39 Responses to “ Obama is a two-faced liar. Aw-RIGHT! ”

1. max
   

   And what of the strikes against Pakistan and Afghanistan?? Oh, right. Democrats are all about that type of bullshit.

2. Lynne
   

   Thanks for writing this. I needed the laugh but more importantly I needed to feel better about some of the things Obama has done. I was worried about this guy also.

3. mike
   

   God, it would be nice. I've been worried too since his cabinet picks have been crap. I hope he has the FCC put the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE back in and in such a way that nobody can ever repeal it again. Free trade determining the content of NEWS programs , my ass (I hope he desecrated the hell out of that corpse). Hell, Florida courts have already ruled that the content of (Fox)"news" programs dont have to be true. Come on, lets take this country back.

4. Andrew Larson
   

   I'll have to say, this is a rare time when I disagree with Greg Palast. I believe this plan of Obama's is nothing like the New New Deal we need. It is also filled with billions in tax cuts. They (Democrats) have the white house and both houses of congress and can pass anything they want. I think this latest Palast piece has more to do with entertainment than substance. It sounds like Michael Moore wrote it. I'm a big fan of 99.9% of everything else Greg Palast has written and said. I want Obama to do great things and will be the first to praise him when he does so. Unfortunately, I believe he is a man of his word and not much that I would like to see get done, cutting the military budget and getting medicare for all for example, will happen because be never promised that he would on the campaign trail. Step it up Greg.

5. Mr Dong
   

   Your article was awesome!

6. tom
   

   I'm horrified by this bailout.

   The bank bailout was bad, but what is this going to achieve? Where is the money going to come from? The taxpayers, that's who.

   I don't have healthcare, and I work a lot of hours to run my business which provides jobs... and now I'm going to have to pay for healthcare for the unemployed. It's better than giving money to the banks I guess, but it still doesn't make sense... How long can this go on for before we bankrupt the country? It's not free money; it has to be paid back. Meanwhile, we are sowing the seeds for massive inflation, and the dollar is being set up to collapse.

   As a former Economist, I am surprised that Greg doesn't see this. Paul Krugman is similarly deluded it seems.

   Important point: Most Republicans (two thirds) didn't vote for the bank bailout the first time round... it was the Dems who pushed it through... Not all Republicans are bad and not all Democrats are good... no matter what Greg says.

7. Anonymous
   

   Bravo--Sir!

8. Edger
   

   Great piece, Greg! Although I kind of liked the [http://www.docudharma.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11736#196731 first picture you posted] with it:

9. Ann
   

   Amen brother. Hold on to your hat bub!

   xoxoxo

   From the Windy City (and they weren't discussing velocity of air currents!)

   Ann

10. Sean Tilley
    

    I honestly can't tell whether you're satirically pretending to be a Republican, or you're satirically pretending to be a Democrat. It was a somewhat funny article, but you seem to make such rash generalizations without really backing anything up with solid, hard facts. If you're a satirist, that's fine. But, if you're a journalist and wrote this seriously, I think I have every reason to doubt the quality of your work.

11. Bill
    

    Great article!

12. paul of the clue-by-four
    

    Not one single Republican congressman voted for the bill. And that means that Obama didn't compromise

    Sadly, he DID compromise - putting in a ton of tax cuts and redlining programs to please the Republicans - he just got bupkes for it.

    On balance, it's good that he got through what he did, I just wished he'd gone for the Full Monty, since the Rs were just going to take their balls and go home...

13. Matt
    

    'Obama Gathering a Flock of Hawks to Oversee U.S. Foreign Policy' by Stephen Zunes:

    http://www.alternet.org/audits/123508/obama_gathering_a_flock_of_hawks_to_oversee_u.s._foreign_policy_/

14. Tritium
    

    Can you name a part of the package that stimulates the economy? Usually when something breaks, it's best to fix it before you use it again. Where are the rules that prevent a company from borrowing from the Federal Reserve to make investments based on insider trading? It was things like these, along with lying to mislead a speculative market in order to have enough money for day to day operations. Why isn't priority given to fix the fraudulent activities within banks and wall street? Probably because bipartisanship leads to shabby campaign contributions for both party and person. Perhaps each party represented in Congress should have a total of 1 vote for all party members. Wouldn't this be more democratic?

15. Father Paul Mayer
    

    Dear Greg,
    A great column from one of my favorite social observers.
    But what about Afghanistan & Pakistan? Bill Moyers, one of my other heros, had a soul chilling program on this bloody part of the planet
    on Fri. Jan 30. I fear that Obama is going to sabotage his promising
    economic & environmental program both politically, economically & morally. I would value your commentary.
    Fr. Paul
    PS I had a relevant column on Huffington Post on Dec. 28 " Lessons from Mumbai For Our New President-Elect"

16. Louis Proyect
    

    I would pay less attention to what Rush Limbaugh says about Obama than I would to Paul Krugman.

