Russia isolated, Europe downgraded, China pressured

 

by Craig Willms

Watching the world churn in the Trump era is fascinating.  

I must say just listening to Trump is hard on the psyche. I try to avoid it. He talks all the time and 99% of it is pure egoism. He's pulling his Mohamed Ali schtick - "I'm the Greatest".  It's off putting, and it's possibly used as a distraction, that's what I tell myself anyway as I change the channel. What does it buy him? Keeping his opposition, his enemies hopped up on hate must have a purpose. He catches many of his 'enemies' in blatant lies and overt hypocrisy. But what does that really get him? They, the liars, the hypocrites, are not going to suddenly like him. I can only conclude it's part of a game, a grand strategy to misdirect, to underestimate him.

We all know by now there are legions of paid protesters on standby to physically and vocally oppose everything he says and does. Some of them are in Congress, others in the media, but the Trump haters all live by one credo - Orange Man Bad. Fair enough. I get it, as I've said before I honestly can't stand listening to him talk either. 

It's also obvious he has an agenda to change the world from the trajectory it was on. Thank God. The path was an ascendant China and a diminished United States and Europe. We can argue all day about the state of the capitalist paradigm and its horrible imperfection, but we can't avoid the tried and true and inevitable conclusion of a collectivist world, which is my friends, mass death and deprivation for all but the elites.

The world could not go on the way it was before Trump. The Biden puppet show was as embarrassing as it was pathetic. Watching Joe Biden conduct himself on the world stage was absurd. Those who allowed Biden to make those European trips should have been ashamed of themselves. This was the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth? The establishment, the media said nothing about Biden's incapacity until he removed himself from the campaign in the last hour. Shameful. Complicit...

We are less than one year into Trump's second (delayed) term, and the results are wild. First, right off, I'm discounting the notion that he's doing Israel's bidding. The world is not controlled by da Jooos. That aside I am amazed at the state of play on the world stage. 

In just 11 months Trump - and it was Trump - boxed in Russia, with his latest play being the ouster of Maduro in Venezuela. Consider also that Assad is gone from Syria and the last prime Russian ally,  Iran is on the ropes. If Iran's theocracy falls Russia will be an island. The disgrace of the Irani defense forces allowing the US to decimate their nuclear program with ease is clearly at play here. Russia saw what the US did. Also, Trump, unlike another American president, is publicly encouraging the protests against the Ayatollahs this time. 

The Ukraine war has depleted Russia's military, their access to men of fighting age is dwindling. Russia has a long history of sustaining and prevailing in war, it's not to be discounted, but without allies Russia is probably not considering expanding war beyond Ukraine.

In the West the powers that uphold the European Union are in turmoil. All are reeling from mass immigration, their suicidal energy policies and are now facing growing populist movements. The US under Trump is signaling - signaling hell - Europe is being told to defend themselves and pay for it themselves. The powers in Brussels and their relationships with the global bankers have been put on notice, the world order is changing. It will not be run out of Europe anymore. 

The thing is Europe did this to themselves. You can blame it all on Donald Trump if you want, but it's poppycock, understand this: Trump is just a symptom. When the same mass immigration was tried in the US the American reaction was to elect Trump. At this point Europe is an anchor around America's neck, Trump is unshackling Europe from American protection. 

On the other side of the world all indications point to an economically challenged China. For decades China has been propped up by American and European businesses. The payoff, access to a vast Chinese consumer market has never materialized, and it won't. In the process the Chinese have stolen enough technology and manufacturing skills to develop domestically owned enterprises, freezing out the foreign investors and devastating foreign industries. But now the chickens have come home to roost as they say. Trumps plan to reindustrialize North America and bring the supply chain into line with that vision is already happening. China's economy is suffering. Many aspects of China's meteoric economic rise over the past thirty years has included fakery or has been distorted by massive debt covering for the weakness of their meager consumer market. The stories of vast ghost cities are true, and the promise to the ordinary Chinese investors who financed them has evaporated. They face a population bomb of old people with too few young workers to support them. The same could be said about most of the first world, but it is much much worse in China. They killed a whole generation of babies.

The Venezuelan action affects China even more than Russia - Russia has its own oil. Trump did not put a halt to oil shipments to China through all of this. It's in no one's interest right now to hasten the collapse of China. It's most likely the same reason he is only encouraging protesters in Iran, as Iran is a main supplier of oil to the Asian Pacific nations. 

There are a lot of balls in the air, and no one really knows where they will all land. If nothing else Trump is trying to ensure the United States won't be dragged down when the European ponzi scheme collapses and the Chinese economic implosion comes.

As for the opposition here in America it has come to a very curious situation. It seems that when the left and the Democrats - one and the same - speak, all they have is their empty virtue signaling. With regards to Trumps push to target illegal immigrants for deportation, specifically the criminals, the Democrats appear to support the criminals. To the monumental fraud by foreigners led into this country by Democrats, they appear to be supporting the fraudsters. When Trump went after the speed boats of the drug running narco-terrorists the Democrats vocally supported the narco-terrorists. When a patriotic young father and husband whose only crime was talking to young people and praising Jesus Christ was assassinated, they cheered. They can't help themselves; their hatred of one man exposes exactly what they are - and it's pathetic. 

Call them Banksters, it's as good a label as any...

 

by Craig Willms

They keep us divided, they keep us at each other's throats, they keep us fighting amongst ourselves. You can call them The Banksters, it's as good a name as any. They could be referred to as the Globalists as they certainly have orchestrated and benefited from the globalist agenda. They are a small but powerful group of men on both sides of the Atlantic that truly control the world, and they have for the better part of a century. National governments in most of the western nations are set up to transparently serve The Banksters. Most of our political leaders are just actors and pretenders - it is as they say, political theater. I suspect that the politicians know what they really are as they set out to stir the pot in order to keep us all jacked-up. They keep it hidden because in reward they become rich beyond their wildest dreams. 

The Banksters were on the cusp of 1984-style control of the world. Suppressed speech and social control through the use of surveillance with threats of incarceration already exists is some counties today. The advent of digital ID and a so-called cashless society is to be the final nail in our coffin. They obviously control global banking, they also control what we think and believe as they ultimately control the media and are the power behind the Internet ecosystem and of course, social media. As long as the hoi polloi are concentrating their ire on each other no one is looking at them. There are outliers and outsiders who keep challenging them. Think Vladimir Putin, think a Xi Jinping, think the Ayatollah among others. No surprise there. Now think Donald Trump! Yes indeed, it's not that Trump is in league with the others, but he is a sworn enemy of The Banksters just the same. Can The Banksters reach their objective of complete control before the veil is fully lifted? Time will tell.

They have, since the inception of the globalist age and before, used war among other actions to advance their cause. They manipulate money and currency until there's nothing left to squeeze out of any particular locality, then whip up a war, invading another sovereign nation to steal their resources. Rinse and repeat. For decades the U.S. has been their bludgeon. That is changing before our eyes. 

This is where Trump comes into the fray. If you've listened to what Trump has been saying for decades, long before he became the bloviator in chief, he's been decrying the globalist agenda that's been advanced by The Banksters for decades. His contention is that America is being ripped off and severely diminished as an industrial power. Coming on the heels of the America hating, socialist friendly Obama, Trump blundered toward the White House not really expecting to win, clearly. His bull in the china shop routine emboldened his detractors. The alarm bells rang among The Banksters and they jumped into action to stop him at all costs. No need to list all the schemes they used to discredit or incarcerate Trump, we only need to cite Russia Russia Russia. To a degree it certainly stymied him but it didn't seem to be enough to sink the ship. The conspiracy minded among us were not shocked when Covid-19 bloomed into existence just about the time the reelection machine was about to be revved up. It enabled the puppeteers to meddle with the 2020 election apparatus and rather suddenly Trump was out. The Banksters and their globalist cheerleaders had done it! Now with their dummy propped up behind the Resolute Desk the final push had begun.

In a twist of fate the marionette strings frayed and Biden fell off the rocking horse. With Covid-19 in the rearview the tide began to turn. It crashed down with a splash when Elon Musk purchased Twitter and removed the censorship shackles, showing that it could be done. It can't be overstated what this one move did to the narrative. Meanwhile Trump, having beaten back the dogs was poised to face Biden in a rematch. We all known what happened next.

