วันเสาร์ที่ 15 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2554

What Eisenhower Got Wrong

What Eisenhower Got Wrong

January 14, 2011
By David Swanson
Fifty years ago this Monday, President Dwight Eisenhower gave a farewell address in which he famously warned of the dangers of influence on our government by
the “military industrial complex.”
Our current Secretary of War, Robert Gates, has proposed to retire this year and has recommended that his successors stop increasing the military budget. But Eisenhower didn’t just bring this up on his way out the door. It was seven years earlier that he had remarked:

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed 8,000 people.”

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/dwightdeisenhowerfarewell.html

But pulling these quotes out of context, as we like to do, misses the reprehensible context of the speeches in which they originated. It would be a similar act of distortion to quote President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and leave out everything but that peaceful opening line,
“Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:”

Obama went on to argue the necessity of war. And that is what Eisenhower did in his farewell address. He argued against unlimited militarization while arguing for something just short of it. He proposed disarmament while suggesting that we’d really better not do it. These lines are less well remembered:

“We face a hostile ideology, global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily, the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration.”

How does one dismantle the military industrial complex in the face of a ruthless, atheistic ideology? Of course, Eisenhower did not do so. He refrained from some of the excesses, in both war funding and war lying, of his successors. He dug our country into a pointless war on Vietnam, but not to the extent of his successors. And when his immediate successor resisted the military machine more than Eisenhower had,
a single bullet struck him multiple times in Dallas.


If we set aside for a moment the pressing question for all presidents of whether Eisenhower was a devil or a saint, we can appreciate the value of having a president say anything worthwhile. But a half century later, we should be able to bring ourselves to also recognize what ideally should have been said — and was being said by others.

In the same speech in which Eisenhower spoke of the theft from those who hunger, he claimed eternal innocence for the United States in foreign affairs. The United States had never been an aggressor; that was the Soviet Union’s role. The United States relied on “trust and mutual aid” while the USSR relied on “force: huge armies, subversion, rule of neighbor nations.” Why did we have to steal from the hungry in order to build weapons? Eisenhower had the answer:

“The amassing of Soviet power alerted free nations to a new danger of aggression. It compelled them in self-defense to spend unprecedented money and energy for armaments.”

Eisenhower blamed the Soviet Union for “aggression in Korea and southeast Asia.” We know that to have constituted a pair of super-destructive lies. The point is not that Eisenhower wasn’t relatively responsible, when compared with his predecessors and successors. But he maintained the same set of lies that allowed for the military industrial complex to grow into something today that probably didn’t penetrate his worst nightmares.

Fifty years later it has come to look likely that militarized global empire cannot be maintained at a limited level that permits democracy at home. This is an all or nothing endeavor that requires a radical solution. We cannot both live and breathe fear of the evil now-Muslim terrorist ideology and halt nuclear proliferation. We cannot pretend our wars have been defensive and humanitarian while at the same time shutting down bases around the globe. We cannot imagine foreigners to be subhuman beasts and simultaneously pursue disarmament. In 1959, A.J. Muste said:

“I am not impressed . . . with the struggle that goes on periodically between the White House and Congressional committees over whether a balanced budget or national security is of first importance. These are not struggles between pacifists and militarists, people who want or do not want ‘genuine negotiation.’ And however these controversies come out, the military budget will be of astronomical proportions for ‘peacetime’.”

Muste cited C. Wright Mills and George F. Kennan in arguing for unilateral disarmament and adoption of a very different approach to the world. A half century later, that idea has less respect than ever, but the dominant idea is taking us off a cliff. The war machine is stronger than ever, the war propaganda slicker, the dangers heightened. Continuing down this course is not survivable in terms of proliferation or blowback, environmental destruction or loss of democratic representation, or in simple economic terms. This week a congress member proposed a bill to allow his colleagues to come armed to work, on the grounds that they could not safely walk home on Capitol Hill.

Tinkering with a self-destructive system will not save us. We need what Martin Luther King, Jr., whose holiday is also celebrated on Monday, called a revaluation of values. We need to outgrow the idea that there can be a good or just war any more than there can be a good slavery or a just rape. We need to confront the root of the militaristic ideology that even Eisenhower pushed on us: the lies about World War II.

Yes, Franklin Roosevelt campaigned for office promising to stay out
of a war he was already working to maneuver the United States into,
and for all the wrong reasons,
and he lied about German attacks
and plans for conquest,
and he lied about Pearl Harbor.

For a truly painful experience, read what FDR and others knew.
Then read the endless saga of investigations and coverups.

That FDR pursued very good policies domestically is not altered
by what he did abroad. If we are looking for people to model
our lives after, they should not be elected officials.

They should be people like Martin Luther King, Jr.
Here is someone doing that.
David Swanson is the author of “War Is A Lie”
http://warisalie.org
http://davidswanson.org

http://inteldaily.com/2011/01/what-eisenhower-got-wrong/

Price Shocks, Food Shortages And Global Economic Riots In 2011?



People need to wake up - 2011 has just begun and yet we are already seeing significant price shocks and serious food shortages in many areas of the globe.  In fact, violent economic riots are now being reported in Algeria, in Chile and in Mozambique.  Food shortages and price increases are also causing political unrest in other nations such as India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.  This is a very serious situation, and if the major food producing nations of the world do not have another record harvest this year there is very likely going to be an incredibly serious global food crunch.  According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, the global price of food hit a new record high in December.  The previous record high for food prices was in June 2008, and we all remember what happened during the summer of 2008.  Massive food riots erupted in countries such as Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt.  So with price shocks and food shortages already being reported all over the globe, will we see even worse global economic riots in 2011?

One of the things that is playing into all this is all of the really extreme weather that we have been witnessing all over the globe.  In Australia, they have been experiencing flooding that is of Biblical proportions.  Brazil has also been hit by very serious flooding.  In other parts of South America, extremely dry weather is severely damaging many crops.  In the Northern Hemisphere, unusually cold and unusually snowy weather has many people scratching their heads.  Something really strange seems to be happening to global weather patterns, and that is not good news for global food production.
All of this bad weather is fueling a tremendous amount of commodity speculation.  Over this past year, almost every single major agricultural commodity has experienced a dramatic increase in price.
According to Forbes, corn is up 94% since June, soybeans are up 51% since June, and wheat is up 80% since June.
Ouch!

All of these agricultural commodity price increases are really starting to be felt around the globe.  Meanwhile, global demand for food only continues to increase.
For the last several years, great harvests in major food producing nations such as the United States have been able to offset the rising demand for food around the globe.
But what is going to happen if the big food exporting nations have a year or two of really bad harvests?
Not only that, but there are a couple of other factors that have many analysts warning of "inflation spikes" in the year ahead....

*Crude oil prices set new multi-year highs on Wednesday and we continue to see a relentless march back toward $100 dollars a barrel.  The price of oil affects the price of almost everything else, so this is a key indicator to watch.
*Rampant inflation in China is soon going to impact the prices of literally tens of thousands of different U.S. consumer products.  A recent New York Times article stated that U.S. garment buyers should be prepared for "sticker shock" when they attend China's annual trade shows this year....
"They’re going to go home with 35 percent less product than for the same dollars as last year,” particularly for fur coats and cotton sportswear, said Bennett Model, chief executive of Cassin, a Manhattan-based line of designer clothing. “The consumer will definitely see the price rise."
So how are U.S. consumers (and consumers all over the globe) going to react when all of those "cheap Chinese imports" are not so cheap anymore?
It won't be pretty.
But for most people around the world in 2011, the main economic problem is likely to be the price of food.  In many areas of the globe, large numbers of people have to spend more than half their incomes just to feed themselves, so a spike in the price of food can have very, very serious consequences.
In some areas of the world, we are already witnessing very violent economic riots in response to rising prices for food.

Just check out what is happening in Algeria.  Several protesters have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured during violent food riots in that country.  Hordes of young people are throwing fire bombs and are shouting slogans such as "Bring us sugar!" Are these the kinds of food riots that we should expect to see around the globe as food gets tight this year?....


Economic riots are also being reported in Chile and Mozambique.  Officials in  India, Bangladesh and Indonesia are concerned that political unrest over food prices could soon erupt into violence in those nations as well.
Eric Bolling of the Fox Business Network recently did a really good job of explaining exactly what is causing all of this to happen, and in the video posted below he does not sound very optimistic about the rest of 2011 at all....


A recent article in Forbes magazine summarized the current global food situation this way....
The world is treading on dangerous ground. Market forces are in place for another global food crisis, and, as the wheels keep turning, it will become harder for these to be put in reverse.
So what does all of this mean for America?  Could we actually face food shortages in the United States at some point?
Well, at first a global food shortage would mean rapidly rising prices for food in the supermarkets.  The shelves would still be full, but people would not be able to afford to buy as much.
If a global food shortage was sharp enough and went on long enough, the price shocks would eventually turn into empty shelves and physical food shortages inside the United States.
Keep in mind, there are already tens of millions of Americans that cannot feed themselves.  In the United States today, there are over 43 million Americans on food stamps.  That means that approximately 1 out of every 7 Americans is being fed by the government.
So what is going to happen if real food shortages hit?
Already there are some very disturbing reports about food shortages in the U.S. floating around out there.
For example, the following is an excerpt from an alert that Steve Quayle recently posted on his website....
Having been one of the largest freeze dried food dealers in the U.S. for a number of years, I can tell you that this event is ominous. There are less than a dozen freeze drying food production facilities of consequence in the U.S. of which Mountain House is the largest. I was contacted late Wednesday night by one of their major dealers. He stated that Mountain House only had 4 entrees of foil packaged food available in their warehouse. They informed my dealer friend that "It was only going to get worse"!
The early warning signs are right there in front of us.  This has the potential to start getting very real.
Are you ready?  Are you prepared for price shocks?  Are you prepared for food shortages?  Are you prepared for a global economic meltdown?
The number of "preppers" in the United States has not exploded just because millions of Americans suddenly wanted to pick up a new hobby.  The truth is that over the last several years people have been waking up and have started realizing that the global economic system is heading for some really, really hard times.
Many believe that we are heading into what could potentially be some of the most chaotic times in all of human history.  Life in the years ahead is likely to be very different from what we are experiencing now.  The world is rapidly changing.  Now is the time to start getting prepared.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/price-shocks-food-shortages-and-global-economic-riots-in-2011


 http://www.globalchange.com Why biofuel industry is dead -- biofuel by converting food into oil is stupid and immoral. Biodiesel, biomass, biowaste and sugar to fuel conversion into biofuels. Food price rises. World bank report on biofuels and food prices. Ethanol and gasoline or petrol mix, European Union EU policy changes on biofuel. Biofuels policy reversal. Anti-biofuel campaigns.

Biofuel blamed for food riots, hunger, food shortages, rising food prices, wheat prices, food hoarding and stockpiles. Biofuel production: speculation in food futures. Biofuel links oil price to food price. Do biofuel quotas cause starvation, Africa Asia, India, China? Competition from biofuel manufafturers for food -- poor people cannot eat, food prices rise, biofuel means burning wheat in car engines, driving vehicles on biofuel, adding ethanol to petrol / gasoline. Biodiesel, soybean price rises, rice price rises, food riots, biofuel destruction of forests for agriculture. Non biofuel reasons for rising food prices: drought, crop failure, hoarding, ban on food exports, stockpiling of food, speculation on food commodities markets. Ethics of biomass fuel generation and increased use of fertilisers. Net carbon footprint of biofuel production. Net biofuel consumption or saving of CO2 / energy. Global trade in biofuels, food, oil and energy. Ethical crisis in biofuels industry. Federal government policy on biofuels and national energy policy. EU fuel regulations for ethanol, biodiesel and biomass fuel generation. Biofuel impact on oil prices, demand, economy, global warming, energy conservation and real estate industry. Biofuels and environment, environmental change, climate change. Risks in real estate development. Operational and management risks and role of a Futurist. What is a Futurist? Identifying new opportunities in buildings control, environmental regulation. Keeping pace with change in real estate planning and corporate real estate demands. Impact on corporate real estate of mergers and acquisitions. How world getting faster, client demands growing faster. How clients behave illogically in longer term real estate planning. Buildings controls, heating and cooling, retrofitting high rise, office blocks and factories. Building regulations and government action. Longer term real estate planning. Market research limitations and customer expectations, client demands. Architects and buildings design, living space, partitions, ventilation systems, balancing and rebalancing air conditioning. ARBS event in Australia 2008. Business management video by Dr Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker lecture, author of Futurewise and Building a Better Business. Global warming impact from offices and commercial buildings, skyscrapers, tower blocks and corporate real estate. Energy efficiency and energy consumption of commercial buildings and office blocks. Balancing air conditioning systems with better building control systems (integrated temperature monitoring) can save over 30% of energy costs each year. Johnson Controls and other companies provide specialist technical advice on heat loss reduction and air conditioning management systems. Issues of ventilation, fresh air, "tight" buildings, carbon dioxide levels, heat exchangers and air ducting. Electricity use and power generation on buildings. Green roofs, open spaces, shade, natural light. Impact of global warming and CO2 reduction on building design, architecture, building regulations and government standards. Special tax relief and concessions, reductions in stamp duty for energy compliant 5* and 6* commercial properties. Activist campaigns to reduce carbon emissions. Carbon trading and offsets. Energy in construction and demolition as proportion of life-time energy use. Future of corporate real estate and corporate real estate management companies. Outsourcing buildings management.

http://76.nationchannel.com/playvideo.php?id=129411

ผลกระทบน้ำมันปาล์มขาดตลาด
       แม่ค้าอาหารโดยเฉพาะประเภททอด อ่วม... เมื่อน้ำมันปาล์มขึ้นราคาและหาซื้อยาก บางรายหันไปใช้น้ำมันหมูแทนกันแล้ว

http://www.bsnnews.com/news/index.php?NewsID=4780&GroupID=53

14 มกราคม 2554 22:29:05
น้ำมันปาล์มมีแนวโน้มขาดตลาดอีก


กระทรวงพาณิชย์เตรียมควบคุมราคา น้ำมันปาล์มทั้งที่บรรจุแบบขวด ปี๊บ และถุงขนาด 1 ลิตร ให้ขายไม่เกิน 47 บาท ขณะที่ผู้ผลิตน้ำมันปาล์มยืนยันว่าภายใน 1-2 สัปดาห์นี้ ผู้บริโภคจะหาซื้อน้ำมันปาล์มยากยิ่งขึ้น หลังสต็อกอยู่ในขั้นวิกฤต

แหล่งข่าวจากผู้ผลิตน้ำมันปาล์มระบุว่า ขณะนี้ปริมาณน้ำมันปาล์มในสต็อกอยู่ในขั้นวิกฤต โดยเหลือเพียง 50,000 ตันเท่านั้น ทั้งที่ควรอยู่ในระดับ 120,000-150,000 ตัน ทำให้โรงงานแต่ละแห่งมีกำลังการผลิตเพียงร้อยละ 20 และบางโรงงานต้องหยุดผลิตช่วงนี้ และภายใน 1-2 สัปดาห์นี้ ผู้บริโภคยิ่งหาซื้อน้ำมันปาล์มยากขึ้น

แหล่งข่าวยังเสนอให้รัฐบาลนำเข้าน้ำมันปาล์มอีก 30,000 ตัน จากก่อนหน้าที่มีนโยบายนำเข้า 30,000 ตัน เพื่อให้สต็อกน้ำมันอยู่ในระดับใกล้เคียงปกติ ขณะเดียวกันอยากให้รัฐบาลหยุดการผลิตไบโอดีเซลบี 3 จนกว่าผลผลิตปาล์มจะออกสู่ตลาดมากขึ้น

นายสมชาย พรรัตนเจริญ นายกสมาคมการค้าส่ง-ปลีกไทย ระบุว่า ก่อนหน้านี้ผู้ผลิตขายน้ำมันปาล์มในปริมาณที่ลดลงและมีราคาสูงถึงขวดละ 50.42 บาท และยังบังคับให้ต้องซื้อคละขนาด ทำให้ต้องหยุดส่งน้ำมันประเภทนี้แก่ผู้ค้าปลีกเนื่องจากเกินกว่าราคาควบคุม ที่ 47 บาท

ขณะที่นางพรทิวา นาคาศัย รมว.พาณิชย์ ได้สั่งตั้งคณะกรรมการติดตาม ควบคุม กำกับดูแลและแก้ไขปัญหาน้ำมันพืชเพื่อการบริโภค เพื่อตรวจสอบสต็อกน้ำมันปาล์ม หลังพบว่าโรงงานแห่งหนึ่งย่านจังหวัดปทุมธานีกักตุนน้ำมันปาล์มจำนวน 50,000 ขวด ทั้งนี้หากพบว่ารายใดกักตุนหรือจำหน่ายสูงเกินกว่าราคาควบคุมในขนาดบรรจุขวด 1 ลิตร ที่ราคา 47 บาท ก็จะถูกดำเนินคดีทางกฎหมาย