17. Kelly Rae
    

    Personally, B.O.'s siding with the Middle East Muslims reinstates his middle name and tendencies. Could it be that these are the same Middle Eastern countries that pumped in millions to B.O.'s campaign and now, payback time for B. Hussein Obama? Or, what about the estimated $5M in the "Stimulus Package" for notorious ACORN? Ah, great to be an American taxpayer to fork over for B.O.'s paybacks as well as Democrats' earnmarks. Allah be praised. Praise Pelosi. Bow to Reid. Squeeze tax dollars out of USA taxpaying citizens for all, particularly those not paying the same.

18. Al Harris
    

    Great article Greg! I'm hopeful that you are correct that all this noise about bipartisanship is a smokescreen. After all, we have voted to end the failed supply-side trickle-down economic policies that have been destroying the middle class for the past 28 years (or at least that's why I voted). The fewer conservative ideas the better! We have a lot of work to do to restore the middle class that was created under Roosevelt and prospered through the 50's, 60's and 70's. Strong unions and union membership built the middle class. That's why it's vital that the Employee Free Choice Act be passed quickly. Since Reagan declared war on unions and the middle class, things have been going down hill for the common worker. We've mortgaged and borrowed as much as we could to keep up with inflation, and it's finally reached the point where we can't purchase anything any more. My hope is to see the President take the lead in restoring the middle class by strictly enforcing labor laws and mandating much higher minimum wages. Only when the middle class is earning wages they can live on, and have a surplus with which to purchase new cars, new homes, etc. will our economy turn around. Universal health-care on the European model is also essential if our businesses are to compete on a level playing field with our competitors around the world. Having health-care separate from our employers will also provide more worker freedom to leave a bad employer without risking the health of our families. Finally, the various "free-trade" agreements that have rewarded American companies for firing American workers and employing workers in third world nations have to go! Republicans try to call trade tariffs "protectionism" and make it an evil word, but they seem to forget that what tariffs protect are American jobs. I will remain hopeful, but I will also be watching to see whether the President's rhetoric matches his actions.

19. amy grace
    

    Palast, you're such a babe Keep it coming!

20. m. zingale
    

    Well Mr.Greg, I appreciate your delivery seasoned with humor; keeps a partial smile on my face when my anger arises at the "political-go'in-on's"....I guess I'll have a full tooth grin when/if B.H.OBama Federalizes the Fed.

    What are the chances of me smil'in again?That said,Ihad such high hopes for Mr.Spitzer.

21. gwasintown
    

    The article has little to do with journalism. Greg merely shows that he's got his hopes up based on the contents of Obama's stimulus package but I'm afraid he draws a premature conclusion, and he himself notes that he isn't totally convinced yet.

    As others mentioned, the money has got to come from somewhere, and if it's not coming from the Defense budget I'm afraid it's again going to be money created out of thin air which will eventually only make things worse as inflation will sky rocket and we'll possibly end up in a post-WWII Germany situation.

    Use your own imagination what would be likely to happen next.

22. gwasintown
    

    Correction:"post-WWII" should be "pre-WWII". Please edit, thank you.

23. University Professor
    

    You remind me of a caveman trying to take down a giant sloth with spitballs. You are outclassed, outmatched and outwitted. Learn to make money some other way because come 2012 you will be out of material and readers. I cannot stomach intellectual "one-noters" who try to pass off a symphony as a boring stretch of the same old note by changing the key. Obama is not Bush. Get off his back and get a life. In case you don not get it, read his last speech. Obama's Lincoln Day Speech:

    It is wonderful to be back in Springfield, the city where I got my start in elected office, where I served for nearly a decade, and where I launched my candidacy for President two years ago, this week – on the steps of the Old State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln served and prepared for the presidency.

    It was here, nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, that the man whose life we are celebrating today bid farewell to this city he had come to call his own. On a platform at a train station not far from where we’re gathered, Lincoln turned to the crowd that had come to see him off, and said, “To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything.”

    Being here tonight, surrounded by all of you, I share his sentiments.

    But looking out at this room, full of so many who did so much for me, I’m also reminded of what Lincoln once said to a favor-seeker who claimed it was his efforts that made the difference in the election. Lincoln asked him, “So you think you made me President?” “Yes,” the man replied, “under Providence, I think I did.” “Well,” said Lincoln, “it’s a pretty mess you’ve got me into. But I forgive you.”

