Archive for September, 2007
September 14th, 2007
By: Carolyn Baker of Speaking Truth to Power
People come to us to learn about designing and building their own homes, understanding off-grid power systems, composting toilets and grey-water systems, on-farm slaughtering, bio-dynamic practices, spiritual gardening, dowsing, forest management, grazing systems, food preparation, timber harvesting, and working draft animals. We recognize that perhaps the most valuable product of our farm is our experience. We do not promote ourselves as possessing the “Right Way”. We have skills, and we are glad to share them with people who value the learning.
In July, 2007 I wrote an article “What To Do, What To Do? Taking Action In The Face Of Collapse” in which I offered some options for collapse preparation. Truth To Power will continue to illuminate the ugly realities of collapse-AND, it will also focus from time to time on people who are doing extraordinary things not merely in preparation for collapse, but because those activities and lifestyles give them energy and feed their souls.
This post highlights Lisa McCrory and Carl Russell in rural Vermont who operate Earthwise Farm and Forest which teaches a variety of skills for sustainable living, including the use of draft animals in raising organic crops. They are hosting Northeast Animal-Power Field Days, September 29-30 in Tunbridge, Vermont.
Their lifestyle and work model not only a broad knowledge of survival essentials, but an intimate connection with the earth and the non-human world. Here is my interview with them:
- How long have the two of you lived in Vermont?
Carl: I have been in Vermont my entire life, (so far!!). Our family is living and working on property that my grand-parents purchased in 1938.
Lisa : I moved to Vermont in 1974 with my parents and siblings (from Wisconsin) and have lived here ever since.
- What motivated you to become farmers? Did you grow up on a farm? Did you have a transition from city life to rural VT? If you did have to make a transition, what was that like for you?
Carl: I grew up in the 1960-70’s, and in Vermont there were still many people who had small farms, raised their own food, worked in the woods, and lived self-employed, diversified lives. I was always drawn to animals, soil, and the forest, but I was also affected by an admiration for the sufficiency and independence that I saw in these farmers and woodsmen. Even though I worked on farms and in the woods, there were also trends toward playing sports, learning the ethic of commerce, and “hanging out”. By the time I was out of college, the expectations were toward professional careers, credit cards, and car loans. The transition I made was mostly in the way of perspective. I remembered my desire for independence, purposeful work, outdoors, with soil, plants, and animals. So actually I interrupted the transition I might have made into the cultural norm.
Lisa: I was not raised on a farm, but when we moved to Vermont in the early 70’s (I was 11 at the time) we did move to a place with a house, barn, a few acres and my parents allowed us to dabble in raising a few farm animals (riding horses, chickens, a goat and lamb) and have a vegetable garden. This was the time of my transition from city life to rural life. I have always been drawn to animals and the natural world and know that my calling is to be a steward of the land; to participate in a deeper understanding of the needs of the Earth and how to work co-creatively with the land, my family, our farm and our local community. I pursued a degree in animal sciences and in the plant sciences knowing that one day I would have a farm where I would be growing most of my own food and living as closely to the land as possible.
- What inspired you to begin using draft animals for farming? What are the advantages f using them? What are some of the liabilities?
Carl: There were people in my youth who worked horses of oxen, and I loved to see them working. As a young adult I had it in my mind that I would someday have a work-horse, but it seemed more like a hobby in a more modern lifestyle. In 1986 as I was preparing for self-employment as a forester/logger, I visited a man I had been buying logs from. He was a horse logger, and as I watched him perform what seemed to be a working dance with a living animal, I was awakened. I could see the energy efficiency, the low-impact, and the independence of low overhead, Most of all, I could see the craft, the expression, and the fulfillment. The drawbacks of draft animals are all related to experience and expectation. Learning how to care for them, and what to expect from them. It’s all about time, time, and more time. It is continuous, laborious, slow work, with low cash flow. But, it is very satisfying, and it puts into perspective what we are losing as a planet and a species by developing technologies that turn life into quick, easy projects. By using draft animals as our primary power, we lay hands on so many aspects of our own lives.
Lisa : I started getting involved with draft animals when I met Carl in 2000, but this lifestyle has attracted me for quite some time and may have something to do with what brought us together. I have worked with horses and cows most of my youth and it has tied in nicely in my professional career as an organic livestock and grazing consultant.
- Can you say more about the principles of stewardship that you encourage others to follow?
Carl: So much of what we promote is craft. Stewardship is the art of managing land-based resources. Like any artist, the steward of land must learn the nuances of his/her medium, and learn to use tools and processes with finesse. The scientific process has helped us to see many important relationships that stewardship protects and cultivates. The drawback with scientific reasoning is a preconception that if we can’t measure something, it has no value. If we don’t know about it, it doesn’t exist. We promote a highly intuitive process, where stewardship is about emotional investment, and personal responsibility. Do what you know is right, because you can feel it, and it makes you feel alive and connected to your surroundings.
Lisa: I think Carl said this nicely. The principles that we follow on our farm, on a practical level, are based upon organic farming principles: building our soil organic matter and balancing the soil nutrients so that the food we grow is nutritious for ourselves and our livestock. We also use biodynamic practices and products for some of our planting schedules and for composting our manure. Another part of our gardening and land management is the use of dowsing to plan our gardens and enhance the intuitive and spiritual connection we have with the land.
- What positive differences has self-sufficiency made in your lives? What might be some of the liabilities?
Carl: As I have said before, independence, personal fulfillment, emotional and physical intimacy with soil, plants, and animals. It is a lot of work requiring time, knowledge, and commitment, and it interferes with professional careers and cash flow.
Lisa: I think that we are moving into a period where it is becoming increasingly important to KNOW how to grow one’s own food, process it, store it and ultimately appreciate the bounty and build a connection with the land that we are farming. Building these skills is very satisfying, and there is always more to learn. With all the other things happening around us, sometimes we don’t have the time or cash-flow to do everything that we would like to do, but this lifestyle encourages us to slow down - while some of our ‘off the farm’ work asks us to turn things around quickly. It can be a push-me-pull-you kind of feeling and we need to check in regularly to prioritize what needs to get done on a daily basis.
- Since young people of the twenty-first century are often strongly influenced by technology and the peer pressure of having cars, cell phone, ipods and other luxuries that they feel they can’t live without, how have your children reacted to self-sufficiency and your style of living off the land in such a simple, basic manner?