และสัปดาห์หน้า คณะกรรมการว่าด้วยราคาสินค้าและบริการ (กกร.) จะประชุมเพื่อพิจารณาควบคุมราคาน้ำมันปาล์ม ไม่ว่าจะเป็นบรรจุภัณฑ์ประเภทขวด ปี๊บ และถุงขนาด 1 ลิตร ต้องขายไม่เกิน 47 บาท จากปัจจุบันคุมเฉพาะประเภทขวดเท่านั้น

ที่มา: ทีวีไทย
http://s4.zetaboards.com/Real_Hidden/topic/8421534/1/
Posted Image

ในขณะที่นักการเมือง โดยเฉพาะเทพเทือก ออกมาให้ข่าวก่อนหน้านี้ว่า

"กรณีการขึ้นราคาสินค้าเป็นหน้าที่และความรับผิดชอบของกระทรวงพาณิชย์ ซึ่งมีคณะกรรมการดูแลเป็นกรณีพิเศษอยู่แล้ว แต่ยังมีปัญหาการกักตุนน้ำมันปาล์มและสินค้าต่าง ๆ จึงได้สั่งการให้เจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจช่วยกระทรวงพาณิชย์อีกทางหนึ่ง โดยให้ไปสืบสวนดูว่าตรงไหนที่มีการกักตุนสินค้าเอาไว้ ก็จะดำเนินคดีทันที "

รู้หรือไม่ว่า หน้าที่และความรับผิดชอบที่แท้จริงของกระทรวงพาณิชย์ในการจัดการเกี่ยวกับน้ำมันปาล์มคืออะไร

หน้าที่และความรับผิดชอบนั้นก็คือ การบีบคอเพื่อที่จะให้นักธุรกิจน้ำมันปาล์มจ่ายเงินให้กับพวกมัน

ล็อตแรกขอหน้าด้านๆ 5%ต่อตันในการนำเข้าน้ำมันปาล์ม
ล็อตที่สองขออีก คราวนี้หนักหน่อย 120 ล้าน (แบบว่าทางพรรคต้องการใช้เงิน)

พอไม่ได้ ก็ให้ข่าวกับสื่อต่างๆว่าบริษัทฯน้ำมันปาล์มมีการกักตุนสินค้า
ล่าสุดถึงกับบอกว่า จะให้เทพเทือกและ DSI เข้าตรวจสอบ

อยากรู้ว่า หากเป็นตัวท่านเอง จะจัดการเรื่องนี้อย่างไร

จะใช้กฎหมาย กฎหมายก็ทำอะไรไม่ได้

ครั้งหนึ่งนายสุเทพเคยให้สัมภาษณ์ว่า "ส่วนตัวเป็นชาวสวนปาล์มคนหนึ่ง จึงทราบและเข้าใจดีในสถานการณ์ของปาล์มน้ำมันช่วงนี้"

ใครๆ ก็รู้ เจ้าของสวนปาล์มส่วนใหญ่มีนักการเมืองหนุนหลัง อีกทั้งยังมีข่าวว่ารถป้ายแดงในภาคใต้ออกกันแทบไม่ทัน เช่นนี้แล้วจะให้หมายความว่าอย่างไร

นายสุเทพ ยังเคยกล่าวอีกว่า ราคาปาล์มในภาคใต้ดีมาก

นั่นหมายความว่า ต้นทุนการผลิตน้ำมันปาล์มย่อมสูงขึ้น แต่ไฉนเลยเหล่านักการเมืองกลับโยนภาระการแบกรับราคาสินค้าให้กับผู้ผลิตน้ำมันปาล์ม

อีกทั้งยังไปขูดรีดขูดเนื้อเอาเงินกับผู้ผลิตน้ำมันปาล์มอีก
พอไม่ได้ก็เอาความมีอำนาจของตนมาข่มขู่และกลั่นแกล้ง แล้วก็ไปตีหน้าเศร้าเล่าความเท็จออกสื่อกับประชาชน

หน้าด้านซะไม่มี


Uploaded by  on Mar 1, 2011

หลัง รบ.มีมาตรการขายน้ำมันปาล์มไม่จำกัดจำนวน ชาวบ้านต่างแห่ซื้อน้ำมันปาล์มราคาถูกกันเนืองแน่น เมื่อพนักงานขนน้ำมันปาล์มแบบลังออกมาเพื่อจัดเรียง ยังไม่ทันจัดขึ้นชั้นชาวบ้านต่างฮือเข้ามายื้อแย่งกันอลหม่านโดยใช้เวลาเพียงพริบตาเดียวน้ำมันปาล์มหมดเกลี้ยง 

http://morning-news.bectero.com/เรื่องเล่าเช้านี้-ข่าวเศรษฐกิจ/เดือด!ชุลมุนยื้อแย่งน้ำมันปาล์มหายในพริบตา-201103029-4.html

http://morning-news.bectero.com/เรื่องเล่าเช้านี้-ข่าวเศรษฐกิจ/ผู้ผลิต'ถั่วเหลือง'ขู่ไม่ขึ้นราคาเลิกผลิตด้าน'กะทิ-น้ำตาลทราย'แพงหูฉี่-201103022-4.html


นายกฯ ยันครม.ยังไม่เคาะให้น้ำมันถั่วเหลืองขึ้นราคา ขณะที่ผู้ผลิตขู่เลิกผลิตเหตุต้นทุนแพง ด้านกะทิและน้ำตาลทรายเริ่มมีปัญหา ราคาพุ่งสูง ชาวบ้านเร่งกักตุน หวั่นเหมือนน้ำมันปาล์ม
Is a change of diet key to solving global warming & food crisis.

Some facts

While 100 million tons of grain are being diverted to make fuel this year, over seven times as much (760 million tons) will be used to feed animals. The world's passion for meat is a much bigger cause of global hunger than its passion for the car.

To maximise food production it is best to be vegan. According to Simon Fairlie, in his magazine The Land, it would take just 3 million hectares of arable land to meet Britain's food needs, half the current total, if the population were vegan.

* To produce 1 lb of meat, an average of 40 lbs of vegetation is used.
* 12 lbs of wheat produce 12 loaves of bread and only 1hamburger.
* It takes 3.25 acres of land to produce food for a meat eater on a continuing basis, while it takes 1/3 of an acre for someone eating a diet of plants and dairy and 1/6 of an acre for a person eating totally plant based diet (vegan).

* A University of California Study shows that to produce 1 lb of meat it takes an average of 2,500 gallons of water, it takes 966 gallons of water to produce one gallon of cow's milk and on the other hand plant foods such as wheat, corn, apples etc. take 20 to 50 gallons of water to produce one pound of food.

* Eating food crops first hand produces a tremendous energy savings. To produce one pound of protein derived from beef requires 20 times as much fossil fuel energy as the same one pound of protein derived from corn or wheat. Protein from beef requires 40 times more fossil fuel energy than the same amount of protein derived from soybeans.

* The waste released in the atmosphere by the U.S. Meat and Dairy Industry is 230,000 pounds per second, thus polluting earth, air and water systems.

* It is estimated that it takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday edition of The New York Times for the readers.

These staggering numbers are a wake up-call for us to make a difference now.

Human Welfare

* Twenty vegetarians can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one person consuming a meat-based diet.

* If America reduced their intake of meat by 10 percent, 60 million people can be adequately fed by grain saved.

* A cow has to eat 7 lbs of grain and soy bean protein to produce 1 lb of meat protein. If the same land were to produce food for humans directly, 7 times more people could eat.

* More than half of all the water used in the United States is used in live stock production that can be used where there is water shortage.

When we become aware of these facts and change our lifestyle and go vegan we can increase the amount of grain available to feed people elsewhere, reduce pollution, save water and energy, cease contributing to the clearing of forests and the most important we can save thousands of sentient beings from torture and pain.

Today the dairy cows have become milking machines for human beings. The cows are kept pregnant every year for a consecutive 9-10 year period by artificial insemination. As soon as the cows stop yielding milk, they are dragged to the slaughter house for beef meat. Poor calves are forcefully dragged away from their mothers, depriving them of their mother's milk that is rightfully theirs. If the calves are female they are raised as dairy cows and are exploited as their mothers and at the end face the same fate as them. If the calves are male they are fattened by hormone injections and kept in dark sheds away from sunlight in oppressed conditions, preparing them for veal meat. This ultimately ends the lives of the cows and calves prematurely and cruelly.

http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1295525739&grpid=&catid=02&subcatid=0202

สาละวินโพสต์รายงาน หิมะตกหนักที่ "รัฐคะฉิ่น" ชายแดนด้านเหนือของ "พม่า"

วันที่ 20 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2554 เวลา 22:30:00 น.

เว็บไซต์นิตยสารสาละวินโพสต์ (http://www.salweennews.org) รายงานว่า หิมะที่กำลังตกหนักตรงบริเวณหุบเขาปันวา ในรัฐคะฉิ่น ใกล้กับชายแดนจีน กำลังส่งผลกระทบให้อาคารบ้านเรือน รวมถึงสำนักงานศุลกากรของทางการพม่าพังเสียหายหลายหลัง และทำให้การเดินทางสัญจรไปมาเป็นไปอย่างยากลำบาก

"เราไม่เคยเจอเหตุการณ์เช่นนี้มาก่อน หิมะตกอย่างกับฝนตกหนัก นั่นจึงทำให้อาคารหลายหลังพังเสียหายลงมา แม้จะยังไม่มีใครได้รับบาดเจ็บ แต่ก็มีการปิดกั้นไม่ให้ประชาชนเดินทางเข้าออกตรงบริเวณที่เกิดเหตุแล้ว" ชาวบ้านในพื้นที่กล่าว

ขณะที่การเดินทางสัญจรไปมาในเมืองชีพวย เมืองที่อยู่ถัดไปก็เป็นไปอย่างทุลักทุเลเช่นกัน เนื่องจากตามถนนเต็มไปด้วยหิมะและลูกเห็บ มีรายงานเช่นกันว่า ผู้สูงอายุเป็นจำนวนมากในเมืองบ่าหม่อเกิดอาการช็อก เป็นเพราะอุณหภูมิที่ลดลงอย่างต่อเนื่อง

ด้านนายทุน ลิน จากกรมอุตุนิยมวิทยาและอุทกวิทยาในย่างกุ้งรายงานเมื่อต้นเดือนนี้ว่า มวลอากาศเย็นจะปกคลุมทางตอนเหนือของรัฐคะฉิ่นอย่างต่อเนื่องระหว่างเดือน มกราคมถึงเดือนมีนาคม โดยอุณหภูมิในพื้นที่จะเพิ่มขึ้นหรือลดลงก็ขึ้นอยู่กับความเร็วลมและทิศทาง ลมจากพื้นที่สูงในประเทศจีน

มีรายงานเช่นเดียวกันว่า นับตั้งแต่ปลายเดือนธันวาคมปีที่ แล้วถึงเดือนมกราคม พื้นที่สูงทางภาคตะวันตก ภาคเหนือและภาคตะวันออกของพม่ามีอากาศหนาวเย็นต่อเนื่อง โดยในเมืองฮักคา เมืองมินดาด ในรัฐชิน เมืองหลอยแหลมและเมืองป๋างโหลง ทางใต้ของรัฐฉานพบว่ามีอุณหภูมิติดลบในตอนกลางคืนด้วยเช่นกัน   

 

ใส่เสื้อผ้าหนาๆ ไว้ โลกกำลังร้อน!?!

วันที่ 14 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2554 เวลา 21:00:00 น.
โดย เกษียร เตชะพีระ

ผมอยากเชิญชวนท่านผู้อ่านลองพิจารณาข้อมูลภูมิอากาศในรอบปี ค.ศ.2010 ที่ผ่านมาต่อไปนี้ดู: -
พม่า : หน้าร้อนที่ผ่านมา อุณหภูมิในพม่าขึ้นสูงถึง 46.6 องศาเซลเชียส

จีน : ภาคใต้ของจีนน้ำท่วมและแผ่นดินถล่มเนื่องจากฝนตกหนักติดต่อกันหลายสัปดาห์ บางท้องที่ในมณฑลเสฉวนเกิดน้ำท่วมหนักที่สุดในรอบกว่า 150 ปี

ญี่ปุ่น : หน้าร้อนญี่ปุ่นปีที่แล้วร้อนที่สุดเป็นประวัติการณ์นับแต่หน่วยงาน อุตุนิยมวิทยาของญี่ปุ่นเคยเก็บรวบรวมข้อมูลเริ่มจากปี ค.ศ.1898 เป็นต้นมา, ร้อนกว่าสถิติร้อนที่สุดของญี่ปุ่นครั้งก่อนในปี ค.ศ.1994, ในกรุงโตเกียว อุณหภูมิขึ้นสูงถึง 37 องศาเซลเชียส

ปากีสถาน : อุณหภูมิหน้าร้อนขึ้นสูงถึง 53.6 องศาเซลเชียส ทำลายสถิติร้อนที่สุดในทวีปเอเชีย พายุฝนยังตกกระหน่ำทำให้น้ำท่วมพื้นที่ราว 1 ใน 5 ของประเทศ ชาวปากีสถาน 20 ล้านคนเดือดร้อนสาหัส

ไนเจอร์ : แรกทีเดียวประสบภัยแล้งซึ่งอาจก่อทุพภิกขภัยกว้างขวาง แต่แล้วก็เกิดน้ำท่วมใหญ่ตามมา ทำให้ชาวไนเจอร์แสนคนไร้ที่อยู่อาศัย

รัสเซีย : กรุงมอสโกซึ่งแต่ไหนแต่ไรไม่เคยร้อนถึง 37.7 องศาเซลเชียสมาก่อนเลย ปรากฏว่าหน้าร้อนเดือนกรกฎาคมศกก่อน อุณหภูมิในมอสโกขึ้นไปแตะเพดาน 37.7 องศาเซลเชียส ถึง 5 ครั้ง หากเทียบสถิติอุณหภูมิมอสโกนับแต่ปี ค.ศ.1950 เป็นต้นมา เหตุที่เกิดขึ้นนับว่าหาได้ยากพอๆ กับเรื่องราวที่แสนปีจะมีสักครั้ง คลื่นความร้อนที่รัสเซียไม่เคยประสบมาก่อนในรอบ 130 ปี ยังทำให้ไฟป่าปะทุไหม้ลามหลายพันแห่งทั่วประเทศชาวรัสเซียเสียชีวิตไป 15,000 คน เหตุเหล่านี้ส่งผลสะเทือนไปทั่วโลกในสภาพที่รัสเซียต้องหยุดส่งออกข้าวสาลี เนื่องจากผลผลิตเสียหายเพราะอากาศร้อนผิดปกติราว 30%

ค่าอุณหภูมิพื้นผิวโลกผิดปกติเป็นองศาเซลเชียส (a) ม.ค.-พ.ย.2010 (b) พ.ย.2010


ยุโรป : หิมะตกหนักและพายุหิมะทำให้การเดินทางโดยเครื่องบินโกลาหลวุ่นวายไปทั่วทวีป

สหรัฐอเมริกา : เกิดพายุฝนหนักตกกระหน่ำในหลายมลรัฐทางภาคตะวันออกของสหรัฐ เริ่มจากมลรัฐนิวอิงแลนด์ในเดือนมีนาคม, ตามมาด้วยฝนตกสูงถึง 13 นิ้วในชั่ว 2 วัน เมื่อเดือนพฤษภาคมในมลรัฐเทนเนสซี ส่งผลให้น้ำท่วมใหญ่เมืองแนชวิลล์จมอยู่ใต้น้ำโดยพื้นฐานมีผู้เสียชีวิต 30 คน ต้องอพยพหนีอุทกภัยอีกหลายพัน ถือเป็นเหตุการณ์หาได้ยากประเภทพันปีมีหนในมลรัฐนี้และก่อภัยพิบัติร้ายแรง แก่เทนเนสซีชนิดที่ยากจะหากรณีอื่นใดเทียบได้นอกจากสงครามกลางเมือง เหนือ-ใต้ของอเมริกาเมื่อเกือบ 150 ปีก่อน, จากนั้นฝนก็ตกหนักเป็นประวัติการณ์ในเมืองโอคลาโฮมา ซิตี้ในเดือนมิถุนายน, และพายุฝนกระหน่ำมลรัฐนอร์ทแคโรไลนาติดชายฝั่งในเดือนตุลาคม

ใน ขอบเขตทั่วประเทศ นี่เป็นฤดูร้อนที่สุดอันดับ 4 ของสหรัฐ โดยรวมศูนย์แถบพื้นที่ติดมหาสมุทรแอตแลนติกตอนกลาง เช่นเขตเมืองหลวงวอชิงตัน ดี.ซี. แต่แล้วสภาพภูมิอากาศก็สวิงกลับไปกลับมาระหว่างร้อนตับแทบแตกกับพายุหิมะ ตกหนัก ลมโกรกแรง อากาศหนาวจัดอีกในช่วงปลายปี เมืองใหญ่น้อยหลายร้อยแห่งทางฝั่งตะวันออกถูกถล่มด้วยพายุหิมะใหญ่หลัง คริสต์มาส หลายแห่งหิมะตกหนากว่า 2 ฟุต ลมแรงถึง 80 ไมล์ต่อชั่วโมง มลรัฐ 6 แห่งต้องประกาศภาวะฉุกเฉิน เที่ยวบิน รถไฟ รถโดยสารหลายพันเที่ยวต้องยกเลิก ที่นิวยอร์ก หิมะตกกองพะเนินเทินทึกอากาศหนาวยะเยียบไม่ทันไร ปรากฏว่ากลับตาลปัตรอุ่นขึ้นเป็น 10 องศาเซลเชียส ช่วงวันสุกดิบก่อนขึ้นปีใหม่!?!

