Michael Krieger

My name is Michael Krieger, and I am the creator and editor of Liberty Blitzkrieg. I'm originally from New York City.

As far as my academic and professional background, I attended college at Duke University where I earned a double major in Economics and Spanish. After completing my studies in 2000, I took a job at Lehman Brothers where I worked with the Oil analyst in the Equity Research Department.  In 2005, I joined Sanford C. Bernstein where I served as the Commodities Analyst on the trading floor. About halfway through my time there, I started to branch out and write opinions on bigger picture "macro" topics that no one else at the firm was covering. These opinion pieces were extremely popular throughout the global investment community, and I traveled around providing advice to some of the largest mutual funds, pension funds and hedge funds in the world.

I loved my job, but as time passed I started to educate myself about how the monetary and financial system functions and what I discovered disgusted me. I no longer felt satisfied working within the industry, and I resigned in January 2010.  At that point, I started a family investment office and continued to write macro pieces on economic, social and geopolitical topics. That summer, I drove cross country for six weeks and ultimately decided to leave the crowded streets of Manhattan for the open spaces of Boulder, Colorado, where I currently reside.

In the years that followed, I gradually recognized that my true passion centers upon writing on issues of significant societal importance given the extremely challenging times we live in. This realization culminated with me losing interest in financial markets and eventually launching this website in early 2012.

If you are interested in a more detailed description, replete with colorful anecdotes, of how I ended up making this bizarre professional transition, take the time to watch the video below.

https//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/DcqMN-FXCIE?rel=0

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

Portrait of the American Oligarchy – The Very Troubling Income and Wealth Trends Since 1989

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One of the primary purposes of Liberty Blitzkrieg is to dispel the myth that America is politically a democracy and economically a free market, and prove that it is in fact a centrally planned oligarchy. If the people were well aware of this and fine with it, that’s one thing, but my contention is that the vast majority of the public is merely buying into the myth. This is why the population is so passive and easily controlled. They simply don’t understand what is happening to them. The proverbial frog slowing boiling to death.

Whenever I note that real median incomes in America haven’t increased for decades, many people have a hard time believing it. Nevertheless, as John Adams famously proclaimed: “facts are stubborn things.” Indeed they are, and an article published today by Bloomberg View provides some disturbingly stubborn facts that must be admitted to and faced. We learn that:

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This is How Hillary Does Business – An Oil Company, Human Rights Abuses in Colombia and the Clinton Foundation

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The details of these financial dealings remain murky, but this much is clear: After millions of dollars were pledged by the oil company to the Clinton Foundation — supplemented by millions more from Giustra himself — Secretary Clinton abruptly changed her position on the controversial U.S.-Colombia trade pact. Having opposed the deal as a bad one for labor rights back when she was a presidential candidate in 2008, she now promoted it, calling it “strongly in the interests of both Colombia and the United States.” The change of heart by Clinton and other Democratic leaders enabled congressional passage of a Colombia trade deal that experts say delivered big benefits to foreign investors like Giustra.

The details of her family’s entanglements in Colombia echo talk that the Clintons have blurred the lines between their private business and philanthropic interests and those of the nation. And Hillary Clinton’s connections to Pacific Rubiales and Giustra intensify recent questions about whether big donations influenced her decisions as secretary of state.

– From the International Business Daily article: As Colombian Oil Money Flowed To Clintons, State Department Took No Action To Prevent Labor Violations

Decades ago, Bill and Hillary Clinton made a conscious decision to prioritize money and power over the struggles of the poor, weak and dispossessed. The key to their success has been the ability to continue to falsely portray that the commitment to the less fortunate is the guiding principle of their lives.

The other day, I wrote about the dangerous myths people tell themselves (see: The Stock Market Myth and How the Japanese Middle Class is on the Precipice Thanks to Abenomics). For most Democrats, the myth of the Clinton family remains an unassailable tale they tell themselves to this very day, despite piles of evidence to the contrary.

As I read more and more about the Clintons in the run up to her 2016 coronation, it has become clear that the Clinton Foundation represents the clever and core vehicle used to funnel ever more money and power to the family, all the while looking charitable. It’s pretty genius actually.

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How NSA Surveillance Was Birthed from the Drug War – The DEA Tracked Billions of Phone Calls Pre 9/11

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The now-discontinued operation, carried out by the DEA’s intelligence arm, was the government’s first known effort to gather data on Americans in bulk, sweeping up records of telephone calls made by millions of U.S. citizens regardless of whether they were suspected of a crime. It was a model for the massive phone surveillance system the NSA launched to identify terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks. That dragnet drew sharp criticism that the government had intruded too deeply into Americans’ privacy after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked it to the news media two years ago.