Carl: It should be understood that we have cell phones, laptops, CD players, DVD/VCR-TV, and game-boys. What our off-grid sustainable lifestyle does, is puts these things into a subclass of luxury and leisure. We teach our kids the language of our modern culture because it is necessary for them to function within their community. We do not shun modern culture, or try to hide from it, but we strive to teach our children the language of the Earth, about the spiritual and physical truths of human life on planet Earth. We entertain acquaintances as we process chickens, as many people seek our guidance with the skills of slaughtering and butchering their own animals for food. One day as I was removing entrails, our 5-year old son cheered, “Chicken Livers”! Our visitor turned to me with a look of astonishment. “How many modern 5-yearolds know enough about intestines to know where the liver is, and how many of them would be excited about eating it, especially after seeing where it comes from?”
Lisa: Although we do have all the things that Carl has listed above, we DO NOT have access to public or cable television, so are not heavily influenced by commercial advertising, the constant marketing targeted towards children, and the media-driven ‘news’ that to me is about 20% news and 80% questionable. We watch movies that we choose when it meets our schedule. We also home school our children which we feel has been very rewarding for our children and for ourselves (ages 3, 5 and 10). That said, our 10 year-old is going to the public school for some electives (music, art, math, soccer, band). I think that our kids are very in touch with where their food comes from and what it takes to make that happen. We went to eat at a friend’s house not too long ago and our 3 year-old started asking questions about the food on the table; “Did you kill this chicken?” and other questions like that. Our 5 year-old was amazed to find out that this family did not have any farm animals and said ‘You mean you don’t even have one cow?’ Hilarious what comes out of the mouths of babes!
- What are some of the principles you teach in your workshops?
Carl and Lisa: Our workshops are mostly about skills for earth-based livelihoods. The underlying principles come from within us, live craft-full, purpose-full, and care-full lives. If the lifestyle speaks to you then follow your instincts. I encourage people to trust their intuition, and to learn to feel the anxiety that comes from a good choice un-made. If a particular path is avoided because of a lack of skills, and we can help with teaching those skills, then maybe the path can be followed.
- How often do you offer the workshops? How should people contact you if they are interested?
Carl and Lisa: People come to us to learn about designing and building their own homes, understanding off-grid power systems, composting toilets and grey-water systems, on-farm slaughtering, bio-dynamic practices, spiritual gardening, dowsing, forest management, grazing systems, food preparation, timber harvesting, and working draft animals. We recognize that perhaps the most valuable product of our farm is our experience. We do not promote ourselves as possessing the “Right Way”. We have skills, and we are glad to share them with people who value the learning. We entertain people on their own schedule, but from time to time we try to hold group gatherings to concentrate our efforts and to improve the experience through social engagement. People should contact us by phone (802) 234-5524, or by mail 341 MacIntosh Hill Rd., Randolph. VT 05060, or in person. We are not advertising, or trying to convince anyone. If we are on their path, then we’ll be here when they arrive.
- What kind of alternative energy do you use on the farm?
Carl and Lisa: “Alternative Energy”. I’ve been waiting for this question. If you haven’t felt the paradigm shift yet, then maybe this will help. The only alternative energy that we use on our farm is gasoline. All the other energy sources, sun, wind, plants, and animals are standard energies of the Earth. “Alternative” is a term used by the people who manage “Status Quo”. It is part of a program on the main-frame of the Matrix. “Alternative” energy, medicine, agriculture, and lifestyles, are all truths that our culture cannot embrace at this time. I firmly believe that the success of a sustainable human culture depends on our recognizing the artificiality of the systems that prop up our modern lifestyles. Anyway, we use solar power from a small array of panels to make electricity, and electricity from a wind turbine also charges our battery bank. We are also dependent on a gasoline generator to back-up the system, because like everybody else, we can use more electricity than we can make. This is where conservation can become a very valuable source of energy. Draft animals are the only power we use for farm and forestry work. Our lifestyle also depends on our personal physical and emotional energy, which are at the same time used and fueled by our intimate involvement in raising our own food. We believe in sobriety and conscious presence, and we use homeopathy and avoid the “Health Care System”. Our most abundant energy source comes from within us, and we revere it, protect it, and cultivate it.
- How has the local community responded to you and your work? How have the utility companies responded?
Carl: In the 1980’s when I started practicing and learning skills that so many in my community had been convinced to discontinue, people definitely looked askance. To some my ambition seemed to be an affront to them, as if I knew better. My choices are not about improving on those made by others, so as I demonstrated my commitment of purpose, and respect for those who knew more than I, I gained the respect that was slim at first. Now, there are many people who are trying to make those first steps, and they are looking to us for guidance. In the broader community, as issues of culture, environment, and energy increase in importance, there are more people who, at the very least, have an appreciation for the work we have been doing. The Utility Companies??? They really don’t even know we exist. Since we are not grid-tied, we didn’t have to get permits from the Public Service Board. For a while after we built, the meter-reader drove up our drive looking for a meter. After three or four attempts without success, he quit.
Lisa: We completed building our home in 2004 and since then have been growing our outreach to the local community and beyond. So our ‘enterprise’ is relatively new - though Carl has been farming/managing the woodlot here for many years prior to our partnership. People are becoming more and more aware of us as Earthwise Farm and Forest. I don’t think that most people really get what we are doing, but when we make connections with people that are interested in our approach and lifestyle there is tremendous enthusiasm. Both Carl and I are involved in the community on many levels; as consultants doing our ‘off-farm’ work, on various boards and volunteering for numerous events. I don’t think many people realize we even have a farm within some of these circles.
- What advice do you have for people who are considering preparing themselves for the collapse of industrial society and who want to adopt a simpler, more self-sufficient lifestyle?
Carl: I am not in the advice business. We all have so many extenuating circumstances that may make my choices seem ridiculous to a lot of other people. However, I will encourage people to quiet themselves, and to find a path that provides them with a sense of calm and security. I feel that it is important to focus on the relationships that we must make with the Earth and other life-forms in order to survive. There is something called the “Lemming Effect”, where over-population and depleted resources lead to illness and neurosis, which then lead to wholesale chaos, where millions of these rodents run over cliffs and drown in the artic sea. My only advice is believe it, and step aside; those of us left will try another approach.
Lisa: I would encourage people to stay open to their ‘voice within’ - to listen to their calling and to find the people around them that they can learn from. If someone is drawn to a certain geographical area, I am certain that there will be individuals there who can be an example and a resource and possibly a mentor. It is a valuable skill to be able to network and learn from others and it is important to realize one’s own worth, ideas and individuality. Find your own truth and listen to your inner self for validation when you are walking your own path. The rest will fall into place.
September 13th, 2007
By Rowan Wolf
On August 20, 2007, I wrote a review of by Benjamin Orbach. Mr. Orbach graciously agreed to a follow-up interview. I believe it provides some good insights.
Interview with Benjamin Orbach
-Where are you now, and what are you doing? Do you plan to stay in the region? Are you doing any further writing, and if so what type?
