Fact or Fiction...

Noting that it has had thousands of years to develop a more agreeable option, humankind expressed bewilderment this week that it has yet to devise a better alternative to governing itself than always letting power-hungry assholes run everything, sources worldwide reported.

Individuals in every country on earth voiced their frustration that, in spite of generations of mistreatment, neglect, and abuse they have suffered at the hands of those in positions of authority, they continue to allow control over the world’s governments, businesses, and virtually every other type of organization and social group to fall to the most megalomaniacal pricks among them.

“We’ve all seen what this system leads to, so you’d think that by now, someone, somewhere would have sat down and thought up another way to keep our societies functioning without giving all the power to arrogant, amoral dicks whose only concern is improving their own status,” said Mumbai software designer Ankan Rao, one of 7.1 billion humans who conveyed continued surprise that their species has so far proven incapable of formulating a method of governance that was even slightly more tolerable. “Everybody dislikes the people in charge and everybody knows they’re only serving their own personal agendas at the expense of everyone else, but we just keep allowing these jerks to make our decisions time and time again. And it’s not just here—it’s everywhere in the world.”

“Boy, maybe we shouldn’t do that anymore,” Rao added. “Anyone have any better ideas?”

Speaking with reporters, citizens across the planet unanimously expressed their bafflement at the consistency with which they either formally or informally select corrupt and self-obsessed sacks of shit for leadership roles in all facets of life, including positions atop corporate boards, judicial and legislative bodies, religious institutions, parent-teacher associations, the military, intramural softball teams, and international and national professional associations, as well as groups of friends deciding where to eat.

In addition, sources offered countless examples of the counterproductive and perplexing practice of entrusting power to the world’s least scrupulous individuals, ranging in scale from a domineering dictator who plunges his country into civil war in order to consolidate his power, to a Foot Locker shift manager who forces his subordinates to close up without him so that he can go home early.

Moreover, everyone across the planet acknowledged that the tradition of allowing an exploitative asshole to take charge of a given situation has been the principal system for group decision-making from the earliest formation of tribal societies to the present day, an admission that caused each member of the human race to either emit an exasperated sigh, shake his or her head, or mutter a profanity.

“My old boss, my sorority president, my congressional representative, my current boss—they’ve all been soulless, backstabbing dickheads whose only concern is getting what they want,” said administrative assistant Sheryl Gittens of Fort Worth, TX, who went on to list the bully back in her seventh grade class, her homeowners association president, and the coordinator of her Bible study group among the legions of selfish jagoffs who have inexplicably been granted commanding roles by the acquiescent masses. “What’s even more annoying is that we essentially reward these people for only thinking of themselves and repeatedly screwing us over. If you stop and think about it, that’s pretty messed up.”

“Jesus,” she continued. “What the hell’s wrong with us?”

Given the prevalence throughout history of compassionless, two-faced leaders whose lust for control and inflated self-importance have led to disastrous results for society at large, many individuals questioned if, going forward, they should instead try giving power to someone other than a greedy, self-serving bastard.

“Maybe we should try letting a kind, responsible person run things for a change,” Cairo resident Nathifa Bakhoum told reporters. “I, for one, don’t want to be told what to do by another narcissist who’s drunk on power and who has absolutely no regard for my well-being. It’s just a thought, but perhaps we could go with a good, decent human next time, or at least someone who’s not a completely egotistical pile of dogshit. That seems like a good thing to try at least once, right? Could we even do that? It’s probably worth a shot.”

When pressed for further comment, however, every member of humanity agreed that the current system, though deeply flawed, remains far better than one in which they actually have to make decisions for themselves.

Golden Jackass: BRICS Gold Central Bank Outpost

While the West has been mesmerized by the chaos in Ukraine, surely to become an implosion site, while attention has been directed on the Negative Interest Rate Policy coming into view, surely to become the

norm for banker skimming on yields, while focus has been on Spain's royalty in abdication, surely a change of the dark nobility guard, the Jackass has yawned and turned the view toward Saudi Arabia, surely a significant event on their fund news. 

They have announced a new sovereign wealth fund to be established, independent of their central bank, devoted to prudent investment. Read Gold investment. The indication is clear movement away from the USDollar and USTreasury Bond complex. The US-Saudi divorce is speeding away from the lawyer's offices, and asset redistribution is the key word. 

Abandonment of the Petro-Dollar involves the reversal of a generation in commitment, even more. It involves discharge of decades of accumulated rubbish US$-based debt paper. We could have the first sighting of a BRICS Central bank outpost for processing USGovt debt securities, straight into Gold bullion. The Saudis might win giant favor with Russia & China, the new dynamic duo, by jump starting the process of dumping USTBonds, followed by converting them into Gold bullion. The Great Indirect Exchange might become far more direct.

