New Content: (07/13/2008)
Last Addition: (07/13/2008)
Departments
"If the American people ever allow
private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation,
then by deflation, (i.e., the "business cycle") the banks and corporations
that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until
their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
It has been a rather interesting week in
the Presidential race as Americans are finally waking up to the reality of
Obama and the insanity of McCain.
Between Obama saying that American
children should learn Spanish and his vote for wiretapping all of our
communications, people are beginning to realize that he is not turning out
to be what they had imagined, off there in fantasy land.
And both Obama and McCain have been very
busy "fellating" the various Hispanic Illegal Alien organizations such as
LULAC, MALDEF and LaRasa. With record unemployment the American people
are in no mood to consider granting amnesty to 12 to 30 million Illegal
Aliens, that they will have to compete against for their very economic
survival. So, once again, the American people are taking notice,
scratching their heads and saying, "neither of these jerks represent me or
the majority of Legal American Citizens.
And of course it isn't just the ordinary
people that are recognizing the fact that they aren't represented by either
candidate. Jesse Jackson even accused Obama of "speaking down to Black
People." He was so pissed off at Obama that he actually said he wanted
to "cut off his nuts." Then Ralph Nader challenged Obama to
speak up against the "White Establishment." Like that's going to
happen?
I provided a much more disturbing
portrait of Obama in the following article:
Of course the main point that I make is
that Obama is being groomed and advised by one of the worlds most notorious,
and dangerous, globalist: Zbigniew Brzezinski.
So it is good to see American's finally
waking up to the fact that their country is in the process of being taken
away from them just 3.5 months before the November election. I
suppose the next question is "what are we going to do about it?"
I am pleading with you to start promoting
my "write-in" candidacy for President and get on my mailing list that will
soon become active:
I don't want you to think I'm deluded
enough to believe I could win: that would require at least 45 million
"write-in" votes for Bruce W. Cain. I want you to promote my candidacy
so that we can get beyond the incremental changes, of past administrations,
by challenging Obama and McCain to adopt all 10 planks of the "New Agenda
for America."
Here are the
initial "planks":
(1) Universal Health Care for All
American Citizens
(2) A 20-year moratorium on all
immigration into the United States
(3) Legal Marijuana for all
Adults and Medical Patients
(4) An immediate reversal to the
Offshoring and Inshoring of American Jobs
(5) A strict enforcement on
issues of Separation of Church and State
(6) An immediate move from
so-called Free Trade Agreements to Bilateral Trade agreements
(7) A major R&D project to bring
energy independence to the United States and the World through recycling, reuse,
ending hyper-consumerism and investing in the development of sustainable energy
sources (e.g., solar, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal)
(8) No further ownership of US
Assets (businesses, homes, ports, stock exchanges) by foreign governments or
individuals!
(9) Replace the Federal Reserve
with a People's Reserve which allows public oversight
(10) Absolute support for Net Neutrality
I also encourage my readers to
understand and promote the "New Agenda for America." To that end I
have created another graphics file that you can copy to your website,
(MySpace, FaceBook, Personal website etc.). Then simply
attach the following hyperlink to the graphic:
The new graphic has portraits of 3 of the
most important founding fathers (Washington, Jefferson and Franklin) along
with me: Bruce W. Cain. It starts out by saying "Four of a Kind:
Nothing Like Obama or McCain."
Of course what I am trying to convey is
the fact that I have always shared the values of these great men. Let
me give you a few examples:
* All 4 of us believe that the government
should always reflect the will of the American People and not the will of a
foreign or domestic elite.
* All 4 of us believe that Hemp/Marijuana is an important plant that should
be legal.
* All 4 of us believe that there should be no Central Bank (e.g., the
Federal Reserve).
* All 4 of us believe in an absolute separation between Church and State
And by saying "nothing like Obama or
McCain" I am saying what is becoming more obvious by the day. Obama
and McCain are both Globalists. If elected they will work to
subvert our sovereignty and move us all towards a One World Fascist
Government. They may say they believe in some of these things
but their actions consistently betray both of these traitors.
So what am I really trying to accomplish
here?
Hopefully, this campaign will minimally
create a large base of Americans that will -- using direct democracy (viral
internet campaigns etc.) -- pressure Congress and the next President to
adopt all 10 planks of the "New Agenda for America."
And hopefully that will launch us all
upon a new and better path for the future.
18/07/08 "ICH" -- - The Fed's emergency rescue plan for the financial
markets is hopelessly flawed. It's a scattershot approach that doesn't
address the real source of the problem; an unregulated, unsustainable
structured finance system that emerged in full-force after 2000 and spawned
a shadow banking system that creates trillions of dollars of credit without
sufficient capital reserves. This is the heart of the problem and it needs
to be debated openly. The present system doesn't work; it's as simple as
that. It makes no sense to provide trillions of dollars of taxpayer money to
shore up a system that is essentially dysfunctional. It's just throwing
money down a rat-hole.
The Federal Reserve and US Treasury want a blank check to prop up Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, the two war-horses of the mortgage industry, that currently
underwrite nearly 80 per cent of all new mortgages in the US. But by any
objective standard both of these GSEs are already insolvent. Thus, the
taxpayer is being asked to rescue a failed industry that has been used for
private gain so that speculators will not have to suffer the losses. Even
worse, Fannie and Freddie have written hundreds of billions of dollars worth
of mortgages that have not yet defaulted, but will certainly default within
the next two years. This is bound to batter the already faltering economy.
The bad paper held by Fannie and Freddie are mortgages that were made to
unqualified applicants who are presently losing their homes in record
numbers. Their loans were approved because there was no functioning
regulatory body to oversee their issuance and because the mortgages were
transformed into complex securities that were sold to credulous investors
around the world. The ratings were fixed to meet the requirements of their
employers, the investment banks, which marketed these exotic bonds to
foreign banks, insurance companies and hedge funds. That puts Fannie and
Freddie at the center of a system that needs radical surgery to eradicate
the bad paper. If this doesn't happen in a timely fashion, then foreign
investors will stop purchasing US debt and the dollar will crash. By
creating a backstop for Fannie and Freddie, the Fed is linking US sovereign
debt with mortgages and derivatives that are already known to be fraudulent.
This is a big mistake. According to Merrill Lynch, the US is already facing
a long-term "financing crisis" as the weakening US economy and sluggish
consumer spending could signal an end to the $700 billion in foreign
investment that covers America's current account deficit. By assuming the
GSE's enormous debts, the Bush administration is just speeding this process
along and inviting disaster.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has been intentionally oblique about the
implications of the proposed bailout. On Tuesday, he delivered a statement
in front of the massive stone columns of the Department of the Treasury, a
towering monolith that arouses feelings of confidence in rock-solid
institutions. He made it clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have
the "explicit" backing of the US government:
"First, as a liquidity backstop, the plan includes a temporary increase in
the line of credit the GSEs have with Treasury. Treasury would determine the
terms and conditions for accessing the line of credit and the amount to be
drawn.
Second, to ensure the GSEs have access to sufficient capital to continue to
serve their mission, the plan includes temporary authority for Treasury to
purchase equity in either of the two GSEs if needed.
Third, to protect the financial system from systemic risk going forward, the
plan strengthens the GSE regulatory reform legislation currently moving
through Congress by giving the Federal Reserve a consultative role in the
new GSE regulator's process for setting capital requirements and other
prudential standards."
It was an impressive performance from a public relations point of view, but
it didn't fool anyone on Wall Street. What Wall Street wants is details not
blather. Paulson gave no specifics about how much money the government would
provide or what the nature of the new relationship would be;
conservatorship, recievorship, nationalization? What is it?
The truth is that Paulson was deliberately vague because he and friend
Bernanke would like to have it both ways; they'd like to provide a liquidity
backstop and an endless line of credit for the two GSE's without formally
nationalizing them. That would avoid the further dilution of stock values
while keeping the US government from taking another $5 trillion of mortgage
debt onto their balance sheet. It is a delicate balancing act, but Paulson
seems to think he carried it off. He's wrong, though, and volatility in the
stock market proves it. Investors are clearly skittish about the new
arrangement. They want to know the facts about the government's commitment.
Paulson is discovering that deceiving investors is not as easy as duping the
public about fictional WMD or Niger uranium. Sometimes even the dullest
person can grasp the most complex matters when it comes to his own money.