    Marking the bicentennial of our 16th President’s birth is a humbling task for any sitting president – humbling for me in particular, I think, for this singular figure in so many ways made my own story possible.

    Here in Springfield, it is easier, perhaps, to reflect on Lincoln the man rather than the marble giant, a time before Gettysburg and Antietam, Fredericksburg and Bull Run, before emancipation was proclaimed and the captives were set free. In 1854, Lincoln was simply a Springfield lawyer, who’d served just a single term in Congress. Possibly in his law office, his feet on a cluttered desk, his sons playing around him, his clothes a bit too small to fit his uncommon frame, he waited for news that he had been appointed Secretary of Commerce (much laughter).

    All kidding aside, on that day Lincoln put some thoughts on paper, for what purpose we do not know: “The legitimate object of government,” he wrote, “is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, by themselves.”

    To do for the people what needs to be done but which they cannot do on their own. It is a simple statement. But it answers a central question of Abraham Lincoln’s life. Why did he land on the side of union? What was it that made him so unrelenting in pursuit of victory that he was willing to test the Constitution he ultimately preserved? What was it that led this man to give his last full measure of devotion so that our nation might endure as a united country?

    These are not easy questions to answer, and I cannot know if I am right. But I suspect that his devotion to union came not from a belief that government always had the answer. It came not from a failure to understand individual rights and responsibilities. This rugged rail-splitter, born in a log cabin of pioneer stock; who cleared a path through the woods as a boy; who lost a mother and a sister to the rigors of frontier life; who taught himself all he knew – this man, our first Republican President, realized, better than anyone, what it meant to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. He understood that strain of personal liberty and self-reliance and the necessity of government at the heart of the American experience.

    But he also understood something else. He recognized that while each of us must do our part, work as hard as we can, and be as responsible as we can – in the end, there are certain things we cannot do on our own. There are certain things we can only do together. There are certain things only a united nation can do. The sum of individual people in unity is greater than their separate efforts.

    Only a union could harness the courage of our pioneers to settle the American west, which is why he passed a Homestead Act giving a tract of land to anyone seeking a stake in our growing economy.

    Only a union could foster the ingenuity of our farmers, which is why he set up land-grant colleges that taught them how to make the most of their land while giving their children an education that let them dream the American dream.

    Only a union could speed our expansion and connect our coasts with a transcontinental railroad, and so, even in the midst of civil war, he built one. He fueled new enterprises with a national currency that spurred innovation and ignited America’s imagination with a national academy of sciences, believing we must, as he put it, add “the fuel of interest to the fire of genius in the discovery…of new and useful things.” And on this day, that is also the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth, let us renew that commitment to science and innovation once more

    Only a union could serve the hopes of every citizen – to knock down the barriers to opportunity and give each and every person the chance to pursue the American dream. Lincoln understood what Washington understood when he led farmers, craftsmen, and shopkeepers to rise up against an empire. What Roosevelt understood when he lifted us from Depression, built an arsenal of democracy, and created the largest middle-class in history with the GI Bill. It’s what Kennedy understood when he sent us to the moon.

    All these presidents recognized that America is – and always has been – more than a band of thirteen colonies, more than a bunch of Yankees and Confederates, more than a collection of Red States and Blue States. We are the United States of America and there isn’t any dream beyond our reach, any obstacle that can stand in our way, when we recognize that our individual liberty is served, not negated, by a recognition of the common good through constructive bipartisanship and intelligent dialogue unfettered by blind tradition, ideology and religious belief.

    That is the spirit we are called to show once more. The challenges we face are very different now. Two wars, and an economic crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime. Jobs have been lost. Pensions are gone. Families’ dreams have been endangered. Health care costs are exploding. Schools are falling short. And we have an energy crisis that is hampering our economy, threatening our planet, and enriching our adversaries.

    And yet, while our challenges may be new, they did not come about overnight. Ultimately, they result from a failure to meet the test that Lincoln set before us a long time ago. To be sure, there have been times in our history when our government has misjudged what we can do by individual effort alone, and what we can only do together; when it has done things that people can – or should – do for themselves. Our welfare system, for example, too often dampened individual initiative, discouraging people from taking responsibility for their own upward mobility. With respect to education, we have all too frequently lost sight of the role of parents, rather than government, in cultivating a thirst for knowledge and instilling those qualities of a good character – hard work, discipline, and integrity – that are so important to educational achievement and professional success.

