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

Paralyzed Iraq War Veteran Tomas Young Has Died – Here’s His Final Letter to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney

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Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 11.18.25 AMLast March, I came across a letter written to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from a paralyzed and dying Iraq war vet named Tomas Young. It touched me to such an extent, that I highlighted it on Liberty Blitzkrieg at the time. He died on Monday, the day before Veterans Day. If you really want to honor our nation’s soldiers, you should read the following and share it.

RIP Tomas Young.

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The Full Letter Written by the FBI to Martin Luther King Has Been Revealed

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Screen Shot 2014-11-12 at 3.12.39 PMMartin Luther King, Jr. is one of my personal heroes. Not just because of his outsized contribution to the civil rights movement, but because of his leadership capabilities and emphasis on non-violent civil disobedience. It also goes without saying, that this wasn’t just a great orator with enlightened tactics, he was also a highly intelligent man with a strong sense of history. This is on full display in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which I highlighted in the piece: Martin Luther King: “Everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was Legal.” Here are some of his timeless words.

One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

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Mega Banks Are Fined for Foreign Exchange Rigging – Now It’s Back To “Business as Usual”

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Screen Shot 2014-11-12 at 12.11.39 PMFar from chastening the world’s biggest currency trading firms, the multi-billion dollar fines levied by regulators on Wednesday are more likely to draw a line under the affair and gradually allow a return to business as usual.

A year into a wide-ranging industry probe into charges that banks routinely fleeced clients over currencies, industry observers and politicians were frustrated by a deal they said showed the affair will end just with fines rather than any reform of what they say is the Wild West of financial markets.

– From the Reuters article: Banks pay up and carry on after FX fines

While many readers will have likely already heard about the latest slap on the wrist fine received by the mega banks with regard to FX rigging (which will only encourage more criminality), there are two reasons I want to add my two cents on the topic.

First, it’s an incredible admission of the level of lawlessness that society is willing to put up with, that Reuters so matter-of-factly admits that absolutely nothing will change despite mega banks once again being caught in extraordinarily unethical behavior.

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Ex-NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg on Dodd-Frank: “The Government Should Have Let the Industry Craft the Bill”

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Screen Shot 2014-11-12 at 10.35.10 AMThis week has been the week of the ill advised oligarch quote. It all started quietly enough, with Las Vegas Sands CEO and crony Republican godfather, Sheldon Adelson, expressing his disdain for both journalism and democracy, all in one quaint little conference in which participants debated how quickly and how severely Iran should be bombed into the stone age.

Then we had the architect of Obamacare, the consummate oligarch minion, Jonathan Gruber, admit that the law was deliberately crafted deceptively in order to fool the “stupid” American public.

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Wall Street Journal Reports Obama’s Attorney General Nominee Has Been Involved in $904 Million in Asset Forfeitures

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Screen Shot 2014-11-11 at 3.55.26 PMEarlier today, I posted the most recent piece in a series highlighting the insidious and lawless practice of civil asset forfeiture being abused by police departments and prosecutors across America in the post: Quote of the Day – An Incredible Statement from the City Attorney of Las Cruces, New Mexico. I suggest reading that before checking out the rest of this post.

Considering the fact that civil asset forfeiture has rightly entered the national spotlight as of late, the stance of Obama’s nominee for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, on the matter is extremely important. Particularly if the Wall Street Journal is correct and her office had been aggressive in utilizing this practice to seize funds under her oversight.

The WSJ reports that:

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Tony Blair Gets Paid (Again) – Secret $61,000 per Month Contract with Saudis Revealed

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Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 11.35.49 AMWhile thieving bankers and military-industrial complex executives feeding parasitically off the citizenry is bad enough, there’s really nothing worse than some two-bit, war criminal, faux humanitarian leveraging death and destruction to make a fortune after leaving “public service.” That in a nutshell is the resume of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr. Blair is no stranger to this site. Back in August, I highlighted another one of his philanthropic activities in the post, Letter Reveals Tony Blair Advised Kazakhstan’s President on How to Spin Massacre of Innocent, Unarmed Protesters. Here’s an excerpt:

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Quote of the Day – An Incredible Statement from the City Attorney of Las Cruces, New Mexico

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He describes to a roomful of local officials from across the state how Las Cruces police officers waited outside a bar for a man they hoped would walk out drunk because they “could hardly wait” to get their hands on his 2008 Mercedes, which they then hoped to put up for auction.