Fannie and Freddie have been insolvent for ages, but it hasn't stopped
lawmakers from pushing the envelope and loading more debt on their balance
sheets. Here's how Barron's summed it up more than six months ago:
"Fannie's balance sheet is larded with soft assets and understated
liabilities that would leave the company ill-equipped to weather a serious
financial crisis. And spiraling mortgage defaults and falling home prices
could bring a tsunami of credit losses over the next two years that will
severely test Fannie's solvency.
But, if the truth be known, a considerable portion of Fannie's losses also
came from speculative forays into higher-yielding but riskier mortgage
products like subprime, Alt-A (a category between subprime and prime in
credit quality) and dicey mortgages requiring monthly payments of interest
only or less. For example, Fannie's $314 billion of Alt-A -- often called
liar loans because borrowers provide little documentation -- accounted for
31.4% of the company's credit losses while making up just 11.9% of its $2.5
trillion single-family-home credit book. Fannie was clearly looking for love
-- and market share -- in some of the wrong places."
Rampant speculation, risky investments, and Enron-type accounting; hardly
the stuff of solid portfolios. That's why the two mortgage giants are
stumbling headlong towards oblivion despite the Treasury's panicky relief
operation. By last Friday Fannie's stock had fallen 47 per cent while
Freddie was down 50 per cent. The public may still be in the dark about what
is going on, but investors have a pretty good grip on the situation; they
can see the great birds are already circling overhead and its just a matter
of time before they descend on their prey. Paulson's attempts to muddy the
water have amounted to nothing. The fact remains that the two biggest
mortgage-lenders in the world are busted and last week's stock sell-off was
tantamount to a run on the country's largest bank. Paulson's statement was
really nothing more than a eulogy for the mortgage industry; a few heartfelt
words over the rigid corpse of a close friend.
When the housing market started to tumble and Wall Street's "securitization"
model froze-up, Fannie had to take the lion's share of the mortgages to keep
the real estate market hobbling along. In a two year period, between the
housing peak in 2005 and 2007, Fannie went from roughly 40 per cent of the
market to about 80 per cent. The Congress even enlarged the size of the
mortgages they could underwrite from $417,000 to over $700,000. The prospect
of bankruptcy never diminished congress's generosity.
Fannie and Freddie currently own or underwrite roughly half of the nation’s
$12 trillion mortgage market. Basically, every home mortgage lender depends
on them for financing. Their shares are owned by individual investors and
banks around the world. Foreign investors have always believed that the GSE
bonds were as risk-free as US government Treasuries. Now they are beginning
to wonder. (Foreign central banks, led by China and Russia, hold at least
$925 billion in U.S. agency debt, including bonds sold by Freddie and
Fannie, according to official U.S. statistics)
Whatever happens to Fannie, the loss of investor confidence will send long
term interest higher as investors demand bigger returns for the risk they're
taking on GSE bonds. That'll put a straitjacket on home sales which are
already flagging from soaring inventory and falling prices. Higher rates
could bring the whole housing market to a standstill.
The Fed's cheap credit policy under Greenspan created an artificial demand
for housing which ballooned into the biggest equity bubble in history. Low
interest rates are a subsidy which naturally lead to speculation and
asset-inflation. At a certain point, however, the endless debt-pyramiding
reaches its apex and the whole mechanism switches into reverse. Now the
economy has entered deleveraging-hell where everything is primal blackness
and the gnashing of teeth, the flip-side of speculative rapture.
By some estimates, Freddie Mac has a negative net-worth of $17 billion. It's
basically insolvent, although Paulson would like to see the charade go on a
while longer. Investors purchased another $3 billion of the two GSEs last
Monday, but the appetite for failing bonds is diminishing? What's certain is
that the collapse of Fannie and Freddie would be a watershed event and a
mortal blow to the US financial system. $5 trillion in shaky mortgage-debt
can't be easily swept under the rug and ignored. Interest rates on
everything would quickly rise; credit would become scarcer, economic growth
would shrivel, unemployment would soar, and the dollar will plummet. As the
two mortgage giants continue to get whipsawed by higher priced capital and
waning investment, US government debt will likely to lose its much-vaunted
triple A credit rating. On Friday, credit default swaps on government debt
doubled, a sign that investors are losing confidence that the US will be
able to manage its twin deficits or pay off its debts. It's the end of the
road for Washington's free lunch throng and for a paper dollar that isn't
backed by much of anything except music videos, fast food and smart-bombs.
PAULSON'S POWER GRAB
What Paulson is really wants is for congress to allow the Fed to regulate
the financial system without congressional oversight. Paulson's so-called
blueprint for financial regulation is a blatant power-grab meant to expand
the authority of the banking oligarchy giving them unlimited power over the
markets. Journalist Barry Grey sums it up like this in his article on "US
Bailout of Mortgage Giants: The politics of plutocracy":
"The plan outlined by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would give him
virtually unlimited and unilateral authority to pump tens of billions of
dollars of public funds into the mortgage finance companies. At the same
time, the Federal Reserve Board announced that it would allow the companies
to directly borrow Fed funds... The Democrats...now march in lockstep with
the minority party to rush through laws demanded by Wall Street... The
buying of legislators and their votes by corporate interests is carried out
openly and shamelessly. Members of Frank’s House Financial Services
Committee received over $18 million from financial services, insurance and
real estate firms this year. Frank himself raised over $1.2 million, almost
half of which came from finance and related industries...Senator Dodd’s top
contributor in the 2003-2008 election cycle was Citigroup, followed by SAC
Capital Partners. He raised $4.25 million from securities and investment
firms.
Senator Schumer’s top contributor was likewise Citigroup. He raised $1.4
million from securities and investment firms, his most lucrative corporate
sector."
The smell of political corruption is overpowering, and yet, the plan is
moving forward regardless. Even if Paulson's plan worked in the short term,
the damage would be enormous. It would place the country's regulatory powers
and purse-strings in the hands of the same amoral banksters who created this
mess to begin with. It is the fast-track to corporate feudalism on a
nationwide scale.
PITFALLS FOR THE GSEs
The biggest problem facing Fannie and Freddie is that wary investors will
not roll over the debt of the two companies which will precipitate a
collapse. This is where it pays to have people who can be trusted in
positions of power. Henry Paulson is the worst thing that ever happened to
the US Treasury. Paulson is to finance capitalism what Rumsfeld is to
military strategy. To say that Paulson is lacking in credibility is an
understatement. Nothing he says can be taken at face-value. When Paulson
says "the worst is behind us" or the "subprime crisis is contained" or the
Bush administration "supports a strong dollar policy"; most people know it
is a fabrication. Besides, Paulson is completely out of his depth in the
present crisis. His appearances on TV, with the beads of sweat glistening on
his forehead, and his foolish repetition of the same stale mantra is eroding
confidence in the financial system and sending waves of panic rippling
through Wall Street. Enough is enough. He needs to go.
If the administration was serious about changing direction they would dump
Paulson and reinstate Paul Volcker. Whatever one thinks about Volcker, his
presence would calm the markets and send a message that the adults were back
in charge. But that won't happen. The Bush team still thinks they can
finesse their way through the thicket of investor skepticism. That means
that catastrophe is inevitable as more and more investors pick up their bets
and head for the exits.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
Whatever the administration decides to do; time is short and they have one
chance to get it right. The Treasury needs to find a way to ring-fence the
garbage bonds and pray that the investing public won't dump their holdings
in a panic run on the market. Either way, it's a gamble and there's no
guarantee of success. The Wall Street Journal outlined the doomsday scenario
if Paulson's plan fails:
"Falling house prices and nonpaying homeowners cause the value of the
trillions of dollars in outstanding debt held by these government-sponsored
enterprises (Fannie and Freddie) to plunge. Many banks have balance sheets
stuffed full of this paper. They face huge losses, which some can't survive.
They and other investors, such as foreign central banks, then dump the GSE
paper.
Fannie and Freddie would end up unable to lend, or at least to take up
anything like their current 80% share of the U.S. mortgage market, further
punishing the reeling housing market. This would add another twist to the
spiral of falling prices, credit losses and failing lenders.
What should they do? First, devise a plan -- and fast. There is no time to
dither." (Wall Street Journal)
If foreign banks and investors ditch their GSE debt; it will send shockwaves
through the global economy. But if the Treasury provides unlimited funding
for a sinking operation, it's likely to trigger a sell-off of the dollar.
It's a lose-lose situation. For now, bond holders are sitting-tight even
though the stock is tanking, but for how long? They've already been taken to
the cleaners on hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage-backed garbage;
now there are rumors that the US government won't back agency debt. What
kind of shabby shell-game is the US playing anyway?
