1653: Twigs

i dont know if either of ya'll will see this, but maybe part of your being criticized for your israel/palestine position is that ya'll label everyone who supports palestinian liberation as jew haters and clueless virtue signallers. its clear neither of you understand the issue so maybe stop fucking lumping everyone with the idiots who only support the current thing.

[Boeing CEO Resigns in Leadership Revamp, Stock Surges 2% in Pre-market Trading (msn.com)](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/boeing-ceo-resigns-in-leadership-revamp-stock-surges-2-in-pre-market-trading/ar-BB1kxwh5)

[Steven M. Mollenkopf (boeing.com)](https://www.boeing.com/company/bios/steven-m-mollenkopf-bio)

I wanted to share some “boots on the ground” speculation with you and NoAgenda nation.

The attached article references the newly minted Boing Chairmen Steve Mollenkopf.

I know Steve, from my years at Qualcomm. Steve had in many ways and unbelievable rise to from a engineering product manager to eventually CEO and Chairman of the Board of Qualcomm. Along the way, he ousted the Qualcomm Founder and CEO and Chairman (Irwin Jacobs) and his son (Paul) – also former CEO and Chairman of Qualcomm. For someone who experienced this transition first hand, and knows personally each of these players, I can tell you this was nothing less than STUNNING.

It is also noteworthy that as Broadcomm ([Timeline: Broadcom-Qualcomm saga comes to an abrupt end | Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1GQ22N/)) (a Chinese owned tech company) attempted a hostile takeover of Qualcomm (which was blocked by the U.S. Federal Government) – Mollenkopf was heavily involved in these activities.

So why is the above relevant. There were always rumors at the Q that Steve was some sort of spook. Of course, these were from reasonably reliable sources – and I was an insider too - but I could never verify any of this speculation – and even today whether Steve is a spook remains just that - speculative.

The above noted, along with the incredibly implausible events at Qualcomm (I still can’t believe the Jacobs where ousted that way), the FEDS intervention on Broadcomm, and now Steve’s rise within Boeing, raise a lot of eyebrows from my view. (at least mine)

Assuming his background is intelligence, and now being installed on top of Boeing … expect some changes in Boeings favor headed their way :>)

// somewhat interesting opinion by a someone on Steve

[ANSI-ANAB Member Qualcomm Steve Mollenkopf Named Independent Board Chair-At Boeing- (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFVPY48bQgE)

Don’t be surprised if Steve ends up as the next CEO of Boeing.

I have been a professional pilot for 30 years both helicopter and airplanes. I think you and John got so close but so far away from why Boeing is in the crosshairs of the m5m and government. I am certain it is because the South Carolina plant is non union. Dems want “good paying union jobs”.

For people, not on the industry, the kinds of problems reported of Boeing happen to every manufacture (except maybe the door plug blowing out). When I flew for an airline they had an engine cowling (not a Boeing product) fall off in flight landing in someone’s back yard.

I fly private now and things fail. I picked up a brand new mid-sized business jet from the factory and we had 5 AOG (aircraft on ground, which is used to prioritize part delivery because the plane can’t fly without getting fixed) in one year. I know of a plane that came out of a service center with a bolt in the emergency exit door, making it unusable.

Stuff happens. Aircraft are much more complicated than cars. They go through tremendous temperatures changes every flight and have forces applied to them from every direction.

Don’t get me started on helicopters.

Sir Viper 515

The 787 was an attempt to Off Shore parts to be assembled in the US. The reason, lower cost and bypass the union dominated Pacific Northwest assembly team. To get the parts cheaper, International fabrication operations would tool wings and fuselages all to be "Lego"-ed together. To avoid the costly PNW unionized and senior assemblers, the South Carolina factory was built. Get Hillbillies to assemble the Legos coming in from all over the world. The Hillbillies lacked two advantages. Carbon fiber parts cannot be easily retooled. Usually senior engineers are the ones that "Prevent" safety problems, of which there were few in South Carolina. Even manufacturing automobiles, the problems usually don't show up until many months after. The Pinto for example. Most Airliners have carriers that do their maintenance and can usually clean up on acceptance the problems that were numerous...as long as those carriers did their own acceptance. Coincident with the poor assembly was the off shoring of carrier maintenance. Today much of the expertise is offshore in China or Latin America. Something about acceptance of an aircraft is done better with guys who constantly maintain that same jet. All those guys lost their job when maintenance went off shore.

The reason Boeing is taking the heat comes a lot from the anti-union, anti-American contracting they have done over the last many years. Takes a while, but the $hit eventually hits the "turbine".

Hey Adam,

Very minor correction: the preferred nomenclature is “Defense Industrial Base” (vs Military Industrial Base) – pronounced “dibb”. That’s what you’ll hear across DoD land anytime someone is talking about handing out contracts, as in “strengthening the defense industrial base”…

RC

Hey Adam,

While listening to the last show you played the Leonard Nimoy clip from the 70's and the CBS clip from the 80's. Something I caught while listening to the contrast of the 2 clips was in the Nimoy he states scientists have seen the temperature decrease over the last 30 years and Rather says in his clip scientists have seen the temperature increase over the last 40 years.

Both of those clips cover the same time frame approximately. How in the Wide Wide World of Science can that be true!?!? Somebody got some 'splaining to do!!

Check it out and see if I misheard something, I listened to the segment twice and was amazed how blatant it was but no challenge it back then.

Thanks for the Show

Shawn N Smith

Baron of Belmont and the Catawba River Basin

ITM gentlemen -

I am just a humble NA listener in Brazil.

I've donated small amounts in the past, when exchange rate was better (with the left in the power it has been more and more complex). Apologies for not being an active doner.

John, the note is long just so I can try at least to give some background to it.

I understand that Brazil is dealing with a complex context caused by the Supreme Court. It probably won't get much view outside Brazil, I guess due to the media being pretty much bought by the money. Supreme court in Brazil basically has employed a censorship on anyone that say or post anything against the current president. This is not new and started in 2019, where anyone more aligned towards to the right with a good number of followers in social network was/is under a constant watch and if they say/post/record/replicate anything that to the eyes of supreme court would not like they would arbitrary request the profiles to be banned and demonetized without following the proper laws and right to defend.

Like Adam I have not much appreciation towards Elon Musk. However, he is doing a favour for Brazil (I am sure with second intentions).

Over the past couple of weeks, he has been being disclosing on “X” the supreme court orders for blocking and banning profiles. Supreme court in Brazil fought back with threats on X and thru some channels I could not understand the attached document was disclosed last night.

Long and alarming document that might be worth to review for the show. The document can be found here, grab before the supreme court decides to shut down the server too:

[https://static.poder360.com.br/2024/04/comissao-camara-eua-relatorio-x-moraes-stf-17abr2024.pdf](https://static.poder360.com.br/2024/04/comissao-camara-eua-relatorio-x-moraes-stf-17abr2024.pdf)

Me being a Brazilian with my humble observations we are witnessing and living all the surveillance and censorship you gentlemen has alerted for years.

TYFYC

Hey Adam,

Long-term douchebag here. But I'm going to instaknight soon—just busy finishing up a Ph.D. in American history and that means I'm poor for a season.

Regarding the church and state business (and I could write you an essay when I have a second to cross my I's and dot my T's), the founding fathers were concerned about religious sectarianism being a divisive issue for the young republic when they passed the Constitution. They were trying to hold the country together and avoid religious differences between Protestant sects (among other divisions like slavery). _But_ they were all _very insistent_ that religion was _essential_ to maintaining a self-governing republic.

Washington's farewell address being a case in point (excuse his tendentious phrasing, he was not of the twitter generation, but his address is key):

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

The founders didn't want a particular sect governing the nation. But the founders all thought that religion (protestantism, in particular, despite many of them being deists) was an essential internal and social governing mechanism for the republic's virtue without which _the whole thing wouldn't work._ They found atheists _anathema_ to the republican (small R) project in that their oaths (before a divine creator) meant nothing. _Fear of God_ was no small thing in making an upright citizenship to them in this new American thing.

Which is to say, the founders found religion essential and the idea of separation of church and state was an attempt to diffuse internal tensions between sects _without denying the essential idea_ that religion (Christianity) was _key_ to the American thing working among free citizens.

This all gets obfuscated by the goofy mainstream discourse.

For what that's worth

Best,

@Kurt_Steiner (twitter)

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Archived Version

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 17:19

Officials are sounding the alarm over skyhigh rates of Adderall prescriptions - warning that abuse of the drug could lead to the next opioid-esque epidemic.

A Drug Enforcement Administration chief compared the influx of new prescriptions and high risk of abuse to that of opioids in the early to mid-2000s.

The drugs have been linked to insomnia, anxiety, seizures, hallucinations and psychosis - and there is some evidence they may raise the risk of heart disease.

Matthew Strait, deputy assistant administrator in the diversion control division at the DEA, said: 'I'm not trying to be a doomsday-er here... It makes me feel like we're at the precipice of our next drug crisis in the United States.'

Prescriptions exploded during the pandemic with the rise of telehealth firms - with prescriptions jumping from 35.5 million in 2019 to 45 million last year.

Elijah Hanson (pictured), 21, died by suicide in June. He had suffered mental health issues for years. His family said that a recent Adderall prescription he obtained through Cerebral played a role in his death

The CDC graph shows the percent of children with a parent-reported ADHD diagnosis. One in seven boys now have attention-deficit hyperactive disorder in the US. For boys and girls aged five to 17 combined, the prevelance was 11.3 percent, or roughly one in 10

The DEA is working on new safeguards for over prescriptions of the controlled substance, which will affect how much of the drug is manufactured and how many people can access it.

The opioid epidemic in the US has killed roughly 600,000 people, and the effects are still being felt today despite prescriptions being tightened. Many experts believe the fentanyl crisis was fueled by patients addicted to opioids who had their prescription meds cut.

Deaths due to Adderall use alone are uncommon, and it's typically involved with other fatal substances such as heroin which can lead to overdose.

But the drug, which is a stimulant similar to methamphetamine and cocaine, is highly addictive and people sometimes turn to street versions, which may contain even more harmful substances.

The above shows the number of prescriptions for Adderall given to age groups by year. It shows under-21s (light green), 22 to 44 year olds (light blue) and over-45s (dark blue)

During the pandemic, when millions of Americans were trapped in isolation in an effort to stave off infection, telehealth firms like Cerebral flourished, offering people a lifeline when they couldn't otherwise see their normal doctors.

But Cerebral, which requires users to be 18, and others have come under sharp scrutiny for what investigators have deemed overly liberal diagnoses of ADHD.

Over diagnosis is a problem because it leads to overtreatment.

Arrive Health, a health technology company based in Denver, Colorado, estimates that ADHD drugs now makes up 2.3 per cent of all prescriptions written in the US.

This is more than double the figure from January 2020 - just before the pandemic started - when the drug made up just one per cent of scripts.

David Goodman, a psychiatrist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Bloomberg: 'The crisis, if you will, is not in the prescription of the medication.

'The crisis is in the accuracy of the diagnosis.'

In the US, an estimated 6.1 million children and adolescents have been diagnosed with ADHD, compared with around 3.3 million in the EU.

Overprescribing has had disastrous consequences. For example, Elijah Hanson, 21, was found dead by his family on the kitchen floor in Tacoma, Washington, on June 25 after filming himself playing Russian Roulette with a loaded handgun.

He had been abusing Adderall in the months leading up to his death, having been able to secure a prescription online by lying to telehealth providers - even though he had previously suffered from other mental health issues.

There currently are no standards for diagnosing adults with ADHD, though specialists have been working for about two years to establish them, according to the Wall Street Journal.

ADHD affects adults, though it is commonly diagnosed in children, who are also prone to overprescription and overdiagnosis.

An estimated one in four US teens at some schools are abusing prescription stimulants such as Adderall, according to research from the NIH.

Meanwhile, the CDC reported that the percent of children with a parent-reported ADHD diagnosis has increased steadily over time.

The agency found 14.5 percent of American boys have the developmental problem linked to poor concentration '-- up from just under ten percent in 2000.

One in seven boys now have attention-deficit hyperactive disorder in the US. For boys and girls aged five to 17 combined, the prevelance was 11.3 percent, or roughly one in 10.

A major report in 2021 found that the diagnosis of ADHD has increased worldwide since the 1980s, yet there was no corresponding increase in ADHD symptoms during that time.

Dr Luise Kazda, a researcher at the University of Sydney involved in the study, said: 'Children now, on average in the population, are just as symptomatic as they were 20''30 years ago,' she said.

'So there hasn't been this huge increase in all these children being now hyperactive or inattentive; that's really remained very steady.'

The paper concluded there was 'convincing evidence' of ADHD overdiagnosis and overtreatment in children and adolescents.

Overprescribing is what kicked the opioid epidemic into high gear. It arose from the pharmaceutical company-peddled messaging that pain is another vital sign that must be addressed by doctors and should always be treated to the best of their ability. That included prescribing painkillers.

In the mid-2000s, opioids flooded cities big and small. In Cabell County, West Virginia, which was once dubbed the 'epicenter' of the epidemic. Drug wholesalers AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson shipped roughly 81 million highly addictive opioid pills to pharmacies in Huntington, located in the county.

Overprescribing gave way to an explosion in heroin use on the streets, followed by much cheaper fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has permeated the drug supply and snuck into other drugs like heroin and Xanax, drastically increasing the odds that a person will overdose and die.

The amount of fentanyl that could prove fatal could fit on the tip of a pencil, and it's about 100 times more potent than morphine.

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Archived Version

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 17:15

Kenya's defence chief and nine other top brass died on Thursday in a military helicopter crash in a remote area of the country, President William Ruto said.

Issued on: 18/04/2024 - 19:52

3 min

"Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident... I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of General Francis Omondi Ogolla, the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces (CDF)," Ruto told reporters.

The president, who had convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council after news of the accident emerged, said nine other "gallant military personnel" on board were also killed while two survived.

Ogolla, 61, a trained fighter pilot, had only been in the post a year.

Ruto said the Kenya Air Force had dispatched an investigation team to establish the cause of the crash, which took place in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.

Ogolla's helicopter went down shortly after takeoff from the village of Chesegon, where he and his entourage had been visiting a school after making stops in other areas to see Kenyan troops and other sites.

'Distinguished four-star general' Ruto announced three days of mourning from Friday, with official flags to fly at half mast.

The bodies of the victims, draped in Kenyan flags, were returned to Nairobi on an air force plane late Thursday, according to images shared by the presidency.

"A distinguished four-star general has fallen in the course of duty and service of the country," Ruto said.

"Our motherland has lost one of her most valiant generals, gallant officers, service men and women."

Kenyan media reports said this was the fifth military chopper crash in 12 months, with claims the aircraft were old and poorly maintained.

Ruto said Ogolla had left Nairobi on Thursday morning on a "Huey" helicopter to visit troops in the North Rift area deployed as part of Operation Maliza Uhalifu (Operation End Crime in Swalihi), and other sites.

Kenyan authorities have long battled insecurity in the North Rift region, with armed bandits and cattle rustlers rampant.

The Bell UH-1B helicopter, nicknamed the "Huey," was developed in the 1950s and widely used by the US military during the Vietnam War.

'Significant loss to the nation' "The helicopter burst into flames after crashing and it had more than 10 senior commanders on board including General Ogolla," a police officer had told AFP earlier.

"They were in the area on a security mission because there are KDF (Kenya Defence Forces) soldiers deployed in the region," he added.

Ogolla was appointed Chief of the Defence Forces by Ruto in April last year after a near two-year stint as deputy.

Under Kenyan military regulations, the defence chief normally retires at 62 or after four years in the post, whichever comes first.

Ruto told journalists last May that he appointed Ogolla despite him being among those who tried to overturn his narrow election win against opposition leader Raila Odinga in 2022.

"When I looked at his CV, he was the best person to be (a) general," Ruto said, adding his decision went against the wishes of many people.

Ogolla joined the KDF in April 1984, rising through the ranks to command the Kenyan Air Force in 2018, a post he held for three years.

Ruto's predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta said Ogolla's death was a "significant loss to the nation".

"The CDF was not only an accomplished military leader, but also a devoted patriot who dedicated his life to serving and protecting our beloved country."

Workneh Gebeyehu, secretary general of the regional grouping IGAD, sent his condolences in a message on X.

"This loss is not only felt by Kenya but also by the entire region," he added.

(AFP)

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Archived Version

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 16:45

The number of vaccines given to babies and children has increased dramatically without the necessary due diligence by regulatory authorities. Parents are urged to adopt a common-sense, 'Safer to Wait'' approach.

Growing international concerns about vaccine regulatory processes and vaccine safety have emerged following the widespread regulatory failure of Covid-19 vaccines. The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated that regulatory bodies, once public watchdogs, are now at best incompetent and at worst have been deeply corrupted by pharmaceutical industry interests.

In the context of emerging revelations of regulatory body incompetence and corruption, e.g. The Perseus Report, the WCH Health and Science Committee notes that:

Several research studies now indicate that vaccinated children have far worse health outcomes with higher rates of many chronic diseases than non-vaccinated children.The integrity of scientific research and the regulatory process of childhood vaccines, including the new nasal 'flu' vaccine, now being administered en masse in schools is in question.Pharmaceutical corporations have a long-standing history of misrepresenting products that cause injuries and deaths. Pfizer, for instance, has paid the largest criminal settlement in history for drug fraud. The childhood vaccination schedule provides these unscrupulous corporations with unregulated access to the bodies of our children.Modern society is experiencing unprecedented rates of autism, asthma, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity, depression and more, for which the root cause/s have not been established.Much of what we have been told about the success of early vaccines, including smallpox and polio vaccines is emerging as untrue. Clean water, modern plumbing, hygiene, refrigeration, and improved nutrition are real factors that have correlated with the dramatic reduction in many infectious diseases over the past century.National regulatory agencies have never done the necessary evaluation to determine whether vaccines given to children alone or together according to the ever-expanding childhood vaccination schedules are associated with poor health outcomes compared with children who are not vaccinated.National regulatory agencies have been turning a blind eye to the mounting evidence linking childhood vaccination with autism that has emerged since a possible link was first suggested in 1998.National regulatory agencies have also been turning a blind eye to the mounting evidence linking childhood vaccination with other diseases, including asthma, allergies, bowel disease.The vast majority of children find vaccination with needles painful and long-term psychological harms, including disruption to breastfeeding and maternal bonding, have not been properly evaluated.There are serious concerns among experts that existing childhood vaccines will be converted to mRNA technology, which has never been proven safe for use in vaccines for adults let alone children, and that this will be done without public awareness, consent and a robust research and regulatory process.With regard to Covid-19 vaccination, evidence from independent experts and official international databases show that the Covid-19 vaccines are not effective and are not safe, raising serious questions around the authorisation of the Covid-19 vaccines for babies and children.In addition to these specific considerations, the burgeoning vaccination schedule for children needs to be viewed in the context of the following supranational developments in global health policy:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its private and state stakeholders have financial and ideological interests in the provision of vaccines and has committed to providing 500 vaccines by 2030.The WHO and its stakeholders are working for the pharmaceutical industry and creating legislation that would give them the power to mandate injections by force for you and your children.The WHO supports gain-of-function research, facilitating the creation of dangerous pathogens as well as the vaccines to combat newly created pathogens, thus creating a self-perpetuating vaccine industry based on fear.In the current circumstances, the World Council for Health urges parents to consider childhood vaccination very carefully and adopt a common-sense, ''Safer to Wait'' approach to the vaccination of your boys and girls.

Don't fall for the vaccine fearmongering and guilt-provoking propaganda.For the sake of all children and a healthy society it is time that we question our blind faith in vaccines, the corporations that produce them, and the regulatory bodies and supranational organisations that enable and profit directly or indirectly through their authorisation.

The World Council for Health will continue to bring you supportive information and resources to help you optimize your family's health naturally. Be assured that reducing infectious disease and maximizing your children's health is rooted in wholesome nutrition, good physical and mental hygiene, a healthy outdoor lifestyle and your unconditional love.

References:

WCH meeting #101, August 28th 2023. https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/multimedia/brian-hooker-vax-unvax/Anthony R. Mawson et al., ''Preterm Birth, Vaccination and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Study of 6- to 12-Year-Old Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Children,'' Journal of Translational Science 3, no. 3 (2017): 1-8, doi:10.15761/JTS.1000187. Anthony R. Mawson, et al., ''Pilot Comparative Study on the Health of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated 6 to 12-year-old U.S. Children,'' Journal of Translational Science 3, no. 3 (2017): 1-12, doi:10.15761/JTS.1000186. Brian Hooker and Neil Z. Miller, ''Analysis of Health Outcomes in Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Children: Developmental Delays, Asthma, Ear Infections and Gastrointestinal Disorders,'' SAGE Open Medicine 8, (2020): 2050312120925344, doi:10.1177/2050312120925344.Brian Hooker and Neil Z. Miller, ''Health Effects in Vaccinated versus Unvaccinated Children,'' Journal of Translational Science 7, (2021): 1-11, doi:10.15761/JTS.1000459. James Lyons-Weiler and Paul Thomas, ''Relative Incidence of Office Visits and Cumulative Rates of Billed Diagnoses along the Axis of Vaccination,'' International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 22 (2020): 8674, doi:10.3390/ijerph17228674.Wakefield AJ, et al. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet. 1998. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0.Turtles All The Way Down. Vaccine Science and Myth. 2022. Editor: Zoey O'Toole. Foreword by Mary Holland.Kirsch S.If vaccines don't cause autism, then how do you explain all this evidence? May 2023.Vax-Unvax. Let the Science Speak. August 2023. Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Brian Hooker, PhD.Countering the WHO's ''Big Catch-up'' Global Campaign and Immunization Agenda 2030. WCH Statement. May 12, 2023.Rejecting Monopoly Power over Global Public Health. WCH Policy Brief. May 2023.We are a people-powered platform for world health representing 190+ coalition partners in more than 49 countries.

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Archived Version

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 11:43

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American futurist (1922''1983)

Herman Kahn (February 15, 1922 '' July 7, 1983) was an American physicist and a founding member of the Hudson Institute, regarded as one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theorist while employed at the RAND Corporation. He analyzed the likely consequences of nuclear war and recommended ways to improve survivability during the Cold War. Kahn posited the idea of a "winnable" nuclear exchange in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War for which he was one of the historical inspirations for the title character of Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy film satire Dr. Strangelove.[1] In his commentary for Fail Safe, director Sidney Lumet remarked that the Professor Groeteschele character is also based on Herman Kahn.[2]Kahn's theories contributed to the development of the nuclear strategy of the United States.

Early life and education [ edit ] Kahn was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Yetta (n(C)e Koslowsky) and Abraham Kahn, a tailor.[3] His parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. He was raised in the Bronx, then in Los Angeles following his parents' divorce.[4] Raised Jewish, he later became an atheist.[5] Kahn graduated from Fairfax High School in 1940 and served in the United States Army during the Burma campaign in World War II in a non-combat capacity as a telephone lineman.[6] He received a Bachelor of Science at UCLA and briefly attended Caltech to pursue a doctorate before dropping out with a Master of Science due to financial constraints.[7] He joined the RAND Corporation as a mathematician after being recruited by fellow physicist Samuel Cohen.[8]

Cold War theories [ edit ] Kahn's major contributions were the several strategies he developed during the Cold War to contemplate "the unthinkable" '' namely, nuclear warfare '' by using applications of game theory. Kahn is often cited (with Pierre Wack) as a father of scenario planning.[9]

Kahn argued for deterrence and believed that if the Soviet Union believed that the United States had a second strike capability then it would offer greater deterrence, which he wrote in his paper titled "The Nature and Feasibility of War and Deterrence".[10]

The bases of his work were systems theory and game theory as applied to economics and military strategy. Kahn argued that for deterrence to succeed, the Soviet Union had to be convinced that the United States had second-strike capability in order to leave the Politburo in no doubt that even a perfectly coordinated massive attack would guarantee a measure of retaliation that would leave them devastated as well:

At the minimum, an adequate deterrent for the United States must provide an objective basis for a Soviet calculation that would persuade them that, no matter how skillful or ingenious they were, an attack on the United States would lead to a very high risk if not certainty of large-scale destruction to Soviet civil society and military forces.[11]

In 1962, Kahn published a 16-step escalation ladder. By 1965 he had developed this into a 44-step ladder.[12]

Ostensible CrisisPolitical, Economic and Diplomatic GesturesSolemn and Formal DeclarationsHardening of Positions '' Confrontation of WillsShow of ForceSignificant Mobilization"Legal" Harassment '' RetortionsHarassing Acts of ViolenceDramatic Military ConfrontationsProvocative Breaking off of Diplomatic RelationsSuper-Ready StatusLarge Conventional War (or Actions)Large Compound EscalationDeclaration of Limited Conventional WarBarely Nuclear WarNuclear "Ultimatums"Limited Evacuations (20%)Spectacular Show or Demonstration of Force"Justifiable" Counterforce Attack"Peaceful" World-Wide Embargo or BlockadeLocal Nuclear War '' ExemplaryDeclaration of Limited Nuclear WarLocal Nuclear War '' MilitaryUnusual, Provocative and Significant CountermeasuresEvacuation (70%)Demonstration Attack on Zone of InteriorExemplary Attack on MilitaryExemplary Attacks Against PropertyExemplary Attacks on PopulationComplete Evacuation (95%)Reciprocal ReprisalsFormal Declaration of "General" WarSlow-Motion Counter-"Property" WarSlow-Motion Counterforce WarConstrained Force-Reduction SalvoConstrained Disarming AttackCounterforce-with-Avoidance AttackUnmodified Counterforce AttackSlow-Motion Countercity warCountervalue SalvoAugmented Disarming AttackCivilian Devastation AttackControlled General WarSpasm/Insensate WarHudson Institute [ edit ] In 1961, Kahn, Max Singer and Oscar Ruebhausen founded the Hudson Institute,[13] a think tank initially located in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, where Kahn was living at the time. He recruited sociologist Daniel Bell, political philosopher Raymond Aron and novelist Ralph Ellison (author of the 1952 classic Invisible Man).

The Year 2000 [ edit ] In 1967, Herman Kahn and Anthony J. Wiener published The Year 2000: A Framework for Speculation on the Next Thirty-Three Years, which included contributions from staff members of the Hudson Institute and an introduction by Daniel Bell. Table XVIII in the document[14] contains a list called "One Hundred Technical Innovations Very Likely in the Last Third of the Twentieth Century". The first ten predictions were:

Multiple applications of lasersExtreme high-strength structural materialsNew or improved superperformance fabricsNew or improved materials for equipment and appliancesNew airborne vehicles (ground-effect vehicles, giant or supersonic jets, VTOL, STOL)Extensive commercial applications of shaped-charge explosivesMore reliable and longer-range weather forecastingExtensive and/or intensive expansion of tropical agriculture and forestryNew sources of power for fixed installationsNew sources of power for ground transportationLater years [ edit ] In Kahn's view, capitalism and technology held nearly boundless potential for progress, while the colonization of space lay in the near, not the distant, future.[15] Kahn's 1976 book The Next 200 Years, written with William Brown and Leon Martel, presented an optimistic scenario of economic conditions in the year 2176. He also wrote a number of books extrapolating the future of the American, Japanese and Australian economies and several works on systems theory, including the well-received 1957 monograph Techniques of System Analysis.[16]

During the mid-1970s, when South Korea's GDP per capita was one of the lowest in the world, Kahn predicted that the country would become one of the top 10 most powerful countries in the world by the year 2000.[17]

In his last year, 1983, Kahn wrote approvingly of Ronald Reagan's political agenda in The Coming Boom: Economic, Political, and Social and bluntly derided Jonathan Schell's claims about the long-term effects of nuclear war. On July 7 that year, he died of a stroke, aged 61.[18]

Personal life [ edit ] His wife was Rosalie "Jane" Kahn. He and Jane had two children, David and Debbie.

Cultural influence [ edit ] Along with John von Neumann, Edward Teller and Wernher von Braun, Kahn was an inspiration for the character "Dr. Strangelove" in the eponymous film by Stanley Kubrick released in 1964.[1][failed verification ] After Kubrick read Kahn's book On Thermonuclear War, he began a correspondence with him which led to face-to-face discussions between Kubrick and Kahn.[19] In the film, Dr. Strangelove refers to a report on the Doomsday Machine by the "BLAND Corporation". Kahn gave Kubrick the idea for the "Doomsday Machine", a device which would immediately cause the destruction of the entire planet in the event of a nuclear attack. Both the name and the concept of the weapon are drawn from the text of On Thermonuclear War.[20] Louis Menand observes, "In Kahn's book, the Doomsday Machine is an example of the sort of deterrent that appeals to the military mind but that is dangerously destabilizing. Since nations are not suicidal, its only use is to threaten."[20]

Kahn also inspired the character of Professor Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) in the 1964 film Fail Safe.[21]

Publications [ edit ] Outside physics and statistics, works written by Kahn include:

1960. On Thermonuclear War. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-313-20060-21962. Thinking about the unthinkable. Horizon Press.1965. On escalation: metaphors and scenarios. Praeger. ISBN 1-41283004-41967. The Year 2000: a framework for speculation on the next thirty-three years. MacMillan. ISBN 0-02-560440-6. With Anthony Wiener.1968. Can we win in Viet Nam? Praeger. Kahn with four other authors: Gastil, Raymond D.; Pfaff, William; Stillman, Edmund; Armbruster, Frank E.1970. The emerging Japanese Superstate: challenge and response. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-274670-01971. The Japanese challenge: The success and failure of economic success. Morrow; Andre Deutsch. ISBN 0-688-08710-81972. Things to come: thinking about the seventies and eighties. MacMillan. ISBN 0-02-560470-8. With B. Bruce-Briggs.1973. Herman Kahnsciousness: the megaton ideas of the one-man think tank. New American Library. Selected and edited by Jerome Agel.1974. The future of the corporation. Mason & Lipscomb. ISBN 0-88405-009-21976. The next 200 years: a scenario for America and the world. Morrow. ISBN 0-688-08029-41979. World economic development: 1979 and beyond. William Morrow; Croom Helm. ISBN 0-688-03479-9. With Hollender, Jeffrey, and Hollender, John A.1981. Will she be right? The future of Australia. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0-7022-1569-4. With Thomas Pepper.1983. The Coming Boom: economic, political, and social. Simon & Schuster; Hutchinson. ISBN 0-671-49265-91984 Thinking about the unthinkable in the 1980s. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-47544-4The nature and feasibility of war, deterrence, and arms control (Central nuclear war monograph series), (Hudson Institute)A slightly optimistic world context for 1975''2000 (Hudson Institute)Social limits to growth: "creeping stagnation" vs. "natural and inevitable" (HPS paper)A new kind of class struggle in the United States? (Corporate Environment Program. Research memorandum)Works published by the RAND Corporation involving Kahn:

The nature and feasibility of war and deterrence, RAND Corporation paper P-1888-RC, 1960Some specific suggestions for achieving early non-military defense capabilities and initiating long-range programs, RAND Corporation research memorandum RM-2206-RC, 1958(team led by Herman Kahn) Report on a study of Non-Military Defense, RAND Corporation report R-322-RC, 1958Herman Kahn and Irwin Mann, War Gaming, RAND Corporation paper P-1167, 1957Herman Kahn and Irwin Mann, Ten common pitfalls, RAND research memorandum RM-1937-PR, 1957Herman Kahn, Stochastic (Monte Carlo) attenuation analysis, Santa, Monica, Calif., RAND Corp., 1949See also [ edit ] Nuclear triadNotes [ edit ] ^ a b Paul Boyer, 'Dr. Strangelove' in Mark C. Carnes (ed.), Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies, New York, 1996. ^ Fail Safe (DVD). Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. 2000. ^ Ghamari-Tabrizi, Sharon (June 30, 2009). The Worlds of Herman Kahn: the intuitive science of thermonuclear war. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674037564 '' via Google Books. ^ Frankel, Benjamin; Hoops, Townsend (1992). The Cold War, 1945''1991: Leaders and Other Important Figures in the United States and Western Europe . Gale Research. p. 248. ISBN 0-8103-8927-4. ^ McWhirter, William A. (December 6, 1968). "The Think-Tank Man". Life. Vol. 65, no. 23. pp. 110''126. Herman Kahn is an atheist who still likes rabbis, and a liberal who likes cops. ^ Ghamari-Tabrizi, Sharon (April 22, 2005). The Worlds of Herman Kahn: the intuitive science of thermonuclear war. Harvard University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0674017146. ^ "Herman Kahn (1922-1983)". www.atomicarchive.com . Retrieved December 29, 2022 . ^ Tietz, Tabea (February 15, 2022). "Herman Kahn and the Consequences of Nuclear War" . Retrieved December 29, 2022 . ^ Schwartz, Peter, The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World, New York: Currency Doubleday, 1991, p. 7 ^ Kahn, Herman (1960). "The Nature and Feasibility of War and Deterrence". ^ "On Thermonuclear War", Herman Kahn ^ Concepts and Models of Escalation, The Rand Corporation 1984 ^ "Hudson Institute > About Hudson > History". Hudson.org. June 1, 2004. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012 . Retrieved February 21, 2012 . ^ "The Year 2000", Herman Kahn, Anthony J. Wiener, Macmillan, 1961, pp. 51''55. ^ "The Next 200 Years", Herman Kahn, Morrow, 1976. ^ Kahn, Herman; Mann, Irwin (June 1957). Techniques of Systems Analysis. RAND Corporation. ^ "[ì›--ê°ì°ì ] æ'´æ­£ç†ì 46ë… ì 에 ë§Œë‚ "í•'êµ­ 10大 강ëŒêµ­ ë'다"ê" í–ë 美미ëží•ìž, ê·¸ëŠ--..." Retrieved October 4, 2016 . ^ "Herman Kahn". www.atomicarchive.com . Retrieved April 27, 2017 . ^ Maloney, Sean (2020). Deconstructing Dr. Strangelove: The Secret History of Nuclear War Films. Potomac Books. p. 24. ISBN 9781640121928 . Retrieved August 10, 2022 . ^ a b "Fat Man '' Herman Kahn and the Nuclear Age", Louis Menand, The New Yorker, June 27, 2005 ^ "Watching Fail Safe at the End of the World". Vanity Fair. May 8, 2020. Further reading [ edit ] Barry Bruce-Briggs, Supergenius: The mega-worlds of Herman Kahn, North American Policy PressSamuel T. Cohen, Fuck You Mr. President: Confessions of the Father of the Neutron Bomb", 2006Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine, Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, Bloomsbury Press, 2017Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi, The Worlds of Herman Kahn: The Intuitive Science of Thermonuclear War, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-01714-5 [reviewed by Christopher Coker in the Times Literary Supplement], nº 5332, June 10, 2005, p. 19.Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon, Stanford Nuclear Age Series, ISBN 0-8047-1884-9Kate Lenkowsky, The Herman Kahn Center of the Hudson Institute, Hudson InstituteSusan Lindee, Science as Comic Metaphysics, Science 309: 383''384, 2005.Herbert I. London, foreword by Herman Kahn, Why Are They Lying to Our Children (Against the doomsayer futurists), ISBN 0-9673514-2-1Louis Menand, Fat Man: Herman Kahn and the Nuclear Age, in The New Yorker, June 27, 2005.Claus Pias, "Hermann Kahn '' Szenarien f¼r den Kalten Krieg", Zurich: Diaphanes 2009, ISBN 978-3-935300-90-2Innes Thacker, Ideological Control and the Depoliticisation of Language, in Bold, Christine (ed.), Cencrastus No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 30''33, ISSN 0264-0856External links [ edit ] Essays about and by Herman KahnKahn's "escalation ladder" at the Wayback Machine (archived October 23, 2001)"Herman Kahn's Doomsday Machine" by Andrew Yale Glikman, in "CYB + ORG = (COLD) WAR MACHINE", FrAme, September 26, 1999.RAND Corporation unclassified papers by Herman Kahn, 1948''1959Hudson Institute unclassified articles and papers by Herman Kahn, 1962''1984

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Sun, 21 Apr 2024 01:21

The Biden administration reversed some Trump-era changes to Title IX.

The Biden administration has finalized new Title IX regulations that codify protections for transgender people, as well as enhance protections for victims of sexual assault or harassment and pregnant people.

"For more than 50 years, Title IX has promised an equal opportunity to learn and thrive in our nation's schools free from sex discrimination,'' said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement on the revision. ''These final regulations build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation's students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.''

The new regulations officially add "gender identity" onto the list of protections from sex-based discrimination for the first time, though the administration said it has already been applying this standard.

A Bayside High School student protests the governor's new transgender policies in front of the school on Feb. 13, 2024, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Virginian Pilot/TNS/Getty Images, FILE

A decision on the administration's proposed Title IX rule that would prohibit a blanket ban on transgender athletes from participating on teams aligned with their gender identity was not included in today's announcement. That process is still ongoing, according to a senior administration official.

