The People Must Believe That They Are Not Manipulated

"The people must believe that they are not manipulated—in order for them to be manipulated effectively." 

So says Winston Smith, protagonist of George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984. Orwell/Smith was echoing a sentiment attributed earlier to Goethe:

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."

u believe u r not manipulated? u believe u r free? 

The Problem with America's Debt Problem

In a recent Washington Post column, Michael Gerson says, "America's debt problem is mainly an entitlement spending problem."

He is WRONG.

There is NO shortage of money--for the simple fact that the government can create as much money as it needs out of thin air. Somebody in the Treasury Dept just has to enter the correct character strokes on the right computer and - wa-la - the Federal Reserve conjures into existence as much money as is needed.

Inflationary you say?

HA - you haven't been paying attention. We're in a DE-flationary spiral. The money supply has been steadily SHRINKING. This economy needs NEW MONEY, not a redistribution of tender from my pocket to Lloyd Blankfein's.

Increases the debt?

OK, eliminate the step involving the Federal Reserve. Instead of issuing Treasury Bonds and trading them for legal tender, just declare (Congress can do this) the bonds themselves to be legal tender. End the Fed, and one more parasitic bureaucracy bites the dust. Good riddance. Call in and retire the existing bonds, and say goodbye to the national debt.

Comrades, when you hear corporate mouths, such as Gerson, tell you to sacrifice and accept austerity, look the [expletives] in the eye and reply calmly, "No thanks."

That's all.

Just Say No.

Connecting the Dots

Somewhere between the propaganda-spewing corporate mainstream media and the UFO-tinged Illuminati-mongering conspiracy networks is an informed core of sane, honest whistleblowers, connecting the dots to create a helluva ugly picture, which might be titled, Global Machinations of the New Feudal Lords.

Join in the dot connecting. Anyone can play. Here’s how to get started:

www.deepcapture.com
michael-hudson.com
baselinescenario.com

If you'd rather watch a PowerPoint, try this introduction:

www.deepcapturethemovie.com/

BUST THE TRUSTS: Tax the Rich to Break Up Demand-Side Monopolies

What’s the matter with monopolies, anyway?  Do we need anti-trust laws?

For one thing, capitalist theory goes, monopolies foul up the supply-and-demand dynamic that keeps a market economy honest. Industry delivers the most value and prosperity to the most people if we just leave pricing, production, and quality to be sorted out by supply and demand, goes the theory. Alternatively, a centrally planned, communist, economy can seem to work fine—if you’re one of the oligarchs in charge. But centralized controllers tend not to spread the wealth around, as centralized banking in the United States demonstrates.

Competition, in particular, is a key cog in the machine that distributes wealth, by keeping supply and demand in balance. Suppliers without competitors are free to disregard the demands of consumers. Monopolies have no incentive to keep prices down or product quality up or customer service responsive. They put a drag on the free-market economy by defeating the self-correcting mechanism of supply-and-demand.

So, a monopoly system flunks the test of delivering the full benefits of a market-based economy. But the traditional idea of a monopoly covers only the supply side. An equally pernicious market distortion can occur when there’s a demand-side monopoly. That’s when buying power (demand) is concentrated in too few private hands.