Sunday, December 29, 2013
The Plain Truth: 'Duck Dynasty,' Gay Activism and the Clash of 2 Cu...
The Plain Truth: 'Duck Dynasty,' Gay Activism and the Clash of 2 Cu...: You knew it would happen sooner or later. An outspoken, wildly popular, conservative Christian who doesn’t give a hoot—or in this case, a ...
'Duck Dynasty,' Gay Activism and the Clash of 2 Cultures!
You knew it would happen sooner or later. An outspoken, wildly popular,
conservative Christian who doesn’t give a hoot—or in this case, a
quack—about political correctness would air his views about
homosexuality, and overnight, Hollywood hell would break loose.
To catch you up on the latest events, earlier this week, the text of Phil Robertson’s interview with GQ magazine was released online, containing controversial comments about homosexual practice, among other things. (For those who have been living under a rock, Phil Robertson is the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan, and he is a self-proclaimed “Bible thumper.”)
Shortly after the interview was released, and quite predictably, GLAAD issued a statement condemning Robertson’s remarks as “some of the vilest and most extreme statements uttered against LGBT people in a mainstream publication” and said “his quote was littered with outdated stereotypes and blatant misinformation.” (Reminder: GLAAD officially stands for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, but I have long suggested that a more appropriate name would be the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Disagreement.)
GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz says, “Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe. He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans—and Americans—who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. Phil's decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors, who now need to re-examine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families.” (Note to GLAAD: The majority of Louisianans do not support same-sex marriage.)
This was followed by a clarification and apology of sorts by Robertson: “I myself am a product of the '60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the Bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together.
“However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and, like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest gay activist organization, also condemned Robertson’s remarks and called for A&E, the cable network that airs Duck Dynasty, to take action: “The A&E network should take immediate action to condemn Phil Robertson’s remarks and make clear they don’t support his views.”
Later the same day, A&E issued its own statement: “We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson's comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty. His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely.”
In support of Robertson, the Faith Driven Consumer Facebook page started an “I Stand With Phil" campaign, while another Facebook page, “Boycott A&E Until Phil Robertson Is Put Back on Duck Dynasty,” had more than 100,000 "likes" in a matter of hours. Talk about a clash of two cultures!
What did Robertson actually say that was so controversial?
First he remarked, “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”
Was he accusing all (or most) gays of engaging in bestiality or of sleeping with multiple women? It appears not, although I can easily see why his critics would think otherwise, and in that context, he was right to clarify his comments.
What he was saying, though, was that gay sex should be seen as part of the “anything goes” mentality of the sexual revolution of the '60s, and in that regard he was right. In fact, while gay activists emphasize homosexual identity, placing the gay rights movement in the context of the civil rights movement of the '60s, Robertson and other conservative Christians emphasize homosexual behavior, placing gay activism in the context of the sexual revolution of the same era.
Robertson next quoted from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, a famous passage in Paul’s letters in which he clearly states that practicing homosexuals, along with practicing heterosexual sinners of various stripes, will not inherit God’s kingdom. (For the record, despite frequent objections to the contrary, the Greek text is quite clear in terms of its overall sense.)
Was A&E genuinely unaware that Phil Robertson held to these views? I seriously doubt it. My guess is that they were just glad (not GLAAD) that he hadn’t aired them publicly.
Finally, Robertson suggested (speaking first for himself) that the female sexual organ was “more desirable” than a man’s rectum and that a woman had “more to offer” a man.
And for these comments he was promptly suspended.
The fact is, though, no matter how much two men may love each other, it remains indisputably clear that men were biologically designed to be with women, and vice versa. In that regard, no matter how crude Robertson’s comments may have been, they were correct.
As for his quotation from 1 Corinthians 6, did anyone really think that Robertson would say, “You know, now that I’ve become a TV celebrity, I’m going to revise my views on God’s intent for human sexuality and marriage”?
Personally, I don’t believe for a moment that Robertson will bow down to A&E and compromise his convictions, although I could see him offering a further clarification of his statements, explaining, for example, that he was not accusing homosexuals of practicing bestiality any more than heterosexuals engage in such perversion.
And I don’t see how A&E can back down from its position regardless of how popular the show is. The gay lobby is far too powerful. (I imagine that Alec Baldwin has an opinion on this as well, although, to be clear, I am not comparing Robertson to Baldwin.)
In fact, I don’t see either of them about to blink, which means the culture wars are about to hit the fan, and this could very ugly very quickly.
I suggest that those of us who agree fundamentally with Robertson make clear that: 1) We are unashamed of our belief in Jesus and in biblical morality; 2) we stand against the mistreatment of all people, including gays and lesbians; and 3) we will not support the radical redefinition of marriage, regardless of the cost involved, nor do we see cultural capitulation to gay activism as inevitable.
Now would be a perfect time to take a stand, but with grace, precision and wisdom.
To catch you up on the latest events, earlier this week, the text of Phil Robertson’s interview with GQ magazine was released online, containing controversial comments about homosexual practice, among other things. (For those who have been living under a rock, Phil Robertson is the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan, and he is a self-proclaimed “Bible thumper.”)
Shortly after the interview was released, and quite predictably, GLAAD issued a statement condemning Robertson’s remarks as “some of the vilest and most extreme statements uttered against LGBT people in a mainstream publication” and said “his quote was littered with outdated stereotypes and blatant misinformation.” (Reminder: GLAAD officially stands for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, but I have long suggested that a more appropriate name would be the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Disagreement.)
GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz says, “Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe. He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans—and Americans—who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. Phil's decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors, who now need to re-examine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families.” (Note to GLAAD: The majority of Louisianans do not support same-sex marriage.)
This was followed by a clarification and apology of sorts by Robertson: “I myself am a product of the '60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the Bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together.
“However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and, like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest gay activist organization, also condemned Robertson’s remarks and called for A&E, the cable network that airs Duck Dynasty, to take action: “The A&E network should take immediate action to condemn Phil Robertson’s remarks and make clear they don’t support his views.”
Later the same day, A&E issued its own statement: “We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson's comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty. His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely.”
In support of Robertson, the Faith Driven Consumer Facebook page started an “I Stand With Phil" campaign, while another Facebook page, “Boycott A&E Until Phil Robertson Is Put Back on Duck Dynasty,” had more than 100,000 "likes" in a matter of hours. Talk about a clash of two cultures!
What did Robertson actually say that was so controversial?
First he remarked, “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”
Was he accusing all (or most) gays of engaging in bestiality or of sleeping with multiple women? It appears not, although I can easily see why his critics would think otherwise, and in that context, he was right to clarify his comments.
What he was saying, though, was that gay sex should be seen as part of the “anything goes” mentality of the sexual revolution of the '60s, and in that regard he was right. In fact, while gay activists emphasize homosexual identity, placing the gay rights movement in the context of the civil rights movement of the '60s, Robertson and other conservative Christians emphasize homosexual behavior, placing gay activism in the context of the sexual revolution of the same era.
Robertson next quoted from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, a famous passage in Paul’s letters in which he clearly states that practicing homosexuals, along with practicing heterosexual sinners of various stripes, will not inherit God’s kingdom. (For the record, despite frequent objections to the contrary, the Greek text is quite clear in terms of its overall sense.)
Was A&E genuinely unaware that Phil Robertson held to these views? I seriously doubt it. My guess is that they were just glad (not GLAAD) that he hadn’t aired them publicly.
Finally, Robertson suggested (speaking first for himself) that the female sexual organ was “more desirable” than a man’s rectum and that a woman had “more to offer” a man.
And for these comments he was promptly suspended.