THE SAUDI MOLD

A few main questions arise, like whether the Saudis will formally join the BRICS Associates as part of their nascent alliance with Beijing. The embryonic relationship had a debutante ball in the form of huge multi-lateral conference in the Great Hall just a couple months ago, followed by a grand FU signal to US eyes during a military parade featuring Chinese missiles. 

The Jackass suspects a processing plant is being formed, to rid the Saudis of USTreasury Bonds, and to rebuild their Gold reserves. They must replace what London and Switzerland have stolen. Another question arises, whether Saudi and Iran will coordinate energy policy and payment systems outside the USDollar, even in gold settlement. The Saudi fund could assist in the process. A final question arises, whether to expect a dozen such BRICS Central Bank outposts for processing USTBonds into Gold will arise and take form.

A vast satellite system of BRICS central banks might spring up, in mimicking fashion to the Western central bank franchise system that includes the USFederal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Euro Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and others such as the Swiss National Bank.

The Jackass believes the Saudis will create the mold, to be copied elsewhere. The Jackass believes the Saudis will soon announce a payment policy that accepts any major currency for oil shipments, even petro-chemical shipments. The Jackass believes the entire Gulf region will soon coordinate policy toward the Petro-Yuan standard as a temporary caretaker vehicle, with the ultimate destination to be the Gold Trade Settlement system. 

The Jackass believes the Saudis and Iran will become working partners, not friends, replete with constructive engagement. Remove the US element from the equation, and war with other violence often goes away. It is the nazi element and common thread. The Chinese deal in trade as the handshake, the new model. Watch China become the global mediator in diplomacy. The opportunity is there, but Beijing start at home. They must treat neighbor nations like Vietnam in Southeast Asia with fewer elbows to the face.

OFFICIAL NEWS ARTICLE

The official news item was short on details, long on implications. The crafty alert observer can read between the lines. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia will establish its first sovereign wealth fund to manage budget surpluses worth hundreds of $billions, according to the kingdom's state news agency. The Shoura Council is expected to discuss a draft law for the National Reserve Fund imminently. The fund would take control of management for the entire kingdom's investments from the central bank. That is the zinger, independence. 

Saudi Arabia remains the world's largest crude oil exporter. It has not been revealed whether the fund would change the kingdom's investment strategy. In the past four decades, the strategy has been to recycle petro surpluses dutifully into USGovt bonds, in the critically important Anglo cutout role. The eyes of Kissinger and Rockefeller types are on them, the designers of the Petro-Dollar defacto standard, which replaced effectively the Gold Standard in 1973. Just two years earlier, the Bretton Woods Accord was abrogated. The fund would start with capital representing 30 percent of budgetary surpluses accumulated over a number of years. In the past three years alone, the kingdom has announced budget surpluses totaling about $232 billion. See the Arabian Business article (CLICK HERE).

OTHER SOVEREIGN FUNDS

Other regional Gulf Sovereign Wealth Funds have invested in property internationally, primarily in Europe. They own plenty of UKGilts and EuroBonds and probably more than a handful of Japanese Govt Bonds. The Saudis are clearly signaling a major move out of USTreasurys. Soon come announcements that Saudis will accept any major currency for oil. Iran already is finding little resistance, like in energy sales to India and Turkey. 

The USGovt will soon quit the battle of imposing sanctions on the entire world. The BRICS foundation is showing signs of coming together. This is the exit of Petro-Dollar and its death dirge with no more fascist goose step in the marching formation, a break from the Anglo-American banker thieves and fraud kings.

Other Sovereign Wealth Funds in the Gulf region are extremely significant. The leader is the United Arab Emirates with their massive Abu Dhabi Investment Authority fund, which contains $773bn. But UAE also has four other such funds totaling another $286bn, which tips the total past $1 trillion to $1059bn. The Saudi fund SAMA Foreign Holdings has $737bn. The Kuwait Investment Authority has $410bn. The Qatar Investment Authority has $170bn. The total Gulf region SWFunds have a combined $2.377 trillion.

If a mere quarter of the funds are directed toward Gold bullion conversion, the Gulf region could supply the equivalent of a Fort Knox for Arab usage to back the Gold Dinar currency. The once glistening fortress in Kentucky used to house 8500 tons of gold until it was stolen by the Clinton-Rubin gang. Only morons and dupes believe the official story of relocating it to the New York Fed and West Point for safe keeping, coupled with lunatic concepts like Deep Storage Gold. Ask Germany, Netherlands, Austria, and Venezuela how the safe keeping of their official gold account is doing. See the SWF Institute listing of funds and their data in detail (CLICK HERE).