I returned to the United States from Egypt four years ago, and spent three years in Washington D.C. at the State Department working at the Middle East Partnership Initiative (mepi.state.gov). My work entailed managing and designing democratic reform assistance programs in the Middle East and North Africa. In those three years, I traveled to 11 countries in the region and worked directly with Arab civil society to support programs that address the needs and priorities identified by the UN Arab Human Development reports. Currently, I live in Jerusalem, and still work for the State Department and for the Middle East Partnership Initiative, in fact, as the Coordinator for Palestinian programs.
I continue to write, mostly on my blog, “Live from …“. I blog about daily life here in Jerusalem as well as about my travels around Israel and the surrounding areas. My blog (like this interview) reflects my opinion only and not any sort of official USG position.
There has been some press about the Iraqi refugee situation in the news. Not much, but some. The reports are that over 4 million Iraqis have been displaced. About half of those in country, and half out of country. Reportedly, many of them have headed to Jordan. Is this accurate according to what you are seeing? How is Jordan receiving, and absorbing this population? How are the refugees perceived by Jordanians?
The last time I was in Jordan was in December of 2006, so it is difficult for me to offer a first person perspective on the latest involving the Iraqi refugee crisis. At that time, I was struck by how crowded the city seemed. Traffic was particularly bad. Friends told me that there were between 500,000 and 700,000 Iraqis living in Amman. I could hear Iraqi dialect being spoken in the streets and in stores, and random cabbies complained about how the Iraqis had increased the cost of living, especially as related to real estate. Several articles have been written about how Jordan got the rich Iraqi refugees and Syria got the poor ones.
As a result of the Iraq war, Jordan has seen an influx of different strangers: refugees from Iraq; foreign entrepreneurs, businessmen and AID workers; and also drifters with nefarious intentions. All of these newcomers — from the Iraqi children who need to go to school to the militants headed to Iraq — will have an impact on Jordan’s social fabric and dynamics It will be interesting to figure out, over the next couple of years where the Iraqis fit in. They are new outsiders, similar in some ways to the Palestinians who came to Jordan in the immigration waves of 1948, 1967, and 1991.
It is also somewhat reported that many of the women who have made it out of Iraq are widows with families, or separated from their husbands. The report is that the situation of these women (many with children) is dire, and that many are becoming sex workers to support their families. Is this accurate? Is there any Jordanian, religious, or NGO support for women and children? How are governments, international organizations, NGOs or religious charities there to assist these refugees?
I’ve read similar reports. There are various American, international, and grassroots NGOs that support refugees, including the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA). For details on their work, I’d recommend taking a look at the UNRWA website, or that of organizations like CARE, Catholic Relief Services, the International Red Cross, ANERA, CHF International, and JumpStart International, a smaller international NGO that focuses on this exact subject.
On a more general level, what is you take on the political and emotional nature of the region? Do people feel hopeful or resigned? Do they see peace in their future? Or do they feel that there will be ongoing instability and conflict? How do you read the political and religious forces at play, and how the people are responding/impacted by that?
When you take a look at the Middle East from afar, it looks bleak. Between the major crises of Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there seems to be a never-ending string of bad news stories emanating from Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria and other parts of the region involving political violence by Islamist movements or harsh behavior by authoritarian regimes.
Still, when you zoom in for a closer look, despite the macro problems, people continue to lead warm, full lives. Without a doubt, there are people who are frustrated by the lack of opportunities (political, economic, and social) and who seek to immigrate to Europe or America. At the same time, though, people in the region live lives surrounded by family and rich in cultural traditions. In my work and travels, I have the opportunity to meet a lot of young people who are striving to improve their communities and their countries. From afar, it is easy to overlook their efforts and aspirations. It is also easy to miss the salon and coffeehouse conversations, the Dabka dance performances, and the culture of hospitality that is the norm here. Saturday, for instance, I went to the Taiybeh Oktoberfest beer festival outside of Ramallah. Watching the nightly news and the lowlights from Gaza, there is no way that your average American could believe that such an event exists.
As you know, there has been ongoing pressure out of the Bush Administration, to “intervene” in Iran. It looks very much (from here) that there is a case being built to justify a “preemptive” strike on Iran. What is your perception of the threat (if any) that Iran poses to the region? In your opinion, how would such an act by the U.S. be received by the people? How do people feel about Iran, and its power in the region?
Regardless of the threat that Iran poses or potentially poses, it is hard to believe that the United States would enter another military engagement with our military bogged down in Iraq. From the standpoint of resources, management, or U.S. public opinion it doesn’t seem feasible.
Similarly, even though the Iranian government is perceived rather negatively in most places in the Middle East, U.S. military action against Iran would be widely condemned. People here want fewer wars and less violence. Many on the “Arab Street” blame foreign interventions for the existence of the dictatorial regimes that run their countries; they want fewer foreign interventions of this sort, not more. On the other hand, people look very favorably on foreign interventions that take the form of human development projects. If a U.S. president announced that he or she was diverting funds that would be used on a strike against Iran to build schools, hospitals, and roads throughout the region, and to resettle Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, he or she would be applauded in the streets.
One of the reported losses over the last five years has been the international credibility and “moral authority” of the United States. Do you think this is true?
I agree that we are not in a good place right now. The good news is that because of our history and our status in the world, people are still willing to give us a chance.
Along these lines, I think that everyday Americans have an important role to play in regaining our credibility through devoting their time, expertise, and charity to human development issues in the Middle East and North Africa. America’s “unofficial ambassadors,” i.e. world citizens representing America, can provide tools and trainings that create opportunities for young people and undercut the lure of extremism. Unofficial Ambassadors can be visiting scholars who teach their fields of knowledge; authors, artists and entertainers who inspire creativity; Peace Corps volunteers, Doctors without Borders and other professional do-gooders who contribute their efforts and expertise to meeting unmet human needs; and study-abroad students who embody openness and curiosity. All of these are examples of Americans who, while representing our country and our values well, deliver tools that enable people on the grass-roots level to bring about positive, gradual and homegrown changes within their societies.
The key to improving our standing is the delivery of tangible benefits and positive change. If we can’t achieve that change on the major policy questions of the day, than it becomes even more important that we help people reach their goals on the micro or individual level.
September 13th, 2007
By Rowan Wolf
On September 11, 2001 a series of horrendous events happened. Planes brought down two buildings of the World trade Center complex in New York City; the Pentagon was hit; and another crashed in a Pennsylvania field. It was a shock to the systems and psyches of the people of the United States and the world. It has been repeated more times than I can count the “world changed forever.” Personally, I think that is a grandiose claim, but it set in motion a series of decisions and events that continue to the present.