With Trump back in power, the gloves came off. He and his team were ready this time, the learning curve behind them. The Globalist's agenda if not exposed to the light is at least being chased from the shadows. Britain and the rest of the European anti-Semites could hide behind "the Jews are controlling the world" for only so long, Trump is having none of it. The bottomless pit of U.S. arms and money was coming to an end. Trump wanted the wars to end, and if not ended, then U.S. weapons would be purchased not given away. 

Trump's team helped broker peace deals in several wars we weren't even being told about as well as the Hamas/Israeli war, all while giving the Iraqis a good thumping. For Ukraine and Russia there's been no lack of effort on Trump's part. He's not just saying things, he's doing things. 

The end of globalization is upon us. The world will still be a global marketplace but not dictated out of the European "club" in Davos Switzerland with its North American members. Via self-inflicted wounds Europe is destroying itself - Trump is merely helping them. With a hollowed out Europe gone as a global force it leaves only the U.S. and China. No other centers of gravity exist. One would hope you'd be rooting for the U.S. 

The Banksters won't go easy. Their network is immensely powerful. In all likelihood they'll outlast Trump and things will resume on the same trajectory as before the Trump-age. Before Trump their goal was to get their hands on Russia's resources (that's always been their goal). They foresaw a war between Russia and Ukraine draining Russia's war capacity with a bonus of the potentiality of Putin's government collapsing. They've been thwarting the push for peace at every turn. Ukraine is a sacrifice, The Banksters care nothing for Ukrainians. The corruption of Ukraine preceded Putin's invasion by a decade or two. It was NATO sabre rattling by the EU and the Americans that ultimately forced Putin to act when he did. Trump inherited this war, he didn't start it. 

Britain's military is currently training with Finland at the Russian border. Finland is a new NATO member but they have never been afraid of Russia - in fact they have been trading across the Russian border for hundreds of years. Now suddenly Finland is partnering with Britain in the event Russia invades? Something smells here. Britain has meddled in Russian affairs forever. Is it any wonder that the Russia Russia Russia affair was born in London and sold to Hillary Clinton to smear Trump in 2016. London is the financial center for The Banksters, so understand where this is all coming from. Putin is no saint, but he's been provoked and provoked and provoked again. 

The Trump administration has put The Banksters on notice. His detractors on both sides of the Atlantic think their hyper-rhetoric is a viable defense against his bloviating. They take the bait but Trump's rhetoric is merely to cover his consequential actions. Trump's real "warp speed" isn't a vaccination for Covid-19, it's thwarting The Banksters at every turn. Almost everything he's done in 10 months is with an eye toward dismantling their brand of globalism. 

Ten years has gone by since Trump walked down the escalator and he's still standing despite every thing they've thrown at him - including a bullet. He's currently targeting Venezuela. Why? The war on drugs? No, he's trying to interrupt the narco-money flow that serves The Banksters. The money that flows through the Caiman Islands and the Bahamas etc etc, is laundered and skimmed to benefit the globalist machine. The American media is ignoring it, if they can even comprehend it. Anything that can whip up hatred towards Trump benefits The Globalists. 

The media's reverence for the EU knows no bounds. They are willfully blind to the disharmony in every EU country as well as the UK. Average citizen's in Europe are so disheartened by what is happening to them that they actually pray for someone like Trump in their own countries. As with the Banksters, the EU elites are entrenched and powerful and seemingly do not care at all what the citizens want. 

Native born people want the mass immigration to stop. It is precisely what is destroying Europe as we know it. Biden's puppeteers had instituted the same strategy in the U.S. while claiming that only congressional legislation could stop illegal immigration. How convenient for them that Congress is totally dysfunctional and has been for decades. Obviously that presumption was false, Trump had the borders closed in a few short months.

The obvious conclusion to all this is that Western Civilization is being destroyed, and the native populations of Europe, North America and the Anglo world are being replaced. The upper crust and the university crowd scoff at this, but the rest of us have eyes. We can see how The Banksters through coordinated actions have discouraged white populations from reproducing. They pushed women wage war on maleness and not so subtly raised the cost of homes out of reach of young people. No harmony, no homes, no babies. It's beyond me why powerful white Europeans and their kindred spirits in America want this. Self hatred? Or do they think pliable populations of downtrodden immigrants will shut up and allow them their ivory towers to live like kings and queens while the rest live hand to mouth, gratefully so? Good luck with that.

Me, the conspiracy nut that I am, believe it's the final solution to Christianity and Judaism. The Devil's plan.

addendum: I do not posit that Donald Trump is some kind of hero or that he is above reproach. Frankly I wish he'd just shut up, I can't even listen to him for more than a minute or two. I am contending that he is doing what has to be done, however clumsily. The borders had to be closed. The hard leftism choking America had to be challenged. The military had to be rescued from wokism and social engineering. The corruption of USAID and other bottomless pit programs had to be stopped. Wars had to be stopped. Climate crisis nonsense had to be revealed for what it is, a fairytale and a grift. Transgenderism had to be called out. And The Banksters have to be resisted. The list goes on and on. These among many other serious issues had to be addressed and turned back toward reality. Our country was tumbling down the wrong path. Since Congress is doing nothing and hasn't for decades - someone has to act. 

Humans desire order and stability over the Death Star

 

by Craig Willms

The Force

Humans crawled out of the jungle became nomads and eventually settled down into communities. We created an ordered society. That's important. That humans crave order is obvious. Conversely we seem to crave adventure. These concepts seem diametrically opposed. Which is it? Can't it be both?

Young boys, if left to there own devices, will set out on an adventure to conquer the unknown. It seems innately built into them. As a young boy I did it too. We lived on the edge of a housing development that opened into hundreds of acres of untouched land that stretched all the way to the Mississippi river. In the summer we'd often set out to explore these mysterious fields and woodlands. It was glorious. This feeling lasted about four or five hours. One by one each of us craved the life we'd left behind, our civilization. We wanted to be back in our homes where the refrigerator was full and the couch was as welcoming as the TV in the corner. 

The draw of the adventure was strong. The longing for home and its order was just as strong. We were kids, we had no responsibility and we knew so little of the way the world worked. Clearly breaking the bonds of order was important to our individual desires, and we pursued adventure with abandon. Wherever we went we knew our home and the attendant order was going to be there for us when we returned. Anything else was unthinkable. Comfort and safety was important whether we understood it or not. We were typical humans.

Today we are civilized men and women who live in an ordered society, an imperfect society. Every society ever created by human beings is imperfect. Why is the imperfection important enough to emphasize twice? Simply, imperfection is cited as the reason Western Civilization must be destroyed. Destroyed in favor of what?

The Empire Strikes 

Well, that is the question, but it comes after the fact. That fact our country, our society is being dismantled from within needs to be acknowledged first. Half of America doesn't even see it, the other half is equally divided into their camps. One camp is heavily funded and back stopped by the major media. The other half until recently didn't even fight back. 

They first awoke after Barack Obama was elected and sought to "fundamentally" transform America. He broke the country down across racial lines and that old favorite the exploiters vs the exploited. The media carried the water for The Light Bringer and covered his head in a halo. Dissenting voices were drowned out and all but dismissed as a nutty conspiracy theories. 

Barack Obama may have been the one to ramp up the undeclared civil war, but he was not the architect of ruin. It probably goes back to the end of World War II or even before, whenever its inception the "conspiracy" is now wide and deep. In recent years, basically since the rise of Trump, the left has turned the burners up to high. We are now seeing a partial breakdown of order. There is lawlessness that is being accepted and encouraged through no bail policies. Criminals are being protected and law enforcement is now branded the enemy. This particular conspiracy is undeniable. What Obama did was to carefully staff the federal apparatus including the Dept. of Justice, the military and numerous federal agencies with like-minded sycophants. It's been called the weaponization of government. They were able to unleash it on Donald Trump starting in 2015. The rest is history.

As Obama orchestrated his leftist base it coalesced with Non-Governmental Organizations and giant 'charitable' foundations, the real playground of the billionaires. Those ties were already there but now they were codified. It was a synchronicity that steered an entire manufactured narrative that America was irredeemable just as the newly minted EU sought to destroy European culture and its history. Born out of the elite structures of the WEF and the like, none of the subversion was done out in the open. The power and weight of the this mindset was slap in the face to the ordinary native born populations. 

The NGO's with their noble missions and numerous benign sounding foundations utilize their billions aligned against America and it's founding principles. These private or government funded outfits are not required to report their finances and are not taxed on any of the money they receive. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors as the song goes. What they do, they do with impunity. It's believed that these entities underpin the whole leftist Democrat operation as well as all their European comrades. This has been known for years, everyone shrugs, or winks and nods. It goes deeper than we can possibly imagine. We know little of what actually happens with all that money at hand. What I know about it, or think I know, is cobbled together from different sources and putting two and two together. These organization's number one goal is to topple the United States. But first - Europe... 