New York Times:
“If people lose faith in Fannie and Freddie, then the whole system freezes
up, and nobody can buy a house, and the entire housing market can crash,”
said Paul Miller of the Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group in Arlington, Va.
“There’s a fine line between having faith and losing it, and sometimes it’s
unclear when it has disappeared. But when investors cross that line, bad
things happen very quickly.”
And it affects more than the housing market, too. The bond and equities
markets are handcuffed to real estate and they're already listing from the
slowdown in investment. The Fed thought they could keep the whole mess from
going sideways by opening up "auction facilities" where the banks could get
low interest capital in exchange for their mortgage-backed junk. But the
banks have curtailed their lending and there's bigger trouble ahead.
Bridgewater Associates issued a warning last week that losses to the banking
system would exceed $1.6 trillion, four times original estimates and enough
to crash the entire banking system. So far, banks have only written down
$450 billion, which means that they are only 25 per cent of the way through
the current credit storm. Defaults are liable to skyrocket as hundreds of
undercapitalized banks turn to a grossly underfunded FDIC ($52 billion in
reserves) to cover the losses of their depositors. The prospect of a
humongous taxpayer bailout seems nearly unavoidable.
What's most disturbing is that nothing has been done to restore the markets
to a functional model. The Fed's strategy is still to try to keep the
relatively new "structured finance" model (with all it's bizarre-named debt
instruments and derivatives) in place even though it failed its first
stress-test and has demonstrated that it cannot withstand even moderate
downward movement in the market. The current model is kaput; there needs to
be a Plan B or the Fed is just wasting its time.
Fannie's demise comes at a particularly difficult time for the banking
system. According to a report by Paul Kasriel, Chief Economist at Northern
Trust:
"The sharpest 13-week contraction in bank credit” since data were first
available in 1973. Banks simply don’t have the capital on hand to avail
“themselves of the cheap credit the Fed is offering to fund them
at.”....This is what it means to be in a “credit crunch.” Banks have
suffered hundreds of billions in losses, forcing them to pull credit out of
the economy. Every time you read an article about banks cutting credit
lines, exiting lending businesses, or eliminating mortgage products it
represents more bank credit drying up." (Option Armageddon, "Understanding
Bernanke")
Bank credit is drying up because the capital is being destroyed (from
foreclosures and downgraded assets) faster than anytime in history. We are
just now feeling the first stiff breezes from a Force-5 deflationary
hurricane set to touch down in 2009. Fannie and Freddie are teetering
towards insolvency while the country is entering the most vicious downward
cycle since the Great Depression. Higher interest rates, negative home
equity, mounting credit card debt, auto loan debt, commercial real estate
debt and tightening lending standards will only curtail consumer spending
more putting greater pressure on the dollar.
The Fed will have to be selective; not everything can be saved. Significant
parts of the financial system will be reduced to ashes. It would be wiser to
clear the brush away from as many of the solvent institutions as possible
and prepare for the worst. Otherwise, the whole system is at risk of
contagion. Hundreds of local and regional banks are expected to go under.
(the average small bank has 67% of its assets in real estate) It can't be
avoided. They are holding too much bad paper and no way to make up for the
losses. They're following the same path as the 250 mortgage lenders that
vaporised in the subprime meltdown. They couldn't be saved either.
The bigger investment banks are in trouble too. That's why the SEC has
finally decided to act as a regulator and go after short-sellers:
"The Securities and Exchange Commission announced an emergency action aimed
at reducing short-selling aimed at Wall Street brokerage firms, Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, and will immediately begin considering new rules to extend
new requirements to the rest of the market."
The SEC never took an interest in naked shorting of stocks (or commodities
speculators) while its fat-cat friends in the big brokerage houses were
raking in billions. Now that many of these same institutions, including
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are in the crosshairs, SEC chief Christopher Cox
is rushing to their rescue. It is utter duplicity, but it illustrates an
important point; the system is cannibalizing itself just like Karl Marx
predicted over 100 years ago. Unchecked greed is inevitably
self-destructive.
A growing number of market analysts are beginning to notice the storm clouds
forming on the horizon. The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to
brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the
next three months. The Bank of international Settlements (BIS) made a
similarly ominous warning that the credit crisis could lead world economies
into a crash on a scale not seen since the 1930s. The bank suggests that
government officials and market analysts have not fully grasped the
financial turmoil that could result from the mortgage crisis and its effects
of the global economic system. The body points out that the Great Depression
was not anticipated because people ignored the implicit danger of "complex
credit instruments, a strong appetite for risk, rising levels of household
debt and long-term imbalances in the world currency system."
Ron Paul (R-Texas) is one of the few members of congress who has shown that
he has a grasp of the impending economic disaster now facing the country if
corrective action is not taken swiftly. In a speech he gave last week on the
floor of the House, he said:
"There are reasons to believe this coming crisis is different and bigger
than the world has ever experienced...The financial crisis, still in its
early stages, is apparent to everyone: gasoline prices over $4 a gallon;
skyrocketing education and medical-care costs; the collapse of the housing
bubble; the bursting of the NASDAQ bubble; stock markets plunging;
unemployment rising;, massive underemployment; excessive government debt;
and unmanageable personal debt. Little doubt exists as to whether we’ll get
stagflation. The question that will soon be asked is: When will the
stagflation become an inflationary depression? "
The troubles at Fannie and Freddie are symptomatic of more deeply rooted
problems related to abusive lending and the unsustainable expansion of
credit. We've now reached our debt limit and the bills must be repaid or
written off. The Bush administration is hoping to reflate the bubble by
(stealthily) recapitalizing the GSEs, but it won't be easy. As one blogger
put it, we have reached "peak credit" and have nowhere to go except down.
Economist Michael Hudson summed it up like this:
"The reality is that Fannie, Freddie and the FHA gave a patina of confidence
to irresponsible lending and outright fraud. This confidence game led them
to guarantee some $5.3 trillion of mortgages, and to keep $1.6 trillion more
on their own books to back the bonds they issued to institutional
investors." It was a scam of Biblical proportions and now it is all starting
to unravel. Bush's "ownership society" was a cheap parlor trick engineered
by the Fed's low interest rates to trigger massive speculation and shift
wealth from one class to another. Now, the housing bubble has crashed and
the excruciating reality of insolvency is beginning to sink in.
Michael Hudson, again:
"All one hears is a barrage of claims that the government must preserve the
financial fictions of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac in order to 'save the
market.' The usual hypocrisy is being brought to bear claiming that all this
is necessary to 'save the middle class,' even as what is being saved are its
debts, not its assets...The “way of life” that is being saved is not that of
home ownership, but debt peonage to support the concentration of wealth at
the top of the economic pyramid.
Mortgages are the major debts of most American families. In this role, real
estate debt has become the basis for the commercial banking system, and
hence the basis for the wealthiest 10 percent of the population who hold the
bottom 90 percent in debt. That is what Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and “the
market” are all about." (Michael Hudson; "Why the Bail Out of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac is Bad Economic Policy", counterpunch.org)
The housing boom never had anything to do with Bush's Utopian-sounding
"ownership society". It was always just a swindle to enrich the banking
establishment and divert middle class wealth to ruling class elites.
Comment: First I'd like to serve up a
video of Gore's speech, "A Generational Challenge to Repower America"
Next I'd like to serve up Alex Jones's
conspiratorial concerns with Gore and his "carbon-tax" scheme.
I'm basically a problem solver, so
while Alex may have a few good points, it is clear that we must make some
very intelligent decisions regarding energy in the next few years in order
to merely survive. That is why plank (7) of the "New Agenda for
America addresses these issues directly:
(7) A major R&D project to bring
energy independence to the United States and the World through recycling,
reuse, ending hyper-consumerism and investing in the development of
sustainable energy sources (e.g., solar, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal)
Regardless of what you might think
of Al Gore I think he made a number of extremely good points during his
speech. For example:
"I’m convinced that one reason
we’ve seemed paralyzed in the face of these crises is our tendency to offer
old solutions to each crisis separately – without taking the others into
account. And these outdated proposals have not only been ineffective – they
almost always make the other crises even worse. Yet when we look at
all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can
see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity:
our dangerous over-reliance on
carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges – the
economic, environmental and national security crises. We’re borrowing money
from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy
the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change."