The fact is, though, no matter how much two men may love each other, it remains indisputably clear that men were biologically designed to be with women, and vice versa. In that regard, no matter how crude Robertson’s comments may have been, they were correct.
As for his quotation from 1 Corinthians 6, did anyone really think that Robertson would say, “You know, now that I’ve become a TV celebrity, I’m going to revise my views on God’s intent for human sexuality and marriage”?
Personally, I don’t believe for a moment that Robertson will bow down to A&E and compromise his convictions, although I could see him offering a further clarification of his statements, explaining, for example, that he was not accusing homosexuals of practicing bestiality any more than heterosexuals engage in such perversion.
And I don’t see how A&E can back down from its position regardless of how popular the show is. The gay lobby is far too powerful. (I imagine that Alec Baldwin has an opinion on this as well, although, to be clear, I am not comparing Robertson to Baldwin.)
In fact, I don’t see either of them about to blink, which means the culture wars are about to hit the fan, and this could very ugly very quickly.
I suggest that those of us who agree fundamentally with Robertson make clear that: 1) We are unashamed of our belief in Jesus and in biblical morality; 2) we stand against the mistreatment of all people, including gays and lesbians; and 3) we will not support the radical redefinition of marriage, regardless of the cost involved, nor do we see cultural capitulation to gay activism as inevitable.
Now would be a perfect time to take a stand, but with grace, precision and wisdom.
The Plain Truth: Taking Baby-Killing to a New Low!
The Plain Truth: Taking Baby-Killing to a New Low!: In light of the recent shocking revelations about abortion clinic horrors, including all kinds of health code violations, it would only be ...
Taking Baby-Killing to a New Low!
In light of the recent shocking revelations about abortion clinic
horrors, including all kinds of health code violations, it would only be
logical to think that state governments would be reading the riot act
to these clinics, telling them if they want to stay open, they had
better comply with the law. Apparently, that kind of thinking doesn’t
prevail in California, which is now poised to a pass a bill allowing
non-physicians to perform abortions.
As reported by Christine Rousselle, according to Bill AB-154, which has passed both legislative houses and is expected to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, “a nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, or physician assistant would be allowed to do a suction aspiration or medical abortion on a woman” during the first trimester. What kind of madness is this? (For a picture of a baby’s development at 12 weeks, see here.)
As Rousselle notes, “In California, if an animal needs an abortion, the procedure must be carried out by a licensed veterinary surgeon. It appears now that the State of California views humans as deserving a lower standard of care than a housecat.”
But that, of course, would be in keeping with the upside-down mentality that makes it a crime to disturb the nest of certain endangered birds—recognizing that the eggs contain a potential baby bird—but which celebrates a woman’s right to abort the baby in her womb.
As to the madness of allowing non-physicians or non-surgeons to perform abortions, what ever happened to the old Bill Clinton adage that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare”? The new California bill can only have one potential result, namely to make abortion, which is already legal in California, less safe and less rare.
As stated explicitly in the bill, “With the provisions for training in the bill and the amendments that clarify physician supervision, AB-154 addresses patient safety while expanding access for these services.”
Note those words carefully: “while expanding access for these services”—which really says it all. (For the record, Joel Pollack reports that “the training [required by the bill] is to be provided by the Board of Registered Nursing, not by physicians, and the protocols for defining ‘supervision’ have not been specified. There is nothing in the legislation requiring a physician to be present or on-site during an abortion.”)
Now, it is well known that being an abortion doctor is not considered a glamorous profession in the medical world (although it can certainly be quite lucrative), and over the decades, not only have many hospitals stopped providing abortions, but many doctors have dropped out of the business as well.
Charles Wysong, founder and president of the American Rights Coalition, believes that malpractice suits have played a major role in this. “We began to notice a steady decline in both clinics and abortions after we began helping injured women sue abortion clinics for malpractice in 1986,” he says.
Then he adds, “Slowly, doctors began finding that while abortion may be legal, malpractice is not. This accountability caused many doctors to quit or never enter the abortion practice.”
This could be one of the reasons that 1,500 abortion clinics have closed in the past 22 years (according to a Jan. 21, 2013, report on LifeSiteNews.com, which says, “In 1991 there were 2,176 surgical abortion clinics nationwide; today there are 660 and falling.”)
All of which means there is a dearth of potential abortion providers, which means that states like California must find more ways to abort babies in the absence of trained doctors. But of course!
Tragically, with more and more news of abortion clinic abuses leaking out to the public, including heartrending, barbaric stories coming directly from abortion clinic staff, and with the recognition that there may be more men like Kermit Gosnell out there (and with that, more abortion houses of horror), what does California do? It passes a bill allowing nurse practitioners and others to suck out the “contents of the uterus” with a vacuum (which, as pro-life leaders have pointed out, is already a potentially dangerous procedure for the mother even when performed by a doctor).
Of course, the “safest” abortion procedure that can be performed still means the termination of the baby’s life in the womb (that is, after all, a tiny child being sucked out or sliced up), not to mention the potential emotional scarring of the mother for life or the possibility that the abortion will impair the mother’s ability to conceive in the future. But now California is poised to add insult to injury—with the endorsement of the California Medical Association, at that.
And to think: The same people who pushed so hard for the legalization of abortion so that a woman wouldn’t have to get a back-alley abortion with a wire coat hanger are the same ones who not only ignore the pervasive health code violations in scores of clinics nationwide, but also are taking things one step further by backing a bill whereby non-physicians can suck a baby out of its mother’s womb.
This is what is called “progress” in the pro-abortion movement.
As reported by Christine Rousselle, according to Bill AB-154, which has passed both legislative houses and is expected to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, “a nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, or physician assistant would be allowed to do a suction aspiration or medical abortion on a woman” during the first trimester. What kind of madness is this? (For a picture of a baby’s development at 12 weeks, see here.)
As Rousselle notes, “In California, if an animal needs an abortion, the procedure must be carried out by a licensed veterinary surgeon. It appears now that the State of California views humans as deserving a lower standard of care than a housecat.”
But that, of course, would be in keeping with the upside-down mentality that makes it a crime to disturb the nest of certain endangered birds—recognizing that the eggs contain a potential baby bird—but which celebrates a woman’s right to abort the baby in her womb.
As to the madness of allowing non-physicians or non-surgeons to perform abortions, what ever happened to the old Bill Clinton adage that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare”? The new California bill can only have one potential result, namely to make abortion, which is already legal in California, less safe and less rare.
As stated explicitly in the bill, “With the provisions for training in the bill and the amendments that clarify physician supervision, AB-154 addresses patient safety while expanding access for these services.”
Note those words carefully: “while expanding access for these services”—which really says it all. (For the record, Joel Pollack reports that “the training [required by the bill] is to be provided by the Board of Registered Nursing, not by physicians, and the protocols for defining ‘supervision’ have not been specified. There is nothing in the legislation requiring a physician to be present or on-site during an abortion.”)
Now, it is well known that being an abortion doctor is not considered a glamorous profession in the medical world (although it can certainly be quite lucrative), and over the decades, not only have many hospitals stopped providing abortions, but many doctors have dropped out of the business as well.
Charles Wysong, founder and president of the American Rights Coalition, believes that malpractice suits have played a major role in this. “We began to notice a steady decline in both clinics and abortions after we began helping injured women sue abortion clinics for malpractice in 1986,” he says.
Then he adds, “Slowly, doctors began finding that while abortion may be legal, malpractice is not. This accountability caused many doctors to quit or never enter the abortion practice.”
This could be one of the reasons that 1,500 abortion clinics have closed in the past 22 years (according to a Jan. 21, 2013, report on LifeSiteNews.com, which says, “In 1991 there were 2,176 surgical abortion clinics nationwide; today there are 660 and falling.”)
