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

Bezos’ Decision to Raise Wages is Largely a Machiavellian Distraction

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For the many low wage Amazon workers — both full time and temporary — set to receive a raise thanks to the just announced boost in minimum pay to $15/hour, the news is certainly a big plus. It should also be noted that had Amazon not been subject to intense scrutiny and criticism from the likes of Bernie Sanders and others, Jeff Bezos never would have responded with such an aggressive move. That said, if you think a little beyond the surface level about why he’s doing this now and what his real motives are, it becomes clear nobody should take this move at face value.

Stacy Mitchell, co-director at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, is someone whose work on Amazon I’ve cited on various occasions. She tweeted out an important thread this morning that helps you take a step back and not miss the forest for the trees.

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Liberty Links 9/29/18 – Big Tech Is Appealing to Congress to Get Around California’s New Online Privacy Law

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As always, if you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page. Top Links Big Tech Is Appealing to Congress to Help Get Around California’s New Online Privacy Law (Another reason we need to strongly support states rights, The Intercept) Trump’s Phony Anti-Globalism Should Fool No-One (Michael Tracey, Spectator … Read more

These Are the Times Bitcoin Was Made For

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Don’t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.

– Ralph Waldo Emmerson

This past Friday, PayPal informed Alex Jones’ Infowars it was severing ties with the website and that it had ten days to find an alternative payment processor. The news transported me back to that summer day a little over six years ago when I first acutely recognized the power and potential of Bitcoin, and then publicly decided to embrace it.

By August 2012, Wikileaks had been under a financial blockade for nearly two years. It was at this point I came across an article by Jon Matonis published in Forbes, detailing the predicament as well as the clear threat this posed to freedom of the press and free speech in general. He noted:

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Liberty Links 9/22/18 – Former Raytheon Lobbyist Pushed Mike Pompeo to Support Yemen War for Arms Sales

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As always, if you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page. Top Links State Department Team Led by Former Raytheon Lobbyist Pushed Mike Pompeo to Support Yemen War Because of Arms Sales (Despicable doesn’t even begin to describe this, The Intercept) Pompeo Threatens Iran: ‘They’re Going to … Read more

Thoughts on the Leaked Google Video and Why Populism Is Just Getting Started

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The deal those bankers cooked up was to save the banks from capitalism.

– From Matt Taibbi’s recent piece: Ten Years After the Crash, We’ve Learned Nothing

While Google executives still attempt to portray themselves as scrappy, enlightened, countercultural tech luminaries, their reaction to Donald Trump’s victory in a recently leaked internal video leaves you wondering whether they understand anything at all about what’s happening around them.

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Liberty Links 9/16/18 – Ten Years After the Crash, We’ve Learned Nothing

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As always, if you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page. Top Links Ten Years After the Crash, We’ve Learned Nothing (RollingStone) Leaked Video: Google Leadership’s Dismayed Reaction to Trump Election (Worth watching, Breitbart) Syrian Rebels in Idlib Target Those Who Might Surrender as Government Assault Looms … Read more

Americans Need Social Media Guided by the Rights Enshrined in the U.S. Constitution

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Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.

– Potter Stewart, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

This past Friday, Alex Jones was de-platformed from the last couple of third party tools he had been using to publicly communicate his message after Twitter and Apple permanently banned him and his website Infowars. This means an American citizen with a very large audience who played a meaningful role in the 2016 election, has been banned from all of the most widely used products of communication of our age: Twitter, Facebook, Google’s YouTube and Apple’s iTunes.

You can point out he still has his radio show and website, and this is unquestionably true, but when it comes to the everyday tools most people interact with to receive information and communicate in 2018, Alex Jones has been thrown down the memory hole. Not because he was convicted of a crime or broke any laws, but because corporate executives decided he crossed an arbitrary line of their own creation.

To prove the point that tech oligarchs are acting in a completely arbitrary and subjective manner, let me highlight the following tweet.

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Liberty Links 9/8/18 – Trump Agrees to an Indefinite Military Effort and New Diplomatic Push in Syria

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As always, if you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page. Top Links Trump Agrees to an Indefinite Military Effort and New Diplomatic Push in Syria, U.S. Officials Say (This would be very bad, The Washington Post) ‘Five Eyes’ Governments Call on Tech Giants to Build Encryption … Read more

Amazon is Far More Dangerous and Powerful Than You Want to Admit

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The sneaky thing about Amazon’s increased dominance in so many key aspects of our lives is that much of the perniciousness is hidden. No one’s going to tell you about all the retailers who have gotten pressured or destroyed via its tactics while you’re happily clicking “add to cart” and smiling about 2-day free shipping. In this sense, it can be best compared to the evils of factory farming. Most people just simply have no idea about the immense damage going on behind the scenes as they indulge in incredible convenience and what looks like a good deal.

– From my November 15, 2017 post: Amazon Poses a Serious Threat to Freedom and Free Markets

Today’s post should be seen as an update to last year’s article referenced above. In the months that have followed, I’ve been consistently frustrated by the lack of interest when it comes to the dangers presented by Amazon and its richest man in the world ($165 billion as of last count) CEO Jeff Bezos. The following Twitter exchange is a good example of what I mean:

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Liberty Links 9/1/18 – Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales

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As always, if you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page. Top Links Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales (Bloomberg) CIA and Saudi Arabia Conspired to Keep 9/11 Details Secret, New Book Says (Newsweek) Statement of Principles on Access to Evidence … Read more