"Scientists have confirmed that
enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to
meet 100 percent of the entire world’s energy needs for a full year. Tapping
just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the
electricity America uses. And enough wind power blows through the
Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of US electricity
demand. Geothermal energy, similarly, is capable of providing enormous
supplies of electricity for America. The quickest, cheapest and best
way to start using all this renewable energy is in the production of
electricity. In fact, we can start right now using solar power, wind power
and geothermal power to make electricity for our homes and businesses. "
"To those who say the costs are still too high: I ask them to consider
whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing if we keep
relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a rapidly growing demand
all around the world. When demand for oil and coal increases, their price
goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down.
When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil
we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. [ 29]
[ 34] When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build
competitive industries and gain jobs here at home. [ 8] [ 17]
Of course there are those who will tell us this can’t be done. Some of the
voices we hear are the defenders of the status quo – the ones with a vested
interest in perpetuating the current system, no matter how high a price the
rest of us will have to pay. But even those who reap the profits of the
carbon age have to recognize the inevitability of its demise. As one OPEC
oil minister observed, “The Stone Age didn’t end because of a shortage of
stones.”
So while there may be a darker side
to Gore's "carbon tax" let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
There are some very good ideas here that are wonderfully in sync with the
"New Agenda for America." So before we throw out the bathwater let's
make sure we first rescue the baby.
At any rate what follows is the
complete annotated speech by Al Gore. Enjoy!
Yours in Freedom,
Bruce W. Cain
Al Gore giving a speech on energy and climate policy in Washington on
Thursday. (Credit: Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times)[UPDATED 9:55
p.m.:] Former Vice President Al Gore gave a speech in Washington laying out
his new approach to the entwined challenges of limiting risks from global
warming and instability from rising energy prices and declining supplies of
fossil fuels. He calls for the United States to produce all electricity from
“carbon-free sources” by 2018. This represents quite a shift from his tight
focus on the “climate crisis” as the great challenge of our time. The
prepared text is below. Some Democrats in Congress weren’t thrilled with the
timing, according to TheHill.com, given the focus now on pain at the pump.[
25]
In an article in The Times tonight by John Broder, Mr. Gore implied that his
timetable and targets for de-carbonizing the country’s electricity sources
were intentionally super-sized: “I see my role as enlarging the political
space in which Senator Obama or Senator McCain can confront this issue as
president next year,” Mr. Gore said.
Both presidential candidates responded to the speech tonight, according to
the story:
Mr. Obama (written statement): “For decades, Al Gore has challenged the
skeptics in Washington on climate change and awakened the conscience of a
nation to the urgency of this threat. I strongly agree with Vice President
Gore that we cannot drill our way to energy independence, but must
fast-track investments in renewable sources of energy like solar power, wind
power and advanced biofuels, and those are the investments I will make as
president.”
Mr. McCain (a spokesman): “John McCain has been a leader in the fight
against global climate change, working with Democrats on this issue since
2003, but no one has more successfully recruited Americans into this effort
than Al Gore. This is a key issue, and John McCain has put solutions over
partisanship to pursue meaningful, market-driven cap and trade legislation
aimed at drastically reducing harmful carbon emissions.”
Let’s dive in and explore Mr. Gore’s latest proposals on energy and climate
through the document annotation method developed her over the last few
months in examining climate speeches and statements by President Bush,
Senator John McCain, and the Group of 8 industrialized nations. (Click here
for the unadorned text and video of Mr. Gore’s energy speech.)
A Generational Challenge to Repower America
(prepared text distributed by Mr. Gore’s office)
D.A.R. Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C.
Ladies and gentlemen:
There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life
depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a
present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and
boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed
and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason,
refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked
to step aside. This is such a moment. [ 6]
The Gore speech (continued):
The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And
even more – if more should be required – the future of human civilization is
at stake. [ 9] I don’t remember a time in our country when so many things
seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape
and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are
electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble.
Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under
growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that
this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major
changes quickly.
The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse – much more
quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines
traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now
a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will
completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase
the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn
glacier, one of Greenland’s largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever
before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of
water used every year by the residents of New York City.
[ Andy Revkin - On Arctic ice trends, I have a post coming shortly on the
latest update from the world’s leading teams of sea ice experts, showing
this year’s retreat is unlikely to match last year’s, while the long-term
trend is still heading toward ever less summer ice. I’ll try to find out
where the sub data came from. Only one group I know of has posited an
ice-free Arctic Ocean in summers by 2013. On Greenland, the picture is far
more complex than the way it is portrayed here. Other glaciers have slowed
and, overall — as I’ve written here recently — new studies show no fresh
signs of imminent destabilization of the ice.]
Two major studies from military intelligence experts have warned our leaders
about the dangerous national security implications of the climate crisis,
including the possibility of hundreds of millions of climate refugees
destabilizing nations around the world. Just two days ago, 27 senior
statesmen and retired military leaders warned of the national security
threat from an “energy tsunami” that would be triggered by a loss of our
access to foreign oil. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq continues, and now the war
in Afghanistan appears to be getting worse.
[ Andy Revkin - The challenge for Mr. Gore and others trying to boost energy
security and limit climate risks at the same time is that the energy gap is
here and now, while the worst impacts of climate destabilization still are
mainly someday and somewhere..]
And by the way, our weather sure is getting strange, isn’t it? There seem to
be more tornadoes than in living memory, longer droughts, bigger downpours
and record floods. Unprecedented fires are burning in California and
elsewhere in the American West. Higher temperatures lead to drier vegetation
that makes kindling for mega-fires of the kind that have been raging in
Canada, Greece, Russia, China, South America, Australia and Africa.
Scientists in the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel Aviv
University tell us that for every one degree increase in temperature,
lightning strikes will go up another 10 percent. And it is lightning, after
all, that is principally responsible for igniting the conflagration in
California today.
[ Andy Revkin - Some of the impacts Mr. Gore describes, including rising
risks of forest fires, are detailed in a new climate report from the Bush
administration. But why mention tornadoes? There’s been no evidence of an
increase in dangerous tornadoes since careful records have been kept (great
graphic at this link). It’s really no different stressing “strange” weather
in a push for limiting greenhouse gases than doing so to fight the same
policy shift. Remember all the yelling about global cooling because of cool
global temperatures recently?]
Like a lot of people, it seems to me that all these problems are bigger than
any of the solutions that have thus far been proposed for them, and that’s
been worrying me. I’m convinced that one reason we’ve seemed paralyzed in
the face of these crises is our tendency to offer old solutions to each
crisis separately – without taking the others into account. And these
outdated proposals have not only been ineffective – they almost always make
the other crises even worse.
Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at
the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply
ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels
is at the core of all three of these challenges – the economic,
environmental and national security crises. We’re borrowing money from China
to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways
that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change. But if we grab
hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems
begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of
them right in our hand.
[ Andy Revkin - Mr. Gore appears to have shifted from his original stance
that climate change alone was the “planetary emergency” of our time to the
multi-pronged view that including it in a basket of reasons to undertake a
nonpolluting “energy quest” makes more sense. This is a position articulated
years ago by quite a few scientists, particularly Richard Smalley, the Nobel
laureate in chemistry who became an evangelist for an energy revolution
before his death from leukemia.]
The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels. In my search for
genuinely effective answers to the climate crisis, I have held a series of
“solutions summits” with engineers, scientists, and CEOs. In those
discussions, one thing has become abundantly clear: when you connect the
dots, it turns out that the real solutions to the climate crisis are the
very same measures needed to renew our economy and escape the trap of
ever-rising energy prices. Moreover, they are also the very same solutions
we need to guarantee our national security without having to go to war in
the Persian Gulf.
What if we could use fuels that are not expensive, don’t cause pollution and
are abundantly available right here at home? We have such fuels. Scientists
have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth
every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world’s energy needs for
a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide
all of the electricity America uses. And enough wind power blows through the
Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of US electricity
demand. Geothermal energy, similarly, is capable of providing enormous
supplies of electricity for America.
