Politics – Page 45 – Public Intelligence Blog

Raised to a Four Against the Extremist Reviews, November 18, 2008

Rahm Emanuel

The extremist republican reviews are dismally childish. I am an estranged moderate Republican leaning Libertarian, and the authors lose one star for mis-reading Lincoln as a model, and a second for lacking a strategic or analytic foundation for actually governing but I restore the latter for balance. The plan as proposed is a good one, but is less than one third of what we need in the policy arena, and completely avoids the four reforms that are essential: Electoral Reform, Governance Reform, Intelligence Reform, and National Security Reform.

The authors are way too facile in blaming everything on Reagan and then on the Bush-Cheney regime, but they carefully avoid pointing out that Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) screwed over the entire country with his complete deregulation of the financial industry (derivatives as fantasy cash), and that once the Clintonites discovered this, they chose to ride the wave and profit rather than acting in the public interest. They also fail to point out that Rubin was a mini-me version of Paulson, and both think only of Wall Street, not of home owners and the workers.

I am especially angry that the word “impeachment” does not appear in this book. The authors choose to ignore the 25 documented impeachable offenses by Dick Cheney, or the 935 documented lies told to the public by the Bush-Cheney regime, and they are especially disingenuous in failing to observe that Congress as a whole abdicated its Article 1 responsibilities to balance the power of the executive, or that Nancy Pelosi led the Democrats to new lows in being abject doormats–the authors could learn from Senator Robert Byrd in intellect, and Representative Cynthia McKinney in integral consciousness.

I am heartened as I move in to the plan to note that the authors see the reality that human capital needs completely different forms of nurturing than financial capital, but I am troubled by their obliviousness throughout the book to the fact that we are in the information age, and any Congress, any Executive, that does not move to create a Smart Nation is on death row…”walking dead man.”

Here is the plan with brief commentary, followed by ten books the authors do not mention that go a great deal further on what needs to be done.

Universal Citizen Service: three months basic training, civil defense preparation, and community service. Wonk won on this one. What we really need is 2 years (enlisted) four years (officer), common basic training for all (every citizen a qualified militia with a non-negotiable right to bear arms outside any organized unit), then split into three paths of choice: Armed Services, Peace Corps, America Corps. Immigrants regardless of age serve two years domestically.

Universal College Access: Democratic fluff. Neither all Americans, nor the five billion poor, have time to spend 18-22 years sitting passively for a really idiotic didactic (one way) form of instruction. What we really need is infinite flexibility and access to all information in all languages all the time, including call centers in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, all capable of helping anyone with an answer “one cell call at a time.” These two authors mean well, but they are oblivious to where information technology is now or is going to be within three years.

Universal Children's Health Care. Annoying. Like offering apple pie, but you have to bring your own plate and fork. A proper reform of health care must recognize that healthy life style is 60% of the solution (tax the bejesus out of fast food and other noxious foods and beverages); that a healthy environment is 20% of the solution (mandate safe water and clean uncontaminated air in buildings, airplanes, etcetera); full public knowledge of natural cures (e.g. banana oil to stop breast cancer) is 10% of the answer–and non-wasteful remediation is the last 10% of the answer. PriceWaterHouseCoopers has documented that 50% of the money we spend on the latter now (which is 95% of the government sanctioned health program) is WASTE). I may have missed this, but the authors also appear to avoid dealing with the reality that we can wipe out the future unfunded obligations in Medicare by reducing costs to the 1% of what is charged now based on bribery of both parties by the pharmaceutical companies.

Fiscal responsibility and an end to corporate welfare. Nice platitudes. I would be more impressed if they spoke of ending personal income taxes, introducing a plan to destroy the Federal Reserve while using the Tobin and other taxes on financial transactions. While they are at it they can end all government programs not specifically approved by the 50 United STATES of America.

New Strategy to Win the War on Error (chuckling–that was a typo, should be War on Terror, but it is so apropos I leave it in). The authors are lacking in a deep understanding of the pathologies that characterize every aspect of national and homeland security, and evidently oblivious to the fact that we spend $60-75 billion a year on intelligence that gets us only the 4% we can steal (I quote General Tony Zinni). They are totally on target in describing the Department of Homeland Security as its own worst enemy, and I hope it gets abolished. See the books below for better answers.

