FoundingFathers
04-29-2004, 12:26 PM
a wonderful essay...
the complete one to be found here http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/maund042804pv.html
"THE ROAD TO RUIN"
FIAT & CREDIT - THE ANGLO - AMERICAN NEMESIS
"No Tree ever touches the Sky"
By
Nigel H Maund
BSc(Hons)Lond., MSc, DIC, MBA, MIMMM, SEG
Economic Geologist
Introduction
Numerous writers on various internet sites, where complete freedom of speech still exists, including notably: Richard Russell, Jim Puplava, Doug Noland, Marshall Auerbach, James Turk, Robert Gordon, Antal Fekete, Bill Bonner and Clive Maund, to name but a few, have attempted to alert people to the dangers and consequences inherent in today's financial markets. However, the Fed has skillfully succeeded in wrong footing all these experienced writers, and a great air of complacency now exists amongst the general public that the fantasy land of ever rising equities, bond and real estate markets will continue, ad infinitum, In this wonderland, the foregoing will rise forever into the glittering and rosy horizon of endless, and rapid, economic growth. What is more, one's house is actually one's own private bank, to be dipped into as and when the need arises. No need for those nasty credit checks and grim faced bankers after all!! He He! Better still, as houses rocket towards the outer planets, where the effects of gravity diminish, maybe one's house will be worth an unimaginable, galactic scale, sum in years to come. What a thought!
This fantastic "cuckoo land" has been created by the world's key merchant bankers, such as Goldman Sachs, S G Warburg, Kuhn Loeb, Salomon Brothers, N.M Rothschild, Lazard Freres, etcetera, who not only control the world's central (fractional) banks, such as the Fed and the Bank of England, but own them in their entirety. They remain as faceless entities behind the puppet figure, called "the Chairman", or, "the Governor", for whom the syndicated press creates a God-like persona that the Pope would be ashamed of. These bankers fully understand the idiocy and greed of the masses, as evidenced by "Tulip mania" in Holland, the "South Sea Bubble" in England, and various other manias that have driven the financial markets to ludicrous valuations in the near and distant past. However, people generally have a poor knowledge of history, and a very short memory. They become the victims of these manias, when they ultimately, and inevitably, collapse. In the past, losses were purely financial. However, this time the stakes may be a lot higher.
Never in human history has mankind had the technical wherewithal and lack of political controls to create money out of thin air on such a stupendous scale, and milk the planet dry with bank / management charges and interest rates on money that quite simply does not exist, other than as digits in a computer. There has never been an open discussion of the consequences of such action in the World's "Democracies", and more fantastic still, this high stakes global political and economic game has scarcely been questioned by the media! No one seems to care, so long as the gravy train keeps on rolling. So, what happened to previous generations of "Prudent Bankers", who believed in encouraging savers who provided the vital underpin for constructive lending for productive purposes. Remember that now extinct species of human being?, ..... and, even more scary, where will all this easy credit world we live in end up?....... and, furthermore, what is the purpose of this incredible munificence by the new easy credit (hyper - elastic) bankers where huge loans are extended with the minimum of stipulations or requirements? What happens if gravity is allowed to assume its normal role, or just does so anyway?.... That the laws of finance and economics cannot be defied forever by such wondrous geniuses as "the Great Economic Helmsman", Sir, Dr, Professor, whatever, Greenspan (now virtually deified), without untold consequences? What are the eventual economic and political repercussions when, and not if, this humungous bubble or collection of orbiting bubbles (Equities, Bonds and Real Estate) suddenly meets reality coming the other way? Hmmmmm! ..... And, if this were not enough, dare one mention the words Government Debts, State Debts, Corporate Debts, Personal Debts, and, God forbid ..... Derivatives? ... There's only 200 trillion of those in US markets, a mere bagatelle....... in "Greenspan's Big Top".
The Propaganda Machine
Propaganda is the supposed territory of dictatorships such as those under Hitler, Mussolini, Stalinist Russia or Mao Tse Tung's, People's Republic of China. However, today, far from being the preserve of the long dead Dr Goebbles, we live with a propaganda machine that would have been the envy of any of the above-mentioned dictatorships in terms of its depth, breadth and sophistication. Thanks to CNBC, Fox News, CNN, BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, ITV, Deutsche Welle and France's TV5, not to mention a host of lesser stations, and the mainstream press of all western "Democracies" (the so called "Fourth Estate"), we now have a "Global View", in which the vast majority of people regurgitate, without question, the accepted dogmas as if these were akin to the 10 Commandments handed down by God at Mt. Sinai. The few who dare to ask awkward questions, or, worse still, demand the truth, are derided, smeared or marginalized by sophisticated campaigns written by hacks hired to do the desired hatchet job. This is the unacceptable face of modern journalism, corrupted by power and money from the very top. A very few, such as Australia's great journalist John Pilger have survived to keep on telling the truth. However, sadly, few Americans, Britons or Australians would know of him or his writings. Of course, all of the foregoing implies that we are deep in conspiracy territory, the preserve of "the lunatic fringe". History is "accidental", and as much a catalogue of human folly more than any collective planning. However, it is worth recalling the comment of a past US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who stated " If anything happens in history, you can bet it was planned that way!" This, while not altogether true, is closer to the truth.