In 2016 to everyone's surprise and especially his, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton as half of America recoiled against what Obama had done. Katy bar the door. Trump was naïve and had no idea of the width and depth of the swamp, as he liked to call it. He was in over his head. It was Russia, Russia, Russia 24/7 and then Covid-19. The tumultuous election that followed the George Floyd riots saw Trump lose to Joe Biden. His contesting the election went nowhere, every court case was immediately dismissed. In any event the lawfare against Donald Trump never stopped, it was one charge after another.

Biden from his first days in office was clearly losing his battle with dementia, but the Obama apparatchiks quietly took over his administration. In order to sow chaos the borders were thrown open and chaos ensued. This had already been done in Europe with devastating effect. Government budgets ballooned through Covid and beyond. On the ground the economy (the world economy) suffered government induced inflation. Rising interest rates used to fight inflation discouraged future homeowners, while private equity firms stepped into the housing sector to create renters instead of home owners. For the paycheck to paycheck crowd the rising cost of everything killed all their dreams. America, they were told was an unfair and racist society that the billionaires controlled, antithetical to the fact that most of the billionaires supported the Democrat's causes. 

Traditional culture was pummeled from every direction and the young here and abroad have become societally discouraged from marrying and having children. The children already born were being encouraged to deny their biology and transition their sex. Their schools and colleges became literal indoctrination centers, where the parents were unwelcome. It got to the point of parents groups being tagged domestic terrorist organizations for opposing the trans agenda being forced on their small children. Amid this chaos every change in the weather was treated as a sign of the end times. Global warming had become the Climate Crisis!! and all the energy our civilization needs is to blame. Safe energy had to come from only solar and wind - which didn't work. It was all so surreal, but treated as totally normal and oh so obvious. 

The future looked bleak for next generation. Which is what "they" wanted. America had no dream anymore if it ever did. Alas, all around civil order was starting to break down. On the streets in many cities here and in Europe are dangerous no-go zones, while across social media lawlessness and strife is being encouraged. It seems every week there is a church shooting or a school shooting, some mass casualty event. The perpetrator's are almost always potential psychiatric patients. Order and stability is waning.

A New Hope

While there have been signs in Europe that they've had enough of it, not much seems to be changing, yet. In United States however, Joe Biden may have actually saved the day for America. In retaliation of the Obama takeover of his administration, when they forced him out of the 2024 race his ego revolted and he crowned Kamala Harris his successor. She was a disaster. On the other side Donald Trump never gave up, and began to beat back the unfounded lawfare waged against him. He crushed Harris in the 2024 election. 

Armed with experience the Trump team hit the ground running in 2025. Having identified the underlying apparatus of the Democratic machine, the global socialist machine, they set about to dismantle it. The fraud, deception and embezzlement of government funded entities was thrown into the light. DOGE and federal prosecutors overturned the rocks these criminals hid under. On the international front the beneficiary's of USAID's funding were exposed. The billions in funding was immediately suspended or cancelled outright. So much of the funding fronted the intelligence community's activities in other countries that they don't know where the fraud began or ended.

This was just in the first months of the Trump's new term. Trump was the first Republican to actively fight in court the false claims made against him by the leftist media. He has won most of them. Other companies and social media entities have come forward to admit that the Biden administration and the Federal authorities pressured them into countering anything or anybody that opposed them or their agenda.

On the other front, the mass invasion of illegal immigrants, the Trump administration slammed shut the borders and began a mass deportation push. Trump is also putting so-called sanctuary cities on notice that there will be consequences for their actions related to thwarting ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and other enforcement efforts. It's no mystery who is funding the anti-ICE riots all over the country. It is the hill the Democrats and leftists are willing to die on. Why they think there is an appetite to offer illegal immigrants health care and other services they don't offer to American citizens is the real mystery. 

All these actions are stirring the hard left into hysterics, but it's falling on deaf ears. Leftists are being exposed for liars and subversives that they are. Despite his unchecked ego people can see that Trump is acting to preserve and recover what had made the United States de facto global hegemon, the leader of the free world. If you were not paying close attention, you could be moved by the fear and loathing the left has for Trump and his policies. That ended when the sniper's bullet killed Charlie Kirk in full view of his wife and children. The Democrats could not help themselves the glee they felt. The sickening display of vitriol over Charlie's message against the backdrop of his brutal death was too much for many, many on the center-left. It is now completely clear who is for freedom, order and stability.

Boiling Frogs

 by Craig Willms

12/28/2024

The old idiom of slowly boiling the frog in a pot is used metaphorically to describe a situation where someone gradually becomes accustomed to something negative without realizing it until it’s too late. It is oft used because it aptly illustrates something very real. The American communists of which there are still plenty is the best example I can think of. When the communists, both here and abroad, set about transforming the American system they knew a frontal attack would be met with overwhelming rejection and guaranteed violence. A slow motion plot to change the base opinions across all the institutions of power and influence was set in motion. They needed regular Americans to reject free markets and freedom on their own. In the 1960's they produced a list of steps they would use to reach their goal [see here]. It goes without saying that in the year 2024 most of them have been achieved.  Are we a communist country? No. Not yet anyway.

The die-hard collectivists are content to allow the softer socialism to do their bidding. Yet, socialism doesn't necessarily have a better reputation with a large swath of Americans than communism does. Pure socialism has failed miserably everywhere it's been tried. The so-called socialist countries of Europe that are always cited as examples are almost never purely socialist. They have a capitalistic economic base layered with a social safety net that answers to the term socialism. Most of the Scandinavian countries roundly deny the socialist label. 

The very rich and powerful members of the elite class in the West know that communism - state control and ownership of everything - would be a disaster for everyone. Yet control is what they desire, just not the for the state. They also know that capitalism is the basis for almost all actual progress and technological advancement in the world. 

Capitalism as we know it with all its shortcomings is still responsible for the most wide-ranging freedom and wealth in the modern world. For the elites and the power mad this is a problem, distributed wealth and freedom interferes with their control. They have set into motion a plan that will put an end to that without bowing to the "state". It is like a plot out of a James Bond 007 movie. Unfortunately for you and me and the rest of the world it's closer to reality than global communism ever was. 

The political system they envision, brewing for decades, fermenting all the while, will eventually replace the two main political systems that are in use around the world. These systems you and I would recognize as the push pull behind all the conflicts and power plays around the globe. Shareholder capitalism in America, the Anglosphere and Europe and state capitalism that's used in places like China, Russia and the Arab world. This new system has come to be known as stakeholder capitalism, where rich powerful elite billionaires would control our lives from their ivory towers. Think the WEF and their 2016 proclamation 'you will own nothing and be happy'.

Why now? The dominoes are all lining up: globalism, data collection, surveillance, digital currency, high-tech interconnectedness, AI and above all extreme dissatisfaction with current authorities and their demonstrable incompetence. Think the Biden Administration.

Stakeholder capitalism is an authoritarian political system that shifts ultimate authority not to the state like communism, but to a group of stakeholders. These stakeholders are very same people that meet at the WEF annual meetings, and I presume the secret meetings 'ala the Bilderbergers etc etc - what we're talking about is one world government. It puts Donald Trump's call for America First in a whole new light. 

Is it any wonder there has been such a resistance to Trump since he entered the political arena. Who really knows if he's part of it or a true patriot - God help us if he's one of them. The assassination attempt on Trump where a bullet grazed his ear was a clue that he's not one of them. From the Secret Service shitting the bed six ways from Sunday to the instant death of the would-be assassin puts the lie to a Trump staged event. Of course we will never know the whole truth...

You might wonder how these elites will accomplish this global coup de tat. They are doing it right now before our eyes - it's been going on for years. Mega multi-national corporations, also known as holding companies are buying up all their competition and streamlining operations across the board. They consolidate entire industries and concerns under their umbrella sometimes under multiple brand names. Huge hedge funds, investment conglomerates and private investment firms are buying up small companies, they will eventually gut, and also property and houses that will put on the rental market. Giant retailers like Amazon are automating operations and building a distribution centers everywhere, working their delivery staff with maniacal efficiency and low pay, turning over their workforce every 3-4 years. All so they can undercut their independent competition and kill them for good. 

