The monetary, political, and job producing directional reforms of Freedom's Vision all work together to create a strong foundation for a prosperous and healthy America. The benefits of Freedom's Vision are many:
1. Avoid the disaster about to unfold - regardless of how we get there, by inflation or deflation, the math of debt that underlies our currency does not work. This would break that math and preempt the negative events that are going to follow should we fail to take action.Turning these reforms into reality is absolutely possible. We are going to rise our collective voices to DEMAND that they are. YOU have more power than you know, especially when you demand what is fair and JUST. We are not asking you to place your name on some petition. We are asking that you stand erect, lift your head high where it belongs and COMMAND our representatives to implement these reforms. Failure to do so will cost them their jobs and they WILL do as they are commanded by US, the people.
2. No more debt backed money for our Federal Government. Lower taxes and more productivity result.
3. Direct and immediate relief for people in debt, accomplished in a way that's fair to everyone including those who are not in debt and without creating excessive price inflation, deflation or a giant "moral hazard."
4. Direct and immediate compensation for those who are savers and have been damaged by past practice.
5. Relief for States, almost all of whom are in deep debt trouble.
6. Cleanses the banks and financial businesses of unserviceable debts and derivatives and would ensure that they stay that way. All banks would survive the transition, immediately benefiting from improvements in our citizen's balance sheets. The same process would be used to cleanse other financial like businesses.
7. Businesses, both large and small, would immediately benefit from our citizens and the banks improved balance sheets.
8. Unfunded liabilities would immediately get better with zero percent price inflation.
9. Limits on special interests would separate their money from politics lessening the pressure to continually increase the quantity of money. This allows long term decision making. Special interests associated with the banking, oil, defense, food, insurance, and other industries would no longer have their huge pull. Thus politicians would not have to focus on spending our resources on special interests, but instead on the interests of the people. Budget pressures would decrease as a result.
10. States would exercise more control over their own destiny. Lower taxes on the state level, more productivity. Low cost money would become available to repair and upgrade current infrastructure and to build the infrastructure of tomorrow's commerce.
11. The powers possessed by the central banks would be greatly diminished freeing our country and others from their methods of control via debt, now even issued worldwide by the IMF. Countries would no longer be working to pay central banks interest. Instead they would work to develop their own rule of law. Their productive labors could be used to improve their own infrastructure, to feed and cloth themselves, and to build a future for themselves. In other words, they need to be taught how to fish, not simply given a fish and asked to pay it back forever and ever.
12. No price inflation eroding away future savings. People who take on reasonable debt could once again make progress towards paying it off.
13. Massively supports education, underpinning progress so that we may continue to lead the world in innovation and the production of meaningful technologies.
14. Provides a national mission - focused on creating the energy and infrastructure of the future. REAL and meaningful economic growth would ensue and massive new employment would result.
The SWARMS are coming, please stay involved and stay tuned.
Below is a terrific Bill Moyer's Journal interview with two people who understand how the financial industry is influencing politics. Their perspective is mostly correct and is exactly why political reform needs to happen along with economic reform.
This is a two part interview:
Part I:
Bill Moyer's Journal with Kevin Drum and David Corn
Part II:
Bill Moyer's Journal with Kevin Drum and David Corn
The Market Ticker - More Bank Lawbreaking: Terrorism Links?
Thread Starter: tickerguy 09-03-2010 02:58 PM by tickerguy