The quickest, cheapest and best way to start using all this renewable energy
is in the production of electricity. In fact, we can start right now using
solar power, wind power and geothermal power to make electricity for our
homes and businesses. But to make this exciting potential a reality, and
truly solve our nation’s problems, we need a new start. [ 10]
That’s why I’m proposing today a strategic initiative designed to free us
from the crises that are holding us down and to regain control of our own
destiny. It’s not the only thing we need to do. But this strategic challenge
is the linchpin of a bold new strategy needed to re-power America. [ 12]
Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our
electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within
10 years. This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It
represents a challenge to all Americans – in every walk of life: to our
political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every
citizen. [ 1]
[ Andy Revkin - There’s no reason not to think big, although it might be
harder for Mr. Gore to make this kind of statement if already in office, or
seeking one, because it would be hard to find experts immersed in the
challenges of generating, storing and distributing electricity at large
scale who could chart an achievable or affordable 10-year path to doing
this. Joe Romm at ClimateProgress.org said a more realistic ambitious goal
would be 50-percent renewable electricity sources by 2020. And of course
“affordable” is a word dependent entirely on public attitudes, so if the
public can be energized sufficiently by leadership or circumstances,
theoretically anything is possible. That remains a big “if.” Here’s some
recent coverage of the limits and promise of wind power and solar power and
ways of storing electricity for sunless, windless stretches.]
A few years ago, it would not have been possible to issue such a challenge.
But here’s what’s changed: the sharp cost reductions now beginning to take
place in solar, wind, and geothermal power – coupled with the recent
dramatic price increases for oil and coal – have radically changed the
economics of energy.
[ Andy Revkin - The price differential between renewable energy sources and
coal burning is shifting, but a 10-year transformation is hard to foresee
given the incredibly small base from which solar is growing (see the solar
link in the previous annotation) and the long timeline for boosting
geothermal generation, among other issues. An Energy Department review of
geothermal sources last year said we might be able to generate as much
electricity by 2050 that way as is now produced with nuclear plants. But
currently nuclear generation is less than 20 percent of the national
electricity pie. Sure, that might be accelerated, but 10 years?]
When I first went to Congress 32 years ago, I listened to experts testify
that if oil ever got to $35 a barrel, then renewable sources of energy would
become competitive. Well, today, the price of oil is over $135 per barrel.
And sure enough, billions of dollars of new investment are flowing into the
development of concentrated solar thermal, photovoltaics, windmills,
geothermal plants, and a variety of ingenious new ways to improve our
efficiency and conserve presently wasted energy.
And as the demand for renewable energy grows, the costs will continue to
fall. Let me give you one revealing example: the price of the specialized
silicon used to make solar cells was recently as high as $300 per kilogram.
But the newest contracts have prices as low as $50 a kilogram.
You know, the same thing happened with computer chips – also made out of
silicon. The price paid for the same performance came down by 50 percent
every 18 months – year after year, and that’s what’s happened for 40 years
in a row. To those who argue that we do not yet have the technology to
accomplish these results
with renewable energy: I ask them to come with me to meet the entrepreneurs
who will drive this revolution. I’ve seen what they are doing and I have no
doubt that we can meet this challenge.
To those who say the costs are still too high: I ask them to consider
whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing if we keep
relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a rapidly growing demand
all around the world. When demand for oil and coal increases, their price
goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down.
When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil
we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. [ 29]
[ 34] When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build
competitive industries and gain jobs here at home. [ 8] [ 17]
Of course there are those who will tell us this can’t be done. Some of the
voices we hear are the defenders of the status quo – the ones with a vested
interest in perpetuating the current system, no matter how high a price the
rest of us will have to pay. But even those who reap the profits of the
carbon age have to recognize the inevitability of its demise. As one OPEC
oil minister observed, “The Stone Age didn’t end because of a shortage of
stones.”
To those who say 10 years is not enough time, I respectfully ask them to
consider what the world’s scientists are telling us about the risks we face
if we don’t act in 10 years. The leading experts predict that we have less
than 10 years to make dramatic changes in our global warming pollution lest
we lose our ability to ever recover from this environmental crisis. When the
use of oil and coal goes up, pollution goes up. When the use of solar, wind
and geothermal increases, pollution comes down.
To those who say the challenge is not politically viable: I suggest they go
before the American people and try to defend the status quo. Then bear
witness to the people’s appetite for change. I for one do not believe our
country can withstand 10 more years of the status quo. Our families cannot
stand 10 more years of gas price increases. Our workers cannot stand 10 more
years of job losses and outsourcing of factories. Our economy cannot stand
10 more years of sending $2 billion every 24 hours to foreign countries for
oil. And our soldiers
and their families cannot take another 10 years of repeated troop
deployments to dangerous regions that just happen to have large oil
supplies.
What could we do instead for the next 10 years? What should we do during the
next 10 years? Some of our greatest accomplishments as a nation have
resulted from commitments to reach a goal that fell well beyond the next
election: the Marshall Plan, Social Security, the interstate highway system.
But a political promise to do something 40 years from now is universally
ignored because everyone knows that it’s meaningless.
Ten years is about the maximum time that we as a nation can hold a steady
aim and hit our target. When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation
to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people
doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and 2 months later, Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon.
[ Andy Revkin - Many scientists and engineers have looked to the Apollo
program as a metaphor, but stressed that the energy transformation is a far
greater challenge. Here’s what one solar expert told me when I interviewed
him for a climate story in AARP Magazine: “We already have electricity
coming out of everybody’s wall socket,” says Nathan S. Lewis, 51, a
chemistry professor who codirects the Powering the Planet project at
Caltech. “This is not a new function we’re seeking. It’s a substitution.
It’s not like NASA sending a man to the moon. It’s like finding a new way to
send a man to the moon when Southwest Airlines is already flying there every
hour handing out peanuts.”]
To be sure, reaching the goal of 100 percent renewable and truly clean
electricity within 10 years will require us to overcome many obstacles. At
present, for example, we do not have a unified national grid that is
sufficiently advanced to link the areas where the sun shines and the wind
blows to the cities in the East and the West that need the electricity.
Our national electric grid is critical infrastructure, as vital to the
health and security of our economy as our highways and telecommunication
networks. Today, our grids are antiquated, fragile, and vulnerable to
cascading failure. Power outages and defects in the current grid system cost
US businesses more than $120 billion dollars a year. It has to be upgraded
anyway.
We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National
Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of
plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the
cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our
electricity grid. At the same time, of course, we need to greatly improve
our commitment to efficiency and conservation. That’s the best investment we
can make.
America’s transition to renewable energy sources must also include adequate
provisions to assist those Americans who would unfairly face hardship. For
example, we must recognize those who have toiled in dangerous conditions to
bring us our present energy supply. We should guarantee good jobs in the
fresh air and sunshine for any coal miner displaced by impacts on the coal
industry. Every single one of them.
Of course, we could and should speed up this transition by insisting that
the price of carbon-based energy include the costs of the environmental
damage it causes. I have long supported a sharp reduction in payroll taxes
with the difference made up in CO2 taxes. We should tax what we burn, not
what we earn. This is the single most important policy change we can make.
[ Andy Revkin - Mr. Gore is sticking with his preference for taxing sources
of emissions and limiting costs for citizens that bears no resemblance to
“cap and trade” bills like those that have faltered in Congress of late and
shares some of the architecture, if not details, of the “cap and dividend”
approach of Peter Barnes and a similar proposal from James Hansen, the NASA
climate scientist who has moved far into the policy realm lately.]
In order to foster international cooperation, it is also essential that the
United States rejoin the global community and lead efforts to secure an
international treaty at Copenhagen in December of next year that includes a
cap on CO2 emissions and a global partnership that recognizes the necessity
of addressing the threats of extreme poverty and disease as part of the
world’s agenda for solving the climate crisis.
Of course the greatest obstacle to meeting the challenge of 100 percent
renewable electricity in 10 years may be the deep dysfunction of our
politics and our self-governing system as it exists today. In recent years,
our politics has tended toward incremental proposals made up of small
policies designed to avoid offending special interests, alternating with
occasional baby steps in the right direction. Our democracy has become
sclerotic at a time when these crises require boldness. It is only a truly
dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the
short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years
from now.
Am I the only one who finds it strange that our government so often adopts a
so-called solution that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem it is
supposed to address? When people rightly complain about higher gasoline
prices, we propose to give more money to the oil companies and pretend that
they’re going to bring gasoline prices down.
It will do nothing of the sort, and everyone knows it. If we keep going back
to the same policies that have never ever worked in the past and have served
only to produce the highest gasoline prices in history alongside the
greatest oil company profits in history, nobody should be surprised if we
get the same result over and over again. But the Congress may be poised to
move in that direction anyway because some of them are being stampeded by
lobbyists for special interests that know how to make the system work for
them instead of the American people.
If you want to know the truth about gasoline prices, here it is: the
exploding demand for oil, especially in places like China, is overwhelming
the rate of new discoveries by so much that oil prices are almost certain to
continue upward over time no matter what the oil companies promise. And
politicians cannot bring gasoline prices down in the short term.
