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The short film “The American Dream” was put on YouTube recently (by its creators) after being sold online in DVD format. You can still buy the DVD online and I would encourage everyone to own a copy.
The animation is about the Federal Reserve, the origination of money and fiat currency, and the evils of the collusion between central banks and governments. These subjects usually put people to sleep but presented in this 30 minute film they are actually pretty entertaining. Personally, my favorite part is the Andrew Jackson scene, in the second half of the video.
In order for South Carolinians to regain their independence we are going to have to break free of the central banking regime known as the federal reserve system. One way to do this, as we’ve already covered, is to nullify all legal tender laws, allowing free trade in competing currencies, a competition in which the ever-inflated federal reserve note would stand no chance.
If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, or if you’d just like to be entertained for a half hour, check this video out. Caution: realizing you are nothing but a debt slave is very shocking, so be prepared.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Three years ago when I began studying the gold market, the fair market value of gold was $680/oz and seemed to change dramatically each day. I watched gold jump up 20 points, then drop 10; jump 40, then drop 15. I picked up a book called Gold: The Once and Future Money and scanned the internet looking for ideas, trends, and insider information. (By the way, the best site I have ever found for daily market research is at usagold.com, and no I don’t get paid anything to say that.) I became fascinated in what drove the market and studied how news affected its value.
More than a year after I started I met with a private investor seeking a solid investment to park a few thousand dollars; she had heard about the prospect of gold over bonds, CDs, or other such paper assets, so I shared what I knew over lunch. At the time, something just wasn’t right. There was mass speculation all over the internet about the banking failures, international exchange rates, inflation, and the price of oil. Something big was about to happen in the gold market, and those of us who keep up with it every day knew it.
I shared this with her and she decided to go ahead and make the move. By now the clock read nearly 3 p.m. and it seemed too late in the day to go through the trouble of locking in on the day’s market price. “First thing tomorrow morning,” we decided; we would make it happen then. Well, the next morning some news had beat me to the punch: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bankrupted! The market started the day at $780/oz and within an hour gold was pushing $800. I watched the price go out of control as the next bombshell hit the news: FDIC was almost out of money; they were nearly bankrupt also! It wasn’t until gold hit $840/oz that I locked her in at the day’s price, and it closed the day at $860/oz. Since then, of course, gold has continued to climb (it’s now at $1,230/oz not a bad gain since our buy-in), but missing the day’s 10% market gain would have been icing on the cake.
Nevertheless, the following quotes I found in a Business Week’s Website article, and I want you to notice any psychologically-driven propaganda here [brackets added for my comments]:
But even if gold keeps rising [it will]—a prospect very difficult to predict, given the metal’s volatile track record [like Wall Street's??]—there are several features of gold that make it treacherous for individual investors, financial advisers say [wow, treacherous huh?].
Gold might have a reputation as a “safe haven,” but nothing could be further from the truth [I beg to differ], says Susan C. Elser, of Elser Financial Planning in Indianapolis [oh wait...she gets paid on commissions of selling paper assets, not hard assets]. Unlike other commodities, gold has few industrial uses [exactly! That's why we use gold (as opposed to other medals) for money]. Unlike businesses owned through the stock market, gold earns no profits and doesn’t pay out dividends [it doesn't LOSE value either; fundamentally, gold ALWAYS holds its buying power value]. Unlike bonds, no one pays interest to holders of gold [this is NEVER a reason to buy gold anyway]. And, unlike insured bank deposits, there is no guarantee of your principal investment [umm...but there is security in Wall Street and the FDIC that almost went bankrupt a year and a half ago?].
“There is no downside protection on investing in gold,” Elser says. [THANK GOD!!! AT LEAST WE HAVE SOMETHING!!!!]
…
Gold used to be the backing for currencies, but no longer [don't worry, it will be again]. Now “it really is only a store of value because people say it’s a store of value, [...exactly, do go on.]” says Ken Eaton, principal at Stepp & Rothwell, a financial planning firm in Overland Park, Kan. [Oh wait, he gets paid from selling paper assets too...] That can lead to extreme volatility, which financial planners cite as one of gold’s biggest downsides. [*scratches head* Wait ... stocks, bonds, and mutual funds have not been EXTREMELY volatile???]