ดัชนี อุณหภูมิแผ่นดิน-มหาสมุทรของโลก แสดงค่าอุณหภูมิผิดปกติเป็นองศาเซลเชียส ค.ศ.1880-ปัจจุบัน (a) ค่าเฉลี่ยรายปีและราย 5 ปี (b) ค่าเฉลี่ย 60 เดือน และ 132 เดือน


ความผันผวน แปรปรวนสวิงสุดโต่งของภูมิอากาศในอเมริกา จะเห็นได้จากสถิติเปรียบเทียบระหว่างท้องที่ทั่วประเทศ ซึ่งรายงานว่ามีอุณหภูมิสูงสุดเป็นประวัติการณ์ กับท้องที่ซึ่งรายงานว่ามีอุณหภูมิต่ำสุดเป็นประวัติการณ์ในรอบปีที่ผ่านมา ปรากฏว่ามีที่ร้อนเป็นประวัติการณ์ 4,100 แห่ง ขณะที่หนาวเป็นประวัติการณ์ 1,500 แห่ง คิดเป็นอัตราส่วนร้อนสุดต่อหนาวสุดราว 2.5:1

ประเทศไทย, อินโดนีเซีย, อินเดีย, เวเนซุเอลา ฯลฯ : ฝนตกหนัก โคลนถล่มและเกิดน้ำท่วมกว้างขวาง มีผู้เสียชีวิตหลายพัน บ้านช่องทรัพย์สินเสียหายวอดวายนับล้านครอบครัว

18 ประเทศทั่วโลก : คิดเป็นเนื้อที่ 1 ใน 5 ของพื้นผิวโลกต่างรายงานว่ามีอุณหภูมิร้อนที่สุดเป็นประวัติการณ์ในปี เดียวกัน ขณะที่หน้าพายุเฮอร์ริเคนของมหาสมุทรแอตแลนติกก็มีพายุชุกชุม ส่วนมหาสมุทรแปซิฟิกก็เปลี่ยนจากภาวะกระแสน้ำอุ่นเอลนิโญ่ (El Nino) ไปเป็นภาวะกระแสน้ำเย็นลานีญ่า (La Nina) แทน

โลก : องค์การนาซา (NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration) ของรัฐบาลสหรัฐรายงานเมื่อศุกร์ที่ 10 ธันวาคมศกก่อนว่าปีอุตุนิยมวิทยาที่ผ่านมา (นับจากธันวาคม ค.ศ.2009- พฤศจิกายน ค.ศ.2010) เป็นปีที่ร้อนที่สุดในรอบ 131 ปีเท่าที่องค์การนาซาเคยเก็บสถิติมา ที่น่าวิตกก็คือมันเป็นปีร้อนที่สุดทั้งๆ ที่มี 2 ปัจจัยคอยช่วยผ่อนคลายประทังให้โลกเย็นไว้ ได้แก่ 1) โลกกำลังอยู่ในช่วงความรับอาบรังสีจากดวงอาทิตย์ต่ำ (lower solar irradiance) ซึ่งช่วยให้ภูมิอากาศโลกเย็นลง และ 2) ยังมีปรากฏการณ์กระแสน้ำเย็นลานีญ่าซึ่งช่วยกดอุณหภูมิเฉลี่ยของโลกให้ต่ำ ไว้นับแต่ปลายหน้าร้อนปีที่แล้วเป็นต้นมาด้วย

ข่าวนี้ทำให้ ดอกเตอร์ เจมส์ ฮันเส็น ผู้อำนวยการ Goddard Institute for Space Studies และยอดนักวิทยาศาสตร์ด้านภูมิอากาศแห่งองค์การนาซา ชี้ไว้ในบทความที่เขียนร่วมกับเพื่อนร่วมงาน 3 คน ว่า : "อุณหภูมิที่ สูงเป็นประวัติการณ์ครั้งใหม่ในปี ค.ศ.2010 มีความหมายสำคัญเป็นพิเศษเพราะมันเกิดขึ้นในระหว่างที่ความรับอาบรังสีจาก ดวงอาทิตย์ต่ำสุดเมื่อเร็วๆ นี้กำลังส่งผลผ่อนคลายโลกให้เย็นลงที่สุด"
สรุป : ภัยพิบัติธรรมชาติในรอบปี ค.ศ.2010 ที่ผ่านมาคร่าชีวิตผู้คนทั่วโลกไปประมาณ 260,000 คน (ในจำนวนนี้มี 21,000 รายที่เสียชีวิตเนื่องจากภูมิอากาศโดยตรง) มากกว่ายอดผู้เสียชีวิตจากภัยก่อการร้าย 40 ปีที่ผ่านมารวมกัน (ไม่ถึง 115,000 คน), มันทำลายเศรษฐกิจโลกเสียหายไปทั้งสิ้นราว 222 พันล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐ (มูลค่ามากกว่าเศรษฐกิจของฮ่องกงทั้งเกาะ), บัญชีหัวข้อข่าวภัยพิบัติธรรมชาติรายวันตลอดปีที่แล้วซึ่งสำนักข่าวเอพี ประมวลขึ้นยาวเหยียดถึง 64 หน้ากระดาษพิมพ์!

คำถาม : แล้วอากาศสวิงสุดโต่ง (extreme weather) ที่คร่าชีวิตผู้คนไปเรือนหมื่นเรือนแสนเมื่อปีที่แล้วเกี่ยวพันเชื่อมโยงกับ ภาวะโลกร้อนและภูมิอากาศเปลี่ยนแปลง (global warming & climate change) อย่างไร?
 

http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1295010076&grpid=&catid=02&subcatid=0207 

Sunday, 10 August 2008


CHAOZ


K-OZ

The Radiohead song "No Surprises" springs to mind with events spiralling out of control (though obviously 100% controlled), I said in my Megan Fox post (I hope my mix of sex and violence isn't too disturbing) of the Georgian conflict "watch it escalate" on 08/08/08 and in today's times (10th) the headline is: "Hundreds die as war in Georgia escalates" (Edit: Following day 11th Times headline, is "We helped in Iraq - now help us, beg Georgians"[referring to Georgia's troops it had in Iraq but I think it is directed at the brainwashed British sheeple (who think their government "helped" Iraq by removing Saddam and bombing them almost to dust), with an image of a traumatized Georgian woman holding a baby for some added emotional blackmail]... we "helped" in Iraq?!?!?! Murdoch is hilariously evil.). Edit: The chaoz is in South Ossetia (Oz) and it's flag is the flag of St. George which is basically the Knights Templar flag (pre-Chrstian solar cross, the 4 crosses are narrower towards the center) imo. Dick Cheney, the war machine caricature that he is says Russia's actions "must not go unanswered" so he's in total chaos mode let's see what "he" does (whatever he's told, then tells Bush to do).


Edit: Added in video where he says New World Order fully.
[Note the Masonic G spoken of way back in this post too]



"We are fighting for future world order".
(the future New World Order, full phrase spoken in above video.)


"So are we!" (not a real quote)


 Georgian shelling of South Ozzetia resumed at 3.30.
(33 Freemasonry)

It's so painfully predictable, all the frenzied killings (I'm convinced they are ALL mind controlled), the building up the sides of WW3 (China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan etc. vs the West, India, Japan etc.) through intentionally leaked stories like this one, poor brainwashed 23 year old students like this one who go to China to get some anti-Chinese sentiment built (look how thugish the Chinese police are, hate them... HATE THEM NOW!!! Why won't they free Tibet?! :'(), and preparing the masses psychologically for an imminent terrorist attack on our shores with stories like this one. This is all bull shit propoganda, this is true of all stories released by the press, there is always an agenda, the media is controlled by... it doesn't matter (feel free to call them the "illuminati", though they love that I get the feeling), you don't need to see who the person is throwing shit to realise you should get the hell out of the way before it hits you. Anyway, I just wanted to post an update on the story of the American who was stabbed in China. FUCK the New World Order and Fuck the Fuckers (allow me a moments controlled anger) who live in blissful ignorance to everything (and I mean everything) despite all the freely available information thanks to the internet. I include protestors (all mainstream protest groups [apart from some animal rights groups I heard] were taken control of under the Blair government) who got beaten by cops using batons at E.ON's new coal plant (wtf? I thought coal was 19th Century power from school), anyway for your entertainment here is a video. Brainwashed maniacs, both the Freemasonic police and the protestors following their leader's orders
(global warming is a psyop, they are doing exactly
what the gov't wants them to do, create CHAOZ).


"
An American man was murdered and his wife and their tour guide seriously injured in Beijing yesterday when a Chinese man went ‘berserk’ with a knife on the first day of the Olympics.
Todd and Barbara Bachman were sightseeing with their daughter, former Olympian Elisabeth, who is married to the U.S. men’s volleyball team coach Hugh McCutcheon.
Mr Bachman was chief executive of his family’s £40million home and garden centre business based in Lakeville, Minnesota, and also a major philanthropist.
They were visiting an ancient landmark – the 13th century Drum Tower, three miles from the main Olympic site – when they became involved in a row with a stranger, named as 47-year-old Tang Yongming.
Witnesses told The Mail on Sunday that their attacker, who apparently spoke English, ‘slashed wildly’ at the group, killing Mr Bachman instantly. He then climbed up the tower and clung to a rail for 30 minutes, before jumping to his death.
Inexplicably, police took nearly 90 minutes to reach the scene and US diplomats were said last night to be seeking an urgent explanation for the delay.
In keeping with China’s determination to control anything that could damage its reputation, officers warned witnesses not to speak to journalists. [GRRR Those Chinese have no press freedoms!!! We should so bomb them!]
The killing cast a shadow over the Games, which opened amid unprecedented levels of security with a spectacular ceremony on Friday. It left the US volleyball squad – of which the couple’s daughter was once a member – ‘deeply shocked’.
Jim Easton, an American member of the International Olympic Committee, said: ‘It appears to be a random attack by a deranged man.
Mrs Bachman and the unnamed tour guide were being treated last night at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Her daughter was not injured.
One witness said that an argument between the group and Yongming, from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, began in the square in front of the ancient landmark at about 12.20pm [2012] local time.
"


Mind Controlled Puppets for the New World Order [images from Olympic opening ceremony]

And back at home, the West gets some MK revenge, setting another frenzied MKiller on two Chinese students (same day actually) 08/08/08, guess what apartment they were in, apartment 8... wakey wakey (Sky News zoomed in on the number, they probably have the same video on their site here is an updated link, this link for original daily mail article pasted below. In typical MK fashion (random ritualistic, seemingly nonsensicle behavior), the pet cat was drowned in the bath.
"

Detectives investigating a double murder in Newcastle upon Tyne have revealed the victims were Chinese students.The man and woman, who both suffered severe head injuries, were found in separate bedrooms of a ground floor flat in Croydon Road, in the city's West End area at 4.30pm yesterday.
A source described the scene as 'gruesome' and the nature of the injuries meant officers were unable to say what kind of weapon had been used.
Neither the man, discovered lying on the bed in the back bedroom, nor the woman, found on a bed in the front bedroom, has been formally identified.
However Northumbria Police said the pair we believed to be students and that officers were trying to contact their next of kin.
A police spokesman said: 'The pair had both suffered significant head injuries.'
The cause of death has not yet been determined and postmortem examinations will be carried out at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.
Croydon Road has been cordoned off while forensic officers searched the two-bedroom property for evidence.
Last night a silver hatchback parked close to the crime scene was loaded on to a covered police lorry while extra police patrols were on duty to reassure residents in the West End, an area popular with students and Asian families.
One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: 'They have not been here for long and they just kept themselves to themselves.'
The crime scene is less than 200 yards from a primary school and a few minutes' walk from Newcastle United's home ground.
By a tragic coincidence [no such thing] the flat is just a couple of doors away from the former home of 11-year-old schoolboy Wesley Neailey, who was murdered in 1998 by convicted paedophile Dominic McKilligan.
McKilligan, who was jailed for life in 1999, had recently been released from a young offenders institution before the murder. Wesley's parents still live in the Croydon Road area. [he was programmed (to kill an 11 year old) at that young offenderws institution, I assume]
Another neighbour, who also asked not to be named, added: 'This is a nice place to live and we have been here for 15 years but seeing all the police activity has brought back memories of Wesley.' [a favoured spot then for "illuminati" mind control blood rituals]
Detective Chief Inspector Mick Paterson, leading the investigation, appealed for those with information to call 03456 043 043.
Expect more K-OZ in the near future, I'll post on relevant stories. [Also, I probably sound a little cold, but my heart goes out to all victims of the insane f*****s that run the planet and are creating all the chaos to bring order out of it] Hmmm, I should probably take a break, teetering on the brink of MKMadness, tracking all the (potentially) controlled events is obviously not healthy. Going to stick with movies for the next few days (started capping Zohan) unless there are more stories that I habitually must post.


Edit: This post is all a little ranty, might delete. P.S. R.I.P. Chef from South Park (Isaac Hayes), his music was amazing too, I'm still pursuing that pimpmobile.

http://pseudoccultmedia.blogspot.com/2008/08/chaoz.html

Friday, 2 May 2008


Rev. Wright ushering in the new race war, with the help of the occult media.


The Daily Show has been great recently, it's portrayed the news media's violent/blood-thirsty language accurately. Barack Obama has been called the new JFK and quite a few people have speculated he might be assassinated. Rev. Wright is hilarious, The Daily Show episode 30/04/08 has a brilliant segment which had me cracking up showing the news media's rediculous portrayal of him (fast-motion Wright, slow-motion Wright, negative-image Wright). But in all seriousness I'm sure this is being used to ratchet up as much racial hatred as possible and probably brainwash a few people into violence.


Masonic G, dark/light symbolism round a circle.
If you count each dark and each light section as
a point of a star you get 6, so a hexagram.

Glenn Beck, sporting his army-style short hair and his Freemasonic logos sums up the news media's angle on this: "Be afraid America, very afraid... this guy has the ear of the possible next president and he ain't speakin to himself!"

And how's this for some occult magickal practises: You've got a pentagram made up of news media talking heads. And look what's at the top point of the pentagram, twin pillars with red (violence, mars colour) doors. The guy positioned at the top of the pentagram, specifically between the twin pillars says, I quote: "He wasn't just throwing him under the bus, there was Barack Obama driving the bus, rolling over him over and over!" In reference to Barack's response to Wright's statements.


And to round off, a screen from the same daily show episode showing the pope in symbolic red hats and a random numerology synch from the night before.

 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=62697
 http://secretlifeofshoes.blogspot.com/2005/12/popes-red-hat.html
 http://www.wayodd.com/pope-benedict-wears-a-red-saturno-hat-surprising-thousands-in-st-peters-square/v/4000/

http://pseudoccultmedia.blogspot.com/2008/05/rev-wright-ushering-in-new-race-war.html

 From: EXOMATRlXTV | January 06, 2011

From: EXOMATRlXTV | January 05, 2011

http://inteldaily.com/2010/11/9-shocking-examples-of-black-friday-violence-%E2%80%93-is-this-a-foretaste-of-the-economic-riots-we-can-expect-when-the-financial-system-collapses/ 


Brzezinski Decries “Global Political Awakening” During CFR Speech

May 20, 2010
By Power Point Paradise -- 16 views
Trilateral Commission co-founder says infighting amongst elite,
combined with awakening of humanity worldwide,
is hampering move towards one world government

At a recent Council on Foreign Relations speech in Montreal, co-founder with David Rockefeller of the Trilateral Commission and regular Bilderberg attendee Zbigniew Brzezinski warned that a “global political awakening,” in combination with infighting amongst the elite, was threatening to derail the move towards a one world government.