“We could be czars,” he tells the room. “We could own the city. We could be in the real estate business.”

– From the NPR article: Police Can Seize And Sell Assets Even When The Owner Broke No Law

The above quotes refer to statements made by Harry S. Connelly, the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., in a video posted over the weekend by the New York Times. His comments refer to the feudal and tyrannical tactic known as civil asset forfeiture, in which police across these United States are allowed to intentionally steal citizens’ property based on “suspicion” alone, without charging them with a crime. This topic has as been a key theme on this site all year. In fact, one of my most popular posts of 2014 was: “Common People Do Not Carry This Much U.S. Currency…” – This is How Police Justify Stealing American Citizens’ Money. If you never read that post, or saw John Oliver’s hilarious video, I suggest checking it out.

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Video of the Day – Obamacare Architect Credits “Lack of Transparency” and “Stupidity of the American People” for Passage of Healthcare Law

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Screen Shot 2014-11-10 at 6.40.35 PMEarlier today, I published a post titled, Inside the Mind of an Oligarch – Sheldon Adelson Proclaims “I Don’t Like Journalism,” which zeroed in on the condescending attitude oligarchs and their technocrat minions have toward the general population. I wrote:

 The term oligarch is reserved for those with extreme wealth who also want to control the political process, policy levers and most other aspects of the lives of the citizenry in a top-down tyrannical and undemocratic manner. They think they know best about pretty much everything, and believe unelected technocrats who share their worldview should be empowered so that they can unilaterally make all of society’s important decisions. The unwashed masses (plebs) in their minds are unnecessary distractions who must to be told what to do. Useless eaters who need to be brainwashed into worshipping the oligarch mindset, or turned into apathetic automatons incapable or unwilling to engage in critical thought. Either outcome is equally acceptable and equally encouraged. 

It’s quite timely that those words appeared on the site the same day that a video clip emerged of MIT economics professor, and the architect of Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber, admitting that the legislation was intentionally complex and misleading in order to pass Congress and elicit limited outrage from the “stupid” American public.

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Introducing Open Bazaar – The Decentralization Revolution Takes on Ecommerce

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Screen Shot 2014-11-10 at 2.40.15 PMDescribed as the “next generation of uncensored trade” and a “safe untouchable marketplace,” OpenBazaar is fundamentally different from all the online black markets that have come before it, because it is completely decentralized. If authorities acted against OpenBazaar users, they could arrest individuals, but the network would survive.

– From the Daily Dot’s article: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that’s ‘untouchable’ by police

It’s truly incredible. Every time I become discouraged by state of the world and the decrepit and corrupt status quo, something comes along to restore my faith in the future and remind me that the time in power for these insane oligarchs is rapidly coming to an end. As I’ve said before, the advent and success of Bitcoin was the single most important development over the past few years to instill a real sense of optimism in me.

I’ve repeatedly characterized the monumental battle we face as a species as the struggle between the forces of centralization and decentralization, and I hold the view that decentralization will ultimately reign spectacularly triumphant. Not just because it is ultimately the type of system that most people want, but because it will work exponentially better that the archaic top-down systems in place today. For some prior posts on this topic see:

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Inside the Mind of an Oligarch – Sheldon Adelson Proclaims “I Don’t Like Journalism”

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Screen Shot 2014-11-10 at 11.38.44 AMIf you’ve read any of my articles over the past several years, you will be well aware of my disdain toward a small group of individuals I refer to as oligarchs, and their destructive influence on America and the world at large. When people hear “oligarch” they probably automatically assume I simply mean billionaires and other extraordinarily wealthy people, but as with most things in life, it’s not that simple.

In a nutshell, while many oligarchs are extremely wealthy (or have access to extreme wealth), not all people with extreme wealth are oligarchs. The term oligarch is reserved for those with extreme wealth who also want to control the political process, policy levers and most other aspects of the lives of the citizenry in a top-down tyrannical and undemocratic manner. They think they know best about pretty much everything, and believe unelected technocrats who share their worldview should be empowered so that they can unilaterally make all of society’s important decisions. The unwashed masses (plebs) in their minds are unnecessary distractions who must to be told what to do. Useless eaters who need to be brainwashed into worshipping the oligarch mindset, or turned into apathetic automatons incapable or unwilling to engage in critical thought. Either outcome is equally acceptable and equally encouraged.

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