Serf Size Me!

An evil deed does not produce its results at once.
It smolders slowly, like a fire covered by ashes,
And finally consumes its doer the fool.
What a fool hungers for
Is false fame, authority,
Power over others, and generous offerings.
He seeks recognition as a doer,
A wielder of power,
A knower of right and wrong.
His craving and pride are insatiable.
–  The Dhammapada, Chapter 5, “The Fool”

Whoever neglects doing good
Is inviting addiction to evil.
–  The Dhammapada, Chapter 9, “Evil”

Life is easy to live for the shameless man,
Aggressive, arrogant
Intrusive, and corrupt.

Life is not easy to live for a modest man
With high values, free from attachment,
Humble, of right livelihood,
And clear vision.
–  The Dhammapada, Chapter 18, “Blemishes”

This Game is FAR from Over
Before I get into it, I want to send out a heartfelt thank you to everybody involved in this epic battle for decency in the global monetary and financial system.  Many of the people that I have collaborated with over the incredible period of my life which has been the past year were, like me, completely brainwashed about how things really worked for much of our lives.  Upon finding out the truth, we quickly understood that silence is was not an option.  Not speaking up and fighting against the cruel and unjust system in place today is the equivalent of not fighting against slavery one hundred and fifty years ago.  It is one of those cruel jokes of history that human beings are rarely able to see the gross injustices of their own times yet they look back at practices of the past with horror all the while assuring themselves they never would have accepted such behavior if they had been alive.  The truth of the matter is that most of these individuals would have likely sat obediently in silence in those eons past, not having dared to rock the boat as they just tried to “get by.”  While unfortunate, this is simply a reality of human nature.  This is why I want to say thank you to all those that refused to shut up.  Those that didn’t fear the banksters, politicians and other thugs that are systematically attempting to turn America and the world into a neo-feudalistic nightmare wrought in their sick and twisted entirely self-interested image.  Many of the people I want to thank are on this list and many are not.  I want to say thanks to Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, neither of whom I know personally.  I am signaling them out because they are what you would describe as “progressives” or people that would normally support and defend Obama and his fascist policies because he on the “blue team.”  Despite this, they have not only criticized him as harshly as anyone but have done so relentlessly in the pursuit of truth and justice.  It is very easy to stand up and yell I love the Constitution when the “other team” is in power so let’s see if the “conservatives” in this country defend liberty and the Constitution to the same degree when a “red team” player is in charge.  I suspect many of them won’t, just like many “progressives” defend Obama like mindless sheep.  This is why many in the Republican establishment are so afraid of Ron Paul.  Because he is the real deal.  See this article.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49412.html

How about this line:  “Rep. Paul is clearly off his meds and must be purged from public office. YAF is starting the process by removing him from our national advisory board. Good riddance and he won’t be missed,” added Marks.  Notice he used the extremely charged word “purged.”  This was no oversight.  Young Americans for FREEDOM they call themselves?  Sounds like a bunch of little American Nazis to me.

As a further nod to Greenwald and Taibbi I want to highlight recent must read articles by the two of them.  First, read this piece by Greenwald http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/11/campaigns/.  One of the more disturbing parts is:

The leaked report suggested numerous ways to destroy WikiLeaks, some of them likely illegal — including planting fake documents with the group and then attacking them when published; “creat[ing] concern over the security” of the site; “cyber attacks against the infrastructure to get data on document submitters”; and a “media campaign to push the radical and reckless nature of wikileaks activities.”  Many of those proposals were also featured prongs of a secret 2008 Pentagon plan to destroy WikiLeaks. 

One section of the leaked report focused on attacking WikiLeaks’ supporters and it featured a discussion of me.  A graph purporting to be an “organizational chart” identified several other targets, including former New York Times reporter Jennifer 8 Lee, Guardian reporter James Ball, and Manning supporter David House.  The report claimed I was “critical” to WikiLeaks’ public support after its website was removed by Amazon and that “it is this level of support that needs to be disrupted”; absurdly speculated that “without the support of people like Glenn, WikiLeaks would fold”; and darkly suggested that “these are established professionals that have a liberal bent, but ultimately most of them if pushed will choose professional preservation over cause.”  As The Tech Herald noted, “earlier drafts of the proposal and an email from Aaron Barr used the word ‘attacked’ over ‘disrupted’ when discussing the level of support.”

