I wrote the following two years ago. It is as relevant today as it was then. Enjoy.
I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I was one year into my Wall Street career. I got up that morning just like every other morning and headed toward Union Square station to get on the subway down to 3 World Financial Center, the headquarters of Lehman Brothers. I had just purchased breakfast in the cafeteria when I saw one of the human resources folks from my floor yelling to evacuate. I was confused but I got my ass downstairs fast. When I got down there I joined the hundreds of others staring in awe skyward at the gaping hole in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. People speculated that a helicopter had hit the building, but I said no way. It looked like a bomb went off to me.
Shortly afterward, the ground started shaking and I heard an enormous explosion and saw fire and debris shooting out from behind the North Tower. The herd starting running and I was trampled on. We all retreated to safer ground, at which point I ran into some co-workers. I mentioned that I was a bit worried these things could fall, but I was ensured by a higher-up at the firm that this was impossible. It was at that point that some co-workers and I decided to take the long walk home to my apartment on east 12th street. As we walked, we saw people jumping from the buildings, and ultimately we saw the first one collapse in front of our eyes as we traversed through Soho.
In the days following the collapse, all I wanted was for the towers to be rebuilt just like before. I wanted the skyline back to what I had know since the day I came into this earth at a New York City hospital to be restored exactly as I had always known it. Career-wise, I felt I should leave Wall Street. I thought about going back to graduate school for political science, or maybe even join the newly created Department of Homeland Security (yes, the irony is not lost on me). I read a lengthy tome on Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. I was an emotional and psychological mess, and it was when I was in this state of heightened distress that my own government and the military-industrial complex took advantage of me.
I wrote the following a year ago today. I’m reposting because it is more important now than ever in light of the most recent war propaganda:
How I Remember September 11, 2001
I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I was one year into my Wall Street career. I got up that morning just like every other morning and headed toward Union Square station to get on the subway down to 3 World Financial Center, the headquarters of Lehman Brothers. I had just purchased breakfast in the cafeteria when I saw one of the human resources folks from my floor yelling to evacuate. I was confused but I got my ass downstairs fast. When I got down there I joined the hundreds of others staring in awe skyward at the gaping hole in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. People speculated that a helicopter had hit the building, but I said no way. It looked like a bomb went off to me.
Fifty years ago yesterday, on August 7, 1964, Congress passed the now infamous Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which led to a massive escalation of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Without a formal declaration of war, the resolution permitted President Johnson to take “all necessary measures” to support South Vietnam, including armed forces. This resulted in 58,000 dead Americans and well over a million dead Vietnamese, both civilians and military personnel.
Since terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, victims’ loved ones, injured survivors, and members of the media have all tried without much success to discover the true nature of the relationship between the 19 hijackers – 15 of them Saudi nationals – and the Saudi Arabian government. Many news organizations reported that some of the terrorists were linked to the Saudi royals and that they even may have received financial support from them as well as from several mysterious, moneyed Saudi men living in San Diego.
I’ve said for many years that I have no idea what actually happened on 9/11, but I am highly confident the government’s official story is complete and total bullshit. A third building fell on that fateful day, WTC7. No planes hit the building and yet it came down at free fall speed. Even the government … Read more
I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I was one year into my Wall Street career. I got up that morning just like every other morning and headed toward Union Square station to get on the subway down to 3 World Financial Center, the headquarters of Lehman Brothers. I had just purchased breakfast in the … Read more
Epic, hilarious and accurate. Excerpts below from The Onion: WASHINGTON—As President Obama continues to push for a plan of limited military intervention in Syria, a new poll of Americans has found that though the nation remains wary over the prospect of becoming involved in another Middle Eastern war, the vast majority of U.S. citizens strongly … Read more
Some analysts and Congressional officials suggested Friday that emphasizing a terrorist threat now was a good way to divert attention from the uproar over the N.S.A.’s data-collection programs, and that if it showed the intercepts had uncovered a possible plot, even better.
Nothing about the above quote should surprise any of my readers, we all know the sick, twisted mindset of those involved in the Military-Industrial-Wall Street complex. What’s more shocking is the fact that these folks so openly admit it to the New York Times, albeit in a typical anonymous and cowardly fashion. Let’s not forget what Robert Shapiro, former Clinton official and Obama supporter told the FT in July 2010:
The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership. He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.
I discussed the above quote and related topics in my 2010 piece: The Dangers of a Failed Presidency. Well, if Mr. Shapiro thinks President Obama didn’t have credibility in 2010, one can only imagine what he thinks today. That is precisely what makes the current moment so extraordinarily dangerous. From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — The United States intercepted electronic communications this week among senior operatives of Al Qaeda, in which the terrorists discussed attacks against American interests in the Middle East and North Africa, American officials said Friday.