The Hybrid Economy. I like this chapter a lot. Here they are in their comfort zone, and despite the brevity and lack of detail that characterizes the book as a whole, here I sense a deeper appreciation and a commensurately greater credibility. However, the authors both have a lot to learn about strategic analytics and creating a balanced budget, and I wish them well. I have no doubt they will exercise power with good intentions, but I have to question just how well informed they will be–by all indications from early days of the Obama Transition, outside of a couple of token Republicans, no one outside the two-party crime system is being listened to nor considered for meaningful integration.

Here are books they do not cite that I recommend:
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
Philosophy and the Social Problem: The Annotated Edition
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
Wastrels of Defense: How Congress Sabotages U.S. Security
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace
Election 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances; Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them; Annotated Bibliography)

2009/07/032016/09/12

Review: Grand Illusion–The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny

5 Star, Politics

Final Detailed Review: Our Bunker Hill, June 8, 2009

Theresa Amato

Edit of 29 Jun 09 to correct 25% of the black population, thanks Mikey.

Edit of 18 Jun 09 to add two books by others and downgrade own books to unlinked mention.

Do not be surprised if your vote “disappears”. Amazon has the idea that anyone who votes for more than one of my reviews is a “fan” and should not count. We are all at the mercy of their control of the system.

I am giving this book five stars instead of four because it is the de facto “Bunker Hill” of our 21st Century Nation, doing for politics what Silent Spring did for the environment.

The book needs to be re-issued immediately in paperback with four additions that should themselves be offered free online: an annotated bibliography that properly embraces those who have gone before; an annotated legal list of cases; a list of the worst of the 527's; and a Presidential Decision Memorandum that itemizes the Electoral Reform Act of 2009.

The book does not acknowledge work by many including William Greider, e.g. Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of American Democracy or Greg Palast, e.g. The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. The latter bears on the author's being unwitting about Al Gore being bought off in Florida (today he is worth $100 million), with Warren Christopher carrying the offer from Wall Street.

That having been said, this is a SENSATIONAL BOOK not least because for the first time it has gotten Ron Paul to endorse a book and to talk to Ralph Nader in constructive terms–I pray this means that Ralph Nader is now ready to play well with others, including Cynthia McKinney and Jackie Salit.

I have goosebumps as I write this and a huge smile. This book is the first shot at our Bunker Hill and the government Of, By, and For the Banks (see the image I have loaded) is on the run, Goldman Sachs is finishing up its looting of the US Treasury, and I for one am appalled at the lack of integrity across the Senate–John McCain included–in failing to stop this under Bush and now under Obama–what better evidence do we need that this book by this author is “on target”? See Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders; The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy); Obama: The Postmodern Coup – Making of a Manchurian Candidate; and Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency among many others.

Here are my fly-leaf notes, followed by an itemization of the book's concluding thoughts and other recommended reading.

For me the gem of gems in this book is on page 253, and I quote the author directly: “Whether you can vote–and whether your vote counts–depends primarily on where you live.”

In many states such as Florida, 25% of the male black population has been convicted of a felony, served its time, and is still not allowed to vote. I agree this needs to change. [See Intro note 3 for citation].

Across the entire book, using the two Nader campaigns as a source of actual experience–this is non-fiction at its very best–non-fiction of great consequence I might add–the author documents the degree to which state documentation requirements and voting procedures vary “wildly” and can also be intimidating.

Citing Steven Hill and his book Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics PB, the author quotes Hill: “Winner take all is horse & buggy technology.”

The Libertarian Party is mentioned six times, but not recognized by the author as a “main” third party, something I hope Ron Paul's endorsement of this book will change. I URGE THE PUBLISHER TO PAY ATTENTION: this book needs to be issued in paperback immediately, with the four additions detailed above.

I learn an enormous amount in this book, which is certain to be an academic, business, and political classic for years to come.

Terry McAuliffe is an unethical pig. Democratic Party under McAuliffe destroyed Nader's prospects, to include libeling him and creating massive published misrepresentation. I learn from the author that “You can get away with libel if you put it in a lawsuit.”

“Campaigns are simultaneously over-regulated, under-regulated, and ineffectively regulated.” The entire book documents this assertion.

$250,000 a day is what needs to be raised to be a Presidential candidate.

527s are not only out of control and use the federal complaints progress as well as state by state law suits to put third party campaigns into grid-lock.