Meanwhile, Taibbi’s latest in Rolling Stone titled:  “Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail” might be his most powerful and impactful piece yet http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?page=1.  In it, he explains exactly how the criminal financial oligarchy in America works and why they never get in trouble as a result of the revolving door.  This interview with him on MSNBC was also very good.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg3b6_6xlAs

Thanks to people like Matt and countless others, this story is NOT GOING AWAY.  The oligarchs and financial politburo running the United States at the moment through regulatory and judicial capture that stretches from Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and the executives at the too big to fail banks all think they have gotten away with it all.  They haven’t gotten away with anything.  This game is just beginning and the crash that is to come will be much worse than what we saw in 2008.  That was a run on the financial system and the banks but it was covered up by governments accumulating debt to the point of current insolvency and central banks printing money.  That was child’s play.  The real run on the system is the run on governments and the thing that keeps them afloat, the central banking system.  A run on the big banks was what happened in 2008 and that was merely like cutting off one head of a hydra.  It is at the heart where the beast is really vulnerable and that heart is the central banks of the West and the nucleus of that is the Federal Reserve banking cartel.

The key service that Taibbi and many others are doing for the population at large is to educate people about how things really work so that we are ready to finally spring into action when this house of cards comes down again, this time for real.  The actions of the Federal Reserve and the big financial oligarchs is going to shock people senseless when they are revealed.  They will probably even shock me and I put nothing past them.  These people are sick and greedy beyond belief.  All they are doing now is trying to cover up all the crap they did before and in the process will only make their judgment that much more severe when it comes.  And it is coming.

Will They Start a War?
My biggest fear as I write this today is that the leaders of the West and the United States in particular will attempt to start a major war as a way to divert attention from the collapse that is coming and silence opposition or calls for justice.  I think they will view this as their only option once they know they have lost control of the situation (I think we are there).  Starting a major war gives them everything they want.  When I mentioned this fear to someone yesterday they asked me to explain.  This is what I wrote: “ I mean it’s  just history and human nature.  When a bunch of crooks ruin a country and can’t cover it up they need to divert attention on a foreign enemy rather than themselves.  Plus it gets unemployed youth out of the country so they can’t riot and war is always used as an excuse to screw you as a citizen even more and take away more rights.  It’s the ultimate card that always gets played.”

My advice to people is to not fall for this trap.  Not only can we not afford a war but the only people a war will benefit are the oligarchs that are doing this to us in the first place.  Their kids won’t be going off to die.  It will be your kids that will die in some desert kingdom to protect the wealth and status of the people that bankrupted you in the first place.

Serf Size Me 
I remember when McDonald’s first released the “Super Size” promotion.  You were supposed to get in line and say to the attendant “super size” me, at which point you would be served an egregiously sized portion of fries and soda.  Pretty soon after that American obesity levels starting going through the roof.  In any event, we won’t be having this problem much longer.  Sizes are about to shrink dramatically and prices will go up at the same time.  Food quality will probably decrease as well, which is hard to imagine considering the crap that is sold as food every day.  In any event, I have a suggestion for McDonald’s.  They should just teach us Americans to accept our indentured servitude to the financial oligarchs and roll out a “Serf Size” menu.  People will get to the acceptance stage that much faster as they say, “serf size me!” and then walk away with three fries and a five ounce soda.

Is it Just me or is Obama a Total Joke?
So Obama gave one of his vapid and disingenuous press conferences the other day where he spouted more misleading platitudes.  His jokes are even getting laughs anymore.  I was really taken aback when he stated “The world is changing, a young vibrant generation in the Middle East is looking for opportunity.”  What about the young vibrant generation in the United States?  The college graduates that are emerging from school with slave-like levels of debt attached to their lives which can never be paid back unless they sell their souls to the financial oligarchs (and that is if they are able to get the “opportunity”).  Our leaders are so unaware of what is happening on the ground in America.  That is why they will crash in the peaceful American uprising to come which will usher in new ways of doing just about everything, particularly economics.  Good riddance.

I am off to snowboard in Keystone tomorrow with a former client.

Have a great weekend,

Mike

 

Follow me on Twitter.