All of which means there is a dearth of potential abortion providers, which means that states like California must find more ways to abort babies in the absence of trained doctors. But of course!
Tragically, with more and more news of abortion clinic abuses leaking out to the public, including heartrending, barbaric stories coming directly from abortion clinic staff, and with the recognition that there may be more men like Kermit Gosnell out there (and with that, more abortion houses of horror), what does California do? It passes a bill allowing nurse practitioners and others to suck out the “contents of the uterus” with a vacuum (which, as pro-life leaders have pointed out, is already a potentially dangerous procedure for the mother even when performed by a doctor).
Of course, the “safest” abortion procedure that can be performed still means the termination of the baby’s life in the womb (that is, after all, a tiny child being sucked out or sliced up), not to mention the potential emotional scarring of the mother for life or the possibility that the abortion will impair the mother’s ability to conceive in the future. But now California is poised to add insult to injury—with the endorsement of the California Medical Association, at that.
And to think: The same people who pushed so hard for the legalization of abortion so that a woman wouldn’t have to get a back-alley abortion with a wire coat hanger are the same ones who not only ignore the pervasive health code violations in scores of clinics nationwide, but also are taking things one step further by backing a bill whereby non-physicians can suck a baby out of its mother’s womb.
This is what is called “progress” in the pro-abortion movement.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
The Plain Truth: The Federal Reserve: 100 Reasons To Shut It Down F...
The Plain Truth: The Federal Reserve: 100 Reasons To Shut It Down F...: December 23rd, 1913 is a date which will live in infamy. That was the day when the Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress. Many...
The Federal Reserve: 100 Reasons To Shut It Down Forever!
December 23rd, 1913 is a date which will live in infamy. That was the
day when the Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress. Many
members of Congress were absent that day, and the general public was
distracted with holiday preparations. Now we have reached the 100th
anniversary of the Federal Reserve, and most Americans still don't know
what it actually is or how it functions. But understanding the Federal
Reserve is absolutely critical, because the Fed is at the very heart
of our economic problems. Since the Federal Reserve was created, there
have been 18 recessions or depressions, the value of the U.S. dollar
has declined by 98 percent, and the U.S. national debt has gotten more
than 5000 times larger.
This insidious debt-based financial system has literally made debt slaves out of all of us, and it is systematically destroying the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have. If nothing is done, we are inevitably heading for a massive amount of economic pain as a nation. So please share this article with as many people as you can. The following are 100 reasons why the Federal Reserve should be shut down forever...
#1 We like to think that we have a government "of the people, by the people, for the people", but the truth is that an unelected, unaccountable group of central planners has far more power over our economy than anyone else in our society does.
#2 The Federal Reserve is actually "independent" of the government. In fact, the Federal Reserve has argued vehemently in federal court that it is "not an agency" of the federal government and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
#3 The Federal Reserve openly admits that the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks are organized "much like private corporations".
#4 The regional Federal Reserve banks issue shares of stock to the "member banks" that own them.
#5 100% of the shareholders of the Federal Reserve are private banks. The U.S. government owns zero shares.
#6 The Federal Reserve is not an agency of the federal government, but it has been given power to regulate our banks and financial institutions. This should not be happening.
#7 According to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress is the one that is supposed to have the authority to "coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures". So why is the Federal Reserve doing it?
#8 If you look at a "U.S. dollar", it actually says "Federal Reserve note" at the top. In the financial world, a "note" is an instrument of debt.
#9 In 1963, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11110 which authorized the U.S. Treasury to issue "United States notes" which were created by the U.S. government directly and not by the Federal Reserve. He was assassinated shortly thereafter.
#10 Many of the debt-free United States notes issued under President Kennedy are still in circulation today.
#11 The Federal Reserve determines what levels some of the most important interest rates in our system are going to be set at. In a free market system, the free market would determine those interest rates.
#12 The Federal Reserve has become so powerful that it is now known as "the fourth branch of government".
#13 The greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history was when there was no central bank.
#14 The Federal Reserve was designed to be a perpetual debt machine. The bankers that designed it intended to trap the U.S. government in a perpetual debt spiral from which it could never possibly escape. Since the Federal Reserve was established 100 years ago, the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger.
#15 A permanent federal income tax was established the exact same year that the Federal Reserve was created. This was not a coincidence. In order to pay for all of the government debt that the Federal Reserve would create, a federal income tax was necessary. The whole idea was to transfer wealth from our pockets to the federal government and from the federal government to the bankers.
#16 The period prior to 1913 (when there was no income tax) was the greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history.
#17 Today, the U.S. tax code is about 13 miles long.
#18 From the time that the Federal Reserve was created until now, the U.S. dollar has lost 98 percent of its value.
#19 From the time that President Nixon took us off the gold standard until now, the U.S. dollar has lost 83 percent of its value.
#20 During the 100 years before the Federal Reserve was created, the U.S. economy rarely had any problems with inflation. But since the Federal Reserve was established, the U.S. economy has experienced constant and never ending inflation.
#21 In the century before the Federal Reserve was created, the average annual rate of inflation was about half a percent. In the century since the Federal Reserve was created, the average annual rate of inflation has been about 3.5 percent.
#22 The Federal Reserve has stripped the middle class of trillions of dollars of wealth through the hidden tax of inflation.
#23 The size of M1 has nearly doubled since 2008 thanks to the reckless money printing that the Federal Reserve has been doing.
#24 The Federal Reserve has been starting to behave like the Weimar Republic, and we all remember how that ended.
#25 The Federal Reserve has been consistently lying to us about the level of inflation in our economy. If the inflation rate was still calculated the same way that it was back when Jimmy Carter was president, the official rate of inflation would be somewhere between 8 and 10 percent today.
#26 Since the Federal Reserve was created, there have been 18 distinct recessions or depressions: 1918, 1920, 1923, 1926, 1929, 1937, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1973, 1980, 1981, 1990, 2001, 2008.
#27 Within 20 years of the creation of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. economy was plunged into the Great Depression.
#28 The Federal Reserve created the conditions that caused the stock market crash of 1929, and even Ben Bernanke admits that the response by the Fed to that crisis made the Great Depression even worse than it should have been.
#29 The "easy money" policies of former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan set the stage for the great financial crisis of 2008.
#30 Without the Federal Reserve, the "subprime mortgage meltdown" would probably never have happened.
#31 If you can believe it, there have been 10 different economic recessions since 1950. The Federal Reserve created the "dotcom bubble", the Federal Reserve created the "housing bubble" and now it has created the largest bond bubble in the history of the planet.
#32 According to an official government report, the Federal Reserve made 16.1 trillion dollars in secret loans to the big banks during the last financial crisis. The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131 of the report...
#34 During the last financial crisis, big European banks were allowed to borrow an "unlimited" amount of money from the Federal Reserve at ultra-low interest rates.
#35 The "easy money" policies of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have created the largest financial bubble this nation has ever seen, and this has set the stage for the great financial crisis that we are rapidly approaching.
#36 Since late 2008, the size of the Federal Reserve balance sheet has grown from less than a trillion dollars to more than 4 trillion dollars. This is complete and utter insanity.
#37 During the quantitative easing era, the value of the financial securities that the Fed has accumulated is greater than the total amount of publicly held debt that the U.S. government accumulated from the presidency of George Washington through the end of the presidency of Bill Clinton.
#38 Overall, the Federal Reserve now holds more than 32 percent of all 10 year equivalents, and that percentage is rising by about 0.3 percent each week.
#39 Quantitative easing creates financial bubbles, and when quantitative easing ends those bubbles tend to deflate rapidly.
#40 Most of the new money created by quantitative easing has ended up in the hands of the very wealthy.