The Title IX update also now offers full protection from all ''sex-based harassment,'' broadening the definition to include ''sexual violence and unwelcome sex-based conduct that creates a hostile environment by limiting or denying a person's ability to participate in or benefit from a school's education program or activity.''

These changes roll back the narrowed definitions of sexual harassment implemented by former President Donald Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The regulations update also enhances protections for students, employees, and applicants against discrimination "based on pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, or recovery from these conditions."

President Joe Biden speaks during a Pride Month celebration event at the White House in Washington, DC, June 10, 2023.

Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE

The final regulations, which take effect Aug. 1, also require increased accountability for schools in promptly responding to information about misconduct based on sex discrimination, according to the Biden administration.

Schools will be required to train employees "about the school's obligation to address sex discrimination, as well as employees' obligations to notify or provide contact information for the Title IX Coordinator" and strengthen requirements for schools conducting "reliable and impartial" investigations of all complaints.

''These regulations make crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and that respect their rights,'' Cardona said.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 23:07

WASHINGTON '-- The Senate voted to reauthorize a powerful surveillance tool the U.S. government describes as critical to combating terrorism, after defeating efforts by civil liberties advocates on the left and right to rein it in.

The vote of 60-34 sends the bill to President Joe Biden, who has championed it. The legislation extends Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, for two more years.

The final vote came after the Senate defeated six amendments from progressive and conservative senators who said the spying powers are too broad and demanded protections for Americans' civil liberties and privacy. The Biden administration and FISA supporters had warned that even a brief lapse could have a detrimental impact on the intelligence-gathering process.

Senators just missed the midnight deadline to reauthorize the FISA Section 702 statute but voted to reauthorize it minutes later. Had any amendments been adopted, the bill would have been sent back to the House, potentially forcing a lengthy lapse of the law.

''In the nick of time, bipartisanship has prevailed here in the Senate,'' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.

''It wasn't easy, people had many different views, but we all know one thing: letting FISA expire would have been dangerous. It's an important part of our national security to stop acts of terror, drug trafficking, and violent extremism,'' Schumer said on the Senate floor. ''Thank you to all my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their good work in getting this done.''

The House passed a two-year FISA renewal last week after defeating, by the slimmest of margins, an amendment to require a warrant to search through the communications of Americans as part of data collected while surveilling foreigners. Senators delayed a vote for days by pushing for amendments to make changes to the bill.

The bill's passage came on the heels of a pitched battle between the U.S. intelligence community and an unusual coalition of progressive and conservative civil liberties advocates, who argued that the powers are too expansive and impinge on the privacy of Americans.

''It's important that people understand how sweeping this bill is,'' said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Intelligence Committee and outspoken proponent of privacy protections. ''Something was inserted at the last minute, which would basically compel somebody like a cable guy to spy for the government. They would force the person to do it and there would be no appeal.''

In a rare break with Schumer and Biden, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the president pro tempore, opposed the bill, saying: ''I have strong concerns that this expansion of FISA Section 702 authorities would allow for increased abuse and misuse of the law '-- infringing on the rights of Americans here at home.''

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., pushed back on that and other criticisms of a House amendment added to the FISA reauthorization bill, arguing that it ''is narrowly focused on a significant intelligence gap,'' but some members like Wyden worry it could be abused.

''Contrary to what some have been saying, it expressly excludes coffee shops, bars, restaurants, residences, hotels, libraries, recreational facilities and a whole litany of similar establishments,'' Warner said on the Senate floor Wednesday. ''It also absolutely would not, as some critics have maintained, allow the U.S. government to compel, for example, a janitor working in an office building in Northern Virginia to spy for the intelligence community.''

Warner said that allowing FISA to expire would have put the U.S. in ''uncharted territory'' as companies who work with the government to provide intelligence might have stopped doing so without a reauthorization.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that ''60% of the president's daily brief is composed of 702-derived materials, so this is absolutely critical.''

Attorney General Merrick Garland called Section 702 "indispensable" in a statement.

''This reauthorization of Section 702 gives the United States the authority to continue to collect foreign intelligence information about non-U.S. persons located outside the United States, while at the same time codifying important reforms the Justice Department has adopted to ensure the protection of Americans' privacy and civil liberties," he said.

Frank Thorp V Frank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.

Sahil Kapur Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

Ryan Nobles Ryan Nobles is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.

Rebecca Kaplan contributed.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 22:34

Unlock the Editor's Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

One of the largest private western investors in Ukraine has claimed that corrupt officials in the country's security services and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration are trying to extort tens of millions of euros from him.

Arnulf Damerau, an Anglo-German businessman and a former adviser to Glencore, told the Financial Times he was being blackmailed by a clique of senior Ukrainian officials.

Western governments have become increasingly concerned over government corruption in Ukraine but have largely held back from making their criticism public as they rally support for Kyiv to shore up its faltering defence against Russian aggression. The war has given space for many of the corrupt networks linked to former president Viktor Yanukovych to reassemble, European security officials say.

Damerau has since August been the co-owner of Cosmolot, a large online gaming and gambling website and the country's 10th-largest taxpayer.

After being raided in October by the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, which accuses it of violating gambling laws and evading '‚¬560mn in tax, a series of legal cases and agency-ordered measures have frozen the company's accounts.

Damerau says the claims against the company are fabricated. Cosmolot only began operating in 2021, after the Ukrainian government changed gambling laws, he noted, and last year had total revenues of '‚¬208mn, up from '‚¬4.8mn in 2022 and '‚¬250,000 in 2021, which are publicly disclosed.

The company, which offers themed small-stakes games online, paid '‚¬60mn in taxes last year, official tax filings show. The state tax service signed off on its accounts in August, Damerau said.

According to Damerau, a Ukrainian individual met him in Vienna in December and said the legal challenges to Cosmolot would be dropped if Damerau was willing to transfer control of half of the company to an offshore trust.

Damerau said he had shared photographs and details of the meeting, as well as the names of the individuals involved, with security agencies in Europe and Washington.

''These are statements I don't want to make. I don't want to say these things about what is happening to me as a businessman trying to invest in Ukraine because the people responsible are in a minority, and they are betraying a young generation of Ukrainians who are giving their blood to try and give their country a European future,'' Damerau said.

''This is a country which aspires to be part of Nato and the European Union, but what's happening there right now '-- by a small minority '-- gives me d(C)j vu of the darkest Yanukovych times,'' he added.

Recommended

Damerau said he had lost '‚¬25mn investing in Ukraine under Yanukovych, having financed a wind farm in Crimea that at the time was the largest onshore project of its kind in Europe, and that corrupt officials had made an almost identical approach to him then as they have with Cosmolot.

He said the wind project was hit by legal obstructions before he was approached by a man claiming to represent the Yanukovych administration, who demanded half the project's shares be transferred into an opaque offshore entity. Damereau was involved in a legal case to get it back when Russia seized Crimea, making his claims impossible to enforce.

He said he would raise his experiences at the Ukraine Recovery Summit in Berlin in June, which he has been invited to attend as a major foreign direct investor.

A spokesperson for Zelenskyy declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Christopher Miller in KyivThis article has been updated to reflect the fact that Arnulf Damerau was not an adviser to Trafigura

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 22:16

A Polish national has been arrested after being found to have tried to facilitate the assassination of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Known only as Pawel K, the Polish National Prosecutor's Office has announced that the man was arrested in Poland and has been charged with ''his readiness to act for foreign intelligence against Republic of Poland''.

It has also been claimed that the man was tasked with getting military intelligence for Russia about the security at Poland's Rzesz"w-Jasionka Airport '' and to help plan an attack on Zelenskyy.

READ MORE: Putin's Olympian ex-mistress dubbed 'unpleasant' as she clicks fingers at girl student

Click for more of the latest news from across the world from the Daily Star.

A spokesman said: ''The findings of the investigation show that the suspect Paweł K declared his readiness to act for the military intelligence of the Russian Federation and established contacts with citizens of the Russian Federation directly involved in the war in Ukraine. His tasks included collecting and providing the military intelligence of the Russian Federation with information on the security of the Rzesz"w-Jasionka Airport.

Poland arrested the man for trying to help Russia carry out the attack (Image: Getty Images) Read MoreRelated Articles 'I met aliens from another dimension '' I went on their ship and they took my eggs'Read MoreRelated Articles World's deepest hole dubbed 'entrance to Hell' was sealed off for worrying reason''This was, among other things, help Russian special services plan a possible attack on the life of the head of a foreign state, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

''The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine forwarded the information about the possibility of committing a crime by Paweł K. to the Polish Prosecutor's Office. Then, during the investigation, key evidence in the case was obtained from the Ukrainian side as part of legal assistance.

''It is worth emphasizing the very good cooperation of the National Prosecutor's Office and the Internal Security Agency on the Polish side, with the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine. Coordinated actions of Polish and Ukrainian services allowed for securing evidence also outside Poland.''

The spokesman added the investigation is ongoing, and that it is being handled by the Internal Security Agency under the supervision of the National Prosecutor's Office.

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 21:53

Yikes. It's been just over a year since Audrey Hale killed six at Covenant School in Nashville, TN. Authorities still haven't released Hale's manifesto (something the police said they were 'considering' for release a year ago), but the Left insists Hale was 'right-wing' and not one of their own.

Now news is breaking from Montgomery County, Maryland, where another 'trans' individual wrote a 129-page manifesto with plans to get 'famous' by committing a school shooting.

Police: 'Transgender' Maryland student who wrote 129-page manifesto to shoot up school wanted to be famous pic.twitter.com/9XItXts5XW

'-- Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 18, 2024Wow.

Another trans person is charged over plans to carry out a mass shooting. Andrea Ye, who uses the name ''Alex,'' was arrested by Montgomery County Police in Maryland. Ye allegedly planned to shoot an elementary school, similar to the Nashville trans shooter. https://t.co/QYVeTWnRFT

'-- Andy Ng´ ðŸ"¸'ðŸŒ (@MrAndyNgo) April 18, 2024More from TPM:

Andrea Ye, of Rockville, who goes by Alex Ye was arrested on Wednesday by local Montgomery County Police. This follows an investigation carried out by local police in association with the FBI field office out of Baltimore. The manifesto was discovered after a search warrant was carried out.

"Ye was taken into custody and charged with threats of mass violence. He is currently being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit where he awaits a bond hearing," read the news release from the Montgomery County Department of Police, referring to the female student as "he."

RecommendedYou mean the 'Trans Day of Visibility' wasn't enough?

The entire manifesto is disturbing.

Thank God her pronouns were respected! ðŸ pic.twitter.com/GEiIGIBBwm

'-- David Santa Carla ðŸ...‡ (@TheOnlyDSC) April 18, 2024That's what's important here.

Yet another trans wanting to slaughter children for some reason. https://t.co/C1shYz9X1x

'-- The Dank Knight ðŸ...‡ (@capeandcowell) April 18, 2024For some reason.

Basically: "If we can't indoctrinate your kids, we will kill them." https://t.co/JcyG1tPUTG

'-- Dr. Zach (@TheRealSmulk) April 18, 2024Basically.

Stop this insanity https://t.co/PVMCbc0VuE

'-- Old_Soul_In_A_Modern_World (@OldSoulinModTym) April 18, 2024Please and thank you.

Noticing a pattern yet? https://t.co/Rdk5npjQTw

'-- Jonny Z (@JZukawski) April 18, 2024Yep.

Almost every single mass, shooter or school shooter has been on the radar of some law-enforcement agencyDo you know how close this? MFer had to be to get caught and arrested?! https://t.co/Fe1zZP3uNR

'-- Huey Jack (@HueyJackNation) April 18, 2024Very close.

Thank goodness law enforcement didn't drop the ball on this one.

Ah yes. The consequences of encouraging and celebrating the pathologies of the mentally ill.

'-- ð'†ð'ð'žð' ðŸ"¸'ðŸŒ (@HarmfulOpinion) April 18, 2024They were inevitable.

Bbbut it was supposed to be good for you!!! pic.twitter.com/hGMBm7YRJc

'-- U.S. Ministry of Truth (@USMiniTru) April 18, 2024That's what they tell us.

The White Supremacists are at again. https://t.co/FmFwmByPoC

'-- Vincent Parry, A Pirate way over 40. (@VincentParry2) April 18, 2024Again.

pic.twitter.com/qvFdtDSpHr

'-- Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) April 18, 2024Pretty much.

We'll update you as this story continues to unfold.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 21:11

Difference between the inflow and outflow of money to a country at a given time

Country foreign exchange reserves minus external debtIn international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a quarter or a year) and the outflow of money to the rest of the world. In other words, it is economic transactions between countries during a period of time. These financial transactions are made by individuals, firms and government bodies to compare receipts and payments arising out of trade of goods and services.

The balance of payments consists of three components: the current account, the capital account and financial account. The current account reflects a country's net income, while the capital account reflects the net change in ownership of national assets.

History [ edit ] Until the early 19th century, international trade was heavily regulated and accounted for a relatively small portion compared with national output. In the Middle Ages, European trade was typically regulated at municipal level in the interests of security for local industry and for established merchants[citation needed ]. (Annual fairs would sometimes allow exceptions to the standard regulations.)

Mercantilism [ edit ] Beginning in the 16th century, mercantilism became the dominant economic theory influencing European rulers. Local trade regulations were replaced by national rules aiming to harness the countries' economic output.[1] Measures to promote a trade surplus (such as tariffs) were generally favored.

The prevailing orthodoxy of the mercantilist age was the (now discredited) notion that the accumulation of foreign exchange or, at that time, precious metals, made countries wealthier, and so countries favored exporting their own goods to run balance of payments surpluses. This viewpoint prevails in England's Treasure by Foreign Trade (1664) by Thomas Mun.[2]

Economic growth remained at low levels in the mercantilist era; average global per capita income is not considered to have significantly risen in the whole 800 years leading up to 1820, and is estimated to have increased on average by less than 0.1% per year between 1700 and 1820.[3] With very low levels of financial integration between nations and with international trade generally making up a low proportion of individual nations' GDP, BOP crises were very rare.[3]

1820''1914: Classical economics [ edit ] Gold was the primary reserve asset during the gold standard era.The mercantilist dogma was attacked first by David Hume, then Adam Smith and David Ricardo.[2]

In the essays Of Money and Of the Balance of Trade, Hume argued that the accumulation of precious metals would create monetary inflation without any real effect on interest rates. It is the foundation of what is known in modern economic studies as the quantity theory of money, the neutrality of money and the consideration of interest rates not as a monetary phenomenon, but a real one. Adam Smith built on this foundation. He accused mercantilists of being anti-free trade and confusing money with wealth.[2]

David Ricardo based his arguments on Say's Law, developing the theory of comparative advantage, which remains the dominant theory of growth and trade in modern economics.[2]

After victory in the Napoleonic wars Great Britain began promoting free trade, unilaterally reducing its trade tariffs. Hoarding of gold was no longer encouraged, and in fact Britain exported more capital as a percentage of its national income than any other creditor nation has since.[4] Great Britain's capital exports further helped to correct global imbalances as they tended to be counter cyclical, rising when Britain's economy went into recession, thus compensating other states for income lost from export of goods.[3]

According to historian Carroll Quigley, Great Britain could afford to act benevolently[5] in the 19th century due to the advantages of her geographical location, naval power, and economic ascendancy as the first nation to enjoy an industrial revolution.[6] However, some, like Otto von Bismarck, viewed Great Britain's promotion of free trade as a way to maintain its dominant position.A view advanced by economists such as Barry Eichengreen is that the first age of Globalization began with the laying of transatlantic telegraph cables in the 1860s, which facilitated a rapid increase in the already growing trade between Britain and America.[7]

Though Current Account controls were still widely used (in fact all industrial nations apart from Great Britain and the Netherlands actually increased their tariffs and quotas in the decades leading up to 1914, though this was motivated more by a desire to protect "infant industries" than to encourage a trade surplus[3]), capital controls were largely absent.A gold standard enjoyed wide international participation especially from 1870, further contributing to close economic integration between nations. The period saw substantial global growth, in particular for the volume of international trade which grew tenfold between 1820 and 1870 and then by about 4% annually from 1870 to 1914. BoP crises began to occur, though less frequently than was to be the case for the remainder of the 20th century. From 1880 to 1914, there were approximately[8] eight BoP crises and eight twin crises '' a twin crisis being a BoP crisis that coincides with a banking crisis.[3]

1914''1945: Deglobalization [ edit ] The favorable economic conditions that had prevailed up until 1914 were shattered by the first world war, and efforts to re-establish them in the 1920s were not successful. Several countries rejoined the gold standard around 1925. But surplus countries didn't "play by the rules",[3][9] sterilising gold inflows to a much greater degree than had been the case in the pre-war period. Deficit nations such as Great Britain found it harder to adjust by deflation as workers were more enfranchised and unions in particular were able to resist downwards pressure on wages. During the Great Depression most countries abandoned the gold standard, but imbalances remained an issue and international trade declined sharply. There was a return to mercantilist type "beggar thy neighbour" policies, with countries competitively devaluing their exchange rates, thus effectively competing to export unemployment. There were approximately 16 BoP crises and 15 twin crises (and a comparatively very high level of banking crises).[3]

1945''1971: Bretton Woods [ edit ] Following World War II, the Bretton Woods institutions (the International Monetary Fund and World Bank) were set up to support an international monetary system, among capitalist economies, designed to encourage free trade while also offering states options to correct imbalances without having to deflate their economies. Fixed but flexible exchange rates were established, with the system anchored by the US dollar which alone remained convertible into gold. The Bretton Woods system ushered in a period of high global growth, known as the Golden Age of Capitalism. However, it came under pressure due to the inability or unwillingness of governments to maintain effective capital controls[10] and due to instabilities related to the central role of the US dollar.

Imbalances caused gold to flow out of the US and a loss of confidence in the United States ability to supply gold for all future claims by US dollar holders resulted in escalating demands to convert US dollars, ultimately causing the US to end the convertibility of the US dollar into gold, thus ending the Bretton Woods system.[3] The 1945''71 era saw approximately 24 BoP crises and no twin crisis for advanced economies, with emerging economies seeing 16 BoP crises and just one twin crisis.[3]

1971''2009: transition, Washington Consensus, Bretton Woods II [ edit ] Manmohan Singh, former PM of India (2004-2014), showed that the challenges caused by imbalances can be an opportunity when he led his country's successful economic reform programme after the 1991 crisis, as the minister of Finance.The Bretton Woods system came to an end between 1971 and 1973. There were attempts to repair the system of fixed exchanged rates over the next few years, but these were soon abandoned, as were determined efforts for the U.S. to avoid BoP imbalances. Part of the reason was displacement of the previous dominant economic paradigm '' Keynesianism '' by the Washington Consensus, with economists and economics writers such as Murray Rothbard and Milton Friedman[11] arguing that there was no great need to be concerned about BoP issues.

In the immediate aftermath of the Bretton Woods collapse, countries generally tried to retain some control over their exchange rate by independently managing it, or by intervening in the foreign exchange market as part of a regional bloc, such as the Snake which formed in 1971.[12] The Snake was a group of European countries who tried to retain stable rates at least with each other; the group eventually evolved into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) by 1979. From the mid-1970s however, and especially in the 1980s and early 1990s, many other countries followed the US in liberalizing controls on both their capital and current accounts, in adopting a somewhat relaxed attitude to their balance of payments and in allowing the value of their currency to float relatively freely with exchange rates determined mostly by the market.[3][12]

Developing countries who chose to allow the market to determine their exchange rates would often develop sizable current account deficits, financed by capital account inflows such as loans and investments,[13] though this often ended in crises when investors lost confidence.[3][14][15] The frequency of crises was especially high for developing economies in this era '' from 1973 to 1997 emerging economies suffered 57 BoP crises and 21 twin crises. Typically but not always the panic among foreign creditors and investors that preceded the crises in this period was usually triggered by concerns over excess borrowing by the private sector, rather than by a government deficit. For advanced economies, there were 30 BoP crises and 6 banking crises.

A turning point was the 1997 Asian BoP Crisis, where unsympathetic responses by western powers caused policy makers in emerging economies to re-assess the wisdom of relying on the free market; by 1999 the developing world as a whole stopped running current account deficits[16] while the U.S. current account deficit began to rise sharply.[17][18]This new form of imbalance began to develop in part due to the increasing practice of emerging economies, principally China, in pegging their currency against the dollar, rather than allowing the value to freely float. The resulting state of affairs has been referred to as Bretton Woods II.[19] According to Alaistair Chan, "At the heart of the imbalance is China's desire to keep the value of the yuan stable against the dollar. Usually, a rising trade surplus leads to a rising value of the currency. A rising currency would make exports more expensive, imports less so, and push the trade surplus towards balance. China circumvents the process by intervening in exchange markets and keeping the value of the yuan depressed."[20]According to economics writer Martin Wolf, in the eight years leading up to 2007, "three-quarters of the foreign currency reserves accumulated since the beginning of time have been piled up".[21]In contrast to the changed approach within the emerging economies, US policy makers and economists remained relatively unconcerned about BOP imbalances. In the early to mid-1990s, many free market economists and policy makers such as U.S. Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill and Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan went on record suggesting the growing US deficit was not a major concern. While several emerging economies had intervened to boost their reserves and assist their exporters from the late 1980s, they only began running a net current account surplus after 1999. This was mirrored in the faster growth for the US current account deficit from the same year, with surpluses, deficits and the associated buildup of reserves by the surplus countries reaching record levels by the early 2000s and growing year by year. Some economists such as Kenneth Rogoff and Maurice Obstfeld began warning that the record imbalances would soon need to be addressed from as early as 2001, but it was not until about 2007 that their concerns began to be accepted by the majority of economists.[22][23]

Exchange rate regime [ edit ] Under a fixed exchange rate system, a central bank accommodates those flows by buying up any net inflow of funds into the country or by providing foreign currency funds to the foreign exchange market to match any international outflow of funds, thus preventing the funds flows from affecting the exchange rate between the country's currency and other currencies. Then the net change per year in the central bank's foreign exchange reserves is sometimes called the balance of payments surplus or deficit. Alternatives to a fixed exchange rate system include a managed float where some changes of exchange rates are allowed, or at the other extreme a purely floating exchange rate (also known as a purely flexible exchange rate). With a pure float the central bank does not intervene at all to protect or devalue its currency, allowing the rate to be set by the market, the central bank's foreign exchange reserves do not change, and the balance of payments is always zero.

Components [ edit ] The current account shows the net amount of a country's income if it is in surplus, or spending if it is in deficit. It is the sum of the balance of trade (net earnings on exports minus payments for imports), factor income (earnings on foreign investments minus payments made to foreign investors) and unilateral transfers. These items include transfers of goods and services or financial assets between the home country and the rest of the world. Private transfer payments refer to gifts made by individuals and nongovernmental institutions to foreigners. Governmental transfers refer to gifts or grants made by one government to foreign residents or foreign governments. When investment income and unilateral transfers are combined with the balance on goods and services, we arrive at the current account balance.[24] It is called the current account as it covers transactions in the "here and now" '' those that don't give rise to future claims.[25]The capital account records the net change in ownership of foreign assets. It includes the reserve account (the foreign exchange market operations of a nation's central bank), along with loans and investments between the country and the rest of world (but not the future interest payments and dividends that the loans and investments yield; those are earnings and will be recorded in the current account). If a country purchases more foreign assets for cash than the assets it sells for cash to other countries, the capital account is said to be negative or in deficit.

The term "capital account" is also used in the narrower sense that excludes central bank foreign exchange market operations: Sometimes the reserve account is classified as "below the line" and so not reported as part of the capital account.[26]

Expressed with the broader meaning for the capital account, the BoP identity states that any current account surplus will be balanced by a capital account deficit of equal size '' or alternatively a current account deficit will be balanced by a corresponding capital account surplus:

current account + broadly defined capital account + balancing item = 0. {\displaystyle {\text{current account}}+{\text{ broadly defined capital account}}+{\text{balancing item}}=0.\,} The balancing item, which may be positive or negative, is simply an amount that accounts for any statistical errors and assures that the current and capital accounts sum to zero. By the principles of double entry accounting, an entry in the current account gives rise to an entry in the capital account, and in aggregate the two accounts automatically balance. A balance isn't always reflected in reported figures for the current and capital accounts, which might, for example, report a surplus for both accounts, but when this happens it always means something has been missed '' most commonly, the operations of the country's central bank '' and what has been missed is recorded in the statistical discrepancy term (the balancing item).[26]

An actual balance sheet will typically have numerous sub headings under the principal divisions. For example, entries under Current account might include:

Trade '' buying and selling of goods and servicesExports '' a credit entryImports '' a debit entryTrade balance '' the sum of Exports and ImportsFactor income '' repayments and dividends from loans and investmentsFactor earnings '' a credit entryFactor payments '' a debit entryFactor income balance '' the sum of earnings and payments.Especially in older balance sheets, a common division was between visible and invisible entries. Visible trade recorded imports and exports of physical goods (entries for trade in physical goods excluding services is now often called the merchandise balance). Invisible trade would record international buying and selling of services, and sometimes would be grouped with transfer and factor income as invisible earnings.[27]

The term "balance of payments surplus" (or deficit '' a deficit is simply a negative surplus) refers to the sum of the surpluses in the current account and the narrowly defined capital account (excluding changes in central bank reserves). Denoting the balance of payments surplus as BoP surplus, the relevant identity is

B O P s u r p l u s = current account surplus + narrowly defined capital account surplus . {\displaystyle BOP\ surplus={\text{current account surplus}}+{\text{narrowly defined capital account surplus}}.\,} Measurements and definitions [ edit ] The balance of payments takes into account payments for a country's exports and imports of goods, services, financial capital, and financial transfers.[28][27]It is prepared in a single currency, typically the domestic currency for the country concerned. The balance of payments accounts keep systematic records of all the economic transactions (visible and non-visible) of a country with all other countries in the given time period. In the BoP accounts, all the receipts from abroad are recorded as credit and all the payments to abroad are debits. Since the accounts are maintained by double entry bookkeeping, they show the balance of payments accounts are always balanced. Sources of funds for a nation, such as exports or the receipts of loans and investments, are recorded as positive or surplus items. Uses of funds, such as for imports or to invest in foreign countries, are recorded as negative or deficit items.

When all components of the BoP accounts are included they must sum to zero with no overall surplus or deficit. For example, if a country is importing more than it exports, its trade balance will be in deficit, but the shortfall will have to be counterbalanced in other ways '' such as by funds earned from its foreign investments (but not the investments themselves, since foreign investments are deficit items), by running down currency reserves or by receiving investments or loans from other countries.

While the overall BoP accounts will always balance when all types of payments are included, imbalances are possible on individual elements of the BoP, such as the current account, the capital account excluding the central bank's reserve account, or the sum of the two. Imbalances in the latter sum can result in surplus countries accumulating wealth, while deficit nations become increasingly indebted. The term "balance of payments" often refers to this sum: a country's balance of payments is said to be in surplus (equivalently, the balance of payments is positive) by a specific amount if sources of funds (such as export goods sold and bonds sold) exceed uses of funds (such as paying for imported goods and paying for foreign bonds purchased) by that amount. There is said to be a balance of payments deficit (the balance of payments is said to be negative) if the former are less than the latter. A BoP surplus (or deficit) is accompanied by an accumulation (or decumulation) of foreign exchange reserves by the central bank.

Variations in the use of term balance of payments [ edit ] Economics writer J. Orlin Grabbe warns the term balance of payments can be a source of misunderstanding due to divergent expectations about what the term denotes. Grabbe says the term is sometimes misused by people who aren't aware of the accepted meaning, not only in general conversation but in financial publications and the economic literature.[26]

A common source of confusion arises from whether or not the reserve account entry, part of the capital account, is included in the BoP accounts. The reserve account records the activity of the nation's central bank. If it is excluded, the BoP can be in surplus (which implies the central bank is building up foreign exchange reserves) or in deficit (which implies the central bank is running down its reserves or borrowing from abroad).[27][26]

The term "balance of payments" is sometimes misused by non-economists to mean just relatively narrow parts of the BoP such as the trade deficit,[26] which means excluding parts of the current account and the entire capital account.

Another cause of confusion is the different naming conventions in use.[29] Before 1973 there was no standard way to break down the BoP sheet, with the separation into invisible and visible payments sometimes being the principal divisions. The IMF have their own standards for BoP accounting which is equivalent to the standard definition but uses different nomenclature, in particular with respect to the meaning given to the term capital account.

The IMF definition of the Balance of Payments [ edit ] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) use a particular set of definitions for the BoP accounts, which is also used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA).[30]

The main difference in the IMF's terminology is that it uses the term "financial account" to capture transactions that would under alternative definitions be recorded in the capital account. The IMF uses the term capital account to designate a subset of transactions that, according to other usage, previously formed a small part of the overall current account.[31] The IMF separates these transactions out to form an additional top level division of the BoP accounts. Expressed with the IMF definition, the BoP identity can be written:

current account + financial account + capital account + balancing item = 0. {\displaystyle {\text{current account}}\,+\,{\text{financial account}}\,+\,{\text{capital account}}\,+\,{\text{balancing item}}\,=\,0.\,} The IMF uses the term current account with the same meaning as that used by other organizations, although it has its own names for its three leading sub-divisions, which are:

The goods and services account (the overall trade balance)The primary income account (factor income such as from loans and investments)The secondary income account (transfer payments)Uses [ edit ] The balance of payments is important in international financial management for the following reasons:

First, the balance of payments is a factor in the demand and supply of a country's currency. For example, if outflows exceed inflows, then the demand for the currency in the domestic market is likely to exceed the supply in the foreign exchange market, all else being equal. One can thus infer that the currency would be under pressure to depreciate against other currencies. On the other hand, if inflows exceed outflows, then its currency would be likely to appreciate.

Second, a country's balance of payments data may signal the country's potential as a business partner for the rest of the world. A country grappling with a major balance of payments difficulty may not be able to expand imports from the outside world. Instead, the country may impose measures to restrict imports and discourage capital outflows in order to improve the balance of payments situation. On the other hand, a country with a significant balance of payments surplus would be more likely to expand imports, offering marketing opportunities for foreign enterprises, and less likely to impose foreign exchange restrictions.

Third, balance of payments data can be used to evaluate the performance of the country in international economic competition. A country that is experiencing trade deficits year after year may be a signal that the country's domestic industries lack international competitiveness.

Imbalances [ edit ] While the BoP has to balance overall, surpluses or deficits on its individual elements can lead to imbalances between countries. In general there is concern over deficits in the current account.[32]Countries with deficits in their current accounts will build up increasing debt or see increased foreign ownership of their assets. The types of deficits that typically raise concern are[27]

A visible trade deficit where a nation is importing more physical goods than it exports (even if this is balanced by the other components of the current account.)An overall current account deficit.A basic deficit which is the current account plus foreign direct investment (but excluding other elements of the capital account like short terms loans and the reserve account.)The Washington Consensus period saw a swing of opinion towards the view that there is no need to worry about imbalances. Opinion swung back in the opposite direction in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007''2009. Mainstream opinion expressed by the leading financial press and economists, international bodies like the IMF '' as well as leaders of surplus and deficit countries '' has returned to the view that large current account imbalances do matter. For instance, in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic the Armenian current account deficit has increased from $0.7 billion to $1.3 billion. [33] [34] Some economists do, however, remain relatively unconcerned about imbalances[35]and there have been assertions, such as by Michael P. Dooley, David Folkerts-Landau and Peter Garber, that nations need to avoid the temptation to switch to protectionism as a means to correct imbalances.[19]

Current account surpluses coincide with current account deficits of other countries, the indebtedness of the latter therefore increasing. According to Balances Mechanics by Wolfgang St¼tzel this is described as surplus of expenses over revenues. Increasing imbalances in foreign trade are critically discussed as a possible cause of the financial crisis since 2007.[36] Many Keynesian economists consider the existing differences between the current accounts in the eurozone to be the root cause of the Euro crisis, for instance Heiner Flassbeck,[37] Paul Krugman[38] or Joseph Stiglitz.[39]

Causes of BoP imbalances [ edit ] There are conflicting views as to the primary cause of BoP imbalances, with much attention on the US which currently has by far the biggest deficit. The conventional view is that current account factors are the primary cause[40] '' these include the exchange rate, the government's fiscal deficit, business competitiveness, and private behaviour such as the willingness of consumers to go into debt to finance extra consumption.[41]

An alternative view, argued at length in a 2005 paper by Ben Bernanke, is that the primary driver is the capital account, where a global savings glut caused by savers in surplus countries, runs ahead of the available investment opportunities, and is pushed into the US resulting in excess consumption and asset price inflation.[42]

Reserve asset [ edit ] The US dollar has been the leading reserve asset since the end of the gold standard.In the context of BoP and international monetary systems, the reserve asset is the currency or other store of value that is primarily used by nations for their foreign reserves.[43] BoP imbalances tend to manifest as hoards of the reserve asset being amassed by surplus countries, with deficit countries building debts denominated in the reserve asset or at least depleting their supply. Under a gold standard, the reserve asset for all members of the standard is gold. In the Bretton Woods system, either gold or the U.S. dollar could serve as the reserve asset, though its smooth operation depended on countries apart from the US choosing to keep most of their holdings in dollars.

Following the ending of Bretton Woods, there has been no de jure reserve asset, but the US dollar has remained by far the principal de facto reserve. Global reserves rose sharply in the first decade of the 21st century, partly as a result of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, where several nations ran out of foreign currency needed for essential imports and thus had to accept deals on unfavourable terms. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that between 2000 and mid-2009, official reserves rose from $1,900bn to $6,800bn.[44]

Global reserves had peaked at about $7,500bn in mid-2008, then declined by about $430bn as countries without their own reserve currency used them to shield themselves from the worst effects of the financial crisis. From Feb 2009 global reserves began increasing again to reach close to $9,200bn by the end of 2010.[45][46]

As of 2009[update], approximately 65% of the world's $6,800bn total is held in U.S. dollars and approximately 25% in euros. The UK pound, Japanese yen, IMF special drawing rights (SDRs), and precious metals[47] also play a role. In 2009, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, proposed a gradual move towards increased use of SDRs, and also for the national currencies backing SDRs to be expanded to include the currencies of all major economies.[48][49]

While the current central role of the dollar does give the US some advantages, such as lower cost of borrowings, it also contributes to the pressure causing the U.S. to run a current account deficit, due to the Triffin dilemma. In a November 2009 article published in Foreign Affairs magazine, economist C. Fred Bergsten argued that Zhou's suggestion or a similar change to the international monetary system would be in the United States' best interests as well as the rest of the world's.[50] Since 2009 there has been a notable increase in the number of new bilateral agreements which enable international trades to be transacted using a currency that is not a traditional reserve asset, such as the renminbi, as the settlement currency.[51]

Balance of payments crisis [ edit ] A BoP crisis, also called a currency crisis, occurs when a nation is unable to pay for essential imports or service its external debt repayments. Typically, this is accompanied by a rapid decline in the value of the affected nation's currency. Crises are generally preceded by large capital inflows, which are associated at first with rapid economic growth.[3] However a point is reached where overseas investors become concerned about the level of debt their inbound capital is generating, and decide to pull out their funds. It sometimes takes only one or two large investors pulling out to trigger a mass panic due to herd effects. The resulting outbound capital flows are associated with a rapid drop in the value of the affected nation's currency. This causes issues for firms of the affected nation who have received the inbound investments and loans, as the revenue of those firms is typically mostly derived domestically but their debts are often denominated in a reserve currency. Once the nation's government has exhausted its foreign reserves trying to support the value of the domestic currency, its policy options are very limited. It can raise its interest rates to try to prevent further declines in the value of its currency, but while this can help those with debts denominated in foreign currencies, it generally further depresses the local economy.[3][16][7] Lower-income countries are more exposed to suffer this type of crisis, while economic growth and foreign-exchange piling are particularly useful to prevent them.[52]

Balancing mechanisms [ edit ] One of the three fundamental functions of an international monetary system is to provide mechanisms to correct imbalances.[12][53]

Broadly speaking, there are three possible methods to correct BoP imbalances, though in practice a mixture including some degree of at least the first two methods tends to be used. These methods are adjustments of exchange rates; adjustment of a nations internal prices along with its levels of demand; and rules based adjustment.[54] Improving productivity and hence competitiveness can also help, as can increasing the desirability of exports through other means, though it is generally assumed a nation is always trying to develop and sell its products to the best of its abilities.