Gold is just one part of a diverse portfolio, she says, with a portfolio allocation often kept to 5 percent, though “you could argue for a higher percentage.” [STOP THE PRESSES! Portfolios should have minimum 10% and up to 30% diversification in precious metals depending upon how confident you feel in the dollar.] A small gold holding is typically recommended even by financial planners, like Eaton, who are skeptical of buying gold now [remember, he doesn't get paid when people buy gold]. Gold is one sliver of commodity holdings that make up 2.5 percent to 5 percent of his clients’ portfolios, Eaton says. [Our Founding Fathers would disapprove.]
Consider this:
The Federal Government’s budget for next year and every year thereafter pushes the $4 Trillion mark – they have no intention of cutting back – and they can barely pay the 1/2% interest on the debt they have now.
The Chinese Yuan (pronounced yoo-ahn) is expected to unpeg from the dollar sometime in the next month so the exchange rate can be properly adjusted by the natural market correction. Since early last year they locked the exchange rate on the IMF at 6.82:$1, and since then we have seen the dollar spiral out of control while the Chinese economy has grown steadily; some experts predict a gain against the dollar of up to 6% during this time. While that doesn’t seem like much, consider how many things are imported from China. As the exchange rates tighten, the cost of goods will increase as well.
Many businesses who are barely making payroll now may be forced to close shop if they do not raise their prices, and may have no other choice anyway. Currency investors across the world will likely convert a substantial portion of their dollar holdings into Yuan to earn on the initial adjustment. This makes every other currency less attractive and shifts money directly into foreign markets to fuel their economies.
Not for nothing, I still think gold is a good buy and will be the only saving grace of America’s economy when the Federal Government collapses. I don’t believe in the dollar, because I don’t believe in the government and few people are buying gold these days for the growth. Gold is not a short term investment, it is something you buy and plan on holding for years to come: People are buying gold so they will have REAL money when it all falls down.
For now, heed the wisdom of, “Buy the book before you buy the investment.” Before investing in anything, educate yourself accordingly.
Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve and one of the most powerful men on this planet, is unfortunately from our beloved State. And he is returning to South Carolina to speak at graduation ceremonies at USC. What can “Helicopter Ben” possibly instruct the graduates on – how to counterfeit money? Or maybe he can give them pointers on how to steal money from ordinary folks and give it to giant, government-connected corporations? I guess the possibilities abound for Mr. Bernanke’s speach.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke… will be among the speakers for graduation ceremonies at the University of South Carolina… Bernanke grew up in Dillon and was named Fed chairman in 2006. He began his second term in February.
Here is Ron Paul’s reaction when Time awarded Bernanke “Man of the Year”. Paul asserted that it is the system, not necessarily Bernanke, which is evil. But I still think “Most evil man in the world” is appropriate when talking about someone who has done such economic harm to so many millions of people.
Have you ever taken a moment to step back and reflect on your life, your career, and your finances, only to see an image in your head that looks something like this?
Well, it’s no accident that you are in this condition. In fact, it is the deliberate intention of the federal government to get as many of us into that scenario as possible. The reason they want to do this is so that they can have an unlimited amount of money to spend through debt financing of the budget, using us as the collateral and the income stream to make their payments to their debtors.
Now of course it is more complicated than that, and so I recommend reading some books about the Federal Reserve and the progressive Income Tax to get some background on these topics. I’d recommend anything by Murray Rothbard as a good starting point. The point to take home is that the Federal Reserve can invent as much money as it wants, private banks are supported by this influx of assets and fractional reserve banking, and the US government is financed through debt, not taxes.
It is very simple however to prove my logical conclusion that the U.S. Empire is purposefully creating debt slaves to finance its operations and to further control our daily lives. The process revolves around two main engines: taxation and banking. Most people think we live in a Capitalist system with free markets and free individuals. That just isn’t true, by any definition of the word Capitalism.
First off, let’s look at taxation.
I’m a visual thinker and it’s easier to get the point across through an illustration, so let’s consider the plight of a hard working new American family: let’s say it’s a freshly married couple, both college grads, somewhere in their mid 20′s. If their annual household income is $70,000, this is what their federal taxes would look like:
Now my numbers may be off here but I think they’re accurate. Even if I am wrong, I’m still doing better than the IRS.
Anyway, I’m actually giving the feds a break with this tax sheet. In reality they also collect a federal gas tax, embedded corporate income taxes that affect the price of everything, and a host of other hidden taxes put in place to play favorites within industries. It takes years of law school and private practice to figure all of those out though, so I figured I’d stick to the basics. One item of note in this list that most people don’t realize is that your employer, in addition to withholding from your paycheck, also has to pay the federal government a matching amount of taxes for medicare and social security, so that’s 7.65% of your paycheck that could be yours if the government wasn’t taking it from your employer.
OK, back to our young married couple, just starting out in life. Here’s a chart illustrating what their income looks like after the federal government has taken their cut:
So, it’s about a 60/40 relationship, and this doesn’t include hidden federal taxes or any of the state and local taxes and fees. Our young couple is left with about $40,000 to fund their living expenses, including rent, car payments, student loans, groceries, utilities, etc. Like most young couples, they have high hopes for the future, so they save up what little they have left, let’s say $5000 a year. They plan to use that for things like a down payment on a house or a new car, or expenses related to having children.
Let’s compare that to the world where the federal government didn’t exist, and a state government adhered to the rules of capitalism (no income taxes, for one.) What would their pie look like after that?
What a difference! Obviously we are making two big assumptions here: 1) despite the economic prosperity guaranteed with capitalism, their income has remained the same, and 2) without the government stealing 40% of their money they would have the discipline to keep their expenses to pre-freedom levels. I’d say those two cancel each other out.
Even so, the next phase of creating debt slaves is abundantly clear: banking. You see, under capitalism, you would be able to keep your capital, and our young couple would have about $33,000 a year to spend on things like children, a house, cars, etc. They would have no need for banks. You can get a really nice car for $33,000, especially one made with non-union labor here in the South.
Back here in reality though, they don’t have that money. They are now forced to either do without, or to go into debt. Let’s say this young family takes their meager savings and makes a down payment on a house. They’re going to be in debt for about 30 years so they have to get a house that will hold the children they plan to have. When it’s all said and done, now they have a big monthly payment and even less to set aside as savings. They could have just paid for a house outright in cash if they were left alone to be free after just a few years of savings, but now they are basically indentured servants to the bank so they can have a roof over their heads.
The same thing applies to any other purchase: cars, medical expenses, the cost of having children, etc. Everything they do is tight and they have to stretch their money, and for what? It’s simple: the federal government taxes us so that we won’t have our own capital, so that we have to use debt financing so that the banks will get richer, so that the banks will continue to funnel money into the federal government, so that the federal government can continue to spend and grow its empire. The U.S. gets the privilege of the use of force to make this all happen. You are therefore a slave, because you are paying the debt of the government against your will. Try not paying your taxes, or not paying your mortgage, and see what happens. You may think that slavery is an inappropriate term here, but please tell me: just how much of your life does the government control before you are a slave? Think about it.
What’s worse, and what’s really insidious about the whole thing, is that people could also use their capital as investment. Imagine an economy where you don’t have to shoot to the top or make some miraculous move in order to have capital to use for starting a business, investing in a company, inventing a new product, etc. We hear the stories about the businessmen who conquered all odds and took extraordinary risks and became wildly successful, but what about the opportunity costs of all of those other would-be entrepreneurs that are stuck in a cubicle somewhere? What innovations are we lacking today because those individuals didn’t have the flexibility to try something new?
The U.S. Government doesn’t care. In fact, they don’t want us making such progress, because then we might not need them any more. Well I contend that we don’t need them now, and we must secede to be free.