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, May 19, 2010


JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE. BEHOLD YOUR LEADERS WORLD!

Brzezinski explained that global political leadership had become “much more diversified unlike what it was until relatively recently,” noting the rise of China as a geopolitical power, and that global leadership in the context of the G20 was “lacking internal unity with many of its members in bilateral antagonisms.”

In other words, the global elite is infighting amongst itself and this is hampering efforts to rescue the agenda for global government, which seems to be failing on almost every front.

Brzezinski then explained another significant factor in that, “For the first time in all of human history mankind is politically awakened – that’s a total new reality – it has not been so for most of human history.”
Watch the clip.


http://powerpointparadise.com/blog/2010/05/brzezinski-decries-%E2%80%9Cglobal-political-awakening%E2%80%9D-during-cfr-speech/

Brzezinski continued, “The whole world has become politically awakened,” adding that all over the world people were aware of what was happening politically and were “consciously aware of global inequities, inequalities, lack of respect, exploitation.”

“Mankind is now politically awakened and stirring,” said Brzezinski, adding that this in combination with a fractured elite “makes it a much more difficult context for any major power, including currently the leading world power, the United States.”

During a subsequent question and answer session, Brzezinski was asked if he thought another organization should replace the United Nations as the de facto “one world government,” to which Brzezinski responded,
“There should be such an organization,” before
pointing out that the UN was not it in its current role.

As the text at the end of the video makes clear, Brzezinski’s admission that humanity has undergone a political awakening is not a positive development in the eyes of the elite.

In his 1970 book Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era, Brzezinski wrote the following.

“The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.”

The “elite” to which Brzezinski refers included many of those who were in attendance for his speech at the CFR meeting. The global political awakening which Brzezinski discussed represents part of the resistance to that very elite dominated society and the systems of control, subjugation and surveillance that they have imposed upon the human race in pursuit of a “more controlled society” and a one world government.

ARTICLE SOURCE:  Prison Planet.com

http://inteldaily.com/2011/01/from-military-industrial-complex-to-permanent-war-state/

From Military-Industrial Complex to Permanent War State

January 19, 2011
Related: What Eisenhower Got Wrong
By Gareth Porter

Fifty years after Dwight D. Eisenhower’s January 17, 1961 speech on the “military-industrial complex”, that threat has morphed into a far more powerful and sinister force than Eisenhower could have imagined.  It has become a “Permanent War State”, with the power to keep the United States at war continuously for the indefinite future.

But despite their seeming invulnerability, the vested interests behind U.S. militarism have been seriously shaken twice in the past four decades by some combination of public revulsion against a major war, opposition to high military spending, serious concern about the budget deficit and a change in perception of the external threat.  Today, the Permanent War State faces the first three of those dangers to its power simultaneously — and in a larger context of the worst economic crisis since the great depression.

When Eisenhower warned in this farewell address of the “potential” for the “disastrous rise of misplaced power”, he was referring to the danger that militarist interests would gain control over the country’s national security policy. The only  reason it didn’t happen on Ike’s watch is that he stood up to the military and its allies.

The Air Force and the Army were so unhappy with his “New Look” military policy that they each waged political campaigns against it. The Army demanded that Ike reverse his budget cuts and beef up conventional forces. The Air Force twice fabricated intelligence to support its claim that the Soviet Union was rapidly overtaking the United States in strategic striking power — first in bombers, later in ballistic missiles.

But Ike defied both services, reducing Army manpower by 44 percent from its 1953 level and refusing to order a crash program for bombers or for missiles.  He also rejected military recommendations for war in Indochina, bombing attacks on China and an ultimatum to the Soviet Union.

After Eisenhower, it became clear that the alliance of militarist interests included not only the military services and their industrial clients but civilian officials in the Pentagon, the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, top officials at the State Department and the White House national security adviser.  During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, that militarist alliance succeeded in pushing the White House into a war in Vietnam, despite the reluctance of both presidents, as documented in my book Perils of Dominance.

But just when the power of the militarist alliance seemed unstoppable in the late 1960s, the public turned decisively against the VietnamWar, and a long period of public pressure to reduce military spending began.  As a result, military manpower was reduced to below even the Eisenhower era levels.

For more than a decade the alliance of militarist interests was effectively constrained from advocating a more aggressive military posture.

Even during the Reagan era, after a temporary surge in military spending, popular fear of Soviet Union melted away in response to the rise of Gorbachev, just as the burgeoning federal budget deficit was becoming yet another threat to militarist bloc.  As it became clear that the Cold War was drawing to a close, the militarist interests faced the likely loss of much of their power and resources.

But in mid-1990 they got an unexpected break when Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait. George H. W. Bush – a key figure in the militarist complex as former CIA Director — seized the opportunity to launch a war that would end the “Vietnam syndrome”.  The Bush administration turned a popular clear-cut military victory in the 1991 Gulf War into a rationale for further use of military force in the Middle East.   Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney’s 1992 military strategy for the next decade said, “We must be prepared to act decisively in the Middle East/Persian Gulf region as we did in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm if our vital interests are threatened anew.”

The Bush administration pressured the Saudis and other Arab regimes in the Gulf to allow longer-term bases for the U.S. Air Force, and over the next eight years, U.S. planes flew an annual average of 8,000 sorties in the “no fly zones” the United States had declared over most of Iraq, drawing frequent anti-aircraft fire.

The United States was already in a de facto state of war with Iraq well before George W. Bush’s presidency.
The 9/11 attacks were the biggest single boon to the militarist alliance.  The Bush administration exploited the climate of fear to railroad the country into a war of aggression against Iraq.  The underlying strategy, approved by the military leadership after 9/11, was to use Iraq as a base from which to wage a campaign of regime change in a long list of countries.

That fateful decision only spurred recruitment and greater activism by al Qaeda and other jihadist groups, which expanded into Iraq and other countries.

Instead of reversing the ill-considered use of military force, however, the same coalition of officials pushed for an even more militarized approach to jihadism.  Over the next few years, it to gained unprecedented power over resources and policy at home and further extended its reach abroad:

·         The Special Operations Forces, which operate in almost complete secrecy, obtained extraordinary authority to track down and kill or capture al Qaeda suspects not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in many more countries.

·         The CIA sought and obtained virtually unlimited freedom to carry out drone strikes in secrecy and without any meaningful oversight by Congress.

·         The Pentagon embraced the idea of the “long war” – a twenty-year strategy envisioning deployment of U.S. troops in dozens of countries, and the Army adopted the idea of “the era of persistent warfare” as its rationale for more budgetary resources.

·         The military budget doubled from 1998 to 2008 in the biggest explosion of military spending since the early 1950s – and now accounts for 56 percent of discretionary federal spending.

·         The military leadership used its political clout to ensure that U.S. forces would continue to fight in Afghanistan indefinitely, even after the premises of its strategy were shown to have been false.

Those moves have completed the process of creating a “Permanent War State” — a set of institutions with the authority to wage largely secret wars across a vast expanse of the globe for the indefinite future.

But the power of this new state formation is still subject to the same political dynamics that have threatened militarist interests twice before:  popular antipathy to a major war, broad demands for reduced military spending and the necessity to reduce the Federal budget deficit and debt.

The percentage of Americans who believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting has now reached 60 percent for the first time.  And as the crisis over the federal debt reaches it climax, the swollen defense budget should bear the brunt of deep budget cuts.

As early as 2005, a Pew Research Center survey found that, when respondents were given the opportunity to express a preference for budget cuts by major accounts, they opted to reduce  military spending by 31 percent.  In another survey by the Pew Center a year ago, 76 percent of respondents, frustrated by the continued failure of the U.S. economy, wanted the United States to put top priority in its domestic problems.

The only thing missing from this picture is a grassroots political movement organized specifically to demand an end to the Permanent War State.  Such a movement could establish firm legal restraints on the institutions that threaten American Democratic institutions through a massive educational and lobbying effort. This is the right historical moment to harness the latent anti-militarist sentiment in the country to a conscious strategy for political change.

http://inteldaily.com/2011/01/white-house-plans-to-launch-internet-id-system-further-eroding-civil-and-political-rights/
 http://profcomp.dynalias.net/heart7/www.heart7.net/operation-monarch.html

PROJECT MONARCH PROGRAMMING DEFINITIONS


4. THETA -Psychic programming ...the "exotic one". But not to be confused with the paranormal phenomenon of fortune telling or future forecasting. Those are examples of a magician's craft - while Theta psychic programming was and is the exploration of an unpredictable fact of human science. The initial results of Theta programmed subjects were inconsistent that the Theta project was virtually abandoned before its research completion date. Duke University, North Carolina, among other prominent "institutions", devoted many years to this project with what equated to poor results. It seems that the region of the brain able of transmitting and/or receiving "mental messages" has not yet evolved to a level for dependable communication...with any predictable, reliable consistency. The Soviets, however, invested billions of dollars into their version of psychic research and claimed/proved remarkable successes. With the advances in directed energy research... Theta "psychic driving" is obsolete.

But the Theta program "head" was not dead yet. Theta couldn't die because of the Soviet's reported successes...it evolved into bio-medical human telemetry and directed target energy involving lasers and/or electromagnetics...the results of which were referred to as "electronic possession". The ultimate challenge for the 21st century exorcist... providing he worked a day job-as a skilled CIA supported Neurosurgeon. 

A few years ago, this programming technique involved the surgical implantation of sodium/lithium powered high frequency receiver/ transducers coupled to a multi-range discharge capacitor that when signaled by remote control would electronically stimulate designated parts of the brain to signal the victim to respond according to his/her program. These experiments were only partially successful with a high mortality and paralysis rate. However, the technical mind control equipment evolution would advance to levels well beyond the grasp of any reader. Now it seems that "implants" will eventually become as common in numbers as are the victims of trauma based psychological mind control...but non implanted ,non programmed victims will hold the largest majority...the 1990's version of mind control requires neither implant or program...just computer driven directed energy using microwave...
anybody can become a target.


http://khunnamob.hostignition.com/backup/nonlaw/nonlaw.7forum.net/forum-f1/topic-t815.htm

White House Plans to Launch Internet ID System, Further Eroding Civil and Political Rights

January 19, 2011
By Tom Burghardt

Urged by one and all to “tone down” what media pundits and political elites describe as “strident,” even “violent” rhetoric that has “poisoned” our “national conversation” and “sharply polarized” the population, the shooting rampage in Tucson which claimed six lives, including that of a nine-year-old girl is, in fact, emblematic of the moral bankruptcy and utter hypocrisy of those selfsame capitalist elites.

Faced with an unprecedented economic crisis that has destroyed the lives of tens of millions our fellow citizens, not to mention aggressive wars which have cratered entire societies and murdered hundreds of thousands of people who have done us no harm, when, pray tell, will the “conversation” turn to the unprecedented annihilation of democratic institutions and the rule of law which exonerates, even celebrates, those who murder, maim and torture on an industrial scale?

Just last week, the Obama administration announced plans to roll-out an “identity ecosystem” for the internet. Although passed over in silence by major media, at the risk of being accused of “incivility,” particularly when it comes to the “hope” fraudster and war criminal in the Oval Office, Americans need to focus–sharply–on the militarists, political bag men and corporate gangsters working to bring George Orwell’s dystopian world one step closer to reality.

Earlier this month, CNET disclosed that the administration “is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans.”
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said that the secret state’s latest move to lower the boom on privacy and free speech will embed the surveillance op at the Commerce Department. Schmidt, speaking at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research said Commerce is “the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government” to centralize these efforts.

According to CNET, the move “effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates, including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.”

Really? I don’t think so.

NSA Clearly in the Frame

Last week, Government Computer News reported that the secretive Pentagon spy shop broke ground on a “massive new National Security Agency cyber intelligence center in Utah.”

The multibillion dollar facility (cost overruns not included) “will have 100,000 square feet of raised-floor data center space and more than 900,000 square feet of technical support and administrative space” that “will support the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative.”

In September, NextGov reported that then Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Collection, Glenn Gaffney, said the new data center “would support the intelligence community in providing foreign intelligence about cybersecurity threats and protect Defense Department networks.”

Back in 2009, investigative journalist James Bamford wrote in The New York Review of Books that “the mammoth $2 billion structure will be one-third larger than the US Capitol and will use the same amount of energy as every house in Salt Lake City combined.”

While corporate media tell us that the center will “enhance” the nation’s capacity to thwart “cyber threats” the fact is, Bamford wrote, the complex will “house trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and data trails: Web searches, parking receipts, bookstore visits, and other digital ‘pocket litter’.” In other words, the vast data repository will serve as “spy central” for our digital minders.

“Just how much information will be stored in these windowless cybertemples?” Bamford wondered. According to a report prepared for the Pentagon by the ultra-spooky MITRE Corporation, “as the sensors associated with the various surveillance missions improve, the data volumes are increasing with a projection that sensor data volume could potentially increase to the level of Yottabytes (10 to the 24 Bytes) by 2015.”
This is “roughly equal to about a septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) pages of text, numbers beyond Yottabytes haven’t yet been named,” Bamford avers.

Leaving aside disinformational pyrotechnics by media cheerleaders that the NSA’s data equivalent of a Wal-Mart supercenter will primarily exist for “cybersecurity,” “foreign intelligence” and protecting “Defense Department networks,” Bamford counters that “once vacuumed up and and stored in these near-infinite ‘libraries,’ the data are then analyzed by powerful infoweapons, supercomputers running complex algorithmic programs, to determine who among us may be–or may one day become–a terrorist.”

“In the NSA’s world of automated surveillance on steroids” Bamford avers, “every bit has a history and every keystroke tells a story.”

Or as Cryptohippie puts it far less delicately, every keystroke or cellphone ping is “criminal evidence, ready for use in a trial.”

Just what are they up to? Even Congress, always willing to give the Executive Branch a free pass when it comes to blanket surveillance, doesn’t know. Last week the Associated Press reported that “the Pentagon failed to disclose clandestine cyber activities in a classified report on secret military actions that goes to Congress.”

Citing “gaps” in reporting requirements on clandestine operations, “emerging high-tech operations are not specifically listed in the law,” AP averred. After all, “cyber oversight is still a murky work in progress for the Obama administration.”

Perhaps AP and other media outlets should look more closely at what’s hidden inside that “murky work” and where its authority comes from. “Oversight” is certainly not part of the equation.

Cybersecurity’s Brave New World

As Antifascist Calling previously reported, the operational nuts-and-bolts of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) is a closely-held state secret that derives authority from classified annexes of the National Security Presidential Directive 54, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 (NSPD 54/HSPD 23) issued by our former “decider.”

Those 2008 orders are so contentious that both the Bush and Obama administrations have refused to release details to Congress, prompting a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) demanding the full text of the underlying legal authority governing “cybersecurity” be made public.

Details on the “trusted identity” scheme are scarce, but back in July Antifascist Calling reported that the secret state had deployed New York Times reporter John Markoff as a conduit for administration scaremongering.

Schmidt told the “Gray Lady” that administration plans involved “a ‘voluntary trusted identity’ system that would be the high-tech equivalent of a physical key, a fingerprint and a photo ID card, all rolled into one.”
According to the Times, “the system might use a smart identity card, or a digital credential linked to a specific computer, and would authenticate users at a range of online services.”

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was quick to downplay the more sinister implications of the hustle saying, “We are not talking about a national ID card.”

CNET reported Locke’s claim that “we are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy, and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities.”

Why bother with privacy when surrendering your rights is so convenient!
Touted as a warm and fuzzy “identity ecosystem,” Government Computer News reported that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has even launched a dedicated website hawking the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).

According to NIST, “NSTIC envisions a cyber world–the Identity Ecosystem–that improves upon the passwords currently used to login online.”

We’re informed that the “Identity Ecosystem will provide people with a variety of more secure and privacy-enhancing ways to access online services. The Identity Ecosystem enables people to validate their identities securely when they’re doing sensitive transactions (like banking) and lets them stay anonymous when they’re not (like blogging). The Identity Ecosystem will enhance individuals’ privacy by minimizing the information they must disclose to authenticate themselves.”

Government Computer News tells us that the “identity ecosystem” isn’t envisaged as a “national Internet ID to track online activities.” The devil’s in the details and what little we do know should set alarm bells ringing.
The program office will “support and coordinate interagency collaboration” and “promote pilot projects and other implementations.” Which agencies are we talking about here? What pilot projects and “other implementations” are being alluding to? We don’t know.