Rebalancing by changing the exchange rate [ edit ] An upwards shift in the value of a nation's currency relative to others will make a nation's exports less competitive and make imports cheaper and so will tend to correct a current account surplus. It also tends to make investment flows into the capital account less attractive so will help with a surplus there too. Conversely a downward shift in the value of a nation's currency makes it more expensive for its citizens to buy imports and increases the competitiveness of their exports, thus helping to correct a deficit (though the solution often doesn't have a positive impact immediately due to the Marshall''Lerner condition).[55]

Exchange rates can be adjusted by government[56] in a rules based or managed currency regime, and when left to float freely in the market they also tend to change in the direction that will restore balance. When a country is selling more than it imports, the demand for its currency will tend to increase as other countries ultimately[57] need the selling country's currency to make payments for the exports. The extra demand tends to cause a rise of the currency's price relative to others. When a country is importing more than it exports, the supply of its own currency on the international market tends to increase as it tries to exchange it for foreign currency to pay for its imports, and this extra supply tends to cause the price to fall. BoP effects are not the only market influence on exchange rates however, they are also influenced by differences in national interest rates and by speculation.

Rebalancing by adjusting internal prices and demand [ edit ] When exchange rates are fixed by a rigid gold standard,[58] or when imbalances exist between members of a currency union such as the Eurozone, the standard approach to correct imbalances is by making changes to the domestic economy. To a large degree, the change is optional for the surplus country, but compulsory for the deficit country. In the case of a gold standard, the mechanism is largely automatic. When a country has a favourable trade balance, as a consequence of selling more than it buys it will experience a net inflow of gold. The natural effect of this will be to increase the money supply, which leads to inflation and an increase in prices, which then tends to make its goods less competitive and so will decrease its trade surplus. However the nation has the option of taking the gold out of economy (sterilising the inflationary effect) thus building up a hoard of gold and retaining its favourable balance of payments. On the other hand, if a country has an adverse BoP it will experience a net loss of gold, which will automatically have a deflationary effect, unless it chooses to leave the gold standard. Prices will be reduced, making its exports more competitive, and thus correcting the imbalance. While the gold standard is generally considered to have been successful[59] up until 1914, correction by deflation to the degree required by the large imbalances that arose after WWI proved painful, with deflationary policies contributing to prolonged unemployment but not re-establishing balance. Apart from the US most former members had left the gold standard by the mid-1930s.

A possible method for surplus countries such as Germany to contribute to re-balancing efforts when exchange rate adjustment is not suitable, is to increase its level of internal demand (i.e. its spending on goods). While a current account surplus is commonly understood as the excess of earnings over spending, an alternative expression is that it is the excess of savings over investment.[60]

That is:

CA = NS '' NI {\displaystyle {\text{CA}}={\text{NS}}-{\text{NI}}\,} where CA = current account, NS = national savings (private plus government sector), NI = national investment.

If a nation is earning more than it spends the net effect will be to build up savings, except to the extent that those savings are being used for investment. If consumers can be encouraged to spend more instead of saving; or if the government runs a fiscal deficit to offset private savings; or if the corporate sector divert more of their profits to investment, then any current account surplus will tend to be reduced. However, in 2009 Germany amended its constitution to prohibit running a deficit greater than 0.35% of its GDP[61] and calls to reduce its surplus by increasing demand have not been welcome by officials,[62] adding to fears that the 2010s would not be an easy decade for the eurozone.[63] In their April 2010 world economic outlook report, the IMF presented a study showing how with the right choice of policy options governments can shift away from a sustained current account surplus with no negative effect on growth and with a positive impact on unemployment.[64]

Rules based rebalancing mechanisms [ edit ] Nations can agree to fix their exchange rates against each other, and then correct any imbalances that arise by rules based and negotiated exchange rate changes and other methods. The Bretton Woods system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates was an example of a rules based system. John Maynard Keynes, one of the architects of the Bretton Woods system had wanted additional rules to encourage surplus countries to share the burden of rebalancing, as he argued that they were in a stronger position to do so and as he regarded their surpluses as negative externalities imposed on the global economy.[65]Keynes suggested that traditional balancing mechanisms should be supplemented by the threat of confiscation of a portion of excess revenue if the surplus country did not choose to spend it on additional imports. However his ideas were not accepted by the Americans at the time. In 2008 and 2009, American economist Paul Davidson had been promoting his revamped form of Keynes's plan as a possible solution to global imbalances which in his opinion would expand growth all round without the downside risk of other rebalancing methods.[55][66][67]

Post-Washington Consensus developments [ edit ] Speaking after the 2009 G-20 London summit, Gordon Brown announced "the Washington Consensus is over".[68]There is now broad agreement that large imbalances between different countries do matter; for example mainstream U.S. economist C. Fred Bergsten has argued the U.S. deficit and the associated large inbound capital flows into the U.S. was one of the causes of the financial crisis of 2007''2010.[50]Since the crisis, government intervention in BOP areas such as the imposition of capital controls or foreign exchange market intervention has become more common and in general attracts less disapproval from economists, international institutions like the IMF and other governments.[69][70]

In 2007, when the crises began, the global total of yearly BoP imbalances was $1680 billion. On the credit side, the biggest current account surplus was China with approx. $362 billion, followed by Japan at $213 billion and Germany at £185 billion, with oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia also having large surpluses.On the debit side, the US had the biggest current account deficit at over $1100 billion, with the UK, Spain and Australia together accounting for close to a further $300 billion.[21]

While there have been warnings of future cuts in public spending, deficit countries on the whole did not make these in 2009, in fact the opposite happened with increased public spending contributing to recovery as part of global efforts to increase demand.[71] The emphases has instead been on the surplus countries, with the IMF, EU and nations such as the U.S., Brazil and Russia asking them to assist with the adjustments to correct the imbalances.[72][73]

Economists such as Gregor Irwin and Philip R. Lane have suggested that increased use of pooled reserves could help emerging economies not to require such large reserves and thus have less need for current account surpluses.[74]

Writing for the FT in Jan 2009, Gillian Tett says she expects to see policy makers becoming increasingly concerned about exchange rates over the coming year.[75]

In June 2009, Olivier Blanchard the chief economist of the IMF wrote that rebalancing the world economy by reducing both sizeable surpluses and deficits will be a requirement for sustained recovery.[76]

In 2008 and 2009, there was some reduction in imbalances, but early indications towards the end of 2009 were that major imbalances such as the U.S. current account deficit are set to begin increasing again.[35][77]

Japan had allowed her currency to appreciate through 2009, but has only limited scope to contribute to the rebalancing efforts thanks in part to her aging population. The euro used by Germany is allowed to float fairly freely in value, however further appreciation would be problematic for other members of the currency union such as Spain, Greece and Ireland who run large deficits. Therefore, Germany has instead been asked to contribute by further promoting internal demand, but this hasn't been welcomed by German officials.[72]

China has been requested to allow the renminbi (Chinese Yuan) to appreciate but until 2010 had refused, the position expressed by its premier Wen Jiabao being that by keeping the value of the renmimbi stable against the US dollar China has been helping the global recovery, and that calls to let its currency rise in value have been motivated by a desire to hold back China's development.[73] After China reported favourable results for her December 2009 exports however, the Financial Times reported that analysts are optimistic that China will allow some appreciation of its currency around mid-2010.[78]

In April 2010 a Chinese official signalled the government is considering allowing the renminbi to appreciate,[79] but by May analysts were widely reporting the appreciation would likely be delayed due to the falling value of the Euro following the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis.[80] China announced the end of the renminbi's peg to the US dollar in June 2010; the move was widely welcomed by markets and helped defuse tension over imbalances prior to the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit. However the renminbi remains managed and the new flexibility means it can move down as well as up in value; two months after the peg ended the renminbi had only appreciated against the US dollar by about 0.8%.[81]

By January 2011, the renminbi had appreciated against the US dollar by 3.7%, which means it's on track to appreciate in nominal terms by 6% per year. As this reflects a real appreciation of 10% when China's higher inflation is accounted for, the U.S. Treasury once again declined to label China a currency manipulator in their February 2011 report to Congress. However, Treasury officials did advise that the rate of appreciation was still too slow for the best interests of the global economy.[82][83]

In February 2011, Moody's analyst Alaistair Chan has predicted that despite a strong case for an upward revaluation, an increased rate of appreciation against the US dollar is unlikely in the short term.[84] And as of February 2012, China's currency had been continuing to appreciate for a year and a half, while drawing remarkably little notice.[85]

While some leading surplus countries including China have been taking steps to boost domestic demand, these have not yet been sufficient to rebalance out of their current account surpluses. By June 2010, the U.S. monthly current account deficit had risen back to $50 billion, a level not seen since mid-2008. With the US currently suffering from high unemployment and concerned about taking on additional debt, fears are rising that the US may resort to protectionist measures.[86]

Competitive devaluation after 2009 [ edit ] By September 2010, international tensions relating to imbalances had further increased. Brazil's finance minister Guido Mantega declared that an "international currency war" has broken out, with countries competitively trying to devalue their currency so as to boost exports. Brazil has been one of the few major economies lacking a reserve currency to abstain from significant currency intervention, with the real rising by 25% against the US dollar since January 2009. Some economists such as Barry Eichengreen have argued that competitive devaluation may be a good thing as the net result will effectively be equivalent to expansionary global monetary policy. Others such as Martin Wolf saw risks of tensions further escalating and advocated that coordinated action for addressing imbalances should be agreed on at the November G20 summit.[45][87][88]

Commentators largely agreed that little substantive progress was made on imbalances at the November 2010 G20. An IMF report released after the summit warned that without additional progress there is a risk of imbalances approximately doubling to reach pre-crises levels by 2014.[89]

Economic policy and the balance of payment [ edit ] Balance of payments and international headcount data is critical to the formulation of national and international economic policies. The balance of payments imbalances and foreign direct investment (FDI) is crucial for a country's policymakers to seek solutions. The impact of national and international policies can be seen in the balance of payments data. For example, one country may implement a policy to attract foreign investment. In contrast, another country may want to keep its currency relatively low to stimulate exports. Although a country's balance of payments will bring its current account and capital account into balance, there will be imbalances between countries' accounts. According to the World Bank data, the current account deficit in the United States is $498 billion in 2019 (The World Bank)

Suppose a country's balance of payments deficits are persistent. In that case, the country may suffer from a loss of confidence as its foreign exchange reserves deplete. At the same time, it makes the country very vulnerable to seasonal, cyclical or unpredictable fluctuations in foreign countries. It could lead to excessive inflation at home. Therefore, the stability of currency provides a strong guarantee for the sustainable development of the economy. Countries can analyze the current economic situation domestically and internationally through the annual balance of payment and formulate effective monetary policy combined with the political influence of international and multilateral relations (Zolotas and Ethymiou 1965)

The economic policy objectives could, in principle, serve as the standard for the balance of payments policies. At the same time, exchange rate policy is treated as income policy. F. De Roos (1982) argues that only equilibrium of the balance of payments can be considered as a long term criterion for the balance of payments policy in the case of stable exchange rates. In the case of flexible exchange rates, the criterion can be found in the degree of domestic economic stability.

See also [ edit ] Currency crisisExchange rate regimeForeign exchange reservesHistory of moneyIMF Balance of Payments ManualSectoral balancesSovereign defaultSterilization (economics)Sudden stop (economics)Notes and citations [ edit ] ^ Karl Polanyi (2002). The Great Transformation. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-5643-1. ^ a b c d Thirlwall, Anthony Philip (2012). Balance of Payments Constrained Growth Models: History and Overview. Springer. p. 11. ISBN 9781137023957. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Eirc Helleiner; Louis W Pauly; et al. (2005). John Ravenhill (ed.). Global Political Economy. Oxford University Press. pp. 7''15, 154, 177''204. ^ Harold James (2009). The End of Globalization. Harvard University Press. p. 12. ISBN 9780674039087. ^ "Foreign bidders welcome as Britain turns on its own rich". 8 January 2010. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. ^ Carroll Quigley (1995). Tragedy and Hope. GSG & Associates, Inc. pp. 243, 263. ISBN 0-945001-10-X. ^ a b Barry Eichengreen and Michael D Bord (11 November 2001). "Crises Now and Then" (PDF) . Berkeley. ^ Different economic historians don't always classify the same events as a BoP or twin crises ^ One of the informal rules during the gold standard era was that countries running a trade surplus ought to allow the net inflow of gold they receive to increase their domestic money supply. This would have an expansionary and possibly inflationary effect on their economies, helping to reverse the earlier trade surplus and thus correct the imbalance. However central banks of surplus countries could choice not to allow the extra gold to circulate in their domestic economies, hoarding it in their vaults, and thus the burden of rebalancing would fall entirely on the deficit countries which may need to deflate their economies in order to reduce prices and regain competitiveness. ^ Dani Rodrik (11 May 2010). "Greek Lessons for the World Economy". Project Syndicate . Retrieved 19 May 2010 . ^ e.g., in his influential Free to Choose TV series ^ a b c Roberts, Richar (199). Inside International Finance. Orion. pp. 1''27. ISBN 0-7528-2070-2. ^ In the 1970s and 1980s a significant part of the capital flowing into developing countries was re-cycled petro dollars, the oil producing countries were among the few to have large surpluses but at that time the US wasn't issuing many bonds so the capital tended to flow to developing countries via the intermediary of western investment banks. ^ Heakal, Reem. "Understanding Capital And Financial Accounts in the Balance of Payments". Investopedia . Retrieved 11 December 2009 . ^ Eswar S. Prasad; Raghuram G. Rajan & Arvind Subramanian (16 April 2007). "Foreign Capital and Economic Growth" (PDF) . Peterson Institute. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 December 2009 . Retrieved 15 December 2009 . ^ a b Wolf, Martin (2009). "3". Fixing Global Finance. Yale University Press. pp. 31''39. ^ "U.S. Trade in Goods and Services '' Balance of Payments 1960 thru 2008". ^ Data visualization from OECD Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, select 'Current account imbalances' or 'Reserve Accumalation' on the stories tab, then move the date slider to see how imbalances developed between 1990''2008. ^ a b Michael P. Dooley; David Folkerts-Landau; Peter Garber (February 2009). "Bretton Woods II Still Defines the International Monetary System". NBER Working Papers. National Bureau of Economic Research. ^ Chan, Alaistair. "The U.S. '' China Balance of Payments Relationship". Moody's Analytics . Retrieved 23 February 2011 . ^ a b Martin Wolf (8 October 2008). "Asia's Revenge" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 10 January 2010 . ^ Wolf, Martin (2009). Fixing Global Finance. Yale University Press. pp. 41, 82, 114''16. ISBN 978-0-300-14277-8. ^ Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff (2010). This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. Princeton University Press. pp. 208''12. ISBN 978-0-19-926584-8. ^ Carbaugh, Robert J. International Economics. p. 347. ^ adam antiam (2005). Exchange Rates and International Finance (4th ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 10''35. ISBN 0-273-68306-3. ^ a b c d e Orlin, Crabbe (1996). International Financial Markets (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 430''52. ISBN 0-13-206988-1. ^ a b c d Sloman, John (2004). Economics. Penguin. pp. 516''17, 555''59. ^ Cheol S. Eun, Bruce G. Resnick (2013). International Financial Management. China Machine. ^ Colin Danby. "Balance of Payments: Categories and Definitions". University of Washington . Retrieved 11 December 2009 . ^ IMF Balance of Payments Manual, Chapter 2 "Overview of the Framework", Paragraph 2.15 [1] ^ The IMF Capital account records mainly capital transfers, the amounts involved are usually very small compared to other BoP transactions, except in rare cases where a country is the beneficiary of substantial debt forgiveness. ^ "The Determinants & Excessiveness of Current Account Deficits in Eastern Europe & the Former Soviet Union" (PDF) . Aleksander Aristovnik, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan. 19 July 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011 . Retrieved 5 July 2010 . ^ Central Bank of Armenia. (2021). Armenia's Balance of Payments in 2020. Retrieved from https://www.cba.am/en/news/2021/02/17/armenia-s-balance-of-payments-in-2020/ ^ Though there is difference of opinion on how to resolve the issue with the major surplus countries apart from Japan resisting pressure to lower their own surpluses. ^ a b Krishna Guha (24 October 2009). "Recovery takes an unclear path" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012 . Retrieved 10 January 2010 . ^ Wolfgang M¼nchau, "Kernschmelze im Finanzsystem", Carl Hanser Verlag, M¼nchen, 2008, p. 155ff.; vgl. Benedikt Fehr [de] : "'Bretton-Woods-II-Regime [de] ist tot. Es lebe Bretton Woods III'" in FAZ 12 May 2009, p. 32. FAZ.Net, Stephanie Schoenwald: "Globale Ungleichgewichte. Sind sie f¼r die Finanzmarktkrise (mit-) verantwortlich?" KfW (Kreditanstalt f¼r Wiederaufbau) Research. MakroScope. No. 29, February 2009. p. 1. [permanent dead link ] Zu den auŸenwirtschaftlichen Ungleichgewichten als "makro¶konomischer N¤hrboden" der Krise siehe auch Deutsche Bundesbank: Finanzstabilit¤tsbericht 2009, Frankfurt am Main, November 2009 Archived 7 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (PDF)., Gustav Horn, Heike Joebges, Rudolf Zwiener: "Von der Finanzkrise zur Weltwirtschaftskrise (II), Globale Ungleichgewichte: Ursache der Krise und Auswegstrategien f¼r Deutschland" IMK-Report Nr. 40, August 2009, pp. 6-7. (PDF; 260 kB) ^ "Wege aus der Euro-Krise - Prof. Dr. H. Flassbeck" '' via www.youtube.com. ^ "Germans and Aliens". Paul Krugman Blog. 9 January 2012. ^ "Joseph Stiglitz: Is Mercantilism Doomed to Fail? 4/5" '' via www.youtube.com. ^ Richard Duncan (31 January 2008). "Buyers, not savers, caused America's deficit" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010 . Retrieved 13 January 2010 . ^ Martin Wolf (4 November 2009). "Private behaviour will shape our path to fiscal stability" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 13 January 2010 . ^ "Governor Ben S. Bernanke, The Global Saving Glut and the U.S. Current Account Deficit". Federalreserve.gov. March 2005 . Retrieved 13 January 2010 . ^ However individual states may choose to keep some of their reserves in the form of whatever currency is used by nations they buy most of their imports from (providing mechanisms are available to settle trades in that currency, which isn't always the case). ^ John Plender (11 November 2009). "Decline but no fall". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 19 January 2010 . ^ a b Martin Wolf (29 September 2010). "Currencies clash in new age of beggar-my-neighbour" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2010 . Retrieved 29 September 2010 . ^ Martin Wolf (5 April 2011). "Waiting for the great rebalancing" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2011 . Retrieved 23 May 2011 . ^ Mainly gold, but also silver, platinum and palladium. ^ Jamil Anderlini in Beijing (23 March 2009). "China calls for new reserve currency" . Financial Times. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009 . Retrieved 13 April 2009 . ^ Zhou Xiaochuan (23 March 2009). "Reform the International Monetary System". People's Bank of China . Retrieved 13 April 2009 . ^ a b C. Fred Bergsten (November 2009). "The Dollar and the Deficits". Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 1 December 2009 . Retrieved 15 December 2009 . ^ Gerard Lyons (27 April 2010). "China is undermining the dollar by the back-door" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010 . Retrieved 1 May 2010 . ^ Camba-Crespo, Alfonso; Garc­a-Solanes, Jos(C); Torrej"n-Flores, Fernando (7 July 2021). "Current-account breaks and stability spells in a global perspective". Applied Economic Analysis. 30 (88): 1''17. doi:10.1108/AEA-02-2021-0029 . S2CID 237827555. ^ Scores of other text books old and new also give this definition, see for example International monetary relations: theory, history, and policy (1976), p. 611 by Leland B. Yeager. The other two basic functions are to provide liquidity and to impart confidence. While during the Washington Consensus period fewer emphasis was placed on the need for balance, in the main a requirement for correction was still accepted, though many argued that governments should leave such correction to the markets. ^ Following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, rules based adjustment is mostly theoretical. ^ a b Paul Davidson (2009). The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 123''38. ISBN 978-0-230-61920-3. ^ Though except in the early years of the Bretton Woods System when international markets were heavily constrained by capital controls, managing the exchange rate has often been problematic as the markets often want the currency to move in the opposite direction to governments. Developing countries in particular would often experience difficulties, though even advanced economies like Britain had issues, with Black Wednesday an example when she had insufficient reserves to counter the market. ^ There are commonly used financial instruments that allow importers to pay with their domestic currency, and the reserve asset will often play an intermediary role, but ultimately exporters require paying in their own currency. ^ In practice there is typically still a small degree of exchange rate flexibility due to the cost of shipping gold between nations. ^ Though not problem free, see Paper from the Bank of Canada on current imbalances in context of international monetary system history Archived 30 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine ^ Wolfgang Munchau (7 June 2009). "Down and out for the long term in Germany". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 10 January 2010 . ^ Bertrand Benoit (29 May 2009). "Berlin vote heralds big spending cuts" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009 . Retrieved 12 January 2010 . ^ Ralph Atkins (30 September 2009). "The Bundesbank and global imbalances" . The Financial Times . Retrieved 12 January 2010 . ^ Martin Wolf (5 January 2010). "The eurozones next decade will be tough" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 1 April 2010 . Retrieved 12 January 2010 . ^ "Getting the balance right" (PDF) . International Monetary Fund. 18 April 2010 . Retrieved 17 May 2010 . ^ Joseph Stiglitz (5 May 2010). "Can the Euro be Saved?". Project Syndicate. Archived from the original on 9 May 2010 . Retrieved 17 May 2010 . ^ Reforming the worlds international money (pdf) Archived 3 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine (2008) by Paul Davidson ^ "Rebalancing the global economy: A Primer for Policymaking (p.174 et seq.)" (PDF) . Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2011 . Retrieved 1 December 2011 . ^ "Prime Minister Gordon Brown: G20 Will Pump Trillion Dollars into World Economy". Sky News. 2 April 2009. ^ Dani Rodrik (11 March 2010). "The End of an Era in Finance". Project Syndicate . Retrieved 24 May 2010 . ^ Mansoor Mohi-Uddin (22 September 2010). "Towards a new era of currency intervention" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 23 September 2010 . ^ The public spending did not however make the imbalances worse as they were offset by reduced private sector demand and debt in the deficit countries. ^ a b Chris Giles (11 January 2009). "Surplus nations urged by IMF to take up baton". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 6 May 2015 . Retrieved 10 January 2010 . ^ a b Geoff Dyer (29 December 2009). "Wen dismisses currency pressure" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 10 January 2010 . ^ Philip R. Lane. "Global Imbalances and Global Governance" (PDF) . CEPR . Retrieved 11 December 2009 . ^ Gillian Tett (28 January 2010). "Calls for a new Bretton Woods not so mad". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 29 January 2010 . ^ Olivier Blanchard (18 June 2009). "What is needed for a lasting recovery" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 17 May 2010 . ^ Gideon Rachman (12 January 2010). "Bankruptcy could be good for America" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010 . Retrieved 12 January 2010 . ^ Patti Waldmeir (10 January 2010). "China's exports rise as economy picks up" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2010 . Retrieved 10 January 2010 . ^ Jamil Anderlini in Beijing (6 April 2010). "Beijing lays ground for renminbi shift" . Financial Times. Archived from the original on 6 April 2010 . Retrieved 8 April 2010 . ^ Kevin Brown in Kuala Lumpur, Jamil Anderlini in Beijing and Robin Harding in Tokyo (20 May 2010). "Asian exporters rattled by eurozone turmoil" . Financial Times. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010 . Retrieved 21 May 2010 . ^ Geoff Dyer (10 August 2010). "China trade surplus widens" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010 . Retrieved 24 August 2010 . ^ Treasury staffers (4 February 2011). "Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies" (PDF) . United States Department of the Treasury . Retrieved 25 February 2011 . ^ Robin Harding (5 February 2011). "US retreats from attack on renminbi" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 . Retrieved 7 February 2011 . ^ Chan, Alaistair. "The U.S. '' China Balance of Payments Relationship" . Retrieved 22 February 2011 . ^ David Leonhardt (15 February 2012). "Appreciation in China's Currency Goes Largely Unnoted". The New York Times . Retrieved 16 March 2012 . ^ Michael Pettis (22 August 2010). "The last chance to avoid a global trade war" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2010 . Retrieved 24 August 2010 . ^ Jonathan Wheatley in S£o Paulo and Peter Garnham in London (27 September 2010). "Brazil in 'currency war' alert" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 29 September 2010 . Retrieved 29 September 2010 . ^ Alan Beattie (27 September 2010). "Hostilities escalate to hidden currency war" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 29 September 2010 . Retrieved 29 September 2010 . ^ IMF staffers (12 November 2010). "G-20 Mutual Assessment Process '' IMF Staff Assessment of G-20 Policies1" (PDF) . International Monetary Fund . Retrieved 19 November 2010 . Further reading [ edit ] Economics 8th Edition by David Begg, Stanley Fischer and Rudiger Dornbusch, McGraw-HillEconomics Third Edition by Alain Anderton, Causeway PressExternal links [ edit ] Data [ edit ] Comprehensive international BOP statistics from the IMFBOP for Hong Kong Archived 29 June 2010 at the Wayback MachineUS statistics (See "External Sector")Detailed historical BOP data from the US Bureau of Economic AnalysesEuropean Central Bank (ECB, as source of euro area) (1 March 2017). "Balance of payments, capital account, monthly data". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 16 May 2018 . Retrieved 17 May 2018 . Analysis [ edit ] Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies Feb 2011 US treasury report with sections on BOP issues for major trading blocs and countries.Paper from the Bank of Canada on challenges for 2010 regarding current imbalances, in context of international monetary system history Archived 30 October 2010 at the Wayback MachineEuropean Central Bank paper on the accumulation of reserves and imbalances since 1995https://www.investopedia.com/insights/what-is-the-balance-of-payments/#:~:text=There%20are%20three%20main%20components,that%20doesn't%20always%20happen.

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American economist

Michael Hudson (born March 14, 1939) is an American economist, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri''Kansas City and a researcher at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College, former Wall Street analyst, political consultant, commentator and journalist. He is a contributor to The Hudson Report, a weekly economic and financial news podcast produced by Left Out.[1]

Hudson graduated from the University of Chicago (BA, 1959) and New York University (MA, 1965, PhD, 1968) and worked as a balance of payments economist in Chase Manhattan Bank (1964''68). He was assistant professor of economics at the New School for Social Research (1969''72) and worked for various governmental and non-governmental organizations as an economic consultant (1980s''1990s).[2]

Hudson has devoted his career to the study of debt, both domestic debt (loans, mortgages, interest payments), and external debt. In his works, he consistently advocates the idea that loans and exponentially growing debts that outstrip profits from the real economy are disastrous for both the government and the people of the borrowing state as they wash money (payments to usurers and rentiers) from turnover, not leaving them funds to buy goods and services, thus leading to debt deflation. Hudson notes that the existing economic theory, the Chicago School in particular, serves rentiers and financiers and has developed a special language designed to reinforce the impression that there is no alternative to the status quo. In a false theory, the parasitic encumbrances of a real economy, instead of being deducted in accounting, add up as an addition to the gross domestic product and are presented as productive. Hudson sees consumer protection, state support of infrastructure projects, and taxation of rentier sectors of the economy rather than workers, as a continuation of the line of classical economists today.

In an April 2006 article in Harper's, just before the Great Recession of 2007-08, Hudson predicted a crash of US housing prices.[3]

Biography [ edit ] Early life and education [ edit ] Hudson was born on March 14, 1939,[4] in Minneapolis.[5] Hudson is a fifth-generation American as on his maternal line he has Ojibwe blood.[citation needed ] His father, Nathaniel Carlos Hudson (1908''2003), received an MBA from the University of Minnesota in 1929, the year the Great Depression struck.[5] His father joined the trade union struggle, became an active Trotskyist trade unionist, editor of the Northwest Organizer and The Industrial Organizer, and wrote articles for other trade union publications. When Hudson was three years old, his father was arrested on Smith Act violation grounds, an act aimed at suppressing Trotskyists in the United States.[6] He had been one of the leaders of the Minneapolis general strikes from 1934 to 1936.[5]

Hudson received his primary and secondary education in a private school at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. After his graduation, he entered the University of Chicago with two majors: Germanic philology and history. In 1959, Hudson graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree. After graduation, he worked as an assistant to Jeremy Kaplan at the Free Press in Chicago. He managed to obtain the rights to the English language editions of the works of Gy¶rgy Lukcs as well as the rights to the archives and works of Leon Trotsky after the death of Trotsky's widow, Natalia Sedova.[7]

Hudson found work at the publishing house neither interesting nor profitable. Hudson, who had studied music from his childhood, moved to New York in 1960 in hopes of becoming a pupil of the conductor Dimitris Mitropoulos, but these plans were not to be realized.

Studying the economy and working for banks [ edit ] His best friend growing up was Gavin MacFadyen, later a documentary film maker, founder in London of the Centre for Investigative Journalism and director of WikiLeaks. MacFadyen had introduced Hudson to Terence McCarthy who was an Irish communist and was the translator of Marx's Theories of Surplus Value. McCarthy became his mentor.[5]

In 1961, Hudson enrolled in the Economics Department of New York University. His master's thesis was devoted to the development philosophy of the World Bank and special attention was paid to credit policy in the agricultural sector. Many years later, Hudson recognized: "The topics that most interested me ... were not taught at New York University where I took my graduate economics degrees. In fact, they are not taught in any university departments: the dynamics of debt, and how the pattern of bank lending inflates land prices, or national income accounting and the rising share absorbed by rent extraction in the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) sector. There was only one way to learn how to analyze these topics: to work for banks."[7]

In 1964, Hudson, who had just received his master's degree in economics, joined Chase Manhattan Bank's economics research department as a balance of payments specialist.[8] His task was to identify the payment capacity of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Based on export earnings and other international payment data, Hudson had to determine the income the bank could derive from the debt that these countries had accumulated. He recalled that, "I soon found that the Latin American countries I analyzed were fully 'loaned up'. There were no more hard currency inflows available to extract as interest on new loans or bond issues. In fact, there was capital flight." Among other tasks that Hudson performed at Chase Manhattan was an analysis of the balance of payments of the US oil industry and the tracking of "dirty" money that ended up in Swiss banks. According to Hudson, this work gave him invaluable experience in understanding how banks and the financial sector work as well as understanding how bank accounting and real life correlate.

Hudson left his job at the bank to complete his doctoral dissertation. His thesis was devoted to US economic and technological thought in the 19th century. It was successfully defended in 1968 and in 1975 it was published under the title Economics and Technology in 19th Century American Thought: The Neglected American Economists.[9]

In 1968, Hudson joined the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, for whom he expanded his analysis of payment flows for all areas of US production. He discovered that the United States deficit was evident only in the military sphere: "My charts revealed that the U.S. payments deficit was entirely military in character throughout the 1960s. The private sector'--foreign trade and investment'--was exactly in balance, year after year, and "foreign aid" actually produced a dollar surplus (as it was required to do under U.S. law)." However, the accounting system used in the US after the war mixed the balance of individuals and state payments flow into a single balance which concealed the budget deficit. Hudson proposed dividing US balance of payments figures into governmental and private sectors.[10]

Career [ edit ] In 1972, Hudson moved to the Hudson Institute headed by Herman Kahn. In 1979, he became an advisor to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).[11][12]

In 1984, Hudson joined Harvard's archaeology faculty at the Peabody Museum as a research fellow in Babylonian economics.[13][citation needed ] A decade later, he was a founding member of the International Scholars Conference on Ancient Near Eastern Economies, an international group of Assyriologists and archaeologists who analyzed the economic origins of civilization.[14]

In the mid-1990s, Hudson became a professor of economics at the University of Missouri''Kansas City and a fellow at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College. As of 2020[update], Hudson was the director of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term economic Trends (ISLET) and the Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri''Kansas City.[15][16]

In an April 2006 article in Harper's, just before the Great Recession of 2007-08, Hudson predicted a crash of US housing prices.[3]

Contributions [ edit ] Hudson devoted his first works to the problem of the gold and foreign exchange reserves and the US foreign economic debt, a subject his mentor Terence McCarthy (the translator to Marx's Theories of Surplus Value) had previously dealt with in detail. In his first article titled "Sieve of Gold", Hudson analyzed the negative economic consequences of the Vietnam War.[17] He drew attention to the fact, even without war, the US economy very soon came to a critical point. The welfare of the US in the postwar years was in many cases provided with a "golden pillow", it had created for itself between the end of WW I and the end of WW II (per Michael's Empire lectures on Youtube April 2021 and other 2021 recorded lectures). Since 1934, when frightened by Adolf Hitler, Europeans began to buy US government securities, thereby shifting their gold and foreign exchange reserves to US banks. From 1934, US gold and foreign exchange reserves increased from $7.4 billion to $20.1 billion in 1945. After the creation of the Bretton Woods system, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created within the framework as well as a gold pool which guaranteed the dollar was as good as gold, capital began to leave the country and move to Europe. Military expenditures accounted for a huge share of the United States budget deficit, which tried in vain to prevent further growth in the deficit, on the one hand in every way limiting the flow of gold and on the other hand not allowing foreign central banks to receive gold for the given dollars. Such a policy appealed to European bankers who found such a policy hypocritical. Yet they went along with it, acquiesced, surrendered, as they were afraid to bring down the dollar and thereby deprive their products of competitiveness in US markets.

In A Financial Payments-Flow Analysis of U.S. International Transactions, 1960-1968, Hudson showed US export statistics erroneously included a class of goods whose transfer abroad did not involve payment at any time, from residents of one nation to those of another; and, which are for this reason not really international transactions at all. Primary among this class of goods were the transfers of aircraft parts and components by the United States to international airlines at their overseas air terminals and installation on their aircraft.

These transfers were brought into the host country under bond and therefore were excluded from import statistics. At the same time, their value was included in the United States export statistics as a credit, therefore the government sector has been in sizable deficit on a payments-flow basis during 1960''1968, resulting mainly from its military operations. Existing accounting systems mixing government and private flows did not show the problem and the source of disparities. In his monograph, Hudson made an attempt to divide the United States balance of payments into government and private sectors.

In 1972, Hudson published Super Imperialism, which traced the history of the formation of American imperialism after the end of World War I. In Hudson's interpretation, super-imperialism is a stage of imperialism in which the state does not realize the interests of any group other than itself. It is itself wholly and entirely aimed at colonializing other states, making them into client states by dollar diplomacy. Continuing the position outlined in A Financial Payments-Flow Analysis of U.S. International Transactions, 1960-1968, Hudson stressed the aid systems, World Bank and IMF formed after the end of World War II. All American foreign politics (including tied aid and debts) were aimed at restraining the self-sufficient economic development of Third World countries in economic sectors where the United States was afraid of emerging competition. At the same time, the US imposed so-called free trade policies on developing countries, policy which was the reverse of the one the US used itself to gain prosperity.

In 1971, after cancelling the right to redeem gold for dollars, the US forced foreign central banks to buy US treasury bonds. This income was used to finance the federal deficit and large, overseas military expenditures. In exchange for providing a net surplus of assets, commodities, debt financing, goods and services, foreign countries were forced to hold an equal amount of US treasuries. This drove down US interest rates, which drove down the dollar's foreign exchange rate, making US goods more competitive overseas.

Hudson views foreign central banks buying treasuries as a legitimate effort to stabilize exchange rates rather than a currency manipulation. Foreign central banks could sell the excess dollars on the exchange market which would strengthen their currency. Yet he calls this a dilemma as it decreases their ability to continue a trade surplus even though it also increases their purchasing power.

He believes keyboard credit and treasury outflows in exchange for foreign assets without a future, means for the United States to repay the treasuries and a decreasing value of the dollar is akin to military conquest. He believes the surplus balance of payments countries have [includes?] the right to stabilize exchange rates and expect repayment of the resulting loans even as industry shifts from the United States to creditor nations.

He states the Washington Consensus has encouraged the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to impose austerity so the United States itself is not exposed to, thanks to dollar dominance. Dollar Diplomacy leads to subjecting other countries to unfair trade and investment intending to strip foreign assets and natural resources. This includes privatizing infrastructure, preferably buying it at distressed prices. Parasitic finance techniques (including Western-style tax breaks) are used to extract the maximum amount of the country's surplus and cripple it as an economic competitor to the US, rather than providing fairness and promoting each nation's self-sufficiency.

Debt in the ancient Near East [ edit ] At the end of the 1980s, Hudson diverged from the field of modern economics in order to explore the foundations of modern western financial practices and concepts in ancient Mesopotamia. Under the aegis of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends, which he organized, Hudson convened a series of five conferences between 1994 and 2004 gathering leading scholars in the pertinent disciplines to investigate this topic, assemble relevant contemporary scholarship and publish it in a series of volumes. The five conferences focused on Privatization In The Ancient Near East and Classical World; Urbanization and Land Ownership; Debt and Economic Renewal in the Ancient Near East; Creating Economic Order: Record-Keeping, Standardization, and the Development of Accounting; and Labor In The Ancient World. Cumulatively, this work demolishes a wide range of economic myths (the origin of markets and money in barter, for example, and of money in metals or coinage) and replaced them with carefully documented, extremely revealing facts. In their investigation of the origins of debt and usury they found the first and by far the earliest major creditors were the temples and palaces of Bronze Age Mesopotamia, not private individuals acting on their own. The rate of interest in each region was not based on productivity. It was set purely for simplicity of calculation in the local system of fractional arithmetic, i.e., 1/60th per month in Mesopotamia and later one-tenth per year for Greece and 1/12th for Rome. Money originated in book-keeping, not metals or barter or coinage. Ideas about land ownership, mortgages, rents, and wages originated in this context and were determined by it.