    But in recent years, we’ve seen the pendulum swing too far in the opposite direction, a misinformed movement against the brand of government designed by the Founding Fathers. It’s a philosophy that says every problem can be solved if only government would step out of the way; that if government were just dismantled, privatized, divvied up into tax breaks handed out to the wealthiest among us, it would somehow benefit us all. Such pernicious, knee-jerk disdain for government – this constant rejection of any common endeavor that includes all classes – cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges. It cannot refurbish our schools or modernize our health care system; lead to the next medical discovery or yield the research and technology that will spark a clean energy economy. We have learned this lesson the hard way. The ideology has brought the nation to its knees. We have reaped the bitter harvest of the seeds first planted in the 1980s and nurtured through 2008 by a minority of Americans who mislead the voters and the media and remained in power by dividing the people into separate and competing special interests.

    Only a united nation can do great things. Only by coming together, all of us, and expressing that sense of shared sacrifice and responsibility – for ourselves and one another – can we do the work that must be done in this country. That is the very definition of being American. In the USA we are indeed our brothers' keepers, as every religious on earth teaches in one form or another.

    It is only by rebuilding our economy and fostering the conditions of growth that willing workers can find a job, companies can find capital, and the entrepreneurial spirit that is the key to our competitiveness can flourish. It is only by unleashing the potential of alternative fuels that we will lower our energy bills and raise our industries’ sights, make our nation safer and our planet cleaner. It is only by remaking our schools for the 21st century that our children will get those good jobs so they can make of their lives what they will. It is only by coming together to do what people need done that we will, in Lincoln’s words, “lift artificial weights from all shoulders [and give] all people an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

    That is what is required of us – now and in the years ahead.

    We will be remembered for what we choose to make of this moment of challenge. And when posterity looks back on our time, as we are looking back on Lincoln’s, I do not want it said that we saw an economic crisis, but did not stem it. That we saw our schools decline and our bridges crumble, but did not rebuild them. That the world changed in the 21st century, but America did not lead it. That we were consumed with small things when we were called to do great things. Instead, let them say that this generation – our generation – of Americans rose to the moment and gave America a new birth of freedom and opportunity in our time.

    These are trying days and they will grow tougher in the months to come. There will be moments when our doubts rise and our hopes recede. But let’s always remember that we, as a united people, have been here before. There were times when our revolution itself seemed altogether improbable, when the union was all but lost, and fascism seemed set to prevail. And yet, what earlier generations discovered – what we must rediscover right now – is that it is precisely when we are in the deepest valley, precisely when the climb is steepest, that Americans relearn how to take the mountaintop. But we must do it together, as one nation with liberty, justice and opportunity for all. United is how we will beat back our present dangers. United is how we will surpass what trials may come. United is how we will do what Lincoln called on us to do, and “nobly save…the last best hope of earth.”

    This is my message and this will be the definition of my presidency - - unity foremost and uttermost. Why? Because this country is the United States of America. We are one people and one nation called to the common good for all people. E Pluribus Unum - - out of many one. Therefore, in honor of Abraham Lincoln, let us return to the lubricant that makes Democracy work. Let us return to honor, duty, integrity and civility in our dealings with one another. Let us start by putting the emphasis where it belongs - - intelligent deliberation and sincere labor with only one goal. I am speaking about solving the peoples' problems in such a way to serve the all people all the time - - rich and poor, white collar and blue collar, churchgoer or secularist, male and female, single and married, minority or white, straight or gay, Republican or Democrat.

    Today, we take up issue put to the people by Lincoln near the end of the war. Can we survive the test to see whether this nation conceived in liberty for all can endure? Or shall we continued to fight small civil wars of one type or another among us over things that do not matter to the nation as a whole? Let us, as Lincoln asked, "highly resolve that this nation under God will have a new birth of freedom - - and that government of the people, by the people and for the people will not parish from the earth."

    Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless America.

24. Rob
    

    Greg, talk to Alex Jones ASAP regarding Obama.
    He'll set you straight. This guy is absolute poison.

25. J
    

    really? chicago mafia-style government is the promised land? oy vey!

26. Mark Blackney
    

    "Obama is a Two-Faced Liar. Aw-RIGHT!...It was my poor attempt at irony..."

    Ah, too bad. For a moment I thought you had discovered principles and truth.

27. YogiFish
    

    Keep up the pressure

28. Avenger 1
    

    With each passing day, Obama shows reveals more of what and who he really is. That so-called tax cut for 95% of American families. Fair warning...don't go spending that extra $13. The tax tables are changing except for the increases to the higher income brackets. Taxes aren't being reduced for ANYONE. That $13 is a loan, nothing more. Maybe if you can rack up enough credits and deductions, you'll be in the clear come tax time next year. But most people could end up owing money they never anticipated instead of getting a refund. The math doesn't lie. But Obama does. By the way...America didn't invent the automobile. Henry Ford just popularized it and revamped the way it was manufactured. Mr. Obama (I refuse to address him as President) needs to take a course in remedial American history. Must be his Muslim upbringing that confused him. Dumbass. Oh, but what a great speaker. Open mouth, insert foot. The Obama Plan. This country is screwed. To those of you who voted for him, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
    You've sunk us all.