3rd parties are not offered Secret Service protection (and in my view need it the most)

Press is a trivializing factor to point that 45% of the public now ignores the press (but I would add, still has no solid “truth teller” to rely upon).

Good chapter on the Presidential Debate Commission which is an unethical and unofficial fraud created to exclude Third Parties, and which uses the police to block third party candidates from even being in attendance.

Over 6 million “lost votes” across the Nation. Diebold is trash (I already knew that, but the book does a fine job of documenting Diebold's criminal insecurity.

Observers are blocked from vote counting by being called “threats to security.” I have a note, “Insanity prevails.”

I learn there is a National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) which is important, since it was this position that stole the election for Bush in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

The concluding review covers:
Electoral College
Vote Counting
Voter ID
Absentee & early Voting
Military & Overseas Votes
Write-In Votes
Provisional Votes
Recounts

The recommendations for reform are comprehensive:
Eliminate Electoral College
Add Affirmative Right to Vote
Federalize Federal elections
Federal Administration (24 specifics)
State-Level Reforms (25 specifics)
Judiciary Integrity

For a shorter eight-point version, search for <Electoral Reform Act oss.net>. The book ends with thoughts on the consequences of doing nothing. I urge one and all to demand of Obama an Electoral Reform Act of 2009, which itself should be defined by a nation-wide virtual summit among all interested voters.

Three other books of note:
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life
The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy

I have offered up free online all of the books from Earth Intelligence Network, at oss.net/BOOKS (add the www), and especially recommend the annotated bibliography at oss.net/PIG, as it is a virtual “Citizen's Reader” and my summaries of 500+ books across a range of topics relevant to restoring the goodness of America at home and abroad can be helpful in arming those who mean to government themselves with the power of knowledge. The three best books here at Amazon (out of links) are:
ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig
NEW CRAFT OF INTELLIGENCE: Personal, Public, & Political
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Resist the Borg. Do not be assimilated. Demand Electoral Reform NOW.

2009/06/182009/12/04

Review: The Cure for Our Broken Political Process–How We Can Get Our Politicians to Resolve the Issues Tearing Our Country Apart

2 Star, Democracy, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization)

Minor Contribution, Disappointing, Weak in Many Respects, June 18, 2009

Sol Erdman

This book, which has no notes, no bibliography, and no mention of the League of Women Voters, the Presidential Debate Commission, campaign finance reform, Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney, the Liberty Coalition, the National Coalition for Dialog and Deliberation, Reuniting America, or transpartisan post-partisan non-partisan anything, can be summed up in two sentences:

1. Where you live and who you are are no longer synonymous and therefore single-representatives for single districts, howeever the districts are designed, will no longer do.

2. Personally Accountable Representation (PAR) will solve everything, restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and intelligence to the politicians.

This book is, in a word, disappointing. There are so many other books that integrate so much more in the way of integral consciousness, deliberative dialog, and so on, that I cannot in good consciousness recommend this book to anyone.

I have no doubt the authors are skilled mediators, but this book is both historically and intellectually weak–very weak. The authors tried to write a comic book that tells a story while teaching, which is great if they are trying to reach those voters who on the one hand, know nothing and cannot think and on the other are willing to spend money on a book. This is a primer for a demographic that does not exist, but as my purchase well illustrates, the book does find buyers.

Oddly enough, as the book started with a discussion of the importance of ackowledging the legitimate concerns of the other, I struggled to repress my gag reflex, and was reminded of the twelve principles of spirituality, below is the twelve line summary I created from the two-page version created by guru Will Keepin of the Satyana Institute.

Twelve Principles
01 Motivation based on love
02 Non-attachment to outcome
03 Integrity is one's protection
04 Integrity in means and ends
05 Do not demonize adversaries
06 Embrace any enemy within We
07 Work for the world, not self
08 In serving world, we serve Us
09 Feel the pain of all in the We
10 Engage with love, not anger
11 Rely on faith in the larger We
12 Let the heart guide the brain

Laminate those into an id card holder with the hole on the end, as I have, and you have a much better value for your time and money.

The book tells the story of a first-time Congressman who learns right away that he has to spend all his time campaigning, cannot vote against anyone else's bills, must use taxpayer funds to get re-elected (e.g. pork for the district, the frank on mail, and so on.