The natural stability of a national state depends on having as many free, independent workers doing productive things. The rise of personal debt, past a certain low threshold, begins to reduce worker productivity'--even if it makes the elite financial class wealthier. The proclamations of Jubilees or Clean Slates had the purpose of making workers more productive'--and happier'--thereby improving the economy. Hudson stated: "In the early 1990s I tried to write my own summary, but was unable to convince publishers the Near Eastern tradition of Biblical debt cancellations was firmly grounded. Two decades ago economic historians and even many Biblical scholars thought the Jubilee Year was merely a literary creation, a utopian escape from practical reality. I encountered a wall of cognitive dissonance at the thought the practice was attested to in increasingly detailed Clean Slate proclamations". David Graeber's book Debt: The First 5,000 Years (2011) drew on Hudson's ideas.[citation needed ]

According to the documentary evidence which Hudson and his colleagues assembled and published, rather than debts being held sacred, instead what was sacred in the ancient Near East was the regular cancellation of debts. These included agrarian debts, freeing of bondservants as well as freedmen from permanent debt servitude, in order to preserve social balance, and to ensure a sturdy agrarian class of freedmen to serve in the army.[18] This was one of the primary goals of Hammurabi's famous law code (c. 1729''1686 b.c.).[19] Such debt amnesties were not destabilizing. They were essential to preserving long-term social and economic stability.

Domestic debts and debt deflation of economy [ edit ] From the beginning of the 2000s, Hudson pays special attention to the issues of inflating fictitious capital, which entails the withdrawal of funds from the real economy and leads to debt deflation.[20] He states finance and "financialization" has been key to guiding politics into reducing the productive capacity of the United States and Europe. The elite financial class benefits from non-productive finance tactics and strategies. They have used these techniques to harm Chile, Russia, Latvia and Hungary.

Hudson states parasitic non-productive, rent-seeking finance looks at industry and labor to determine how much wealth it can extract by fees, interest and tax breaks. Rather than invest capital into increasing production and efficiency where the market demands it, wealth accumulated is made into loans, at compound interest. In this way, a nation's debt can grow faster than its real goods production.

Compounding interest naturally results in increasing the size of debt which eventually demand more wealth be extracted than production and labor are able to pay.

Rather than extracting taxes from the rentiers to reduce the cost of labor and assets and use the tax revenue to improve infrastructure to increase production efficiency, he states the United States tax system, bank bailouts and quantitative easing sacrifice labor and industry for the benefit of the finance sector. According to Hudson, bankers and rentiers as early as 1880s started to search ways to rationalize untaxing and deregulating finance, real estate and monopolies. They succeeded in the 1980s with establishing a neoliberal Washington consensus that states "everyone is worth what they get" so there is no "unearned increment" to be untaxed.

Hudson stresses world success of neoliberal Dollar Diplomacy and financialization is closely connected with its educational support in all big universities. He cites the story of Chile. One of the first acts of the Chicago Boys in Chile after the military junta overthrew the Allende government in 1973 was to close down every economics department in the nation outside of the Catholic University, a University of Chicago monetarist stronghold. The junta then closed down every social science department and fired, exiled or murdered critics of its ideology in the terrorist Project Condor program waged throughout Latin America and spread to political assassination in the United States itself. What the Chicago Boys recognized is that free market ideology requires totalitarian control of the school and university system, totalitarian control of the press and control of the police where intellectual resistance survives against the idea that economic planning should become much more centralized, but moved out of the hands of government into those of the bankers and other financial institutions, stating: "Free market ideology ends up as political Doublethink in countering any freedom of thought. Its remarkable success in the United States and elsewhere thus has been achieved largely by excluding the history of classical, conservative economic thought from the early 1800s, which culminated in many ways with Marx. These have been expunged from conventional economics curriculum". Modern Monetary Theory of which Hudson is an adherent, is gaining traction by showing the falseness of the neoliberal conceiving of economics as purely mathematics.

Position on Karl Marx and Marxian economics [ edit ] Hudson identifies himself as a Marxist economist, but his interpretation of Karl Marx is different from some other Marxists'. For example, Stalin's popularization of volume one of Capital to say, capitalism is an exploitation of workers by their employers. All that indeed was in volume one, but Marx wrote volume two and three all about finance and rent seeking.[21]

Further, Hudson wrote,

"Marx and many of his less radical contemporary reformers saw the historical role of industrial capitalism as being to clear away the legacy of feudalism'--the landlords, bankers, and monopolists extracting economic rent without producing real value. However, that reform movement failed. Today, the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector has regained control of government, creating neo-rentier economies. The aim of this postindustrial finance capitalism is the opposite of industrial capitalism as known to nineteenth-century economists: it seeks wealth primarily through the extraction of economic rent, not industrial capital formation. Tax favoritism for real estate, privatization of oil and mineral extraction, and banking and infrastructure monopolies add to the cost of living and doing business. Labor is increasingly exploited by bank debt, student debt, and credit card debt while housing and other prices are inflated on credit, leaving less income to spend on goods and services as economies suffer debt deflation."[22]

Hudson also argues Marx was too optimistic.[23] History did not go in the direction of Capitalism evolving into Socialism'--at least not yet. Since the 1930s today's modern capitalism is dominated by non-productive rentier classes. In classical economics, which includes Marx, the proletariat as a class is better off paying as few rents as possible. This is because wages can be lower if workers have less overhead. This lowers the price of goods they produce lower, making them more competitive on the international market. This is also the logic of making healthcare a public commons run not-for-profit by the government. This enables wages to be lower for workers.

Non-productive rents, tactics and strategies are making all countries, the US included, less self-sufficient. This connects back with the idea of a debt jubilee; and, with taxing non-productive activity, not workers and manufacturing.

The cost of doing nothing is high. Left to run wild, the ever-growing need for debt and rents causes history to regress back to a neo-feudal system; where, your employer pays for your healthcare, provides you your housing and keeps workers in debt permanently.

In Capital, Volume I, Marx assumes there is a rent-free market where all commodities are sold at their values. That is how Marx deduces the exploitative nature of capitalism and labour-capital dichotomy as its underlying contradiction. However, in Capital, Volume II and Capital, Volume III he relaxes his assumptions and discovers other contradictions much closer to what can be observed in today's economic system.

In Capital, Volume III, Marx discusses the tendency of productivity and supply to increase at a faster pace than the consumption power and demand. Marx also revised his earlier ideas as he studied and learned more about the asymmetric development of capitalism. This ultimately led him to soften his revolutionary tone[citation needed ] as he realized how dominance of industrially advanced nations over underdeveloped nations blocks revolutionary tendencies among the working classes of dominating nations.

Works [ edit ] Books [ edit ] Hudson is the author of several books, among them the following:[24][25]

Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1972)[26][27]Global Fracture: The New International Economic order (1973),[28] a sequel to Super Imperialism.Trade, Development and Foreign Debt, Volume I, International Trade: A History of Theories of Polarisation and Convergence in the International Economy (1992).[29]Trade, Development and Foreign Debt, Volume II, International Finance: A History of Theories of Polarisation and Convergence in the International Economy (1992).[30]A philosophy for a fair society (Georgist Paradigm Series) (1994).[31]Urbanization and Land Ownership in the Ancient Near East (1999), edited by Hudson and Baruch A. Levine,[32] with an introduction by Hudson, Volume II in a series sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Long-term Economic Trends and the International Scholars Conference on Ancient Near East Economies: A Colloquium Held at New York University, November 1996 and The Oriental Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 1997, published by Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.Super Imperialism Walter E. Williams New Edition: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance (2003),[33]Global Fracture: The New International Economic order, Second Edition,[34]America's Protectionist Takeoff, 1815-1914: The Neglected American School of Political Economy (2010),[35] enlarged, revised and updated version of Economics and Technology in 19th-Century American Thought - The Neglected American Economists.The Bubble and Beyond (2012)[36]Killing the Host (2015)[37]J is For Junk Economics: A Guide to Reality in an Age of Deception (2017)[38] '... and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption '' From Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year (2018), Dresden: ISLET-Verlag Dresden. [ISBN 978-3-9818260-3-6] (hard bound), [ISBN 978-3-9818260-2-9] (soft cover)[39]The Destiny of Civilization: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism or Socialism (2022)[40]The Collapse of Antiquity: Greece and Rome as Civilization's Oligarchic Turning Point (2023)[41]Documentaries [ edit ] Hudson has appeared in several documentaries, including the following:

The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire (2017), by Michael Oswald[42]Capitalism (2015), by Ilan Ziv[43]Real Estate 4 Ransom (2012), by Grant Kot[44]Four Horsemen (2012), by Ross Ashcroft[45]Surviving Progress (2011), by Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks[46]The Secret of Oz: Solutions for a broken Economy (2009), by William Still[47]Plunder: The Crime of Our Time (2009)[48]In Debt We Trust (2006)[49]See also [ edit ] Post-Keynesian economicsReferences [ edit ] ^ "Left Out". Patreon . Retrieved December 24, 2020 . ^ "Biography". Michael Hudson. March 15, 2010 . Retrieved April 7, 2021 . ^ a b Hudson, Michael (May 1, 2006). "The new road to serfdom". Harper's Magazine. May 2006 '' via harpers.org. ^ Hudson, Michael (1973). Contemporary Authors: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Authors and Their Works. Edited by Clare D. Kinsman. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research. Vol. 33''36. p. 456. ^ a b c d "Life & Thought: An Autobiography". Michael Hudson. August 7, 2018 . Retrieved April 7, 2021 . ^ Center, Kairos (September 25, 2017). " "The Bible is all about economics": A Conversation with Dr. Michael Hudson". Kairos Center. ^ a b Hudson, Michael (September 28, 2015). "Bubbles Always Burst: the Education of an Economist". CounterPunch. ^ "Michael Hudson | The Modern Money Network". modernmoneynetwork.org. ^ The Neglected American Economists: Economics and Technology in 19th Century American Thought. A collection of 46 important works printed in 42 volumes ^ "The Use and Abuse of MMT | Michael Hudson". michael-hudson.com. April 11, 2020. ^ "The Fed Sinks The Dollar By Michael Hudson". countercurrents.org. ^ Whitney, Michael Hudson-Mike (August 29, 2008). "How the Chicago Boys Wrecked the Economy". CounterPunch. ^ "Michael Hudson". The Democracy Collaborative. ^ "Debt and economic renewal in the ancient Near East : a colloquium held at Columbia University, November 1998". Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press. March 9, 2002. ^ "Michael Hudson-About". Michael Hudson. February 25, 2008 . Retrieved December 24, 2020 . ^ "Michael Hudson". Michael Hudson. January 14, 2022 . Retrieved December 19, 2023 . ^ "1968 magazine article shows how control of gold is main mechanism of imperial power | Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee | Exposing the long-term manipulation of the gold market". gata.org. ^ Chris Hedges (interviewer); Michael Hudson (interviewee) (December 16, 2018). On Contact: The history of debt forgiveness (Video). New York: RT America . Retrieved April 7, 2021 . ^ Von Soden, Wolfram. The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the Study of the Ancient Near East. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994; trans. D. G. Schley. ^ Hudson, Michael (June 22, 2019). ""CREATING WEALTH" THROUGH DEBT: The West's Finance-Capitalist Road". World Review of Political Economy. 10 (2): 171''191. doi:10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.10.2.0171. S2CID 213052068 '' via go.gale.com. ^ "Understanding America's Post-Industrial Economy; Michael Hudson". michael-hudson.com. November 21, 2023. ^ Hudson, Michael: Finance Capitalism versus Industrial Capitalism: The Rentier Resurgence and Takeover, Sage Jornals , Vol. 53 Issue 4, July 2, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1177/04866134211011770 ^ "The Paradox of Financialized Industrialization | Michael Hudson". michael-hudson.com. October 16, 2015. ^ "Books". Michael Hudson. March 28, 2010 . Retrieved April 7, 2021 . ^ "Der Krieg der Banken gegen das Volk" (December 3, 2011).Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved December 7, 2011 (in German) . ^ Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez (November 5, 2010). "New $600B Fed Stimulus Fuels Fears of US Currency War". Democracy Now! Video. Retrieved April 7, 2021. ^ Hudson, Michael (1972). Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-085996-0. ^ Hudson, Michael (March 1979). Global Fracture: The New International Economic order. Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-7453-2395-4. ^ Hudson, Michael (1992). Trade, Development and Foreign Debt, Volume 1 (1st ed.). London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0-7453-0489-3. ^ Hudson, Michael (1992). Trade, Development and Foreign Debt, Volume II, International Finance (Paperback ed.). London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0-7453-0666-7. ^ Hudson, Michael (1994). A philosophy for a fair society (Georgist Paradigm Series) (paperback ed.). Shepheard-Walwyn. ^ The President and Fellows of Harvard College; Hudson, Michael; Levine, Baruch A. (1999). Urbanization and Land Ownership in the Ancient Near East, Volume II; Edited by Michael Hudson and Baruch A. Levine (Peabody Museum Bulletin 7 ed.). Cambridge MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Harvard University. ISBN 0-87365-957-0. ^ Hudson, Michael (March 2003). Super Imperialism '' New Edition: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance. Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-1989-6. ^ Hudson, Michael (April 2005). Global Fracture: The New International Economic order, Second Edition. Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-2394-7. ^ Hudson, Michael (2010). America's Protectionist Takeoff, 1815''1914, The Neglected American School of Political Economy (New ed.). New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-3-9808466-8-4. ^ Hudson, Michael (July 2012). The Bubble and Beyond. ISLET. ISBN 978-3-9814-8420-5. ^ Hudson, Michael (2015). Killing the Host. ISLET. ISBN 978-3981484281. ^ Hudson, Michael (2017). J is For Junk Economics: A Guide to Reality in an Age of Deception. ISLET. ISBN 978-3981484250. ^ Hudson, Michael (2018). '... and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption '' From Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year (Volume I of Tyranny of Debt) . Dresden: ISLET Verlag. ISBN 9783981826029 . Retrieved December 24, 2020 . ^ Hudson, Michael (2022). The Destiny of Civilization: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism or Socialism. Islet. ISBN 978-3949546068. ^ Hudson, Michael (2023). The Collapse of Antiquity: Greece and Rome as Civilization's Oligarchic Turning Point. Islet. ISBN 978-3949546129. ^ "The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire". IMDb.com. Internet Movie Database . Retrieved June 27, 2022 . ^ "Icarus Films: Capitalism". IcarusFilms.com . Retrieved November 5, 2021 . ^ "Film: Real Estate 4 Ransom". Michael-Hudson.com. March 15, 2012 . Retrieved June 27, 2022 . ^ "Cast & Crew". FourHorsemen.com . Retrieved December 7, 2011 . ^ "Who's Who - Surviving Progress". SurvivingProgress.com . Retrieved June 27, 2022 . ^ "The Secret of Oz". Archive.org. August 31, 2010. ^ "Plunder: The Crime of our Time" PlunderTheCrimeofourTime.com ^ "In Debt We Trust". Indebtwetrust.com External links [ edit ] "Michael Hudson", "Bibliography" and "About". Official website.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 19:36

In 2022, Texas woman Lisa Monk was told that she had clear cell angiosarcoma, a type of blood cancer, and that at best she had 15 months to live.

The doctors began aggressively treating her cancer with chemotherapy, which included all the horrible side effects like hair loss, pain, and the inability to keep food down.

However, on one of her visits with a nurse practitioner, she got some unexpected news.

"I underwent a total of two rounds of chemotherapy and the Friday before I went in for my third round, I went to visit my doctor and just again, a routine appointment, just checking in before we go in for round three," Monk said. "The nurse practitioner was reading my file and talking to me, asking me about all my symptoms, all the nausea and vomiting and all the things that come with chemo."

Monk added, "She just suddenly stopped talking and she got a horrified look on her face. She said she had to get the doctor real quick. She ran out of the room, left me alone for about 15 minutes and the doctor came back in and told me that I never had cancer."

It was all a vascular issue with her spleen.

She had never had cancer. And it wasn't just the chemotherapy she had suffered through, Monk had been preparing for her death.

"It wasn't just me that went through all of this. I am a mom, I'm a wife, I'm a sister, a daughter, a friend," Monk said. "My children were preparing for my death. I was writing goodbye letters to them for the graduations that I wouldn't be at, the babies that I would never see, and the weddings that I would never attend."

The poor woman was understandably upset.

On top of all that, she's been saddled with a bunch of unnecessary medical bills.

But the part that made her really mad was the doctors' response.

"They told me congratulations."

She's now on a quest to share her story and make sure someone else doesn't go through this.

"It makes you wonder how many other mistakes are out there. How many times has someone been misdiagnosed or how many reports are sitting in someone's inbox not being read because the doctors are too busy or there's too many tests being run?" Monk said. "I don't think that I can change the world because frankly, I don't think I'm that special. But maybe I change their policies."

P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 19:34

Every country should pay its sovereign debt. Default, we are told, is not an option. But has anyone told China?

The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People's Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders.

Successive U.S. administrations have chosen to sidestep this fact, allowing business and trade with China to proceed as normal. Now that the relationship with China has soured and the People's Republic of China has become the greatest adversarial threat to the U.S. and Western security, policymakers should revisit this appalling failure of justice.

ALSO IN OPINION: HOW ONE U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCY IS HELPING CHINA WIN THE TECH RACE

Some history is in order. Before 1949, the government of the Republic of China (ROC) issued a large volume of long-term sovereign gold-denominated bonds, secured by Chinese tax revenues, to private investors and governments for the construction of infrastructure and financing of governmental activities. Put simply, the China we know today would not have been possible absent these bond offerings.

In 1938, during its conflict with Japan, the ROC defaulted on its sovereign debt. After the military victory of the communists, the ROC government fled to Taiwan. The People's Republic of China was eventually recognized internationally as the successor government of China. Under well-established international law, the ''successor government'' doctrine holds that the current government of China, led by the Chinese Communist Party, is responsible for repayment of the defaulted bonds.

A private group of American citizens holds a large quantity of these gold-denominated bonds. This citizen-led group, the American Bondholders Foundation (ABF), serves as trustee with power of attorney for some 20,000 bondholders, whose bonds are valued at well more than $1 trillion.

Then-U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's tough negotiation stance on the return of Hong Kong to China led to a British settlement agreement on these same Chinese bonds in 1987. Thatcher said that for China to have access to U.K. capital markets, it had to honor the defaulted Chinese sovereign debt held by British subjects. Faced with that stark choice, China agreed.

Unfortunately, the U.S. failed to take such a common-sense stance. To this day, China has had access to U.S. capital markets while openly rejecting its sovereign debt obligations to American bondholders.

Lest anyone wonder about the age of these bonds, it is irrelevant. What matters is that this is a sovereign obligation. As recently as 2010, the German government made its last payment for reparations from World War I. In 2015 Great Britain made payments on bonds issuances that dated from the 18th century.

The Biden administration and the U.S. Congress have a unique opportunity to enforce the well-established international rule that governments must honor their debts. Like the U.K. did in 1987, the U.S. must view the repayment of China's sovereign debt as essential to its national security interests. In doing so, the U.S. government should undertake one or both of two actions currently being discussed by members of Congress.

The first would be to acquire the Chinese bonds held by the ABF and utilize them to offset (partially or in whole) the $850 billion-plus of U.S. Treasurys owned by China (reducing up to $95 million in daily interest paid to China). This would lower the national debt and put the U.S. in a better financial position globally.

The second would be to pass legislation that requires China to abide by international norms and rules of finance, trade and commerce. This would include abiding by the transparency rules of capital markets and exchanges and ending its practices of exclusionary settlement, discriminatory payments, selective default, and rejection of the successor government doctrine of settled international law. If China fails to meet those obligations, it would be barred, together with its state-controlled entities, from access to all U.S. dollar-denominated bond markets and exchanges.

This, again, is just common sense and would be the very thing the Chinese government would do if the situation were reversed.

Over the last two decades, there has been recurrent bipartisan support in Congress for bondholders to address China's default with several congressional resolutions. Despite this, successive U.S. administrations have been silent on this issue, choosing to kick this can down the road, assuming that China would eventually liberalize and embrace Western norms and values.

This failure to act needs to end now.

Given that relations with China have deteriorated and there is bipartisan agreement on the threat from China, this matter can finally be acted upon by both Congress and the Biden administration. Getting settlement on this defaulted debt is not only right and just for the bondholders but, if done correctly, could also be a huge win for the U.S. taxpayer.

Andrew Hale is the Jay Van Andel Senior Policy Analyst in Trade Policy at The Heritage Foundation.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 19:33

It's practically an international article of faith: Countries may not default on their sovereign debt. Yet China has done just that on $1 trillion it owes to U.S. bondholders. Is there nothing we can do about it?

Finding members of Congress willing to talk tough isn't hard. Many resolutions and joint letters over decades have called for China to honor its debt to U.S. citizens. But too many members, their election coffers lined by Wall Street and other financial and business interests heavily exposed to China, leave it at that.

That makes the action of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) all the more noteworthy. He recently introduced a bill to address the People's Republic of China's selective default on American bondholders of Chinese sovereign debt.

The bill follows Vance's history of bipartisan work with senators such as Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to call out Wall Street, as well as China, for its corruption and abuse of U.S. laws.

Some historical context is needed here. Before the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, the Republic of China issued a large volume of long-term sovereign gold-denominated bonds, secured by Chinese tax revenues, for the construction of infrastructure and financing of governmental activities. China's imperial government had done the same before the Republic of China was formed in 1912.

Following its defeat in the Chinese Civil War, the Republic of China's government fled mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. The People's Republic of China was eventually recognized internationally as its successor government. Under well-established international law, the ''successor government'' doctrine holds that, as the current government of China, the People's Republic is responsible for repayment of the bonds issued by both predecessor governments, the Republic of China and previous imperial governments.

There is precedent for the PRC paying back this defaulted sovereign debt. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's tough stance led to a British settlement agreement on Chinese sovereign bonds owed to British bondholders, established in the Foreign Compensation Order of 1987.

As a result, the PRC Fund was established, and British bondholders of this debt were paid their due. Now our government should demand a settlement as well.

No other country has been permitted to continuously get away with defaulting on its sovereign debt while maintaining access to U.S. capital markets. After the Bolsheviks took power in Russia in February 1918, they repudiated all of the sovereign debt issued by the previous Tsarist government. This was unanimously condemned by allied powers at the time. British and French investors took massive losses on their investments in Russia. In 1914, 80 percent of Russian debt was held in France and 14 percent in the United Kingdom.

The Soviet Union remained true to its interpretation of communism and, unlike China, never sought to gain free access to Western capital markets until the accession of Mikhail Gorbachev and Perestroika. In 1986, the Soviet Union finally did agree to pay Tsarist-era debt held by UK bondholders in exchange for access to UK capital markets.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation agreed in 1996 to repay Tsarist-era sovereign debt held by successor-in-title French citizens. Russia saw the virtue of behaving correctly in a rules-based system of international finance.

The U.S. did not make the mistake of trading with the Soviet Union during the previous Cold War, as we have with the People's Republic of China during our new cold war. As a result, we are now dangerously dependent on China, with politicians of all political stripes calling for ''decoupling'' or at least ''de-risking'' from China '-- reducing exposure to Chinese imports and investments, placing restrictions on Chinese acquisitions of U.S. land and assets, and holding China's regime to account.

At a time when the supremacy of the post-war Breton Woods system and the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency is being challenged by the BRICS countries, including China, China's selective default against U.S. holders of its sovereign debt sets a dangerous precedent that other emerging nations could easily follow. This is not a domino chain that the U.S. can afford to see set in motion.

Vance's bill would restrict China's access to U.S. capital markets unless it respects international law and honors its debt to U.S. bondholders, just as it paid British bondholders of these very same defaulted Chinese sovereign bonds. In this way, Vance could be said to be channeling Margaret Thatcher's iron will to force China to pay its defaulted sovereign debt.

Too many in the U.S. Congress and executive branch have been too soft on China for too long. Vance's bill takes a historic step in addressing this selective default. Others in Congress should join these efforts.

Andrew Hale is the Jay Van Andel Senior Policy Analyst in Trade Policy at the Heritage Foundation.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 19:31

Gordon Roberts Maher, a retired vice president of commodities operations, and spiritual Parisian, died October 5, 2020 in Norwalk, CT of complications from alcoholism. Gordon, known as Rob, or less frequently but more cherished to him, Gordo, Maher was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, growing up in Wilton, CT for a time with his elder brother Jim, elder sister Pamela and younger sister Marcia. The family then decamped to St. Germain du Pres, France as a result of their father's work at IBM where family lore contends he may or may not have been a postwar spy. Rob lived his adolescence en France, hanging with friends over the Seine, perfecting his ''un pression, s'il vouz plais,'' and witnessing the protests of May 68. Rob and the family returned to the States in time for him to graduate from Wilton High School, but in his heart never left France. He attended the University of Virginia where he studied architecture, only to find his love of modernism out of place, and reluctantly majored in history. In 1975 Rob moved to New York City, where he played Bruce Springsteen from the speakers on his fire escape and met many lifelong friends. On one of his frequent adventures, a dark-haired young woman spotted him jogging through the crowd at a regatta, and decided she'd met her husband. Busy with the life of a young man in Manhattan, it took him a moment to understand that fate had smiled in his direction. After an inconclusive start, Ceci let him know he needed to grow up a bit, and skipped town. Realizing his error, he chased her to Detroit, and proposed. She turned him down, only to show up back in New York, call him from a payphone, and invite him to try again. He gave her a pop-top ring, and they shared forty years of marriage. Rob and Ceci returned to Connecticut to start a family, welcoming a daughter, Katherine, and son, James, before their farmhouse burned down. One apartment and one rebuild later, Rob and family had resettled back to Wilton where they would welcome another son, Matthew, many dogs, and have no more houses, fires, or children. Rob was an operations man in his work at Astra, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Castleton Commodities over the years, with a deep appreciation for tankers (ships, not boats) and a remarkable familiarity with the depth of the port of Aden. He was also an operations man at home, enjoying maps and the correct way to load and unload a dishwasher. Rob was a sailor with a lifelong love for the ocean, finding particular joy in Long Island Sound from Roton Point and the Atlantic from anywhere on Cape Cod, as long as it was above Eastham (especially Wellfleet). He loved sunlight and the arts, dabbling in pottery and sculpture. He enthusiastically participated in volunteer work and gave his time generously in his retirement, a regular fixture at many food drives with Person to Person in Darien. During his tenure at Goldman Sachs, Rob had the great misfortune of being present in the Financial District during September 11, an experience that had a lasting adverse effect on his health and his soul. He was supported through his subsequent struggles with alcohol by his family, particularly his sister Pamela, the AA and recovery community, and friends and well-wishers from throughout his life.He is survived by his wife Ceci Maher of Wilton, CT, his three children, Katherine Maher and James Maher of San Francisco, CA, and Matt Maher of Brooklyn, NY; as well as his brother Jim Maher of Fort Meyers, FL, his sisters Pamela Maher of Norwalk, CT and Marcia Maher of Morristown, NJ, countless incomplete house projects, and all those that knew his kindness.The family will host an outdoor celebration of Rob's life at their home on Thursday, October 15th, from 12:00 - 2:00pm. All are welcome; please wear flat shoes and masks, social distancing will be strictly enforced, bring a chair. Instead of flowers, which made Rob sneeze, the family suggests a donation to the Food Pantry of Person to Person (p2phelps.org), or a food bank in your own community.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 16:44

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) '-- Argentina formally requested on Thursday to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment.

The request came as NATO's Deputy General Secretary Mircea Geoana held talks in Brussels on regional security challenges with visiting Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri.

Geoana said he welcomed Argentina's bid to become an accredited partner in the alliance '-- a valued role short of ''ally'' for nations that are not in NATO's geographical area and not required to take part in collective military actions. NATO membership is currently limited to countries of Europe, Turkey, Canada and the United States.

The designation could allow Argentina access to advanced technology, security systems and training not previously available to it, the Argentine presidency said.

''Argentina plays an important role in Latin America,'' Geoana said at the NATO headquarters. ''Closer political and practical cooperation could benefit us both.''

Milei has been pushing a radical libertarian agenda aimed at reversing years of protectionist trade measures, overspending and crippling international debt that have plunged the country's economy into a tailspin.

Over his past four months as president, he has reshaped Argentina's foreign policy to one of almost unconditional support for the United States '-- part of an effort to return Argentina to prominence in the global economy after past administrations allowed relations with Washington and European allies to wither.

Milei's government is also seeking security benefits through warming ties with Western countries. On Thursday, the U.S. government announced it was providing Argentina with $40 million in foreign military financing for the first time in more than two decades '-- a grant that allows key U.S. allies like Israel to buy American weaponry.

The funds, intended to help Argentina equip and modernize its military, will help foot the bill for 24 American F-16 fighter aircraft Argentina bought from Denmark earlier this week. Defense Minister Petri hailed the acquisition of the advanced warplanes as ''the most important military purchase since Argentina's return to democracy'' in 1983. The $300 million price tag has drawn criticism from Milei's political opponents as he slashes spending across the government .

Formally partnering with NATO requires the consensus of all 32 NATO members. Argentina's ties to key NATO ally Britain have been fraught since 1982, when the two went to war over the contested Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic .

Other global partners of the Alliance include Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan. Currently the only NATO partner in Latin America is Colombia.

Conferring the status of ''global partner'' on a country does not mean NATO allies would come to the country's defense in the event of an attack. That commitment '-- laid out in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's founding treaty '-- is limited to full members of the alliance.

NATO's dialogue with Argentina began in the early 1990s. In a largely symbolic move to thank the pro-American government at the time for sending troops on peacekeeping operations to Bosnia, former President Bill Clinton designated Argentina ''major non-NATO ally'' in 1998.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 15:31

The organization reduced the number of consultations on health issues, while it focused on providing abortion services.

Abortions conducted by Planned Parenthood are a leading cause of death in the United States, with the organization recommending the procedure to pregnant clients 97 percent of the time, according to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group.

Planned Parenthood, the country's largest abortion provider, released its 2022''2023 annual

report revealing the organization conducted 392,715 abortions during the period. ''This puts abortions performed by Planned Parenthood in the top four leading causes of death in the United States, after heart disease, cancer, and COVID-19,''

said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group.

According to

data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 695,000 Americans died from heart disease in 2021, with 605,000 dying from cancer, 416,000 from COVID-19, and nearly 225,000 from accidents.

''Once again, pregnant women who walk into Planned Parenthood are sold an abortion 97 percent of the time, rather than helped to keep their child or make an adoption plan. Meanwhile, they saw 80,000 fewer patients, provided 60,000 fewer pap tests and breast exams, and even gave out less contraception, she said.

Ms. Dannenfelser blamed Democrats in Washington and several other states for backing Planned Parenthood abortions by sending them almost $700 million in taxpayer funds. This amount made up a third of the organization's revenue, with Planned Parenthood ending the fiscal year with $2.5 billion in net assets, she noted.

Around 60 percent of women who have had an abortion ''would rather have kept their babies if they just had more emotional or financial support,'' Ms. Dannenfelser stated. ''Democrats' response? They demonize and strip funding from pregnancy resource centers that serve women and their children.''

Related Stories

Michael New, a social scientist and senior associate scholar at Charlotte Lozier Institute, pointed out that Planned Parenthood's abortion number was a record for the organization, representing around 40 percent of total abortions performed in the United States.

While boosting its abortion numbers, Planned Parenthood also ''continues to cut back on several health services,'' he said. ''Between 2022 and 2023, preventive-care visits fell by 31.0 percent, pap tests fell by 13.5 percent, cancer screenings fell by 1.4 percent, and adoption referrals fell by 4.5 percent.''

''In the past ten years, the number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood has increased by 20 percent. Meanwhile, cancer screenings fell by more than 58 percent, and prenatal services declined by more than 67 percent.''

Despite cutting back on several healthcare services in 2022, Planned Parenthood continues to see an increase in government funding, Mr. New noted.

Funding, Election IssueRepublican lawmakers have been trying to cut back government funding for Planned Parenthood. In January last year, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)

proposed a draft bill to defund the organization by instituting a one-year moratorium on federal funding for the organization.

''The nation's largest abortion provider has no business receiving taxpayer dollars,'' she said at the time. ''Planned Parenthood claims these funds go to healthcare for women, but last year, Planned Parenthood performed a record number of abortions while also reducing the number of well-woman exams and breast cancer screenings it performed.''

In a Dec. 12

press release, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) questioned the funding provided to Planned Parenthood, citing a report by the U.S. Government Accountability (GAO) to point out that the organization received $1.78 billion in federal taxpayer funding in fiscal years 2019''2021.

The amount included $90.4 million the group allegedly ''illegally siphoned'' from the Paycheck Protection Program, a COVID-19 loan

program aimed at assisting small businesses affected by the pandemic.

''While small businesses struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic, Planned Parenthood illegally siphoned over $90 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, specifically designed to help our mom-and-pop shops keep their doors open,'' Ms. Blackburn said.

Commenting on the report, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, said that federal taxpayer funds ''should not be funneled to big abortion corporations like Planned Parenthood, which has killed over 9.3 million unborn children since 1970, including 1.11 million between 2019-2021.''

The Planned Parenthood annual report comes as abortion is one of the key themes in the upcoming presidential

race. Democrats are pushing abortion as a central issue, running ballot initiatives in battleground states.

In Arizona, a ballot measure seeks to amend the state's constitution to ensure that abortion is a ''fundamental right,'' even up to the point where a baby can survive outside the womb, which typically happens around 24 weeks. Nevada, Colorado, and Maryland also have abortion amendments planned out.

''The Democrats' strategy heading into this election cycle was to put these measures on the ballot in every big swing state,'' Republican strategist Marcus Dell'Artino told The Epoch Times.

Former President Donald Trump, who is running for his second term in the 2024 elections, has stopped short of echoing other Republicans' calls for a national abortion ban, saying that the matter is best left to the

states.

''My view is now that we have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state,'' he said in a recent video posted on Truth Social.

''Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others, and that's what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.''

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 15:09

A high school soccer game at a public field in East Harlem was canceled after a group of migrants refused to leave the pitch so the kids could play.

''I directly asked them to leave and some of them kind of took it into consideration, but then four or five of them said, 'You know what, f''k it, we don't have to leave, we can do whatever we want,''' said Erik Johansson, the coach of the Manhattan Kickers 17-year-old boys travel team.

About 40 boys from both teams showed up on Sunday, April 14 at Thomas Jefferson Park for the 5 p.m. match.

The Kickers were set to face off against FA Euro New York.

A soccer match between two club teams was canceled last week when a group of supposed migrants refused to leave the field. Helayne Seidman Travel teams in the city struggle to find available field space, according to parents and coaches. Helayne SeidmanBut a group of about 30 men who appeared to be African migrants and spoke little English, wouldn't leave '-- even when the cops showed up.

To resolve the conflict, the cops asked to see a copy of the club team's city permit.

''When you show up with two teams in uniform, a ref and two coaches, usually nobody is asking to see your permit,'' said Johansson.

By the time Johansson's assistant was able to forward a copy of the Kickers' permit, the game had been delayed 30 minutes and the teams didn't feel safe.

''Even when the game is over, you don't know if they're waiting for you, so even if the cops kicked them out, it may not be over. So we just all agreed, this is too dangerous,'' Johansson said.

Weekends at Thomas Jefferson Park are busy with permitted teams and other groups competing for field time. Helayne SeidmanIn his home country of Sweden '-- which saw a massive influx of migrants in recent years '-- the clashes on the pitch were all too common.

''I have seen this before, I know how bad it can get,'' he said.

Parents told him they were rattled by the incident, and don't want to play at the field anymore. Johansson said they don't plan to return.

Randall's Island, which sits on the other side of the Harlem River opposite Thomas Jefferson Park, was converted into shelter space for 2,000 migrants last year at the expense of the popular youth soccer fields. Helayne SeidmanAt other fields, like in East River Park, they don't have these issues '-- but field space in the city is limited and they take what they can get.

''It's so frustrating that the guys who refused to follow the rules won,'' Maud Maron, a SoHo mom whose son plays on the team, told The Post. ''That's the message the kids got.''

She said it is a sign of the Big Apple becoming ''lawless.''

