Who Can You Trust?

Ron Paul Explains His Plan For Monetary Freedom And Returning To The Gold Standard

Americans, Listen to the Ruling Elite... Give Up Your Wealth for Nothing by Michael S. Rozeff

Mr. Rozeff, writing in LewRockwell.com, states that:

Preventing this or any region from being used as a base for terror is not a vital U.S. security interest...   

This strategy is so important and such an important component of U.S. policy that I give it a name. I call is the Denial of Region or DOR strategy. 

Denial of Region or DOR is a central feature of the anti-terror strategy that has guided American policy in both the Bush and Obama administrations...  the DOR strategy hasn’t succeeded. 

Why has the DOR strategy not met with success in Afghanistan?  

If the DOR strategy that the U.S. follows doesn’t diminish terrorism and actually enhances it, and if it destabilizes whole countries and regions, isn’t that enough to cast this doctrine aside? 

There is one more thing, and that is the outlandish cost of it. Afghanistan alone has cost over $0.5 trillion in cash plus the many killed and wounded and it’s not over yet.Let’s shed some light on how wasteful this spending is. The Oklahoma City bombing took 168 lives. Wrongful death settlements vary in America, but suppose we use $10 million. This is a generous figure. Then the monetary compensation to survivors if these were wrongful death claims comes to $10 million x 168 = $1.7 billion. But the war in Afghanistan has already claimed 1,400 lives and over 15,000 injured and, on top of that, cost 328 times $1.7 billion! 

In other words, ask yourself if the war in Afghanistan has prevented the equivalent of 328 Oklahoma City bombings, not even counting the 1,400 dead? 

To my way of thinking, the Afghanistan war is all cost and no benefit. 

Ask yourself how much good or how much safety American could have purchased here at home for the $557 billion spent in Afghanistan?

Decline and Fall?

Yup, says Jeff Berwick.

Americans get tazed, pepper sprayed, beaten and caged on a regular basis, they are beginning to realize that the land of the free and home of the brave was a catchy jingle from centuries ago. It is now the land of the fee, home of the slave.

Let the Sucker Go Down

Gary North on the one way to handle Big Banks, Big Governments, Big Debts.

The ECB [European Central Bank] does not want hyperinflation or a Great Depression. The alternative is the transfer of capital to PIIGS [countries with very high sovereign debts] on a long-term basis. The states will absorb the savings of the region.

Those who made the risky bets have diverted the risk to others: taxpayers or the general public who holds currency. The gains from the bets are private, and theirs to keep, but all the losses are distributed to the public via government bailouts or money-printing. 

The first shifts the losses to the taxpayer, and the second shifts the losses to everyone holding the currency being devalued.  Smith describes what has been done to voters by the bankers by way of the politicians. There is nothing new here. It goes back to Walter Bagehot's description of "moral hazard" in the mid-nineteenth century.

MORAL HAZARD, put another way, is the approach (lobbying, fuzzy accounting, etc.) of corporations to keep most of their profits when the getting is good, but "socialize" the losses when sales and asset prices go south.

US Military Troops and Bases Around the World

Note the white areas where the US Military has YET to gain "influence".  For those that are geographically inept, that means countries like Iran. 

Map will be updated monthly.  Libya soon to be red, or at least tinkled pink...

New poll shows 4-way tie in Iowa as Ron Paul moves to top tier - - CBS News

NBC reports that:

The Iowa caucuses are just seven weeks away, but Republican voters in the nation's first presidential nominating state seem as torn as ever over the GOP field.A new Bloomberg poll of likely caucus participants shows a four-way tie in Iowa, with Rep. Ron Paul joining Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain in the top tier of candidates. Underscoring the uncertainty in the race, 60 percent of respondents said they could be persuaded to back someone other than their first choice for the nomination.

Reasons Why Dr. Ron Paul Should Not Be President by Bill Fangio

Bill Fangio writes:

"If it is the case that elected officials reflect the desires of the voters then we are in a world of hurt. Andy Cobb and the Partisans recently appeared at a rally carrying a sign that read, Obama is a Keynesian. Many were outraged and took Cobb to task for suggesting that President Obama was from Kenya. And, there is the American electorate for you – they don't know the difference between a country and an economic system.

These same people populate the comment strings whenever there is a news story regarding Dr. Ron Paul for President. Here are some of their reasons why Paul should not be President."

Republican Party Candidates in Four-Way Dead Heat - Bloomberg

"Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are in a dead heat as the top choices for Iowans likely to attend the Jan. 3 Republican presidential caucuses."

Ron Paul on MSNBC Morning Joe - 11/3/11: Fed is finally ‘on the defensive’

Key Quote from Ron Paul:

"It's [US Economy] not a budget problem, but a philosophy problem."

Newt Gingrich, book-shilling faux candidate, surges - Salon.com

"In last night's [November 9th, 2011] hallucinatory GOP presidential debate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich did his usual blustery free-associative word-barrage routine that for years convinced numerous reporters and pundits that he was somehow an intellectual statesman. The highlight was probably when Gingrich was asked what he'd done to earn his consulting firm a $300,000 contract from Freddie Mac. Gingrich insisted the money was for history lectures. That is not really the case."

two words: kettle. black.

did he really just use the words "spoiled" and "more economic sanctions" in the same sentence? ya, he kinda did.

Ron Paul Still Top Tier; Some Ponder a Third-Party Bid

"Despite an utter lack of fair coverage in the mainstream media, Texas Congressman Ron Paul continues to hold his own in the race for the GOP primary. In fact, Paul may be doing even better than some are aware. According to a survey conducted by Real Clear Politics, Ron Paul is the only other GOP presidential contender besides frontrunner Mitt Romney to have a chance at defeating President Obama in a 2012 presidential race."

CNN Defends the Fed – Calls Ron Paul Economically Illiterate

From the Daily Bell:

Dominant Social Theme: When it comes to economics, Ron Paul doesn't know what he's talking about.

Free-Market Analysis: So here comes Dr. Michael Salemi to defend central banking from Ron Paul. And where does his defense appear? On CNN, of course, the pre-eminent US media mouthpiece for the Anglosphere power elite.The more CNN sinks in the ratings, the more support it gets. It's kind of the anti-news channel in this regard or perhaps the media's most prominent example of the Peter Principal (outside of AOL, another elite-controlled outfit). CNN is constantly failing upward, along with CIA-trained Anderson Cooper.

Nov 2, 2011 Ain't no Chairs Bob Moriarty 321gold ...s ...inc

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty110211.html

Here are the facts. There is $195 trillion dollars of debt in the world but only $150 trillion in assets. That assumes there isn't trillions more of debt hidden in the $600 trillion in derivatives. I suspect the debt may be far higher than anyone anticipates today.
The debt cannot be paid, even if the entire load is dumped like bales of hay onto the backs of the taxpaying camels. The debt must be written off and governments, like corporations and families, must learn to live within their budgets. We cannot float in a sea of debt attached to an anchor of unpaid obligations.
No one in the United States has done the math on the obligations the Federal Reserve dumped on the backs of Americans since 2008 else they would be carrying pitchforks and hot tubs of tar to the local OWS rally. If you assume 330 million Americans and $16 trillion in loans from the Fed, that is $48,000 and change per every American. Will that ever be paid back? No.
I made the comment years ago that the $600 trillion in derivatives is like a game of musical chairs in a giant casino with people playing with Monopoly money. Well, the music stopped in September of 2008 and there ain't no chairs.
The world economy is in a minefield where each day another unforeseen mine explodes. The Dexia Bank, Belgium's largest, which passed the fake stress tests with the highest ratings, crashed a few weeks ago. I cannot help but be reminded of the failure of the Credit-Anstalt Bank of Austria that crashed in May of 1931 and led to a series of cascading bank failures and eventually to a total shutdown of all US banks in March of 1933.
I'm going to crawl out on a limb and suggest that 2012 is going to go down in history as the year of the bank failures. Every bank in the United States has been underwater since 2008 and the only reason the doors remain open is a mob psychosis insisting the King is indeed clothed. Well, he ain't and the banks will collapse.

Ron Paul on his Faith in Jesus Christ - YouTube

Lew Rockwell: The Day of Reckoning Is Coming

The Day of Reckoning Is Coming
Despite the universal blindness of the masses, says Gary North.

In contrast to the Keynesian worldview is Austrian School economic theory, which argues that there is no center. There is decentralized capital in the broadest sense: money, tools, skills, and vision. The absence of any center is the basis of creativity and growth, including job growth.

Lew Rockwell: A Warmonger and a Liar

A Warmonger and a Liar
Justin Raimondo on Herman Cain.

While the Weinering of Herman Cain continues apace, the electorate is still trying to figure out what he stands for – aside from "nine-nine-nine" and not being Mitt Romney. Since the President of the United States has more control over foreign policy than domestic affairs, one is naturally curious about his stance when it comes to the question of war and peace – and yet hisself-professed ignorance on the subject has simply added to the suspicion that the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza isn't quite ready for prime time. 

In reality, however, Cain does indeed have some very strong views when it comes to America's overseas commitments: he just doesn't want to call too much attention to them, for reasons that should become obvious as we explore his publicly available writings on the subject.Thanks to the Daily Caller, which has compiled the foreign policy related aspects of columns written by Cain over the years, we can get a glimpse inside the mind of Herman Cain, the warmonger. This characterization is confirmed by his comment that the "war on terrorism" is a conflict that "will be fought forever." Not even George W. Bush, nor even the most wigged-out neocon, was willing to concede that: according to the most pessimistic scenarios, the conflict was projected as taking place over an entire generation. This is considerably less than forever – but you have to give Cain points for his honesty, if nothing else.

The Terrifying Tale of Currency Creation