These same corporations are investing billions in artificial intelligence with eyes on replacing huge swaths of the workforce for pennies on the dollar. They have technology that surpasses anything the most powerful governments have. Think Elon Musk and his Spacex and StarLink systems that are clearly heads and tails beyond what NASA and the American government can do. Musk is just one of the billionaires and he is one of the most transparent. We have no idea how deep this dichotomy goes, what we see in the movies probably fails in comparison to reality. They come at us from all directions, technology, manufacturing, distribution, retail and the media, not to mention the all-out global assault on owner operated farms and ranches for ultimate control of our food. 

Why cry for America when we can see the German example unfold in front of us. Germany is/was the heart of the European economic zone, Germany is dying. First, they removed their borders via the EU dictates and let in millions that have no desire to be Germans. Then they cut off their energy so that they cannot be a manufacturing giant anymore. Many Germans will blame the U.S. specifically, but they did it to themselves with NATO's and the EU's help. To be clear it was the cabal of billionaires and elites behind the scenes, the same ones targeting the rest of Europe and America. 

It doesn't stop with West. Russia and the Middle East are also in the cross hairs. Easy enough to blame it on the Jews but it's so much larger than that, the Jews have enough to secure their own place in the world let alone run a global cabal. No one here is blameless, except the average citizen caught up in this fray. 

The wild card is China. From my reading China has never had aspirations of global domination. I think they have enough trouble controlling their own. Their outreach to Africa, Central and South America and other places around the globe are possibly a hedge against Western aspirations. China is so deeply integrated with the U.S. economically that hurting us hurts them, but they can and will stir up trouble - they are good at it, above all they are patient. They will wait for us to destroy ourselves.

What can be done? I don't know - I'm just reading the room here. Awareness is one thing. Knowing who or what is on your side is trickier. From my vantage the Democrats and "Wall Street" here in America and Labour and the Monarchy in the UK are not on our side. Global government is something they seem to desire. Beyond that I don't have enough insight into this cabal - I'm a nobody. I hope Trump is what he appears to be, but who can tell, he seems to love himself and his persona above all - then comes America. I would say try not to feed the beast. Personally I start with Amazon. They are always my last resort, if I can't get what I need from someone else then Amazon. You have to decide for yourself. I try not to economically support Google, Walmart, Target, Budweiser and the other giants, but sometimes we have no choice. Do your best and be aware of who you give your money to. 

p.s.     I know the irony of picking on Google while this website is hosted by them... Have a chuckle! I have no desire to move it. I don't see any money changing hands with Google that I know of. But I did succeed at not using Amazon once during this Christmas season!

Memory Lane: Was I right?

Do other occasional bloggers go back in time and read something they wrote years ago? I rarely do. It might be that I don't want to discover that events have made my past bloviating seem childish, uninformed or stupid.

As bloggers it's not fair to beat up on ourselves too much, we grow, we learn and we are often overtaken by events. As a man of considerable age, approaching my mid-fifties now, I do have some depth of experience and wisdom. Still, I should know better than to be too declarative, too certain and too righteous. If I was smart I'd stick to subjects I have expertize in like variable length subnet masking and Internet protocol filtering and control with IPSec tunnel as transport, or at least just electric guitars and power chords. But I don't, I try to dig into subjects that interest me whether I know what I'm talking about or not.

There I was perusing a favorite blog (http://www.tbirdnow.mee.nu/) only to stumble on a link back to something I wrote in 2007. I read it with trepidation, what BS was I slinging that day? To my surprise I found that I was right about a lot of things. This time events had confirmed exactly what I believed.

See here http://protohuman.blogspot.com/2007/10/oil-and-war.html

In it I said the 2nd Iraq war was about oil - it was. It was not only about oil, but only a fool would say oil had nothing to do with it. I do not believe the U.S. was there to steal Iraqi oil, we weren't. We were however engaged in that region with guns and ships in part to protect the marketplace for the movement of oil to the places it needed to be. That's just the way it was. It is a job that needed to be done and the U.S. did it. For one thing, no one else could and, for another who better than the U.S. considering the role the U.S. played in global stability for the markets and the economy of the world.

Even at the time, seven years ago, the U.S. itself was not getting that much of it's oil from the Middle East, but many of our allies were. Now with the advent of advanced extraction of fossil fuels in the homeland the U.S. get's even less oil from the Middle East. The U.S. is now, or is poised to be the world leader in oil production. What hasn't changed is that the oil business is global in nature and trouble in any part of the system affects everyone to some degree.

The spooky part is what has changed. For all the foibles and mistakes of the Bush Administration leading up to 2007 when I wrote the piece, in the eyes of nation and the world everyone knew the U.S. could be counted on. That alone was a stabilizing force, imperfect but stabilizing. Now a mere seven years later under the Obama Administration this is true no longer. The world is devolving into chaos in nearly every quarter. Islam, China and Russia are busy pushing out, testing the waters for American reaction, carefully considering how the West coalesces behind American leadership. But then again, there is no American leadership.

The whole Middle East and North African zone is in turmoil. Israel and Hamas are in a shooting war - again. Egypt, Libya and Syria are engaged in mini civil wars to name just the big ones. The Syrian conflict has spilled into Iraq threatening to destabilize the region even further. This is directly the result of the Obama Administration's failure to come to an agreement for status of forces in Iraq. A vacuum of power ensued, a welcome call for ISIS out of Syria. And... Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and nuclear ambition is a festering case.

Russia, the chess player, is using the weakness of U.S. leadership to harass Ukraine, threatening a civil war there. This leaves Europe between a rock and a hard place. They need Russian energy. What they see is Russian ambition in the absence of American leadership.

The troubling thing is that Europe and reasonable people in the U.S. see the energy revolution in America as a potential solution to Europe's dependency on Russia. Again the Obama Administration has done everything in it's power to stifle the burgeoning export potential of American energy. Killing the Keystone Pipeline sends a clear signal that the U.S. government is in the grips of radical environmentalists - and enough digging would find Russian money funding these "green" organizations with the very purpose of stifling American energy gains.

In the midst of all this foreign turmoil is a weak and stagnant economy in America. A weak economy makes the U.S. weak across the board. We see major homegrown companies pulling up stakes and moving to business friendly nations. Corporate tax reform is needed. Regardless of the push back from huge companies that benefit from the current system it takes political leadership to pull it off. There's no economic leadership in the political ranks, none. Instead all we've seen is the Central Bank and it's debt buying strategy. How many people are fooled by a rising stock market that is fueled by Federal Reserve bond buying? When this ends with nothing else having been done to shore up native economic growth the market will crash and interest rates and inflation will rise - further weakening the country and by extension the world.

The final point in my 2007 piece was that people grumble and complain about America sticking its nose into everything, complain about so-called American arrogance, complain about American aggression and nearly everything else about America - and as always there is some validity to these concerns. It's an imperfect world. Now we are getting a glimpse of what the absence of American leadership and reliability will bring to the world. What a mess.

For once I was right!!!




Ugh

Prelude to War? Time to look in the mirror

What happens on the other side of the world seemingly has no effect on the everyday lives of ordinary Americans like me, until it does.

In my little sequestered corner of the world I live in the Rodney King inspired "Can't we all just get along-ville". (It's better known by it's other name Naive-ville). No we can't it seems. What's happening in Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula was a long time coming and it seems it wasn't Russia who pulled the trigger. Mother Russia, behaving like any other country would, has had just about enough and is moving to protect its vital interests. Of course, you'll never hear that from our mainstream media.

The whispers and shouts all over the Internet is about the concerted but clumsy US/EU coup to overthrow the elected government of Ukraine. The timing was chosen to inflict maximum embarrassment on Putin and the Russians. The Olympics were in full swing in nearby Sochi when the "grassroots" protests began. The highly calculated and preplanned coup d’état orchestrated on the ground in Kiev might have been widely accepted as a real grassroots protest but for the audiotape of foul language used by Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State. On the tape we clearly hear Ms Nuland plotting the future leadership of Ukraine in her conversation with the US ambassador to the Ukraine. This was reported in the U.S. acknowledging the embarrassment to the Obama administration but then was never discussed again.

It's highly likely that the over arching plot to this sub-plot was hatched long before Obama, and probably before G.W. Bush as well. If true it gives you the sense that the President, whomever he is, doesn't really control the entire foreign policy agenda ( 'ya think). Since the fall of the Soviet Union there has been a plot rumored that the Euro-American hegemony is marching eastward to impose world economic domination. You can argue about the chess pieces on the board, but regardless, this shit has been going on for decades and neither Bush nor Obama is innocent.