We do know however, that the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security have forged a Memorandum of Agreement which will increase Pentagon control over America’s telecommunications and electronic infrastructure.

In fact, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation disclosed in October, DHS has been tracking people online and that the agency even established a “Social Networking Monitoring Center” to explicitly do so.
Documents obtained by the civil liberties watchdog group revealed that the agency has been vacuuming-up “items of interest,” systematically monitoring “citizenship petitioners” and analyzing “online public communication.”

Wouldn’t an “identity ecosystem” greatly facilitate online spying, despite administration claims to the contrary?
While the system is “voluntary” and individuals will not be compelled to sign up, the secret state is lusting after a sure fire means to identify the billions of computers, smart phones and other digital devices that plague us.
And even if you choose not to “opt in,” well, plans are already afoot by advertising pimps and their partners in the national security state “to collect the digital equivalent of fingerprints from every computer, cellphone and TV set-top box in the world,” The Wall Street Journal recently disclosed.

As with all other aspects of the “War on Terror” threatscape, the closer one looks at the Obama regime’s “identity ecosystem” the less warm and fuzzy it becomes.

Tom Burghardt is a researcher and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to publishing in Covert Action Quarterly and Global Research, an independent research and media group of writers, scholars, journalists and activists based in Montreal, his articles can be read on Dissident Voice, The Intelligence Daily, Pacific Free Press, Uncommon Thought Journal, and the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. He is the editor of Police State America: U.S. Military “Civil Disturbance” Planning, distributed by AK Press and has contributed to the new book from Global Research, The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the XXI Century.

http://japanfocus.org/-Peter_Dale-Scott/3476

The Doomsday Project, Deep Events, and the Shrinking of American Democracy

Peter Dale Scott
I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency [the National Security Agency] and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."
-- Senator Frank Church (1975)
In recent years I have become more and more concerned with the interactions between three important and alarming trends in recent American history. The first is America’s increasing militarization, and above all its inclination, even obsession, to involve itself in needless and pernicious wars. The second, closely related, is the progressive shrinking of public politics and the rule of law as they are subordinated, even domestically, to the requirements of covert U.S. operations abroad.
The third, also closely related, is the important and increasingly deleterious impact on American history and the global extension of American power, of what I have called deep events. These events, like the JFK assassination, the Watergate break-in, or 9/11, which repeatedly involve law-breaking or violence, are mysterious to begin with, are embedded in ongoing covert processes, have consequences that enlarge covert government, and are subsequently covered up by systematic falsifications in media and internal government records.
One factor linking Dallas, Watergate, and 9/11, has been the involvement in all three deep events of personnel involved in America’s highest-level emergency planning, known since the 1980s as Continuity of Government (COG) planning, or more colloquially as “the Doomsday Project.” The implementation of COG plans on 9/11, or what I call Doomsday Power, was the culmination of three decades of such planning, and has resulted in the permanent militarization of the domestic United States, and the imposition at home of institutions and processes designed for domination abroad.
Writing about these deep events as they occurred over the decades, I have been interested in the interrelations among them. It is now possible to show how each was related both to those preceding it, and those which followed.
I would like in this essay to go further and propose a framework to analyze the on-going forces underlying all of the most important deep events, and how they have contributed to the political ascendance of what used to be called the military-industrial complex.  I hope to describe certain impersonal governing laws that determine the socio-dynamics of all large-scale societies (often called empires) that deploy their surplus of power to expand beyond their own borders and force their will on other peoples. This process of expansion generates predictable trends of behavior in the institutions of all such societies, and also in the individuals competing for advancement in those institutions. In America it has converted the military-industrial complex from a threat at the margins of the established civil order, to a pervasive force dominating that order.

 President Eisenhower in his farewell address in 1961 warned that We must guard against the unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, 
by the Military Industrial Complex.”
With this framework I hope to persuade readers that in some respects our recent history is simpler than it appears on the surface and in the media. Our society, by its very economic successes and consequent expansion, has been breeding impersonal forces both outside and within itself that are changing it from a bottom-up elective democracy into a top-down empire. And among these forces are those that produce deep events.
I am far from alone in seeing this degradation of America’s policies and political processes. A similar pattern, reflecting the degradation of earlier empires, was described at length by the late Chalmers Johnson:
The evidence is building up that in the decade following the end of the Cold War, the United States largely abandoned a reliance on diplomacy, economic aid, international law, and multilateral institutions in carrying out its foreign policies and resorted much of the time to bluster, military force, and financial manipulation.
But my analysis goes beyond that of Johnson, Kevin Phillips, Andrew Bacevich, and other analysts, in proposing that three major deep events – Dallas, Watergate, and 9/11 – were not just part of this degradation of American democracy, but played a significant role in shaping it.
As author Michael Lind has observed, there have for a long time been two prevailing and different political cultures in America, underlying political differences in the American public, and even dividing different sectors of the American government.  One culture is predominantly egalitarian and democratic, working for the legal consolidation of human rights both at home and abroad. The other, less recognized but with deep historical roots, prioritizes and teaches the use of repressive violence against both domestic and Third World populations to maintain "order."
To some extent these two mindsets are found in all societies. They correspond to two opposing modes of power and governance that were defined by Hannah Arendt as “persuasion through arguments” versus “coercion by force.” Arendt, following Thucydides, traced these to the common Greek way of handling domestic affairs, which was persuasion (πείθειν) as well as the common way of handling foreign affairs, which was force and violence (βία)."

 Hannah Arendt
Writing amid the protests and riots of the 1960s, Arendt feared that traditional authority was at risk, threatened (in her eyes) by the contemporary “loss of tradition and of religion.” A half century later, I would argue that a far greater danger to social equilibrium comes now from those on the right who invoke authority in the name of tradition and religion. With America’s huge expansion into the enterprise of covertly dominating and exploiting the rest of the world, the open processes of persuasion, which have been America’s traditional ideal for handling domestic affairs, have increasingly tilted towards top-down violence.
This tilt towards violent or repressive power is defended rhetorically as a means to preserve social stability, but in fact it threatens it. As Kevin Phillips and others have demonstrated, empires built on violent or repressive power tend to rise and then fall, often with surprising rapidity.  Underlying the discussion in this essay is the thesis that repressive power is unstable, creating dialectical forces both within and outside its system. Externally, repressive power helps create its own enemies, as happened with Britain (in India), France (in Indochina) and the Netherlands (in Indonesia).
The Socio-dynamics of Repressive Power in Large-scale Societies
But more dangerous and destabilizing has been the conversion of those empires themselves, into hubristic mechanisms of war. The fall of Periclean Athens, which inspired Thucydides’ reflections, is a case in point. Thucydides described how Athens was undone by the overreaching greed (pleonexia) of its unnecessary Sicilian expedition, a folly presaging America’s follies in Vietnam and Iraq. Thucydides attributed the rise of this folly in the rapid change in Athens after the death of Pericles, and in particular to the rise of a rapacious oligarchy.  Paul Kennedy, Kevin Phillips, and Chalmers Johnson have described the recreation of this process in the Roman, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and British empires.  Its recurrence again in recent American history corroborates that there is a self-propelling dynamic of power that becomes repressive.
It is useful to be reminded of the historical division between two cultures in America, which both underlay and predated the Civil War. But these two cultures have evolved and been reinforced by many factors. For example urbanization in America’s South and West worked for most of the 20th century to meld the two cultures, but after about 1980 the increasing disparity of wealth in America tended to separate them to an extent recalling the Gilded Age of the 19thcentury.
More importantly, postwar U.S. history has seen the institutions of domestic self-government steadily displaced by an array of new institutions, like the CIA and Pentagon, adapted first to the repressive dominance and control of foreign populations abroad, and now increasingly dominant domestically. The manipulative ethos of this repressive bureaucracy promotes and corrupts those who, in order to be promoted, internalize the culture of repressive dominance into a mindset.
The egalitarian mindset is widely shared among Americans. But Washington today is securely in the hands of the global repressive dominance mindset, and a deepening of the military-industrial complex into what in my most recent book I call the American war machine. This transformation of America represents a major change in our society. When Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex in 1961 it was still a minority element in our political economy. Today it finances and dominates both parties, and indeed is now also financing threats to both parties from the right, as well as dominating our international policy. As a result, liberal Republicans are as scarce in the Republican Party today as Goldwater Republicans were scarce in that party back in 1960.
That change has been achieved partly by money, but partly as a result of deep events like the JFK assassination, the Watergate break-in, and 9/11. As a rule, each of these deep events is attributed by our government and media to marginal outsiders, like Lee Harvey Oswald, or the nineteen alleged plane hijackers.
I have long been skeptical of these “lone nut” explanations, but recently my skepticism has advanced to another level. My research over four decades points to the conclusion that each of these deep events
1) was carried out, at least in part, by individuals in and out of government who shared and sought to promote this repressive mindset;
2) enhanced the power of the repressive mindset within the U.S. government;
3) formed another stage in a continuous narrative whose result has been a transformation of America, into a social system dominated from above, rather than governed from below.
Please note that I am talking about the result of this continuous narrative, not about its purpose. In saying that these deep events have contributed collectively to a major change in American society, I am not attributing them all to a single manipulative “secret team.” Rather I see them as flowing from the workings of repressive power itself, which (as history has shown many times) transforms both societies with surplus power and also the individuals exercising that surplus power.
We are conditioned to think that the open institutions of American governance could not possibly provide a milieu for plots like 9/11 against public order. But since World War Two covert U.S. agencies like the CIA have helped create an alternative world where power is exercised with minimal oversight, often at odds with public agencies’ proclaimed policy objectives of law and order, and often in conjunction with lawless and even criminal foreign and domestic elements.
The expansion of this covert world has occurred principally in Asia. There covert U.S. decisions were made to build up drug-financed armies in Burma, Thailand, and Laos, in a series of aggressive actions that by the 1960s involved America in a hot Indochina War. This war, like the related wars that ensued later in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan, was initiated by America for a mix of geostrategic and economic reasons, above all the desire to establish a dominant U.S. presence an important region of petroleum reserves.

Air America at Sam Thong, Laos, 1961

The country most deeply affected by the succession of Asian Wars has been America itself. Its expansive forces, backed by powerful interest groups, are now out of control, as our managers, like other empire managers before them, have “come to believe that there is nowhere within their domain – in our case, nowhere on earth – in which their presence is not crucial.”7
To illustrate this, loss of control, let us look for a moment at a milieu which I believe to have been an important factor in all of America’s major domestic deep events: the CIA’s ongoing interactions with the global drug connection.
Unaccountable Power: The CIA and the Return of the Global Drug Connection
Since World War Two the CIA has made systematic use of drug trafficking forces to increase its covert influence -- first in Thailand and Burma, then in Laos and Vietnam, and most recently in Afghanistan.8 With America’s expansion overseas, we have seen more and more covert programs and agencies, all using drug traffickers to different and opposing ends.
In 2004 Time and USA Today ran major stories about two of the chief Afghan drug traffickers, Haji Juma Khan and Haji Bashir Noorzai, alleging that each was supporting al-Qaeda, and that Khan in particular “has helped al-Qaeda establish a smuggling network that is peddling Afghan heroin to buyers across the Middle East, Asia and Europe.9 Later it was revealed that both traffickers were simultaneously CIA assets, and that Khan in particular was “paid a large amount of cash by the United States,” even while he was reportedly helping al-Qaeda to establish smuggling networks.10
There is no longer anything surprising in the news that large U.S. payments were made to a drug trafficker who was himself funding the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The arrangement is no more bizarre than the CIA’s performance during the U.S. “war on drugs” in Venezuela in the 1990s, when the CIA first set up an anti-drug unit in Venezuela, and then helped its chief, Gen. Ramon Guillén Davila, smuggle at least one ton of pure cocaine into Miami International Airport.11
It would be easy to conclude from these reports that the CIA and Pentagon intentionally use drugs to help finance the enemy networks that justify their overseas operations. Yet I doubt that such a cynical Machiavellian objective is ever consciously voiced by those responsible in Washington.
More likely, it is an inevitable consequence of the U.S. repressive style of conducting covert operations. Great emphasis is put on recruiting covert assets; and in unstable areas with weak governance, drug traffickers with their own ample funds and repressive networks are the most obvious candidates for recruitment by the CIA. The traffickers in turn are happy to become U.S. assets, because this status affords them at least a temporary immunity from U.S. prosecution.12
In a nutshell: I am describing a development that is not so much intentional, as a consequence of repressive dynamics. A related example would be the CIA’s recurring use of double agents, again for the reason just suggested. In the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, the chief planner was a double agent, Ali Mohammed, who surveyed the Embassy and reported to Osama bin Laden in 1993, just months after the FBI had ordered the Canadian RCMP to release him from detention.13 In the Mumbai terrorist attack of 2008, the scene was initially surveyed for the attackers by a DEA double agent, David Headley (alias Daood Sayed Gilani) whom “U.S. authorities sent … to work for them in Pakistan…despite a warning that he sympathized with radical Islamic groups.”14

  David Headley in court
The central point is that expansion beyond a nation’s borders engenders a pattern of repressive power with predictable results -- results that transcend the conscious intentions of anyone within that repressive power system. Newly formed and ill-supervised agencies spawn contradictory policies abroad, the net effect of which is usually both expansive and deleterious – not just to the targeted nation but also to America.
This is especially true of covert agencies, whose practice of secrecy means that controversial policies proliferate without either coordination or review. Asia in particular has been since 1945 the chief area where the CIA has ignored or overridden the policy directives of the State Department. As I document in American War Machine, CIA interventions in Asia, especially those that escalated into the Laotian, Vietnam, and Afghan wars, fostered an ongoing global CIA drug connection, or what I have called elsewhere a dark quadrant of unaccountable power.
This drug connection, richly endowed with huge resources and its own resources of illegal violence, has a major stake in both American interventions and above all unwinnable wars to aggravate the conditions of regional lawlessness that are needed for drug trafficking. Thus it makes perfect sense that the global drug connection has, as I believe, been an ongoing factor in the creation of an overseas American empire that most U.S. citizens never asked for. More specifically, the dark quadrant has contributed to all the major deep events – including Dallas, Watergate, and 9/11, that have helped militarize America and overshadow its public institutions.
Doomsday Power and the Military Occupation of America
I have said that, underlying the surface of America’s major deep events, there has been a pattern of conflict between two mindsets – that of openness and that of repressive dominance – dating back to the Civil War and the Indian wars of the mid-nineteenth century (and before that to the American Revolution).15 But it would be wrong to conclude from this on-going pattern of conflict that there is nothing new in our current situation. On the contrary, America is in the midst of a new crisis arising from this very old antagonism. 
Since World War Two, secrecy has been used to accumulate new covert bureaucratic powers under the guise of emergency planning for disasters, planning known inside and outside the government as the “Doomsday Project.” Known more recently (and misleadingly) as “Continuity of Government” (COG) planning, the Doomsday Project, under the guiding hands in the 1980s of Oliver North, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and others, became the vehicle on 9/11 for a significant change of government. This package of extreme repressive power accumulated under the guise of the Doomsday Project can be referred to as Doomsday Power. In concrete terms, the repressive power developed to control the rest of the world is now, to an unprecedented extent, treating America itself as an occupied territory. 
What I mean by “doomsday power” is the package of repressive mechanisms (which I have discussed elsewhere under their official name of “continuity of government” or COG plans), that was prepared over two decades by the elite COG planning group, and then implemented beginning on 9/11. The package includes 1) warrantless surveillance, 2) warrantless detention, (including unprecedented abridgments of the right to habeas corpus), and 3) unprecedented steps towards the militarization of domestic security enforcement and shrinking of the posse comitatus acts.
One recent development of Doomsday power, for example, has been the deployment since 2008 of a U.S. Army Brigade Combat Team to be stationed permanently in the United States. A major part of its dedicated assignment is to be "called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control.”16 
Many people seem to be unaware that Americans, together with this Brigade, have lived since 2002 under a U.S. Army Command called NORTHCOM.17 Yet if nothing is done to change the present course of events, historians may come some day to compare the stationing of this brigade in 2008 CE to the date, in 49 BCE, when Caesar, along with his legion, crossed the Rubicon.
And I believe that the forces that have worked for decades to create Doomsday power have, like the global drug connection, been involved in every one of the deep events, from Dallas to 9/11, that have helped bring us here.

Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat and English Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is the author of Drugs Oil and War, The Road to 9/11, The War Conspiracy: JFK, 9/11, and the Deep Politics of War. His most recent book is American War Machine: Deep Politics, the CIA Global Drug Connection and the Road to Afghanistan.
His website, which contains a wealth of his writings, is here.
Recommended citation: Peter Dale Scott, The Doomsday Project, Deep Events, and the Shrinking of American Democracy, The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 4 No 3, January 24, 2011.
Notes
1 Chalmers Johnson, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (New York: Henry Holt, 2000), 217. Cf. Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic (New York: Metropolitan/Henry Holt, 2004).  
2 Michael Lind, Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics (New York: Basic Books, 2003), 143.
3 Hannah Arendt, Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought(New York: Penguin Books, 1993), 93. Adapting Arendt’s distinction, Jonathan Schell made a Gandhian case in support of nonviolent persuasive or community power as a means of challenging top-down violent power and thus reforming the world. I developed this case myself in The Road to 9/11 (Jonathan Schell, The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People [New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt, 2003], 227-31; Peter Dale Scott, Road to 9/11, 249-66, 269).
4 Kevin Phillips, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich(New York: Broadway Books, 2002), 171-200.
5 Carl A. Huffman, Archytas of Tarentum: Pythagorean, philosopher, and mathematician king (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 207: “In Diodotus’ speech in the Mytilenian debate, wealth is particularly identified as producing arrogant “overreaching” (pleonexia –iii.45.4). Thus pleonexia seems to be associated with the abuse of power by either a tyrant or a wealthy oligarchy.”  
6 Paul M. Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (New York: Random House, 1987); Phillips, Wealth and Democracy; Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire.
7 Johnson, Blowback, 221.
8 Scott, American War Machine, 63-142, 239-53. The Karzai regime in Afghanistan is only the latest of CIA client governments to struggle to maintain itself with support from drug traffickers. Cf. Peter Dale Scott, "Can the US Pacify the Drug-Addicted War in Afghanistan? Opium, the CIA and the Karzai Administration", The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, April 5, 2010; Ryan Grim, “Karzai Releasing Scores Of Drug Traffickers In Afghanistan, WikiLeaks Cables Show,” Huffington Post, December 31, 2010.
9 Tim McGurk, Time, August 2, 2004; cf. USA Today, October 26, 2004.
10 James Risen, New York Times, December 11, 2010. Both traffickers were ultimately arrested by DEA officials: Noorzai in 2005, and Khan in 2008. The U.S. probably came to prefer Khan over Noorzai, because he was more closely allied to Abdul Wali Karzai, another drug trafficker and CIA asset, as well as a central figure in the power apparatus of his brother Hamid Karzai, the U.S. client president of Afghanistan.
11 Time, November 29, 1993; Scott, American War Machine, 14-15; Tim Weiner,New York Times, November 23, 1996.
12 It is too early to report the ultimate fate of Noorzai and Khan after their arrest and indictment by the United States. But it is clear that Guillén Davila’s arrest and indictment never led to conviction or imprisonment. On the contrary, he appears to have continued to enjoy CIA favor in Venezuela.  (Scott, American War Conspiracy, 14-15).
13 Scott, Road to 9/11, 152-58. 
14 “D.E.A. Deployed Mumbai Plotter Despite Warning,” New York Times, November 8, 2009; cf. Scott, American War Machine, 246-47. In another essay I will develop the thesis that what I call surplus repressive power – power developed exclusively by one society for the repressive dominance of others -- is doomed, in this and other ways, to encourage the proliferation of its enemies. My point here is a more modest and general one. Maybe save the sentence for the later work?
15 Cf. Peter Dale Scott, "Atrocity and its Discontents: U.S. Double-Mindedness About Massacre," in Adam Jones, ed. Genocide, War Crimes and the West: Ending the Culture of Impunity (London: Zed Press, 2004). 
16 “Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1,” Army Times, September 30, 2008.
17 Scott, Road to 9/11, 241-42.


American Police State: FBI Abuses Reveals Contempt for Political Rights, Civil Liberties

February 7, 2011
By Tom Burghardt

As mass revolt spreads across Egypt and the Middle East and citizens there demand jobs, civil liberties and an end to police state abuses from repressive, U.S.-backed torture regimes, the Obama administration and their congressional allies aim to expand one right here at home.
Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released an explosive new report documenting the lawless, constitutional-free zone under construction in America for nearly a decade.
That report, “Patterns of Misconduct: FBI Intelligence Violations from 2001-2008,” reveals that the domestic political intelligence apparat spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, continues to systematically violate the rights of American citizens and legal residents.

A rather ironic state of affairs considering the free passes handed out by U.S. securocrats to actual terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11, as both WikiLeaks and FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds disclosed last week.

Although illegal practices and violations were reported by the FBI to the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) after an unexplained two-and-a-half-year delay, a further violation of lawful guidelines, lawbreaking continued unabated; in fact, it accelerated as the Bureau was given a green light to do so by successive U.S. administrations.
The IOB is a largely toothless body created in 1976 by the Ford administration in the wake of disclosures of widespread spying and infiltration of political groups by America’s secret state agencies during the sixties and seventies.
Reeling from revelations uncovered by Congress, investigative journalists and citizen activists in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Ford’s caretaker government was forced to call a halt to the more egregious practices employed by the FBI to keep the lid on and crafted guidelines governing intelligence and surveillance operations.

In fact, the Attorney General’s Guidelines regulating both FBI National Security Investigations and Foreign Intelligence Collection (NSIG) stipulate that “all government intelligence operations occur with sufficient oversight and within the bounds of the Constitution and other federal laws.”
While it can rightly be argued these protocols were largely ineffective, and had been breeched more often than not by the 1980s under President Reagan, as revealed during the Iran-Contra scandal, and that antiwar, environmental and solidarity groups continue to be spied upon and destabilized by agents provocateurs and right-wing corporate scum, they were thrown overboard entirely by the Bush regime in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Today the “looking forward, not backward” Obama administration has whole-heartedly embraced Bushist lawlessness while charting an even more sinister course of their own, now asserting they have the authority to assassinate American citizens the Executive Branch designate as “terrorists” anywhere on earth without benefit of due process or court review.

http://www.timeline2012.net/prepare/social-economic-impacts/economic-depression


Economic Depression: Recent figures released by the U.S. government on the state of Medicare and Social Security have been raising red flags for several years now. In 2008, the government reported that Medicare would be paying out more than it receives starting in 2008 and the same with Social Security starting in 2016. Of course, those estimates assumed that nothing else occurs to further degrade the U.S. economy, tax revenue, or inflation that could push these programs into further jeopardy.

However, if you’re paying attention you realize that the real economic issues aren’t being discussed by our “fearful” leaders. No one wants to talk about the looming failures of Medicare or Social Security. No one wants to talk about our national debt, how it continues to grow, or how it will ever be repaid. No one wants to talk about these issues because they have no solutions.

We’ve already discussed the reason why the U.S. and world economies are on the brink of self-destruction as a consequence of our addiction to self-indulgence and over consumption, and our complacency with those who run the governments and control the monetary systems. The economic bubble that stands before us is the result of ongoing and unconscionable actions that date all the way back to the rebuilding process after World War II.


Over the past few years our economic world has been turned upside down. The current economic conditions in the U.S. and world are certainly no secret to those who are able to see and hear what’s really happening. With the rhetoric from the mass media, you may need to learn how to read between the lines, but there are obvious indicators everywhere that an economic collapse is looming on the very near horizon.

Many experts in the field of economic projections are speaking out about everything from economic indicators to economic patterns that are repeating from the time just prior to the great depression of 1929. So what will it take to get people to wake up and finally figure out that the next global economic depression is right around the corner?

Let’s remember that the U.S. accounts for 30% of all consumption on the planet with only 5% of the total population. That means that 30% of everything that’s manufactured is then purchased, consumed, and yes, from previous statistics, thrown away within 6 months by the U.S. consumer. Is it so difficult to imagine what will happen when the U.S. economy collapses? Is it so far fetched to realize that once this collapse occurs, it will drag the entire world economies with it? It would be no surprise if you have a good understanding of global economics and world markets.

So, how did the U.S. and world economies end up at this point in economic history?


Somewhere along the line, government, monitory, and world leaders decided that they needed to siphon money out of the world economies and launder it in order to finance their personal lifestyles and private projects. They needed a place where people were gullible enough to believe their lies. They needed a place where people could be seduced by money and then be willing to take the blame when it all fell apart. America became their ultimate experiment in greed and corruption. Does this sound familiar? It should, because it’s the basic plot for most Hollywood movies.

The Powers That Be (PTB) realized that, by giving people the illusion of wealth, that they would in turn experience the illusion of happiness, as well as the illusion of security. They knew that the illusion of wealth would allow them to control the masses so they wouldn’t ask questions, and if they did, the issue could be easily put back to sleep with the illusion of more money. So they gave the people a taste of that dream and flaunted that dream whenever someone achieved it. They threw money at the people until they became blinded and consumed by their own greed.


For over 50 years, the U.S. economic growth has been financed by debt. We were allowed to borrow, encouraged to hire, and brainwashed to consume all with little or no risk besides a bad credit report. As a result, the population became enslaved to the PTB’s agenda. Some were allowed to convert their opportunity into fame and fortune only to further seduce the masses into believing the illusion was possible for anyone.

Even today, the masses are being lulled into the belief that the economic collapse can somehow be avoided and even reversed, but this is only because people have become accustomed to the lies and deception of the PTB. The masses have not done their own research into the extent of the problem or asked the questions about how a recovery is even possible.


In the last 50 years we’ve lived through recessions, but nothing has ever been allowed to balance out naturally. The PTB simply printed more money to stimulate the economy while creating a perpetual and insurmountable debt. The U.S. government is doing everything possible to keep people from figuring out what’s going on. As you can see, it doesn’t take much to figure out that they have bankrupted America and the World, but it’s often challenging for people to even consider this fiscal mismanagement was deliberate.



Most of us have only read or heard about the great depression of 1929, but we are about to experience an economic collapse that is so much worse and first hand. Unfortunately, most people believe the propaganda that the governments are force-feeding the global population. Why not? We have believed their lies every other time there has been a financial crisis. In the past we didn’t even consider doing the math in order to see where this was all heading. This is not a new phenomenon, but one that has been building, like a pressure cooker.

The governments are trying to convince everyone that this is an unusual economic situation, but one that’s recoverable. This is the same propaganda they are using for the weather and geophysical anomalies, and if this were any other time in history, we might just believe them. What they don’t want you to know is that "this is a unique time in history”.

Instead of repeated what the experts have already been saying about the economic projections, we’re going to take a look at some actual figures on the U.S. financial state. Before we do that, let’s consider that virtually all U.S. market and GDP growth has been achieved on borrowed money and easy credit. Everyone knows the U.S. is the largest debtor nation on the planet. In fact the only way any economy could grow as the U.S. economy over the past 50 years is to either have stockpiles of wealth to spend or borrow the money to spend.


Many people have indicated that the information you are about to read is too serious and too sobering for mortal man. The response is that all other methods of waking people up have been unsuccessful and time has run out. The only option now is to hit people over the head with the undeniable facts. So, here is a single statement for you to ponder… “Denial is not an option!”

As citizens of the United States, we are responsible and literally accountable for what actions our government has taken or will take on our behalf, but nobody has been watching the store. The U.S. government has made commitments and financial policy that serves only their three objectives; to maintain stability, ensure their legacy (retirement, pensions, and lifestyle), and finance their hidden agendas. The commitments have now ballooned to a point of absurdity.

Let’s look at some actual figures that represent what every single U.S. citizen owes in taxes today as a result of our governments’ lack of sound fiscal management and blatant deception. Before we discuss the commonly known debt, let’s first look at the lesser known figures of how much money will be required to repair or replace the U.S. infrastructure.


Our nation's physical infrastructure includes a variety of complex and interrelated systems that are critical components in providing for our quality of life and economic security. It includes: aviation, roads and bridges, dams, drinking and waste water, energy, hazardous and solid waste, navigable waterways, public parks and recreation, rail, schools, security, and transit. What people may not know is that most of the infrastructure is designed and estimated to last between 40 and 50 years. This means that the majority of the city, state, and local infrastructure is at or near the age of mandatory replacement. The bottom line is that city, state, and federal governments have huge expenditures looming on the very near horizon that they haven’t planned or budgeted for.

The government is well aware of this growing problem as represented by the recent creation of the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007. For our purpose, we will only discuss a few of the infrastructure replacement costs. It should be noted that these figures are estimates provided by the corresponding government agencies and do not represent the entire infrastructure replacement needs, however, they will provide an understanding of the magnitude of the problem. The below figures come directly from the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007 and are quite staggering. They represent the projections of the money that will be needed annually for the next 20 years in order to replace these failing systems.

Federal Transit Administration = $21.8 billion
Federal Highway Administration/Roads = $131.7 billion
Federal Highway Administration/Bridges = $9.4 billion
Environmental Protection Agency/Drinking Water = $151 billion
Environmental Protection Agency/Wastewater = $390 billion


Total Infrastructure = $704 billion per year for 20 years = $14 trillion


We’ve already discussed the big secret with Medicare is that it’s under funded by $34 trillion. According to 2007 figures from the government, Social Security has a deficit of $13.6 trillion. There is $12 trillion in outstanding U.S. government bonds and another $10 trillion owed to the Federal Reserve Bank. The current administration now estimates they will spend an additional $9 trillion in borrowed funds over the next 10 years.

Grand Total U.S. Debt. (est.) = $93 trillion

 


So, what does this figure represent to each and every citizen on the United States? First of all, does everyone realize that the government debt is our debt and can only be repaid by tax dollars? We can not hide from this debt and it can only be repaid by tax dollars. Depending on the source, there are approximately 304 million people in the U.S. Of course, this includes: every baby, child, teenagers, adult, immigrant, the retired, and elderly. This means that each U.S. Citizen owes:

Total tax bill per U.S. citizen = $306,000

 


If we consider that only those people and corporations that actually file a tax return are ultimately going to be paying back this debt, the situation looks even worse. According to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, in 2007, only 139 million individual and 2.5 million corporate tax returns were filed. For arguments sake, we will leave in the 41% of the individual filers who owed zero taxes and those who paid some tax upfront and are later were refunded the full amount of the tax paid or more.

Total tax bill per U.S. tax filer = $657,000


The above figures are estimates and do not account for interest, inflation, future unforeseen natural disasters, additional incurred debts, a terrorist attack, or other economic impacts such as rapidly rising oil prices or major shortfalls in tax revenue. And if we consider that a majority of these funds will need to be repaid in the next 20 years, the annual tax bill for every U.S. tax filer becomes:

Annual tax bill per U.S. tax filer = $33,000/yr for 20 years

 


Does anyone see the problem here? Do you really think the world governments and Powers That Be (PTB) don’t know about these facts and figures? As you can see, it doesn’t take a Phd in economics, mathematics, or finance to calculate the debt burden the U.S. government has placed on its citizens. This is not long division or differential equations, but simply accumulating the public debt figures, and applying basic mathematics.

The bottom line is that there is no way the U.S. government can raise taxes slow enough or fast enough to ever bring this debt burden into manageable range. Not that they could manage anything financial, no matter how large or small. How many people know that 50% of the U.S. government $1 trillion annual budget goes to military and defense?

These figures provide a chilling realization of just how impossible it is for the U.S. economy to recover from this government induced burden and provides a glimpse into the very near future collapse of world economies. Does anyone really believe economic analysts that work for the U.S. government, Federal Reserve Bank, or World Bank, are not aware of these facts? Once again, the U.S. population has become so complacent that they’ve let the preverbal fox in the henhouse.

Do you also realize the government doesn’t owe anything? The entire $93 trillion in debt is owned and owed equally by each and every citizen of the United States. If the U.S. government ever revealed their fiscal irresponsibility to the general public, there would be a near immediate revolution by the U.S. citizens. This is exactly what the PTB are trying to avoid.


Herein lies both the problem and an indication of why nobody wants to talk about the U.S. debt crisis. The question of why the government avoids the subjects of Medicare and Social Security is answered. The question of why everyone tries to avoid speaking about the U.S. debt and ongoing deficit figures is answered. The question of why these figures are never discussed together, as the total U.S. debt position, is answered.

Why would the Powers That Be (PTB) perpetuate such a scheme unless there was a purpose? Why would the banking industry continue to support this failed system with loans while deceiving the global population, unless they knew something that most people do not? And why would the U.S. government and Federal Reserve Bank take such drastic measures to prolong an inevitable collapse unless they had a reason?


Most of the economic indicators suggest that we are on a time table to repeat the economic depression of 1929. Even the stock markets are exhibiting fluctuations that mimic those just prior to the crash of 1929. These predictions, estimates, and fluctuations don’t even take into account any of the realistic possibilities that could catapult this already unstable economic situation directly into the next global depression. We’ve already mentioned them, but let’s recap.

