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

How the EPA Spent $92.5 Million of Taxpayer Funds on High-End Furniture

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Open the Books is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization laser focused on providing transparency in government. I’ve highlighted their work in the past, but their latest report on inexcusable EPA waste and abuse may be the most outrageous information yet. Specifically, we learn that the EPA spent $92.5 million of taxpayer money on high-end, luxury furniture over the past decade.

The Washington Times covered the story:

The federal agency that has the job of protecting the environment doesn’t seem to have too much concern for trees, at least the ones cut down to make furniture.

The Environmental Protection Agency over the past decade has spent a whopping $92.4 million to purchase, rent, install and store office furniture ranging from fancy hickory chairs and a hexagonal wooden table, worth thousands of dollars each, to a simple drawer to store pencils that cost $813.57. 

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Two-Tiered Justice: How DEA Agents Commit Egregious Acts with Zero Accountability

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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed its employees to stay on the job despite internal investigations that found they had distributed drugs, lied to the authorities or committed other serious misconduct, newly disclosed records show.

Lawmakers expressed dismay this year that the drug agency had not fired agents who investigators found attended “sex parties” with prostitutes paid with drug cartel money while they were on assignment in Colombia. 

Of the 50 employees the DEA’s Board of Professional Conduct recommended be fired following misconduct investigations opened since 2010, only 13 were actually terminated, the records show. And the drug agency was forced to take some of them back after a federal appeals board intervened.

In one case listed on an internal log, the review board recommended that an employee be fired for “distribution of drugs,” but a human resources official in charge of meting out discipline imposed a 14-day suspension instead. The log shows officials also opted not to fire employees who falsified official records, had an “improper association with a criminal element” or misused government vehicles, sometimes after drinking.

– From the USA Today article: DEA Agents Kept Jobs Despite Serious Misconduct

Nothing instills faith in American institutions like the increasingly obvious and oppressive two-tiered justice system. Forget punishment, this is a society so corrupt that the wealthiest and most connected players are actually rewarded for corruption, criminality and looting. The examples are endless, but no single act has been more blatant, perverse and destructive than the taxpayer bailout of Wall Street fraudsters in the 2008/09 period.

When the perpetrators are mere minions of the system as opposed to so-called “masters of the universe,” they have to settle for mere immunity from prosecution as opposed to trillions in taxpayer bailouts. No agency is more representative of this reality than the Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA. Not only has the “war on drugs” been a barbaric, civil liberties destroying failure of epic proportions, but the agents themselves should actually be busting themselves for engaging in the exact behaviors they are purported warriors against.

Don’t believe me? Take the following examples from USA Today:

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Kentucky Politician Files Lawsuit Claiming a First Amendment Right to Accept Bribes

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It’s a rare and precious moment when a politician does something which perfeclty demonstrates what he or she really thinks about democracy and power. This is one of those times.

From the Intercept:

The Supreme Court, in its Citizens United decision, ruled that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts in elections. Now politicians in Kentucky are claiming they have a Constitutional right to receive gifts from lobbyists.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Republican Kentucky state Sen. John Schickel, along with two Libertarian political candidates, are suing to overturn state ethics laws, claiming that the campaign contribution limit of $1,000 and a ban on gifts from lobbyists and their employers are a violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

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The UN Releases Plan to Push for Worldwide Internet Censorship

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The United Nations has disgraced itself immeasurably over the past month or so.

In case you missed the following stories, I suggest catching up now:

The UN’s “Sustainable Development Agenda” is Basically a Giant Corporatist Fraud

Not a Joke – Saudi Arabia Chosen to Head UN Human Rights Panel

Fresh off the scene from those two epic embarrassments, the UN now wants to tell governments of the world how to censor the internet. I wish I was kidding.

From the Washington Post:

On Thursday, the organization’s Broadband Commission for Digital Development released a damning “world-wide wake-up call” on what it calls “cyber VAWG,” or violence against women and girls. The report concludes that online harassment is “a problem of pandemic proportion” — which, nbd, we’ve all heard before.