Bush reportedly “joked” after 9/11 that he had “hit the trifecta.” His choices after that event have ruined the lives of millions, and drug the United States into the dubious honor of being a rogue nation.
Six years after the crimes of 9/11/2001, we still have more unanswered questions than those that have been answered. We have a Constitution in tatters and the government engaging in illegal surveillance and detention of U.S. citizens and others. The U.S. stands in violation of a laundry list of breaches of international treaties and agreements. We have two nations in shambles - “bombed back to the stone ages.” We have tens of thousands of civilians dead in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have millions displaced - almost five million in Iraq alone. We have 3,776 U.S. troops dead (by Pentagon count), and at least 27,186 U.S. casualties. At least 122 U.S. service people have committed suicide.
All of this death and destruction, and there is no end in sight. General Petraeus (purportedly speaking independent of the White House) spoke of slow progress, but gave an expected up-beat report. Crocker (U.S. Ambassador to Iraq) was equally positive. Unfortunately, what I heard from their testimony was that by next summer the U.S. should have achieved a return to the conditions of the summer of 2006, which was worse than 2005, which was worse than 2004. In other words, this is not significant “progress.”
To add to the debacle, the world is now facing the fall of Musharraf in Pakistan. This is big news that is not being adequately discussed in the U.S. Musharraf has been an “ally” in the “war of terror” in Afghanistan. His ouster there would be very bad news for the U.S.. Meanwhile, the Taliban is increasingly presenting as the (re)emerging power in Afghanistan. On the other hand we have Bush and the neo-cons trying to manufacture legitimacy for a preemptive invasion of Iran.
Given the current lack of “progress” in Iraq, one has to wonder what “progress” is being pursued.
Somehow it seems to have been forgotten what BushCo. was looking for in invading Iraq. The neo-cons saw Iraq as a potential tabula rasa for a test tube experiment in unfettered capitalism. The resources of Iraq were owned and controlled by Iraq. The utilities and infrastructure were public. One of the first actions after overthrowing Hussein was to start on an across the board privatization of Iraq. This was particularly true of the petroleum resources of the country.
The Bush administration has repeatedly conflated unfettered capitalism with democracy. They have hammered home a meme that pre-dated them, but Iraq was and is the test case. Capitalism is not democracy, and in fact the two are in direct opposition to each other. Under capitalism, the only ones with real voice are those who control enough capital to have a voice. In the U.S. we have seen that the price tag on voice has gotten increasingly dear.
Many in the U.S. are beyond frustration with the Democrats for not making significant progress to resolve the situation in Iraq and bring the troops home. However, the Democrats are using the same yard stick of “progress” that Bush and the Republicans are - namely the private control of Iraq’s oil resources. They are apparently as heavily invested in the privatization of Iraq as Bush has been. However, neither the Iraqi people - nor the Iraqi parliament - are willing to sign over the wealth of the nation. Therefore, no “political” progress. Apparently U.S. “interests” are not served by Iraq controlling its own resources (or infrastructure). Of course, this is a simplistic analysis. A lot of money is being made by some on both endless war and keeping Iraq’s oil off the market.
One might ask if we (or anyone else) is safer now than we were before. By all reports, we are not, and the world is not. Al Qaeda seems to have more diverse and active elements now than before September 11, 2001. There is now an Al Qaeda Iraq that was never there before, and which is enacting violence against both “coalition” and Iraqi civilians. Possible “terror cells” seem to be active in Europe. Turkey is threatening to launch strikes against Kurds in northern Iraq. This would be an attack against Iraq and draw U.S. forces into a conflict with an ally - Turkey. There are rumors of a permanent U.S. base on the border with Iran. That is sure to be a point of contention. Jordan and Syria don’t know what to do with the 2 million plus Iraqi refugees, and the U.S. doesn’t seem to be offering much of a solution to that.
In the U.S., we have had a dramatic restriction/erosion of both Constitutional protections and civil rights. Tests of weapons getting past airport screening systems show big weaknesses in even that basic system. The Coast Guard has spent millions on ships that won’t float and are being decommissioned. Disaster response still seems to be a shambles.
So what do we have for all the cost paid by U.S. citizens, troops and their families, and people around the world? We have a highly intrusive (though apparently not particularly effective) “intelligence” apparatus. We have constructed a private contractor infrastructure that is not only expensive, but economically invested in continuing active war - forever. It has been suggested by more than a few that the massive diversion of resources into private contractors for military and intelligence purposes actually threatens the long - and short - term security of the nation. For example, 70% of the U.S. intelligence budget is going to private contractors.
Six years after September 11, 2001, we have a nation still largely in grief. We have added millions more to the casualty total of grievers - many now also looking for revenge. Revenge not against whoever was behind the events of 9/11/01, but against the United States.
Six years after September 11, 2001 what we do have is what might be expected when revenge is pursued rather than justice. Pain, death, grief and anger. Fear, reactionary decisions, and rhetoric aimed at factionalizing a nation. Our elected representatives need to step back from political and corporate interest and work on sane actions; healing actions; actions which move us all to a better place.
September 7th, 2007
By Rowan Wolf
The news from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is that we just lost another 50 years in the global warming catastrophe. The melt is accelerating beyond any projections, and the current amount of CO2 in the atmosphere will continue its impact for the next 20 to 30 years.”
(Picture courtesy of NOAA)
As depicted by a scientist interviewed by the Guardian:
Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University in Denver which released the figures, said: “It’s amazing. It’s simply fallen off a cliff and we’re still losing ice.” The Arctic has now lost about a third of its ice since satellite measurements began 30 years ago, and the rate of loss has accelerated sharply since 2002.
Dr Serreze said: “If you asked me a couple of years ago when the Arctic could lose all of its ice, then I would have said 2100, or 2070 maybe. But now I think that 2030 is a reasonable estimate. It seems that the Arctic is going to be a very different place within our lifetimes, and certainly within our children’s lifetimes.”
“Off a cliff” indeed.
To make matters worse, while warming and its effects have gone “off a cliff” over the last five years, the worse is yet to come. It is predicted that global warming will “set in with a vengeance after 2009.” “Natural forces” are currently partially offsetting the warming - according to the report. Guess they haven’t been in the southern U.S. or southern Europe.
According to the to NOAA, from 1979-2000 there was a 2.9% per year. That is a significant loss, and it is going to accelerate. I would help adopt a polar bear and try to keep it cool, but the whole ecosystem is at risk. From the phytoplankton to the polar bear the arctic ecosystem is at risk. Unfortunately, what happens at the arctic doesn’t stay at the arctic. The arctic is part of the global system (as are humans, but too many of us refuse to embrace that relationship).
The earth is in for a rough time, and all of her residents are as well. I hear though the cockroaches are pretty hardy.
