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

A New Year’s Message

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“The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, ‘Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live … Read more

My Most Popular Post of 2012: You Know You Are a Conspiracy Theorist If…

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While Piers Morgan’s interview with Jesse Ventura brought the most visitors to my site for any single post, the most read post I did all year from all sources was You Know You Are a Conspiracy Theorist If…

The post was read 71,382 times on Zerohedge alone and just missed the site’s Top 25 Posts for 2012 List.

So…in case you missed it the first time, here it is!

You Know You Are a Conspiracy Theorist If…

You are capable of critical thinking.

You distrust mainstream media.

You like nature.

You think it’s a good idea to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving with your family rather than camping outside Best Buy to get a cheap plasma television made in China.

You think it’s a little strange that WTC building 7 came down at free fall speed on 9/11 yet it was never hit by a plane.

You think that drones in America might not be for Al Qaeda.

You would like to be able to get on a plane without having to engage in a mandatory radiation bath and digital strip search.

You have read a book in the past year.

You think you have the right to protest.

You think the War on Terror is a scam.

You think the War on Drugs is a scam.

You think the anger directed at America from the Middle East could possibly be related to our foreign policy rather than hating how amazingly free we are.

You think the Republicans and Democrats are exactly the same on the important issues affecting our country.

You think believing in The Constitution does not constitute a terrorist act.

You have heard of the Bill of Rights and can even name what some of them are.

You question whether the government loves you.

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Guest Post: Africa in the Crosshairs

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A friend of mine and an extremely astute observer of news at the excellent new aggregator site Top the News, wrote the following piece and he has given me permission to post it.  Unfortunately, many of the proxy wars that are certain to be fought in the future will see Africa as a staging ground, and this piece does an excellent job giving the reader some background of where we have been and where we are headed.  So without further ado…

Africa in the Crosshairs
“The Dark Continent” as it is known to many, has a dim history of modern foreign influence.  While much of Africa was technically independent by 1960, memories of colonization and cronyism have lasted much longer. Infamous dictators like Sani Abacha and Mobutu Sese Seko held net worth in the $ billion category, due in no small part to the hypocrisy of western nations like the United States.  However, starting with the funding of a nearly-$500 million railroad known as the Tazara Line in the 1970’s, a new player started their emergence in the region: China. With its vast natural resources and geopolitical position, Africa is now in the crosshairs of the world’s two superpowers. The Sino-U.S. rivalry is an ‘open secret’ in the hemisphere, destined to only grow.

In a collection of essays published by Columbia University titled China Returns to Africa, the authors highlight the “Chinese government’s strategic pursuit of resources and attempts to ensure raw material supplies for growing energy needs within China.” The Chinese hierarchy understands that with limited resources in the world, commodities will only become more valuable based on supply and demand alone-before debased currencies are accounted for.  Africa’s “fertile land, ample water, and (its status) among the world’s lowest farming productivity” all add up to foreign investment. Trade between China and Africa quadrupled from 2005-2011, passing the United States along the way as Africa’s largest partner. Even the African Union’s Ethiopian headquarters were funded by a $200 million ‘gift’ from the Chinese. Largely avoiding military intervention on the continent, instead focusing on “diplomacy, trade deals, debt forgiveness, and aid packages,” has helped China to establish a strong foothold and relationship, comparatively to the United States. As Andrew Malone pointed out a few years ago: “The strategy has been carefully devised by officials in Beijing, where one expert has estimated that China will eventually need to send 300 million people to Africa to solve the problems of over-population and pollution.”

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Piers Morgan is Now Calling for Gun Confiscation

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British citizen and CNN personality Piers Morgan has now stepped up his attacks on the 2nd Amendment by calling for actual confiscation of certain types of guns.  In a lengthy Op Ed in the UK’s Daily Mail he writes:

Obama should follow up by launching a Government buy-back for all existing assault weapons in circulation (as worked successfully in Los Angeles last week). I would go further, confiscating the rest and enforcing tough prison sentences on those who still insist on keeping one.

Either you ban these assault weapons completely, and really mean it, or you don’t.

Then he goes on to cherry pick some data from a recent Gallup poll when he writes:

I genuinely think Sandy Hook will act as a tipping point. A Gallup poll released on Thursday showed that 58 per cent of Americans now support new gun-control laws, up from 43 per cent in 2011. That’s a big jump.