#41 According to a prominent Federal Reserve insider, quantitative easing has been one giant "subsidy" for Wall Street banks.
#42 As one CNBC article recently stated, we are seeing absolutely rampant inflation in "stocks and bonds and art and Ferraris".
#43 Donald Trump once made the following statement about quantitative easing: "People like me will benefit from this."
#44 Most people have never heard about this, but a very interesting study conducted for the Bank of England shows that quantitative easing actually increases the gap between the wealthy and the poor.
#45 The gap between the top one percent and the rest of the country is now the greatest that it has been since the 1920s.
#46 The mainstream media has sold quantitative easing to the American public as an "economic stimulus program", but the truth is that the percentage of Americans that have a job has actually gone down since quantitative easing first began.
#47 The Federal Reserve is supposed to be able to guide the nation toward "full employment", but the reality of the matter is that an all-time record 102 million working age Americans do not have a job right now. That number has risen by about 27 million since the year 2000.
#48 For years, the projections of economic growth by the Federal Reserve have consistently overstated the strength of the U.S. economy. But every single time, the mainstream media continues to report that these numbers are "reliable" even though all they actually represent is wishful thinking.
#49 The Federal Reserve system fuels the growth of government, and the growth of government fuels the growth of the Federal Reserve system. Since 1970, federal spending has grown nearly 12 times as rapidly as median household income has.
#50 The Federal Reserve is supposed to look out for the health of all U.S. banks, but the truth is that they only seem to be concerned about the big ones. In 1985, there were more than 18,000 banks in the United States. Today, there are only 6,891 left.
#51 The six largest banks in the United States (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) have collectively gotten 37 percent larger over the past five years.
#52 The U.S. banking system has 14.4 trillion dollars in total assets. The six largest banks now account for 67 percent of those assets and all of the other banks account for only 33 percent of those assets.
#53 The five largest banks now account for 42 percent of all loans in the United States.
#54 We were told that the purpose of quantitative easing is to help "stimulate the economy", but today the Federal Reserve is actually paying the big banks not to lend out 1.8 trillion dollars in "excess reserves" that they have parked at the Fed.
#55 The Federal Reserve has allowed an absolutely gigantic derivatives bubble to inflate which could destroy our financial system at any moment. Right now, four of the "too big to fail" banks each have total exposure to derivatives that is well in excess of 40 trillion dollars.
#56 The total exposure that Goldman Sachs has to derivatives contracts is more than 381 times greater than their total assets.
#57 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a track record of failure that would make the Chicago Cubs look good.
#58 The secret November 1910 gathering at Jekyll Island, Georgia during which the plan for the Federal Reserve was hatched was attended by U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Department A.P. Andrews and a whole host of representatives from the upper crust of the Wall Street banking establishment.
#59 The Federal Reserve was created by the big Wall Street banks and for the benefit of the big Wall Street banks.
#60 In 1913, Congress was promised that if the Federal Reserve Act was passed that it would eliminate the business cycle.
#61 There has never been a true comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve since it was created back in 1913.
#62 The Federal Reserve system has been described as "the biggest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world".
#63 The following comes directly from the Fed's official mission statement: "To provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system." Without a doubt, the Federal Reserve has failed in those tasks dramatically.
#64 The Fed decides what the target rate of inflation should be, what the target rate of unemployment should be and what the size of the money supply is going to be. This is quite similar to the "central planning" that goes on in communist nations, but very few people in our government seem upset by this.
#65 A couple of years ago, Federal Reserve officials walked into one bank in Oklahoma and demanded that they take down all the Bible verses and all the Christmas buttons that the bank had been displaying.
#66 The Federal Reserve has taken some other very frightening steps in recent years. For example, back in 2011 the Federal Reserve announced plans to identify "key bloggers" and to monitor "billions of conversations" about the Fed on Facebook, Twitter, forums and blogs. Someone at the Fed will almost certainly end up reading this article.
#67 Thanks to this endless debt spiral that we are trapped in, a massive amount of money is transferred out of our pockets and into the pockets of the ultra-wealthy each year. Incredibly, the U.S. government spent more than 415 billion dollars just on interest on the national debt in 2013.
#68 In September, the average rate of interest on the government’s marketable debt was 1.981 percent. In January 2000, the average rate of interest on the government’s marketable debt was 6.620 percent. If we got back to that level today, we would be paying more than a trillion dollars a year just in interest on the national debt and it would collapse our entire financial system.
#69 The American people are being killed by compound interest but most of them don't even understand what it is. Albert Einstein once made the following statement about compound interest...
#73 The following is what Thomas Edison once had to say about our absolutely insane debt-based financial system...
#75 Thomas Jefferson once stated that if he could add just one more amendment to the U.S. Constitution it would be a ban on all government borrowing....
#77 When the Federal Reserve was first established, the U.S. national debt was sitting at about 2.9 billion dollars. On average, we have been adding more than that to the national debt every single day since Obama has been in the White House.
#78 We are on pace to accumulate more new debt under the 8 years of the Obama administration than we did under all of the other presidents in all of U.S. history combined.
#79 If all of the new debt that has been accumulated since John Boehner became Speaker of the House had been given directly to the American people instead, every household in America would have been able to buy a new truck.
#80 Between 2008 and 2012, U.S. government debt grew by 60.7 percent, but U.S. GDP only grew by a total of about 8.5 percent during that entire time period.
#81 Since 2007, the U.S. debt to GDP ratio has increased from 66.6 percent to 101.6 percent.
#82 According to the U.S. Treasury, foreigners hold approximately 5.6 trillion dollars of our debt.
#83 The amount of U.S. government debt held by foreigners is about 5 times larger than it was just a decade ago.
#84 As I have written about previously, if the U.S. national debt was reduced to a stack of one dollar bills it would circle the earth at the equator 45 times.
#85 If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his entire fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for 15 days.
#86 Sometimes we forget just how much money a trillion dollars is. If you were alive when Jesus Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now.
#87 If right this moment you went out and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.
#88 In addition to all of our debt, the U.S. government has also accumulated more than 200 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities. So where in the world will all of that money come from?
#89 The greatest damage that quantitative easing has been causing to our economy is the fact that it is destroying worldwide faith in the U.S. dollar and in U.S. debt. If the rest of the world stops using our dollars and stops buying our debt, we are going to be in a massive amount of trouble.
#90 Over the past several years, the Federal Reserve has been monetizing a staggering amount of U.S. government debt even though Ben Bernanke once promised that he would never do this.
#91 China recently announced that they are going to quit stockpiling more U.S. dollars. If the Federal Reserve was not recklessly printing money, this would probably not have happened.
#92 Most Americans have no idea that one of our most famous presidents was absolutely obsessed with getting rid of central banking in the United States. The following is a February 1834 quote by President Andrew Jackson about the evils of central banking....
#94 The capstone of the global central banking system is an organization known as the Bank for International Settlements. The following is how I described this organization in a previous article...
#96 Debt is a form of social control, and the global elite use all of this debt to dominate all the rest of us. 40 years ago, the total amount of debt in our system (all government debt, all business debt, all consumer debt, etc.) was sitting at about 2 trillion dollars. Today, the grand total exceeds 56 trillion dollars.
#97 Unless something dramatic is done, our children and our grandchildren will be debt slaves for their entire lives as they service our debts and pay for our mistakes.
#98 Now that you know this information, you are responsible for doing something about it.
#99 Congress has the power to shut down the Federal Reserve any time that they would like. But right now most of our politicians fully endorse the current system, and nothing is ever going to happen until the American people start demanding change.
#100 The design of the Federal Reserve system was flawed from the very beginning. If something is not done very rapidly, it is inevitable that our entire financial system is going to suffer an absolutely nightmarish collapse.