The question then to all patriotic and America loving citizens is how much longer are you going to continue whispering sweet nothing's into Uncle Sam's ear as he orchestrates coup after coup on tiny defenseless countries before you realize he's a really bad dude?  How many innocent people living in Can't we all just get along-ville have to suffer and die at the hands of the CIA and its European counterpart. These things make great plots for thrilling novels and blockbuster movies, but this is real life and these are real people.

No one is saying Vlad Putin is a great guy, but he and the Russians are probably confused by these events and are reacting in a way they believe will preserve their vital interests - Crimea being the major one. In fact no one expects the world’s last superpower to act so insanely. Since 911 and even before everywhere the U.S. goes it ends up creating one failed state after another. The idea that it's the U.S. fomenting revolt, breeding hatred, and spreading death and misery to whatever it touches seems preposterous - but look at the track record of just the last decade. Iraq and Afghanistan turned out nicely, right? How about that Arab Spring?

At a time when the world needs a steady and sober hand to guide it to the next chapter in civilizational progress we have the world's sole superpower (and its business masters) rampaging from one violent confrontation to the next causing havoc and misery with no rhyme or reason. At least none that makes common sense.

Those who proclaim that the U.S. "must" stay engaged to protect the world from mad men need to look in the mirror. The U.S. is becoming the mad man. There are sober and thoughtful people who see the ultimate outcome of this madness but are powerless to stop it. Deception and delusion rules. The arrogance on display as the statements and actions out of Washington become more and more reckless.

Ordinary Americans and Europeans should be in the streets protesting the coming disaster. While the news media distracts the masses with fluff and nonsense the insane criminals in Washington, New York and Brussels are driving the world toward another war.

Time to look in the mirror America.


Ugh




-----------

Occupy Wall Street/Tea Party:Two sides of the same coin?

Occupy Wall Street hasn't been in the news lately, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately. The meeting of the ultra rich and powerful in Davos Switzerland last week brought it to the top of mind again. I am convinced Occupy Wall Street was motivated by the same underlying substrate that motivated it's nemesis the Tea Party. Hear me out on this.

The Tea Party set it's sights squarely on government, specifically the unconstitutional overreach of the Federal government. Occupy Wall Street rallied against the 1% - the rich few they believe controls the world just to hold the rest of us down. I'm increasingly convinced they are one in the same, since nothing else explains how the events of the past 60 or 70 years could have played out as they did.

[ To be perfectly clear being rich is not a crime, when talking about the 1% we're really talking about 1/100th of 1%. Essentially the super rich that play with 100 of millions like it was Monopoly money. ]

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) are the sons and daughters of the middle class facing dimming prospects for a future as bright as the one their parents had. The Tea Party is made up of mostly their middle class parents who are watching the country they knew (and loved) morph into something unrecognizable. Both of these movements are purely reactionary. There is a deep sense in the western world that there is an unrecoverable erosion taking place. Both sides see remedies in polar opposite extremes based on where they are in life. The mostly young of the OWS tend toward the utopian idealism of a more communist system, while the older more seasoned in the Tea Party see the solution in going back toward the original intent of America's constitutional framers. Both cant be right...

Some say that the Soviet Union was the inevitable result of communism, a system that lasted barely 70 years. It was clearly a failed system that caused untold suffering and doomed many generations to a dreary life even to this day. Others will say that the U.S. is the inevitable result of a capitalist free market system. Exploitative and unfair. Of this I'm not so sure. There is a perversion of the system that is denuding the middle class and weakening the core of the most successful social and economic system the world has ever known. The answer can be found by determining who is benefiting the most from the turmoil. Is it the 1%? Clearly it is.

I've written before on these pages as to why I believe the middle class in America is slowly being destroyed. By the 1960's and 70's the middle class had become too powerful a force. It was a collective force, powerful indeed, but with no head thus easier to defeat. Rallied by radical journalism in the 1960's it brought it's power to bear on the war machine and forced Washington to abandon the South Vietnamese. Whether this was right or not, or spurred by socialist/communist elements I'm not speculating, I'm just saying the power of the vast middle was evident in these events.

This had to be stopped. There has been, in my mind, a concerted multi-decade domestic and international effort to squelch the middle class dominating all the Western nations.

Who has benefited the most from moving a vast portion of American manufacturing to Asia? Who has benefited the most from NAFTA and free trade in general? Who has benefited the most from the Fed's quantitative easing program? Certainly not the middle class. Could it be the 1%? Of course it is. Arguments can be made that capital will always chase the cheapest labor and that free trade is ultimately good for consumers and cheap interest rates and easy money helps build equity. True, but it doesn't erase the fact that the American middle class is shrinking and these costs are outweighing the benefits across the board for the 99%.

The corporatization of the major media and the stranglehold the corporate political parties have on the levers of government ensure that the cronies in the 1% class (regardless of nationality) get what they need. With the Roman paradigm of Bread and Circuses alive and well in America and the West the 1% have little fear from the what's left of the middle class. Liberal platitudes and outright lies serve to ingratiate big government solutions to the destruction of the American dream among a large portion of the population who can't pull themselves away from American Idol, Facebook or their smart phones long enough to realize the pot is boiling. The conservatives unfortunately can't speak with enough articulation to wrestle themselves out of a wet paper bag. What difference, in the end they are as beholden to the 1% as the other guys.

There is an element lurking around the Internet known as reactionaries that have taken to calling this cabal the "Cathedral". The Cathedral is essentially untouchable. If any politician or any other entity steps out of line they are soon scandalized or marginalized, discredited or ruined. That said it's no surprise there is no fealty to any political party or their ideologies among the reactionaries. It goes without saying there is certainly no trust for the mainstream media. While I tend to agree with this assessment in truth the reactionary movement is tiny and toothless.

So in reality the Tea Party and the OWS movements are battling the same enemy. Ultimately they have demonstrated they both are toothless as well. The OWS has some allies in government carrying their rally cry of income disparity, but the movement itself is seen as a disorganized and smelly public spectacle. The Tea Party having had some success early on challenging some squishy Republicans have also been targeted and marginalized by the power of the Cathedral.

You begin to wonder where this will all end. The U.S. government can't continue to print money forever and there has to come a time when the destruction of the middle class starts to affect the hangers on of the 1%. What then?



Ugh  

Without Borders

When I saw "without borders" was the title of the message at church one Sunday I got worried. While I wouldn't call my church a typical liberal Christian church I would call it a strident anti-conservative church, which it clearly is. It is entirely anti-evangelical-conservative in word and deed. This does not bother me in the least. I too am wary of potent evangelical movements for many reasons, one because they bore me, but mainly because they are almost always Biblical literalists. I find nothing more off putting and inimical to the life and love of Jesus Christ than evangelical rantings taken from literal readings of the Bible. Jesus himself was not a literalist. My church, a phenomenal teaching church, goes to great lengths to keep politics out of the realm of the Kingdom, but it's not difficult to ascertain that the church culture leans liberal left - considerably so. A topic for another day.

Anyway...

Whenever, wherever we hear the phrase without borders we should be worried. Simply because in utopia without borders is a laudable goal, but we don't live in utopia. Until we do, borders, nation-states and the law of the land is necessary, vital even. I'm happy to say the message in church that day had nothing to do with political borders or advocating the erasing of national borders as I had feared. It was merely the rightful notion that Kingdom of Heaven knows no borders as it spans a truly cosmic realm.

In recent weeks I've read several interesting pieces in the blogosphere about the damage unfettered (and illegal) immigration is doing to some countries and cultures. Also other stories about the coming collapse of otherwise peaceful, orderly societies due to lawless, frustrated and racially motivated uber gangs that are growing up in over-crowded slums around the world offer a frightening glimpse of our future.

Over at Mangan's a piece called "Immigration from low-trust societies is theft" talks about how immigrants burrowing into a mature society pay nothing for the infrastructure they inherit and take a disproportionate share of out of a society compared to what they contribute - amounting to literal theft. There was a difference a century ago when immigration was controlled and by and large the newcomers started contributing almost immediately. It would be hard to argue that the quality of the "stock" we get now with uncontrolled immigration is not inferior in comparison.

In Europe with the one-two punch of stagnant economic growth and mass immigration entire nations are slipping into economic and cultural depression as described in this interesting piece at theAtlanic.com called "Are Europeans Giving Up on Europe?". The countries hardest hit by the economic downturn - Italy, Spain and Greece see the EU experiment as a failure, contributing to the malaise. The EU is also being blamed in England for the mass immigration the Brits see destroying their culture. Poll after poll in Britain show a disaffected populace, upset that EU immigration rules are forcing the island country to open their doors to more and more low value immigrants, many  - if not most - headed for the dole.