29. Avocado
    

    What?
    Greg you have seriously misread this.
    Bam is the man?
    Whoa!
    He is hte man for Wall Street and for War.

    Read this for a clearer understanding;
    http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22142.htm

    Wakey wakey Buddy.

30. Cindy Francois
    

    Dear Greg,
    Bush is gone!!! FINALLY!!!!! Come back to the USA and meet with Barack Obama in person. He will listen to you and support your investigative
    reporting. Also contact Michael Moore to get the truth out to all Americans in a new documentary! Oprah's show would also be a terrific way to get your message out. We NEED you! Please help all Americans hear the truth! Thanks for all you do!
    Ciny Francois

31. Mike
    

    If you actually wanted change, agree with it or not this spending bill is F'in different. The results may be a american peso or a crucial long term investment in our country, only time will tell. Greg, keep exposing the money trails man, and keep the joyous irony to a minimum.(It just seems wrong)

32. Maya
    

    I am dissappointed at the government as a whole... because I think they just protect their industries behind them... how is possible that Timothy Geither was able to be elected to secreatry of treasury..( if any regular American do not pay taxes, we know would be in jail... and did not go to jail and pay penalties for the taxes and how is possible that Hillary is the secretary of state, after all the money from other countries to her husband foundation...the bail out is a new name to steal money for benefit their industries... and most of the people I know who bought houses... they know they could not afford their houses adn they did not care... now they are hoping to be bailed out... so this county is about the money as any other country.. and presidents, and most congressmen and others, they get the vote of the people, but they represent their own interest... and they are really forgetting why our founding fathers fought for....they want a republic not a democracy...

33. AWG
    

    Obama is destroying the country and creating the largest political divide in America since the 1860's and this is the great uniter? This is your idea of change? All I can say is his iron handed handling of the country will put the GOP back in charge in 2010.
    You can not spend your way out of debt, it's insane.

34. cinderella
    

    Palast you and the idots FEEL as you do will soon feel the weight of the chains of tyranny: your celebration is premature. This fraud [not even qualified as a NON CITIZEN] has an agenda you morons refuse to acknowledge which will 'change' this country beyond recognition.You bunch of ballless, limp-wristed sissies make this grandmother want to vomit.

35. Robbrian
    

    Greg,

    I look forward to all of your articles, videos, etc.

    Have you ever looked into the fundamental reason why this nation and many, many others can't provide for the "Commons" without incurring extraordinary debt? And this debt dosen't have to happen.

    Check this out.

    President Obama’s Only Way Out of Crushing Infinite Debt

    It's time to cut to the chase on resolving the issue of reducing the burden of public debt in this society. In a Washington Post editorial, "No Laughing Matter," 6/5/2009, the editor wrote, "If government borrowing costs continue to accelerate, they could kill economic growth for years to come." All, with common sense, agree.

    What's the best strategy we can think of to remedy this seemingly obvious and inevitable spiral into the abyss of endless debt? This nation has a “tried and true” solution but not the political will or patriotism to inform Americans that there is indeed a solution. If the American Middle Class knew how money and banking operated in this country they would create a populist revolution overnight. It’s no surprise that the Administration is silent on the issue of how money and banking actually operate to smother real economic and social progress in eternal debt.

    The President's economic advisors have been cravenly disingenuous about the best strategies through which to curb the constant growth in debt and debt service payments. If they’ve told him about all of his options and he has rejected the one that will resolve our descent into debt hell, then he has no claim to being a change agent for this nation. If they did not present all of the alternatives, then they have obviously violated their oath of office because they do not serve the President or the Nation.

    What Does The President Know About Debt Free Currency?

    So far his economic team has demonstrated its adherence to and reliance on conventional wisdom. As we have seen it is more of the same "drip-drip-drip" water torture used over the past, nearly, 100 years. They only reiterate the mantra, legislate tax hikes and belt tightening reductions in social programs.” At the same time, create trillions of dollars in new debt by bailing out institutions that have failed and should have been placed into receivership. There just is no validity to the mantra “…they are too big to fail because if they do the entire financial system will come crashing down.”

    The remedy for their dissolution would have been to issue new money to hundreds of new smaller banks and financial firms, rather than rescue the failed banks and financial houses which then would give them free reign to continue with “business as usual” knowing that when they fail, the government will just bail them out again.