September 7th, 2007
By Carolyn Baker of Speaking Truth to Power
Just recently I learned of Hazel Henderson and her latest book, Ethical Markets: Growing The Green Economy as well as Henderson’s Quality of Life Indicators which assess America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), not in the terms used by traditional economics, but in terms of qualities such as: education, income, employment, infrastructure, energy, national security, environment, public safety, health, recreation, human rights and shelter. A quality-of-life assessment of every indicator reveals that contrary to the macroeconomists, America’s GDP may be impressive and exceed that of any other nation, but its quality of life according to these indicators is mediocre, and in some cases, abysmal. Henderson also produces Ethical Markets TV which addresses these same issues and more and takes her message into the public television arena.
Ethical Markets is a wonderfully “feel-good” book because it illumines what is possible in the United States and in the world in terms of re-engineering our economic system into one that is authentically sustainable. However, I cannot digest the book in a vacuum unless I choose to ignore the current reality which is inimical to everything promoted by Henderson and the stories of the extraordinary people included in her book. Therefore, I must read and review the book not with an either/or perspective but rather a both/and outlook because many of the concepts enthusiastically presented in Ethical Markets are impossible to implement on a broad scale under the current paradigm. And in my opinion, the paradigm will not transform sufficiently in order to make widespread changes possible without the collapse of every American institution-which incidentally, we are now witnessing and most dramatically in terms of the world and national economy.
Henderson begins Ethical Markets by grouping the three main areas of change that she envisions in moving toward a green economy: 1) lifestyles of health and sustainability, 2) socially responsible investing, and 3) corporate social responsibility. All of these have meaning only when viewed in the context of quality of life as the fundamental definition of success.
That said, Henderson follows her chapter on Redefining Success with a hard-hitting demand for Global Corporate Citizenship, for it is the corporation after all, that has behaved most egregiously, not only against consumers, but especially against the environment. The crux of Henderson’s argument is that “Corporations can be good citizens-and provide good financial returns. Hundreds of studies now show that companies do well by doing good.” (36) Her chapter on global corporate citizenship is replete with stories and photos of CEO’s and other corporate players who are remaking their industries by requiring that their companies behave responsibly toward consumers and toward the planet.
Yet, neither GDP nor quality of life can be accurately assessed without inclusion of the Unpaid “Love” Economy” of housewives and other uncompensated providers of goods and services. This “hidden” economy is a crucial factor in times of an economic depression or currency crisis such as the one experienced in Argentina in 2001 and in the U.S. during the Great Depression when banks collapsed and people “remember that they can create their own local ’scrip’ currencies, barter clubs, flea markets, and community credit-systems to keep local exchange and production humming.” (45)
It is at this point in the book that we begin to catch the flavor of relocalization and the transition from global to local that is pivotal in transforming the current economic system into one that serves human beings and the environment. For example, Henderson refers to Riane Eisler who believes that “economics is basically about what we value, and we must value the work of caring and care giving and develop caring policies.” In the current system of empire, the most effective milieu for accomplishing this is at the local level.
Edgar Cahn, founder of the Time Dollar Institute which has devised a local system of time/work exchange, says that in this system “You put in an hour, you get an hour’s credit then you can spend it to get help for yourself or your family or you can give that time credit to someone else who needs it more.” One result of this arrangement is the rebuilding of a sense of extended family in the communities where the system is utilized.
Ithaca Hours is another scheme implemented in upstate New York. It is essentially a barter program which is currency-based rather than time-based. At its inception each person who wanted to participate received $20 worth of money for free for joining and after that the Ithaca Hours newspaper shopping directory of offerings grew slowly, but soon businesses began accepting the program, and Ithaca Hours became a successful program because it kept money in the community a little longer than other money. The program helps build community by getting people talking to each other and in some cases enables them to get interest-free loans, mortgages, and healthcare. While traditional economists still disparage bartering as “primitive”, we now have the world’s largest garage sale online, ebay, which demonstrates how the mainstream economy can be bypassed.
Another section of the book highlights green building projects constructed with sustainable, environmentally-friendly products, as well as the proliferation of companies, such as the Fairmont Hotel chain, which uses organic cleaning products instead of the usual toxic cleaning products and encourages its Washington, D.C. employees by subsidizing their use of public transportation rather than driving their cars to work.
In a chapter on investing in one’s local community, the Business Alliance For Local Living Economies (BALLE) is highlighted as an example of how sustainable local economies can be created and maintained. Countering the global economy, BALLE works with local communities to provide products such as coffee and chocolate which cannot normally be obtained locally. “…it’s not about buying everything local. It’s about buying everything in a way that supports a local community where that project originates; in other words, paying fair trade prices.” (77) TransFair USA is an organization that certifies companies and products that meet the international Fair Trade standards and audits the entire global supply chain. Henderson lists the principles of Sustainable World Trade as:
- Adherence to all United Nations principles, treaties
- A well-regulated transparent, democratic global financial architecture
- Ending corruption
- Ending relocation practices based on tax holidays
- Calculating all traded goods and negotiations in full-cost prices
- Truly level playing fields on subsidies
- Connecting GDP per capita based economic growth measures: Rio de Janeiro in Agenda 21 (1992)
- Correcting stock and bond markets evaluations (101)
Although fully acknowledging the reality of Peak Oil, Ethical Markets, while offering a number of energy conservation guidelines, does not mention the fact that no amount of conservation or technological innovation can be implemented in time to avoid a massive global energy crisis. Nor does Henderson mention the suppression of alternative energy technology during the past 60 years or the fact that globalization will be reversed by Peak Oil alongside the global economic catastrophe whose storm clouds we now see gathering.
A fascinating chapter on the Transformation Of Work proposes practical strategies for implementing ever-shorter work weeks which allow workers to enjoy the arts, sports, self-improvement, learning new skills, and having more time for travel and vacations, ultimately creating a whole new economy. Three concepts make this possible: 1) A guaranteed minimum income for all 2) guaranteed jobs, 3) employee stock ownership plans. A genuine “ownership society”, not the one proposed by George W. Bush, is possible-a form of ownership benefiting the working and middle classes, not the ruling elite.
“Clean Food” is a chapter that illuminates the machinations of agribusiness and its intention to own and dominate world food supplies. Alternative food production and education endeavors such as Rodale Press and Institute, Forestrade, Inc., the Clif Bar company, and others are models for the creation of non-toxic food products and supplements. Yet once again, because so many formerly “healthy” food companies such as Ben and Jerry’s, Horizon Organics, and Boca Foods have been purchased by corporate giants, it is relocalization and local food security programs that are more likely to ensure the proliferation of clean food.