It is at the end of this section that I am shaking my head and regretting being so impulsive in my selection on the basis of the hugely clever and largely misleading title.

Proportional representation, preferential voting, three-member districts, and the magical formula that will power large cars, sterilize entire buildings with a single breath (PAR) and that is it.

Here are the eight electoral reform points from Ralph Nader as refined by Jim Turner and myself (and in need of input from unified independents, e.g. on ballot initiatives, local voting processes, etc.)

Phase I to be mandated for 2010 Election
+ Holiday Voting
+ Honest Open Debates
+ Expanded Debates
+ Instant Run-Off

Phase II to be mandated for 2012 Election, Districts Redrawn by 11/2009
+ Full and Balanced Representation
+ Tightly-Drawn Districts
+ Full Public Funding of Diverse Candidates
+ No Legislation Without Consultation

If the above is a PhD, and it hardly qualifies, then this book is barely second grade for those who are challenged in more than one respect.

I put the book down with the final comment, “YUK.” The authors are process obsessives, all they care about is finding a solution that everyone can agree on, without regard to the substance of the matter. While they make passing reference to research and data, the fluff at heart is in the book itself: no notes, no recognition of all the hard work of others, no clue on the 1960's, the 1970's, the 1980's, I even wondered if they had been born by the 1990's, which is of course unfair, but this book has been a skewer in my side and annoying to boot.

Vastly better books include (I am limited to ten, for all the rest see my Annotated Bibliography at oss.net/PIG, just add the www, each book listed has a link right back to Amazon):
Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Election 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances; Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them; Annotated Bibliography)
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents (Hardcover))
Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
The Clustering of America
The Nine Nations of North America

2008/10/202009/12/04

Review: The Rise of the Fourth Reich–The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America

4 Star, Impeachment & Treason, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization)

Making Connection to Obama, October 20, 2008

Jim Marrs

I gave Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids a rave review and recommend it be read with Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.

The sole purpose of this review is to link readers to three books on the treason and betrayal of the public trust by BOTH parties (two branches of the same crime family), and to connect the thesis with three books on Obama.

Congressional Treason:
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders

Obama: The Dark Side
Obama – The Postmodern Coup
Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biography
The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate
Obama Unmasked: Did Slick Hollywood Handlers Create the Perfect Candidate?

In my view, all of the money flowing to Obama is NOT so much from individuals as from the major corporations and banks that are “changing the sheets” in the White House. This is all “theater” for the masses, and the “soft tyranny that Democracy in America (Penguin Classics) warns about is very likely if we are dumb enough to elect Obama, Pelosi, and Reid together. Obama is bought and paid for.

So one has to ask, Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter

This is NOT GOOD. I never thought Bush-Cheney could be outdone, but thinking about Obama-Pelosi-Reid makes Bush-Cheney look like second rate thugs overshadowed by the high theater of a Wall Street “daze” that shows us “democracy” on one hand while completing a national socialism fraud on the other, as the fat cats slip out the back door to Dubai.

McCain's campaign staff borders on being sheer idiots–I don't think he had taken the bribe that Gore took in 2000, but his campaign staff well might be bought and staging the fall.

2008/10/182009/12/04

Review: Barack H. Obama–The Unauthorized Biography

5 Star, Impeachment & Treason, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization)

Truly frightening expose of Barack Obama's dark side, October 18, 2008

Webster Griffin Tarpley

EDIT of 14 Dec 08: Obama has been balanced in his early days, but conventional. He is appointing a “winner take all” Cabinet and going along with the Wall Street desires for massive bail-outs. He can be a great president if and only if he breaks the backs of the two criminal parties, invites Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin to be a kitchen council, and passes Electoral Reform and the Smart Nation Act. I am not holding my breath but will hope for the best.

EDIT of 19 Oct 08 to point to comment from author on this review and add Associated Press image of Obama's Indonesian citizenship and Muslim faith as registered for school in Indonesia.

This book may have been published too late, and I have to ask myself if John McCain's staff is incompetent, or whether McCain has somehow been sidelined and “contained” so as to LOSE this election.

I have read a great deal, not just in books, but in articles, online, and so on, and I am fairly persuaded that Barack Obama has not been properly vetted, and that there is a conspiracy of silence that is extraordinarily well-funded.