The East Harlem field is packed with teams competing with adults for weekend time on the turf, parkgoers said. Randall's Island, which sits on the other side of the Harlem River, was converted into shelter space for 2,000 migrants last year at the expense of the popular youth soccer fields.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 15:04

The hosts of the greatest podcast in the

universe, Crackpot and Buzzkill, present the

'‹

No Agenda ABC Book

&

No Agenda ABC Coloring Book

'‹

These books are for junior producers

learning their ABC Agenda, with illustrations

of popular show phrases and jingles.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 15:03

Larry Sanger remembers the promise of the web. He co-founded Wikipedia in 2001, with the hope that it could sustain a ''free and open'' Internet'--a place where information, dissent, and creativity could thrive. At Wikipedia, he proposed a system of rules that encouraged users to ''avoid bias'' and maintain a ''neutral point of view.''

That Internet is gone.

I reached out to Sanger following the revelation, from my original reporting, that former Wikimedia Foundation CEO Katherine Maher, who is now CEO of NPR, had explicitly rejected the principles of a ''free and open'' Internet, collaborated with government officials to censor dissent, and spurned the concept of objective truth altogether, in favor of left-wing relativism.

Sanger told me he was shocked, but not surprised.

Our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, should prompt champions of the free and open Internet to push back against the rising censorship regime before it is too late.

Christopher Rufo: What are you thinking as you're watching these statements from former Wikipedia CEO Katherine Maher, who is now the CEO of NPR?

Larry Sanger: I've been following your tweets. You've kind of shocked me. The bias of Wikipedia, the fact that certain points of view have been systematically silenced, is nothing new. I've written about it myself. But I did not know just how radical-sounding Katherine Maher is. For the ex-CEO of Wikipedia to say that it was somehow a mistake for Wikipedia to be ''free and open,'' that it led to bad consequences'--my jaw is on the floor. I can't say I'm terribly surprised that she thinks it, but I am surprised that she would say it.

Rufo: In another clip, she says explicitly that she worked with governments to suppress ''misinformation'' on Wikipedia.

Sanger: Yes, but how did she do that in the Wikipedia system? Because I don't understand it myself. We know that there is a lot of backchannel communication and I think it has to be the case that the Wikimedia Foundation now, probably governments, probably the CIA, have accounts that they control, in which they actually exert their influence.

And it's fantastic, in a bad way, that she actually comes out against the system for being ''free and open.'' When she says that she's worked with government to shut down what they consider ''misinformation,'' that, in itself, means that it's no longer free and open.

But the thing is'--I'm using the words carefully here'--the Wikimedia Foundation doesn't have an authority in the Wikipedia system: the website, its talk pages, the various bureaucratic structures. It just doesn't have the authority to shut things down. So, if Big Pharma or their government representatives want to shut down a description of their research of a Covid-critical biochemist, I want to know how that happens. And I think the other people who are at work on Wikipedia, we want to know how that happens.

Rufo: I've talked with some reporters who cover ''misinformation'' and they have noted that Katherine Maher has ties to multiple NGOs that are deeply connected to U.S. intelligence services. Do you have any suspicion that she has been working with American intelligence to shape Wikipedia entries from a distance?

Sanger: I have suspicions. We do know that Virgil Griffith did research on how different agencies and corporations use Wikipedia to manage their reputation. He found that Langley, Virginia, had a whole lot of edits back in 2007. Why would they have stopped that?

I will say this: it's outrageous, frankly, that a purportedly ''free and open'' resource, built by the public, built to deliver a neutral representation of the views on every subject, has not just been taken over by the Left, but has been co-opted by and is working with the government'--that's not a thing I would've imagined happening 20 years ago.

Rufo: Take me back to that time. What was the vision of a free and open Internet?

Sanger: Everybody had that vision. We didn't have to have a special vision of a free and open Internet. That was the Internet. That was just its nature. We thought it was always going to be that way. The thing that excited us about the Internet was that anyone could publish anything, as long as it was legal. And the notion of restrictions on free speech was nowhere to be found. In the 1990s and 2000s, Democrats and Republicans were competing with each other to demonstrate how much in favor of free speech they were. But, as a philosopher, I knew that this was not automatic, that it could easily change. We could lose these freedoms.

Rufo: And what do you make of Katherine Maher, as an archetype? She's against the idea of an objective truth, against a free and open Internet, and sees the First Amendment as an impediment to censorship. What does that represent to you?

Sanger: The fact that she is not immediately hounded out of her job'--and she won't be, I'm sure'--shows you how profoundly and how quickly the culture of not just the Internet, but of the United States and the West in general, has changed.

The fact that you had to do some research and surface these videos, that they weren't immediately caught as smoking-gun evidence of how bad things have gotten, shows you that the attitudes that she expresses are what we expect these days.

I'm at once shocked at what she says, and yet, not terribly surprised, either.

Rufo: In your opinion, what should happen at NPR, given what we now know about its new CEO?

Sanger: If NPR wanted to prove that they were still committed to free speech, to being ideologically neutral, and simply nonpartisan, they would let her go right away.

I don't expect them to do that. They don't listen to people like us. They don't care what we think. But nevertheless, this is an important story because it shows just how cynical it is. It is getting to the point where you can't accuse people like Katherine Maher of hypocrisy anymore because they're not being hypocritical. They're actually saying it out loud: ''We don't really believe in this freedom stuff anyway.''

Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and the author of America's Cultural Revolution.

Photo by Ali Balikci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 06:12

Comrade,

I know this is a lot of words and I apologize: blame Cory Booker, not me.

But if you don't know about the magical world of longform investigative journalism, you're missing out on learning all the best true crime stories two years before the Netflix documentaries come out. The field is also imminently dying (which is bad news for true crime fans), so I hope you enjoy its death knell.

Plus, it's like a Tarantino movie, and you watch those: It's a long and violent satire where nothing is sacred, filled with references you don't understand. It's drenched in self-indulgence and it rewrites history at the end. 1

The clickbait title is true, but it's not the name of this story: revolutionaries need clicks too. History would do well to remember this story as The Devil and Mike Dukakis . Consider it Paul Revere's only request.

If you're wondering when I became a revolutionary, it's when I watched a video that could start one.

Yours,

Less hot Danny Casolaro

P.S.: If you really like conspiracies, save this as a text file now in case you don't get around to reading it until later.

1 Four Rooms is his best ending, uncontested. It might be *the* best ending. Please stop doing this, Q.

--

That's Rob Lowe.

You probably know Rob Lowe : He's a super famous actor and he's been in lots of stuff.

Some of you spring chickens may not know that he was a teen idol who had a serious fall from grace in 1988: A sex tape leaked of Lowe in a threesome with a 16-year-old. It was very damaging to Lowe's reputation at the time: a black spot that took him years to shake off.

But here's one even the Xest of Genners don't know: The Rob Lowe sex tape is our best evidence of a Jeffrey Epstein blackmail operation.

Horrible, isn't it? You must be wondering which U.S. Presidents would do such a thing.

--

Let's get some details on how this sex tape happened. Rob Lowe and some other Brat Pack members are in Atlanta. Some gracious host or another guides them to the Club Rio VIP room, where they're given free reign and free champagne.

Two eager fans ask the waitress if they could have an introduction and Lowe approves. The three of them go to Lowe's hotel room and they film the threesome, though it's unclear if it was done secretly or with Lowe's approval. When Lowe passes out, they take the tape, steal some cash and pills, and leave.

They reportedly begin circulating the tape the next day, though news of the tape doesn't hit the public until the following year when mention of it shows up in the teen's mother's divorce case (as evidence of the father's bad parenting). The affidavit also said the teen spoke of ''blackmailing'' Lowe for $2 million.

Okay, so it was a blackmail job, and it sounds like we already know who did it. What the hell does that have to do with Jeffrey Epstein?

For starters, Rob Lowe wasn't in Atlanta for a film shoot or a press tour; he was at the Democratic National Convention supporting Michael Dukakis ' Presidential nomination against George H.W. Bush .

And the tape isn't just the underage encounter; it actually has two different Rob Lowe threesomes.

But the hottest part by a mile sits in between (and if anyone can find it, please please let me know): a recording of Lowe meeting with Tom Hayden, a member of the Chicago Seven .

Most of them.

The Chicago Seven were an important bunch because they practiced the most effective from of protest in modern American history, and if we had kept doing it, we never would have gotten Rob Lowe's bad boy arc (and Bo Derek wouldn't have given at least one revolutionary a MILF fetish) 2 : They met the U.S. Government on its home turf and mocked the ever-loving shit out of it.

In 1968, they were arrested for conspiracy for organizing an anti-government protest at the Democratic National Convention at the height of the Vietnam War, and that was back when protests were real. The event, in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, was the flashpoint of 1960s counterculture. Notably for our tale, that is the exact same quadrennial event that Rob Lowe was filmed having sex with a teenager for blackmail at 20 years later.

I'll let Tom Hayden tell us where he stood, as he told the U.S. Government during his sentencing (If you're looking for role models, pay attention):

[The Government was] bound to put us away. They have failed. Oh, they are going to get rid of us, but they made us in the first place. We would hardly be notorious characters if they had left us alone in the streets of Chicago last year, but instead we became the architects, the masterminds, and the geniuses of a conspiracy to overthrow the government. We were invented. We were chosen by the Government to serve as scapegoats for all that they wanted to prevent happening in the 1970s.

The event they were arrested for protesting was the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the very same event where Rob Lowe was filmed having sex with a teenager. And again, that sex tape included footage of a meeting with Tom Hayden, a man who mirthfully and heroically teabagged the U.S. Government twenty years prior.

2 And I'd never read about a truck fire and think a coup might be starting.

The great Tom Hayden. I hope he had a smokin' hot wife who joined him in his heroism, because he deserved one.

I hope you've inferred as much from the above, but thieves stole the public education system, so I'll let you know what this tells us with certainty:

The Rob Lowe sex tape was political blackmail.

--

Some of you know enough about the CIA to see where this is going, but let's walk through it for everybody. If you know what Poppy means and you know what kind of job a ''Cuban exile in Miami'' would have had, feel free to skip ahead.

If you weren't around for his tenure as president (or even if you were), you'd be forgiven for thinking that Bush Senior is a footnote in history: a modern Chester A. Arthur stuck between Reagan and Clinton. Maybe too quaint to be harmful, or a legacy to a time when politics was decent and wise. Perhaps most likely, you never gave him much thought and you're not sure you could pick him out of a lineup.

But that's all just a classic spy trick: be invisible.

You've got no clue what his eyes look like, do you?

In 1976, the Central Intelligence Agency was dealing with some bad press . Nixon's career had blown up in the Watergate scandal, and when you hear about anything Nixon did in Watergate, it's usually shorthand for ''Nixon and the CIA.'' This led to the most intense public scrutiny of the CIA in its history, and all sorts of wild stuff was coming to light.

Suddenly, the public learned about The Family Jewels : the bombshell reports of the CIA's Vietnam era hijinks. This spy branch of our government was engaging in kidnappings, break-ins, illegal surveillance, stealing mail, behavior modification research and assassination plots, to name a few. For the first time in their history, they brought on an outside director to clean up shop: a Nixon political appointee named George H.W. Bush.

But that can't be true: no criminal organization would ever accept an outside boss.

If calling the CIA a criminal organization feels unearned, know that it's true even if you're pro-CIA: If assassinating democratically elected world leaders who don't fully embrace extractive capital is necessary for our health and safety, it's still a criminal activity that requires organized crime: good luck doing a military coup in a country where you don't have mobsters on your side. 3 If you need more evidence than that, read about The Family Jewels again.

That paradox was solved the year of Lowe's sex tape, incidentally: An FBI memo from 1963 surfaced citing ''George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency.'' He was in Miami meeting with Cuban exiles seven days after the Kennedy assassination (for those unaware, ''Cuban exiles in Miami'' in a 1963 FBI document would be best read as ''anticommunist mobsters'').

So that's who George H.W. Bush was: the pretend outsider to the most criminal arm of the United States government who secretly stroked the family jewels the whole time. Oh, and he was working with the networks at the heart of the JFK assassination one week later. Probably had a dumb little code name too (He did, it was Poppy).

His story continues (he became Vice President, for example), but some of us had our first orgasm listening to a John Parr song, so let's skip ahead. When Michael Dukakis runs against him in 1988, Bush's role at the big kidz secret crime clubhouse would be best described as mob boss.

For more on Poopy, Russ Baker's Family of Secrets is in a league of its own, as far as I'm aware.

3 To steal explosives and mask their provenance so you can use them to shut down critically important highways, for instance. For more on theft to hide provenance, see The Inslaw Affair or Greenhouse v. Polychain for its lesser-known sequel.

--

Here's a band-aid I'm going to rip off quickly, and I promise I'm not getting libertarian on you: Jeffrey Epstein was not a pedophile.

We know this because we know what his job was: He was a blackmail artist. Some of you just learned this when it broke that he tried to blackmail Bill Gates, but we had a hell of a lot of evidence before that. I won't fault you if you didn't know that, because the most important piece is the global media that refuses to talk about the mountain of blackmail evidence.

I won't share that evidence because we've got a St. Elmo's Fire to burn (and because I fucking dare somebody with flair that reads like ghost kitchen copy to call me on it in the comments), but if you approach that theory with an open mind and good faith and you learn about Jeffrey Epstein, you could be the lead plaintiff in the Betsy DeVos class action and you'd still get it: Jeffrey Epstein was a blackmail artist, and probably the world's best.

Blackmail is an extremely specialized job. And since Jeffrey Epstein was one of the best in history, it lets us learn a whole lot more about him than we realized.

Jeffrey Epstein. Worse than a pedophile.

[Unrelated note and hopefully fun parlor trick: Despite what some may assert with no evidence in the comments, this post was written by a human]

The rabbit hole does strange things to a man, but he's pretty hot, right? Not back in the day with the David Berkowitz haircut, and certainly fucking not when he got into the elevator to Harvard Heaven, but Bear Stearns executive 4 , jet-setting real-life George Clooney character (who hung out with George Clooney) Jeffrey Epstein? He's no dime, but I've learned what ''daddy'' means enough to know Jeff Epstein could get it.

4 See: Silvergate, Signature, Credit Suisse, First Republic

Well lucky him, because it helps with the job. Makes it easier to gain peoples' trust.

And he had eyes like a hawk too, you can see them in the picture: perfect for spotting someone a bit too trusting, a bit too reckless. If you met him at a party, you might be quite taken: he'd be charming and inviting, treating you like the only one he sees in a room full of billionaires.

He would exude comfort and poise with a ginger ale in hand: his sobriety is no surprise because it's a job requirement of all pro snooker players: they need to be fully aware and in control of the operation that often requires drugs and alcohol.

Another strict job requirement is that you can't be a pedophile. If you have Epstein's job, most of your time with your sex abuse victims is built to gain their trust: You need to be their good guy against the evil person who did that to them. It's why so much of his victims' testimony isn't about sex dungeons, it's about talking and hanging out with people. In some situations, as may be the case with Mr. Lowe, the victim of sexual abuse is also a conspirator in the blackmail: they're in on the con together '' best not to go diddling that up.

If you don't know former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert , add him to your list because he's another criminal who can go fuck his own corpse with a tire iron. He's also a pedophile: He spent decades abusing children driven by his pedophilic desire to abuse children. Now imagine him trying to run a child sex blackmail operation:

''Okay, Dennis, here's the child who we're going to get a sultan to have sex with on camera. Please don't fuck this child, because then we lose a whole lot of money instead of expanding our drug cartel.''

''Of course, Mr. President. I will not fuck this child.''

''Who's supposed to fuck the child, Dennis?''

'''...''

''The sultan, Dennis. The sultan fucks the child.''

''Got it, got it. Sultan fucks the child.''

''Right, exac-- Oh, come on Dennis! Stop fucking the child!! That's it, we're moving you to Ponzis.''

See? Not a pedophile; it gets in the way of the job. Did he sexually abuse minors? Oh absolutely, he did. He was a sex trafficker, he was a rapist, and he was a blackmail artist. Did he do it because when he gets horny it's because he's thinking about children? Impossible (And if you'll own half of Amway someday and think this is the paragraph most worthy of discourse, please read the summary of pedophilia on Wikipedia first).

To be clear, I'm not letting Jeffrey Epstein off the hook on anything. In fact, Jeffrey Epstein is much more wretched than most understand (which I hope is a high bar). Though most crimes aren't so easily quantifiable, blackmail is the one that belongs in the Ninth Circle of Hell. Because it's the one where you get to be the devil.

Jeffrey Epstein (left)

Think about it: You get someone to entrust you with their deepest, darkest secrets, often by becoming their best friend in the world. And then you suddenly and ruthlessly exploit that trust as much as you can, a breach no less personally violating than rape. If we knew the statistics ( and I bet NYU does ), we would see a tragically high suicide rate among blackmail victims.

Though he may be gracious and charming, that's just because he has the mask on; blackmail artists usually do. As every victim of blackmail knows, that mask stays firmly on until they're ready to yank the rug out. And they always yank the rug out; inevitable as a Ponzi scheme: It's why they're doing blackmail. Only then do they take off their mask and show the devil underneath.

--

Okay, we know the Rob Lowe sex tape was political, the CIA is criminal, and Epstein did blackmail. Now let's tie those together.

Organized criminals often use blackmail because it can be very lucrative (sometimes in the ballpark of ''everything you own, now and in the future''). It was a favorite of Lucky Luciano , for instance, who ran his operation half a mile from Washington Square Park in Manhattan.

Though we mostly haven't recognized it as such, it was a line item on the balance sheet just like running drugs or slot machines. And since the CIA is a criminal organization that is intertwined with the mafia (see: Lucky Luciano ), the CIA had blackmail networks. They probably had a cute little nickname for it too (They did, it was snooker. And not many non-kleptocrats know that yet.)

Lucky Lucania. A man who could have used a longer one-way ride.

Jeffrey Epstein was most likely recognized and groomed to be a blackmail artist by the CIA. We don't know for sure, but it would be a damn good guess: If a story has a blackmail artist and a CIA officer, the blackmail artist usually works for the CIA.

In 1974, he was hired at the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan for some reason, despite having just dropped out of college, where OSS officer Donald Barr served as headmaster. The OSS was what became the CIA, and when you stroke the family jewels, you stroke them for life: Jeffrey Epstein almost certainly got hired there because he was recognized as a bright young talent as a blackmail artist at NYU. 5

(If anybody would like to read Donald Barr's trash sci-fi book Space Relations , I bet it's a code book because CIA officers write code books. If it reads so dense and terribly as to put off any reader, then I know it is because it's not written for them, unless it's copy on a Stanford/Harvard/MIT AI/biomed/underwater Ponzi startup but that's less likely. If it offers too many phrases that don't make sense for the subject matter, it could be argot , which the spy boys use sometimes: often a general knowledge instructional. Might tell you how to run weapons or Ponzi schemes or something.)

5 The school with all the dead students Underneath Their Robes .

Somebody should jump on this grenade for us, and I've already watched 10 hours of Peter Thiel interviews.

We also know the father of Epstein's partner in crime, Ghislaine, was Robert Maxwell , an international spy with deep ties to maybe every espionage organization you've heard of, including the CIA. His role hasn't been quite pegged down, but he worked with a whole lot of them before he fell off his yacht in 1991. And he probably wanted to put spyware in Tetris , which sounds like something the Langley Dildoes could get behind.

Plus, Jeffrey Epstein had an extremely close relationship with Bill Clinton: They flew around the world together , and Clinton had 13 points of contact in Epstein's little black book (see Doug Band, the man who answered Papa Bill's phone). Epstein helped start his multi-billion-dollar Clinton Global Foundation that takes money from autocrats . (Researchers take note: This organization may have something to do with all those flights around the world). Obviously, Clinton ran against Poppy so they're on opposite sides, but it's clear that Epstein was close to the U.S. halls of power.

A global multi-billion dollar institution co-founded by a blackmail artist and funded by autocrats (You know her investors were in on it, right? Henry Kissinger doesn't get conned by Ponzi schemes.)

Okay, so maybe Epstein was a CIA agent. But why blackmail Lowe? I'll offer a few theories:

First, Rob Lowe was a rising star in Hollywood. It can be great to blackmail someone like that into the game so they can make movies promoting your soft power goals. A '' Clooney type ,'' some might say.

Second, the devil likes having fun, and maybe they just wanted to take the cocky teen idol down a peg.

But remember, we know it's political blackmail. So maybe it's not about Lowe at all; maybe it's about Dukakis. He was running against a piece of shit mob boss, after all.

Maybe it's because Dukakis is a squeaky-clean loser who can't be blackmailed and thinks his job is to help poor people. Maybe I'm proudly running drugs around the country while a pussy like Mike Dukakis thinks poor people should have better lives (and don't be surprised when the whole world finds out your wife drinks rubbing alcohol, Mike). You know, something to that effect.

--

Since the days of the Kingly Seven, The Democratic National Convention had become a more ceremonial event: A chance for the party to show some unity and announce the winner of the party primary to the world when everybody already knows who it is .

Primaries can be messy, but the convention typically goes off without much fuss these days: They pretend they all like each other, they say the right things, and it's impossibly dull. But that was not the case in Atlanta in 1988 (I will say with a hint of understatement and then slightly more understatement).

''' Nationally televised political suicide ', was the consensus.'' Though the Democrats' fastest rising star did soared on the back of his speeches, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton was universally panned for his nominating speech of Mike Dukakis at the DNC that year. I'm sure all these journalists had a big ol' carton of egg on their faces when that man became President of the United States 4 years later (and that none of those articles were kayfabe ).

It's ruthlessly funny, and also the most important political speech in world history , but you're still not going to watch it, so I'll tell you what happens. The links that follow are timestamped clips; 1.25x speed is perfect if you're not from Arkansas.

Here's another link to Bill Clinton's 1988 DNC Nomination speech: the most important political speech in world history in case you changed your mind.

It doesn't take long for us to realize that Bill Clinton loathes Michael Dukakis . He starts with some words about Dukakis but it's unclear where they're going. But you can tell from the tone and cadence that they're building toward some great point - say what you will about how Bill Clinton is a fuckface criminal who should get pissed on as long as he doesn't like it, he's one of the best orators in the game:

''Michael Dukakis should be the first President born of immigrant parents since Andrew Jackson.''

In case you don't know much about the United States, this is a racist right-wing talking point that I'm sure you'd find all over newsstands at the time. And again, Clinton and Dukakis are both Democrats and this is the Democrat unity speech.

I thought he was part Cherokee.

He spins up one of those politician stories about a fake friend back home: ''He said, 'Bill, are you excited about Mike Dukakis becoming President?' And I said, 'I sure am!''' he says with a masterful shake of the jowls.

''And then he looked at me and smiled and said, ''...How can you get excited about a guy who mows his lawn with a hand-powered mower, and is so clean he squeaks when he walks?'

''And I thought about it, and I said, 'Well that's one reason I AM excited for Mike Dukakis to become President.''

So he absolutely hates the guy, and his favorite thing about him is that he's squeaky clean. And Rob Lowe was just blackmailed. Huh.

Then he says something inexplicable (if you don't know about snooker): ''His character is steadfast and consistent. And one thing about Mike Dukakis is, he wakes up in the same world every morning,'' his eyes sweep over and lock right onto to Dukakis, ''which a trait of considerable importance for a President.'' If you're not great at picking up subtext, consider that Rob Lowe woke up in a viciously different world that Monday.

He continues: ''I found Mike willing to listen: An important lesson, and one that Mike Dukakis and I learned the hard way.''

If that phrase didn't give you pause, I'd like you to think about any mob movie you've ever seen and read it more slowly.

He weaves out of this one and delivers the laugh of the night : ''Mike and I met after our defeats: He was teaching at the Kennedy School, and I was the youngest ex-governor in history.''

At this point, even the ones who think Shark Tank is real see what's going on: the crowd turns on him completely and a ''We want Duke'' chant takes over. It's a big moment : he's thinking on the fly, and it's one of the last times Bill Clinton was nervous.

But then he throws his arm in the air: '' Go ahead! '' and an invincible smile takes over as he relishes in the hostile crowd. For just a second, he looks to his left and gives a smile at somebody, a little ''whew, you like that one?''

(Epstein is this story's MacGuffin : The Rob Lowe sex tape has the Kool Krime Kubscouts written all over it, but it could have been anyone at the DNC who's sharpened a snooker cue. It could have been Ballbag Billy himself for all we know; 24-year-old Rob Lowe couldn't have been the toughest mark. But if you find good crowd footage and want to go hunting, follow that smile.)

He lets the crowd think they matter for a beat, giving a villainous laugh in the middle. He slips the party unity mask back on and picks the speech back up, but he just tees up another Republican talking point.

This next bit is critical so I'll quote it in full:

''When Mike Dukakis speaks out for the American family, you can believe him. I have never known a person more devoted and his wife and to his children. He and Kitty are as different as daylight and dark, but they're so good together, and they'll be wonderful role models for our young people. And Kitty Dukakis will be a First Lady this whole country will be proud of, and one who will gain respect worldwide.''

The next year, the world found out about Kitty Dukakis' drinking problem when she was hospitalized for drinking rubbing alcohol . In case it's unclear, this is exactly what Bill Clinton just said:

"Mike Dukakis is such an eagle scout, you'd never guess that his wife has a drinking problem. And that's a secret that we'll share with the whole world very soon."

After some more racist vitriol of the day (I'm no expert on 1988 culture war issues, but I think Dukakis is a secret Mexican?), he tells us a bit about what Dukakis has done: ''He has worked hard to bring good jobs to poor people in poor communities'...in his state,'' a jab lost on most.

The hits keep coming, but he lets us know a bit more about the Mike Dukakis :

''He cares that one in four children under five are living under the poverty line'...he understands that today, a middle-class family has to spend a lot more of its income to send a child to college and he thinks government ought to help make up the difference [he says with disdain]'...He feels the pain of a mother who leaves for work worried sick that her child is not in a good childcare center.''

A great and humble servant to this country, eyebrow legend Michael Dukakis.

He pivots to the state of crime, and he offers this curious anecdote :

''A few weeks ago, the police in Detroit, Michigan broke a huge crack ring. And I'm sorry to say, the ring was being run by two people in my state [author's note: his sorrow doesn't translate to film]. They came from the poorest part of Arkansas, and they brought over one hundred young men up there to help them peddle dope. And the news stories were very touching: they said, ''We brought these kids up from the country because they're more reliable than those city kids; they'll give us a good day's work for a good day's pay.''

Bet you've never heard a U.S. President brag about his state's drug cartels before. There are some more gems, but I'd rather not die in a Kinko's so let's bring it home.

Do we know who blackmailed Rob Lowe? Sadly, we don't. While it's almost certainly related to the villains of our story, that could have been an entirely separate political blackmail job at the DNC that year. And though I highly doubt it, I'm not even kidding: there might have been a snooker tournament in Atlanta that week.

But what we do know, with enough evidence that we could prosecute in a court of law if the rest of this sentence wouldn't make it farcical, that President Bill Clinton blackmailed Governor Mike Dukakis (and we can guess Kitty had a less sensational drink of choice). And almost all of that evidence is in one of the funniest political speeches in history. And very few people know that.

Infinitely more importantly, as the Chicago Seven showed us, we can prosecute in the court of public opinion.

We also have a strong lead that Bill Clinton runs with drug dealers. That might sound like a blockchain too far, but I'll kick you over to the podcast Ghost Stories for the End of the World 's Arkansas episodes, and the best Tom Cruise movie you probably haven't seen for more on how that's completely true.

We can open an investigation into collusion between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the 1992 Presidential election (and therefore, Gore v. Poppyseed in 2000, Hillary Clinton v. Trump in 2020, etc.).

We can't prove it here, but Bush was a secret CIA mob boss and Clinton was supposed to give a speech supporting Mike Dukakis against that mob boss but made fun of Mike Dukakis and talked about how he tried to blackmail him instead. I think that one will close quickly: as Racist Bill said when ambushed by a world hero who asked about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein (with a devilish grin), '' I think the evidence is clear .'' (And that's before we realize Ross Perot was the grandfather of crypto and it was a three-man job )

There's a cold case from the early aughts we can reopen now, too. That one might take a bit more digging, but I'll kick it off with exhibit A, which is about as on-the-nose as an FBI memo saying George Bush was meeting with Cuban exiles in Miami one week after JFK was killed (because Poppy leaked it, the cheeky little bitch).

One of the only two paintings that remained hanging in Jeffrey Epstein's $70 million townhouse after he was arrested, and the only thing the Octopus could have bought me with (besides a date with Cathie Wood because I'd give you all up to fuck a hot older criminal):

Tell the appropriation committee I've got dibs.

I think we've long outgrown our need for someone else to tell us what to do, but if I have to vote, I'm voting for Dukakis . I can't vouch for his record, but I don't hate wanting to improve people's lives.

But he gets my vote because Mike Dukakis is a man so good, that for thirty minutes in Atlanta in 1988, the devil took off his mask.

--

If anyone would like to join me, I'm headed to Washington to practice the lost art of the Chicago Seven and mock the ever-loving shit out of our criminal government and give them the complete lack of respect they deserve.

And if your kids are going to wear Blackwater surplus one day, know that we've got some pretty good ammunition.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 05:59

TL;DR: As part of the world's largest conspiracy, our most elite '' and most criminal '' universities have used the Israel-Hamas War to trick us into thinking we must all be angry, divided warmongers while they undermine campus protests to keep us from uniting against endless war.

If you haven't yet seen this booklet alleging the wildest totalitarian conspiracy imaginable, I recommend it.

The bad news: We've been taken over by dipshit supervillains who brainwashed themselves into thinking it was a good idea to poison all of media, culture, and education for decades so they could do a multi-trillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, which is about to send the world economy off the biggest cliff in history.

The good news: We have the stupidest form of government in world history and we're about to discover the entire economy is a lie, so we're about to mock it mercilessly and abolish it.

See this summary that points to key evidence or follow my post history for proof of every word, along with a host of other rotten secrets that didn't fit in the booklet.

--

In our last installment , we learned just how criminal Reddit is: In order to serve the criminal interests of their supervillain owners, Reddit uses troll armies to make us bitter, divisive, misinformed, and hopeless. They coordinate enough action to get us think that we must be divided, that we are supposed to be divided, that we can't collectively solve any of our problems, since that's what we see all over social media.

This is, of course, gaslighting. They tell us we're in hellworld, they make certain that it's true, and they bleed us dry.

Central to this is a constant effort to divide the populace: The biggest threat to a secret kleptocracy '' which is a fancy name for when con artists take over the government '' is a united movement against it, and they know this. So, they've sliced us into tribes and bubbles, giving each of us a slice of truth and whole lot of bullshit (an actual criminal propaganda technique developed at Princeton) that makes us angry at the other tribes instead of the supervillains orchestrating the entire show.

Reddit is just one vehicle that's been used for this, but we have countless others:

News media slicing us into angry political tribes, knowing full well that both parties are in on the con.

Daytime television telling us we're awash in moral decay '' that the viewers are the good Americans, but that we're surrounded by young hoodlums, addicts, Satanists, you name it.

Reality TV has it right in the name: They show us endless hedonism, materialism, and strife, and they call it reality.

Popular films and TV tell us only superheroes can save the world from evil while they scoff at the idea of collective action, painting the ''masses'' as helpless minions who can do nothing but gape at a world shaped by more powerful people.

--

If you're wondering how any of the booklet's claims can be proven, it's through repetition: When we see something suspicious, we might just have a hunch. But if we see a network of people all doing the same suspicious things, we get our proof. For instance, if we find a fantastical science start-up that looks like it's faking evidence, we might have a Ponzi scheme. If it's funded by a university that invests in dozens of fantastical science start-ups that look like they're faking evidence, we have proof of a Ponzi factory.

Let's see some of that repetition in action: Our elite universities, all awash with crypto billionaires and Ponzi schemes, are all manufacturing partisan division around the Israel-Hamas War.

Harvard University has erupted in controversy after student groups signed a statement saying they '' hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence. ''

A professor at Stanford University has been firing after downplaying the Holocaust , calling Jewish students colonizers, and making them stand in a corner.

The president of the New York University Student Bar Association said that Israel bears full responsibility for all deaths , that she wouldn't condemn Palestine's attacks, and that she wouldn't say she has empathy for any Israeli victims.

A self-identified ''radical Muslim'' Yale University professor celebrated the Hamas attacks in the name of armed struggle and solidarity, calling the initial attacks an '' extraordinary day .''

A Columbia University professor called Hamas' attacks, ''awesome,'' ''astounding,'' ''incredible,'' and a ''stunning victory.''

A Cornell University professor did similarly, calling Hamas' attacks ''exhilarating'' and ''energizing.''

At University of Pennsylvania , student protests erupted after the university president condemned Hamas without mentioning Palestinian deaths in Gaza.

It's reasonable to address Israel's role of oppression of the Palestinian people '' it's unreasonable to celebrate Hamas' terror attacks, which will only send more Palestinians to the slaughter. And yet, all these schools, all related to one another via a network of the country's wealthiest and most powerful people, all had students or professors take wildly incendiary, divisive, and unreasonable stances on the Israel-Hamas War.

--

The initial stories are just the beginning of this entirely concocted news. Afterward, we see a host of billionaire donors publicly express their outrage:

The Wexner Foundation expressed their revulsion , pledging to withdraw over $2 million in funding for Harvard. While that article calls the foundation ''a leading voice for the Jewish faith,'' they make no mention of billionaire Les Wexner's incredibly close ties to Jeffrey Epstein (who ran a Ponzi factory at Harvard): The Lolita Express and Epstein's Manhattan townhouse had belonged to Wexner, and Epstein had Wexner's power of attorney. They are, quite literally, partners in crime .

Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management was one of several major donors to withdraw their support for University of Pennsylvania in response to the protests. Here, we find another Epstein connection: Apollo Global paid Epstein $158 million for ''financial advice'' (or investment in Ponzi schemes, of course).

Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman has demanded that Harvard name the students who expressed support for Hamas. Entirely related, Ackman has expressed support for cryptocurrency .

Israeli Billionaire Idan Ofer resigned from Harvard's board in protest. Notably, Ofer co-founded a think tank with Richard Branson . Branson, as I've discussed, has made a career running Ponzi schemes , and was one of the earliest investors in the crypto Ponzi via Clinkle.

--

These manufactured crises serve several purposes. First, they undermine reasonable critiques of Israel: If someone challenges Israel's hawkish stance, now they're lumped in with people who downplayed the Holocaust and called Hamas' terror attacks, ''awesome.''

Second, they piss everybody off one way or another. Remember, a secret kleptocracy is essentially a cult with state power: Just as cult leaders do, they want to divide their members against one another. And since unified college protests are one of the most powerful tools the public has for dismantling a secret kleptocracy, these criminals want to make sure to divide campuses.

Third, with all the billionaires weighing in, they want to convey that the smartest, most successful people wouldn't dare criticize Israel.

Fourth, we have some Ponzi scheme kayfabe : Because these schools and billionaires are flooded with Ponzi schemes, they have much less money than they say they do (because they already stole it out of their own funds). They'll justify some of these budgetary issues by pointing to the billionaires who ''withdrew their support.''

Fifth, they tee up attacks on higher education with op-eds like, '' Pro-Hamas protests show higher education has crossed the line. '' They point to these events, which they manufactured, to decry the woke agenda and cultural Marxism, all to influence society into accepting the slow dismantling of liberal arts and social sciences.

It's no coincidence that our last Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos , is a pyramid scheme heiress who invested in the crypto Ponzi via Theranos: Our leadership is intentionally dismantling education so they can try to make us too stupid to realize we're being conned.

--

Want to know more about how wildly criminal these universities are? I've put together an overview of the ones I researched here .

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 05:57

If you're just tuning in to this series, I posted this booklet alleging the wildest totalitarian conspiracy imaginable, with a map to an endless sea of proof.

The big picture: Cryptocurrency is history's largest Ponzi scheme that will soon collapse the world economy, all so the U.S. government and their criminal allies can escalate the theft of our entire livelihoods with a fascist world coup.

In today's post, we turn to the lie at the heart of the Titan submersible implosion . It made big waves in June: Laughs were had at the billionaires who tried to go to the bottom of the ocean in a tin can.

All sorts of conspiracies swirled around the event, but I clocked Titan in an instant: Billionaires and a deep sea submersible? I thought. Bet there's no evidence it can go to deep sea .

--

I've written at length about how Richard Branson has made a career in Ponzi schemes, with Virgin start-up after Virgin start-up making big promises, raising big funds, and then folding without results.

For a flagrant example, we have Virgin Cola in 1994: Branson sold it as the flashy new cola that would take down the dinosaurs at Coke and Pepsi. Reportedly, the company ran into trouble when a Coca-Cola executive, afraid of the competition, flew to the UK with suitcases of money and bribed retailers not to carry Virgin Cola, which led to a drop in sales that doomed the start-up. They just couldn't compete with the underhanded dealings of Big Cola.

Afterward, the Coke executive who sabotaged Branson's start-up became the manager for Virgin group's bank accounts , which should be completely implausible based on the above: They should be mortal enemies.