The similarities between the NSA program and the DEA operation established a decade earlier are striking – too much so to have been a coincidence, people familiar with the programs said. Former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker said, “It’s very hard to see (the DEA operation) as anything other than the precursor” to the NSA’s terrorist surveillance.

The extent of that surveillance alarmed privacy advocates, who questioned its legality. “This was aimed squarely at Americans,” said Mark Rumold, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “That’s very significant from a constitutional perspective.”

Holder halted the data collection in September 2013 amid the fallout from Snowden’s revelations about other surveillance programs.

– From today’s USA Today article: U.S. Secretly Tracked Billions of Calls for Decades

The drug war is something that wouldn’t even exist in a rational, mature and intelligent civilization. Not only is it ineffective, invasive and brutish, but we now know that the almost religious zealousness with which it has been pursued by its proponents has led directly to the current unconstitutional surveillance state. If not for our acquiescence to the “war on drugs,” would the authoritarian statists amongst us have been able to usher in the even more dangerous but similarly endless “war on terror?” Personally, I doubt it.

Oh, and while we’re on the topic of the DEA, let’s not forget the recent scandal: Government Report Finds DEA Agents Had “Sex Parties” With Prostitutes Hired By Drug Cartels

Moving along, today’s excellent article from USA Today is a must read. Here are some excerpts, but I strongly recommend reading the entire thing:

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South Carolina Cop to Be Charged with Murder for Shooting Man 8 Times in the Back as He Ran Away

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The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled. The North Charleston mayor announced the state charges at a news conference Tuesday evening.

The video, which was taken by a bystander and provided to The New York Times by the Scott family’s lawyer, presents a different account. The video begins in the vacant lot, apparently moments after Officer Slager fired his Taser. Wires, which carry the electrical current from the stun gun, appear to be extending from Mr. Scott’s body as the two men tussle and Mr. Scott turns to run.

Something — it is not clear whether it is the stun gun — is either tossed or knocked to the ground behind the two men, and Officer Slager draws his gun, the video shows. When the officer fires, Mr. Scott appears to be 15 to 20 feet away and fleeing. He falls after the last of eight shots.

The officer then runs back toward where the initial scuffle occurred and picks something up off the ground. Moments later, he drops an object near Mr. Scott’s body, the video shows.

– From the New York Times article: South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder in Black Man’s Death

The video at the end of this story is really hard to watch. Not just because we see a police officer gunning down a man as he ran away, but because he repeatedly yells at a dead body to “put his hands behind his back,” and then seemingly plants his taser by the corpse to cover up the crime.

Just like with banker theft, unless people are held accountable with serious jail time, the criminality will not only continue, it will get worse. The rule of law must be restored and applied equally to the rich and powerful, or we are truly doomed as a society.

Coincidentally, this horrific incident came to light on the same day I posted that: U.S. Police Kill More Civilians in March than UK Police Killed in 100 Years.

Now from the New York Times:

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U.S. Police Kill More Civilians in March than UK Police Killed in 100 Years

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The following statistics seem impossible to believe. While I wonder how accurately the UK has been tracking these numbers historically, the enormous spread seems much too large to ignore, and is a national embarrassment that should be dealt with immediately.

From the Free Thought Project:

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The Stock Market Myth and How the Japanese Middle Class is on the Precipice Thanks to Abenomics

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Data back this up. According to labor ministry figures announced April 1, the number of households living on welfare hit a record 1,618,817 in January. This figure has been on the rise for the last two decades.

On the other hand, data also show that the rich became even wealthier under Abe’s tenure.

– From the Japan Times article: Under ‘Abenomics,’ Rich Thrive but Middle Class on Precipice

Although a sizable amount of people globally are now aware of the historic theft being perpetrated on them by the various oligarchies in control of their respective nation-states, the number of people cognizant and angry about it remains far too low relative to the degree of theft. There are many reasons for this, but I believe the most powerful factor is that extremely sophisticated propaganda has convinced the majority of humanity to buy into all sorts of myths about their particular country or tribe, which keeps them complacent, passive and focused on an exaggerated external threat.

While many of these myths are targeted to specific groups or nationalities, the most powerful ones are those that target humanity on a global scale. Of these, one of the most effective has been the stock market. Pretty much everyone is taught, and buys into the idea, that rising stock markets mean rising prosperity and a strong economy. Part of this has to do with the history of the Great Depression, which is primarily associated with crashing equity markets. The idea of a rising stock market equating to a healthy economy and shared prosperity; however, is in fact a myth. A very powerful and dangerous myth at that.