The above figures are estimates and do not account for interest, inflation, future unforeseen natural disasters, additional incurred debts, a terrorist attack, or other economic impacts such as rapidly rising oil prices or major shortfalls in tax revenue.

For those who are aware of the events that lead up to the great depression of 1929, interest rates where a key factor. Prior to 1929, interest rates were lowered due to worsening economic conditions, but how many people realize that interest rates must eventually be raised again in order to achieve economic stability. Low interest rates reduce the value of the currency and create an inflationary condition. The monitory policy makers know this and their job is to try and balance interest rates with economic sustainability.

In other words, as soon as the PTB perceive the opportunity, through statistical analysis of the economic trends, interest rates must be raised once again. Ideally, they would be raised slowly at first until there are signs of sustainability, and then more rapidly. Our current situation with low interest rates is nearly parallel to the period prior to the 1929 crash. At some point very soon, the PTB must start to raise interest rates in order to reduce the risk of inflation and increase the value of the currency, however, without a sustainable recovery, such an increase can spells instant catastrophe for an already anemic condition.


Besides the purely economic factors such as rising interest rates or a rapid increase in oil prices, there are several natural and man-made factors that could easily tip the economic scales towards collapse. Some of these include a terrorist attack similar to the New York City World Trade Center in 2001 or a natural disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

New Orleans was one of the largest sea ports in the U.S. and was a vital import, export, and distribution center in the central U.S. and New York is a vital worldwide financial communication center. Even under what could be considered more stable economic conditions in 2001 and 2005, it has taken years to absorb the economic consequences from the events that are commonly referred to as 9/11 and Katrina.


How many people consider the economic impact from this type of disaster? We experienced it with Hurricane Katrina, but most people have short memories and even less understanding of the economic impacts from such events. Significant natural disasters can come in many forms include: hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake, or tsunami. Besides the pure costs in the form of public debt from disaster emergency funds, the displacement of entire city population, jobs losses, tax revenue losses, the disruption of business and confidence could become unrecoverable.

If a similar catastrophic event were to occur in another major city with economic and global ties, the consequences on an already ailing U.S. economy would be disastrous. Take for instance if such an event were to occur in Portland, Oregon; San Francisco or Los Angeles, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois, or New York City.

Shortfalls in tax revenues are already occurring on every level of U.S. government from city and state to federal. Is there anyone that sees this condition reversing sometime soon? Virtually every major city has been cutting hours, services, and staff just to stay in operation. California is in such dire straights that their bonds are nearly considered “junk”. Since California, by itself, is still one of the largest economies in the world, their collapse alone would send the U.S. into an immediate depression.

Here is an example of what can happen when a city gets into financial trouble.


In the 1970s, NYC did not file bankruptcy although it did teeter on the edge after the famous "Ford to NYC: Drop Dead" Daily News headline in 1975 when the President refused to grant the city any relief from its mountain of debt. What happened? The city worked out an arrangement with its creditors, but at a huge cost. Services were cut in mass proportion. The city became dirtier as sanitation services were cut back. There was virtually no maintenance on city subways for nearly a decade, as the graffiti-clad trains fell into a state of disrepair - yet transportation fares were raised 40%. Crime spiraled out of control as NYPD hiring was frozen just as crime was increasing. Free tuition at public NYC universities for NYC high school graduates was eliminated. Hours at libraries and services at public hospitals were cut back. The Board of Education staff was reduced by 20%. During this period in the early 70s, corporate taxes were raised to try and narrow the huge fiscal gap which resulted in a staggering 55 Fortune 500 companies exiting the city.

Add on top of all these potentials, the reality of tax increases at every level just to keep city, state, and federal governments in business. The concept of raising taxes to pay for shortfalls in tax revenue is nothing new, however, is quickly becoming a necessity rather than an option.

And don’t forget that the U.S. government will be raising taxes anyway. Not just to keep government operating, but also to pay for its $1 trillion federal annual budget and to repay the $93 trillion in debt. With the accelerating shortfall in income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes, it’s only a matter of time before taxes are raised on every level. This is no longer a matter of contemplation, but a matter of survival.


All of these factors influence, possibly the most important gauge of economic stability in the world today, the bond market. Most people may not realize how important the bond market is to the stability of global economies. Without bonds, every U.S. city, state, and federal government would be bankrupt already. In fact, the concept of the bond market may be the single most deceptive economic concept ever created. After all, what is a bond? A bond is nothing more than a paper I.O.U. written against the stability and longevity of a government, corporate, or private institution. In other words, bonds are nothing more than another means to live on borrowed money and borrowed time.

Who buys these bonds? Individuals, corporations, and even other countries loan money to the U.S. and receive their bonds as collateral. They do this with the promise and expectation that the bonds will be paid back over time. Municipal bonds have been considered a safe investment because they are repaid through ever increasing tax revenues that result from expanding economic growth.

What happens when tax revenues continue to fall and economic growth stalls? The answer is nothing if these economic conditions are short term, but what if these conditions become long term? Ultimately, if any level of the economy can’t sustain continuous growth, then the ability to repay these bonds decreases proportionally. As soon as a corporation or municipality is seen to be entering a period of economic risk, then no one is willing to buy their bonds any more.


California is already experiencing this reality as their bonds are being written down to “junk” status. Virtually every month now, California is unable to pay their bills until they sell more bonds or some other entity gives them another loan. The California government is so bloated in size and expenses and their shortfall in tax revenues so extreme, they are literally on the edge of bankruptcy every month. Does anyone believe that a city or state, under the current economic conditions, will be able to raise sales or property taxes to ward off financial shortfalls?

What happens when the bond holders come to the realization that their bonds are junk and will never be repaid? Nobody will want to buy bonds and the bond market will collapse. The collapse of the bond market can single handedly result in the collapse of the U.S. and global economies.
It doesn’t matter if the bonds are corporate or municipal. Once the bond holders perceive they won’t be paid back ever, the bond market dries up and those entities that rely on bonds for the very existence will be forced into bankruptcy.

So why do you think the PTB continues to support the collapsing U.S. economy? The answer is that they have a plan. That plan is to keep everything looking normal for as long as possible in order to maintain stability and control. It’s no mystery to the PTB that the U.S. city, state, and federal governments can never repay their debts, but the only way they maintain stability is to keep buying that debt.


There are only three possibilities to recover from the current financial apocalypse. One is to raise taxes, however, it is not likely taxes could be raised fast enough to avoid bankruptcy or slow enough to avoid destroying the economic growth and the value of the U.S. dollar against world currencies.

Second is to have more money coming into the system than is being spent by the system. This implies reducing expenses on every level from individual to government, but also maintaining continuous economic growth. The only way to stimulate this possibility is sound fiscal management and borrowing more money, however, this only takes us further down the road of unsustainability.

Third is by divine intervention. What you say? This means forgiveness of all debt by the Federal Reserve Bank and bond holders, printing even more money, and giving it to every ailing corporation or Government, interest free? Not a plausible solution as it results in exponential inflation and an immediate collapse of the U.S. economy.

No matter how this plays out, it is a certain fact that the U.S. currency will be devalued to the point of extinction. In other words, a single U.S. dollar today may be worth only five cents tomorrow. The collapse of the U.S. dollar will go hand-in-hand with the collapse of the economy.

What does all of this mean for global economies and currencies? Has everyone been paying attention to the G20’s proposal to create three new global currencies? Does anyone see how much they know about what’s coming and how they are planning for this collapse?

Take note that the PTB has a plan and part of that plan is to let the global economies collapse. They know they can not stop the coming collapse, but what they can do is postpone it and then have a plan to further deceive the world population that they have everything under control. After all, control is the only way they can maintain their lifestyle at the expense of everyone else.

Once the rest of the world wakes up to the inevitable collapse and bankruptcy of the U.S. economy, the PTB will have no choice but to step back and let it fail. In order to maintain global control and stability, they must have a plan that is convincing to the mass population. Their solution will be to create new currencies and expand globalization of markets and economies.


By now, most people may have heard of the “Amero” and “North American Union (NAU)”. Without going into great detail, the NAU is the combination of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. economies into one entity just as they did with the European Union. The Amero is the currency they have planned to replace the Peso, Canadian and U.S. dollars just as they did with the Euro. As much as people don’t want to believe this is coming, these are realities that are being planned while the mass population sleeps.

From this information, you can now see the U.S. and global economic collapse and next worldwide depression are imminent, but you also begin to see how the entire process is being controlled by the PTB in order to maintain stability. No different than a corporation, the PTB is planning their global bankruptcy.

http://www.futurefastforward.com/financial-analysis/5074-stagflation-2011-why-it-is-here-and-why-it-is-going-to-be-very-painful-by-economiccollapseblogspotcom-28211

Stagflation 2011: Why It Is Here And Why It Is Going To Be Very Painful - By Economiccollapse.blogspot.com (28/2/11)

Economiccollapse.blogspot.com   
Monday, 28 February 2011 14:23

Are you ready for an economy that has high inflation and high unemployment at the same time? Well, welcome to "Stagflation 2011".  Stagflation exists when inflation and unemployment are both at high levels at the same time.  Of course we all know about the high unemployment situation already.  Gallup's daily tracking poll says that the U.S. unemployment rate has been hovering around 10 percent all year so far.  But now thanks to rapidly rising food prices and the exploding price of oil, rampant inflation is being added to the equation.  Normally inflation is a sign of increased economic activity, but when the basic commodities that we depend on to run our economy (such as oil) go up in price it actually causes a slowdown in economy activity.  When the price of oil goes up high enough, it fundamentally changes the behavior of individuals and businesses.  Suddenly certain types of economic activities that were feasible when oil was very cheap are not profitable any longer.  When the price of oil rises to a new level and it stays there, essentially what is happening is that more "blood" is being drained out of our economy.  Our economy will continue to function when there are higher oil prices, it will just be a lot more sluggish.

In some way, shape or form the price of oil factors into the production of most of our goods and services and it also factors into the transportation of most of our goods and services.  A significant rise in the price of oil changes the economic equation for almost every business in the United States.

Today, the price of WTI crude soared past 100 dollars a barrel before closing at $98.10.  The price of Brent crude increased 5.3 percent to $111.25.  The protests in Libya are certainly causing a lot of the price activity that we have seen over the past few days, but the truth is that oil has been going up for a number of months.  Right now we are only seeing an acceleration of the long-term trend.

Things are likely to get far worse if the "day of rage" planned for Saudi Arabia next month turns into a full-blown revolution.  Up to this point, the revolutions that have been sweeping the Middle East have been organized largely on Facebook, and now there are calls all over Facebook for the "Saudi revolution" to start on March 20th.

That date is less than 4 weeks away.  If Saudi Arabia plunges into chaos, the price of oil is going to go through the roof.

A rapidly rising price for oil is really bad news for the U.S. economy, because it is going to mean lots of inflation.  Unfortunately, this also comes at a time when the economy is also feeling the inflationary effects of more quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve.

So if rising oil prices are going to cause more inflation and if rising oil prices are also going to cause our economy to become even more sluggish, what does all of that add up to?

It adds up to stagflation.

Wikipedia defines stagflation in the following manner....

In economics, stagflation is the situation when both the inflation rate and the unemployment rate are persistently high.

This is going to rapidly become the "new normal" for America.  High oil prices are going to cause the cost of just about everything to go up, and high oil prices are also going to cause the economy to slow down thus making the unemployment numbers even worse.

It is going to be just like the 1970s all over again.

Only worse.

Economists differ as to how much rising oil prices affect U.S. GDP, but almost all of them agree that rising oil prices do cause a decline in U.S. GDP at least to some extent.

If American families have to spend $10 or $20 more each time they visit a gas station, that means that they are going to have less discretionary income.  They won't be able to spend as much at the stores.

Not only that, but since the price of oil affects the price of almost everything else, Americans will find that their dollars have reduced purchasing power.

An oil crisis would force American families to stretch their already overburdened budgets even farther.

So where is the price of gasoline going from here?  Well, the average price of gasoline in the United States is rapidly sneaking up on the $3.20 a gallon mark.  Almost everyone believes that it is going to be going significantly higher.

Tom Kloza, the chief analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, was recently quoted in USA Today as saying that he believes that the average price for gasoline in the United States will reach somewhere between $3.50 and $3.75 a gallon by April.

As I wrote about yesterday,
there are other analysts that believe that we are going to see $4.00 gasoline in the United States by the end of the year, and there are some that believe that we could see $5.00 gasoline if revolution sweeps Saudi Arabia.

If gasoline becomes that expensive and it stays there for a while, it is going to seriously start affecting the behavior of American businesses and American consumers.

Just remember what happened back in 2008.  Andrew Busch of BMO Capital Markets recently told CNBC the following....

"Remember when oil was last at $140 (a barrel), Americans reacted and cut the amount of miles they drove."

Can you imagine what it would do to the economy if millions of Americans start sitting in their homes instead of doing their normal amounts of driving and flying?

In addition, one of the biggest problems with a higher price for oil is that it would cause our trade deficit to explode.  According to the U.S. government, more than half of the oil that we use is imported.  So every month we send the rest of the world billions and billions of our dollars and they send us massive amounts of oil.  We rapidly consume all of the oil they send us and we continually need more.  So we keep sending larger and larger amounts of money overseas and they keep sending us larger amounts of oil.  In the process, our national wealth is being drained at an astounding rate.  It is one of the greatest transfers of wealth the world has ever seen.

When the price of oil rises substantially, the transfer of wealth accelerates.  This is a very bad thing for the U.S. economy.  For example, when oil prices were above $100 a barrel back in 2008 our trade deficit for the year was almost 700 billion dollars.

It would be great if the Middle East would settle down and oil prices would start declining because that would really help out the U.S. economy.  Unfortunately, it does not look like that is going to happen.  Instead, it appears that we are steamrolling directly towards stagflation. 
Anyone that lived through the stagflation of the 1970s knows that it is not a lot of fun.

The cold, hard reality of the matter is that without cheap oil our lifestyles are going to change.  Our economy was not set up to run on expensive oil.  If oil moves well above $100 a barrel and it stays there it is going to bring about significant societal changes.

For the rest of 2011, the price of oil will be the number one economic indicator to watch.  If it gets too high it is going to be an absolute disaster for the U.S. economy.