The truth is that we do not have to have a Federal Reserve. The greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history was when we did not have a central bank. If we are ever going to turn this nation around economically, we are going to have to get rid of this debt-based financial system that is centered around the Federal Reserve. On the path that we are on now, there is no hope. Please share this article with as many people as you can. It is imperative that we try to wake the American people up while we still have time. As Always The Plain Truth!
This insidious debt-based financial system has literally made debt slaves out of all of us, and it is systematically destroying the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have. If nothing is done, we are inevitably heading for a massive amount of economic pain as a nation. So please share this article with as many people as you can. The following are 100 reasons why the Federal Reserve should be shut down forever...
#1 We like to think that we have a government "of the people, by the people, for the people", but the truth is that an unelected, unaccountable group of central planners has far more power over our economy than anyone else in our society does.
#2 The Federal Reserve is actually "independent" of the government. In fact, the Federal Reserve has argued vehemently in federal court that it is "not an agency" of the federal government and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
#3 The Federal Reserve openly admits that the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks are organized "much like private corporations".
#4 The regional Federal Reserve banks issue shares of stock to the "member banks" that own them.
#5 100% of the shareholders of the Federal Reserve are private banks. The U.S. government owns zero shares.
#6 The Federal Reserve is not an agency of the federal government, but it has been given power to regulate our banks and financial institutions. This should not be happening.
#7 According to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress is the one that is supposed to have the authority to "coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures". So why is the Federal Reserve doing it?
#8 If you look at a "U.S. dollar", it actually says "Federal Reserve note" at the top. In the financial world, a "note" is an instrument of debt.
#9 In 1963, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11110 which authorized the U.S. Treasury to issue "United States notes" which were created by the U.S. government directly and not by the Federal Reserve. He was assassinated shortly thereafter.
#10 Many of the debt-free United States notes issued under President Kennedy are still in circulation today.
#11 The Federal Reserve determines what levels some of the most important interest rates in our system are going to be set at. In a free market system, the free market would determine those interest rates.
#12 The Federal Reserve has become so powerful that it is now known as "the fourth branch of government".
#13 The greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history was when there was no central bank.
#14 The Federal Reserve was designed to be a perpetual debt machine. The bankers that designed it intended to trap the U.S. government in a perpetual debt spiral from which it could never possibly escape. Since the Federal Reserve was established 100 years ago, the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger.
#15 A permanent federal income tax was established the exact same year that the Federal Reserve was created. This was not a coincidence. In order to pay for all of the government debt that the Federal Reserve would create, a federal income tax was necessary. The whole idea was to transfer wealth from our pockets to the federal government and from the federal government to the bankers.
#16 The period prior to 1913 (when there was no income tax) was the greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history.
#17 Today, the U.S. tax code is about 13 miles long.
#18 From the time that the Federal Reserve was created until now, the U.S. dollar has lost 98 percent of its value.
#19 From the time that President Nixon took us off the gold standard until now, the U.S. dollar has lost 83 percent of its value.
#20 During the 100 years before the Federal Reserve was created, the U.S. economy rarely had any problems with inflation. But since the Federal Reserve was established, the U.S. economy has experienced constant and never ending inflation.
#21 In the century before the Federal Reserve was created, the average annual rate of inflation was about half a percent. In the century since the Federal Reserve was created, the average annual rate of inflation has been about 3.5 percent.
#22 The Federal Reserve has stripped the middle class of trillions of dollars of wealth through the hidden tax of inflation.
#23 The size of M1 has nearly doubled since 2008 thanks to the reckless money printing that the Federal Reserve has been doing.
#24 The Federal Reserve has been starting to behave like the Weimar Republic, and we all remember how that ended.
#25 The Federal Reserve has been consistently lying to us about the level of inflation in our economy. If the inflation rate was still calculated the same way that it was back when Jimmy Carter was president, the official rate of inflation would be somewhere between 8 and 10 percent today.
#26 Since the Federal Reserve was created, there have been 18 distinct recessions or depressions: 1918, 1920, 1923, 1926, 1929, 1937, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1973, 1980, 1981, 1990, 2001, 2008.
#27 Within 20 years of the creation of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. economy was plunged into the Great Depression.
#28 The Federal Reserve created the conditions that caused the stock market crash of 1929, and even Ben Bernanke admits that the response by the Fed to that crisis made the Great Depression even worse than it should have been.
#29 The "easy money" policies of former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan set the stage for the great financial crisis of 2008.
#30 Without the Federal Reserve, the "subprime mortgage meltdown" would probably never have happened.
#31 If you can believe it, there have been 10 different economic recessions since 1950. The Federal Reserve created the "dotcom bubble", the Federal Reserve created the "housing bubble" and now it has created the largest bond bubble in the history of the planet.
#32 According to an official government report, the Federal Reserve made 16.1 trillion dollars in secret loans to the big banks during the last financial crisis. The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131 of the report...
- Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
- Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
- Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
- Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
- Barclays PLC - $868 billion
- Bear Sterns - $853 billion
- Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
- Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
- JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
- Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
- UBS - $287 billion
- Credit Suisse - $262 billion
- Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
- Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
- BNP Paribas - $175 billion
- Wells Fargo - $159 billion
- Dexia - $159 billion
- Wachovia - $142 billion
- Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
- Societe Generale - $124 billion
- "All Other Borrowers" - $2.639 trillion
#34 During the last financial crisis, big European banks were allowed to borrow an "unlimited" amount of money from the Federal Reserve at ultra-low interest rates.
#35 The "easy money" policies of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have created the largest financial bubble this nation has ever seen, and this has set the stage for the great financial crisis that we are rapidly approaching.
#36 Since late 2008, the size of the Federal Reserve balance sheet has grown from less than a trillion dollars to more than 4 trillion dollars. This is complete and utter insanity.
#37 During the quantitative easing era, the value of the financial securities that the Fed has accumulated is greater than the total amount of publicly held debt that the U.S. government accumulated from the presidency of George Washington through the end of the presidency of Bill Clinton.
#38 Overall, the Federal Reserve now holds more than 32 percent of all 10 year equivalents, and that percentage is rising by about 0.3 percent each week.
#39 Quantitative easing creates financial bubbles, and when quantitative easing ends those bubbles tend to deflate rapidly.
#40 Most of the new money created by quantitative easing has ended up in the hands of the very wealthy.
#41 According to a prominent Federal Reserve insider, quantitative easing has been one giant "subsidy" for Wall Street banks.
#42 As one CNBC article recently stated, we are seeing absolutely rampant inflation in "stocks and bonds and art and Ferraris".
#43 Donald Trump once made the following statement about quantitative easing: "People like me will benefit from this."
#44 Most people have never heard about this, but a very interesting study conducted for the Bank of England shows that quantitative easing actually increases the gap between the wealthy and the poor.
#45 The gap between the top one percent and the rest of the country is now the greatest that it has been since the 1920s.
#46 The mainstream media has sold quantitative easing to the American public as an "economic stimulus program", but the truth is that the percentage of Americans that have a job has actually gone down since quantitative easing first began.
#47 The Federal Reserve is supposed to be able to guide the nation toward "full employment", but the reality of the matter is that an all-time record 102 million working age Americans do not have a job right now. That number has risen by about 27 million since the year 2000.
#48 For years, the projections of economic growth by the Federal Reserve have consistently overstated the strength of the U.S. economy. But every single time, the mainstream media continues to report that these numbers are "reliable" even though all they actually represent is wishful thinking.
#49 The Federal Reserve system fuels the growth of government, and the growth of government fuels the growth of the Federal Reserve system. Since 1970, federal spending has grown nearly 12 times as rapidly as median household income has.