So conclude that the Saudi SAMA official fund has almost 3/4 of a $trillion, all ready and waiting to exit toxic paper status, and achieve true valid gold reserve status. Well, or a sizeable portion to exhibit the new practical functional role of the BRICS Saudi Central Bank Output for conversion of toxic Western sovereign debt paper into precious metals.

IMPLICATIONS TO GOLD-OIL TRADE

Consider the Saudi SWFund move a not so subtle FU to the US financial regime with their power lodged in the USFederal Reserve and USDept Treasury, and their vehicles operating as USDollar and reserves asset tucked in global banks as the USTreasury Bond. One must wonder if the Belgium Bulge Billboard of stacked stashed stuffed USTBonds is actually at least 30% Saudi, and not exclusively Russian. The funds from Saudi surpluses are being taken away from the Saudi central bank, which means that the Saudis are withdrawing from the Fed-led central bank franchise network. 

The Saudis are making a clear indicating of turning East. The divorce means the Saudi Royals have begun to make distance from the Anglo-American bond fraud kings and paper merchants. Expect more transparency in the future. Expect a huge diversification away from USTBonds. Expect the foundation early in stages for the net settlement in the Gold-Oil/Gas swap, which China also implemented with Russia. The arrangement could be an intermediary step toward full Gold Trade Settlement, used as a future model. All that lacks are an array of gold-backed currencies and Gold Trade Notes to act as letters of credit. 

To be sure, the need now is acute for a vast satellite system of BRICS central banks to spring up. Next could be the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. It would be a kick in the face (nuts) if Frankfurt announced a BRICS central bank for managing sovereign wealth, the zipword codeword for diversification away from USTreasury Bonds into Gold bullion. Frankfurt is destined to become the global Yuan (RMB) hub for Asia and Europe. They could start with a gold conversion function. The effect on the US-UK-EU would be a true scheiss storm complete with fecal particles.

The Belgium Bulge is increasingly looking like collateral posted by the Saudis or Chinese for Gold. If done equally by the Saudis and Chinese, then the BRICS central bank sourcing project has two key players, with more to follow. The integration of the Petro-Yuan will have many sides, and the Saudi central bank appears to have more development to come. The Petro-Yuan has numerous integral project elements to come. We could be witnessing a key outpost in creation, this Saudi sovereign wealth fund, an important element in the payment for oil in gold, using USTBonds as active currency in the credit grease lubrication role only. The conversion from bond to gold for oil payment might be coming into view, a key Petro-Yuan function apart from conversion of reserves on the investment side.

SATELLITE OUTPOSTS TO COME

Expect each BRICS nation to have a central bank processing plant to convert the toxic USTBonds into Gold bullion. They will process the other sovereign bonds as well. Expect Shanghai and Hong Kong to have one, and Moscow, along with Delhi India and Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Johannesburg South Africa too. Other nations will host BRICS central bank satellites like Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Eventually expect BRICS central banks to spring up in Frankfurt Germany, in Ankara Turkey, in Tokyo Japan, and in Tehran Iran. 

It will be impossible to stop the trend in diversification out of USTBonds and into Gold since it is healthy and part of a bonafide solution. To be sure, a large amount will be converted into Chinese Yuan and Russian Ruble, since much Eastern trade will be settled in those two rising currencies. They will both give birth to gold-backed currencies. Ironically, both China & Russia are in possession of far more Gold reserves than the global economy sees in currency flow for their Yuan and Ruble currencies. The energy trade will soon be settled in Yuan and Rubles, in response to the stupid USGovt sanctions that have all the appearance of self-inflicted shotgun wounds to the face and chest, even onions.

The usual tactics will be used against the BRICS & Associate nations which strive to rid themselves of the toxic USDollar. Many ask why the USD is called toxic. The answer is simple. It has USGovt debt behind it, which is financed 80% by USFed unsterilized bond monetization, the sheer creation of phony money to cover debt. It has Zero Interest Rate Policy behind it, which distorts all asset prices. It has permitted protected Wall Street criminality behind it, which features massive bond fraud, property title fraud, bond counterfeit, insider trading, and narco money laundering. 

It has endless fascist wars behind it, which sustain the hegemony and make crystal clear that the USDollar has more a military backing than an industrial economic backing. The usual tactics to prevent the BRICS & Associate nations will include bribery, threats of violence, more fraud, shared narcotics traffic profits, basic murder (assisted suicide), ostracism from the system, continued sanctions, and cash settlement in the metals market. The world cannot begin a resolution and recovery from the cancerous economic plight without discarding the USDollar and salvaging USTBonds. Already many nations are selling USD cash at a 30% to 35% discount for redemption in their native currencies, the ugly little secret along with countless other ugly secrets.