Especially helpful at the end of the “Clean Food” chapter is Frances Moore Lappe’s “Ten Actions For Just Food And For A Just World”:
- Enjoy food fresh from the [local] farm
- Vote your values with your dollar
- Eat a sustainable and whole-foods diet
- Support fair trade products and workers’ rights
- Transform the buying power of your community, ie. Bringing fresh, local, organic foods into your schools, hospitals, etc.
- Create brand-free zones
- Get a diverse media diet
- Get involved with issues that matter to you
- Host a teach-in, study group, or gathering in your area around any cause you choose [But what about one that educates the citizens of your area about food?]
- Vote [And to this I must add that the local level may be the only venue where legitimate, non-fraudulent elections still exist. I cannot concur with Lappe on the importance of voting in federal elections where the likelihood of fraudulent, computerized election tampering is rampant. See Bev Harris’s documentary “Hacking Democracy“.]
Fortunately, Ethical Markets is not a book for “white people”. Its pages are filled with stories of Hispanic, African American, Native American, Asian, and Middle Eastern women and men who are working to transform the global economy into more localized, community-based endeavors that seek to expand and enhance genuine prosperity, produce safe and healthy products and services, and remake the capitalist system. In terms of ethical investment, the Calvert Group was the leading mutual fund to divest from companies doing business with South Africa during apartheid.
For those interested in socially responsible investing, Henderson offers an entire chapter which along with Catherine Austin Fitts series on “Socially Responsible Investing” is an invaluable resource for individuals who are looking for profitable yet ethical investment opportunities.
In summary, Ethical Markets is a must-read for anyone committed to relocalized powering down and creating sustainable economics. Nevertheless, I must interject some concerns. The first is that Henderson does not clearly or adequately address the levels of greed, fraud, and corruption that pervade corporate America, nor does she explain the corporatocracy-that is the enmeshment of government with corporations which makes it virtually impossible to distinguish where one ends and the other begins. , this is the fundamental definition of fascism. Failure to do so may foster hope where it is not fully warranted because when one understands the symbiosis of government and corporations, not to mention the legal precedent of “corporate personhood” which evolved from 1886 until the present, one can easily grasps that the inevitable outcome is government being conducted as a criminal enterprise in concert with organized crime. (See “Godfather Government: A Way of Life Is Not A Scandal” which I wrote in 2007 and “Godfather Government: The Sopranos Aren’t Leaving” in 2006.)
And, as stated above, I believe that since all institutions are in a state of collapse in juxtaposition with Peak Oil, global economic meltdown, and climate chaos, activism which does not take into account the conjunction of these phenomena alongside a government that has morphed into a police state and continues to do so daily in front of our very eyes-such activism can only operate myopically. Rather, I believe that current events overwhelmingly indicate that an economic catastrophe on the order of or exceeding the severity of the Great Depression is unfolding rapidly which may result in the collapse of many of the remarkable enterprises documented in Ethical Markets. At the same time, the opportunity exists for all of those enterprises to rebirth or re-invent themselves on a local level both in the throes of collapse and post-collapse. The latter, in my opinion, is the ultimate value of Ethical Markets-a blueprint of sorts for how we might survive and create localized economic opportunity in a post-petroleum, post-paper currency world.
For Hazel Henderson’s commentary on current issues, see her September update. Her articles may be downloaded at Ethical Markets TV, and the book may be ordered at Calvert-Henderson website.
September 5th, 2007
BY Joel S. Hirschhorn author of Delusional Democracy and Friends of the Article V Convention
Many technical analyses cast doubt on the official explanation of the collapse of three World Trade Center buildings, including those presented by an impressive new group: Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. More difficult than discovering the truth, however, is convincing most of the public to accept the bitter truth.
Americans easily block out painful truths. Powerful societal forces keep much of the population distracted and uninterested in complex issues. Entertainment-oriented mainstream media contribute to mass ignorance. And the political establishment often buries the truth, uses propaganda and manipulates citizens. Intelligent, strong-willed people can fight all these.
But on a deeper level, many truths are blocked psychologically, because they produce too much pain. This results when truths sharply disagree with strongly held beliefs. The conflict produces cognitive dissonance that can block full acceptance of the disturbing truth. People fall victim to self-manipulation and self-delusion. Truths are dismissed and false beliefs remain embedded.
When it comes to 9/11, we face the strong belief that only Al-Qaeda caused 9/11. But analyses by many experts reveal the collapse of three WTC buildings was not caused by the two airplanes exploding into the two towers. Without getting into details that one can spend many hours examining on a number of websites, the general view is that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition.
If correct - IF - the immediate reaction is like a cosmic big bang. It would have taken considerable effort by a number of people with expertise and access to the buildings to rig them so that they could be intentionally collapsed when the two jets hit the towers. Tough questions flood in: Who could have engineered all this? Could foreign agents accomplish such complex actions - and if they did, why not take credit for it? If Americans did it, why would they intentionally inflict inevitable mass death and devastation? Worse, they seemingly knew about the plan to fly the jets into the towers.
Post-9/11, why have the government and official investigations not come to the same controlled demolition conclusion? This might be explained if the government was involved.
Pull one string and the whole 9/11 story unravels as your imagination triggers unending questions. Can Americans support a reinvestigation and rethinking of the 9/11 event? Or would they rather avoid even more pain and preserve the official account that places all blame on Al-Qaeda? So easy to criticize those who offer different explanations as conspiracy nuts.
After all, the new truth would be so shocking that we would have to question our political and government system. Could there have been such malevolence somewhere in our government? Did a monumental conspiracy push us into attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq? Did petroleum and corporate interests shape 9/11?
Like other groups, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth wants a new, honest and comprehensive study that considers all the evidence for controlled demolition. First, let the technical truth emerge. Then, if necessary, cope with the inevitable political, conspiracy and other questions. But let us not allow a possible painful truth block the primary task of determining once and for all what caused the collapse of the WTC towers and building no. 7.
If there were non-Muslim forces - possibly U.S. government ones - that played a major role in the WTC catastrophe, then let us have the courage to face the truth. Suppose some element of our government played a secret, awful role. If we do not uncover it, then we are vulnerable to repeat nefarious and unimaginable activity in the future - possibly to impact the 2008 presidential election. Discovering 9/11 truth would enshrine the wisdom of the old adage: the truth hurts. That means suffering the pain of revealing lies and cover-ups. Mourning over the deaths of building victims and heroic first responders would expand with new anger. And another reason to hate and oppose the Iraq war would surface.
If those that believe the official 9/11 story - especially elected officials - trust their views, then let them support a serious investigation to test the validity of the controlled demolition hypothesis. If they fear and reject doing so, then let us see that as suspicious and unacceptable.