#50 The Federal Reserve is supposed to look out for the health of all U.S. banks, but the truth is that they only seem to be concerned about the big ones. In 1985, there were more than 18,000 banks in the United States. Today, there are only 6,891 left.
#51 The six largest banks in the United States (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) have collectively gotten 37 percent larger over the past five years.
#52 The U.S. banking system has 14.4 trillion dollars in total assets. The six largest banks now account for 67 percent of those assets and all of the other banks account for only 33 percent of those assets.
#53 The five largest banks now account for 42 percent of all loans in the United States.
#54 We were told that the purpose of quantitative easing is to help "stimulate the economy", but today the Federal Reserve is actually paying the big banks not to lend out 1.8 trillion dollars in "excess reserves" that they have parked at the Fed.
#55 The Federal Reserve has allowed an absolutely gigantic derivatives bubble to inflate which could destroy our financial system at any moment. Right now, four of the "too big to fail" banks each have total exposure to derivatives that is well in excess of 40 trillion dollars.
#56 The total exposure that Goldman Sachs has to derivatives contracts is more than 381 times greater than their total assets.
#57 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a track record of failure that would make the Chicago Cubs look good.
#58 The secret November 1910 gathering at Jekyll Island, Georgia during which the plan for the Federal Reserve was hatched was attended by U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Department A.P. Andrews and a whole host of representatives from the upper crust of the Wall Street banking establishment.
#59 The Federal Reserve was created by the big Wall Street banks and for the benefit of the big Wall Street banks.
#60 In 1913, Congress was promised that if the Federal Reserve Act was passed that it would eliminate the business cycle.
#61 There has never been a true comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve since it was created back in 1913.
#62 The Federal Reserve system has been described as "the biggest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world".
#63 The following comes directly from the Fed's official mission statement: "To provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system." Without a doubt, the Federal Reserve has failed in those tasks dramatically.
#64 The Fed decides what the target rate of inflation should be, what the target rate of unemployment should be and what the size of the money supply is going to be. This is quite similar to the "central planning" that goes on in communist nations, but very few people in our government seem upset by this.
#65 A couple of years ago, Federal Reserve officials walked into one bank in Oklahoma and demanded that they take down all the Bible verses and all the Christmas buttons that the bank had been displaying.
#66 The Federal Reserve has taken some other very frightening steps in recent years. For example, back in 2011 the Federal Reserve announced plans to identify "key bloggers" and to monitor "billions of conversations" about the Fed on Facebook, Twitter, forums and blogs. Someone at the Fed will almost certainly end up reading this article.
#67 Thanks to this endless debt spiral that we are trapped in, a massive amount of money is transferred out of our pockets and into the pockets of the ultra-wealthy each year. Incredibly, the U.S. government spent more than 415 billion dollars just on interest on the national debt in 2013.
#68 In September, the average rate of interest on the government’s marketable debt was 1.981 percent. In January 2000, the average rate of interest on the government’s marketable debt was 6.620 percent. If we got back to that level today, we would be paying more than a trillion dollars a year just in interest on the national debt and it would collapse our entire financial system.
#69 The American people are being killed by compound interest but most of them don't even understand what it is. Albert Einstein once made the following statement about compound interest...
"Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it."#70 Most Americans have absolutely no idea where money comes from. The truth is that the Federal Reserve just creates it out of thin air. The following is how I have previously described how money is normally created by the Fed in our system...
When the U.S. government decides that it wants to spend another billion dollars that it does not have, it does not print up a billion dollars.
Rather, the U.S. government creates a bunch of U.S. Treasury bonds (debt) and takes them over to the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve creates a billion dollars out of thin air and exchanges them for the U.S. Treasury bonds.#71 What does the Federal Reserve do with those U.S. Treasury bonds? They end up getting auctioned off to the highest bidder. But this entire process actually creates more debt than it does money...
The U.S. Treasury bonds that the Federal Reserve receives in exchange for the money it has created out of nothing are auctioned off through the Federal Reserve system.
But wait.
There is a problem.
Because the U.S. government must pay interest on the Treasury bonds, the amount of debt that has been created by this transaction is greater than the amount of money that has been created.
So where will the U.S. government get the money to pay that debt?
Well, the theory is that we can get money to circulate through the economy really, really fast and tax it at a high enough rate that the government will be able to collect enough taxes to pay the debt.
But that never actually happens, does it?
And the creators of the Federal Reserve understood this as well. They understood that the U.S. government would not have enough money to both run the government and service the national debt. They knew that the U.S. government would have to keep borrowing even more money in an attempt to keep up with the game.#72 Of course the U.S. government could actually create money and spend it directly into the economy without the Federal Reserve being involved at all. But then we wouldn't be 17 trillion dollars in debt and that wouldn't serve the interests of the bankers at all.
#73 The following is what Thomas Edison once had to say about our absolutely insane debt-based financial system...
That is to say, under the old way any time we wish to add to the national wealth we are compelled to add to the national debt.
Now, that is what Henry Ford wants to prevent. He thinks it is stupid, and so do I, that for the loan of $30,000,000 of their own money the people of the United States should be compelled to pay $66,000,000 — that is what it amounts to, with interest. People who will not turn a shovelful of dirt nor contribute a pound of material will collect more money from the United States than will the people who supply the material and do the work. That is the terrible thing about interest. In all our great bond issues the interest is always greater than the principal. All of the great public works cost more than twice the actual cost, on that account. Under the present system of doing business we simply add 120 to 150 per cent, to the stated cost.
But here is the point: If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good.#74 The United States now has the largest national debt in the history of the world, and we are stealing more than 100 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour of every single day in a desperate attempt to keep the debt spiral going.
#75 Thomas Jefferson once stated that if he could add just one more amendment to the U.S. Constitution it would be a ban on all government borrowing....
I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.#76 At this moment, the U.S. national debt is sitting at $17,251,528,475,994.19. If we had followed the advice of Thomas Jefferson, it would be sitting at zero.
#77 When the Federal Reserve was first established, the U.S. national debt was sitting at about 2.9 billion dollars. On average, we have been adding more than that to the national debt every single day since Obama has been in the White House.
#78 We are on pace to accumulate more new debt under the 8 years of the Obama administration than we did under all of the other presidents in all of U.S. history combined.
#79 If all of the new debt that has been accumulated since John Boehner became Speaker of the House had been given directly to the American people instead, every household in America would have been able to buy a new truck.
#80 Between 2008 and 2012, U.S. government debt grew by 60.7 percent, but U.S. GDP only grew by a total of about 8.5 percent during that entire time period.
#81 Since 2007, the U.S. debt to GDP ratio has increased from 66.6 percent to 101.6 percent.
#82 According to the U.S. Treasury, foreigners hold approximately 5.6 trillion dollars of our debt.
#83 The amount of U.S. government debt held by foreigners is about 5 times larger than it was just a decade ago.
#84 As I have written about previously, if the U.S. national debt was reduced to a stack of one dollar bills it would circle the earth at the equator 45 times.
#85 If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his entire fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for 15 days.
#86 Sometimes we forget just how much money a trillion dollars is. If you were alive when Jesus Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now.
#87 If right this moment you went out and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.
#88 In addition to all of our debt, the U.S. government has also accumulated more than 200 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities. So where in the world will all of that money come from?
#89 The greatest damage that quantitative easing has been causing to our economy is the fact that it is destroying worldwide faith in the U.S. dollar and in U.S. debt. If the rest of the world stops using our dollars and stops buying our debt, we are going to be in a massive amount of trouble.
#90 Over the past several years, the Federal Reserve has been monetizing a staggering amount of U.S. government debt even though Ben Bernanke once promised that he would never do this.