The truth of the matter is that Branson wanted Virgin Cola to fail, as all Ponzi schemes do, because he was stealing the company's investments instead of producing more soda. The Coke executive was rewarded with a fantastically lucrative job for helping to sell the lie. This is yet another example of kayfabe : A manufactured story sold to the public as reality.

But it's Branson's Virgin Oceanic that tips us off to Titan . It's exactly like OceanGate, promising deep sea submersible dives to the Mariana Trench. The company initially said it would offer deep sea dives in 2011, but all plans have been scrapped and the project has been on an indefinite hold since.

When we know that Branson is up to his neck in Ponzi schemes, we understand that this is another one: Instead of investing in actual deep sea technology, Branson faked it and stole the money. It's an example of a 'far away' flavor of Ponzi scheme like offshore drilling and Seasteading (both favorites of Peter Thiel , whose role in the Silicon Valley Bank collapse led me into the rabbit hole): It's easier to fake an investment when the victims are nowhere near where the supposed investment is occurring.

--

Given Branson's identical-sounding Ponzi company, having waded through Ponzi factories, and having already identified dozens of billionaires invested in the crypto super-Ponzi via companies like Clinkle , Affirm , and Starkware , I was confident Titan was Ponzi-like as soon as I heard about it: That these billionaires never went to deep sea at all.

To confirm my theory, I looked for what all successful adventure tourism companies should have: video evidence. It should be all over their website and marketing materials, and anybody who's gone on the Titanic expedition would plaster their social media with footage of the experience.

Instead, I found the opposite: Evidence that they were faking its capabilities. In the clip from 60 Minutes , we see clear video from the passengers inside the sub when they first get in, but once they ''arrive'' at the Titanic , the footage all changes to exterior shots that provide no evidence that the Titan was present at all '' footage of them looking out the porthole in awe is non-existent.

Film from inside Titan. Source: CBS 60 Minutes

60 Minutes' Titanic footage, which doesn't show Titan at all

Look back at all the old coverage of the event, and you'll find the same thing: No compelling video evidence that the passengers in Titan had ever seen the Titanic . Again, this should be readily available: Who wouldn't record video on their phone and share it if they had?

Meanwhile, their website (shut down and irrecoverable, unfortunately) showed images of fish taken from Titan as evidence that they were in deep sea, though those fish could all be found as shallow as five meters deep. It's tricks like this that Ponzi schemes use to legitimize the fake company: smoke and mirrors to get investors to believe in them.

--

Along with fakeable evidence, we got testimonials making it seem like a legitimate (if reckless) operation. Unsurprisingly, we can plug these people right into our criminal network.

Marketing executive Chris Brown claimed he was one of the first to buy a ticket '' a decision he made when he was palling around with Ponzi legend Richard Branson.

Chris Brown with Richard Branson. Source: The Sun

Pompous Jeopardy contestant and Naval officer Sam Buttrey said he almost went on it . Buttrey is close to my crime crew, too: He's friends with CEO Stockton Rush, attended billionaire playground Princeton University, and had gone to Phillips Exeter Academy, the same elite crime school feeder as Ponzi criminal Mark Zuckerberg .

In my last post, I covered how The Simpsons was expressly created by this criminal network to tell us that we're all oafish and divided worker drones. One of the show's original Harvard alum writers, Mike Reiss , said he had taken the Titan excursions four times, including to the Titanic . Implausibly, he had no problem going back into the tin can operated with a video game controller, even though he said it lost communication with the surface navigation vessel on every single dive.

With nothing but second-hand evidence and direct connections to the perpetrators of the crypto super-Ponzi, we can say for sure that the Titan was cut from the exact same cloth as Virgin Oceanic, and never went to deep sea.

But it wasn't just a Ponzi scheme '' this was an entirely fabricated news story.

--

It was early in the rabbit hole when I first found lies in the media: one crypto shill after another blaming the Silicon Valley Bank collapse on regional banking. Then Richard Branson's dual role at Ponzi schemer and newspaper titan helped me spot fabricated stories like Clinkle , Virgin Cola , and the Dirty Tricks scandal .

Once I knew that cryptocurrency was history's largest Ponzi scheme, I realized that Forbes was owned by the mob as they wrote article after article celebrating the criminals I was surfacing and serving up Ponzi kayfabe. This is unsurprising once you know that Forbes is almost wholly owned by Binance, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges.

But what Titan reveals is just how broad this con is, helping us understand the totality of the con at the heart of a 'secret kleptocracy.' If they didn't bother going to deep sea (or even building the technology to do so), then there was no rescue effort at all, and the government's narrative was a complete lie. Just like that, we've implicated CBS (for the 60 Minutes production), FOX (via the Simpsons writer), and ABC (by planting Sam Buttrey's anecdote on Jeopardy). You've seen more, I'm sure: How many outlets helped legitimize the fake rescue? How many reporters helped sell the fiction?

So, we've got virtually all media telling us a completely fake story about some billionaires imploding in the deep sea.

The big question, then, is why?

--

To get our best theory, we start with a couple curious facts around Titan . First, bizarre conspiracy theories around the Titanic have taken off over the last three years, with outlets like the New York Times helping to spread them . The theories are all over the place: The Titanic never sank, or owner J.P. Morgan intentionally sank the ship so he could assassinate opponents of central banking who were on board. Common conspiracy theory tropes like Jews, Jesuits, and the Rothschild family all show up. They echo QAnon as they posit a ritualistic force of evil at the heart of everything.

The sudden rise in search trends for 'Titanic conspiracy'. Source: Google Trends

When we understand that we're dealing with history's worst financial criminals who have full control of the media to steer us wherever they like, we can cast QAnon and Pizzagate in the proper light: These conspiracy theories were planted and spread to serve their criminal interests.

By taking some correct facts and then attaching such fantastical things as ritualistic child sacrifice and the resurrection of JFK Jr., they help mask the truth (that they're all financial criminals) as the public helps propagate the red herrings that they spread. By blasting nonsense to so many people and selling it as credible, they help create the 'post-truth America' they've told us so much about. Finally, they help instill learned helplessness: by promoting the ideas that our government holds all-powerful secrets beyond our comprehension, they get many to believe that the elites hold all the secret power and we're just spectators too powerless to do anything but watch the show.

With Titan , we get one more interesting fact: The company's name is OceanGate. Notably, the name is practically identical to Watergate , one of the biggest scandals in American history. If there is some geopolitical machination at the heart of Titan , then this name would surely help propagate a whole wave of new conspiracies around the event.

So, we've got clues that our criminal government wants us to chase conspiracy theories around Titan , but that doesn't clarify much: They said the Titan imploded and then we all moved on with our lives.

Unless, of course, the Titan story isn't over.

--

At the heart of this research is the revelation that cryptocurrency is history's largest Ponzi scheme by orders of magnitude. Like all Ponzi schemes, it has no choice but to eventually go insolvent: Eventually, the pile of cash they use to pay out investors will run empty, and the theft of trillions of dollars will be revealed.

It's not just that cryptocurrency exchanges will all go insolvent and the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will collapse to zero. The perpetrators own some of the largest companies on the planet, and they each used these companies to pipe into the blockchain and funnel out billions of dollars in stolen cash from the crypto exchanges, through their companies, and into their pockets. When crypto collapses, all of these companies will suffer massive hits as the disappearance of this stolen money reveals itself, with many of them possibly folding completely.

It is a theft so massive, so totalitarian, that it will thrust us into a hellish new normal as we're all suddenly faced with the worst economic conditions of our lifetimes. The March 2023 bank failures all signal that these criminals are cashing out of this round of Ponzi schemes (crypto and the university Ponzi factories like Stanford's StartX.com ). They're no longer seeding the Ponzi liquidity pools, which means they're headed toward insolvency and collapse before long.

When the collapse comes, they certainly don't want us piecing together what happened, which is why they will be manufacturing some sort of geopolitical black swan event to explain everything and lead us astray. They already did it once before with COVID: Unleashing a pandemic just to explain why half the stock market was about to become very Ponzi-shaped as they funneled out all their stolen crypto cash.

When we know full well that this collapse is coming soon (because Ponzi schemes are simple beasts behind the smoke and mirrors), and we know that Titan directly connects to our criminal operatives, and we have evidence that they want us chasing nonsense conspiracy theories, we can develop our theory:

The Titan story isn't over. It will play some part in the coming day where shit hits the fan.

What does that look like? We can only guess, but here's a story that tracks with the facts at hand. Suddenly, we suffer a strange and massive power grid attack, which could help justify the collapse of Silicon Valley. They've planted seeds for this with the mysterious Metcalf sniper attack that took out a substation in 2013, and a far-right plot to take down Baltimore's power grid in 2022.

We're all thrust into a state of emergency as we try to make sense of what's happening in our world, much like the beginning of COVID. In order to help sell the fiction that this was done to us by our enemies, we get reports that a Russian tactical nuke exploded over the wreckage of the Titanic .

Suddenly, our military mobilizes for World War 3 as they point to this enemy, justifying a state of martial law as they pivot from secret kleptocracy to unmasked fascism. The harmless-sounding Titanic conspiracy theories suddenly turn into the next QAnon overnight: A chance to create endless reams of misinformation around the collapse and the hellish new normal they've given us.

Is it certain to play out that way? No, I don't have that playbook. But when we already know the entire Titan implosion was a staged lie by our criminal government and media, and that we're about to get the worst world economic collapse in history, we know for certain that it will play a role in the biggest lie our government will ever try to sell us.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Don't forget to share some secrets.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 05:41

If you're just tuning into this series, I posted this booklet alleging the wildest totalitarian conspiracy imaginable, with a map to a sea of proof.

The big picture: Cryptocurrency is history's largest Ponzi scheme that will soon collapse the world economy, all so the U.S. government and their criminal allies can escalate the theft of our entire livelihoods with a fascist world coup.

--

Central to this totalitarian con is full control of the media to serve these criminal interests. We've already covered how Reddit is infested with trolls to create a bitter, divisive, irony-poisoned space that leaves us jaded and hopeless; how our most 'elite' universities manufacture outrage and warmongering around the Israel-Hamas War; and how the Simpsons exists to tell us the American dream is dead because we're oafish and divided.

In this post, we turn to yet another example with Quora , a social question-and-answer website. As with previous examples, we can trace several connections to the established crypto criminal networks of Facebook and the PayPal Mafia : Quora co-founders Adam D'Angelo and Charlie Cheever had both worked at Facebook prior to founding Quora, with D'Angelo serving as chief technology officer from 2006 to 2008. D'Angelo helped develop a media player with Mark Zuckerberg while they both attended Phillips Exeter Academy high school. D'Angelo currently sits on the board of OpenAI, whose CEO Sam Altman claims to have built a fantastical retinal-scanning orb that uses AI technology to produce cryptocurrency that will eventually provide universal basic income.

Quora received major funding from this criminal network of investors as well: In 2014, they raised $80 million from Tiger Global Management , whose investments include Facebook, OpenAI, crypto and fintech platform Block Inc., and the crypto exchange Coinbase. In March 2022, Tiger Global raised an astonishing $12.7 billion for fast-growth tech companies; just three months later, the value of their hedge fund had decreased more than 50 percent . Given the company's connections to proven Ponzi criminals, this massive rise and drop in their investments appears to be more of the same: The 'loss' is entirely intentional as they funnel their stolen money out of the company.

Tiger Global's Assets Under Management in billions. Source: AUM13f.com In 2019, Quora raised another $60 million from Valor Equity Partners , which is no less plugged into this network than Tiger Global. In 2022, Valor was the lead investor in Anduril Industries , a defense contractor that spun off of Peter Thiel's Palantir Technologies , which sells the public's user data to the CIA. They have also raised several billion dollars for Elon Musk's SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company. I haven't yet given Musk the write-up he deserves, but he and Theil co-founded PayPal, which was originally intended to create cryptocurrency and is a major player in the crypto Ponzi scheme .

--

When I refer to a 'secret kleptocracy' as a cult with state power, I don't use that term lightly. Just as cult leaders do, our leaders control the flow of information to make their victims hopeless, helpless, and divided, and Quora is no exception.

Now that we've established that Quora is heavily connected to this network of organized crime, let's look at some of the questions and answers so we can learn what purpose it serves. These are not cherry-picked or questions that slipped under the radar '' each of these have over 1,000 upvotes on the site, and have appeared in my daily Quora digest emails over the last month.

Rage Bait

When you read this question, think about how it makes you feel.

''My 18-year-old son left home without our authorization to get an apartment and now refuses to pay his daily parenting fees that he has been paying since he was 13 years old. How would I go about suing him? ''

So, we've got a shameful, narcissistic parent charging their child to live with them, and then has the clueless audacity to want to sue them for moving out when they are legally able? If you believe this to be true, it should make you angry. It should make your blood boil! And if you see through this fake question, it might just piss you off all the same: angry that somebody would post something so mean-spirited, to misinform, and to rile people up.

Now have a look at some more, and see if you spot the patterns:

''The CPS took my 5-year-old son away because I kicked him out of the house for a day as punishment. How can I sue them for this? ''

''My tenant refused to allow me to do a surprise inspection of the rental unit, so I called the police and had him arrested . How can I make him pay for the disposal of his belongings before the new tenant moves in?''

''I caught my son sleeping without my permission. How should I punish him? ''

''My husband accidentally pushed our 4-year-old daughter off the 40th story window out of anger. How do I prevent my husband from being sentenced to jail ? He doesn't need that hassle.''

Do you see how they're all structured the same? First, they have a rage-inducing statement. Then, a question is offered that doubles down on the user's cluelessness, sure to paint them as the villain. Like so much of the evidence in this grand conspiracy, it's the repetition that proves the suspicion: If we had one question like this, it might just be a troll. But when we see the same exact type of question over and over again, it clues us in to the fact that this is entirely by design.

Could they make questions that are more rage-inducing than these if they tried? Let's look at some related questions and you be the judge:

--

Political Misinformation

''Biden has ordered the courts to arrest President Trump and I fear he will start arresting anyone who voted for Trump or supports him. What should I do? ''

Here we have some clear political misinformation: Biden never ordered the courts to arrest Trump, and this user is at no risk of being arrested for supporting Trump. Now, let's offer some possible reactions to this based on political affiliation.

If you're a Trump supporter, you may believe this since it aligns with so much existing misinformation. It may further entrench you in a partisan position as you're convinced that Biden is a dictator and liberalism is a scourge.

If you're a liberal, you'd likely use this as evidence of the stupidity of Trump supporters, and may conclude that those people are the problem.

If you're on the far left, you may use this to assert your own partisanship as you laugh at both parties for engaging in this endless back-and-forth, not knowing that the popularity of these questions is not organic.

No matter your political affiliation, this question succeeds in helping to keep us completely tribalized and misinformed. This is a staple of so much media because the only threat to a secret kleptocracy is an informed public, united in opposition against our criminal leadership.

And once again, we see the same theme in other questions:

'' Is Joe Biden intentionally destroying America or is he just amazingly incompetent?''

''I'm black and I wonder when white people will pay us reparation . Why not?''

'' Democrats stormed the US Capitol , whereas Republicans stayed home. Why can't people understand that?''

--

Medical Misinformation

'' Why is vitamin B12 so dangerous? ''

'' Why is the COVID vaccine so dangerous? ''

''My wife is pregnant and just accidentally ate papaya. Is there any way to save the baby? ''

Another common theme is medical misinformation. Notice how they all emphasize fear: That we are in danger; that a bit of papaya will kill an unborn baby. Why? Because they're paralyzing us with fear. They're making us worry about everything they possibly can so that we become anxious and helpless in the face of so many problems.

They've also used the anti-vax movement to serve up another partisan wedge and divide us against one another.

--

Celebrity Worship

'' Is Meghan Markle on Ozempic? ''

'' How nice is Barack Obama when there's no cameras around?''

'' Was Elvis Presley racist? ''

What criminal purpose do these questions serve? They are reminders that we are the consumers and the viewers '' that these elites and celebrities are the ones who shape history, and that we have no choice but to sit back and watch the show. They decide what happens, and all we can do is gape and react.

It isn't that no good-faith user would ever ask a question about a celebrity. Rather, it's the fact that we get served up so many, over and over again, that tips us off to the fact that this is entirely intentional and serves our government's criminal interests.

--

I've highlighted Quora here not because it's unique, but because it's obvious and clearly connected to this criminal network. Of course, you can find rage-bait, misinformation, and celebrity worship all across media and the internet.

And when you do, I hope you're starting to see the con at the heart of all of this: That they ''piss on our leg and tell us its raining.'' They tell us we're bitter and divided so we'll believe it. They tell us we're hopeless and scared so we'll believe it. They serve us up a haunted, poisoned view of reality so they can bleed us dry.

So, as you check the partisan news, scroll through ironic meme pages, drink water out of a can labeled 'Liquid Death', or watch the latest apocalyptic fiction on Netflix, I hope you start to see the haunted fiction our criminal rulers have created for us, and I hope you know that the biggest lie they tell us is that we have no choice but to accept it.

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Archived Version

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 05:23

For a printable PDF, click here .

This story was essentially proven in reverse: In March 2023, a tech billionaire named Peter Thiel started a bank run that led to the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank . I was suspicious, and investigated the question, ''Did this bank just collapse on purpose?''

After digging through ties to cryptocurrency, lies in the media, and several very suspicious start-ups associated with Thiel and other elites in his orbit, I eventually uncovered that these people were engaging in Ponzi schemes - not just once or twice, but likely hundreds of times.

Realizing that many of the biggest names in cryptocurrency built their careers on Ponzi schemes, the next discovery was that crypto itself was our first decentralized Ponzi scheme, with countless companies getting in on the theft.

As the list of perpetrators grew and grew, it eventually revealed a totalitarian con: Our most 'elite' universities built the crypto Ponzi; the biggest names in venture capital were financing the Ponzi; major news outlets all promoted the Ponzi; and prominent members of both political parties were fully complicit.

The big breakthrough around propaganda came via The Simpsons . I had proof that Harvard University was a massive organized crime front, and I recalled that many, many Simpsons writers went to Harvard. If The Simpsons is propaganda for the mafia, I asked myself, what is the point of it?

Well, it tells us we have no choice but to slave away for evil billionaires; that the American Dream is dying because we're too oafish, divided, and morally decayed; and that we are easily conned by monorail Ponzi schemes.

''Ay caramba!'' I thought! The Simpsons brainwashed us! And if a show as popular as The Simpsons was doing it, it probably wasn't the only one. From there, we just need some historical knowledge and critical thought to realize that we've been given this sort of messaging in all directions.

The other big breakthrough came when I was posting these essays on Reddit , which is owned by many of the financiers of the crypto super-Ponzi. Over and over again, I received the same types of comments that would attack my credibility without engaging with any of the evidence I was surfacing. They were practicing fear, uncertainty, and doubt . As I dug into their other comments, I found them repeatedly sowing partisanship, mocking others, and promoting products, just as a secret fascist government would want them to. This repetition from so many accounts revealed that they were coordinated trolls, poisoning our discourse and making us think they were acting in good faith.

Once we understand the totalitarian scope of the propaganda, we get to rewrite history.

Booklet Footnotes:

For the best account of historical fascism I've read, I recommend Fascism and Social Revolution by R. Palme Dutt - the full text is available here . Written during Hitler's rise to power in 1935, Dutt knew precisely what atrocities the world was headed for. The last chapter is a wonderful stand-alone essay.

Notably, Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter was a participant in the CIA's MK-ULTRA program of brainwashing and psychological torture, according to this declassified CIA document. And when we know the big story (that we're in a totalitarian doomsday cult), we recognize that the name ''Grateful Dead'' is a perfect name for a cult leader band: The fans not realizing they were the grateful dead all along. Likewise, the band's iconic stealie logo evokes death and brainwashing.

In the Gulf of Tonkin incident , the U.S. government faked that they had been attacked by North Vietnamese ships, all propaganda to draw us into the Vietnam War. As admiral of one of the ships of the staged incident, Jim Morrison's father was complicit in the lie, which is damning evidence against Jim Morrison himself once we recognize the signs of fascist messaging. For more on the role the CIA played in shaping The Doors and other bands of the era, see Weird Scenes from Laurel Canyon by David McGowan. Full PDF available here

I bet you never noticed how often The Beatles evoke violent imagery: Maxwell's Silver Hammer is a happy, cheery song about a violent serial killer. A Day in the Life depicts a gruesome death. Rocky Raccoon , Bungalow Bill , Piggies , Tomorrow Never Knows all evoke death and violence. The words Happiness is a Warm Gun speak for themselves. They also made The Butcher Cover : The album cover depicts the cheery bandmates strewn with decapitated baby dolls and raw meat. We also find our secret fascist themes in songs like Eleanor Rigby (Look at how lonely and isolated we are), Taxman (Fear the taxman), Yesterday (Turn to nostalgia because life is getting worse), and in their promotion of the nonsense '' Paul is dead'' conspiracy (Get the public to chase conspiracies to hide that fact they're being ruled by financial criminals).

For the best book on the Manson Family Murders, see CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill, which reveals numerous cover-ups and CIA agents connected to Manson and his cult. When we realize the scope of the con, we understand why Manson said the Beatles' White Album was secretly promoting a race war: Because both parties were in on it.

When we realize that the secret fascists long planned to use new technology like computers and smart phones to pump us full of misinformation, we realize that Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was 'predicting' a future that was already planned out.

For more examples of secret fascist bands, we've got Devo , which is short for ''devolution'' and means that society is becoming too morally decayed. Like the Grateful Dead, their iconic energy dome hats evoke brainwashing. Rage Against the Machine , with members out of Harvard University, is an example of controlled opposition : they promote far-left ideas, but they exist to incite anger and division while they tell their fans of the capitalist machine too powerful to stop.

Not only did Bush Sr. become director of the CIA in 1976; a leaked cable revealed that he had been secretly working for them for decades, with evidence that he was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. For a comprehensive look at the Bush family's century-long connections to fascism and organized crime, see Family of Secrets by Russ Baker.

I'm not the first to reach the conclusion that our politicians perform kayfabe as professional wrestlers do in order to divide and misdirect the public. David McGowan describes this well in Understanding the F-Word: American Fascism and the Politics of Illusion . For a common propaganda tactic used to create 'post-truth America', see On Bullshit by Princeton philosophy professor Harry Frankfurt: They mix up truth and lies so thoroughly in order to divide, deceive, and undermine honest discourse.

There are countless popular social media accounts that churn out meme after meme promoting fascist interests. While many tweets and memes are made in good faith, aggregators like Shitheadsteve , Millennial_Misery , are endless streams of content telling us to laugh at our hopeless circumstances. Painbewilin is just thousands of variations on the joke that we are depressed and suicidal. Parody news pages like The Onion provide the same role as comedy news: They tell us how bad our circumstances are, but that we should just sit back and laugh at the problems we are powerless to stop. Pages like Project_Knowledge promote nonsense conspiracy theories and pretend they are true, all to misdirect us from the fact that we're being conned.

Fake futuristic science makes for good Ponzi schemes because the con artists can position themselves as experts, promise an amazing technological breakthrough to keep victims from selling, have a justification when the Ponzi collapses (the tech didn't get there), and repeat with some other new fake-futurist technology.

The start-up that broke the case on Ponzi schemes was Clinkle out of Stanford: The biggest names in Silicon Valley were backing this mysterious, unproven technology, but the company collapsed without delivering on their promises. The story was nearly identical to Theranos , also out of Stanford. But these weren't actual Ponzi schemes, since their billionaire investors were in on it - they were laundering money, ''losing'' it through offshore banks and into networks of organized crime when the companies fell through.

When Elon Musk says his company Neuralink has made a nanotechnology brain-computer interface without evidence, he is doing a Ponzi scheme. When Peter Thiel promotes a manmade island in the middle of the ocean for The Seasteading Institute , it's a Ponzi scheme. When Bill Gates backs a mining company that claims to have discovered a motherlode of copper in Zambia , which investors will never see, it's a Ponzi scheme. The proof exists in repetition and stock charts: Over and over again, the biggest names from Silicon Valley promised fantastical new start-ups, their stocks go way, way up before collapsing completely, and the elite backers somehow keep getting richer.

When we know the owners of some of the biggest companies on the planet are engaging in Ponzi schemes, we recognize that the same way-up-way-down stock chart of individual Ponzi schemes was also found across the whole market in the Dot Com Bubble and the Great Recession, which clues us into the fact that these recessions were the inevitable outcome of running so many Ponzi factories.

For a couple Ponzi factories out of our most elite universities, we have Stanford's StartX.com , and Harvard's Launch Lab X , both with numerous science and bio-med startups promising fantastical new technology.

The proof of cryptocurrency as a Ponzi scheme is very technical and complex, but it shares many common traits of Ponzi schemes on its face: It involves complicated and mysterious technology; promoters tell buyers to ''hold on for dear life,'' and that it will be worth millions some day; and it is an unregistered security that uses offshore banks.

Although the public is told that the blockchain allows for full transparency, the perpetrators invested in technology that would allow them to secretly move assets from public to private blockchains, and to use high-frequency trading to move huge quantities of assets behind the scenes. There are staggering volume anomalies around Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, that we can trace to particular venture capital investments, which I've covered in more detail here .

The revelation that cryptocurrency will collapse the world economy comes from recognizing that the same people who were building and investing in the crypto Ponzi also owned many of our biggest companies, and they were using them to pipe out the stolen cash. I've got a write-up on PayPal here as an illustrative example, and show how Meta funneled billions in stolen cash through Credit Suisse before it collapsed via their Libra cryptocurrency here .

Many of the companies engaging in the theft now have mass layoffs. For a simple exercise, when a company reports mass layoffs, just search Google News with their name and the word ''blockchain.'' That's because the companies have less money than they are supposed to, since they used the blockchain to funnel stolen money out of crypto exchanges, through their companies, and into their own pockets. The following companies have all recently announced layoffs, according to this article , and all invested in the blockchain:

Mattel : Launched a blockchain-based marketplace for NFTs in April 2023.

Cisco : Announced the use of blockchain for network security in February 2020.

Nike : Announced a blockchain-based product traceability system in June 2023.

Estee Lauder : Used the blockchain for sustainable sourcing of materials in October 2020.

Levi Straus : Partnered with Harvard University to track worker well-being on the blockchain in January 2019.

Macy's : Hosted galleries of blockchain-based NFT collections for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in November 2022.

To highlight the bipartisan support for this rampant theft: Donald Trump has close familial ties to the industry: Among the well-heeled crypto investors is Thrive Capital , a tech VC firm run by Trump's nephew-in-law, Josh Kushner. Thrive received money from Peter Thiel for their first institutional fund in 2011, and Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner sat on Thrive's board and investment committees .

On the left side of the aisle, we get our most damning evidence from the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an arm of Bill and Hillary Clinton's nonprofit Clinton Foundation. First are ties to known criminals: Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes attended a CGI panel discussion in 2015, and Bill Clinton joined Sam Bankman-Fried as a paid speaker at Crypto Bahamas in 2022.

Then, we take a close look at some of the more than 200 participants at CGI's 2022 annual meeting. The list includes government officials, executives, members of global non-profits, heads of state, and Sam Bankman-Fried himself. If we Google these people and organizations along with the word ''cryptocurrency'' or ''blockchain,'' we learn that nearly all of them have clear ties to cryptocurrency, which I've written up here .

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Archived Version

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 05:22

For a brief summary of NYU's crimes, see the booklet above (printable PDF available here ). For a more detailed summary and footnotes, see below.

Political Revenge Killings

Blackmail Rings

Ponzi Schemes

Money Laundering

Criminal Propaganda

All of these wild claims have been proven. In March 2023, tech billionaire Peter Thiel started a bank run that caused the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. I was highly suspicious of the event and fell into a rabbit hole of over 2,000 hours of research.

NYU is just one of many, many institutions in a sprawling criminal network engaging in the most massive theft in criminal history. Here, I'll summarize many of these findings. If you follow the links, footnotes and other posts on this page, you will learn the whole story and you'll find proof of every word.

Do you know why NYU has so many dead students ? It isn't the Bobst Curse - it's because they've got a murder problem . Here are some notable cases:

June 2004 : Newark Assistant District Attorney David Lat started a gossip blog about the judicial branch called ''Underneath Their Robes''. The anonymous blog became popular in legal circles, and was a public embarrassment for many prominent judges.

Shortly after the blog's release, David's sister, NYU student Charlene Lat , went to his apartment while he was at work and 'fell' to her death from his balcony. This was a hit job by NYU and their allies in our criminal government. The means, motive, and opportunity of the crime can all be found in this New York Times article .

August 2007: Tumi McCallum was the daughter of two prominent NYU professors, staying alone in her mother's apartment. She was brutally gangraped and bludgeoned to death, as described in initial reporting : She was found wrapped in a sheet with her head caved in, surrounded by empty condom wrappers and 40-ounce malt liquor bottles.

Remarkably, all of these facts disappeared from the case: Her boyfriend took the fall, saying the killing was unplanned: They got into a fight and he strangled her until her nose bled. Because it was a crime of passion, his charge was reduced to manslaughter. The facts of the staged gangrape and bludgeoning disappeared completely from the trial: This was a cover-up by incredibly powerful people.

May 2023: NYU Business students Franco Medina Angulo and Sergio Ruiz were shot and killed while on vacation in Puerto Rico with other NYU students. They were allegedly caught in a mysterious crossfire and the killers were never caught. The case reeks of a cover-up: An inconclusive 5-second video was released and reported as evidence, and no information was ever released on those who engaged in the 'crossfire'.

NYU Megadonors Ranjan and Chandrika Tandon are massive financial criminals.

Ranjan Tandon's company Libra Advisors, LLC has been investing in fake-science and bio-med Ponzi schemes for decades. The fantastical start-ups promise revolutionary breakthroughs, but it's all smoke and mirrors: The Ponzi collapses while the Tandons make billions in stolen cash.

Chandrika Tandon helped NYU President John Sexton create the NYU President's Global Council , an advisory board for NYU's international interests. Do you know why NYU has established unaccredited campuses all around the world? That's for international money laundering .

And a whole lot of it is in service of cryptocurrency : Our first planetary, decentralized, multi-trillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. It is a Ponzi scheme so large that it created global inflation from trillions of dollars being double-counted by victims and the criminals who already stole their money.

Our biggest, most prominent companies invested in blockchain technology in order to pipe up to the crypto theft network and funnel out billions of dollars each: When the crypto Ponzi collapses - as all Ponzis must - it will shatter the world economy . Cryptocurrency is a (literal) economic doomsday device.

Other notable NYU President's Global Council Board Members include:

Matthew Bronfman , who has ties to the NXIVM sex trafficking cult and Lehman Brothers investment bank, which was supposed to collapse because it was a Ponzi bank.

Miguel R. Forbes . Did you know that Forbes Magazine is owned by the (completely fraudulent) crypto industry? It's like if the mafia had a magazine, promoting Ponzi schemes and celebrating our most criminal billionaires.

Because Epstein was an up-and-coming blackmail artist who knew that NYU has a blackmail ring . He was recognized for his talents at NYU, then he became a teen sex blackmail specialist for the CIA, hired at the Dalton School by former CIA officer Donald Barr .

When did NYU get a blackmail ring? They likely inherited it from mobster Lucky Luciano, who ran his headquarters down the street and cut a deal with the US government in 1945.

Here's the rest of the Jeffrey Epstein story: He pivoted from blackmail to fake-science Ponzi schemes like his 'Program for Evolutionary Dynamics' at Harvard. Epstein co-founded the Clinton Global Initiative with Bill Clinton, which is exactly like the NYU President's Global Council: International money laundering in service of Ponzi schemes and other organized crime.

In 1984, NYU alum Bernhard Goetz shot four young black men on the subway who tried to rob him. He was heralded as the ''Subway Vigilante'' and helped fuel our racially charged culture wars.

In 1989, NYU alum Spike Lee made the film Do the Right Thing , which told us just how racially divided and tribalized we are.

In 2020, NYU alum Devina Singh made headlines for spitting in a cop's face during the George Floyd protests.

NYU alums Sean Hannity and Rudy Giuliani teach us to be angry and divided, and that Democrats are evil.

NYU alums Chelsea Clinton and Whoopi Goldberg tell us to be angry and divided, and that Republicans are evil.

NYU alum Nancy Grace tells us the American public is rotten, violent, and morally decayed.

Can you spot the common theme? These are all instances of criminal propaganda designed to divide the public against themselves so we don't realize that our government and media have been taken over by history's worst financial criminals whose only goals are to divide, deceive, and bleed us dry. None of these people are acting in good faith - they tell us we're divided so we believe it and don't figure out that we've got a 'secret kleptocracy' .

Lawyer David Boies defended Al Gore vs. George W. Bush in the 2000 Presidential election (so we wouldn't realize Gore was letting Bush win because they're on the same team); Theranos (so we wouldn't realize their investors were in on it, and that the fake-science start-up was supposed to collapse so they could launder money ; and Jeffrey Epstein victims (so we wouldn't learn any of those secrets about Epstein).

Producer James L. Brooks made The Simpsons to tell us we have no choice but to slave away for evil billionaires, and that the American Dream is dead because we're too oafish, divided, and morally decayed, and not because criminals have been stealing our futures.

By now, I hope it's clear that NYU is just one of many ruthless criminal institutions that shape our world, and that we are victims of a totalitarian con. We've got criminals running so many Ponzi schemes that they've caused recessions (like the Great Recession and the Dot Com Bubble). And that's all before they created cryptocurrency: a bigger Ponzi scheme than any other in history that will soon shatter the world economy.

Our news, TV, films, and social media are a sprawling tapestry of criminal propaganda designed to divide the public and tell us how rotten and hopeless we've become.

And now that we've been so thoroughly divided and deceived our entire lives, our government is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist coup so we'll live the rest of our lives in a violent state of emergency while they try to hold onto power.

To understand the true history that led us here, see this booklet . They've been conning us our entire lives.

Investigate . If you look into high-tech NYU start-ups, you'll find evidence of Ponzi schemes. If you look into NYU's big donors, you'll find ties to cryptocurrency. If you look into dead students, you'll find evidence of murders and cover-ups. That is because this understanding of the world has remarkable explanatory power. That's because it is true.

Protest. We've got a criminal government and the public has gotten wind of all their biggest secrets. Laugh defiantly at history's worst con artists. Air out their dirty laundry for all to hear. They tell us we're hopelessly divided, but they already know that the only threat to them is an informed public that can see through the con.

Share . If you're not sure what to do with the world's biggest secrets, give them to other people. The emperor has no clothes; tell your friends.

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Archived Version

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 05:00

Link to Printable Booklet

More information and links to key evidence:

Cryptocurrency is a Ponzi Scheme:

When first researching the SVB collapse, we found several clues that pointed to cryptocurrency, which is what threw the researchers into the rabbit hole:

Silvergate Bank, which was used almost exclusively by the crypto industry, collapsed days prior to SVB.

The word ''cryptocurrency'' shows up 42 times on the 2023 Financial Crisis Wikipedia Page , which suggested that it may have something to do with crypto.

Peter Thiel, whose venture capital firm Founders Fund started the bank run, is a long-time crypto promoter. He gave the keynote speech at the 2022 Bitcoin Conference, for instance.

While people in the media were blaming regional banking for the financial crisis, we found that several of the most alarmist voices had previously promoted cryptocurrency. Former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh wrote an article called The U.S. Needs Economic Regime Change in the wake of the SVB collapse, and had promoted Bitcoin here , for example.

From there, we combed through all of Founders Fund's investments to get a sense of what they were doing with cryptocurrency. A huge break was discovering partner Napoleon Ta's role as the company's crypto expert, then following his actions and his family trust, CN2T Capital LLC .

In brief, cryptocurrency was planned and created intentionally as a global, decentralized Ponzi scheme out of Stanford University, where Thiel attended.

Through crypto company Polychain and its ''Ecosystem'' Funds , several associates of Founders Fund invested in blockchain tech for the express purpose of:

Using ''Zero-knowledge proofs'' to allow blockchain transactions to be hidden

Using ''Layer 2'' technology to move assets from public to private blockchains and vice verse

Building a high-frequency trading network via Napoleon Ta's Tagomi Systems .

With all of the above, they were able to secretly funnel out all of the cash that was invested in cryptocurrency and/or shuttle crypto assets across different exchanges.

Important documents include:

Summer Highlands LTD SEC Registration : A very shady registration for an offshore company using tax loopholes to create an offshore exchange of unregulated securities. This appears to be an early dual crypto-currency exchange in the British Virgin Islands and China.

Greenhouse v. Polychain : A very informative lawsuit: Polychain's management effectively stole SAFTs (a crypto derivative asset) from its partners on behalf of mysterious and powerful associates. At nearly the exact same time, Orchid Labs , which Polychain and other related Silicon Valley VCs backed, reported a SAFT offering with the SEC. This suggests possible theft to hide provenance.