However, there actually is one extremely effective way to bring the costs of
driving a car way down within a few short years. The way to bring gas prices
down is to end our dependence on oil and use the renewable sources that can
give us the equivalent of $1 per gallon gasoline.
Many Americans have begun to wonder whether or not we’ve simply lost our
appetite for bold policy solutions. And folks who claim to know how our
system works these days have told us we might as well forget about our
political system doing anything bold, especially if it is contrary to the
wishes of special interests. And I’ve got to admit, that sure seems to be
the way things have been going. But I’ve begun to hear different voices in
this country from people who are not only tired of baby steps and special
interest
politics, but are hungry for a new, different and bold approach.
We are on the eve of a presidential election. We are in the midst of an
international climate treaty process that will conclude its work before the
end of the first year of the new president’s term. It is a great error to
say that the United States must wait for others to join us in this matter.
In fact, we must move first, because that is the key to getting others to
follow; and because moving first is in our own national interest.
So I ask you to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to
accept this challenge – for America to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon
electricity in 10 years. It’s time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We
need to act now.
This is a generational moment. A moment when we decide our own path and our
collective fate. I’m asking you – each of you – to join me and build this
future. Please join the WE campaign at wecansolveit.org. We need you. And we
need you now. We’re committed to changing not just light bulbs, but laws.
And laws will only change with leadership.
On July 16, 1969, the United States of America was finally ready to meet
President Kennedy’s challenge of landing Americans on the moon. I will never
forget standing beside my father a few miles from the launch site, waiting
for the giant Saturn 5 rocket to lift Apollo 11 into the sky. I was a young
man, 21 years old, who had graduated from college a month before and was
enlisting in the United States Army three weeks later.
I will never forget the inspiration of those minutes. The power and the
vibration of the giant rocket’s engines shook my entire body. As I watched
the rocket rise, slowly at first and then with great speed, the sound was
deafening. We craned our necks to follow its path until we were looking
straight up into the air. And then four days later, I watched along with
hundreds of millions of others around the world as Neil Armstrong took one
small step to the surface of the moon and changed the history of the human
race. We must now lift our nation to reach another goal that will change
history.
Our entire civilization depends upon us now embarking on a new journey of
exploration and discovery. Our success depends on our willingness as a
people to undertake this journey and to complete it within 10 years. Once
again, we have an opportunity to take a giant leap for humankind.
I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this report,
however, there was most definitely a "secret session" of the House of
Representatives on March 13th, 2008. It is also true that this is only
the 4th time in US History that such a meeting has taken place, which lends
credence to the assumption that whatever was discussed must have been
extremely controversial. What the House members were told, in a
nutshell, is that the US economy is going to crash and that martial law will
be imposed to force the American people into the acceptance of the North
American Union. After reading through this I would also suggest
reading
Final Globalization Of The US.
Then take a few minutes to "connect the
dots."
What is troubling about these two reports is
that it is no longer inconceivable that such a succession of events
could actually occur. Just yesterday we had the largest bank
failure in US history and both Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (e.g., the
repository of nearly 75% of all US home mortgages) is about to go "belly
up." And just today Budweiser has just been bought by a foreign
company for 52 billion dollars. Couple this with a imploding
US dollar and suddenly both projections seem not only possible, but very
probable.
I suppose the biggest question is "what are
we going to do to resist?"
Bruce W. Cain
On March 13th 2008 there was a secret closed door meeting of The United
States House Of Representatives in Washington. In the history of The United
States this is only the fourth time a secret meeting was held by the house.
Even though Representatives are sworn to secrecy by House Rules XVII, some
of the members were so shocked, horrified, furious, and concerned about the
future of America by what was revealed to them inside the secret meeting,
that they have started to leak this secret information to independent news
agencies around the world. The mass media said almost nothing about the
secret meeting of the House, mentioning only one of the items being
discussed. (The new surveillance techniques that are going to be used by the
U.S. Government to watch all American citizens). The story was first
released in a newspaper out of Brisbane, Australia revealing the contents of
the secret U.S. Government meeting and plans for America including all of
it’s citizens. Shortly there after, David J. Meyer from Last Trumpet
Ministries found it and made it more available for the world to see.
Here is what was revealed:
The imminent collapse of the U.S.
Economy to occur sometime in late 2008
The imminent collapse of the U.S. Government finances sometime in mid 2009
The possibility of Civil War inside the United States as a result of the
collapse
The advance round-ups of “insurgent U.S. Citizens” likely to move against
the government
The detention of those rounded up at The REX 84 Camps constructed throughout
the United States
The possibility of public retaliation against members of Congress for the
collapses
The location of safe facilities for members of Congress and their families
to reside during massive civil unrest
The necessary and unavoidable merger of The U.S. with Canada and Mexico
establishing The North American Union
The issuance of a new currency called the AMERO for all three nations as an
economic solution.
Except for a few hundred thousand U.S. Patriots, most Americans have no clue
what has really been going on within The United States over the past 100
years, and the sad thing is that most do not want to know the truth. The
further you look into the rabbit hole, the deeper it gets. Go to any
currency conversion site and convert U.S. dollars to Euros so you can see
for yourself the massive decline of the dollar. Look at how much money is
and has been spent on the Iraq War to date, ($12 billion per month). Look at
our currency and when it stopped being backed by gold.
The Federal Reserve is not federal but a private bank who does not have
Americans best interests at heart. We no longer have any manufacturing
really based out of America and there is no way that our economy can survive
this incredible strain very much longer. The IRS strong arms every American
yearly with income taxes, yet there are no laws saying an income tax is to
be paid.
The CIA is involved in everything from global drug trafficking and covert
military missions, to assassinations around the world and including U.S.
Soil. Look at JFK for instance. It did not take long after JFK announced
that he was going disband the CIA that he was shot in Texas. America’s new
StasiThe Department Of Homeland Security is and has been slowly eradicating
our rights for a few years now. based organization called
House Bill H.R. 1955/S-1959 was read by the senate and then sent to DHS for
some reason, but is now back and sure to pass. Once passed, this bill
introduced by Jane Harman (D/CA), will be the proverbial last nail hammered
into every American patriots coffin. H.R. 4279 or the Prioritizing Resources
and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 which was recently
passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, will give the government
draconian powers to do just this. This legislation gives the government the
power to seize property that facilitates the violation of intellectual
property laws. The legislation also mandates the formation of a formal
Intellectual Property Enforcement Division within the office of the Deputy
Attorney General to enforce this insanity…
It has been revealed that F.E.M.A. has been building internment camps all
over America granting Halliburton a massive $385 million dollar construction
contract to make this happen. Most of these sites only need refurbished
because they are mostly closed prisons, old WW2 internment camps still
intact and other facilities taken over by the government. Some people have
referred to them as F.E.M.A. Death Camps where the infamous Red list/Blue
Lists will be used to decide who goes where.
Whether you believe that The NWO/Illuminati/Globalization is real or not,
there is a lot of proof that exposes definite plans or plots by the rich,
political and religious elite to bring on an era of the end times. It is
almost like some individuals are trying to make bible prophecy come true in
their own sick and twisted ways. Not to mention that the world only has
about 10 to 15 years of drinking water left before the wars fought for oil
today will be fought for water in the near future. It has been said that
these powers want to depopulate the planet of over 30% of it’s human
inhabitants in the coming years. Examine all of the executive orders that
have been signed into place allowing the president to basically become
dictator in control of all government from tribal to federal in the event of
any national emergency.
If you did not know, In late 2006, Congress revised the Posse Comitatus Act
and the Insurrection Act to make it far easier for a president to declare
martial law. Those changes were repealed at the end of this January as part
of Public Law 110-181 (HR 4986), the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2008 (signed into law by President Bush on January 28, 2008).
Unfortunately it is not the great victory in which one might think because
of the total militarization of all local and State police forces all across
America.
Will there be martial law? Is martial law coming soon to America? When you
see law enforcement being armed with automatic weapons, bullet proof vests
and riot gear in small towns that have not had a murder or crime in years,
then you have to ask yourself why.
The United States has more people locked up in prisons today than Russia and
China combined. It comes out to one in every hundred Americans is behind
bars. Our once great country that our ancestors fought and died for has
become exactly the tyrants they were fighting. Fascists! When has America
ever used words like Homeland? Never!
If you spend a few weeks reading all the info, watching the videos and
following the links at The U.A.F.F., you will then have a better
understanding of what has led to The Decline And Fall Of America. Remember
that Knowledge is power! Learn, look, listen, read, share, prepare, train,
stock up on food and water supply for one year.