#91 China recently announced that they are going to quit stockpiling more U.S. dollars. If the Federal Reserve was not recklessly printing money, this would probably not have happened.
#92 Most Americans have no idea that one of our most famous presidents was absolutely obsessed with getting rid of central banking in the United States. The following is a February 1834 quote by President Andrew Jackson about the evils of central banking....
I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the Bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the Bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out and, by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out.#93 There are plenty of possible alternative financial systems, but at this point all 187 nations that belong to the IMF have a central bank. Are we supposed to believe that this is just some sort of a bizarre coincidence?
#94 The capstone of the global central banking system is an organization known as the Bank for International Settlements. The following is how I described this organization in a previous article...
An immensely powerful international organization that most people have never even heard of secretly controls the money supply of the entire globe. It is called the Bank for International Settlements, and it is the central bank of central banks. It is located in Basel, Switzerland, but it also has branches in Hong Kong and Mexico City. It is essentially an unelected, unaccountable central bank of the world that has complete immunity from taxation and from national laws. Even Wikipedia admits that "it is not accountable to any single national government." The Bank for International Settlements was used to launder money for the Nazis during World War II, but these days the main purpose of the BIS is to guide and direct the centrally-planned global financial system. Today, 58 global central banks belong to the BIS, and it has far more power over how the U.S. economy (or any other economy for that matter) will perform over the course of the next year than any politician does. Every two months, the central bankers of the world gather in Basel for another "Global Economy Meeting". During those meetings, decisions are made which affect every man, woman and child on the planet, and yet none of us have any say in what goes on. The Bank for International Settlements is an organization that was founded by the global elite and it operates for the benefit of the global elite, and it is intended to be one of the key cornerstones of the emerging one world economic system.#95 The borrower is the servant of the lender, and the Federal Reserve has turned all of us into debt slaves.
#96 Debt is a form of social control, and the global elite use all of this debt to dominate all the rest of us. 40 years ago, the total amount of debt in our system (all government debt, all business debt, all consumer debt, etc.) was sitting at about 2 trillion dollars. Today, the grand total exceeds 56 trillion dollars.
#97 Unless something dramatic is done, our children and our grandchildren will be debt slaves for their entire lives as they service our debts and pay for our mistakes.
#98 Now that you know this information, you are responsible for doing something about it.
#99 Congress has the power to shut down the Federal Reserve any time that they would like. But right now most of our politicians fully endorse the current system, and nothing is ever going to happen until the American people start demanding change.
#100 The design of the Federal Reserve system was flawed from the very beginning. If something is not done very rapidly, it is inevitable that our entire financial system is going to suffer an absolutely nightmarish collapse.
The truth is that we do not have to have a Federal Reserve. The greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history was when we did not have a central bank. If we are ever going to turn this nation around economically, we are going to have to get rid of this debt-based financial system that is centered around the Federal Reserve. On the path that we are on now, there is no hope. Please share this article with as many people as you can. It is imperative that we try to wake the American people up while we still have time. As Always The Plain Truth!
Sunday, December 22, 2013
The Plain Truth: Mystery Surrounds Outer Space Drone Technology- Wh...
The Plain Truth: Mystery Surrounds Outer Space Drone Technology- Wh...: On the morning of December 11, 2012, the 45th Space Wing of the U.S. Air Force launched a mysterious Atlas V rocket carrying a top-secret ...
Mystery Surrounds Outer Space Drone Technology- Why?
On the morning of December 11, 2012, the 45th Space Wing of the U.S.
Air Force launched a mysterious Atlas V rocket carrying a top-secret
payload.
One year later, most of the mystery remains unsolved.
But we do know that the secret rocket was carrying some of the American military’s coolest new tech, namely the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.
The X-37B was built by Boeing (BA) in California. Defense industry analysts have multiple theories about the vehicle’s purpose, but no one’s really sure.
A year has passed and the mysterious weapon is still in orbit. Half space shuttle, half predator drone, the X-37B is something directly out of the videogame Halo.
Some people believe that the Air Force is testing an orbiting weapon capable of destroying enemy satellites.
Others believe it’s a new system for delivering bombs to any part of the globe with pinpoint accuracy. By attacking from space, the X-37B could completely evade enemy air defenses.
Still other analysts speculate that the X-37B isn’t a test vehicle at all.
They believe it’s already commanding drones in conventional airspace and being used in the Middle East as we speak.
The program’s clandestine elements keep everything hush-hush, but the X-37B is obviously highly maneuverable.
And since it’s unmanned, it can stay in space for incredibly long periods of time.
Whatever the vehicle’s ultimate purpose, it’s the kind of technology that fuels my belief in American defense contractors.
In fact, I feel that no portfolio is complete without investing in the transformative military technology created by companies like Boeing.
Yet for some reason, the defense technology sector is often overlooked by casual investors.
It doesn’t make much sense, seeing that the sector is a crucial contributor to technological innovation and American tech superiority.
And with the political intelligence we’ve mined in Washington, D.C., defense tech is a wellspring of profit for our portfolios.
The Spoils of War
There are two truths about war: It’s constant, and it’s profitable.
And when it comes to the military, those with an ear to the ground can accrue massive returns. Military actions are always a breeding ground for government money and corporate gains.
High-tech weapons don’t come cheap, and Uncle Sam wants the latest and greatest at his disposal when the fighting begins.
With that in mind, the X-37B is just one of many superior technologies we’re closely monitoring.
You see, U.S. defense contractors, in conjunction with the military, have been developing numerous weapons systems that look like they’re ripped from the pages of science fiction novels.
For instance, the Navy recently launched a drone from the torpedo tube of a submerged submarine. The drone literally blasts straight out of the water and into flight.
This kind of aircraft could prove invaluable to reconnaissance or special operations missions, as our quiet submarines can go anywhere in the world.
Another amazing technology is the Navy’s rail gun, an ultra-powerful electromagnetic gun that will be deployed around 2025. It utilizes a magnetic field and electric current rather than chemical explosives to fire the rounds.
This is perhaps the greatest munitions advancement since flint and powder replaced the crossbow.
The rail gun will shoot rounds as far as 100 miles at several times the speed of sound, meaning the rail gun can obliterate inland targets from a safe distance.
The munitions used are faster and smaller than any available air-based weapon, and they’d easily avoid enemy air and sky defenses.
The bottom line is that American defense contractors are at the absolute cutting edge of military technology. And if you’re not investing in this sector, you’re forfeiting spectacular returns from the technology that will keep America – and the world – safe in the decades ahead. As Always The Plain Truth!
One year later, most of the mystery remains unsolved.
But we do know that the secret rocket was carrying some of the American military’s coolest new tech, namely the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.
The X-37B was built by Boeing (BA) in California. Defense industry analysts have multiple theories about the vehicle’s purpose, but no one’s really sure.
A year has passed and the mysterious weapon is still in orbit. Half space shuttle, half predator drone, the X-37B is something directly out of the videogame Halo.
Some people believe that the Air Force is testing an orbiting weapon capable of destroying enemy satellites.
Others believe it’s a new system for delivering bombs to any part of the globe with pinpoint accuracy. By attacking from space, the X-37B could completely evade enemy air defenses.
Still other analysts speculate that the X-37B isn’t a test vehicle at all.
They believe it’s already commanding drones in conventional airspace and being used in the Middle East as we speak.
The program’s clandestine elements keep everything hush-hush, but the X-37B is obviously highly maneuverable.
And since it’s unmanned, it can stay in space for incredibly long periods of time.
Whatever the vehicle’s ultimate purpose, it’s the kind of technology that fuels my belief in American defense contractors.
In fact, I feel that no portfolio is complete without investing in the transformative military technology created by companies like Boeing.