Clinkle : A bizarre failed start-up the Thiel invested in - they had the largest seed funding round in VC history, promising mysterious sound-based payments technology. The tech never came to light and the company went up in smoke due to well-publicized unforced errors. Along with big Silicon Valley names, investors included Richard Branson, Ross Perot Jr., StartX.com (A Stanford University investment fund), and multiple Stanford Professors.

Westpac, Offshore Bank Accounts in the Cook Islands : One of the investors in Clinkle was Stanford professor (and WestPac bank CEO) Robert Joss. This is his only case study, and it appears to be a criminal recruitment document, looking for Stanford students with no ethical qualms about unregulated offshore banking.

Affirm Holdings SEC Investors Rights Agreement : Affirm is a PayPal spin-off, whose stock has long trended toward zero, and appears to be used to move their money into the crypto Ponzi pool. This investors list includes some the richest and most powerful people on the planet who are seemingly losing their money.

Starkware Investors List: This Israeli crypto company investors' list includes virtually all the big names in Silicon Valley, highlighting just how many have gotten into the crypto theft bonanza.

On that note, there is fundamentally no difference between Bitcoin and any other ''alt-coin'' cryptocurrency. It appears that the smaller Stanford + Harvard + Silicon Valley crew were the original investors, then others in their networks saw how much money they had stolen with Bitcoin, and they all flooded into the space with more and more alt-coins. They are positioned as alternatives, but they're all the same Ponzi scheme.

Additional information, such as a damning Bitcoin volume anomaly, is found in The Ponzi Papers Part 4 .

Big Ponzi Players:

Notably, a super-deluxe trillion-dollar Ponzi industry doesn't arise out of nowhere. Cryptocurrency was built on top of networks of existing Ponzi scheme operators who had grown larger and larger.

For more details on what Ponzi schemes entail, we recommend the Wikipedia page , which provides an excellent overview.

Not covered in the booklet is what makes for good Ponzi schemes. Since the goal is to get victims to invest in something fake, they need to be investments that you can't see, or that you can fake evidence for. Among the hundreds of Ponzi schemes we identified, we found a few flavors:

''Far away'' Ponzi schemes, where the inevstor would never actually see where the investment is occurring. Examples include offshore drilling (which was a favorite of Thiel's early VC funds), mining for rare earth metals in remote locations, or Seasteading (another Thiel favorite) where they sold libertarians on the idea that they would build manmade islands in intenternational waters, away from evil government regulation.

A subset of these are ''adventurer'' Ponzi schemes, favored by Richard Branson. Virgin Galactic promised to take people to space, but the company failed. Virgin Oceanic promised to take people to the deep sea but never did.

While we're on Branson, huge shout-out to Virgin Cola, whose obvious Ponzi kayfabe helped crack the code: A Coca-Cola executive feared Virgin Cola and bribed convenience stores not to carry it. Since Reportedly, Virgin Cola couldn't compete with that subterfuge and went bankrupt. Afterwards, the Coca-Cola exec was rewarded with a position as Virgin Group's account manager.

Bullshit science Ponzi Schemes. Since they focus on speculative technology, they always have a justification when the investment fails. Theranos would be a good example, except her billionaire investors were in on it.

This was the crux of Jeffrey Epstein's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University, which he promoted via Scientific American magazine.

There are countless examples on StartX.com , an $8 billion Ponzi factory out of Stanford: Theranos-like companies that promise fantastical diagnostics with a drop of blood; retinal scans and breath inhalers that do the same; manufacturing made out of (thin) air; and Tombot , a poorly-disguised puppet that promises AI-powered therapy for elderly dementia payments.

Elon Musk has his own example with Neuralink , which promised sewing computer interfaces into the brain.

More recently, Stanford Alum and crypto/AI guru Sam Altman has offered the absurd claim that his WorldCoin project will provide universal basic income cryptocurrency through the mysterious power of a retinal-scanning orb .

Richard Branson: His career has been littered with Ponzi-shaped failures, but he's made billions nonetheless. We've got a list of several here .

The Clintons: We've got a breakdown of the Clinton Global Initiative's crypto connections here (written in code, since the original posts got removed). If you Google any other speakers at Clinton Global Initiative along with the words ''blockchain'' or ''crypto'', you'll likely find many more crypto connections.

Notably, many of these people work in the government or non-profit industries, which helps highlight just how rampant this Ponzi theft has spread.

As mentioned, Jeffrey Epstein allegedly co-founded Clinton Global Initiative , which helps explain why Bill Clinton had flown on Epstein's plane dozens of times.

The purpose of so many ''charities'' associated with the mega-rich and powerful is international laundering: They're investing billions in organized crime network under the guise of goodwill. Because Ponzi schemes require a pool of cash on hand (to pay out investors whenever they sell their assets), the vast majority of this cash was used to seed crypto liquidity pools in various exchanges. These investors would expect to ''lose'' their money, but would later receive huge returns elsewhere when victims' cash gets stolen out of the crypto exchanges.

See Effective Altruism for an entire cottage industry out of Silicon alley that is used to justify mega-donations for this purpose. Notably, Sam Bankman-Fried's mother, Stanford Professor Linda Fried, is a huge proponent.

Ross Perot: While we have less information on older companies his Electronic Data Systems stock had one of the largest rises and then a sudden collapse, giving Perot the world record for most money lost in a single day.

Beyond that, his role in the criminal network becomes clear once we know that George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were on the same side: Perot ran as a third-party candidate in 1992 to take votes away from Bush and give Clinton the victory.

And as mentioned, his son was one of the big-time investors in Clinkle, which was one of the first money laundering fronts for cryptocurrency.

Mark Cuban: Along with buying Perot Systems , Cuban has been a huge crypto proponent .

Elizabeth Holmes: Her story is well-known (except that her investors were in on it, which we can tell through the repetition of the scam from Clinkle (with both companies out of Stanford), the fact that all of her investors have gotten much richer, and that she recently got a puff piece written up in the New York Times . Notably, her father was an Enron executive .

'--

Secret Kleptocracy: You already have a sea of evidence that our society has not functioned at all like a representative democracy since 1989, which we've put together here .

You can find Bill Clinton's 1988 DNC speech here . The Rob Lowe Sex Tape is notable because it was filmed at the same event days before (Lowe was there in support of Dukakis) and includes a clip of Lowe meeting with Tom Hayden of the Chicago Seven. From that, we know it's political blackmail.

For a detailed write-up on the speech, see our long-form essay here . In a nutshell, the evidence in the speech includes:

The early reference to Clinton getting excited that Dukakis is ''squeaky clean''

The odd reference to Mike and Kitty Dukakis being ''different as black and white'', but that soon we'll see that Kitty Dukakis is a wonderful role model for all of the country's children.

The bizarre anecdote where he brags about boys from the Ozarks running a crack ring into Detroit.

The fact that when taken as a whole, the speech makes no sense whatsoever unless it's a mob boss slyly admitting to blackmail.

For more on Bush passing Clinton torch, we recommend Ghost Stories for the End of the World's Arkansas episodes . We also recommend the entire Octopus series for an excellent account of Danny Casolaro and the Inslaw Affair. The Ponzi Papers/Dipshit Secrets research is the best validation of the theories of a criminal deep state that Casolaro called ''The Octopus.''

'--

Kayfabe:

Throughout this research, it became clear that many lies in the media were being sold as truths:

Blaming the SVB collapse on regional banking but secretly promoting crypto

Clinkle's failure had a very convenient justification of their failure where images were leaked of the CEO and Richard Branson setting money on fire (linked above).

Richard Branson's Virgin Cola decline, mentioned above.

All of the political debates, press conferences, and social media posts where these secret con artist allies attack one another. For instance, Elizabeth Warren has taken a progressive stance against Elon Musk, but her Harvard connections make clear that she is in their same crime crew.

As mentioned, these lies are necessary for Ponzi schemes - otherwise, the Ponzi nature would be obvious. Intuit, which invested in crypto via Affirm Holdings has two notable bits of kayfabe:

First, Stanford Law professor Joseph Bankman (father of Sam Bankman-Fried, and likely one of the architects of cryptocurrency) has taken a public stance against Intuit , promoting simpler tax returns. However, when we know that they both have connections to cryptocurrency, we recognize this as kayfabe intended to make them seem like enemies.

Second, Intuit has been notably pro-Trans , even as Budweiser and Target suffered fake (or at least infinitely less impactful than reported) anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ boycotts. It's highly likely that Intuit is doing this just so they can justify the loss of billions (that they stole out of Intuit via the crypto theft) with a fake anti-trans boycott.

Another important propaganda technique is the Theory of Bullshit developed out of Princeton University: ''The liar cares about the truth and attempts to hide it; the bullshitter doesn't care if what they say is true or false.'' Notable bullshitters include Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel.

By mixing truth and lies with no concern for either, these criminals help create so-called ''Post-Truth America:'' They give everybody different slices of truth and lies to help divide us into our online social tribes. Once they get bullshitters bullshitting at one another, the public can no longer tell which way is up and the actual truth (that they're all supervillain con artists) remains hidden.

'--

When Shit Hits the Fan

We know there will be an economic collapse because trillions of dollars were already stolen out of our stock market and it hasn't yet been revealed. And we know it will be soon, because the March 2023 bank failures signaled that they were no longer investing in the crypto Ponzi pool: It is now exclusively trending downward, and will go insolvent at some point before long.

Therefore, they'll need one of hell of a fireworks show to justify it.

We know that the Titan sub will play a role because there is no video evidence it can go to deep sea, which all successful adventure tourism companies would have. Meanwhile, people in this crime network all offered up statements that it was legitimate (if not safe), including a Simpsons writer , a Navy officer , and a friend of Richard Branson . Meanwhile, it looks precisely like Branson's Virgin Oceanic Ponzi Scheme, mentioned above.

Meanwhile, there has been a spread of Titanic Conspiracy Theories over the past few years. Once we understood that all of the main characters in Pizzagate and QAnon were in the same group of financial criminals, it became clear that they did this to spread misinformation and have the public produce their own: It's why the media repeatedly promoted these theories (even as they ''cast doubt'' on them). The Titanic conspiracy theories appear to be setting up a bizarre geopolitical event at that location as part of some larger attack, so people will latch onto these bunk theories in search of explanations.

Because so many Silicon Valley companies have been used to funnel out crypto money (as evidenced by chasing their fund and looking at their Ponzi-shaped stocks), we can expect several of these companies to collapse completely (Musk appears to have been running Twitter into the ground since the day he bought it). This would have the added benefit (for the criminals) of shutting down social media communication channels completely.

Additional clues for a mass blackout include the Metcalf sniper attack : A highly professional 2013 attack on a power substation, and a flurry of news articles warning of a potential mass blackout from a power grid attack.

'--

Crime Schools:

New York University :

Political revenge killings are covered here .

Evidence of a coverup in the deaths of two NYU students in Puerto Rico shortly after the SVB bank failure. They were killed by an unknown party when they reportedly got stuck in random crossfire, and a 3-second video clip was presented as strong evidence in media.

Meanwhile, NYU Presidents Global Council appears to be functionally identical to the Clinton Global Initiative: A thinly-veiled international money laundering operation conceived of by Chandrika Tandon, wife of Ponzi financier Ranjan Tandon.

Evidence for a blackmail ring includes:

A statistically massive number of student suicides, listed here .

There are several online documents that mention ''snooker,'' but are secret references to blackmail - an example of Thieves' Cant . This may sound farfetched on its own, but these documents were found on websites connected to cryptocurrency and other Ponzi scheme websites. With this in mind, here we have a strange biography of snooker player Steve Davis that matches perfectly to the story of Jeffrey Epstein when we know that snooker = blackmail and poker = Ponzi schemes (and ''online poker'' = cryptocurrency).

In that light, we can identify ''Lucania Snooker Club'' as NYU, where Epstein attended college before being whisked away to the Dalton School, where he was hired by a CIA/OSS officer. 'Lucania' is Lucky Luciano's birth name, and it suggests that NYU inherited Luciano's blackmail ring from his mob headquarters just down the street.

This theory was confirmed when we read the referenced book, How I Play Snooker by Joe Davis (which costs a staggering $300 for a used copy). Sure enough, if we read it of the mind that it's a coded blackmail guide, we were given an excellent introduction for how to blackmail somebody. A brief key:

The blackmail artist is the snooker player.

The cue ball is who they present as to the victim.

The object ball is the victim.

The distance between the two balls represents how close or distant our relationship is with the victim.

The screw shot is the reveal where the victim's trust is betrayed for the purposes of blackmail.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

Student Body President Eve Carson was reportedly murdered by two thugs from the hood who had carjacked her. Notably, the only evidence of the murder itself is hearsay: A friend of the two said that they told him all the details of the murder, and got a federal drug charge reduced for his testimony. This should be completely inadmissible in court - the fact that it's the only evidence strongly suggests a coverup.

Once we know about Bill Clinton's sly admission of blackmailing Governor Dukakis, we can see UNC President (and former Clinton chief-of-staff) Erskine Bowles' speech at Eve Carson's memorial in the same light: He is stifling a laugh throughout, and makes several curious statements and gestures (with one evoking her face being ripped open with a shotgun blast). Additionally, the introductory audio clip of Eve ends with a jarring cut implying that she wants to take from the needy.

In the video, we're given the same motive as the Dukakis blackmail: Carson was assassinated because she was a noble, honest public servant who fought for her student body, demanding that a board meeting to raise tuition rates be opened up to the public.

Additionally, once we know just how often high-tech biomed is used for Ponzi schemes, it appears that UNC President Holden Thorp (who was hand-picked by Bowles), has made a career in Ponzi schemes.

'--

The Simpsons and Mass Media Propaganda

While The Simpsons can't obviously collectively brainwash the masses on its own, it's just one example created for this specific purpose. We find similar goals of instilling fear and partisan division throughout new media and daytime television: We are bombarded with messaging with the express purpose of dividing us and instilling learned helplessness: It's a cult leader tactic on a global scale.

Simpsons creator Matt Groening revealed his hand on the cover of the very first issue of Life in Hell, his pre-Simpsons comic book:

He said, ''What you see is what you breath.'' He called it ''Life in Hell.'' He's telling us we're in hellworld so that we'll belieev it.

Another example is The Simpsons Movie , which primed us all for COVID: An unexpected global event that we're all too dumb and divided to do anything about, while we must accept the unknowable power of our almight government.

Other criminal propaganda examples include:

Stanley Kubrick :

Dr. Strangelove (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb): Ever wonder what that bizarre subtitle is about? ''I'' is ''The Public:'' He's such a cocky supervillain that he's telling us he's brainwashing us - making a (beloved) comedy about nuclear war was done so we'd get comfortable and complacent and ignore the very real threats of endless militarization and the arms race.

A Clockwork Orange : Shows us ''ultra-violence'' mixed with happy-go-lucky ''Singing in the Rain,'' and then offers the preposterous theory that forcing someone's eyeballs open and exposing them to ultra-violent media will make them less violent.

Full Metal Jacket: More blackpilled ultra-violence.

Eyes Wide Shut: Like an early version of QAnon: It promotes the absurd theory that the world's elite are all evil bizarro ritualists, when the truth is that they are just the world's worst financial criminals. Note the title: it isn't ''Eyes Wide Open.''

Stephen Soderberg:

Directed Contagion to prep us for COVID by letting us know that a pandemic could play out exactly as we were told: at a wet market in China.

His films The Panama Papers and Che both completely neuter their subjects to serve the CIA's interests.

He often works with George Clooney, who is a close associate of the Clintons and Richard Bransons, and whose films align perfectly with our government's interests. Clooney also once received a blowjob from Ghislaine Maxwell .

Beyond specifics, consider how daytime talk media and news has transformed into nothing but divisive, partisan fear-mongering that repeatedly tells us to oppose our fellow man, to be afraid and helpless at the state of the world, and to buy consumer comforts to deal with our sea of problems.

'--

The meme accounts are everywhere, and are best recognized scrolling through many of their memes and noticing precisely the same themes ad infinitum. A few off instagram include, therecoveringproblemchild, shitheadsteve, and mindsetoftherich (which also promotes lots of Ponzi schemes).

'--

The Truth About 9/11

We didn't dig deep on this, but realized it slotted perfectly with what we knew about all of their other supervillain-level crimes.

Epstein's Bush painting features a child-George W. Bush having knocked over two Jenga towers with a paper airplane. It was one of just two paintings left in his $70 million townhouse after his arrest, despite the fact that he would have had much more art: It was an intentional ''fuck you'' from our government, daring us to see the truth and laughing at how invincible they felt.

Between that, the truth about COVID, the populate ''Bush Did 9/11'' memes (remember the Theory of Bullshit - they tell the truth sometimes), George H.W. Bush's known ties to Osama bin Laden and Saudi Arabia, and the wretched criminal lies across our media, we feel tis has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Truth About COVID:

Once we became expert at recognizing Ponzi stock charts and realized how many trillions of dollars were funneled through half the stock market, this one was proven. Even if COVID hadn't happened, there would still have been the same massive anomaly in the market. An explanation was required, so they cooked up COVID. They unleashed a deadly pandemic to help facilitate the threft of trillions of dollars from the global public.

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Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:55

Why the long face? Ozempic.

Amid the weight loss treatment's skyrocketing popularity, surgeons believe that Hollywood is experiencing a spike in the side effect known as ''Ozempic Face.''

Several doctors claimed to the Daily Mail that celebs from John Goodman to Sharon Osborne are among those hit hardest by the alleged condition.

For the uninitiated, some side effects of taking Ozempic include sunken eyes, gaunt cheeks and saggy skin, often making the user appear older and more deflated.

''Ozempic face is essentially the same characteristics that we see when patients have rapid or regular weight loss,'' Dr. Smita Ramanadham, a plastic surgeon in New Jersey, told the Daily Mail. ''We see a loss of volume in the face, and when we lose fat in the face we see signs like the cheeks are more sunken in, more sagging skin and a general hollowing out of the features.''

Jessica said she never used a weight loss drug but admitted to losing 100 pounds between 2019 and 2020. jessicasimpson/Instagram Jessica Simpson visits SiriusXM Studios for SiriusXM's Town Hall with Jessica Simpson hosted by Andy Cohen on February 05, 2020, in New York City. Getty Images for SiriusXMThe injectable treatment mimics a naturally occurring hormone that tells the brain it's full, thereby curbing the appetite and inducing rapid weight loss.

Ozempic's fat-fighting capabilities have understandably made it all the rage in body-obsessed Hollywood, which has allegedly resulted the aforementioned rise in ''deflation,'' according to experts.

After examining pics of 15 celebs who experienced a major weight loss transformation, a panel of surgeons speculated that at least half may have suffered from this facial emaciation.

The surgeons analyzed the case of actor John Goodman, 71, who shed nearly 200 pounds '-- nearly half his heaviest weight '-- since 2007.

Goodman has denied taking Ozempic and the ''Roseanne'' actor credited dieting, exercise and giving up booze for his pound-shedding pilgrimage.

''You see more lines, more wrinkles, and more deflation in his face as he loses weight compared to when he was heavier and his face was fuller,'' Ramanadham declared of Goodman. ''These changes are just very typical of overall weight loss regardless of whether weight loss drugs were used.''

John Goodman has reportedly lost nearly 200 pounds since 2007. Rick Davis / SplashNews.comAlso on the list was singer Robbie Williams, 49, who admitted in the fall that he was taking something ''like Ozempic'' without specifying the treatment.

Ramanadham believed this was evident in his visage, describing: ''You can see a hollowing under the eyes and the cheeks and more wrinkles appearing because of a loss of volume. With Robbie, you can see the direct results of weight loss.''

''Ozempic face'' was less pronounced with women, surgeons said, because they're traditionally more likely to obscure flaws with fillers and makeup. However, they did point to Sharon Osbourne, who reportedly lost 42 pounds on the drug, as the most ''dramatic'' example of the condition.

Osbourne on ''Good Morning Britain.'' Good Morning Britain/ITV''Her eyes look more sunken in, her cheeks have more hollowing,'' claimed Ramanadham. ''There is a significant loss in facial volume as well, and more wrinkling that is associated with it.''

Other alleged Tinsel-frown sufferers included Jessica Simpson, Scott Disick and Liam Payne, although surgeons attributed the latter's streamlined countenance to buccal fat surgery, in which the fat pad is cored out of the cheeks.

Ozempic face is one of many side effects associated with the drug, of which 9 million prescriptions were written in the last three months of 2022, the Daily Mail reported.

Scott Disick on the beach in Miami on February 22, 2022. MEGA Scott Disick (right) enjoys a night out with friends, including Jordan Barrett, as they leave dinner at Catch Steak in Los Angeles in 2024. STAR INFLUX LA / BACKGRIDAlong with causing people to lose face, the treatment has also been blamed for including vision problems, constipation and even changes in personality.

Meanwhile, in January, several Ozempic adherents claimed they stopped taking the drug and ended up regaining more weight than they lost.

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Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:27

Would you like a side of cicadas with your main? That could be a very real question posed in a New Orleans cafe in coming weeks as the nation prepares for trillions of the noisy bugs to emerge in numbers not seen in decades or even centuries.

AP reports the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long served up an array of alternative, insect-based treats at its ''Bug Appetit'' cafe overlooking the Mississippi River.

The precisely defined ''Cinnamon Bug Crunch,'' chili-fried waxworms, and crispy, cajun-spiced crickets are among the menu items on offer '' and soon they might have company thanks to an over-abundance in supply of red-eyed periodical cicadas.

Zack Lemann, the Insectarium's curator of animal collections, has been working up cicada dishes that may become part of the menu, the AP report sets out.

''…Earthquake ''…Eclipse ''…Wars and rumors of wars''…Plague of locusts https://t.co/Npn6jnoP2Y

'-- Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 15, 2024

His reasoning is simple and made clear as he worked on a green salad with apple, almonds, blueberry vinaigrette '-- and roasted cicadas. Fried cicada nymphs were dressed on top with a warm mixture of creole mustard and soy sauce.

''I do dragonflies in a similar manner,'' Lemann told the outlet as he used tweezers to introduce nymphs to a container of flour before cooking them in hot oil.

Depending on the type and the way they are prepared, cooked cicadas reportedly taste similar to toasted seeds or nuts.

Zach Lemann, curator of animal collections for the Audubon Insectarium, prepares cicadas for eating in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The insectarium plans to demonstrate ways to cook cicadas at the little in-house snack bar where it already serves other insect dishes. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Children from the Woodmere Elementary School, of Harvey, La., line up to taste cooked insects at the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Insectarium isn't the first to promote the idea of eating them. Over the years, they have appeared on a smattering of menus and in cookbooks, including titles like ''Cicada-Licious'' from the University of Maryland in 2004.

''Every culture has things that they love to eat and, maybe, things that are taboo or things that people just sort of, wrinkle their nose and frown their brow at,'' Lemann told AP. ''And there's no reason to do that with insects when you look at the nutritional value, their quality on the plate, how they taste, the environmental benefits of harvesting insects instead of dealing with livestock.''

Lemann has been working to make sure the Bug Appetit cafe has legal clearance to serve wild-caught cicadas while he works on lining up sources for the bugs ahead of the predicted cicada onslaught threatening to swamp the nation, as Breitbart News reported.

Are you ready for Cicada-geddon? https://t.co/Sk1gJOV6rC

'-- Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 3, 2024

He expects this spring's unusual emergence of two huge broods of cicadas to heighten interest in insects in general, and in the Insectarium '-- even though the affected area doesn't include southeast Louisiana.

The unusual cicada double dose about to invade parts of the U.S. is what University of Connecticut cicada expert John Cooley has called ''cicada-geddon.'' The last time these two broods came out together in 1803 Thomas Jefferson, who wrote about cicadas in his Garden Book but mistakenly called them locusts, was president.

In the restaurant world the response is, if you can't beat 'em, then eat 'em.

''I can't imagine, given the fact that periodical cicadas are national news, that we won't have guests both local and from outside New Orleans, asking us about that,'' said Lemann.

''Which is another reason I hope to have enough to serve it at least a few times to people.''

The Associated Press contributed to this story

Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: Follow @SunSimonKent or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com

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Fri, 19 Apr 2024 12:31

More than 1,000 U.S. troops are effectively being held ''hostage'' in Niger with medical supplies running low '-- stuck between the military junta-controlled government's demands for them to leave and the Biden administration's refusal to let them go home after the end of their deployments, according to a report prepared by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and obtained exclusively by Breitbart News.

In addition, the report accuses Biden administration officials of trying to cover up the situation to lawmakers, as well as to troops deployed there and their families anxiously awaiting their return.

''Our troops are currently sitting on a powder keg caused by political indecision at the top of the Department of State and Department of Defense. With a military junta in charge '-- who detests our presence and considers us unserious and predatory '-- the situation seems to be setting the groundwork for catastrophic diplomatic collapse like we saw during the 2012 Benghazi attack. Additionally, these troops are already running short on necessary, life-saving supplies, such as blood and medications,'' the report by Gaetz's office said.

''They are, in effect, hostages of an indecisive Commander-in-Chief,'' the report said.

🚨 The U.S. State Department is engaging in a deliberate COVERUP on the conditions of U.S. Forces in Niger, leaving our troops in harm's way.

My office has conducted an investigation into this coverup, and we have learned that our troops in Niger have been pleading for help.'... pic.twitter.com/RvYS7L5tvb

'-- Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 17, 2024

The report is based on interviews by Gaetz's office with troops currently stationed in Niger, who reached out to Gaetz's office after they did not receive assistance from the Departments of Defense and State.

The service members are currently deployed to Airbase 101 (AB101) in the capital of Niger, Niamey, as part of the 768 th Expeditionary Airbase Squadron (768 EABS), which is comprised of active duty and reserve forces, Air National Guard airmen, Army Special Forces and contract support. There are about 450 personnel at Air Base 101. Until the takeover by the junta, the base was a major hub for U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) against terrorist groups Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State in West Africa, Boko Haram, and Ansaru. It was also a hub for U.S. military advisers supporting Niger's forces.

The U.S. troop presence became threatened after the military junta, known as the Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie (CNSP), or the National Council for the Safeguard of the Fatherland, declared it had taken over the country on July 26, 2023. Just a few months before, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had praised Niger as ''a model of resilience, a model of democracy, a model of cooperation.''

The junta declared in March 2024 a cancellation of the military accords with the U.S., after a series of meetings with Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Commander Marine Gen. Michael Langley, according to the report.

''This deterioration of diplomatic arrangements has led to our service members being caught in the middle of a standoff between an inept Department of State and a U.S.-trained Nigerian coup-force. This breakdown has led to total cessation of diplomatic clearance overflights, preventing the delivery of mail, necessary medical supplies, blood to replenish the blood bank (which requires constant turnover due to expiration windows), equipment and repair supplies; and other routine materiel from the United States,'' the report said.

''Personnel rotations for service members have been halted, leaving our troops stranded without any indication of relief or return home, as replacements [aren't] authorized to enter Niger,'' it added.

Niger Report by Kristina Wong on Scribd

The report said American contractors who maintain the American base have also been prohibited from entering the country, and that conditions are deteriorating as existing contractors leave as their visas expire. In addition, Niger is prohibiting other allies in the country from providing relief or logistics support to U.S. troops. ''There is no end in sight,'' the report said.

The report noted that the troops are in a precarious situation, with the government expressing its demand for U.S. troops to leave and the local population increasingly wondering ''Why is the U.S. here?'' It also noted that tension with the United States has escalated since France's departure, leaving the U.S. as the main western presence to oppose.

Perhaps most concerning is that medical supplies are running low. The blood bank at AB101 '-- which needs constant replenishment due to routine expiration '-- is not being rotated for use in the event of a mass casualty or medical emergency, the report said. In addition, service members who require medication for acute or chronic issues are facing the depletion of their prescriptions with no resupply in sight, the report said. Malaria medication is also running low.

One senior officer at AB101 said, ''On average, throughout the [Expeditionary Air Base Squadron], each person has an average of 23 days of medication left. The fewest amount is 7 and the highest is 80 pills. Role 1 (Medical) has 1800 pills in stock which equates to a 9-day supply if each EABS member were given an equal number of pills. One consideration, it is illegal to share prescription medication even if it is the same type of medicine.''

Gaetz's report noted that just last month, a senior defense official seemed to downplay the seriousness of the situation.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Ann Wallander testified to Congress in March that the junta's demands for U.S. troops to leave ''is actually quite a mixed message.''

''They have declared this [Status of Forces Agreement] to be non-operational, [but] they have assured us that American military forces are protected, and they will take no action that would endanger them,'' she said.

In addition, Gaetz's report said the Biden administration has been hiding the real number of U.S. troops in Niger.

The administration on December 7, 2023, claimed in a report to Congress that there were ''approximately 648 military personnel'' in Niger. However, the report said that the number remains ''closer to 1,100 DoD-affiliated persons'' between two locations in Niger, AB101 and Air Base 201 (AB201), outside the Nigerian city of Agadez.

The report also described a ''disjointed'' Biden administration response, with the Departments of Defense and State ''not on the same page,'' and AFRICOM and U.S. Air Force Europe-Air Force Europe-Air Force Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) blaming other departments, agencies, and commands.

''Meanwhile, no cohesive intelligence picture is agreed upon; no planning on that understanding is occurring; and no clear guidance or the next steps for AB101 or AB201 are being issued. This leaves the ground force commander(s) and his staff(s) with complete uncertainty about what to expect,'' the report said.

The report said Ambassador Kathleen FitzGibbon and Senior Defense Official/Defense Attach(C) (SDO/DATT) Colonel Nora Nelson-Richter are covering up the failure of the administration's diplomatic approach and suppressing intelligence assessments.

Nelson-Richter has been one of ''the main actors knowingly lying about the diplomatic reality,'' the report said.

The report also exposes other concerning issues, such as U.S. taxpayers continuing to fund the U.S. military presence in Niger at nearly $1 million per month, while service members are prevented from doing their jobs and essentially sitting idle. That amount includes food and water for service members that do not pass U.S. standards for edibility or potability.

According to the report, service members at AB101 are also concerned about the camp running ''exceedingly low on personal hygiene supplies, with only a few days' or weeks' worth remaining for a camp of over 400.''

To add insult to injury, unidentified ''near-peer adversaries'' '-- believed to be Russian forces '-- are given ''unfettered access'' to Niger.

''Our near-peer adversaries are gaining unfettered access to Niger while our Department of State misrepresents the truth and intentionally buries assessments of our intelligence experts in the region to maintain the fa§ade,'' the report said.

Gaetz, during a congressional hearing on Tuesday, slammed Army leaders for leaving U.S. soldiers in harm's way.

''I will tell you that I'm not tracking that anybody is, somebody in Niger is not getting their medicine or their mail, but I will follow up after this,'' said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George on Tuesday under questioning by Gaetz.

''We've received reports that they've run out of medicine in May,'' Gaetz retorted.

Right now in Niger, the government has stopped the U.S. from doing diplomatic overflight missions.

We have Army soldiers in Niger who aren't getting their troop rotations, their medicine, or even their basic supplies. I currently have constituents there who can't even get clean'... pic.twitter.com/DpMXb2AThY

'-- Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 18, 2024

''And you know why you don't know that? Because it's a cover-up. Because the U.S. Embassy in Niger is covering it up because of Secretary Blinken's embarrassment. Because Blinken went there in March of 2023 and said this was the centerpiece of our Africa strategy'...I'm looking at what could erupt as another Benghazi,'' Gaetz said.

Follow Breitbart News's Kristina Wong on ''X'', Truth Social, or on Facebook.

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Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department," is here and it's a double album.

The singer's 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," arrived at midnight on April 19. And it was swiftly followed up two hours later with a drop of 15 additional songs.

"It's a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album," the singer said in a social media post. "I'd written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here's the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn't mine anymore... it's all yours."

Swift previously shared the tracklist for her album in an Instagram post. Here is full tracklist of "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology":

- "Fortnight" (feat. Post Malone)

- "The Tortured Poets Department"

- "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys"

- "Down Bad"

- "So Long, London"

- "But Daddy I Love Him"

- "Fresh Out the Slammer"

- "Florida!!!" (feat. Florence + The Machine)

- "Guilty as Sin?"

- "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?"

- "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)"

- "loml"

- "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart"

- "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived"

- "The Alchemy"

- "Clara Bow"

- "The Black Dog"

- "imgonnagetyouback"

- "The Albatross"

- "Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus"

- "How Did It End?"

- "So High School"

- "I Hate It Here"

- "thanK you aIMee"

- "I Look in People's Windows"

- "The Prophecy"

- "Cassandra"

- "Peter"

- "The Bolter"

- "Robin"

- "The Manuscript"

In addition to "The Manuscript" bonus track, Swift later revealed an additional three bonus tracks, which will be available in different versions of the album.

Here's everything we learned about "The Tortured Poets Department" ahead of the release.

Who are the collaborators?Post Malone is featured on the song "Fortnight" and Florence + The Machine is featured on the song "Florida!!!"

What does the album cover look like?After announcing the album news and accepting her award at the Grammys, Swift took to Instagram to share the black and white cover art for the album by photographer Beth Garrabrant.

A second photo in the post featured several handwritten lines of what appear to be lyrics.

They read: "And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises / My talismans and charms / the tick, tick, tick of love bombs / My veins of pitch black ink / All's fair in love and poetry ... / Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department."

Have any music videos been released?Swift previously announced that one music video will drop tonight at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

The caption for the announcement said, "The TTPD Timetable."

Swift shared a post Thursday revealing the music video will be for her track, "Fortnight" with Post Malone.

What has Taylor Swift said about 'The Tortured Poets Department'?Swift stayed secretive about the album ahead of its release, but shared her excitement about it while accepting the award for artist of the year at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on April 1.

"I'm so proud of it. I cannot wait to share it with you," she said. "So thank you for voting for me for this incredible honor -- artist of the year. I am so blown away and so thankful and I just can't wait to keep having fun with you guys, because we have a lot of exciting things coming up. Thank you so much."

What has Travis Kelce said about the album?Prior to the arrival of the album, Travis Kelce said that he'd listened to some of it.

Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII in February, Kelce told reporters during a press event at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas that he had "heard some of it."

"It is unbelievable," he added. "I can't wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops."

When did Swift announce the album?Swift announced "The Tortured Poets Department" at the 2024 Grammys while accepting the Grammy for best pop vocal album.

"This is my 13th Grammy, which is my lucky number. I don't know if I've ever told you that. I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way, but I know that the way that the Recording Academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans," Swift began.

"So I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I have been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19. It's called 'The Tortured Poets Department,'" she revealed.

Did Swift announce special editions of 'The Tortured Poets Department'?Leading up to the release of "The Tortured Poets Department," Swift shared artwork for the upcoming album.

On Feb. 16, she shared sepia-toned artwork on Instagram, which included a photo of herself. In the caption, she wrote, "File Name: The Bolter," and pre-order information for the album. In the second slide of the post, the words "You don't get to tell me about sad" are displayed over another black and white image of her face with her head in her hand.

Days later, she shared another black and white image of herself on Instagram for another edition of the album with the exclusive bonus track "The Albatross." The second slide of the post had the words, "Am I allowed to cry?" displayed over another black and white image of her.

The final image she shared was for another edition of the upcoming album, which includes the exclusive bonus track "The Black Dog." The caption of the post read, "Old habits die screaming...."

What are the '5 stages of heartbreak playlists'?Leading up to "The Tortured Poets Department," Swift compiled five custom playlists for Apple Music representing five "stages of heartbreak," which she released in early April. Each playlist included a message directly from Swift explaining the mix, with songs from her catalog arranged thematically.

In one playlist called "I Love You, It's Ruining My Life," Swift explains in a message that those songs are "about getting so caught up in the idea of something you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion."

The final playlist she shared was called "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart," which she explains is about finding "acceptance and can start moving forward from loss or heartbreak."

Is 'The Tortured Poets Department' a re-recorded album?Swift's upcoming album is not re-recording of one of her previous albums.

"The Tortured Poets Department" follows her 2022 studio album "Midnights," which earned her awards for album of the year and best pop vocal album at the 66th Grammy Awards in February.

Prior to "Midnights," Swift released "Evermore" and "Folklore" in 2020, "Lover" in 2019, "Reputation" in 2017, "1989" in 2014, "Red" in 2012, "Speak Now" in 2010, "Fearless" in 2008 and her debut album "Taylor Swift" in 2006.

Additionally, she has released several re-recorded albums, including "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" and "Red (Taylor's Version)" in 2021, and "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" and "1989 (Taylor's Version)" in 2023.

Has she announced her next re-recorded album?The Grammy Award winner has not announced what her next re-recorded album will be or when she will release it.

Fans speculate that Swift's next re-recording might be "Reputation," which she initially released seven years ago, because of the many Easter eggs she's dropped so far, including the green dress she wore to the Golden Globes in January, which fans say resembles the snake that is present in her "Look What You Made Me Do" music video. In an interview with Time in December 2023, Swift also mentioned "Reputation" and made several album references, saying, "I'm collecting horcruxes. I'm collecting infinity stones. Gandalf's voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it's a movie now."