Interestingly, if you read the actual report from Gallup, which was conducted after the Sandy Hook shooting, you will discover that:

Nevertheless, Americans’ views on the sale of assault rifles are unchanged. The slight majority, 51%, remain opposed to making it illegal to manufacture, sell, or possess semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles.

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Ron Paul Blasts Both the NRA and Gun Control Pushers

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Ron Paul, once again, proves why he is an American treasure.  If more people were able to bust out of the ridiculous Republican-Democrat fake divide this country could be a wonderful place to live and work in.  From US News:

Rep. Ron Paul, not one to shy away from controversy, has blasted the National Rifle Association for proposing that every school hire armed guards to protect against mass shootings, and has also condemned liberals for promoting more government control of guns.

The impulse to have government ‘do something’ to protect us in the wake of national tragedies is reflexive and often well intentioned. Many Americans believe that if we simply pass the right laws, future horrors like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting can be prevented. But this impulse ignores the self evident truth that criminals don’t obey laws.

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Number of Homeless Iraq, Afghan Vets Doubles

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Yep, taking care of our troops.  So sad, I can’t imagine the pain and heartbreak that these poor kids experience once they realize that the wars have nothing to do with defending freedom and they are simply being used by the corporate state and political oligarchs to defend the Petrodollar.

From the Army Times:

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing a roof over their heads has more than doubled in the past two years, according to government data.

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In California, Lobbyists and Lawmakers Travel the World Together

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Crony capitalist sightseeing tours.  Nothing like being a corrupt political oligarch in today’s America!  Great story here from the Sacramento Bee:

It’s mid-November. The election is over, and the new legislative session has not yet begun. Perfect time for a lawmaker to take vacation – or go on an “educational” trip with some of the Capitol’s most powerful interest groups.

Destinations for the talks? Hawaii, Brazil, China, Australia and New Zealand.

He said the cost of the trip – not yet determined – will be reported as a gift to the lawmakers attending: Republican state Sens. Anthony Cannella of Ceres, Bill Emmerson of Hemet and Mimi Walters of Laguna Niguel, as well as Democratic Sen. Michael Rubio of East Bakersfield and Democratic Assemblyman Steven Bradford of Gardena, who chairs the utilities and commerce committee.

“They who pay for the education have a way to decide what the legislators are going to be educated on,” said Dan Jacobson, a lobbyist for Environment California, which is not a member of CFEE. “It’s not a full education – it’s a partial education and will end up being a (biased) education trip.”

Sharing hotels, meals and exciting experiences with interest groups creates an imbalance for legislators, Jacobson said, where moneyed interests are favored over everyday constituents.

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Another Bait and Switch: Congress Defeats E-Mail Privacy Legislation…Again

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This is how the corporate state rolls.  They remove all the important stuff at the last minute, you know, like provisions that might actually protect constitutional rights.  This is exactly what they just did with the NDAA, which I outlined in my post The Section Preventing Indefinite Detention of Americans without Trial Removed from Final NDAA Bill.  Now we find out from Wired that:

The Senate late Thursday forwarded legislation to President Barack Obama granting the public the right to automatically display on their Facebook feeds what they’re watching on Netflix. While lawmakers were caving to special interests, however, they cut from the legislative package language requiring the authorities to get a warrant to read your e-mail or other data stored in the cloud.

But another part of the same Senate package — sweeping digital privacy protections requiring the government, for the first time, to get a probable-cause warrant to obtain e-mail and other content stored in the cloud — was removed at the last minute.

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It’s Official: The FBI Classifies Peaceful American Protestors as “Terrorists”

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Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF), we have details for the first time of how government intelligence organizations and the corporate state worked together in secret to battle the Occupy Wall Street movement.  The best report I have read on this story comes from the PCJF themselves.  Here are some of their key findings:

“This production, which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a window into the nationwide scope of the FBI’s surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy movement.

FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF’s Freedom of Information Act demands reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful protest and did “not condone the use of violence” at occupy protests.

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Merry Christmas: Santa Arrested in Austin for Chalking the Sidewalk!

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What can I say; it’s a slow news day.  Merry Christmas everyone. From the Huffington Post: Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a man dressed as Santa Claus in Austin Friday on charges of criminal mischief after writing with chalk on the grounds of the state Capitol building, the Austin American-Statesman reports. … Read more