21st Century USA, under its current administration, is seeing freedom of speech, set down as a fundamental right in the articles of the 1776 US constitution, destroyed with little more than a murmur. Nowhere is this assertion provided with more proof than the manner in which the US administration's Military - Industrial complex has dealt with the news and casualties emerging from the current situation in Iraq, and, moreover, the very one-sided reporting, and handling of the Israel - Palestine situation since 1948. The steady stream of US coffins, not to mention the larger number of wounded, maimed and mentally scarred servicemen, returning from Iraq, is scarcely covered by the US media, who also fail to cover the huge tragedy and loss of life suffered by the ordinary Iraqi's and Palestinians. Balanced coverage of events in Iraq and Palestine is just "not on" in the "Homeland Security" conscious 21st Century USA. Is this paying real service to humanity?
Perhaps more significantly, for these pages, is the manner in which the "Propaganda Machine" has handled the origin, and economic implications, of the vast credit expansion witnessed since 1982, which is set to eventually destroy the wealth of US citizens and transfer their heavily leveraged assets back to already unbelievably wealthy Merchant Banking families. People will see their pensions and savings quite literally wiped out. What then for them? The media dare not, in its "in depth analyses", discuss the truth. Rather, day in and day out a stream of bright cheery "talking heads" and "space cadets", with over large mouths, ask a heap of pre-arranged questions and try to out do each other in talking the market up. An orchestrated patter keeps these cynical and pathetic shows rolling along to lull the masses into the land of "make believe" and "feel good". So much for objective analysis. "Consumers, for Christ's sake keep holding stocks", refinancing and spending is the watchword!!..... The war on savers continues.
the complete one to be found here http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/maund042804pv.html
"THE ROAD TO RUIN"
FIAT & CREDIT - THE ANGLO - AMERICAN NEMESIS
"No Tree ever touches the Sky"
By
Nigel H Maund
BSc(Hons)Lond., MSc, DIC, MBA, MIMMM, SEG
Economic Geologist
Introduction
Numerous writers on various internet sites, where complete freedom of speech still exists, including notably: Richard Russell, Jim Puplava, Doug Noland, Marshall Auerbach, James Turk, Robert Gordon, Antal Fekete, Bill Bonner and Clive Maund, to name but a few, have attempted to alert people to the dangers and consequences inherent in today's financial markets. However, the Fed has skillfully succeeded in wrong footing all these experienced writers, and a great air of complacency now exists amongst the general public that the fantasy land of ever rising equities, bond and real estate markets will continue, ad infinitum, In this wonderland, the foregoing will rise forever into the glittering and rosy horizon of endless, and rapid, economic growth. What is more, one's house is actually one's own private bank, to be dipped into as and when the need arises. No need for those nasty credit checks and grim faced bankers after all!! He He! Better still, as houses rocket towards the outer planets, where the effects of gravity diminish, maybe one's house will be worth an unimaginable, galactic scale, sum in years to come. What a thought!
This fantastic "cuckoo land" has been created by the world's key merchant bankers, such as Goldman Sachs, S G Warburg, Kuhn Loeb, Salomon Brothers, N.M Rothschild, Lazard Freres, etcetera, who not only control the world's central (fractional) banks, such as the Fed and the Bank of England, but own them in their entirety. They remain as faceless entities behind the puppet figure, called "the Chairman", or, "the Governor", for whom the syndicated press creates a God-like persona that the Pope would be ashamed of. These bankers fully understand the idiocy and greed of the masses, as evidenced by "Tulip mania" in Holland, the "South Sea Bubble" in England, and various other manias that have driven the financial markets to ludicrous valuations in the near and distant past. However, people generally have a poor knowledge of history, and a very short memory. They become the victims of these manias, when they ultimately, and inevitably, collapse. In the past, losses were purely financial. However, this time the stakes may be a lot higher.
Never in human history has mankind had the technical wherewithal and lack of political controls to create money out of thin air on such a stupendous scale, and milk the planet dry with bank / management charges and interest rates on money that quite simply does not exist, other than as digits in a computer. There has never been an open discussion of the consequences of such action in the World's "Democracies", and more fantastic still, this high stakes global political and economic game has scarcely been questioned by the media! No one seems to care, so long as the gravy train keeps on rolling. So, what happened to previous generations of "Prudent Bankers", who believed in encouraging savers who provided the vital underpin for constructive lending for productive purposes. Remember that now extinct species of human being?, ..... and, even more scary, where will all this easy credit world we live in end up?....... and, furthermore, what is the purpose of this incredible munificence by the new easy credit (hyper - elastic) bankers where huge loans are extended with the minimum of stipulations or requirements? What happens if gravity is allowed to assume its normal role, or just does so anyway?.... That the laws of finance and economics cannot be defied forever by such wondrous geniuses as "the Great Economic Helmsman", Sir, Dr, Professor, whatever, Greenspan (now virtually deified), without untold consequences? What are the eventual economic and political repercussions when, and not if, this humungous bubble or collection of orbiting bubbles (Equities, Bonds and Real Estate) suddenly meets reality coming the other way? Hmmmmm! ..... And, if this were not enough, dare one mention the words Government Debts, State Debts, Corporate Debts, Personal Debts, and, God forbid ..... Derivatives? ... There's only 200 trillion of those in US markets, a mere bagatelle....... in "Greenspan's Big Top".
The Propaganda Machine
Propaganda is the supposed territory of dictatorships such as those under Hitler, Mussolini, Stalinist Russia or Mao Tse Tung's, People's Republic of China. However, today, far from being the preserve of the long dead Dr Goebbles, we live with a propaganda machine that would have been the envy of any of the above-mentioned dictatorships in terms of its depth, breadth and sophistication. Thanks to CNBC, Fox News, CNN, BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, ITV, Deutsche Welle and France's TV5, not to mention a host of lesser stations, and the mainstream press of all western "Democracies" (the so called "Fourth Estate"), we now have a "Global View", in which the vast majority of people regurgitate, without question, the accepted dogmas as if these were akin to the 10 Commandments handed down by God at Mt. Sinai. The few who dare to ask awkward questions, or, worse still, demand the truth, are derided, smeared or marginalized by sophisticated campaigns written by hacks hired to do the desired hatchet job. This is the unacceptable face of modern journalism, corrupted by power and money from the very top. A very few, such as Australia's great journalist John Pilger have survived to keep on telling the truth. However, sadly, few Americans, Britons or Australians would know of him or his writings. Of course, all of the foregoing implies that we are deep in conspiracy territory, the preserve of "the lunatic fringe". History is "accidental", and as much a catalogue of human folly more than any collective planning. However, it is worth recalling the comment of a past US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who stated " If anything happens in history, you can bet it was planned that way!" This, while not altogether true, is closer to the truth.
21st Century USA, under its current administration, is seeing freedom of speech, set down as a fundamental right in the articles of the 1776 US constitution, destroyed with little more than a murmur. Nowhere is this assertion provided with more proof than the manner in which the US administration's Military - Industrial complex has dealt with the news and casualties emerging from the current situation in Iraq, and, moreover, the very one-sided reporting, and handling of the Israel - Palestine situation since 1948. The steady stream of US coffins, not to mention the larger number of wounded, maimed and mentally scarred servicemen, returning from Iraq, is scarcely covered by the US media, who also fail to cover the huge tragedy and loss of life suffered by the ordinary Iraqi's and Palestinians. Balanced coverage of events in Iraq and Palestine is just "not on" in the "Homeland Security" conscious 21st Century USA. Is this paying real service to humanity?
Perhaps more significantly, for these pages, is the manner in which the "Propaganda Machine" has handled the origin, and economic implications, of the vast credit expansion witnessed since 1982, which is set to eventually destroy the wealth of US citizens and transfer their heavily leveraged assets back to already unbelievably wealthy Merchant Banking families. People will see their pensions and savings quite literally wiped out. What then for them? The media dare not, in its "in depth analyses", discuss the truth. Rather, day in and day out a stream of bright cheery "talking heads" and "space cadets", with over large mouths, ask a heap of pre-arranged questions and try to out do each other in talking the market up. An orchestrated patter keeps these cynical and pathetic shows rolling along to lull the masses into the land of "make believe" and "feel good". So much for objective analysis. "Consumers, for Christ's sake keep holding stocks", refinancing and spending is the watchword!!..... The war on savers continues.