Fans also got a taste of "Reputation (Taylor's Version)" last year when "Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor's Version)" was featured as the theme song for the Amazon Prime series, "Wilderness."

Swift announced on "Good Morning America" in August 2019 that she would be re-recording her first six albums from her former label in order to take ownership of the records that made her a household name.

Copyright (C) 2024 ABC News Internet Ventures.

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'‹PROF. MICHAEL HUDSON, THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF GAZA. '' Ania K

ANIA: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. Today I have with me for the fourth time, I'm still counting, a very, very special guest, one of the best professors in economics and financial analysts in the world. And I'm very glad we are reconnecting with Professor Hudson again.

I want to start this live stream with asking all of you to check all my links down below this live stream, because being on other platforms, especially nowadays, is very important. So you have my locals there, you have mailing lists, and every other link if you choose to support my work as well.

Also, Professor Hudson's three links. You have the website (michael-hudson.com), Patreon (patreon.com/michaelhudson), and all the books that Professor Hudson has published so far, you can order. It's all the way down below this live stream. I'm sure this video will bring you immense value, and I would like you to hit this like, because it helps other people to see it, since YouTube recommends videos with a lot of likes. Leave the comments and also share the video, because the knowledge that you will be hearing today, it's priceless.

Welcome back, Professor Hudson. Thank you so much for joining me today for this conversation.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Thanks for having me back again.

ANIA: And I would like to say to the audience as well that this video is dedicated to what is taking place, especially in Gaza and Israel. Of course, we will address other countries related to this situation, but Professor Hudson has sent me a very in-depth email after our last live stream a week ago, also on Friday, and we actually decided after we ended that live stream to have this particular topic to be the main topic of this video. So, I give this to you, Professor Hudson, where would you like to start this conversation, please?

MICHAEL HUDSON: I think I should start with my own background, because 50 years ago, in 1974, I was working with the Hudson Institute, with Herman Kahn, and my colleagues there were a number of Mossad agents who were being trained. Uzi Arad was there, and he became the head of Mossad and is currently the main advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu.

So, all of what is happening today was discussed 50 years ago, not only with the Israelis, but with many of the U.S. defense people, because I was with the Hudson Institute, which was a national security agency, because I'd written Super Imperialism, and I was a balance of payments expert, and the Defense Department used my book Super Imperialism not as an expose, but a how-to-do-it book. And they brought me there as a specialist in the balance of payments. Herman brought me back and forth to the White House to meet with cabinet members and to discuss the balance of payments. He also brought me to the War College and to the Air Force think tanks.

So, all of what is happening now was described a long time ago, and Herman was known as a futurist. He was Dr. Strangelove in the movie. That was all based for him on his theories of atomic war, but he was also the main theorist behind Vietnam. And nobody seems to have noticed that what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank now is all based on what was the U.S. strategy during the Vietnam War. And it was based on the ''strategic hamlets'' idea, the fact that you could cut back, you could just divide all of Vietnam into little parts, having guards at all the transition points from one part to another. Everything that Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere throughout Israel was all pioneered in Vietnam.

And Herman had me meet with some of the generals there to explain it. And I think I mentioned I flew to Asia twice with Uzi Arad. We had a chance to [get to] know each other very much. And I could see that the intention from the very beginning was to get rid of the Palestinians and indeed to use Israel as the basis for U.S. control of Near Eastern oil. That was the constant discussion of that from the American point of view. It was Israel as a part of the oil.

So, Herman's analysis was on systems analysis. You define the overall aim and then you work backward. How do you do it? Well, you can see what the Israeli policy is today. First of all, you isolate the Palestinians and strategic hamlets. That's what Gaza had already been turned into for the last 15 years. It's been carved up into districts requiring electronic passes from one sector to another to go into Israel, to go to Jerusalem, or to go to Israel for jobs to work.

The aim all along has been to kill them. Or first of all, to make life so unpleasant for them that they'll emigrate. That's the easy way. Why would anyone want to stay in Gaza when what's happening to them is what's happening today? You're going to leave. But if they don't leave, you're going to have to kill them, ideally by bombing because that minimizes the domestic casualties. Israel doesn't want its soldiers to die any more than Americans do. So, the American form of war, as it was in Vietnam, is bombing them. You don't want person-to-person contact because people fighting for their lives and liberty tend to be better fighters because for them it's really essential. For the others, they're just doing soldier's work.

So, the genocide that you're seeing today is an explicit policy, and that was a policy of the forefathers, the founders of Israel. The idea of a land without people was a land without Arabs in it, the land without non-Jewish people. That's really what it meant. They were to be driven out starting even before the official funding of Israel, the first Nakba, the Arab Holocaust. And the two of the Israeli prime ministers were members of the Stern gang of terrorists. The terrorists became the rulers of Israel. They escaped from British jail and they joined to found Israel. So, what you're seeing today is the final solution to this plan. And the founders of Israel were so obsessed with the Nazis, essentially, they wanted to do to them what they did to us, is how they explained it to people.

For the United States, what they wanted was the oil reserves in the Middle East. And again and again, I heard the phrase, 'you're our landed aircraft carrier in Israel'. Uzi Arad, the future Mossad head, would be very uncomfortable at this because he wanted Israel to be run by the Israelis. But they realized that for Israel to get by with the money that it needed for its balance of payments, it had to be in a partnership with the United States.

So, what you're seeing today isn't simply the work of one man, of Benjamin Netanyahu. It's the work of the team that President Biden has put together. It's the team of Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor Blinken, and the whole deep state, the whole neocon group behind them, Victoria Nuland, and everyone. They're all self-proclaimed Zionists. And they've gone over this plan for essentially America's domination of the Near East for decade after decade.

But as the United States learned in the Vietnam War, populations protest, and the U.S. population protested against the Vietnam War. What the Biden administration wants to avoid is the situation that President Johnson had in 1968. Any hotel, any building that he went to, to give a speech for his re-election campaign, there were crowds shouting, LBJ, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? President Johnson had to take the servants entrance to get away from the press so that nobody would see what he was doing. And essentially, he went on television and resigned.

Well, to prevent this kind of embarrassment, and to prevent the embarrassment of journalists who were doing all this, Seymour Hersh described the [Mai Lai] massacre, and that helped inflame the opposition to Johnson. Well, President Biden, who's approved Netanyahu's plan, the first people you have to kill are the journalists. If you're going to permit genocide, you have to realize that you don't want the domestic U.S. population or the rest of the world to oppose the U.S. and Israel. You kill the journalists. And for the last, ever since the October 2nd Al-Aqsa event, you've had one journalist per week killed in Israel. That's part of it.

The other people you don't want, if you're going to bomb them, you have to start by bombing the hospitals and all of the key centers. That also was part of the idea of the Vietnam War. How do you destroy a population? This was all worked out in the 1970s, when people were trying to use systems analysis to think, how do you work back and see what you need? And the idea, if you bomb a population, you can't really hide that, even if you kill the journalists. How do you kill a population passively? So you minimize the visible bombing. Well, the line of least resistance is to starve them. And that's been the Jewish, the Israeli policy since 2008.

You had a piece by Sarah Roy in the New York Review, citing a cable from 2008, from Tel Aviv to the embassy saying, as part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed to the embassy officials on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gaza economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge. Well, now they're pushing it over the edge.

And so Israel has been especially focusing after the journalists, after the hospitals, you bomb the greenhouses, you bomb the trees, you sink the fishing boats that have supplied food to the population. And then you aim at fighting the United Nations relief people.

And you've read, obviously, the whole news of the last week has been the attack on the seven food providers that were not Arabs. And this was, again, from a systems analyst point, this is exactly what the textbook says to do strategically. If you can make a very conspicuous bombing of aid people, then you will have other aid suppliers afraid to go, because they think, well, if these people, aid suppliers, are just shot at, then we would be too.

Well, the United States is fully behind this. And to help starve the Gazan people, Biden immediately, right after the ICJ finding of plausible genocide, withdrew all funding from the United Nations relief agencies. The idea, again, the hope was to prevent the United Nations from having the money to supply food.

So when the United States is now trying to blame one person, and Biden goes on a television recorded call with Netanyahu saying, please be humane when you're dropping your bombs, do it in a humane way. That's purely for domestic consumption. It's amazing how nakedly hypocritical all this.

And ever since the Al-Aqsa Mosque was raided by Israeli settlers on October 2, leading to Hamas's Al-Aqsa Flood retaliation on October 7, it was closely coordinated with the Biden administration. All the bombs have been dropped day after day, week after week, with the whole of the US. And Biden has said on a number of occasions, the Palestinians are enemies.

So I think I want to make it clear that this is not simply an Israeli war against Hamas. It's an American-backed Israeli war. Each of them have their own objectives. Israel's objective is to have a land without non-Jewish population. And America's aim is to have Israel acting as the local coordinator, as it has been coordinating the work with ISIS and the ISIS commanders to turn them against targets provided by the United States.

Basically, that's the duopoly that's been created.

And I think Alastair Crooke has cited Trita Parsi, [the US-Iranian relations scholar], saying the objective really in all this, of Israel's conflict and Biden's acquiescence to it, is that Israel is engaged in a deliberate and systematic effort to destroy existing laws and norms about warfare. And that's really it.

You have people, you have reporters, such as Pepe Escobar, saying that the United States is a chaos agent. But there's a logic in this. The United States is looking forward to what it's going to be doing in the Near East, in Ukraine, and especially in the China Sea and Taiwan. Looking forward, the United States says, how do we prevent other nations moving against us in the international court or suing or somehow putting sanctions against us? Israel is the test case, not simply for what's happening there in Israel and Palestine itself, but against anything that the United States will be doing through the rest of the world.

That's why the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., echoed by [Blinken] and other U.S. officials, said there's no court of justice ruling against genocide, that it was a non-binding ruling. Well, of course it was binding, but it has no means of enforcement. And both [Blinken] and yesterday, the head of the army said, there is no genocide taking place in Gaza. Well, what that means is you have to go to a court, and that's going to take years and years. And by the time the court case is over and there's any judgment of reparations due, then you're going to, by then the Gazans will all be dead. So the U.S. aim is to end the rule of international law that is why the United Nations was founded in 1945.

And in fact, this international law goes way back to 1648 with the peace of Westphalia in Germany to end the 30 years war. All the European nations agreed not to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries. Well, that also was part of the United Nations principle.

And yet you have the United States explicitly advocating regime change in other countries, and most specifically in Russia and throughout the Middle East. So if you can end the whole kind of rule of law, then there's really no alternative to the United States rules-based order, which means we can do whatever we want, chaos.

And if you look at what's happening in Gaza is facilitating a transition from a orderly world of the United Nations to chaos, then you're going to understand basically what the whole, the big picture, the long range picture that's been put in place really over a series of decades. That's why the United States, and the United States has no plan B. It only has the plan A to do this. It's not taking into account the counter reactions and the feedback. Maybe we can discuss that a little later. I'd better leave the questions up to you.

ANIA: Thank you. You actually have already answered many of my questions in that intro, but I want to ask you this now. I will jump a little bit now. I have a question about something that you wrote to me in your email.

I believe looking at many, many situations that are taking place in the world, that sometimes all you really need to do is to follow the money and it will give you a lot of answers. So as you said in your email that, let me check, where is it? The Israeli developers already are planning to turn Gaza into luxury beachfront properties.

So let me ask you here, Professor Hudson, What is really the main goal for Israel's existence? And in this case, is this really about their luxurious properties, oil? What else is this region really about? Why is it so crucial?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, it's not just about beach properties. It's what's off the beach, the gas, the natural gas that they've discovered right offshore the Mediterranean that belongs to Gaza. So the Israelis are after the gas.

But your basic question, you'd sent me a list of questions you were going to go through. And I think if you keep to that sequence, it's good. What you're really asking is, you know, what's the main goal for Israel's existence? And I think if people don't really, their sense of justice is so strong that they can't believe what the original goal was. And the initial goal in the 19th century was formed in a period where Europe was anti-Semitic. The most anti-Semitic part of all was Ukraine. If you read Leon Trotsky's autobiography of growing up in Odessa, he described the pogroms there. And so the Zionists, the first wave of Zionists, were looking for how can the Jewish people escape from this anti-Semitism.

Here's the problem. By 1947, when Israel was formed, anti-Semitism was pass(C). Most Jews in the United States, certainly who I grew up with, they were all assimilated. Of course, they had well wishes for Israel. There was very little talk of the Arabs. But you had two arms of Judaism.

The one arm were the people who remembered with a vengeance what was done for them against them in Ukraine and Russia, and especially by Hitler and the Holocaust. They wanted to be separate and to have just to be protected.

But most of the Jewish population in America and Europe was thoroughly assimilated. And the last thing they wanted was to be separate. They wanted just the opposite. They wanted anti-Semitism to end.

But the Zionists who were in charge of Israel, the Stern Gang leaders, were obsessed with the old antagonisms. And in a way, they were obsessed with Nazism and said, well, we want to do to them what they did to us.

And again, the idea of a land without a people meant a land'-- we intend to make Israel into a land without non-Jewish people. That's what a land without people, their slogan, meant. And from the very beginning, they started by driving Arabs out of Palestine, destroying their olive trees, destroying their orchards, taking their houses, and just killing them. That's why the English threw them in jail before turning around and said, well, it's true that we've thrown all the leaders in jail, but let's recognize Israel and make Israel a whole country to do what these leaders that we were before throwing in jail were doing.

ANIA: Thank you.

You said also in your email that ISIS is part of America's foreign legion. Can you please elaborate on that?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, ISIS was organized originally to fight in Afghanistan against the Russians. And al-Qaeda, which was the parent of ISIS, was simply the roster of people who were willing to fight under the U.S. command.

Well, part of al-Qaeda turned against America on 9-11, but most, especially the Sunni followers of Wahhabi theology, were very eager to fight against the Shiites. Islam is divided into two parts, the Sunni Islam of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Republics, and much of the Near East, and the Shiites from Iran and maybe half of Iraq and parts of Syria also.

So you had these two sectarian groups fighting each other, and the United States provided the funding and the organization to them and essentially delegated to Israel much of the organization of organizing ISIS to fight against Assad, to fight against whomever the United States designated as our enemies, meaning we want to take their oil lands. America has taken Iraqi oil and won't leave, is taking Syrian oil and won't leave.

So essentially, the U.S. has used ISIS to fight against all of the Shiites on the theory that the Shiite Islam is all controlled by Iran, and they want to essentially wipe out the Shiites as they're doing in Gaza, even though I think the Palestinians are mainly Sunni, but you should think of the ISIS as America's foreign legion. They've hired them, they pay them, and they recruit from them.

You've just seen in what happened in Russia from the Ukrainians, Ukraine recruited Sunni terrorists from Tajikistan. You've seen the United States trying to use ISIS to recruit, to fight in Russia's southern periphery in Central Asia and to fight in the Uyghur territories of Xinjiang in Western China. They're using ISIS to try to essentially attack the integrity of China, Russia, and Syria and any other area where the United States wants a regime change to put in the usual client oligarchy.

ANIA: So interesting, and they sell it under the description that this is the enemy and terrorist, and they are founding it. And the public is still buying this, Professor Hudson. How is this possible?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, this is hypocritical. Everybody throughout the world is appalled by the cruelty and the barbarism of ISIS. The United States is not going to come right out and say, hey, that's us that they're fighting. We're directing ISIS from the presidential office. We love ISIS.

Well, Biden loves ISIS, and Blinken loves ISIS, and the entire neocons, the CIA loves ISIS because they're all running it, but they can't say it to the American public. They have to pretend just like they're pretending with Netanyahu that, oh my heavens, look at [what] ISIS is doing. We've really got to fight against it.

And for instance, when it put in the white helmets in ISIS, these were the American supplied public relations unit to essentially do false propaganda, false images, make false flag attacks. All of these false flag attacks, all of the white helmets and the propaganda has all been coordinated by the United States.

ANIA: I want to ask you now a question that to some extent you actually answered already. Does Israel make any independent decisions that are not consulted with the United States in regards to bombing Gaza?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, the question is, what is the United States or what do you mean by the United States? They don't need official approval. There's already a broad agreement in principle. Do whatever you have to do.

The United States has given them a free hand saying, we're not going to interfere. You're our managers on site. Just as you're managing ISIS, you can manage certainly your own country. The U.S. has given blanket approval for Israel's genocide. That's why it says there's no genocide there.

And it shares the aim of extending the war to fight Iran. Again and again, what Netanyahu is saying, we're not going to be safe until we defeat Iran. Well, the United States has, that's America, that's the neocon plan outlined in the 1990s. It was spelled out, I think, by Wesley Clark of first Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Syria, and then Iran. All of this was worked out from the beginning. The United States is trying to figure out, how do we do it?

Well, there's a general expectation that one way to do it is to have Israel mount a false flag attack, something Iran does that is so bad that Israel retaliates and then, as it just bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria, that Iran is going to then do something to Israel and the United States will come to protect our Israeli brothers and world peace and prevent the genocide that the Gazans are trying to do against Israel and that Iran is trying to do against the rest of the world and bomb Iran.

Back in 1970s, there were discussions of what do you do? What will Iran do to fight back? Well, there's one thing that Iran can do, that it doesn't have to bomb American troops in Syria or Iraq. It doesn't have to bomb Israel. All it has to do is sink a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. That's the big strait. You've seen what happened, what the Houthis have done with the Red Sea. The big traffic is the Strait of Hormuz. That's where Saudi Arabian oil and we could call it the oil gulf. It's called the Persian Gulf, but it's really the oil gulf. That's where all the oil trade is. If you sink a ship or two in the oil gulf, that's going to push oil prices way, way up because that's going to cut most of the world off for as long as Iran wants from the Middle Eastern oil supply.

Well, that's what really terrifies Biden because he's pretending that there's no inflation in the United States and that the economy is quite heavy. The inflation that would follow from Iran sinking a ship in Hormuz will essentially be crowning the American opposition to Biden, which is growing.

It's one thing to be against genocide and killing people, but much more important is if your gas prices go up, the American people think that that's really much more important than the fact of genocide and crimes against humanity. That's really what is frightening the US.

The question is right now, how do they make the Israeli provocation against Iran'-- an excuse for the United States to come in with all of NATO's and European support and somehow prevent Iran from having the power to close down the Straits of Hormuz. That's what they're trying to figure out now. I don't know what they're going to do, but when Blinken has said, Israel has not broken any rules. It's all okay. What the United States really is [saying], if they can get away with this, they can say there are really no rules at all for the whole world. We can do whatever we want. Right now is coming to a peak. It's the follow-up that was all thought in advance of the whole Israeli movement against Gaza.

ANIA: Thank you, Professor Hudson.

Next question that is about targeting civilians, journalists, and workers. Again, you've addressed this already, but I will ask you this. Why is the Israeli army targeting all those groups?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, it's targeting everyone. It's targeting all civilians because it wants a land without Palestinian people. It's targeting the most critical people necessary for a Gazan society to survive. It targets the journalists because it doesn't want the world to see what it's doing, because Israel has already lost its standing in the world. The United States tells them, especially, you've got to kill the journalists because if you don't kill them, we, the Biden administration, are going to look bad. We already have the Americans turning against the war.

There's only one anti-war candidate running in the presidential elections for this November. That's Jill Stein. Every other candidate is completely backing Israel in the war, but the American people, the majority of Americans look at what's happening in Israel as genocide and as a crime against humanity. They're not going to vote for Biden. Biden is going to lose the election or certainly not win it. It may go into the House of Representatives if nobody wins it.

In order to drive the rest of the Gazan populations out, you have to, number one, get rid of the journalists. Number two, you want to get rid of the hospitals. As you're bombing the people, a lot of them are going to get injured. You want all the injured people from the bombs to die. For that, you have to bomb the hospitals. You especially have to target the doctors for killing. Not only will there not be doctors to heal the wounded people, but other doctors, doctors without borders from other countries, will be afraid to go into Gaza because if you go there, you know that if you're a food worker bringing aid or a doctor or an aid worker, you're going to get shot because you're at the top of the target list.

ANIA: It's horrible. Just listening to this, you know, it's very hard to'...

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, imagine how I used to feel sitting in meetings and all of this was just said as if this is part of a game and this is how we're planning it all out. All of this was what was discussed. How do we do evil? I mean, this'...

ANIA: Yeah, but those are not humans to me. They are not humans to me.

MICHAEL HUDSON: That's right.

ANIA: Soulless beings that are not humans. That's all I say here.

Professor Hudson, next question is about those Israeli developers who, as you said in your email, are already planning to turn Gaza into luxury beachfront properties. So what do you really know about this? They are already planning this? Like they have plans for those properties?

MICHAEL HUDSON: The Americans made a start. They began by building docks. You not only want beachfront property, you want docks for the buyers to have a place to tie up their yachts or their sailboats.

And so the United States is building these piers. One reason it's doing it is it can pretend that it can say, we're not building the piers for Israeli property owners to have yachts, we're going to deliver food. But by the time we finish building the piers, there'll be no more Gazans. I mean, that's the whole point. By building the piers, they've enabled Israel to prevent the food trucks from coming in from the south. So building the piers is a means of pretending to help without doing anything at all to help actually [deliver] food to Israel.

So yes, all throughout the news, there have been statements by the Israeli real estate companies saying, Gaza could have been a nice place to live if there weren't Arabs in it. And now if we can clear the land of Arabs, make it a land without those people, then this is a wonderful property. And it has natural gas to help the Israeli balance of payments. So the whole idea is to make this a center of Israel luxury development.

ANIA: Again, absolutely disgusting to me, just listening to this. I want to ask you now about, were Gaza [to cease] to exist completely, what will happen to all the Palestinians who survived?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, the land is going to be there, and it'll be beachfront property. Alastair Crooke has been, I think, the clearest writer. He was one of the negotiators between Israel and the Palestinians. He's explained that there cannot be a two-state solution anymore.

The Israelis say, we are going to kill all of the Palestinians. The Palestinians say, well, we can't exist with the Israelis, and we have to defend ourselves. If we don't kill them, they're going to kill us. So Israel has to be either Palestinian or Israeli. It can't be both. That is ended forever. So anyone who talks of a two-state solution, they're just not looking it up.

So the question is, how is Gaza going to exist? Either it's going to be all Israeli, and the Gazans will be forced to flee. The Israelis want them to flee by boats and to be sunk, most of them will be sunk in the Mediterranean, just like after America and France destroyed Libya. The Libyans tried to flee in boats, and they were sunk.

So either they will drown, or they will somehow work their way into a prison camp that Egypt and its leader is setting up for Gazan refugees. And then the Gazans will somehow try to gain entry into Europe or other countries. So you can expect a huge influx of Gazans into Europe.

Some people have suggested, well, now that Ukraine is turning into a land without a people, maybe either the Gazans can turn Ukraine over to the Palestinians, or we could give it to the Israelis, saying, well, this is your ancestral land, this is where all of the pogroms that started Zionism began. Now you can go back and there are no more Ukrainians. They have programs against you. Maybe the Israelis should go to Ukraine. One population or the other has to emigrate.

Well, Israelis already have been losing a huge chunk of their population, especially their working age population, especially those who have jobs in information technology or highly paying jobs. So, you're already seeing a population outflow.

So, Gaza will exist geographically, but we have no idea about what is going to be the demographic composition.

And I think the Israeli Defense Forces Chief, Herzi Halevi, said just last Sunday that Israel, he announced Israel knows how to handle Iran, just as they're handling Gaza, that they've prepared for this. They have good defensive systems. And he said, we are operating and cooperating with the USA and strategic problems partners in this region. So, the US is going to be putting pressure on Egypt to expand the concentration camps that it's setting up and to pressure the Europeans. Maybe so many Germans are leaving their country now that there's no more work for them. Maybe the Palestinians will go to Germany and other European countries, and wherever they can find some kind of refuge.

America was willing to give the Jewish population refuge as long as the Jewish population served European imperialist aims of controlling the Near Eastern oil. But what can Palestine offer to be protected? If the Palestinians don't have anything to offer the Europeans or the Americans, their governments simply do not care. They've done absolutely nothing to protect the Palestinians because they don't care if there's no money in it for them. And the Arab countries with money, the Saudi Arabians, the United Arab Republics have not really lifted a hand to help this. Even though a large labor force in Saudi Arabia is already Palestinian, they don't need more Palestinians there. So, that's basically what's happening.

ANIA: Thank you, Professor Hudson. You know, before I ask you my last question, you know, people's beliefs that the governments care about them. This is the most'... I don't understand how people can still believe that any government really cares about them in the world, looking at the situation like this. It's heartbreaking. Just listening to what you said is a lot for me to take in.

The last question is when the bombing will stop and who is going to rebuild Gaza Strip?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, the bombing will stop when there are no more Palestinians to bomb. Israel doesn't have the money to rebuild it or the intention of rebuilding. And even if Israel wants to rebuild it with nice homes all the way to the beachfront, who is going to do the building?

Well, already Israel has made a deal with India to get a lot of Indian construction workers from the poorest provinces of India coming over there. But again, who's going to pay them? You can give them work permits, but the answer is who will pay them will be the contractors who are given the contracts to rebuild homes and offices and the new Israeli compound in Gaza, unless the world works and says, no, the Israelis have to give back all the land and it's Israel that will be a minority under a Palestinian government.

You cannot have an Israeli government that is over the whole region because its policy is to kill the Palestinians. So I don't see that, again, you can't have a two-state solution. It doesn't look like anyone's supporting the Palestinians right now.

Who would help rebuild it? Well, the Turkish builders might come in and build it. Other Middle Easterners would rebuild it. Saudi Arabia could finance huge developments there. The United Arab Republics could buy land. American investors, maybe Blackstone could help develop there, but it'll be foreign investment.

And if you look at the fact that the foreign investors of all these countries are looking for what they can get out of the genocide against Palestinians, you realize why there's no real opposition to the genocide that's taking place.

And the great benefit to the U.S. of all this is that as a result of this absence of any kind of the moral feeling that you've just expressed, no claims can be brought against the United States for any of the warfare, any of the regime change, interference that it's planning for Iran, China, Russia, and as it's been doing in Africa and Latin America. So Israel and Gaza and the West Bank should be seen, I think, as an opening of the new Cold War. And whatever you see happening in Gaza after the Gazans are driven out, you see this is really the plan for what the United States wants to do in China, in Russia, in Africa, in the whole rest of the world. You're seeing a plan for basically how to financialize and make money out of genocide and the destruction of society. And in order to do that, you have to prevent anything like the United Nations of having any authority at all.

And the irony in all this is that the United States is creating just the opposite of what it wanted to do. I mean, obviously, while this is happening in Gaza, most of the global majority that we've spoken before, the world outside of NATO, America and Europe, are appalled. And the only way of stopping what's happening in Gaza happening in the rest of the world is to create an alternative to the United Nations, an alternative to the World Bank, to the IMF, an alternative to all the organizations that the United States has controlled to turn the whole rest of the world into Gaza, if it can.

ANIA: Dr. Hudson, Professor Hudson, I want to thank you for coming back. I want to thank you for telling me after our last live stream to address this, because you shared it with me and with the audience. And I really hope that you will spread this video, guys, you will share it.

So I personally believe that we are fighting evil. And the way that I feel I am in a small way contributing to this is to trying to seek the truth and bring people who have knowledge and understanding and can share the facts and the truth with the world. Because if you don't know what you're fighting against, what you're fighting with, then you're like Don Quixote. You have to know what is the problem. And I am immensely grateful for guests like yourself to be on my channel and to share your knowledge with the audience. I can only imagine knowing all of this, what you shared with us today, living with this for so many years and watching the [unfolding] of those events in the world. For someone who has feelings and emotions, it's very hard to bear. I can only imagine. So thank you for your contribution.

MICHAEL HUDSON: I'm on your show, Ania, because you see that this is evil, and it is evil.

ANIA: Yes. Thank you so much. I know you have to go. And I want to invite you again, of course, in the near future. Hopefully, you find time for our next conversation. To everyone who's watching, make sure to check all the links to Professor Hudson that are already attached down below this live stream. And like I said, please share the video. Hit this like. It's free of charge, and it helps the channel also. And more people can hear this information in the world. Thank you, everyone. And until next time.

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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 21:00

Littleton's new water treatment plant is not, shall we say, a head-turning architectural marvel. It's a large, unadorned brick building resembling a fieldhouse. Or perhaps an overgrown shed.

But when Nick Lawler looks at it, he beams.

"A thing of beauty!" Lawler, the general manager of the Littleton Electric Light and Water Departments, said. "It's not the outside that matters '-- it's what's inside."

What's inside is a $16 million, state-of-the-art plant designed to treat Littleton's drinking water for the toxic chemicals known as "PFAS." The so-called "forever chemicals" have contaminated drinking water supplies across Massachusetts, and there's no easy or cheap way to remove them.

For a town with only 10,000 residents, $16 million was a big price tag: the utility's annual water budget is usually around $4 million. And with more regulations expected soon, the price of clean drinking water in the state is about to get a lot higher.

Lawler's colleague, Water and Sewer Superintendent Corey Godfrey, stepped into the cavernous plant to point out four 24-foot-tall steel tanks '-- "filter vessels" that will remove PFAS from the water. They dwarfed the other tanks in the room.

"They go down into the basement," Godfrey said, peering down a still-unfinished hole. He said each tank will be filled with 20 tons of activated charcoal. "That's the carbon you need to remove the amount of PFAS we have."

Water & Sewer Superintendent Corey Godfrey and General Manager Nick Lawler, of Littleton Electric Light and Water Department, in the new water treatment facility. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Littleton isn't the only town spending millions to clean up the chemicals. Barnstable has so far invested $27 million to deal with PFAS, for example; and Cambridge recently spent $8.5 million to temporarily switch water supplies while changing its PFAS filters.

But the PFAS costs for Massachusetts communities may just be beginning. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to release its own, potentially stricter, rules in March. These new regulations could cause the price of clean drinking water in the state to soar.

"Substantial investments have been made in Massachusetts to the tune of $100 million-plus already," said Jennifer Pederson, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association, an industry group. "I'm hoping everyone supports clean drinking water, but we know that at times when it comes up for town meeting votes, it's been a challenge to get people to understand that they have to pay that true cost of water."

A drop of water in a swimming pool

In 2020, Massachusetts set a limit on the amount of PFAS in public drinking water. The state limit is one of the strictest in the country: 20 parts per trillion for the sum of six PFAS chemicals. That's like a drop of water in a swimming pool.

"All the other drinking water standards for all the other chemicals are in the concentration range of parts per billion or parts per million. ...That gives you a sense of really how toxic these chemicals are," said Wendy Heiger-Bernays, a toxicologist at the Boston University School of Public Health.

"That gives you a sense of really how toxic these chemicals are."

Wendy Heiger-BernaysPFAS chemicals were invented in the early 20th century. Because they have useful properties, companies have used them in thousands of products, from food packaging to waterproof jackets to firefighting foam. Over time the chemicals wash or flake or crumble off these products into landfills, soil, water, air and human bodies.

PFAS molecules don't break down easily, hence the "forever chemical" nickname. And because they are so pervasive, they may as well be called "everywhere chemicals," too. In Massachusetts, they're widespread in ground and surface waters, rivers and even Cape Cod ponds. Studies estimate that 98% of Americans have detectable levels of PFAS in their blood.

Heiger-Bernays, an expert on the toxicology of PFAS, advised the state on their drinking water regulations. She said she was satisfied with the rules: "I mean, as a public health professional, I would like to see the most protective approach taken," she said.

But she said she's also a pragmatist, and she acknowledged that getting PFAS levels down to that drop-in-a-pool level is difficult and expensive.

"The cost of doing this is enormous," she said. "I mean, it's absolutely mind-boggling."

Who's paying for PFAS cleanup?

Littleton Electric Light and Water Department workers inside a new water treatment facility that will remove PFAS chemical compounds from the water supply. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Cleaning up PFAS in drinking water is rarely a one-and-done solution. Take Littleton, for instance. When the utility discovered PFAS contamination in its Spectacle Pond reservoir, Lawler considered expanding an existing treatment plant to add PFAS filters. But it turned out to be cheaper to build a $3.2 million pipeline and send the water to the big brick plant under construction, four miles away.

Then there was the water chemistry. Like many Massachusetts towns, Littleton's groundwater is high in iron and manganese, elements that clog up PFAS filters. That's why the new plant has all those giant tanks '-- first they have to filter out the iron, and then the manganese and then, finally, the PFAS. Operating costs at the plant are also higher: the carbon in the PFAS filters has to be swapped out yearly at a cost of $500,000.

The total cost for Littleton's new plant, new pipeline and other PFAS-related expenses now stands at around $30 million, according to Lawler. The utility got some state grants and loan forgiveness to help pay for that. But since there's no obvious source of the PFAS pollution '-- at least not yet '-- there's no one to sue for more money. So the rest of the bill will be passed on to water customers as a 30% rate hike spread over decades.

"It's a strain, especially during these economic times," said Lawler. "People are pulling out everything to try to pay their bills. But they understand. This community's always been willing to pay for clean water."

To date, 170 water systems in the state have found PFAS levels over the legal limit. Almost all have found ways to mitigate the PFAS contamination, either by adding filters, finding a new water supply, or blending the polluted water with another source.

When contamination can be traced to a polluting factory or military base, towns have sometimes been able to recoup some of the cleanup costs. In Hudson, for instance, a manufacturing company that polluted drinking water supplies paid for PFAS filters and bottled water. But the costs of PFAS cleanup proved so high that the town still had to raise water rates multiple times, including, most recently, a 16% rate hike in 2022.

And in some cases, the towns themselves polluted the water, so the costs land back on the taxpayers. In Stow, for instance, an old fire station property has contaminated a handful of private wells with PFAS. So far, the town has spent half a million dollars on bottled water, testing and filters for affected homes. But Stow Town Administrator Denise Dembkoski is concerned the costs of PFAS in her town will keep climbing.

Stow Town Administrator Denise Dembkoski stands in front of the old Stow fire station, the origin of some PFAS contamination in the town center. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)"If they say we have to remediate that site, I couldn't even guess what that would cost," Dembkoski said. "And we have some huge ticket items here in town, including a bridge. We have a dam that has to be replaced. We're about to embark on a new library project. So we'll go through the process and see what the costs are."

'Astronomical' water costs ahead

Soon, the costs of PFAS cleanup in Massachusetts will likely rise.

The Environmental Protection Agency currently does not regulate PFAS in drinking water, but is expected to announce draft regulations in March. The agency has signaled the levels will be very low. Last June, the EPA issued nonbinding health advisories for two PFAS chemicals '-- PFOA and PFOS '-- setting thresholds to near zero.

If the EPA sets national regulations that low, it will likely force Massachusetts to enact stricter regulations here. That means communities across the state that thought they were in the clear will suddenly have PFAS levels above the legal limit.

"If EPA is going to lower that threshold, then you're talking pretty much every city or town in the country is going to have PFAS readings," said Dembkoski. "The costs are just astronomical."

"If EPA is going to lower that threshold, then you're talking pretty much every city or town in the country is going to have PFAS readings. The costs are just astronomical."

Denise DembkoskiEven Littleton, with its brand-new plant, may not be out of the woods. Littleton's water department has a smaller water supply connected to its own treatment plant on the other side of town. The PFAS levels in that water are around 10 parts per trillion, below the state limit. But if the regulations get stricter, that plant will likely need PFAS filters, too.

"Every community is going to have some sort PFAS filtration soon," Lawler said.

The state has already allocated $170 million to PFAS cleanup, and the federal government recently announced it will give Massachusetts $38 million to address emerging contaminants, like PFAS, in drinking water. The state Legislature has proposed creating a new PFAS trust fund, and last year, then-Attorney General Maura Healey sued manufacturers of firefighting foam containing PFAS on behalf of the state. Healey said at the time that she was looking for a settlement ''in the millions.''

But it's doubtful that even millions of dollars will be enough to clean up water pollution this widespread, and in the end, the cost of safe water will be borne by residents.

"Every community is going to have some sort PFAS filtration soon."

Nick LawlerAnd there's another wrinkle, as water industry advocate Jennifer Pederson pointed out: cleaning up drinking water alone won't solve the state's PFAS problem. Drinking water accounts for only part of the general public's PFAS exposure '-- state scientists assume it's about 20%. That means 80% of the PFAS in humans likely comes from other unregulated (or barely regulated) sources, like food, packaging and consumer products.

"This has to be more of an education on where you're getting all of this exposure," Pederson said. "Because we are spending a lot of money to address drinking water."

Many experts say the best solution is to severely restrict the manufacturers' use of PFAS overall. Boston University toxicologist Wendy Heiger-Bernays said maybe the water-cleanup sticker shock will prod the government into action, and perhaps even prevent the next toxic chemical from making it into drinking water.

"I'm hopeful that it's going to result in stricter regulation, and preventing the use of chemicals that have not been adequately tested," Heiger-Bernays said. Then, she laughed. "I'm a dreamer. What can I say?"

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