In fact all advanced Western countries with the exception of Japan are being impacted by a flood of immigration both legal and illegal. The native populations by and large are wary and even hostile to the trends and for good reason. Its not just economic - as if that's not enough - its also the loss of cultural norms. All over Western Europe huge sections of the major cities have developed into "no go zones" where even the police dare not enter. In these zones the law of the land is not enforced and a complete culture imported from some - pardon the language - shit hole has been established. This is happening to a smaller extent in America, Canada and Australia too.

Eventually this less than integrated sub-culture will burst out and with discontentment and rage and will lash out in one wave of violence after another until the natives are forced to live in walled off communities or flee to a country not yet destroyed.

Africa is already the model for this new world order. Scarcity, hopelessness and disorder are the catalysts. It has already happened in most sub Saharan nations, and with the so-called Arab Spring northern Africa has quickly caught up. Africa is essentially ungovernable.

The die is cast, the future set. If this exhaustive article by Robert Kaplan doesn't send chills down your spine then you're already numb or you don't care. "The Coming Anarchy" isn't about the end of the world, but it is about the end of civil civilization. While it's clear Africa and much of the Arab world is already aflame we see evidence of this in our own country. Think south Chicago, south LA, parts of Detroit and other cities in Michigan where immigrants have instituted their shit hole cultures in entire subdivisions.

No culture or civilization is immune. China's cities are already bursting at the seams and millions more are coming from the countryside every year. Developing countries are seeing their poor rural citizens flood into the cities. When the over population meets scarcity explosions happen. India, Pakistan, Brazil, all of southeast Asia are potential powder kegs. The West may be able hold it off for a time but eventually our day will come.

The West is courting suicide with this defacto without borders posture. Unfettered immigration is not good for anyone. Why the leaders (of both parties) can't or won't see this is frightening to me. No matter how poetic it sounds this is not one world, not by a long shot.



Ugh

Post Modern Lunacy

The tag line for this blog is "Up is down. That's just maddeningly unhelpful. Why are these things never clear?" The problem is that so many things are clear, what is right and true vs wrong and ridiculous is often as plain as the nose on your face. Yet popular culture, your teachers, your leaders, your bosses and even your family and friends ignore it or outright deny it. Or... They are too afraid to say it. It is an ancient problem, the story The Emperor’s New Suit was not written yesterday.

Many things have been written about the rise and fall of empires. As empires go the United States is the oddest by far. That it is an empire is not really in question. Since the end of World War II America has clearly been the prime influencer of the world. Initially this was simply the result of the devastation of world war. The U.S. was largely intact and ready to help rebuild the Western world - which it did. Even as the Cold War raged the influence of the U.S. trumped the Soviets wherever a modicum of freedom was present. The Cold War ended with whimper rather than a bang and the default for the world was one where business, trade and the successful exploitation of natural and human resources reigned. This came about not so much by the military conquest of the U.S. but the 800 pound gorilla clearly dictated the general outcome.

Glubb Pasha, a British soldier, scholar and author famously generalized about empires having seven stages: (1) the age of outburst (or pioneers), (2) the age of conquests, (3) the age of commerce, (4) the age of affluence, (5) the age of intellect, (6) the age of decadence, and (7) the age of decline and collapse. Now if we were to place America circa 2013 we'd probably choose stage 6 or 7. Stage 7 is probably terminal - the question is: is stage 6 terminal too?

The good news is civilization itself will not end with the fall of a post Obama America -- any more than it ended when the British Empire collapsed or the Roman Empire faded or when the Pharaohs succumbed to invaders. The torch that was lit at the dawn of human civilization will be picked up by someone somewhere else, and the human race will eventually move forward again. Is it better that the world be dominated by a profit seeking state like the United States or a totalitarian state like China or a dysfunctional state like India, a theocratic state like the Caliphate of Islam or a dying state like Russia? (Gee, America doesn't  seem so bad does it?)

This post modern lunacy we see before us now is very sad news for America & the West. It didn't have to be this way, we have been betrayed by the leaders we allowed to grab power. Perhaps it is inevitable anyway, I don't know, perhaps Glubb Pasha is exactly right. Empires rise and empires fall.

Part of me blames the people as much as the leadership - we get the leaders we deserve. It's clear that poor leadership and poor parenting has failed us and our children. We also bear responsibility for the apathy that has permeated society. Sure life has become complicated and its hard to stay on top of the millions of issues that face modernity, but there is no excuse for the belief that we can do well enough in life despite exerting no particular effort to learn the truth behind the issues. By accepting what politicians, scientists and the media tell us without questioning or even having a modicum of curiosity - then indeed, we get the leadership we deserve.

What is really astonishing is how the U.S. has structured itself into a well educated elite ruling over the poor and stupid. But the odd part is that the really stupid are the well educated elite. What Obama says, what so-called Republican leaders say is more often than not vacuous nonsense. What the talking heads on TV say is often worse. They are not intellectual giants, they are master manipulators that's all. Our true intellectuals may be technically brilliant, this does not necessarily make them suitable to lead the world or even a car wash. What we end up with is the lunacy of ego.

It's the average people acting with the freedom of their own self interest that gets things figured out. Entire systems grow up and function without central planning, and if there is value it sustains, if not it dies. Government has a role in keeping the playing field level and mediating disputes through practical law making and through the courts if necessary. Unfortunately government is used to tilt the playing field in favor of its cronies and to feather the nest of the politicians.

They do it by creating one artificial crisis after another. The energy crisis, the population bomb, the S&L crisis, the education crisis, the Gulf War, the global warming crisis, the terrorism crisis, the Gulf War, the mortgage crisis, the debt crisis, the health insurance crisis, the looming entitlement crisis. Almost to a "t" these are actually a failure of leadership and made-up political crisis'. The solutions are nearly always worse than the problems and lo and behold the rich and connected come out smelling like a rose - every time.

Are we in last stages of decadence and decline? Are we in stage 7?

Economics is only part of the picture...

In past empires the people often thought most highly of the athletes, musicians, and actors, regardless of how corrupt these celebrities’ private lives were. Sound familiar? The precipitous decline of sexual morality, a dearth marriages in favor of “living together,” and a skyrocketing divorce rate all hurt family stability - the very bedrock of any healthy society. This is what happened to the upper class of the Roman Empire in the first-century A.D.  The birth rate declined, abortion and infanticide became common and family size was deliberately squelched. Is this that much different than what has happened here and now? It was clearly one reason for Rome’s decline. This is followed by gay sex becoming celebrated as publicly acceptable, such as it was among the ancient Greeks before Rome conquered them - is that not also happening here and now?

These patterns repeat, piling one on top the other. Maybe we can defy the odds. It's not looking too good.



Ugh

The Middle Class: The True Wild Card

The middle class must be destroyed

Have you heard about the report released last week showing the American middle class has lost 39% of it's wealth over the past few years. In other words we have been transported back in time to 1992 wealth wise. That's just the fact. While it seems incomprehensible, it has happened, and it seems almost as if it was planned...

The powers that be, if you are into grand global conspiracy theories, came to realize 30 or 40 years ago that the middle class in the Western world had to be destroyed. Particularly the American middle class. Considering where we are right now, our place and time in history, it's literally the only thing that makes sense.

Why else would the powers that be continue to suppress the modern global economy, bottle-up the true potential of America, Canada, Australia and Western  Europe? In the past 30 years we've seen technology explode and thereby shrinking the world in the process, making nearly everything more efficient and productive. There is no need or reason for poverty, illiteracy or hopelessness anymore, all of it could be stamped out here in the 21st century. Yet it won't be. Billions will continue to live in poverty without the hope of ever seeing and end to it. Why? Simple enough, the poor and desperate can be controlled. So now you see the problem of the middle class.

The middle class was a powerful force, an unpredictable force for those who want to control things. The main problem with an economically powerful and rising middle class is the "cat herding phenomenon". They just continue to do what they want because they frustratingly act in their own self-interest. When they are so flush with money you can't get these people to stop building their far flung suburbs and driving their SUV's so you can force them into your cute choo choo trains in the city

The problem for the controllers, the mega business/government conglomerate, was devising a way to carefully, cleverly separate the middle class from their wealth without necessarily fomenting a revolution. Revolutions are even more unpredictable, messy and sometimes bloody too.