I am especially troubled by the complete absence of any proof that he actually attended Columbia University; by the very high probability that he was in fact raised as a Muslim (until he returned to the USA); and by the very bad company that he keeps–and here I refer to Zbigniew Brzezinsky, and the Democratic “regulars,” not Reverend Wright.

I am also troubled by the fact that most people of color see him for what he appears to be an elitist on the payroll of Wall Street corporations, a “House Negro” in their telling of the story, and hence the ideal “front man” for Wall Street's last great looting of what is left of the American treasury.

This book, which I could not put down once I picked it up, has eleven chapters, and each is incendiary. There are many places where I believe the author–a gifted historian whose integrity is unimpeachable–goes over the top on his political interpretations. A certain amount of filtering is required, but the bottom line for me is clear:

1) Barack Obama's valid US citizenship has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. His current birth certificate may be forged, and he may have lost his original one in the process of renouncing U.S. citizenship upon adoption. At a minimum he would appear to have conflicted loyalties.

2) His early years being raised as a Muslim have been proven by at least one enterprising reporter, but the entire media–a completely controlled enterprise that continues to refuse fully-funded public service advertisements–appears to have been ordered to cover this up.

I am going to have to read this book at least once more. The author provides a wealth of detail along three other paths that are very troubling:

1) Senator Obama is a shameless full-up member of the Chicago crime circles and corruption circles, and has not shirked from their financial sponsorship.

2) Senator Obama does not appear in any Columbia University literature, class photos, and has failed to produce a transcript of his claimed time at Columbia, or proof of graduation. His staff and his biographies are both adamant on not discussing this period in his life.

3) Senator Obama appears to have been groomed for his role, and to be a consummate actor who plays the role he is paid to play.

Here are the chapter headings, which the publisher has not seen fit to provide–with the caveat that the author sometimes goes a bridge too far with his interpretations of the facts, the facts are never-the-less there and I for one do not trust Obama, in large part because of the company he keeps and who he listens to.

Introduction: Obama from the Ford Foundation to the Trilateral Commission

Chapter 1: Obama's Roots in Polygamy and the Ford Foundation

Chapter 2: Columbia University and Recruitment by Zbigniew Brzezinski

Chapter 3: Foundation-funded Racism in Chicago: Jeremiah Wright and Michelle

Chapter 4: Apprenticeship with Foundation-Funded Terrorists: Ayers and Dohrn

Chapter 5: Obama's Heart of Darkness: Rezko, Auchi, Alsammareae, and Chicago Graft

Chapter 6: Grabbing a Senate Seat with a Little Help from his Trilateral Friends

Chapter 7: The Hope Pope and His Trilateral Money Machine

Chapter 8: “Our Souls Are Broken” — “Feel Don't Think! Be Visceral!” — Michelle Obama, Postmodern Fascist Ideologue

Chapter 9: Obama's Triumph of the Will: The 2008 Primaries

Chapter 10: Obama: A Looming World Tragedy

Chapter 11: Obama as Social Fascist

The appendices are fascinating and include an actual law suit that was not allowed to proceed, seeking force Obama to document his U.S. citizenship properly.

Like other anti-Obama books, one has to do some filtering, but at the end of it all, I have to treat books like this the way I treat books about the 9-11 “let it happen” and cover up: there is substance here that the public has a right to evaluate, and that the media is NOT evaluating.

PLEASE: buy and read this book for yourself and weight in with your own opinion. In my view, similar to books like Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, there is enough here to indict, but not to convict. Only a mass of thinking citizens can go that last mile. My role here is to propose that you all do that: engage. I do want to emphasize that my greatest concern about Obama is not whether he is gifted (we know he is), but rather who is behind him, who controls him, and what his puppet masters will have him do–despite Colin Powell's endorsement, I trust John McCain to be independent, and I have seen Obama shut out those who would help him balance the Democratic “advisors” that are in my view dangerous.

Other relevant books:
Obama – The Postmodern Coup
The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate
The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality
Obama Unmasked: Did Slick Hollywood Handlers Create the Perfect Candidate?

2008/10/032009/12/04

Review: The Energy Non-Crisis

5 Star, Economics, Environment (Solutions), Politics

Flagging this for update and questions to Sarah Palin, October 3, 2008

Lindsey Williams

With a tip of the hat to a commenter on my review of Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil. I have asked for the book to be reprinted and offered immediately, and believe that with or without the reprint, those who are in a position to ask questions of Sarah Palin should make this book the focus: what has she known about why, and what are the possibilities?