Yet for some reason, the defense technology sector is often overlooked by casual investors.
It doesn’t make much sense, seeing that the sector is a crucial contributor to technological innovation and American tech superiority.
And with the political intelligence we’ve mined in Washington, D.C., defense tech is a wellspring of profit for our portfolios.
The Spoils of War
There are two truths about war: It’s constant, and it’s profitable.
And when it comes to the military, those with an ear to the ground can accrue massive returns. Military actions are always a breeding ground for government money and corporate gains.
High-tech weapons don’t come cheap, and Uncle Sam wants the latest and greatest at his disposal when the fighting begins.
With that in mind, the X-37B is just one of many superior technologies we’re closely monitoring.
You see, U.S. defense contractors, in conjunction with the military, have been developing numerous weapons systems that look like they’re ripped from the pages of science fiction novels.
For instance, the Navy recently launched a drone from the torpedo tube of a submerged submarine. The drone literally blasts straight out of the water and into flight.
This kind of aircraft could prove invaluable to reconnaissance or special operations missions, as our quiet submarines can go anywhere in the world.
Another amazing technology is the Navy’s rail gun, an ultra-powerful electromagnetic gun that will be deployed around 2025. It utilizes a magnetic field and electric current rather than chemical explosives to fire the rounds.
This is perhaps the greatest munitions advancement since flint and powder replaced the crossbow.
The rail gun will shoot rounds as far as 100 miles at several times the speed of sound, meaning the rail gun can obliterate inland targets from a safe distance.
The munitions used are faster and smaller than any available air-based weapon, and they’d easily avoid enemy air and sky defenses.
The bottom line is that American defense contractors are at the absolute cutting edge of military technology. And if you’re not investing in this sector, you’re forfeiting spectacular returns from the technology that will keep America – and the world – safe in the decades ahead. As Always The Plain Truth!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
The Plain Truth: When Washington Insiders Say Peace, They Mean War!...
The Plain Truth: When Washington Insiders Say Peace, They Mean War!...: Are you ready to join the D.C. insiders and earn the easiest profits ever? Here’s all you need to know: Obama and Secretary of State John ...
When Washington Insiders Say Peace, They Mean War!
Are you ready to join the D.C. insiders and earn the easiest profits
ever? Here’s all you need to know: Obama and Secretary of State John
Kerry are about to declare peace in our time. And whenever the D.C.
insiders start talking about peace, they really mean war.
You see, the Iranian nuclear agreement is about to be given an extended victory lap over the next week.
But you shouldn’t believe a word of it. Just as Neville Chamberlain declared peace after his negotiations with Hitler on the Sudetenland, what you are actually watching is a prelude to war.
And our portfolio of stocks is sure to profit during the coming Middle East conflagration. Value picks in the defense and technology sector are the foundation of our National Treasure Portfolio, and once the shooting starts, they’ll provide us with incredible returns.
Things Fall Apart
How is it that a peace agreement can actually start a war? Well, the Iranian agreement greatly increases tensions in the Middle East. Israel and Saudi Arabia feel abandoned by the United States, while Egypt is moving quickly out of the American orbit. The powder keg that is the Middle East is nearing anarchy.
Worst of all, the agreement doesn’t deal with the central problem – secret operations. Iran can claim to freeze its nuclear program, but Tehran will surely keep the lights on at facilities like Parchin that, per the agreement, won’t be inspected.
As with much of Obama’s presidency, the Iranian agreement is mostly for show. The president has already boasted about daily International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections at the Fordo and Natanz nuclear sites. Yet cameras were already in position at the two facilities before the agreement!
Ultimately, Iran gave up nothing significant, and the crippling sanctions that drove the Iranians to the negotiating table in the first place will be nearly abandoned. Meanwhile, none of Iran’s centrifuges will be dismantled. All told, Tehran may have an opportunity to actually move its nuclear program forward.
That’s bad news for Israel because Iran doesn’t need a complete atomic bomb or missile warhead to deliver a devastating attack. Instead, Tehran can use a much simpler dirty bomb and do nearly as much damage with enriched uranium in a conventional weapon.
In fact, Iran doesn’t even have to get its hands messy if it doesn’t want to. As the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran is in a perfect position to pass the technology – or even a single dirty bomb – to a radical Shiite group like Hezbollah and let them attack Israel instead.
The Drums of War
Since July, we’ve been touting our defense and technology picks in Constitutional Wealth. Conflict is an unfortunate constant in the world, and – like it or not – there are some firms that will record enormous profits from a Middle East war. So we’ve done our best to position our portfolio accordingly. And it may not be long now before we start seeing significant returns.
You see, Israel is already working with Saudi Arabia on a plan to attack Iran. And the Saudis are busy negotiating with Pakistan, trying to obtain their own nuclear weapons.
The Iranian nuclear agreement could end up being the catalyst for a new arms race in the Persian Gulf.
So in spite of whatever the media tells you, don’t expect peace to break out. The warring factions in the Middle East aren’t about to begin singing “Kumbaya” together any time soon.As Always The Plain Truth!
You see, the Iranian nuclear agreement is about to be given an extended victory lap over the next week.
But you shouldn’t believe a word of it. Just as Neville Chamberlain declared peace after his negotiations with Hitler on the Sudetenland, what you are actually watching is a prelude to war.
And our portfolio of stocks is sure to profit during the coming Middle East conflagration. Value picks in the defense and technology sector are the foundation of our National Treasure Portfolio, and once the shooting starts, they’ll provide us with incredible returns.
Things Fall Apart
How is it that a peace agreement can actually start a war? Well, the Iranian agreement greatly increases tensions in the Middle East. Israel and Saudi Arabia feel abandoned by the United States, while Egypt is moving quickly out of the American orbit. The powder keg that is the Middle East is nearing anarchy.
Worst of all, the agreement doesn’t deal with the central problem – secret operations. Iran can claim to freeze its nuclear program, but Tehran will surely keep the lights on at facilities like Parchin that, per the agreement, won’t be inspected.
As with much of Obama’s presidency, the Iranian agreement is mostly for show. The president has already boasted about daily International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections at the Fordo and Natanz nuclear sites. Yet cameras were already in position at the two facilities before the agreement!
Ultimately, Iran gave up nothing significant, and the crippling sanctions that drove the Iranians to the negotiating table in the first place will be nearly abandoned. Meanwhile, none of Iran’s centrifuges will be dismantled. All told, Tehran may have an opportunity to actually move its nuclear program forward.
That’s bad news for Israel because Iran doesn’t need a complete atomic bomb or missile warhead to deliver a devastating attack. Instead, Tehran can use a much simpler dirty bomb and do nearly as much damage with enriched uranium in a conventional weapon.
In fact, Iran doesn’t even have to get its hands messy if it doesn’t want to. As the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran is in a perfect position to pass the technology – or even a single dirty bomb – to a radical Shiite group like Hezbollah and let them attack Israel instead.
The Drums of War
Since July, we’ve been touting our defense and technology picks in Constitutional Wealth. Conflict is an unfortunate constant in the world, and – like it or not – there are some firms that will record enormous profits from a Middle East war. So we’ve done our best to position our portfolio accordingly. And it may not be long now before we start seeing significant returns.
You see, Israel is already working with Saudi Arabia on a plan to attack Iran. And the Saudis are busy negotiating with Pakistan, trying to obtain their own nuclear weapons.
The Iranian nuclear agreement could end up being the catalyst for a new arms race in the Persian Gulf.
So in spite of whatever the media tells you, don’t expect peace to break out. The warring factions in the Middle East aren’t about to begin singing “Kumbaya” together any time soon.As Always The Plain Truth!
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