Can you imagine the brainstorming session that must have been...

"We can destroy their jobs, move whole industries to slave labor in China..." Cue head nodding.
 
"We can encourage them to become investors in equities, we'll even match them dollar for dollar, promise a rosy retirement (while they shovel their money into our pockets) and then pull the rug out from under them - over and over." Cue uproarious laughter.
 
"We can get them to sink all their money into the "American Dream" of home ownership, enticing them with cheap money and a promise of ever rising home values. Encourage them to use their homes as ATM machines, run up their personal debt into the stratosphere then we'll bring it all down like a house of cards." Cue high fives all around.
 
"We'll dumb down the schools, but require a college education to get a decent job thereby separating parents from their money or saddling the kids with a mountains of debt and then hope they don't realize we were lying about the jobs anyway." Cue thumbs up, winks and nods.

Until recently the industrious middle class and hungry young entrepreneurs kept reinventing reality and climbing out of the hole the corrupt government and big business had dug. I fear this is coming to an end. Europe is on the brink right now. America is not far behind. Canada and Australia won't fare well when the big economies collapse. Even Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs) will suffer immensely.

The horrifying thing is that the human suffering will be unfathomable when the collapse happens. The collapse will be precipitated by the middle class finally succumbing to the fiscal and financial corruption of the proverbial powers that be.

I ask again and again. To what end? Who would benefit by a global systemic economic collapse. It all seems so insane when we as the human race have it within our power to make hunger and poverty go away. We need only to unleash the shackles holding the economy back. But then, maybe the powers that be want the sort of cleansing that will come about with a massive die off of human life.

I find the idea of this cynical and frankly sickening.

What if the middle class doesn't succumb? What if we tighten our belts and start demanding our governments right this ship. What if we recognize the liars among the populists and the patriots who say one thing (anything) to get elected and then fall into the corruption they promised to fight against. What if for once we have a politicians and powerful business leaders who desire to do the right thing for the country, for humanity instead of the singular focus of feathering their own nests while the mighty oak tree withers and dies underneath them? Well... One can dream.



CW

Not so fast...

I have commented on several occasions in this space about the seemingly rapid decline of the United States as the preeminent power on the planet. In influence, innovation, economic and military dominance America still has no rival.  I have been guilty of missing the same thing many others have missed. America is the Himalaya's to the rest of the world's Appalachians. America in every respect is simply huge. Our economy is 25% of the entire world's GDP and it has been for decades. Our military is the most advanced, best trained and the most supremely capable fighting force the world has ever known. Our universities, research centers and corporations bring miracle technologies and medicines to the world that create untold wealth and save uncounted lives. It's actually hard to quantify the impact this one nation (the good, and sometimes the bad) has on the world.

In many ways it's not that America is coming down from Everest it's that the Appalachians have now become the Rockies.

It was just 40 years ago that we thought it was all coming to an end. The economic mess in the West and the rising confidence of Soviet communist expansion was supposed to see America crumble. It didn't happen. Instead the Soviet Union collapsed. America rebuilt it's military and it's confidence. In the late 80's and the 90's it was the Japanese that were going to own the world. They took our consumer electronic business and very nearly the auto industry - as well as many famous New York skyscrapers. At the time many thought America was done, a mere shell of what it once was. But that was wrong too. Japan is now entering its second lost decade and is rapidly falling behind its chief Asian rival.

For the last 15 years we have watched the ascent of China as it took a huge slice of the West's manufacturing base with its endless supply of cheap labor. The Chinese, by embracing capitalistic tendencies, have rocketed past Japan and Germany economically and threaten America's dominance as an influence peddler. In fact, 2012 America looks rather bleak with regards to the unemployment and the public debt situation.

But is it really so?

On the surface America looks like a tumultuous mess. Tea Parties, Occupy movements, bitter elections and a 50/50 red/blue split that offers the casual observer an ugly picture of discontent. The hatred of Obama and the uber-liberals on the one side is only matched by the hatred of Bush and neo-cons on the other. Unemployment and rising prices for the staples of food and fuel multiplied by the decline in home values has created the sharpest downward spiral in wealth seen in decades. Economically there has not been this level of misery since the Great Depression. It's bad right now, there is no denying that.

On the other hand China looks like the picture of calm and confidence. Enjoying nearly double digit economic growth year after year after year has put China in the driver's seat. Busily building world class cities and infrastructure while becoming a military power to boot has resulted in rising influence internationally. They sit on billions in foreign currency and a trade surplus never before seen in modern times. To the outside world there is seemingly little political strife and the central planning by a powerful one-party system seems to work pretty well.

But does it?

In America the roiling sea of distraction masks what is a remarkably stable society. Orderly -  if spirited - political campaigns result in a transfer of power that requires no bloodshed. Americans get up and go to work, by and large follow the rules and get things done. The Tea Party movement is far from radical or dangerous to the authorities - the same is largely true of the Occupiers except they are much messier and more uncouth. In truth America is the picture of stability in these extremely trying times.

China, while seeming cool and confident on the surface - the part the outside world sees - is actually a seething mess underneath. The dirt poor living in the interior have nothing except the pollution after effects of the rapid expansion of the coastal cities. Even in the wealthy cosmopolitan cities there is great discontent over wages and working conditions. Chinese consumers watch endless piles of consumer goods that they make shipped off the America and Europe with little left over for them. We hear only snippets of the news of massive riots on a scale we can scarcely imagine. What the West perceives as confident one-party rule and the certainty that comes with it is actually a paranoid club of bullies and dictators. The only way to get ahead is corruption, bribery and cheating.

These are a great people, capable of so much more. The Chinese people have only scratched the surface of what they can do - but their system is incapable of unleashing the true potential locked up inside.

In spite of everything the Chinese people are a happier lot than Americans right now. Americans are discontented - and maybe we always have been - because we know there are so many more possibilities, we have glimpsed them. Our corrupt government and their corporate benefactors have skewed everything. The Chinese simply expect less of their corrupt institutions. A vast majority of Americans feel the country and the culture is heading in the wrong direction.China on the other hand is plodding however indelicately away from their oppressive past.

America unfortunately is being led by a man who sees America's decline as the only solution equalizing the human experience. He could not be more wrong. We are voluntarily cutting off our noses to spite our faces. We have seen what can be done by unleashing human potential. Our imperfect but mostly free culture has spawned the most powerful nation in human history. It was no accident. We are letting it be squandered by ideological maggots (on both sides). Our system while not as paranoid and corrupt as China's is heading in that direction. The political and corporate corruption in Washington DC in 2012 is beyond sickening - and it's dangerous.

The world is craving leaders. Many were fooled into believing we elected someone who was different in 2008. Someone ready to throw out derision and work toward a functional (if contentious) body politic. Instead we have a petulant, ideological man-child offering very little leadership or inspiration. He offers only decline. What the world needs now is some real hope and change.



CW

The Golden Age

Are we living in the Golden Age?

For those of us living in the West, America, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan, it's not hard to imagine that we have reached the pinnacle of our societal development. If nothing else demographics will soon push us into a different paradigm. The West has stopped having babies and without babies there is no future.

If we think about how nice we have it as compared to all the peoples that have ever lived on this earth we should be amazed, but we aren't. We take it for granted. Worse, we condemn ourselves for the marvels we now enjoy that were forged by the sweat of our brow and of those who came before us. In that selfish condemnation we deny the next generation any choices at all since we are choosing this generation over theirs.

Think about it... We live in a world with instant communication between any 2 points on the planet. We have information, the collective knowledge of recorded history at our fingertips by virtue of the Internet. We have but to climb into a self-powered car with all it's luxury appointments and drive on super highways to any supermarket or mall and find just about any foodstuff or creature comfort we can imagine. A mere hundred years ago this would've been a fantasy. Our poor eat better, live better, enjoy better health and have better entertainment than all the princes and kings of a century ago. For all the griping by the Occupy movement it is never considered that the vast middle experiences life closer to the top 1% than at anytime in history. Do the ultra-rich watch better TV shows or movies than the rest of us? Do they have better music? Do their Ipods sound better, their Ipads look better? Is their food more nutritious? Are their cars more reliable or have better air conditioning than ours?

If we accept that we in the West, collectively, live a life of comfort and ease compared to those just a few short generations ago we have to ask; how long can it all last?