Incidentally, taking this book at face value, it helps explain McCain's genius in picking Palin, so as to roll out the “October surprise,” “solving” the energy crisis.

I look forward to buying and reading the updated book.

Here are other books that I have read and reviewed that add to the betrayal of the public trust theme:
Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict With a New Introduction by the Author
Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum
Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy
Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush
The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century

The good news is that the public is aroused now, and realizing we have all been cheated by the combination of Wall Street and the corrupt bi-opoly.
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People

2008/10/012009/12/04

Review: Bad Money–Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism

4 Star, Banks, Fed, Money, & Concentrated Wealth, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Corruption, Politics

Too Tough for Most, Here is Short Version and Links, October 1, 2008

Kevin Phillips

I admire this author, very much, and consider him to be one of the more thoughtful public intelligence minutemen–sadly, the media has failed us, as have the think tanks, and we who wish to know the truth of any matter are left very much on our own.

Here is the short version of this book (ending with NO on the bail-out) courtesy of and with permission of Sterling Seagraves, co-author of GOLD WARRIORS:

Many Continental European banks ARE stronger than USA banks, because they have more experience with disaster in past centuries. As do some current EU governments like France, Spain and Germany. But they are exposed for 2 reasons: 1, they found it easy to borrow money from USA banks, so they became somewhat addicted to easy money, and are now having to adjust to that source of money drying up. 2, most big banks not long ago set up divisions in Paris (for example, SocGen, CredAgri, Paribas) that were to play the investment game of derivatives and short-selling. In the case of SocGen, this was exposed recently but blamed on only one man, a trick to protect many others. With CredAgri, all their regional commercial banks are very solid, but their newer Paris investment division is in deep shit because of emulating New York and London corrupt practices.

The basic problem is that citizens must have a secure place to put their savings. Conservative banks initially use this money to make conservative investments, but as time passes the young and ambitious “upstarts” (arrivists) begin to make crazier investments to advance their careers and enlarge their private wealth — but still speculating only with the savings of citizens who trusted their bank. Eventually, these upstarts went crazy. But they were encouraged to do so by their bosses, and then by the Reagan, Bush Sr and Bush Jr administrations. During the first year of the Bush Jr administration, it had such a terrible reputation and the US economy was in such terrible condition, that it was decided to increase “housing starts” (home construction) by giving mortgages to everyone (even if they could not pay-back) because the statistics would look good on paper. This soon became a “feeding-frenzy” by the Piranha, creating a global feeding-frenzy by almost all big banks, including UBS and CreditSuisse.

The reason none of the “authorities” sounded the alarm is because they, and the politicians, and journalists, and professors, are all tied together like black slaves on a slave ship. If one goes overboard, they ALL go overboard. So they protect themselves by protecting “the system”. The proposed 700-billion US$ bail-out was simply the final robbery by the Bush admin, shared with all the big bank owners. In fact, the ECB has given that much to banks in the last two weeks to “increase liquidity” (put money in the pockets of the malefactors), so the Bush/Paulson bail-out was just a way of feeding their personal friends.

The people who are cheated are the citizens who trusted the banks with their savings. It is better to have the criminal banks crash, because only that will provoke a serious reform. I hope we are getting closer to the time when citizens will rise up and get violent. It is very healthy for governments and politicians (and bankers) to get their asses kicked, to be put in the tumbril and sent to the guillotine. This must be done every several generations to keep them afraid, because nothing on earth will keep them honest except fear. The Bush regime postponed the guillotine by mis-directing the fear of citizens toward Muslims, and avoided a quick military coup at home by sending most soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan where they are no danger to Washington. I may have put this very simply, but there are times when things need to be put simply.

END SHARED INFORMATION

Here are books that are easier to read and make the same case, but please note that all of this can be traced back to Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) and his deregulation of the financial industry with a 200+ page amendment that none of the other Senators read. Clinton “went along” because “easy money” was a popularity enhancer.

The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
The Manufacture of Evil: Ethics, Evolution and the Industrial System
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future – and What It Will Take to Win It Back
Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class – And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents (Paperback))
Election 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances; Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them; Annotated Bibliography)

Category: Politics

Review: The Plan–Big Ideas for America