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California Lake Runs Completely Dry Overnight

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Nothing to see here.

From CBS Sacramento:

FOLSOM LAKE (CBS13) — A Northern California reservoir ran dry overnight, killing thousands of fish and leaving residents looking for answers.

While a $3.5 million drought safety net at Folsom Lake finishes, a lake in another part of the state is left high and dry.

Thousands of fish lay dead in what used to be Mountain Meadows reservoir also known as Walker Lake, a popular fishing hole just west of Susanville.

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Washington State School District Bans Game of “Tag” to “Ensure Physical, Emotional Safety of Students”

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I never really loved the game “tag” as a youth, although I never thought for a second it was particularly dangerous or violent. My emotional and/or physical state certainly never felt threatened.

In contrast, I loved dodgeball. It was the highlight of my day every single time we were allowed to play it. I wasn’t a particularly big or strong kid, and I certainly wasn’t the best player, but I loved it nonetheless. Everybody did.

Dodgeball is like going into war compared to “tag,” yet for a Washington state school district, “tag” is simply to “emotionally and physically” damaging to be played during recess.

If you want to write a textbook on how a nation can raise a generation of terrified, pampered children who will grow up to be docile, apathetic adults, this is it.

From local station Q13 FOX TV:

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America’s Allies – Saudi Prince Arrested for Sexual Assault at $37 Million Compound Near Beverly Hills, California

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Saudi Arabia.

One of the U.S. government’s closest global allies, and a nation best known for an autocratic absolute monarchy in which women aren’t allowed to drive, beheadings take place on almost a daily basis, and where sentencing teenagers to death by crucifixion for political dissent is considered normal.

Considering the U.S. government holds the Saudis accountable for precisely nothing, it should be seen as no surprise that it’s princelings feel they have a right to behave like complete barbarians while here in America.

We learn from the Los Angeles Times that:

A bleeding woman screaming for help was seen attempting to scale an 8-foot-high wall before a Saudi prince was arrested this week on suspicion of trying to force a worker to perform a sex act on him at his hillside compound near Beverly Hills.

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New Gallup Poll – 75% of Americans See Widespread Government Corruption

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The chart below from Gallup, is the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a Banana Republic. Which makes perfect sense, because America is a Banana Republic.

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Here are some additional observations from Gallup:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country’s government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%).

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The Australian Government Proclaims – Environmentalism and Alternative Music Are Signs of Terrorism

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Earlier this year, I highlighted how the UK government was cheerfully stretching the boundary of terrorist fear-mongering when it made it policy for registered childminders to “report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists.”

No, that’s not a joke. Here’s an excerpt from the post, The War on Toddler Terrorists – Britain Wants to Force Nursery School Teachers to Identify “Extremist” Children:

Nursery school staff and registered childminders must report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists, under counter-terrorism measures proposed by the Government.

The directive is contained in a 39-page consultation document issued by the Home Office in a bid to bolster its Prevent anti-terrorism plan.

But concern was raised over the practicalities of making it a legal requirement for staff to inform on toddlers.

Clearly not wanting to be outdone when it comes to bureaucratic buffoonery, the Commonwealth of Australia is fighting back. We learn from ABC Online:

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Obama Promised Healthcare Premiums Would Fall $2,500 Per Family; They Have Climbed $4,865

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How’s that Obamacare working out for you? That’s what I thought.

Considering that pretty much every single thing Obama promised when he was running for President turned out to be an outright lie, we shouldn’t be surprised this is also the case when it comes to his so-called “signature achievement.” Before getting into the meat of this post, let’s take a trip down memory lane and watch a video clip of Obama on the 2008 campaign trail.

As you can see, he didn’t just say it once or twice. He said it over, and over and over again. Now here’s what actually happened.

From Investors Business Daily:

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