We are seeing the financial system begin to crumble globally. Japan, Europe and the U.S. have serious debt issues that are interconnected in a fashion that resembles a game of dominoes just before the first one topples. If or when the global financial system collapses the demand for oil - the principal product of the Middle East, North Africa and Russia - will take a dive, and likely trigger chaos in those politically unstable regions. Likewise, the demand for consumer goods from China and southeast Asia will plummet along with their economies - which might force a new military hegemony waiting in wings in Beijing.

Worse yet is the specter of apocalyptic religious zealots in Tehran possessing nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. Regardless of which comes first, the collapse of the global economic system or a first strike (likely on Tel Aviv) by Iran, chaos will consume the world.

How bad can it get? No one knows. The world of fiction is rife with post-apocalyptic tales that frankly depict a world I wouldn't want to live in.

When the electricity fails and the supermarkets run out of food anarchy will prevail. Don't think the government - Federal or local - will save the day. It is the government (particularly Congress) that is destroying everything now - before the fall. In addition the current President is actively promoting the decline of America. These crony's are busy feathering their own nests and destroying the country in the process. There will be no help from the government when this all breaks down.

Does it have to end this way? Probably not, but simple hope is pale substitute for the cruelness of reality. Indeed, Europe(Germany) and Japan were thoroughly devastated after WWII and they came roaring back economically. But this collapse would be quite different. For one, Europe and Japan had the United States to help them rebuild. Do we suppose China would be in any shape to foster the rebuilding of the global economy this time? What would the world be rebuilding from? An economic collapse or nuclear war? I would not bet against either of these things happening if something isn't done soon.

I've read that it's already too late for Europe to avoid some of it's members from defaulting on their debts. America has unfunded liabilities in the trillions coming due over the next 20 years. Japan may simply be a lost cause. As Japan's population collapses they continue to maintain a closed door policy on immigration. Bold action is needed because the only thing that will turn the tide is confidence in the future. Confidence is the only thing that holds up the economic system as it is.The Western world had confidence after WWII because of the power of the United States. Restoring confidence is going to take bold action and like it or not it will have to come from the United States. Is China or India ready to step up and usher the world into the next era? I wouldn't bet on it.

So here we are a the precipice of collapse and the one nation with a chance at staving it off is led by a man actively directing a program of decline - and apologizing to the world on our behalf. This is not building confidence. Wanting the world to love us is a fool's game, especially when the world is seeking leadership.

When the history of this era is written generations from now will they lament the fact that when the world had such a benevolent hegemon in the United States of America it let itself be tore down from within, with the malice of forethought? Are we really ready to give up? Is this the beginning of the end of the Golden Age?




CW

This is the fraud that never ends...

So much has already been written and debated on the subject of Global Warming and its soul mate Climate Change that along with the general public I have become bored with it. This is possibly exactly what the fraudsters are counting on. So completely have they woven the narrative that mankind is the principal cause of climate change and burning fossil fuels is the culprit that every institution on Earth is "dedicated" to reducing their so-called carbon footprint in one way or another. If that was all there was to it then there is little harm in it. Efficient and wise use of fossil fuels is in everyone's best interest. Unfortunately that's not even close to the end game. Thank God there are dedicated souls ready to hold the fraudsters proclamations and activities up to the light.

Two years ago when a flood of e-mails was leaked out of the UEA's CRU in Britain "Climategate" was born. The e-mails revealed a pattern of concerted efforts to skew the data (or ignore the contradictory data), discredit skeptics and steer the UN's IPCC into global warming alarmism. This severely damaged the fraudsters cause and when coupled with the world economic downturn and rising oil prices the polls showed a significant change in the general publics attitude toward so-called climate change. Of course the sympathetic institutional and media investigations exonerated Phil Jones and Michael Mann and the rest of the players at the UEA.

Now another batch of e-mails has leaked that only bolster the case against the global warming fraudsters. The moniker Climategate 2.0 is being bandied about. In the coming days and weeks as these e-mails are parsed we'll learn even more about the duplicity and fraud the profiteers of this farce have tried to pull off. The question is - is it too late?

As I said earlier nearly every conceivable institution has embraced the Politically Correct position that mankind is a scourge on the Earth. Global Warming is just another piece of incontrovertible evidence. It is all sliding toward government control of the global economy with a World Government as the final authority. The only possible outcome is a decrease in the standard of living for the creative and productive societies. The seeds of this are being sewn as we speak while we watch the normalization of high unemployment and debt-ridden governments as corporate institutions continue to thrive. This is the set up of capitalism as the ultimate scapegoat. After all it is fruits of capitalism that brings us bad things like rich people, debt and global warming. (Never mind that capitalism brings us all the good things too).

Does anyone honestly think Occupy Wall Street is spontaneous? It is amorphous and indistinct on purpose. It is designed to sow discontent while the gun sights are firmly fixed on capitalism itself. It will not succeed on it's own as it is supposed to be just another piece of evidence that our system has utterly failed.

If and when that happens - a global meltdown of the world economic system the only possible outcome is the elimination of millions if not billions of people. This is the actual endgame. First the rich (people and nations) have to be made the scapegoats then the institutions must fail.

As Mark Steyn said in his best selling book America Alone it will be America that has to put a stop to this. Europe is in no position to do anything so momentous. We are literally seeing Germany, the only real rich country in Europe, being set up as the scapegoat for the collapse of the EU. China feels it will be able to fill vacuum when the West falls by it's own hand.

Until now the lynch pin of this scenario has not been mentioned. This is the very reason Barack Obama can not be allowed a second term. He instrumental in this normalization of America as a declining nation. He goes around the world criticizing then apologizing for America. He is in my mind a traitor. To others he is a realist because they are also convinced that for the world to succeed America itself must fail. Once America falls either before or after the EU then the West is lost. Barack Obama is doing his part.

I know it is said every election cycle... This is the most important election of our lifetime. This time it really is.


CW

What a good idea!

This really makes me angry. You should be angry too...

Every time I shop at a home improvement store these days I make sure to buy incandescent light bulbs. Oh, yeah, and I make sure they are Sylvania brand too. The days of finding these on store shelves in America are numbered.

The ordinary light bulb symbolizes the human race coming out of the dark ages, literally. The light bulb is birth of modernity. Just as the light bulb symbolizes mankind coming out of the darkness the U.S. epitomizes the modern technological world. Soon, the ordinary incandescent light bulb will be banned in the U.S. - a dark day indeed.

What this all means is a huge boost to China and the American firms that will complete the Chinese takeover of this industry. All this is happening with the blessing AND the help of the U.S Treasury Department. Perennial light bulb maker GE is already in China making bulbs after having closed it's last U.S. plant in 2010 and laid off many American workers. It's a shocker, I know. In the name of a greener world other major U.S. firms are bankrolling the Chinese lighting industry. And here we thought President Obama's chief  go-forward strategy was fostering a green everything industry.

To be fair to the President the seeds of this were sown long before his time in the White House, but he certainly was a part of the Democratically controlled Congress in 2007 when the Federal law was passed to ban the incandescent bulb. Regardless of the timing it is the notion that there is a concerted effort to build this industry in China with Federal government and United Nations backing. Enter the gigantic investment house Goldman Sachs and networking powerhouse Cisco Systems and a juggernaut is born.

The altruistic underpinnings of this project like all "green" efforts isn't helpful when American and other western workers are thrown out of their jobs. Here the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), which invests in projects that can produce global environmental benefits is spearheading this project. Yes, the U.S. Treasury is a major funder for the GEF. This is being done as an environmental benefit by reducing China's carbon dioxide emissions and thereby benefiting the whole planet. So, I guess the ends justify the means and the means is destroying yet another domestic industry.

This new project backed by the aforementioned investors builds on a previous, $26 million GEF/UNDP pilot project, known as the China Green Lights project. That project was a roaring success for the environment and for China. The claim that it saves 15.78 billion kilowatt hours of energy, worth about $986 million to consumers, and, using dubious calculating methods is supposed to have kept 6.8 million tons of carbon out of the atmosphere. All is well. Nevermind that it threw thousands of Americans out of work and shuttered numerous factories.

The fact that the incandescent bulb is being replaced by an inferior and possible dangerous product - the compact fluorescent bulb  - is the just one part of this story that gets the dander up.That they are made primarily in China is the kicker. Perhaps the inevitability of the end of the lowly incandescent bulb was to be expected, but the destruction of an industry in order to force us to buy inferior foreign products is just wrong.

The LED light bulb is making a move.Currently they are expensive, but they are far more efficient, safer and at least for now they are being made in America where they are exported to China. Small victories I guess.




CW