Fill your pantry with non perishable foods, medicines, cooking oils, tinned
meats and veggies. Flour, oats dried corn peas, beans and lentils.. Teach
your self how to preserve food for storage. Check out your local potable/
drinking water supplies, non perfumed chlorine bleach is a good sterilizer
for water, about 2 teaspoons full per 2 gallon bucket, stirred well and
allowed to stand for at least 24 hours with a lid on it or until it no
longer smells of bleach. Boiling water helps but it is not always enough to
kill off the bacteria which can resist high temperatures.
Americans have been warned for years of the things to come, but have blindly
looked away from the truth, which has been available for all to see. There
are no more excuses not to prepare for the possible future. The time to act
is now before it is too late. Check The United American Freedom Foundation
for daily updates and news you won’t see in the mainstream media.
This great video goes over the main
points of "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot."
It is scary how far down the road to Global Corporatism (e.g., Fascism) we
have already traveled.
Make sure you read the following
articles from the June 27th
Edition of New Age Citizen.
"Greenspan's Fraud: How Two Decades of His Policies Have Undermined the
Global Economy." This will give you a good overview of
how Greenspan, as head of the Federal Reserve, has screwed the American
working class over the last 25 years. This book review reveals how
his policies were pivotal in the destruction of our jobs and the
offshoring of our factories: all for the short term benefit of the
elite.
Even more important is the essay
"Collapse, & Takedown Of The U.S.A."
by Richard Cook. As you will read in my comments (a letter to
Richard Cook) this essay both summarizes the history of the globalist
agenda and actually goes on to describe an antidote to thwart their
agenda. This is one of the most important essays that I have read
in many years.
In fact I would consider it
required reading along with his other recent writings, that can be found
at the following link:
Through these links you can better
understand the "New Agenda for America." And if you agree with
most of it you can use our graphic files to link to the NAC website from
your own website, FaceBook page etc. I also encourage my readers
to check out the archives additional articles that will further make the
case for a "New Agenda for America."
The last thing I ask is for you to
get on my mailing list. I would
like to start doing more public speaking on the "New Agenda for America"
and want to make sure you have an opportunity to attend.
Over the last few weeks both Obama
and McCain have been fellating (e.g., the act of performing fellatio)
"members" of the various Illegal Alien lobbies: LULAC, MALDEF and
LaRasa. Neither are serous about building a border fence.
Neither are serous about sending out those "No-Match" letters which
would rid this country of 12 to 30 million Illegal Aliens and Visa
overstays. Also note that the sending of these letters could
"create" at least 12 million jobs for American workers. In point
of fact both Obama and McCain have said they will grant all of the
Illegal Aliens citizenship as soon as either of them occupies the
Whitehouse in 2009.
And all of this is happening at a
time when over 5 million Americans will have lost their homes by the end
of 2008. All this is happening at a time when millions of American
jobs are being lost and our factories are being packed up and offshored
to China. All this is happening despite the fact that 80% of
Americans are opposed to giving Illegal Immigrants any form of Amnesty.
So when Obama told a crowd,
yesterday (07/09/2008), that "American kids should learn Spanish" you
should not be real surprised. As the late George Carlin stated so
clearly, "You (the American Citizen) are not part of the club!"
Both Obama and McCain ARE part of the club and I hope, to the goodness
in us all, that we understand this well before the November election.
Of course our founding fathers
provided a solution to a government that no longer abides by the will
and needs of it's people. They provided a good case study for this
solution after signing the "Declaration of Independence" on July 4th,
1776. Today we know that solution as the "American Revolution."
I hate to be the one to say it, but it is probably time for the "Second
American Revolution" to get underway. Every day that we delay
action will increase the likelihood of massive carnage. Failing to
act, at all, will result in the complete destruction of our liberties,
our Constitution and our way of life. But if we act soon
enough -- and that is my hope -- it will result in a bloodless coup and
a rejuvenation of our government that is, once again, in sync with the
will and the needs of it's people.
I believe that my "New Agenda for
America" provides 10 initial planks to begin the rejuvenation of this
Republic. Click on the following link for more information and
videos which explain the "New Agenda for America" in more detail.
Final
Globalization Of The US
Banking System By The Federal Reserve
By Joan M. Veon The Women's International Media Group, Inc. 7-3-8
http://rense.com/general82/fedd.htm
We live in a globalized world-a world without barriers or borders, which
means every aspect of our economic structure has to change. A private
corporation, we call the Federal Reserve, controls the majority of our
monetary system. To understand the new set of powers being advanced by
the U.S. Treasury Department to the Federal Reserve, we first must
recognize that the Federal Reserve Act passed in 1913 never gave them
(the Feds) total power over our economy.
To appreciate the importance of what is currently taking place, we must
first realize that as a private corporation, the Federal Reserve is not
required to make public who sits on their board of Directors nor who or
what banks and corporations hold stock in their private company.
Additionally, they are not required to publish an annual report, and I
am told, they pay no taxes. So why is it that the American people cannot
forgive themselves the interest on their debt? It is because it is owed
to a private corporation!
The entire financial and business cycle of market highs and lows is
controlled by how much money the Feds pump into or glean from the
banking system. When they add money to the system, interest rates fall
and the market rises and when they take money out of the system,
interest rates rise and the stock market falls or corrects. In doing so,
this private corporate structure allows for an elite group of people to
literally buy low and sell high, thus transferring the wealth into their
pockets while those who continue to hold take the "hit."
The globalization of our financial system goes hand in hand with the
need for a global stock exchange and global accounting system to
harmonize the cross-border activities of transnational corporations and
banks. To facilitate this process is the interdependence, or mutual
dependence between countries, which came about as the barriers fell.
With a globalized stock exchange, insurance system, and accounting
system, we will need a GLOBAL REGULATORY SYSTEM to accommodate the
changes from national to international. This will all fit in with recent
calls for a global central bank.
In June 1999, then Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said, "Reforming
international financial institutions, strengthening the international
financial architecture and maintaining open markets are not simply
questions of economics but politics." That same year, after a great deal
of media and stock market hype and hysteria, Congress passed the
"Banking Modernization Act" also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of
1999 (GLB Act) which torn down all the protections that the 1933 Glass-Steagall
Act had put in place, including the separating of commercial banking
from investment banking, designed to protect the investor. The GLB Act
allows for U.S. banks to become "financial conglomerates" meaning they
can expand their services to sell insurance, stocks and bonds, as well
as perform investment bank functions initially outlawed in 1933.
Although the banking structure of other countries already had financial
conglomerates, our system did not and had to be harmonized with their.
This is why we have non-American names like AXA, Deutsche Bank, ABN,
etc.
According to my analysis of the various activities, which are now
referred to as the sub-prime crisis, the mortgage crisis, and the world
liquidity crisis, our financial system, which reflects the last vestiges
of national sovereignty, must be changed. The recent proposal by the
Treasury Department called "Blueprint for a Modernized Financial
Regulatory Structure" is being touted as the antidote for our sick
economy.
When the Blueprint was published at the end of March the stock market
recovered for a week or two, but now there is a new and constant stream
of market hype with some hysteria to ensure that all of its proposals
are implemented as soon as possible. On July 10, history will take place
when the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson (who's roots are
in Wall Street) and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sit on the
SAME panel to testify before Congress. At that time they will provide
enough data to secure the Blueprint's immediate passage. Until Congress
assures these financial tyrants of its passage, the stock market will
continue to drop as a warning to their all encompassing power; then
miraculously the stock market will have one if its largest rallies to
commemorate victory. As an international reporter, this is a pattern I
have observed time and time again since 1994.
The Blueprint states "Foreign economies are maturing into market-based
economies, contributing to global economic growth and stability and
providing deep and liquid sources of capital outside the United States.
The increasing interconnectedness of the global capital markets poses
new challenges: an event in one jurisdiction may ripple through to other
jurisdictions. The convergence of financial services providers [the
Banking Modernization Act] and financial products has increased over the
past decade. Financial intermediaries and trading platforms are
converging. Financial products may have insurance, banking, securities,
and futures components" (emphasis added). The Blueprint constitutes the
final take-over by the Federal Reserve of our nation's economy.
The Blueprint recommends changing the banking charter to include all
financial institutions, thus effectively transferring, control over
"national banks, federal savings associations, and federal [and state]
credit union charters, and be available to all corporate forms,
including stock, mutual and ownership structures." While the Fed was
originally given power over the banking system, they were not given
power over savings and loans, state chartered banks, or credit unions.