    However, reviving these failed institutions was to be expected given their recent history, particularly, the two major recipients of TARP tax dollars. Citibank became insolvent in 1989 and was quietly bailed out with the help of the Federal Reserve, and JP Morgan Chase (JPM) followed suit in 2002. These are the two largest banks in America. Both were overexposed in guess where, the derivatives market. What should happen is that banking institutions supported by taxpayer money can and should be made public institutions operated for the benefit of the taxpayer.

    One of many fundamental problems with America’s monetary system is the absence of effective oversight of banks and the Federal Reserve System. Over the past ten years the tiny Office of Thrift Supervision was selected by over fifty of the country's largest banks including global insurer AIG, to be their regulator. That’s right the banks get to choose who regulates them because the banks have to pay the regulators. OTS regulators then surreptitiously, disavow any real intent to regulate, thus currying favor with the banks which earns OTS lots of income. Because all banks want to keep the regulators out, and as long as the regulators go along to get along, everyone smiles all the way to the bank.

    The Experts Agree, Speak Out, and Only Some Are Punished

    But I digress. Who really cares about the ineffective regulation of banks? Americans don’t understand how and why banks function as they do. Well, let’s see how the following grabs you!

    “…international bankers have succeeded in doing more than just controlling the money supply. Today they actually create the money supply, while making it appear to be created by government. This devious scheme was revealed by Sir Josiah Stamp, Director of the Bank of England and the second richest man in Britain in the 1920s. Speaking at the University of Texas in 1927, he dropped this bombshell:

    “The modern banking system manufacture’s money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in inequity and born in sin….Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them but leave them the power to create money, and, with a flick of a pen, they create enough money to buy it back again….Take this great power away from them and all great fortunes like mine disappear, for then this would be a better and happier world to live in… But, if you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit.””¹

    “Professor Henry C. K. Liu is an economist who graduated from Harvard and chaired a graduate department at UCLA before becoming an investment adviser for developing countries. He calls the current monetary scheme a “cruel hoax.” When we (Americans)
    wake up to that fact, he says, our entire economic world view will need to be reordered, “just as physics was subject to reordering when man’s world view changed with the realization that the earth is not stationary nor is it the center of the universe.”²

    The hoax is that there is virtually no “real” money in the system, only debts. Except for coins, which are issued by the government and makes up only about one one-thousandth of the money supply, the entire U.S. money supply now consists of debt to private banks, for money they created with accounting entries on their books. It is all done by sleight of hand; and like a magician’s trick, we have to see it many times before we realize what is going on. But when we do, it changes everything. All of history has to be rewritten.”³

    “At one time, the right to issue money was the sovereign right of the king; but that right got usurped by private moneylenders. Today the sovereigns are the people, and the coins that make up less than one one-hundredth of the money supply are all that are left of our sovereign money. Many nations have successfully issued their money, at least for a time; but the bankers’ debt-money has generally infiltrated the system and taken over in the end. These concepts are so foreign to what we have been taught that it can be hard to wrap our minds around them, but the facts have been substantiated by many reliable authorities. To add a few more –

    Robert H. Hemphill, Credit Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, wrote in 1934:

    “We are completely dependent on commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash and credit. If the Banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon.”4

    Graham Towers, governor of the Bank of Canada from 1935 to 1955, acknowledged:

    Banks create money. That is what they are for…The manufacturing process to make money consists of making an entry in a book. That is all…Each and every time a Bank makes a loan…new Bank credit is created – brand new money.’5

    “Today, Federal Reserve Notes and U.S. dollar loans dominate the economy of the world; but this international currency is not money issued by the American people or their government. It is money created and lent by a private cartel of international bankers, and this cartel has the United States itself hopelessly entangled in a web of debt. By 2006, combined personal, corporate and federal debt in the United States had reached a staggering 44 trillion dollars – four times the collective national income, or $147,312 for every man, woman and child in the country.”6

    “The United States is legally bankrupt, defined in the dictionary as being unable to pay one’s debts, being insolvent, or having liabilities in excess of a reasonable market value of assets held.”7

    “By October 2006, the debt of the U.S. government had hit a breathtaking $8.5 trillion. Local, state and national governments are all so heavily in debt that they have been forced to sell off public assets to satisfy creditors. Crowded schools, crowded roads, and cutbacks in public transportation are eroding the quality of American life. Since state and local governments everywhere, except North Dakota, are in debt, who are they in debt to? The answer is that governments are in debt to private bankers. The “cruel hoax” is that governments are in debt for money created on a computer screen, money these governments could create themselves.”8

    Today the “money” banks use to lend to the American borrower is indeed created by a computer operator who operates a software accounting program to credit and debit the banks accounts. When the Federal Government needs money it must borrow it from the Federal Reserve which charges the government 1%, 2%, 3%, or more, for access to "fiat money.”