ผวาลิเบียยืดเยื้อ!ทั่วโลกเสี่ยงStagflation - กรุงเทพธุรกิจ ออนไลน์

วันที่ 25 กุมภาพันธ์ 2554 15:01
กสิกรไทยผวาจลาจลในลิเบียยืดเยื้อ กดดันราคาน้ำมันพุ่ง! กระทบการฟื้นตัวเศรษฐกิจโลก เสี่ยงเข้าสู่ภาวะ Global Stagflation

นายปรีดี ดาวฉาย รองกรรมการผู้จัดการอาวุโส ธนาคารกสิกรไทย จำกัด (มหาชน) กล่าวถึงสถนการณ์จลาจลที่เกิดขึ้นในลิเบียว่า ผล กระทบที่เกิดขึ้นตามมาในทันทีก็คือ สถานการณ์ราคาน้ำมันดิบในตลาดโลกที่ถีบตัวสูงขึ้นอย่างต่อเนื่อง โดยราคาน้ำมันดิบเบรนท์พุ่งขึ้นแตะระดับสูงสุดในรอบเกือบ 2 ปีครึ่งเหนือ 119 ดอลลาร์ต่อบาร์เรล จากปลายปีที่แล้วที่อยู่ที่ระดับประมาณ 95 ดอลลาร์ต่อบาร์เรล ก ขณะที่ราคาน้ำมันดิบเวสต์เท็กซัส ( WTI) ซึ่งเดิมต่ำกว่าราคาน้ำมันเบรนท์ก็พุ่งขึ้นมาเหนือระดับ 100 ดอลลาร์ฯ ต่อบาร์เรลแล้วในบางช่วงของปีนี้

นอกจากนี้ ความกังวลต่อสถานการณ์ที่เลวร้ายยังกระตุ้นให้นักลงทุนวิ่งหาสินทรัพย์ที่มี ความปลอดภัย และทองคำที่เป็นหนึ่งในตัวเลือกก็กลับมายืนเหนือระดับ 1,400 ดอลลาร์ฯ ต่อออนซ์แล้วในขณะนี้
ทั้งนี้ หากสถานการณ์ความไม่สงบยืดเยื้อ ลุกลาม และซับซ้อนมากขึ้น ผลกระทบต่อทิศทางราคาน้ำมันโลกก็อาจลากยาวนานขึ้นตามไปด้วย และในกรณีเลวร้าย ราคาน้ำมันโลกก็อาจพุ่งเข้าใกล้ระดับสูงเป็นประวัติการณ์ที่ 147 ดอลลาร์ต่อบาร์เรล หรือสูงกว่านั้น   ซึ่งราคาน้ำมันที่ทะยานสูงขึ้นมาอย่างต่อเนื่องนั้น อาจส่งผลย้อนกลับมาสร้างความไม่แน่นอนให้กับแนวโน้มการฟื้นตัวของเศรษฐกิจ โลก และซ้ำเติมภาวะเงินเฟ้อที่เป็นขาขึ้นอยู่แล้วจากราคาอาหารให้เลวร้ายมากขึ้น จนอาจกลายเป็นภาวะ Global Stagflation ที่เศรษฐกิจโลกชะลอตัว สวนทางกับเงินเฟ้อที่พุ่งขึ้น จนอาจทำให้ธนาคารกลางหลาย ๆ ประเทศ จำต้องปรับขึ้นอัตราดอกเบี้ยด้วยขนาดที่รุนแรง    ขณะที่กระแสการเคลื่อนย้ายเงินทุนระหว่างประเทศ และค่าเงินบาทก็อาจมีความผันผวนมากขึ้นตามไปด้วย

สำหรับเศรษฐกิจไทย ซึ่งเป็นประเทศผู้นำเข้าน้ำมันนั้น ผลกระทบที่ได้รับจากเหตุการณ์ความไม่สงบในภูมิภาคตะวันออกกลางและแอฟริกา เหนือ น่าจะแบ่งออกเป็น 2 ด้าน โดยผลทางตรงต่อต้นทุนราคาพลังงานในประเทศจากภาวะราคาน้ำมันโลกที่พุ่งขึ้น อาจถูกลดทอนลงบางส่วนจากผลของมาตรการตรึงราคาพลังงานของรัฐบาล ที่ดูแลไม่ให้ราคาน้ำมันดีเซลเกินกว่าระดับ 30 บาทต่อลิตรไปจนถึงเดือน เมษา ยน ควบคู่ไปกับการขยายเวลาตรึงราคาก๊าซ LPG/NGV สำหรับภาคครัวเรือนและภาคขนส่งจนถึงเดือนมิถุนายน อย่างไรก็ดี ราคาน้ำมันโลกที่ยืนในระดับสูงต่อเนื่อง ย่อมเพิ่มความเสี่ยงให้กับเศรษฐกิจโลก และส่งผลทางอ้อมกลับมาที่ภาคการส่งออก ดุลการค้า และเศรษฐกิจโดยรวมของไทยอย่างหลีกเลี่ยงได้ยาก

สำหรับธนาคารแล้ว นายปรีดีมองว่า หากเหตุการณ์ตึงเครียดในตะวันออกกลางและแอฟริกาเหนือ สิ้นสุดลงได้โดยเร็ว ความเสี่ยงที่มีต่อเศรษฐกิจไทย ยังน่าจะอยู่ในระดับที่ยอมรับได้ และไม่น่ากระทบต่อประมาณการเศรษฐกิจปี 2554 ของศูนย์วิจัยกสิกรไทย ซึ่งอยู่ที่ร้อยละ 4.0-5.0   ขณะที่ อัตราเงินเฟ้อทั่วไปของไทย แม้จะมีทิศทางเร่งตัวขึ้น แต่ก็ยังคงมีค่าเฉลี่ยของทั้งปี 2554 ไม่เกินร้อยละ 4.0

อย่างไรก็ดี คงจะต้องมีการทบทวนสถานการณ์อย่างใกล้ชิดเป็นระยะ ๆ ต่อไป โดย หา กราคาน้ำมันดิบเบรนท์ ยืนระดับเหนือ 120 ดอลลาร์ฯ ต่อบาร์เรลไปอย่างต่อเนื่องไปตลอดทั้งปีแล้ว ผลกระทบที่มีต่อเศรษฐกิจ เงินเฟ้อและทิศทางดอกเบี้ยก็อาจมีความรุนแรงขึ้นตามไปด้วย โดยอัตราเงินเฟ้อเฉลี่ยของทั้งปี 2554 อาจจะขึ้นไปถึงระดับร้อยละ 5.0 หรือสูงกว่านั้น   ขณะที่การส่งออกของไทย ก็คงจะชะลอตัวตามภาวะเศรษฐกิจโลก สวนทางกับการนำเข้าที่เพิ่มขึ้นตามการพุ่งขึ้นของราคาน้ำมัน   ซึ่งจะส่งผลให้ดุลการค้าของไทยในปี 2554 อาจกลับมาขาดดุลได้   รวมถึงอัตราการขยายตัวของ เศรษฐกิจไทยก็คงจะต่ำกว่าร้อยละ 4.0 ซึ่งเป็นกรอบล่างของประมาณการที่วางไว้เดิม
30 Oct 2005 16:53
“ทักษิณ” ชี้ราคาน้ำมันพุ่งแต่มั่นใจ
เศรษฐกิจไทยปีหน้าดีกว่าเดิม

“ทักษิณ” ชี้ราคาน้ำมันแพงยังมีต่อจนอาจขยับถึง 100 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐต่อบาร์เรล แนะทุกฝ่ายต้องช่วยประหยัด มั่นใจเศรษฐกิจปีนี้เติบโตแน่ร้อยละ 4.5 และปีหน้าดีขึ้นไปอีก พร้อมสั่ง ก.พาณิชย์-คลังศึกษารูปแบบปรับโครงสร้างธุรกิจ เพื่อแข่งขันในการค้าโลกแบบผู้นำไม่ใช่ผู้ตาม

พ.ต.ท.ทักษิณ ชินวัตร นายกรัฐมนตรี ปาฐกถาในงานสัมมนาหอการค้าไทยทั่วประเทศ ครั้งที่ 23 ว่า ในเรื่องของวิกฤตพลังงานเป็นสิ่งที่ภาคธุรกิจจะต้องปรับตัวซึ่งตนพอใจใน แผนที่หอการค้าไทยจัดทำมาในการลดต้นทุนผลิตด้วยการประหยัดพลังงาน
เพราะเชื่อว่าพลังงานจะไม่ถูกลงไปกว่านี้
ตรงกันข้ามแนวโน้มราคาน้ำมันจะเพิ่มขึ้น
ในอีกไม่ช้าและจะได้เห็นราคาน้ำมันดิบ
ถึง 100 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐต่อบาร์เรล 
ดังนั้น ทุกคนต้องทำใจและประหยัดการใช้พลังงาน โดยทุกฝ่ายต้องร่วมกันปรับตัวเพื่อให้สามารถแข่งขันได้โดยไทยต้องทำตัวเป็น ผู้นำในการกำหนดกติกาการค้าของโลก ไม่ใช่ผู้ตามไม่เช่นนั้นจะเสียเปรียบตลอด

นายกรัฐมนตรีเชื่อว่า ในปี 2549 ทุกอย่างจะดีกว่าปี 2548 โดยเฉพาะอัตราเงินเฟ้อ ซึ่งเกิดขึ้นจากการประหยัดการใช้พลังงาน เพราะปกติผลิตภัณฑ์มวลรวมในประเทศ (จีดีพี) เมื่อขยายตัวร้อยละ 6 จะใช้พลังงานเพิ่มขึ้นร้อยละ 8-9 แต่ในปีนี้จีดีพีเติบโตร้อยละ 4.5 แต่การใช้พลังงานลดลงร้อยละ 0.6 ทั้งที่ตามปกติการใช้พลังงานต้องเพิ่มขึ้นร้อยละ 7 และยังเชื่อว่าจีดีพีไตรมาส 3-4 จะดีมากขึ้นทำให้เศรษฐกิจในปีนี้จะขยายตัวได้ถึงร้อยละ 4.5 ส่วนปี 2549 จะดีกว่าปีนี้ ส่วนหนึ่งเป็นผลมาจากการเบิกจ่ายงบประมาณที่สามารถเบิกจ่ายได้ถึงร้อยละ 93 ขณะที่ผ่านมาเบิกจ่ายงบประมาณได้ประมาณร้อยละ 70-85 เท่านั้น

พ.ต.ท.ทักษิณ กล่าวอีกว่า เศรษฐกิจไทยที่ดีขึ้นมาจากความตั้งใจทำงานของรัฐบาลเพราะรัฐบาลได้ดูแลความ เคลื่อนไหวของจีดีพีมาตลอด เมื่อรู้ว่าส่วนไหนอ่อนก็จะไปเสริมตรงนั้น ทำให้สามารถผลักดันจีดีพีให้เติบโตสูงกว่าที่หลายฝ่ายทำนายและก็ทำนายกัน ผิดๆ ดังนั้น อยากให้ดูการทำงานของรัฐบาลดีกว่า ส่วนนักธุรกิจจะต้องเชื่อมั่นและเร่งปรับตัวด้วยการมองให้ไกล และสำรวจตัวเองเสมอเพื่อให้ทันโลกการแข่งขัน รัฐบาลพร้อมที่จะสนับสนุนนักธุรกิจทุกส่วนโดยเฉพาะนักธุรกิจภูธร ซึ่งเชื่อว่าในอีก 3-5 ปีข้างหน้าธุรกิจภูธรจะมีอัตราการเติบโตสูง แม้ปัจจุบันจะมีฐานต่อเศรษฐกิจรวมขนาดเล็กแต่ในอนาคตจะเป็นฐานที่เพิ่มขึ้น และลงทุนอย่างต่อเนื่องทั้งด้านการลงทุนพื้นฐาน และกำลังซื้อ

นายกรัฐมนตรี กล่าวด้วยว่า ธุรกิจไทยจะต้องมองในเรื่องการสร้างมูลค่าเพิ่มให้กับสินค้า (Value Creation) เพราะหมดเวลาในเรื่องของการผลิตสินค้าแบบธรรมดา (Value Chain) ที่ใช้แรงงานเยอะ แต่ได้เงินน้อยเหมือนกับที่ผ่านมา โดยอยากให้มองโมเดลของ 2 ยักษ์ใหญ่ธุรกิจค้าปลีก คือ เทสโก้ และเนสท์เล่ ที่ทั้ง 2 บริษัทมียอดขายรวมกันมากกว่าจีดีพีของประเทศไทย ทั้งที่ไทยมีศักยภาพครอบคลุมโดยสามารถผลิตวัตถุดิบป้อนให้กับบริษัททั้งสอง ได้ แต่ที่ธุรกิจไทยทำไม่ได้เพราะยังขาดเรื่องการบริหารจัดการและความรู้ที่จะทำ อย่างไรก็ตาม เรื่องดังกล่าวรัฐบาลพร้อมที่จะผลักดันให้เอกชนมีระดับการพัฒนาก้าวไปสู่ การสร้าง Value Creation ซึ่งก็ได้มอบหมายให้นายสมคิด จาตุศรีพิทักษ์ รองนายกรัฐมนตรีและรัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงพาณิชย์ รวมทั้งนายทนง พิทยะ รัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงการคลัง ไปดูแลเรื่องดังกล่าว โดยให้มองรูปแบบของเทสโก้ และเนสท์เล่ และรูปแบบของแบรนด์สินค้ายี่ห้อหลุยส์ วิตอง ที่สามารถกระจายสินค้าออกไปทั่วโลก โดยมีศูนย์กระจายสินค้าเป็นของตัวเอง และยังควบคุมราคาสินค้าได้ด้วยตนเอง ซึ่งสินค้าหลุยส์ วิตตอง ขึ้นราคาทุกปีก็ให้ไปศึกษาว่าบริษัทเหล่านี้ มีวิธีอย่างไร และให้มาปรับใช้กับภาคธุรกิจไทย

“ผมได้สั่งการให้กระทรวงพาณิชย์และกระทรวงการคลังไปศึกษาถึงวิธีการเคลื่อน ย้ายสินค้าปรับโครงสร้างทางเศรษฐกิจ แยกเป็นสาขาอุตสาหกรรม เกษตร บริการ และท่องเที่ยว รวมทั้งปรับสถานะของธุรกิจ โดยธุรกิจใดแข่งขันได้ก็ให้คงรักษาไว้ ธุรกิจใดไม่สามารถแข่งขันได้ก็ต้องปรับตัวหรือเปลี่ยนแปลง ซึ่งจะต้องทำโรดแม็พในแต่ละด้าน เพราะจุดอ่อนของธุรกิจไทย คือไม่รู้เขาไม่รู้เรา จึงถึงเวลาที่ต้องนำระบบสารสนเทศและการทำวิจัยพัฒนามาลดปัญหาและเพิ่มการให้ ข้อมูลแก่สมาชิก ดังนั้น สภาหอการค้าไทยจะต้องเตรียมข้อมูลในเรื่องวิจัยและการสร้างพื้นฐานความรู้ ซึ่งรัฐบาลพร้อมจะสนับสนุนงบประมาณในส่วนนี้” นายกรัฐมนตรี กล่าว

พ.ต.ท.ทักษิณ กล่าวว่า เหตุผลสำคัญที่ให้กระทรวงพาณิชย์ และกระทรวงการคลัง ไปศึกษารูปแบบของเนสท์เล่เพราะเป็นผู้เชี่ยวชาญด้านการแปรรูปสินค้าเกษตร ขณะที่เทสโก้ชำนาญเรื่องขายอาหารสด ส่วนหลุยส์ วิตตอง ให้ดูความชำนาญในเรื่องการควบคุมสินค้าของตนเองให้มีคุณภาพและการกำหนดราคา สินค้าทุกปี ขณะเดียวกันรัฐบาลจะเข้าไปดูแลเรื่องการเปิดเขตการค้าเสรี (เอฟทีเอ) โดยจะเพิ่มความสำคัญในเรื่องของมาตรฐานการรับรองสินค้าที่เท่าเทียมกัน (เอ็มอาร์เอ) ซึ่งต้องตกลงล่วงหน้าระหว่างกัน ซึ่งฝ่ายไทยจะต้องกำหนดมาตรฐานไว้ด้วยและรัฐบาลจะให้ความสำคัญในเรื่องระบบ ลอจิสติกส์ และไอที คาดว่าในปีหน้าจะเริ่มมีผลอย่างเป็นรูปธรรม โดยเฉพาะระบบลอจิสติกส์จะต้องดูทั้งการลงทุนขั้นพื้นฐานและการเคลื่อนไหวการ ขนส่งสินค้าเป็นสำคัญ

นอกจากนี้ รัฐบาลจะให้ความสำคัญการเพิ่มมูลค่าสินค้าเกษตร โดยผ่านระบบบาร์เตอร์เทรดที่ไทยจะสามารถเพิ่มมูลค่าจากผลผลิตจากธรรมชาติมา แปลงเป็นเงิน ไม่ใช่ต้องใช้เงินลงทุนและได้เงินเป็นผลตอบแทนอย่างการจัดสร้างโรงงานที่ ต้องใช้เทคโนโลยีใหม่ๆ ไทยแข่งขันได้ยากแต่จะดึงเทคโนโลยีเหล่านั้นเข้ามา เช่น จีน ที่มีเทคโนโลยีด้านโครงสร้างพื้นฐานอยู่มาก อาทิ โรงงานเหล็ก แต่เมื่อจีนชะลอการสร้างโครงสร้างพื้นฐาน ทำให้วัตถุดิบเหล่านี้เหลือมาก ซึ่งจีนก็พร้อมที่จะมาช่วยระบบลอจิสติกส์ให้กับไทยโดยเป็นการทำบาร์เตอร์เท รดที่ไม่ต้องใช้จ่ายด้วยเงิน

โดย ผู้จัดการออนไลน์ 30 ตุลาคม 2548 15:14 น.

www.criticalpast.com
Location: United States
...Date: 1945

Duration: 4 min 13 sec
Sound: Yes 
Life of the President of the United States
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the United States.

US President Franklin D Roosevelt is greeted by
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard
...HMS Prince of Wales during the Atlantic Conference
for signing of the Atlantic Charter off Newfoundland in 1941.

The ship approaches the harbor. Soldiers present arms
aboard a ship. Prime Minister Churchill and President
Franklin D Roosevelt talk. 
President Franklin Roosevelt
addresses congress members after
the Pearl Harbor attack.

The President signs a document. President Roosevelt reviews
troops in Casablanca. The troops march. Franklin Roosevelt
salutes troops. Vehicles driven in the foreground.

Cairo: Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill with
the Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China
Chiang Kai-shek.


Tehran : Franklin D Roosevelt,
Winston Churchill and General Secretary of
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin pose.

United States : The exteriors of the White House.
People enter White House. President Franklin Roosevelt
with Vice President Harry S. Truman at the 1945 inaugural ceremony.

Yalta : President Franklin D Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and
Joseph Stalin pose. Franklin D Roosevelt addresses a conference.

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