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Political Prisoner Barrett Brown Has Email Access Blocked by the Bureau of Prisons

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I’ve been writing about Barrett Brown for over two years now. The first time I published about his plight was on January 3, 2013 in the post: Barrett Brown: A Jailed American Dissident.

Since Barrett was arrested in September 2012, he has undergone an incredible degree of harassment at the hands of the feds, which are quite frankly not just exacting revenge on him, but also demonstrating how terrified they are of his capability, determination and courage. They want to lock this guy up and throw away the key, which is precisely what they initially tried to do by threatening him with over a century in prison.

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Civil Disobedience in Brooklyn – Artists Mount 4-Foot Tall Bust of Edward Snowden in NYC Park Overnight

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In a creative expression of civil disobedience in New York City, artists installed a large bust of NSA whistleblower hero Edward Snowden in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn.

This was no simple endeavor. The artists told Animal New York that it took the sculptor nearly 6 months to mold and complete the bust. With the weather finally cooperating, it was installed just before dawn today. Several news outlets have covered the story. First, the Washington Post notes that:

Three artists installed a bust of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden in a Brooklyn park early this morning — fusing the sculpture on top of a memorial to Revolutionary War soldiers, according to Animal New York.

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Warren Buffett the Slumlord – Predatory Loans, Kickbacks and Preying on the Poor at Clayton Homes

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The disastrous deal ruined their finances and nearly their marriage. But until informed recently by a reporter, they didn’t realize that the homebuilder (Golden West), the dealer (Oakwood Homes) and the lender (21st Mortgage) were all part of a single company: Clayton Homes, the nation’s biggest homebuilder, which is controlled by its second-richest man — Warren Buffett.

Buffett’s mobile-home empire promises low-income Americans the dream of homeownership. But Clayton relies on predatory sales practices, exorbitant fees, and interest rates that can exceed 15 percent, trapping many buyers in loans they can’t afford and in homes that are almost impossible to sell or refinance, an investigation by The Seattle Times and Center for Public Integrity has found.

Berkshire Hathaway, the investment conglomerate Buffett leads, bought Clayton in 2003 and spent billions building it into the mobile-home industry’s biggest manufacturer and lender. Today, Clayton is a many-headed hydra with companies operating under at least 18 names, constructing nearly half of the industry’s new homes and selling them through its own retailers. It finances more mobile-home purchases than any other lender by a factor of six. It also sells property insurance on them and repossesses them when borrowers fail to pay.

Former dealers said the company encouraged them to steer buyers to finance with Clayton’s own high-interest lenders.

Buyers told of Clayton collection agents urging them to cut back on food and medical care or seek handouts in order to make house payments. 

To maintain its down-to-earth image, Clayton has hired the stars of the reality-TV show “Duck Dynasty” to appear in ads…

– From the excellent Seattle Times article: The Mobile-Home Trap: How a Warren Buffett Empire Preys on the Poor

In so many ways, Warren Buffett and modern America are the same thing. An idea packaged and marketed so brilliantly, most of humanity unquestionably believes the myth. Warren Buffett and the U.S. both sell themselves as encompassing the very best of human qualities; highly successful, extraordinarily intelligent, yet at the same time, extremely ethical. It’s that last part that’s actually most important to the continued power and prestige of both the man and the nation-state. However, when you look beneath the surface, it becomes increasingly clear that neither of them actually come close to what’s printed on the package.

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Poor Jeb Bush – Poll Numbers Plunge in Home State of Florida and Remain Dismal in Ohio and Pennsylvania

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While Hillary Clinton is undoubtably an authoritarian, crony fraud, she can at least say she’s got hapless Democrat party lemmings firmly behind her. Not so for Jeb Bush, a candidate so bad only an oligarch could love him.

What’s been so amusing about his campaign thus far, is the lengths to which big money Republican donors have gone to try to manufacture support and create a likable candidate out of someone with zero grassroots support. The best example of this came about a month ago, and was highlighted in the post, Jeb Bush Forced to Bus Supporters From Washington D.C. to CPAC as Attendees Walk Out On Him. Here’s an excerpt:

It sounds like Jeb Bush’s supporters are taking CPAC pretty seriously this year. Emails provided to Slate show that backers of the former Florida governor are busing supporters from downtown Washington D.C. to CPAC in National Harbor, Maryland, and organizing to get them day passes into the event.

One long-time CPAC insider said these organized efforts impressed him, and that he didn’t know of any other potential 2016 candidates busing backers in. Perhaps that’s because no other potential candidates are worried about the regular crowd turning against them—the Washington Times reports today that some CPAC attendees are planning “to stage an informal protest when he hits the stage.”

Unfortunately for Jeb, busing in supporters doesn’t translate into genuine support. This was recently on full display with the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

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