The Gold Standard is the solution for the chronic financial plague that must respond to toxic USD blood coursing their its global economic system, the trade arteries and the banking reserve veins. You will know progress is being made when the BRICS central banks enjoy a brisk conversion trade into Gold bullion, and the COMEX shuts down. All in time. A trend setting conference is soon to take place. The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) has its next summit to be held in Qatar squarely in the Gulf. Let it be called the Nat Gas Coop, which will eclipse the OPEC in every possible way. 

The exerted pressure on the gold market and the Gold Bullion Banks will be horrific. They will either declare Force Majeures or scramble to replace the hypothecated (stolen) gold bars. Criminal prosecution might become as common as far more prevalent banker murders. Let them push up mushrooms from six feet under, rather than cause mushroom clouds in the increasingly toxic air treated by chemtrails.

Nobody Wins Elections Promising to Trim Waste/Fraud And Simplify Regulations

Promising good governance guarantees a losing campaign for public office. The central irony of representative democracy is similar to the central irony of capitalism: the relentless pursuit of narrow self-interest ends up eroding the shared foundations every self-interested participant relies upon.

The problem in representative democracy is that every instance of waste, graft, fraud and monopolistic racket is somebody's fat paycheck or government contract. Those few who see the systemic damage wrought by unproductive skimming, scamming and churn are motivated by a concern for the foundations of the entire system, while those fighting to retain their share of the swag are driven by a fierce cornered-animal desire to keep their share of the loot regardless of the consequences to the system.

Who wins such conflicts? The people fighting tooth and nail to defend their share of the swag, even if it is unproductive, wasteful churn with high opportunity costs for society as a whole: for example, what else could we do with the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on tax preparation and avoidance were the thousands of pages of tax regulations radically simplified?

Nobody wins elections promising to trim waste/fraud/monopolies and simplify the churn of complex regulations because any such good governance threatens somebody's fat paycheck/contract, and those fearing banishment from the state's feeding trough will go to any lengths necessary to defeat the "good governance" candidate.

The winning candidate promises not good governance for the benefit of all but more swag for enough voters to win the election. Grabbing the lucrative reins of power is the ultimate in private aggrandizement within representative democracy, and as a result there will always be a large pool of individuals willing to promise the moon to get elected and a vanishingly small pool of people concerned enough about systemic risks to suffer the slings and arrows of campaign politics for the common good.

Capitalism shares a similar irony: the relentless pursuit of narrow self-interest (personal profit) drives the stripmining of the seas for high-value fish, killing vast numbers of "worthless" sea life in the process. When the ocean ecosystem has been destroyed, the theory is that a substitute will be found, such as farm fishing.

But farm fishing does not replace the lost ecosystem, any more than planting rows of monoculture trees for paper pulping replaces a native forest. Just as markets do not have any mechanisms to value ecosystems, representative democracy has no mechanism to counteract the systemic consequences of individual aggrandizement within the system.

Once the number of participants in the system drawing politically-protected benefits and paychecks exceeds the number of those paying taxes to fund the swag, the system destabilizes. Since the state is ultimately run to benefit the individuals drawing paychecks, benefits and contracts paid by the state, nobody cares about the systemic consequences of this imbalance or the heavy opportunity costs of supporting innumerable skims, scams and unproductive churn.

To avoid the political pain that would result from trimming waste/fraud/ rackets, the state prints money to keep the swag flowing. Since the state can't create real wealth, it prints claims on wealth and passes off the paper as "money."

As long as the state is judicious in its printing, the resulting inflation is modest enough that participants are more than happy to accept a small decline in purchasing power in return for keeping their share of the swag intact.

But this monetary gaming has systemic dynamics and limits. The hubris of the state, regardless of its ideological basis, is that central planners can tweak the monetary gaming to keep the swag flowing without creating any uncontrollable risk.

But risk cannot be eliminated, it can only be transferred. In representative democracy, the risks are transferred from individuals drawing swag to the system and state itself. The state appears so vast and powerful that it can absorb essentially infinite amounts of systemic risk. But the state is like any other system: its ability to sustain monetary games is finite, as is its ability to fund unproductive churn indefinitely and its control of destabilizing risk.

The only thing that is infinite about the state is the hubris of those at the controls and the narrow self-interest of those at its capacious feeding trough.