To give you a sense of the immense transfer of wealth that is taking
place, understand that the U.S. insurers hold $6T in assets, the U.S.
banking sector holds $12.6T, and the U.S. securities sector holds
$12.4T, for a total of $31T in assets. Are you seeing what they see?
Dollar signs and control-control of our financial future, control of
where we can live, and control of how we will live. In Medieval times
this was called feudalism.
Moreover, the Feds are to be given authority over the U.S. Payment and
Settlement System thereby controlling the settlement process for
securities, which is the three-day waiting period for the processing of
payment, proper paper documentation and titling of the shares.
It is further stated that the Fed be given the role of Market Stability
Regulator. This is highly unprecedented. By doing so, the Fed will have
total control over what happens in the market; not just the amount of
liquidity they funnel in and channel out. The Blueprint states the Fed
should be given responsibility to: gather appropriate information,
disclose information, collaborate with other regulators [international]
on rule writing and take corrective actions when necessary in the
"interest of overall financial market stability". "This new role would
replace its traditional role as a supervisor of certain banks and all
bank holding companies. The Fed's responsibilities would be broad,
important and difficult to undertake."
As our country is being federalized the rights of the individual states
are also in the process of being eroded and reduced. In order to allow
for America's independence from a king who had total control, our
Forefathers set up our country's structure to allow the power of
government to reside at the state level. It was the state that would
provide services for its citizenry. Over the years, there has been a
major transfer of powers from the state to the federal level.
The Blueprint also provides for the entire mortgage system of the U.S.
to be federalized. This is as a result of the sub-prime crisis which
appears to be an event that just happens to fit into the changes our
national system needs in order to be globalized. The establishment of a
new federal commission, The Mortgage Origination Commission, and its
director would chair representatives from the Federal Reserve, the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift
Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the
National Credit Union Administration and the Conference of States Bank
Supervisors. Among some of the changes in responsibility, the Blueprint
states that the Feds "enforcement authority for federal laws should be
clarified and enhanced." To understand how much their control is
expanding, total mortgages outstanding, according to the 2006 U.S.
Census, grew from $8,364B in 2002 to $13,306B in 2006, an increase of
59%!
Additionally, the Fed will be given a say in the insurance industry. For
the past 135 years, the States have regulated all types of insurance
with little involvement from the federal level of government. The
Blueprint provides for the establishment of an Office of National
Insurance within Treasury to regulate those engaged in the business of
insurance and for Congress to establish an Office of Insurance Oversight
to address international regulatory issues. Essentially, in a globalized
world what is then needed is a world central bank. Could the Fed be a
world central bank or will all of the individual central banks merge to
become the "global central bank"? If that is the case then the Bank for
International Settlements is a world (global) central bank and the Fed
is a global-regional bank.
Lastly, if we are going to live in a globalized world with a global
stock exchange, a global central bank, a global tax, a global currency,
and a global regulatory system, then we need a Global Commodities
Regulator . To complement all of this globalizing will be a change in
our tax code to an international tax system known as the national sales
tax (flat tax) and/or a Value Added Tax (VAT). Virginia Congressman
Goodlatte has introduced HR510, co-sponsored by 109 Congressmen, calling
for the repeal of the IRS Code of 1986, which was the last major
tax-code overhaul.
As recent as last week, it was reported in The Wall Street Journal that
in order for the investment banks to be bailed out, the only place they
can go is to buy commercial banks that have strong balance sheets,
deposits, and the assets they will need to improve their financial
situation. This will bring our entire financial system to a pre-1929
state in a globalized world. Glass and Steagall will spin in their
graves!
Once the last vestiges of American financial sovereignty are transferred
to this private corporation, Congress becomes obsolete and useless. Up
until this time, they were needed to help approve the various
incremental transfers of financial sovereignty. Now, they will not be
needed and if they think they have any power, they will find that they
gave it all away. How pathetic of them, they should all be hanged for
treason.
As for you and me, all of the safety nets that once protected our
freedoms and sovereignty as a product of local, county, state and
federal government are in effect gone. We are left to fend for ourselves
in a country where the American government has abandoned their
responsibility to us, their citizenry. So that we may survive, we will
need to don our own lifejacket-one of faith in the God who rules over
the affairs of men.
In order to raise money for the "New
Agenda for America" -- and to continue with this website -- I am
releasing a series of music CD's. I'm hoping to showcase some of
this music during some of my future public appearances. Currently
"Classical
Guitar Live" is available for purchase and "Gnostic Raw"
is available for pre-order. The mastered version, "Gnostic"
should be available towards the end of 2008. Click
here to place your order.
I've featured some of my
acoustic music
from time to time but have yet to put forth any of my other
compositions. Soon I will be releasing a "Raw" version of the
"Gnostic" music project that
will feature about half of the compositions that will appear on the
final CD. You might say it is something
like the Beatles "Anthology" project in reverse (minus the talent) . . .
as they released early versions of their compositions after selling
their CD rights to Michael Jackson. I, on the other hand, am
releasing the early version first, because the final versions simply
aren't completed.
"Gnostic" is philosophically parallel to the
"New Agenda for America" in many ways. There is the "Hemp
Song" which strongly advocates for the legalization of
Marijuana. "I Know What You Want George" is a rocker
which criticizes George Bush's fascist tendencies.
I
know what you want George
I can hear your feet outside my door
I know what you want George
You’d like to make us your slaves forever more
But your emperors clothes have worn away
And all that’s left is a smarmy corporate whore
Your time is coming
And when the people wake they foil your plan
Your time is coming
And when we rise we’ll take our country back
‘Cus your emperor’s clothes have worn away
And the devil waves behind your back
["I Know What You Want George" by Bruce W. Cain]
"Rainbow
Farm" is an instrumental homage to the massacre at that
occurred at "Rainbow Farm" the week before 911. If I ever
get out lecturing this year I may make an attempt to perform some
acoustic versions of some of the songs.
I wrote "The
Hemp Song" quite awhile ago: shortly after meeting hemp activist
Jack Herer (author of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes") in the early 90's.
It reflects our shared vision of what the world might be like if
Marijuana prohibition were to end. The refrain says it all as it
is only after we change our thinking that we can change our reality.
Any time, any day
Any time that we want it that way
We don’t need your Drug War anymore
Although I admit that many of the
song's predictions are "over puffed" (e.g., Legalization is unlikely to
end Global Warming by itself), there is no doubt that Marijuana
Re-Legalization would have an incredibly positive effect on society.
Of course many attorneys and drug testing labs might not quite see it
that way, however, that is not my concern. It is my hope that this
ballad is embraced by the "grass roots" movement to demand an end to
Marijuana Prohibition throughout the globe.
Hopefully, by the end of 2008, the
final version of "Gnostic" will be mixed, mastered and available for
your listening pleasure. Unfortunately I can be a procrastinator
so it is possible this will never be completed.
"Classical Guitar Live" contains
14 solo guitar compositions that span the 16th to 20th Century.
All were captured from a single performance by Bruce Cain performed when
he was at the top of his form. This live concert has been recently
remastered and is now available for your listening pleasure.
Here is a MP3 version of "Dance of
the Corrigedor" by Manuel deFalla which is one of the compositions on
"Classical Guitar Live"
Anything purchased,
through the links in this column, generate revenue for New Age Citizen
and will help us achieve the policy goals discussed at this website.
In addition to the book links is the "New Age Emporium" link below.
This will take you to our comprehensive digital storefront where you can
purchase anything from books, to DVD's, to computers. This allows
you to purchase things you actually need, while helping New Age Citizen
achieve needed social change. We appreciate your support.
And both Obama and McCain have been very
busy "fellating" the various Hispanic Illegal Alien organizations such as
LULAC, MALDEF and LaRasa. With record unemployment the American people
are in no mood to consider granting amnesty to 12 to 30 million Illegal
Aliens, that they will have to compete against for their very economic
survival. So, once again, the American people are taking notice,
scratching their heads and saying, "neither of these jerks represent me or
the majority of Legal American Citizens.
Of course the main point that I make is
that Obama is being groomed and advised by one of the worlds most notorious,
and dangerous, globalist: Zbigniew Brzezinski.
And by saying "nothing like Obama or
McCain" I am saying what is becoming more obvious by the day. Obama
and McCain are both Globalists. If elected they will work to
subvert our sovereignty and move us all towards a One World Fascist
Government. They may say they believe in some of these things
but their actions consistently betray both of these traitors.