    Executive Order 11110 Current Authority to Create Debt Free Currency

    The Fed, could if it was told to do so, issue debt free currency. Or, if elected officials had the courage they could insist that the President use existing authority under Executive Order 11110, to take control of issuing currency and issue U.S. Silver Notes and drive out Federal Reserve Notes. We've been there three times; Colonial Scrip, Lincoln's Greenbacks, and JFK's Silver Notes. And in each instance the bankers bought there way back (through national and state legislators) into the monetary system to ensure that they received their unearned payday from income tax revenue.

    President Kennedy recognized that our financial system was flawed. He planned to eliminate the Federal Reserve's contrived control mechanism on our future. He signed executive order 11110 as a first step.
    Executive Order 11110 issued on June 4, 1963 gave the President the Authority to order the United States Treasury "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." For every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government could introduce a certificate or warehouse receipt to be used as money. This followed IMO the constitution's requirement that the government provide the medium of exchange and it follows the coinage act requirements. Basing the monetary system on silver and not gold was also very important because silver is abundant and very difficult to control.
    Kennedy issued nearly $4.3 billion in U.S. notes and was introducing them into circulation, with a plan to continue until sufficient currency was in circulation to manage the flow of goods and services. The ramifications of this bill are enormous. President Kennedy was on his way to putting the Federal Reserve Bank of New York out of business. When enough of his United States Notes were in circulation he would eliminate the Federal Reserve notes.
    Executive Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level. The government would not have been able to increase debt and this would have curtailed its growth.
    Kennedy was assassinated just five months after installing this EO.
    EO 1110 was never repealed and is still valid. If we had started or continued Kennedy's Plan the debt would be nowhere near the current level, and we would have a financial system that would increase currency levels without increasing the debt and its inflationary interest. We would escape the trap of the irreversible transfer of wealth from the debtors to the lenders giving up all our assets to the Federal Reserve.

    Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to future presidents who would think to eliminate the U.S. debt by eliminating the Federal Reserve's control over the creation of money. Mr. Kennedy challenged the government of money by challenging the two most successful vehicles that have ever been used to drive up debt - war and the creation of money by a privately owned central bank.
    Until, the Treasury, through the authority of the President and the Congress, is authorized to issue debt free currency with which to fund public sector needs we will, as a Nation, be debt slaves to the usurious system called the Federal Reserve, which is neither Federal nor does it hold reserves. It just creates debt, not money, just debt.

    Basic Components and Benefits of a Monetary System Based on Debt Free Currency

    With such a system we could do the following over the next 12-24 months:

    • Monetize the debt,
    • Liquidate debt instruments to eliminate the threat of inflation,
    • Require a 100% reserve for all banks, which eliminates creeping inflation,
    • Develop a national price to cost out public sector programs. GDP/Annual hours worked by labor force,
    • Issue U.S. Dollar Notes, withdraw Federal Reserve Notes
    • Recall all Federal Reserve/Treasury debt instruments,
    • Liquidate those debt instruments upon redemption and never issue them again, and
    • Repeal income and corporate tax laws and regulations since there will no longer be a need for interest payments on debt.

    With a monetary system based on debt free currency every public program with merit can be budgeted and funded without concern for deficits, or inflation. Idle productive assets would be brought back into production. Money supply growth would be based on GDP or population growth rates. This society could:

    • Cross-train displaced workers without fear of creating deficits,
    • Implement universal health care and education.
    • Rehabilitate our infrastructure,
    • Pour millions into cancer and autism research,
    • Finance the deployment of renewal energy technologies,
    • Build a national “smart” grid,
    • Clean up all toxic waste sites,
    • Train thousands of doctors, nurses and medical technicians,
    • Build state of the art hospitals and clinics throughout the nation.

    And much, much more can be achieved, all without incurring one penny of debt or an increase in the rate of currency inflation. For example;

    “Assume that the Federal Reserve had used its new Greenback issuing power to buy back the entire outstanding federal debt, and that it had acquired enough bank branches (either by purchase or by FDIC takeover in receivership) to service the depository and credit needs of the public. What impact would those alterations have on the federal income tax burden? To explore the possibilities, we’ll use U.S. data for FY 2005 (the fiscal year ending September 2005), the last year for which M3 was reported:

    • Total individual income taxes in FY2005 came to $927 billion.

    • Taxpayers paid $352 billion in interest that year on the federal debt. If the debt had been paid off, this interest could have been cut from the national budget, reducing the tax burden by that sum.