US Task Force To Focus On "Domestic Terrorists"

It’s been obvious for quite some time that the so-called “war on terror” is nothing more than a fear-mongering induced power grab; a convenient excuse to strip the citizenry of its civil liberties and humanity. Many commentators, including myself, have predicted for years that the entire counter-terror juggernaut that has been constructed post-9/11 would be ultimately redirected upon the domestic population.

Snowden’s heroic whistleblowing has already proven without a doubt that the government spy apparatus (along with tech company complicity) has been zeroed in on the domestic population for quite some time, but is the situation about to escalate? Are the feds so fearful of their own people, they are about to focus all their counter-terror energy on U.S. citizens? It appears so.

This whole charade shouldn’t be called “The War on Terror.” It is actually all about keeping the citizenry terrified. The government loves keeping you in a state of fear so that then they can do anything they want to the little sheep. It should be called “The War on Freedom.” Your freedom.

Before I get to the main topic of this article, I think it’s important to read excerpts from yesterday’s powerful and timely op-ed by Noam Chomsky titled: Edward Snowden, the World’s “Most Wanted Criminal. Discussing the Snowden revelations, he writes:

These exposures lead us to inquire into state policy more generally and the factors that drive it. The received standard version is that the primary goal of policy is security and defense against enemies.

The doctrine at once suggests a few questions: security for whom, and defense against which enemies? The answers are highlighted dramatically by the Snowden revelations.

To defend state power and private economic power from the domestic enemy, those two entities must be concealed – while in sharp contrast, the enemy must be fully exposed to state authority.

The principle was lucidly explained by the policy intellectual Samuel P. Huntington, who instructed us that “Power remains strong when it remains in the dark; exposed to the sunlight it begins to evaporate.”

Huntington added a crucial illustration. In his words, “you may have to sell [intervention or other military action] in such a way as to create the misimpression that it is the Soviet Union that you are fighting. That is what the United States has been doing ever since the Truman Doctrine” at the outset of the Cold War.

Policy must assure the security of state authority and concentrations of domestic power, defending them from a frightening enemy: the domestic population, which can become a great danger if not controlled.

From that day forward, in order to carry out violence and subversion abroad, or repression and violation of fundamental rights at home,state power has regularly sought to create the misimpression that it is terrorists that we are fighting, though there are other options: drug lords, mad mullahs seeking nuclear weapons, and other ogres said to be seeking to attack and destroy us.

Throughout, the basic principle remains: Power must not be exposed to the sunlight. Edward Snowden has become the most wanted criminal in the world for failing to comprehend this essential maxim.

In brief, there must be complete transparency for the population, but none for the powers that must defend themselves from this fearsome internal enemy.

The concept of the U.S. government viewing the population as the true enemy has been a theme on this site for many years. For some background, I suggest reading the following:

Rep. Steve Cohen Calls Tea Party Republicans “Domestic Enemies” on MSNBC

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

The reason I chose to highlight these two articles, is that in one case it is the “tea party” being demonized, and in the other it is Occupy Wall Street. It doesn’t matter if the dissent is seen as emanating from the “right” or the “left,” it is dissent in general which is increasingly being demonized as “domestic terrorism.”

With all of that in mind, here is what Eric Holder’s “Justice” Department is up to. From the LA Times:

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder, Jr. on Monday announced the creation of a task force within the Justice Department to combat an “escalating danger” from “homegrown” terrorists within the United States.

The task force will chiefly comprise leaders from the FBI, the Justice Department’s National Security Division and U.S. Attorneys. Called the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, it is a recreation of a task force formed by former Atty. Gen. Janet Reno after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The task force fell into disuse after 9/11.

Though the original task force, which was little known, focused mainly on right-wing zealots, Holder’s version is aimed at U.S. citizens or visitors radicalized via the Internet. Holder said the government will continue to fight terrorists abroad.

Oh the internet! That dangerous place where the citizenry engages in thoughtcrime and can actually perform real journalism without the censorship of mainstream propaganda media.

“But we also must concern ourselves with a different type of threat. We face an escalating danger from self-radicalized individuals within our own borders,” he said.
“Now — as the nature of the threat we face evolves to include the possibility of individual radicalization via the Internet — it is critical that we return our focus to potential extremists here at home,” Holder said.

NPR adds that:

“The threat from al-Qaida is much more diffuse after Sept. 11, and the threats posed by a single horribly misguided citizen or permanent legal resident in the U.S. is in a sense as great as what core al-Qaida posed before Sept. 11,” says Neil MacBride, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

There you have it. It’s no longer al-Qaeda, it’s now supposedly your friends and neighbors. This is the prevailing meme of every tyrannical fascist regime in history.

The state’s war on the citizenry is becoming overt. Don’t be fooled, this is real and it is very dangerous.