It is unusual for the United States to come across discussions among senior Qaeda operatives about operational planning — through informants, intercepted e-mails or eavesdropping on cellphone calls. So when the high-level intercepts were collected and analyzed this week, senior officials at the C.I.A., State Department and White House immediately seized on their significance. Members of Congress have been provided classified briefings on the matter, officials said Friday.
“Unusual,” but somehow also extremely convenient for this to occur just as public opinion turns against the NSA and near passage of the Amash Amendment.
I have highlighted security expert Bruce Schneier’s writings in the past, including his recent excellent article: “The Internet is a Surveillance State.” In his piece yesterday published in The Atlantic, he offers us some serious wisdom about how to think about the tragic event in Boston. His key message is to “empathize, but not be terrorized.” My favorite excerpts are below:
As the details about the bombings in Boston unfold, it’d be easy to be scared. It’d be easy to feel powerless and demand that our elected leaders do something — anything — to keep us safe.
It’d be easy, but it’d be wrong. We need to be angry and empathize with the victims without being scared.Our fears would play right into the perpetrators’ hands — and magnify the power of their victory for whichever goals whatever group behind this, still to be uncovered, has. We don’t have to be scared, and we’re not powerless. We actually have all the power here, and there’s one thing we can do to render terrorism ineffective: Refuse to be terrorized.
It’s hard to do, because terrorism is designed precisely to scare people — far out of proportion to its actual danger. A huge amount of research on fear and the brain teaches us that we exaggerate threats that are rare, spectacular, immediate, random — in this case involving an innocent child — senseless, horrific and graphic. Terrorism pushes all of our fear buttons, really hard, and we overreact.
There are things we can do to make us safer, mostly around investigation, intelligence, and emergency response, but we will never be 100-percent safe from terrorism; we need to accept that.
My hands are tied
The billions shift from side to side
And the wars go on with brainwashed pride
For the love of god and our human rights
And all these things are swept aside
By bloody hands time can’t deny
And are washed away by your genocide
And history hides the lies of our civil wars
D’you wear a black armband When they shot the man Who said “peace could last forever” And in my first memories They shot Kennedy I went numb when I learned to see So I never fell for Vietnam We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all That you can’t trust freedom When it’s not in your hands When everybody’s fightin’ For their promised land And
I don’t need your civil war It feeds the rich while it buries the poor Your power hungry sellin’ soldiers In a human grocery store Ain’t that fresh I don’t need your civil war
The Tipping Point
Serfdom has simply been pushed too far. Globally. What we are about to witness, incredibly, is not just a change in the way that one or two countries or even a specific region of the world operates. No, what we are about to witness is a complete transformation globally, a change that I believe will be incredibly positive and will ultimately free us from the shackles upon the minds of humanity as a species. The internet has allowed us to connect with one another in a manner never before possible, and this tool has permitted us to blast through the lies of the global elite that is desperately trying to hang on to control. Whether it was the intention from the outset or not, what globalization has created is a very small class of incredibly wealthy people that are extraordinarily corrupt as a group and also above the law. They are able to hide enormous amounts of money. They are able to insider trade. They are able to deal drugs. They can do whatever they want, yet if anyone below them does the same they are prosecuted in a manner that resembles Medieval torture.
Many people say to me, “but Mike, aren’t things always corrupt, hasn’t it always been this way?” To this I answer yes and no. Of course within any complex societal and political structure there will be elements of corruption. This is obvious. However, there are cycles of corruption and degrees. At some point, particularly toward the end of a cycle where globalization creates this “super corrupt class” of individuals roaming the planet doing as they please with us pawns, you reach a tipping point. That tipping point has already been reached. What we are witnessing now all over the world are merely the effects of that tipping point clashing with the corrupt global elite that refuses to budge an inch and reform even though it is in their best interest to do so. No, they are so arrogant and criminal after decades of doing what they please with zero consequences they would rather attempt to implement a global police state rather than deal with the nightmare of their actions and make the world a better place. Therefore, it is up to us, as a species, to reclaim what is our birthright. Freedom.
As I wrote the other day on twitter, what we have today is not Socialism or Capitalism, it is Ponzism. I am talking on a global level. Basically every country and every region. The biggest pitfall we must avoid as a species is allowing the global power structure to pit us against one another. These guys don’t fight wars, they send you to fight them. Don’t fall for it. Their number one trick once things get bad within their own nations is to attempt to create a war. This checks two very important boxes for them. First, it creates a distraction for the general public and even makes them think that they are part of a team that needs to be cheered. It’s like a big football game but with thousands or millions dying on the field. Second, it allows the government to do pretty much anything they want in the name of “winning the war” or “national security.” This is exactly why the “war on terror” was the perfect war for a kleptocratic elite. It is a war with no end, so theoretically they can constantly claim war as an excuse for taking away civil liberties. The problem for them at the moment though is that the American people are waking up to this scam. Therefore, a larger and much deadlier war is in their best interests. If it is in their best interest you can be sure it is in our worse interests. Therefore, we must do everything we can to prevent it.