    • Total assets in the form of bank credit for all U.S. commercial banks in FY2005 were reported at $7.4 trillion. Assuming an average collective interest rate on bank loans of about 5%, approximately 370 billion dollars were thus paid in interest that year. If roughly half this sum had gone to a newly-formed national banking system – for loans made at the federal funds rate to private lending institutions, interest on credit card debt, loans to small businesses, and so forth – the government could have earned around $185 billion in interest in FY2005.

    • Adding these two adjustments together, the public tax bill might have been reduced by around $537 billion in FY2005.

    • Deducting this sum from $927 billion leaves $390 billion. This is the approximate sum the government would have had to generate in new Greenbacks to eliminate federal income taxes altogether in FY2005.

    • What would adding $390 billion do to the money supply and to consumer prices?

    • In 2005, M3 was $9.7 trillion. Adding $390 billion would have expanded M3 by only 4 percent – Milton Friedman’s models target rate, and far less than the money supply actually grew in 2006. That was the year the Fed quit reporting M3, but the figures have been calculated privately by other sources.

    • Economist John Williams has a website called “Shadow Government Statistics,” which exposes and analyzes the flaws in current U.S. government data and reporting. He states that July 2006, the annual growth in M3 was over 9 percent. We’ve seen that this growth must have come from fiat money created as loans by the Federal Reserve and the banks. Thus if new debt-free Greenbacks had been issued by the Treasury instead, inflation of the money supply could actually have been reduced – from 9 percent to a modest 4 percent – without cutting government programs or adding to a burgeoning federal debt.

    • New Greenbacks in the sum of $390 billion would have been enough to eliminate income taxes, but according to Keynes, the government could have issued quite a bit more than that without significantly inflating prices. He said that if the funds were used to put the unemployed to work making new goods and services, new currency could safely be added up to the point of full employment without creating price inflation. The gross domestic product would increase by the value of newly-made goods and services, keeping supply and demand in balance.”9

    Debt Free Currency for State and Local Governments

    In the interest of preserving a single national currency, state and local governments would not be able to issue new Greenbacks to fund their programs (although they could issue other forms of credit, such as tax credits, for fuel efficiency, etc.). The federal government could offer loans to state and local governments interest-free and these governments could pledge repayment to the federal government in exchange for federally-issued Greenback dollars.

    Relieving state and local governments of the burden of paying interest would give a major boost to local economies. Today local governments often pay more in interest on loans for local projects than they pay for labor and materials. State and local governments are good credit risks and do not need the prod of interest charges to encourage them to make timely payments on their loans. To discourage local officials from borrowing “free: money just to speculate with it, the funds could be earmarked for specific approved purposes, and a strict repayment schedule imposed.

    How would the loans be repaid? The money could come from taxes; but again, a more satisfying solution would be for state and local governments to raise revenue through fee-generating enterprises of various sorts, turning local economies into sort of cooperative profit-generating endeavors implied in the term “Common Wealth.”

    I challenge the print media to have one or more of its economic/ financial writers/editors write a column or two about the efficacy of debt free currency. They can get deep background from E. H. Brown's, "The Web of Debt" or visit http://www.webofdebt.com.

    Robert Bostick
    Robbrian_06@yahoo.com
    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    ¹Quoted in U. Ibrahim-Morrison, et al., “Building Sound Economic Foundations,” Alarm Magazine (May 1995)

    ²Henry C K Liu, “The Global Economy in Transition,” Asia Times (September 16, 2003).

    ³E. H. Brown, “The Web of Debt,” p 2, 2007

    4 Ibid, “The Web of Debt,” p 2-4, 2007

    5 Quoted in “Someone Has to Print the Nation’s Money…So Why Not Our Government?”, Monetary Reform Online, reprinted from Victoria Times Colonist (October 16, 1996).

    6 E. H. Brown, “The Web of Debt”, p. 5

    7 Ibid, p.6

    8 Ibid p. 6

    9 Ibid, p. 428

36. Anonymous
    

    This really helps a lot!!!! Thank you!!!

37. SO AND SO
    

    WELLL... IF GREG IS HANDLING HIS INFORMATION AS HE HANDLES CHAVEZ, THEN I HAVE ALL THE REASONS IN THE WORLD TO KNOW THAT GREG IS JUST SPECULATING AND BRAGGING... AS ALWAYS!!
    NOT RESPECT FOR WHAT HE SEES SO FAR!

38. angela
    

    Just because he did the things you wanted him to do doesn't mean it will turn out well.

    There's absolutely no historical evidence to support the concept that he's economically doing anything right.

    And the military is still getting bigger. I have a very dark feeling about all of this.

39. gaetano
    

    HEY AL HARRIS,just two words for you. "KEEP DREAMING"

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