As a former engineering professor with growing skepticism about the official WTC story, I joined Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth; you can learn about the controlled demolition findings and other similar truth-seeking efforts at www.ae911truth.org. You choose: seek the truth yourself or take the easy way and just criticize those who question the official story.
To sum up, horrific possible answers can cause us to shun a question. But clearing our minds of fears of painful truths is essential to clearing our nation of destructive lies. Otherwise, we stay stuck in a delusional democracy.
September 3rd, 2007
By: Carolyn Baker of Speaking Truth To Power
We have only begun to see the reverberations of the mortgage meltdown. They will be as sweeping and mindboggling as global warming or an earthquake measuring 10 on the Richter scale.
I’m an historian, not an economist, so anything about economics-macro, micro-whatever, has been as foreign to me for most of my adult life as soil samples from Mars. But several years ago I had an epiphany that shattered my then-left-liberal/progressive world. I awakened from decades of delusion that I could adequately grasp world and national events without understanding the essential nature of how money works in the capitalist economy in which I live. I realized that until I acquired that understanding, all of the other subjects I preferred to talk about-war, social justice, race, gender, environment, energy depletion, civil liberties, globalization, and many more were inextricably connected with the financial machinations of the imperial beast within whose belly I reside. Today, I do not claim for one moment to be an authority on economic issues, but I have studied the works of some folks who are, such as Catherine Austin Fitts, Michael Panzner, Michael Hudson, John Crudele, Paul Grignon, and Hazel Henderson.
From them I have learned to more skillfully read the tea leaves of the current economic upheaval that is brewing within the United States and is now rippling into the global financial markets. Furthermore, I have realized that my government and the economy of the United States is being run as a criminal syndicate, and that the most useful way to understand the subprime mortgage meltdown and its implications was to familiarize myself with the economics of Tony Soprano, that infamous main character of the HBO TV series “The Sopranos”, Mr. King of New Jersey “waste management” and proprietor of the Bada Bing.
On Friday morning I opened an email from a friend who sent me an article by an old “leftie” I’ve admired since my college days, historian Gabriel Kolko, entitled “The Predicted Financial Storm Has Arrived.” Writing about the subprime mortgage crisis, Kolko noted that, “What the subprime market did was unleash a far greater maelstrom involving banks in Germany, France, Asia, and throughout the world, calling into question much of the world financial system as it has developed over the past decade.” After explaining the international ramifications of the crisis, Kolko concludes:
We are at an end of an era, living through the worst financial panic in many decades. Now begins global financial instability. It is impossible to speculate how long today’s turmoil will last-but there now exists an uncertainty and lack of confidence that has been unparalleled since the 1930s-and this ignorance and fear is itself a crucial factor. The moment of reckoning for bankers and bosses has arrived. What is very clear is that losses are massive and the entire developed world is now experiencing the worst economic crisis since 1945, one in which troubles in one nation compound those in others.
But later that day, President Bush stepped up to the cameras and declared that the U.S. government would provide assistance to borrowers in the U.S. who had been hit by the subprime crisis. Knowing full well that anything this government promises in the way of “relief” or “assistance” is almost guaranteed to be as “helpful” and “assisting” as that which it provided New Orleans in the throes of Katrina, I wanted to put this so-called bail out under the microscope and comprehend its actual substance.
You Mean This Didn’t “Just Happen?”
I started with Catherine Austin Fitts’s statement on her Solari site that “As we work to mitigate investment losses in the mortgage market and the harm done to communities through the fraudulent inducement of debt, we are well served to understand what has happened, who is benefiting, and why.” And what is fraudulent inducement? Nothing more or less than inducing people who cannot pay their debts to borrow huge sums of money. The subprime crisis has now revealed the myriad “creative” methods used by lenders to make this happen. Tony Soprano would not only be proud of them, but would promote them.
In a CNN Money article “Mortgage Meltdown: Here Come The Judgments” from August 21, a California real estate attorney speaking about the many lawsuits that are resulting from the mortgage meltdown, stated that “Most claims will be against mortgage brokers for putting them into loans where they shouldn’t have been.” A property law professor at the University of California added that “…overly exuberant brokers and loan officers told clients not to worry about concerns like their ARMs (adjustable rate mortgage) resetting; they could always refinance and, anyway, interest rates were bound to fall.” The end result, of course, has been millions of people with houses, which as one Florida real estate law attorney stated, they can’t refinance, they can’t sell, and they can’t afford. For many of those borrowers, class action suits are the only way they can find some sort of remedy for their nightmare.
I was now getting clearer on what fraudulent inducement really means and the tragic ramifications for borrowers victimized by it. None of this, obviously, “just happened.” Or as Fitts asserts:
Recently, we have seen numerous press accounts of bank and hedge fund losses from sub-prime mortgages. Remarkably, these reports imply that the losses are the result of a market downturn or contracting credit cycle. But there has been no mention of the extraordinary profits that were generated or who reaped them. There is no mention of who is poised to make a fortune on the bubble collapse. Even the most sophisticated commentators of our day are describing this financial coup d’etat as the unintentional consequence of “market forces”.
But how exactly did this work? And how exactly does the “bail out” serve the interests of lenders, not borrowers?
My research has led me to conclude that the bail out will unfold in the following manner:
The Federal Reserve is lending money-that is, digital entries into accounts payable to hedge funds based on worthless mortgages, meaning that the these funds can borrow money cheaply in ways that will enable them to make huge profits. This is essentially a back-door subsidy from the Fed. At the same time, the Fed is most likely pumping credit into the market to pull it up because while feigning calm and cool, the Fed is terrified about the markets tanking. As Steven Weisman wrote in the New York Times on August 31, “Despite the assertion that affecting the markets is not the goal, one administration official said concern about Wall Street’s reaction did affect the timing of the briefing. He said there was a fear that if the White House announced in the morning that Mr. Bush would be making an announcement on housing, there could be confusion as buyers and sellers of mortgage securities guessed what the announcement would be.” As a result of Bush’s announcement, of course, the markets spiked.
Or perhaps it wasn’t just as a result of the bogus “bail out.” After all, John Crudele has been writing profusely about the Wall St. Plunge Protection team, euphemistically referred to as the President’s Working Group On Financial Markets which was established on March 18, 1988 by Executive Order 12631. In a June 8, 2006 New York Post article, Crudele stated:
Back during a stock market crisis in 1989, a guy named Robert Heller - who had just left the Federal Reserve Board - suggested that the government rig the stock market in times of dire emergency. ….. Proposed as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, it’s a seminal argument that says when a crisis occurs on Wall Street “instead of flooding the entire economy with liquidity, and thereby increasing the danger of inflation, the Fed could support the stock market directly by buying market averages in the futures market, thus stabilizing the market as a whole.” Had Heller been any other schmoe who writes op-ed pieces for The Journal this would have been long forgotten. But he had served for three years as a governor at the Fed and this proposal had the look of a trial balloon since stocks had just fallen sharply on Oct. 13, 1989, and memories of the 1987 crash were still fresh. Over the next few years people like me … suspected that Heller’s plan was indeed in effect. Whenever the stock market was in trouble someone seemed to ride to the rescue. Often it was a Wall Street firm that seemed more courageous than fiscally responsible. Often it appeared to be Goldman Sachs, which just happens to be where Paulson and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin worked. …For a while I thought something called the Currency Stabilization Fund - which actually exists at the U.S. Treasury but is meant for currency stability - was the slush fund used for this venture. I was told by people who claimed to know that this part of the theory wasn’t so.
WWTSD? (What would Tony Soprano do?)
The Bush bail out means that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will refinance mortgages in trouble, but this put borrowers in debt-yet again. In addition, it’s important to understand that the FHA has two funds: The General Fund and the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund which provides insurance for single family homes. Essentially, what the bail out will do is create a huge pool of mortgages guaranteed by the FHA into a Ginny Mae pool which will end up bailing out, not borrowers, but mortgage brokers! Investors from hedge and other funds, will buy these so-called mortgage-backed securities, guaranteed by FHA, but they are in fact worthless, resulting in both borrowers and investors being defrauded. For example, a mortgage banker may have 100 mortgages which are worthless, and he puts them into a pool and issues securities tied to those pools and sells them to investors in Europe and Asia. Former FHA Housing Commissioner, Catherine Austin Fitts, has written extensively on the fraudulent behavior of FHA which put her at odds with the agency and ultimately led to her departure. Apparently, the FHA leopard has not changed its spots in the slightest.
Basically, what we have is a scenario comprised of three players: the borrower, the middleman (mortgage lenders), and the investor. The middle man is fraudulently inducing borrowers to borrow, and investors to invest, but the bail out helps no one except the fraudsters.
Or as Michael Panzner, author of Financial Armageddon writes:
Even assuming that some troubled borrowers manage to hang on, the truth is that enabling more of the same kind of bad behavior that got people in trouble in the first place will only make matters worse.
The hair of the dog that bit them isn’t a cure. It merely delays the moment of reckoning.
In reality, guaranteeing loans for homeowners who can’t afford the payments, encouraging mortgage-holders to hang on until they’ve been bled dry, and giving false hope to those who would be better off cutting their losses really only benefits one group: The lenders.
Commenting on “the greedy global financiers”, The London Observer’s Will Hutton states: “Little people’s taxes are underwriting the mistakes of big people, who in the process have made riches beyond the dreams of avarice. Globalisation, it is now clear, is run in the interests of a global financial class which has Western governments in its thrall.”
Calling the mortgage meltdown exactly what it is, theft, Hutton continues:
The last few days have seen some recovery in the financial markets and some hopes for a return to normality, but what does normal mean? The system that has delivered hundreds of billions of dollars of written-off loans with a global impact can hardly carry on as if nothing has happened. The banks at the epicentre of the crisis should go bust and heads should roll. The hedge funds which bought the debt, traded it and sold it on to banks globally should also be allowed to go bust and be subjected to much closer surveillance and regulation….
Instead, most central banks and governments across the West are straining every muscle to limit the fall-out, assure banks and hedge funds that there is limitless public money on tap and that governments’ first aim is to get back to ‘normal’. The explanation is obvious. The Western financial system is too important to be allowed to implode; credit is any economic system’s life-blood and if the supply lines get gummed up because of a collapse of confidence and severely punctured balance sheets, everybody suffers. Quite right, but at least we can be careful in future about the terms on which supportive cash and potential bail-outs are made, as well as drawing larger conclusions about the nature of the implicit contract between finance and society.
The last thing borrowers need is more debt! Instead of a refinancing arrangement, the borrower needs a higher income and lower expenses which will allow him/her to pay down debt and improve his/her skills.
In the current George W. Bush-Tony Soprano scheme, every time a corporate player commits fraud, he gets to keep the profits, and borrowers have to pay an inflation tax as a result. Eventually, this results in the fraudsters owning more and more of the nation and world economy until they own it all. Money is simply printed out of thin air to bail out the fraudsters which causes all of our expenses to rise because we don’t have the rigged income to hedge those costs as the fraudsters do.
One of the key fraudsters for more than a decade has been Goldman Sachs which not only fraudulently induced a plethora of borrowers and investors, but promoted the outsourcing of millions of jobs during the Clinton administration so that lucrative jobs that could have employed borrowers and enabled them to pay off their mortgages were moved offshore. Goldman Sachs has given us three Secretaries Of the Treasury in the past 15 years: Robert Rubin (Clinton Administration), Steve Friedman (Clinton) and Henry Paulson (Bush II)
It appears that the primary fraudsters are New York Federal Reserve member banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and AIG (American International Group) which has also been deeply connected with drug trafficking and money laundering. These are also the same players involved in the housing bubble of the 1980s and other scandals and such as Enron, World Com, and the shady Harvard Endowment Fund.
In his August 7 blog, Charles Hugh Smith asks “Is the USA a Giant Enron?” noting that our financial system is based on cooked books, lies and deceptions such as: Bogus inflation numbers; unemployment statistics manipulated downward; a GDP back-adjusted every quarter; balances sheets of corporations, pension funds, and government agencies massively understating liabilities and egregiously overstating assets and future earnings; and visible, laughable lies from the mouths of top officials, all spoken with a straight face.
Economist Peter Schiff forecasts that:
“Issued by government agencies, interpreted by spokespersons for the Government and the financial community … the information we get has been manipulated to mould a public understanding favourable to the agenda of the powers that be.” Schiff’s prediction of economic doom has everything to do with the US mortgage and housing meltdown, a prophecy he made in the book before the latest market turmoil.
“The collapse of consumer spending, associated with higher mortgage payments and vanishing home equity, will plunge the economy into severe recession, further exacerbating the collapse in real estate prices, worsening the recession and continuing the vicious cycle,” he says.
We have only begun to see the reverberations of the mortgage meltdown. They will be as sweeping and mindboggling as global warming or an earthquake measuring 10 on the Richter scale. Tony Soprano economics aren’t necessarily noisy, but they are gargantuan in their reach and ramifications. Global economic meltdown, initiated by the ruling elite of the United States with full knowledge of omnipresent, pervasive global resource depletion-or as some have called it “Peak Everything”, will obliterate the American middle class and result in the ownership of the planet by a voracious ruling elite.
Tony’s predecessor said it best decades before Tony was even a twinkle in his father’s eye:
Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.
Al Capone
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