The Global Spring
When the “Arab Spring” broke out early last year, many simply took it to be an outburst of rage and frustration from a region that has been shackled by autocratic regimes, lack of economic opportunity and cultural stagnation. While it was the surge in global food prices that catalyzed the event that we now refer to as the Arab Spring, what I think was under appreciated and continues to be, is that fact that this was merely the first major outburst in what is certain to be a Global Spring. The world’s population centers in general are increasingly able to identify with the frustration of those in the Middle East, so far removed from our psyches just a decade or so ago. The most important thing for us all to realize is that there is another way. We have infinite potential as a species to create, innovate and evolve. We just need to collectively remove the gigantic jackboot from our face.
The number of events happening at the moment that provide evidence of the emerging Global Spring are almost too many to keep track of, but in the following paragraphs I will try. I assume that most everyone reading this piece is aware of these events, but what I am trying to do is explain my thesis that all of them are essentially related to the same theme. A massive global uprising against the current status quo and the economic and political systems that it has put in place. People are becoming increasingly aware that these systems are run by the few and for the few, and the boiling point is being reached. Community by community and nation by nation. Let’s start with China.
China
Unless you have been living under an economic rock for the past six months, you are aware that China is in the midst of a serious economic slowdown. As I have said for years and continue to say, this is not a small bump in the road. This is a major contraction. Similar to the U.S., China had a choice in the 2008 slowdown. They could have taken the hit and moved toward measures to rebalance the economy away from an over emphasis on investment and construction spend and toward consumption, but they did nothing of the sort. Rather, they doubled down on their prior mistakes and mal-investments in an epic bet on the ponzi economy. After a brief sugar high, this has now failed.
So with the economy back in steep decline, the authorities fear pumping massive stimulus in as they did four years prior due to their justifiable fears of sparking rampant inflation. Meanwhile, thanks to social networking, citizens have become more aware of the incredible corruption and theft of their leadership, whether in the political or business world. They are increasingly acting out about it and it is becoming so blatant that even China’s legendary control of media is unable to direct the plot. The most recent outburst came from the Foxconn (a major supplier to Apple) factory in Taiyuan, China which employs 79,000 people. While details are sketchy, most accounts point to the riot, which reportedly involved 2,000 people, being sparked by a fight between security guards and workers. From the Washington Post:
When guards beat up workers from Shandong province, others from the same region fought back, igniting a full-fledged riot, according to the news agency’s (China News Service) account.
The young migrant workers whose labor has fueled much of the growth of China’s economy and the global manufacturing sector have begun to change in demographics and desires. That labor pool is shrinking, according to experts, as workers from China’s provinces have become better educated and hold higher expectations for their lives.
Foxconn, in particular, has drawn attention in recent years because of its connection to Apple and the increasingly visible signs of unhappiness among its workers. A string of employee suicides in 2010 pushed the company to install netting to catch jumpers and take other steps.
Anyone think this is an isolated event? Didn’t think so. While this is the most high profile riot as of late, the New York Times in its coverage of the incident wrote:
Many of the protests this year appear to be related to the country’s economic slowdown, as employees demand the payment of overdue wages from financially struggling companies, or insist on compensation when money-losing factories in coastal provinces are closed and moved to lower-cost cities in the interior.
Of course, China’s leadership was well aware of all of this before the Foxconn incident came onto the scene, so what is a good authoritarian regime to do? Well, you attempt to direct the rage and angst to an outside enemy. In this case Japan. Zerohedge has a great report on the anti-Japanese violence and hatred that burst onto the scene recently. The link to their piece Postcards from a Furious China really says it all.
Europe Like the Middle East, the Southern countries of Europe have been in and out of rage now for almost two years. The most recent explosions onto the streets of Greece and Spain are particularly disturbing since the inept clownish leadership on the Continent had supposedly “solved” the crisis for the third time just a few weeks ago. Or was it the fourth time? Really, who’s counting anymore…
Let’s start with Spain. While Greece is still on fire, Spain is where the real action is due to the size of its economy and the importance it has to the political EU hacks. Not only were there enormous protests this week in the capital Madrid in reaction to austerity measures, but there is also a very significant secession movement picking up steam in Catalonia. This isn’t about leaving the euro, this is about leaving Spain! For those that aren’t aware of Spanish geography, Catalonia is the wealthiest region in Spain and it is where Barcelona is located. First, we saw enormous protests in Catalonia about a month ago, which I covered here. Now we see that last night the regional parliament approved a referendum on independence that will apparently be voted on during regional elections on November 25. Reuters covers the story here.
While this is hugely important, let’s not overlook the massive demonstrations in Madrid this past week. I will let this powerful video below do the talking. Draghi says “the euro is irreversible.” Don’t make me laugh.
Now let’s talk Greece. I think a lot of people brushed off this week’s protests as “oh it’s just the Greeks in the streets again.” This is a mistake. These demonstrations were different and here is why. From the UK’s Guardian:
