Horrific Arizona Massacre Is A Sign

Horrific Arizona Massacre Is A Sign of Tragedies to Come

January 12th, 2011 · · Hotlist

By David DeGraw, AmpedStatus

Let This Tragedy Be A Wake Up Call.
Given Socio-Political Conditions, Many More Violent Acts On the Way.

Most reporting on the tragic shooting carried out by Jared Loughner in Arizona this past weekend has missed a critical point. After reading many commentaries from both the “left” and “right,” I am reminded of the crucial role that these partisan groupthink reactionaries play in the continued decline of American society. As much as I despise partisan rhetoric, I don’t believe that even the most belligerent Republican or Democratic propagandists are to blame. They definitely influence opinions and voting patterns, which is significant, but, in my opinion, there isn’t anything a media personality or politician can say that is going to make a person commit mass murder. It takes deeper sociological and personal psychological issues to drive someone to carry out a massacre.

The best headline I’ve seen thus far read: “Our Political Rhetoric Isn’t Too Violent, It’s Too Dumb.”

Concerning Jared Loughner, all indications are that he was clearly mentally disturbed. Alex Pareene, writing in Salon, took the following viewpoint:

“Jared Loughner, though? He’s just nuts. Seriously, classic nutcase, end of story. It’s frankly irresponsible to speculate as to whether or not he had a political motivation when he attempted to assassinate a member of Congress.”

I agree with this assessment to a point. He is quite obviously a “nutcase,” but to say, “It’s frankly irresponsible to speculate as to whether or not he had a political motivation” is a grave mistake. The fact that he set out to kill a member of Congress demonstrates clear pre-meditation and shows that something was driving him to this extreme behavior, however deranged he may have been. I’m not a psychologist, but if we want to understand or speculate on the deeper forces that may have driven him, we need to look at this tragedy as another consequence of the breakdown of American society.

It’s easy to dismiss Jared as just another crazy person, or to blame the political rhetoric of people you disagree with, but holding one of these shallow views just reinforces the status quo and attempts to minimize these events so we can just continue on our path, business as usual.

People like Jared are not going to fit neatly into left or rightwing boxes, in the real world people rarely do. For the most part, the left-right dynamic is an artificial reality propagated by a paid off group-thinking media-political establishment. Generally speaking, people who act out in such an extreme way are people that are confronted by extreme circumstances that make their life incredibly hopeless, and desperate people will eventually strike out in desperate ways.

Before moving on, just to be 100% clear for anyone who may attempt to take any part of this out of context, this doesn’t in any way justify what he did. There is nothing that can justify his horrific actions. Going out and shooting a group of innocent people like this is not going to get you anywhere but dead or life in prison, and deservedly so.

Now that we are clear on that, let’s look into Jared’s circumstances and consider the following. He was obviously mentally disturbed, but he didn’t receive any mental health treatment. He was kicked out of college, before he then dropped out, and he was unemployed. Being an unemployed college drop-out with mental problems and no health care would certainly put you in a desperately hopeless situation.

Reporting in RH Reality Check, Amanda Marcotte writes:

“Some people are lucky enough to have insurance that not only covers mental health services, but makes referrals, but those people are rarely 22-year-olds attending community college. It’s not like there’s a centralized, low-cost mental health service… Maybe there should be, but in our country, getting more funding for this kind of necessary health care infrastructure is like pulling teeth.

The problems with our mental health systems in the U.S. are just part of a larger problem with health care in general—people fall through the cracks, diseases that could have been prevented or minimized with early interventions instead fester and become bigger, more expensive problems down the road, and we don’t do enough to connect the available services with the patients in need. [Ironically] This is something that Rep. Giffords understands….

Unfortunately, the push towards cuts for social services means that we’re running away from and not towards that goal. Take the state of Arizona, where all this went down. Mental health services were cut by $36 million in 2010, a 37 percent budget cut. That’s introducing a lot more cracks to an already cracked system. And it’s increasingly looking like Loughner is one of the people who fell through the cracks in the system.”

Arizona is not the only state to drastically cut mental health services, this is a popular trend in many states that are experiencing massive budget deficits due to the financial crisis. This is happening at a time when there is a dramatic rise in mental illness throughout America. Prior to cuts in services, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) revealed that over 60% of mentally ill Americans didn’t get any care whatsoever.

According to one of Loughner’s friends, he held strong beliefs that the government was “fucking us over.” In one of his YouTube videos, Loughner outlined his thoughts on the economy and his desires to create a new currency, writing the following:

“Firstly, the current government officials are in power for their currency, but I’m informing you for your new currency! Of you’re treasurer of a new money system, then you’re responsible for the distributing of a new currency. We now know — the treasurer for a new money system. Is the distributor of the new currency. As a result, the people approve a new money system which is promising new information that’s accurate, and we truly believe in a new currency. Above all, you have your new currency, listener?…”

In another video he wrote:

“In conclusion, reading the second United States Constitution, I can’t trust the government because of the ratifications: The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar.

No! I won’t pay debt with a currency that’s not backed by gold and silver! No! I won’t trust in God! What’s government if words don’t have meaning?”

These haphazard thoughts come from a disturbed mind, but they echo a belief that many sane people hold. In a convoluted way he is saying that he has lost faith in the government and our monetary (dollar based) system. You can do a quick search on the internet and find hundreds of people with PhDs who feel the same way. Obviously he is mentally disturbed, but a significant portion of critical-thinking US citizens share similar economic and political views.

In my view, this horrific event should serve as a warning sign as to what lies ahead. Jared Loughner is a canary in the coalmine and a consequence of a collapsing society coming apart at the seams. The reality that everyone seems to be in denial about is that our society is in the beginning phase of a massive breakdown. As tragic as this shooting was, many societal indicators lead me to believe that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Trillions of dollars in national wealth have been funneled to the top economic 0.1%, at the expense of everyone else. Most people know, on a profound level, that their economic and future prospects are grim because of the crimes of a small group of crony-capitalists. Our future has been sacrificed so multi-millionaires and billionaires can keep living business as usual. When vital social services are cut so the richest members of society can get tax breaks and all-time record-breaking bonuses, as our inequality of wealth reaches the most severe level in American history, based on well-established global societal precedents, outbreaks of violence such as this one are inevitable.

As I previously wrote in my book, The Road Through 2012:

“As we have just begun to see, budget cuts to vital social programs on the state and federal levels will become increasingly severe right at the point when many more Americans will need them. As the 52 million Americans currently surviving in ‘anti-poverty’ programs are gradually cutoff from life-sustaining government assistance – and as the 239 million people now living paycheck to paycheck, buried in debt, stressing out and working their asses off just to make ends meet realize that things are not going to be getting any better — and are only going to get worse — social unrest and outbursts of violence will eventually start to bubble up to the surface…

Looking at this from a purely technocratic sociological viewpoint, avoiding mass riots and violence while this many desperate people lose life-sustaining programs appears to be an impossible task, and given our current economic and political environment this seems inevitable.

In an article titled ‘A Planet at the Brink: Will Economic Brushfires Prove Too Virulent to Contain?’ Michael T. Klare explained: ‘As people lose confidence in the ability of markets and governments to solve the global crisis, they are likely to erupt into violent protests or to assault others they deem responsible for their plight, including government officials, plant managers, landlords, immigrants, and ethnic minorities.’

Without a coherent non-violent movement to provide a viable alternative, without an outlet for severe and legitimate grievances that provides any chance for urgently affecting necessary political change, people will resort to violence as a last desperate act of vengeance and frustration. As time passes, these forgotten and isolated people, tens of millions of them, are quickly running out of options, and they will act out just as exploited people throughout the world always have….

The health care and financial reform bills have proven that our politicians are much more concerned about the short-sighted necessity to please the Economic Elite and raise campaign funds, than they are to understand the consequences of millions of Americans being forced into situations where their very survival is threatened. In a system where most elected officials are millionaires, this lack of perspective and understanding is ultimately what will lead to violence. Whether it is by arrogance or ignorance, perhaps both, it appears that our ruling class has suicidal tendencies. Unless they quickly recognize the growing threat posed by the dispossessed masses, our puppet politicians will themselves be in harm’s way.

To show you how incredibly out of touch our current elected officials are, and to give you a clear indication of the prevailing attitude on Capitol Hill, a recent report from the Washington Post summed up their response to the recent news that a record number of Americans are now living in poverty:

‘The reluctance of political leaders on both sides of the aisle to directly confront the fact that growing numbers of Americans are slipping into poverty reflects a stubborn reality about the poor: They are not much of a political constituency.

‘We talk to many people on Capitol Hill who do believe poverty is important and is a blight on our nation, but we are also up against a general recognition that poor people don’t vote in great numbers. And they certainly aren’t going to be making campaign contributions. That definitely puts them behind many other people and interests when decisions are being made around here.’

And that sums up our current crisis, doesn’t it? The ‘poor people don’t vote’ and they don’t make ‘campaign contributions.’”

As bad as the past two years have been, due to stimulus spending, the effects of the economic looting that has occurred will just begin to be felt by most people this coming year. A recent report from Joseph Kishore sums up the consequences ahead:

“Governors in states throughout the US have begun to unveil budget proposals that include devastating cuts in basic social services, education, health care, and pay and benefits for government workers.

US state governments face a collected deficit of about $140 billion this coming fiscal year…. This does not include the disastrous budget situation confronting cities and localities throughout the country. Total state revenues fell by half a trillion dollars from 2008 to 2009, contributing to the budget crises.

Nicholas Johnson of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities remarked to the Washington Post that the coming year “will actually be the most difficult budget year for states ever.” The combined budget deficit is somewhat smaller than last year’s, but the states will be deprived of even the very limited federal aid to the states included in an earlier stimulus package.

Amidst various plans put forward by Democratic and Republican governors alike, the one proposal that has been completely excluded is the option of increasing taxes on the wealthy. The state budget cuts, which will have disastrous consequences for millions of people, are being implemented even as corporations sit on record profits and the pay of Wall Street and corporate executives returns to its pre-2008 highs.”

As our economic conditions continue to deteriorate, mentally disturbed people like Jared Loughner are the first to breakdown and lose it, but there will inevitably be many to follow. This tragedy is not an isolated incident. In just the past few days there have been two more incidents. A lobbyist, who was the wife of a White House adviser, was found dead in a burning car. A man upset over his Social Security benefits threatened to set fire to Senator Michael Bennet’s office and shoot his staff. There have been dozens of similar incidents over the past two years. From John Bedell, the man who opened fire on the Pentagon, to Joe Stack, the man who had a tax dispute and flew his plan into the Austin, Texas IRS building, an increasing number of Americans are beginning to resort to violence as a last desperate act of vengeance.

We can dismiss and write off all of this as just crazy people doing crazy things and go back to living with our heads in the sand, business as usual, or we can begin the urgent task of fixing a society that is severely out of balance.

The choice is ours.

– David DeGraw is the founder and editor of AmpedStatus.com. He is the author of The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States. His new book is The Road Through 2012.

Europe Calling: It is just the beginning!

Europe Calling: It is just the beginning!

Declaration from students in Rome

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows: occupation of universities everywhere in Europe, blockage of the cities, manif sauvage, rage. This is the answer of a generation to whom they want to cut the future with debts for studying, cuts of welfare state and increasing of tuition fees.

The determination of thousand of students in London, the rage of who assault the Italian Senate house against the austerity and the education cuts, has opened the present time: this is because the future is something to gain that start when you decide collectively to take risk and to struggle.

The extraordinary struggles that we are living have the capacity to show a present with an intensity that exceed the linearity of the time, that refuse our precarity condition: it is an assault to the future!

We don’t want to get into debt, we don’t want to pay more fees to study in London as well as in Paris, Wien, Rome, Athens, Madrid, Dublin, Lisbon. This European movement is about refusing austerity policies, refusing to get into debt for these miserable politicians. Que se vayan todos!

What is happening nowadays in Rome first spread out in Athens and Paris, then in Dublin and London: it is the irruption of a movement who speaks a common language, the same young generation in revolt, who inhabits different cities but shares the same determination to struggle, «floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee».

We have to meet each other and invent a new political grammar against the weakness of the Nation-state and their strategy to face the crisis: their receipt is just austerity, cuts and debt. In Italy we have occupied not only universities, but also blocked motorways and the mobility of the country in order to circulate struggles outside the national borders and coming in Europe and beyond. The circulation of struggles is living within the Book Block and the wild demonstration in London, Paris and Rome.

This autumn we are living a real European student movement, that is various and radical, really heterogeneous. Its common reclaim comes from a protest that is born in the middle of the crisis, and that represents the most courageous answer. It is a struggle composed by different struggles, heterogeneous temporalities that reclaim more scholarships for student and a public university for everyone.

Within the book block a new generation recognized and found itself in the protest. Today in lots of cities the Italian student movement is showing something more than just solidarity: this is because your struggle is our struggle and all around Europe students are against the increasing of fees, the privatisation of the university and the education cuts. You are not alone in UK: an European event, a new generation do not want to stop. We have the force whom want to change the world and we have the intelligence to do it. It is just the beginning!

We propose to students, researchers, precarious workers and PhD students to build up together an European meeting at the beginning of the 2011, to continue the struggle, to transform this wind in a tempest!

Uniriot Roma, Anomalia Sapienza

more info: http://www.uniriot.org

New Dreams of Nature and 2012

Dear Friends,

I wanted to share this new Huffington Post with you as it relates to my thoughts on 2012 prophecies and our new dreams.

New Dreams of Nature and 2012

By John Perkins

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” ~Albert Einstein

In the next few weeks I will lecture at the University of Pittsburgh, the World Affairs Council, San Francisco's Green Festival, Sustainability conferences at Omega and the University of Massachusetts, and a number of other venues.

My co-facilitator Llyn Roberts – of DreamChange – http://www.dreamchange.org and I will teach the first half of a 16-day Shapeshifting Apprenticeship at Omega – http://www.eomega.org and prepare to lead our Prophets Conference December 2010 trip to the Maya of Guatemala where participants will explore the true meaning of the 2012 prophecies with Mayan elders and shamans. I mention all of this because my schedule reflects, I believe, the tidal wave of change that is flooding human consciousness.

The tidal wave is coming as our dreams and our every day lives burst through the old and tired barriers of economically driven greed and return to the foundations of A sustainable and just life for each person in every community.

Our consciousness is changing our perceptions of ourselves and our social and cultural institutions, and this in turn is changing our lifestyles. We hear the indigenous people telling us how everything is tied together, that the spirit of the stone and the spirit of the mountain are inextricably linked to our own spirits. We are dreaming a powerful new way of living within nature, not "conquering" or destroying her.

Every indigenous culture i have worked with believes in the incredible power of dreams. Many equate dreams with the latent energy of the seed and embryo. Their beliefs are not unlike Carl Jung’s theory that humanity’s collective unconscious contains the knowledge of all past and future events and that dreams are a key for tapping into this vast library of information.

“Dreaming” is the most powerful thing we do in life. It forms the bases for our perceptions, attitudes, emotions, motivations and actions. It occurs all the time, at both conscious and subconscious levels; while we are working, driving our cars, preparing food, reading and watching television – as well as during sleep. Individual dreams affect the courses of our lives; collective dreams determine the futures of civilization.

The past, the future, the present: we have the ability to blend them into one. We can transform ourselves and our cultures. All we have to do is dream a new dream, give it energy, and it will happen.

Knowing that we truly live in parallel worlds, we also understand that everything is one and it is all occurring concurrently. This means that all the great teachers, wise elders, and shamans are here now, ready to help us. Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, Socrates, Einstein. . . their power is here with us today and it is awesome. This also explains why so many people—including traditional medical doctors, physicists , and psychologists – are suddenly being drawn to these "alternative" ways of thinking.

So now more than ever, it is up to us to continue to move forward in our journey of greater consciousness and awareness. I am struck by the signs that we are indeed poised to experience events foretold by the Mayan prophecy of 2012. And I view all these signs with a very positive bent.

Although there are many different interpretations of this prophecy, the one most widely accepted by the Maya teachers I know is taken from the Popul Vuh, the Mayan creation myth. Far from predicting a Hollywood-style doomsday, it holds out the possibility of positive transformation. In its simplest form, the people overthrow an egotistical regime characterized by exploitation and deception and replace it with an enlightened and compassionate one. In the process, the people have to surrender their own egos and endure material and environmental hardships.

December 21, 2012 was identified by the Maya as the time when this transformation will become most obvious. It was an auspicious date for them because their astrologers predicted that at that moment the sun would move into alignment with the center of the Milky Way. Modern scientists, not the Mayas, offer theories that the earth’s climate and magnetic poles may be changing.

Whether or not you believe in this Mayan prophecy, you -- we -- can agree that our consciousness is shifting. With the success of the movie “Avatar” and real-life victories of indigenous tribes against the corporatocracy in places like Ecuador and Bolivia, we experience the deep power of our dreams for a better world. We are dreaming and demanding sustainability.

I believe the real message of 2012, is a call to action based on the knowledge that we can transform ourselves. It echoes down through the centuries from a people who built the magnificent pyramids that continue to enthral and mystify visitors to the Yucatan Peninsula and who also created one of history’s most accurate calendars – the one that ends in 2012.

So, as I head out to these speaking engagements, I feel that the real tidal wave is not the one shown in movies that attempt to terrify us about a coming doomsday; rather, we are experiencing a tidal wave of changing consciousness.

I know you will be one of those swept up in this tidal wave, who dreams new dreams and, by doing so, joins our partnership to transform the world. looking forward to riding this wave with you.

END

Upcoming Events:

As the world shifts, so can we to a higher and more positive relationship with our souls and nature. We can help bridge the balance between spirit, humans and the natural world together. I hope you’ll join me and Llyn Roberts – http://www.dreamchange.org , for these incredible events. We will be at Omega in October and taking our Mayalands journey in December sponsored by The Prophet’s Conference. I’ve put the full information for both of these upcoming events below. I truly hope to see you there.

OCTOBER 2010 RHINEBECK, NY

OMEGA INSTITUTE, RHINEBECK, NY

Master Healer & Shapeshifter Apprenticeship

Sacred Ground & Sacred Healing Ways

Part One of a Two-Part Professional Certification Training

Omega Institute proudly presents this exclusive apprenticeship training with eminent shamanic teachers Llyn Roberts and John Perkins.

COMPLETE DESCRIPTIONS AND QUESTIONS/REGISTRATION AVAILABLE AT LINK BELOW:

http://tinyurl.com/27zuydf

PART ONE: OCTOBER, 2010

SACRED GROUND

Shamans are the spiritual mediators for their communities, those who maintain the balance between spirit, humans, and the natural world.

In Part 1 of this apprenticeship, we establish our shamanic connection to sacred ground, and are introduced to the foundations of the intensive healing forms and rituals that we learn in Part 2 of this training.

DECEMBER, 2010 - MAYALANDS JOURNEY

SHAPESHIFTING A NEW WORLD DEEP IN THE LANDS OF THE MAYA

JOHN PERKINS & LLYN ROBERTS

Sponsored by: The Prophet's Conference

http://www.greatmystery.org/events/maya2010.html

For more information:

Call (1)888-777-5981 (1)888-777-5981 or (44)020 8123 5108

email: adventures@greatmystery.org

Authors John Perkins and Llyn Roberts will take us on an amazing journey to the ancient Mayan sites of Tikal, Antiqua, and Lake Atitlan, using ancient shamanic approaches to propel us to higher states of consciousness — and to experience how changing the dream can help us shapeshift not only ourselves, but the world around us.

Thank you.

John

John Perkins
Twitter - @economic_hitman
http://www.johnperkins.org

Visit us anytime on the web at www.dreamchange.org

The World Is As You Dream It

The World Is As You Dream It
By John Perkins

"What we seem unwilling or unable to recognize, is that our entire modern world is itself inspired not by any rational process, but by a distorted dream experience, perhaps the most powerful dream that has ever taken possession of human imagination. Our sense of progress, our entire technological society, however rational in its functioning, is a pure dream vision in its origins and in its objectives." (Thomas Berry)

My book, The World Is As You Dream It has seen an uptake in terms of interest, I think partially due to the groundbreaking movie "Inception." I really do believe the world is what we choose to dream it is. The foundations for our dreams are laid by every single one of us. We have the power as individuals to dream a better world.

In the Western world, individuals have given voice to dreams that have now manifested themselves all around us, in the billboards, the traffic, the heavy industries, and in our fixation on perpetual mining, construction and drilling for oil. We have bought into the philosophies behind those manifestations and, in so doing, given energy to the dreams of the individuals whose greed is satisfied by them. As the shaman Numi (in The World Is As You Dream It) pointed out, the dreams have come true, and we are now beginning to understand their nightmarish implications.

It is daunting when one considers the endless clearing of natural environments for more shopping malls and the endless construction of more big box stores filled with sweatshop-made and often non-recyclable products that none of us really need. This endless drive for more is the result of a set of values, a cookbook of working philosophies, that has grown out of the dreams of a handful of individuals who espoused Utopian theories of individual enlightenment, freedom, and rights to accumulate property.

Those philosophies have been warped over time, stretched and contracted, molded and co-opted by greedy people who converted the original dreams into justifications for gluttony and personal aggrandizement.

The real question, then, is: How can we turn those philosophies around; how can we re-dream our position in the natural world? The dream we can create is one that honors the Earth above all else and is not dependent on the violent technologies we have come to associate with drilling, mining and constructing.

Everyone of us has the ability to alter our dreams and continually re-create ourselves and the societies we form. Loving our Mother is not a one-time dream or decision. It is an everlasting, minute-by-minute commitment. We must plant the dream, the seed, and the future it will give us every single day. We can all then take pride in the beauty we will most surely create.

Let us not not allow bulldozers and drilling rigs to determine the limits of our knowledge. Rather, let us --individually and together -- open the way into patterns of understanding that are not confined by the walls of history. It all depends on how we dream it.

To take action you can support two foundations that I am personally involved with, the Dream Change Foundation, (access through the link below) and the Pachamama Alliance.
I hope you'll join me in re-dreaming a better world for generations to come.

John Perkins

Visit us anytime on the web at www.dreamchange.org

Your Royal Excellency, Queen Nicoletta

FIRST-PERSON FORMAL NOTE TO

AMBASSADOR—EMBASSY

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/89308.pdf

Prepare formal notes on 8 ½” x 11” paper. For the first page, use embossed

white-seal blue-embossed “Embassy of the United States of America” letterhead. For

succeeding pages, use white bond paper. Use a 1 ½ inch margin on the left, and at

least 1 inch on the right. Leave at least 1 inch at the bottom.

Use the complimentary diplomatic close, “Accept, Excellency, the renewed

assurance of my highest consideration,” as the last paragraph.

(seal or icon

Here; use letterhead)

EMBASSY OF THE

ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF MARCOLAND

14 September, 2010

Her Majesty, the Queen of Nicoletta Island, Nicolettonia, and surrounding territories:

Your Royal Excellency, Queen Nicoletta,

And

Your Excellency, Lady N. Forcheri:

I have the honor of addressing you with our concerns about recent developments between our two nations. Our Envoy Extraordinary, Sir M. Saba, is prepared to address the unfortunate incident wherein the digital extremity of a former diplomatic representative (who has since been declared persona non grata and has departed from our mission in Lombardia) had an unexpected collision with the right side of your Representative’s cranial region.

Through the Good Offices of the European Telephone and Wireless Communications Services, we have conducted initial Rapprochement. I refer to the exchanging of our preliminary Memorandums of Understanding concerning the incident, and to the Letter of credence which has been transmitted in advance of our introduction of Sir M. Saba, Envoy Extraordinary. These have provided the Modus Vivendi for our operations to date.

I appreciate this opportunity, now, to arrange a Compromis d’arbitrage. In amplification, we sincerely regret the eloignement which has estranged relations between our sovereign states. Marcoland urgently seeks to re-establish full diplomatic interactions with Nicoletta Island, Focheriterra, and full Archipelago of Nicolettonia-- and all the fair and pulcritudinous citizenry of said sovereignty and territories.

Therefore, on behalf of our respective peoples, I hope that diplomatic negotiations can progress from our current détente to a resumption of full, peaceful and fruitful relations between our two nations. Sir M. Saba carries a document attesting that he has Full Powers to conduct any arrangements necessary to draw up all necessary treaties and conclude this matter.

It is the Voeu of the collected sovereignties of Maroland, Sabastan, and all coastal and peninsular neighbors of Forcheriterra, Nicoletta Island and the Archipelago that full Open Door relations resume between the Heads of State, and the citizenry of Marcoland and Nicolettonia. And it is with appropriate acknowledgement of the advance work of the Regional non-governmental authorities, Charitable Organizations, our Envoys, and your own special Envoys in these matters, that I express my gratitude that you have withdrawn your Ultimatum of full and final cessation of all interactions between our peoples.

Accept, Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

For the Secretary of State, Marcoland:

(Pen signature)

Enclosure(s):

(non-paper on wireless communications)

(white paper on incidental injuries received in the field)

(pro memoria concerning resumption of romantic protocols)

Addressed Respectfully to

Her Excellency

Nitta Forcheri,

Ambassador of Nicoletta Island,

On behalf of Her Royal Highness, Queen Nicoletta

Sovereign Majesty, Nicolettonia Archipelago and territories

P/RGM:MSaba:po 09/14/2010 Clearance: P/IAPO:JMDoe

(phone) ext: 5555

A Regional Economic Development Plan

A Regional Economic Development Plan

by Thomas Greco

Throughout the world today, local communities are struggling to main­tain their economic vitality and quality of life. The reasons for this are both economic and political, and are largely the result of external forces that are driven by outside agencies like central governments, central banks, and large transnational corporations. In brief, decisions made by others outside of the community are having enormous impacts on life within the community. Be that as it may, it is possible for communities to regain a large measure of control over their own welfare and to ameliorate the effects of those exter­nal forces by employing peaceful approaches that encourage human solidarity and are based on private, voluntary initiative and creativity.

I often use the analogy of the small boat harbor to convey the general idea of how local communities can protect their small enterprises while remaining open to the global economy. The process of globalization, while having many positive aspects, has thus far been carried out in such a way as to be destruc­tive to small businesses, local economies, and democratic governance. It is as if there were a policy to remove the breakwaters from every small boat harbor in the world, the effect of which is to expose small boats to the turbulence of the open sea. As I put it in one of my lecture presentations — a rising tide may lift all boats, but the tidal wave of globalization smashes all but the biggest.

But a healthy global economy and a peaceful world require healthy commu­nities. Is there still a place for small businesses? Must every advantage be given to the corporate megaliths at the expense of small enterprises? The ancient economic debate that poses “free trade” against “protection” is too limiting and outmoded. Healthy economies require both free trade and protection, each confined within its appropriate bounds. Communities must create the equivalent of breakwaters to protect their small enterprises and workers, while at the same time remaining open to the national and world economies.

It is encouraging to note that there has been a recent major awakening about the mega-crisis that is developing worldwide, and a plethora of creative responses to it. Sustainability, relocalization, human scale, and the devolution of power are the current buzz. The big question, of course, is how are they to be achieved in the face of the tremendous forces that are driving us toward the precipice?

Approaches to Community Economic Development

Sadly, the orthodox approach to community economic development over the past several decades has centered upon efforts to recruit some large corpora­tion to come and set up operations in the local region — with the expecta­tion that they will provide additional jobs for local people, stimulate business for peripheral industries and the service sector, and ultimately add to local tax revenues. The consequent competition among cities and states in pursu­ing that strategy has resulted in corporations wresting enormous concessions from host communities in such forms as tax abatements and infrastructure provided at taxpayer expense. But capital is notoriously fickle and recent devel­opments have given it unprecedented mobility. Quite often the experience has been for companies to leave town as soon as the “free lunch” has expired, only to play the same game again somewhere else.

It is widely acknowledged that, in comparison to large corporations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute proportionately more to the economy in jobs, productivity, and innovation. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “SMEs play a major role in economic growth in the OECD area, providing the source for most new jobs. Over 95% of OECD enterprises are SMEs, which account for 60%-70% of employment in most countries. As larger firms downsize and outsource more functions, the weight of SMEs in the economy is increasing. In addi­tion, productivity growth — and consequently economic growth — is strongly influenced by the competition inherent in the birth and death, entry and exit of smaller firms.” The same pattern would seem to hold in other parts of the world, including America.

Doesn’t it therefore make more sense to nurture the businesses that are already part of the local economy? Doesn’t it make sense to support those companies that are locally owned or managed and have a stake in the prosper­ity and quality of life in their home communities? Communities that have a high quality of life, an able workforce, and a clean and pleasant environment do not need to offer bribes to outsiders. Relocalization efforts cannot get very far without the creation of metasystems that support buying locally, selling locally, investing locally, and saving locally. Conventional political forms of money, and huge banking companies that are owned and managed by remote entities, by their very nature militate against relocalization. There is no need for antagonistic opposition to those entities; they can be made less relevant and less destructive by implementing creative methods that localize control over both exchange and finance.

I propose that groups and organizations that seek to promote healthy, sustain­able local economies should make it a priority to organize regional mutual credit clearing associations as the centerpiece of a comprehensive program. As these associations develop and grow, they will provide their regions with an increasing measure of independence from the outside forces that control conventional money and banking, enabling communities to rise above “the race to the bottom” that has resulted from the kind of globalization that has been architected and forced upon the world by the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. The credit clearing exchange is the key element that enables a community to develop a sustainable economy under local control and to maintain a high standard of living and qual­ity of life.

The possibilities inherent in such a plan should not be judged by past expe­rience with local currencies and other exchange alternatives. Just as a modern jet aircraft bears little resemblance to the Wright brothers’ first airplane, so too are the more optimized exchange structures proposed in my book unlike any community currency, LETS, or commercial “barter” exchange with which people might be familiar. Based on the principles we have outlined, it is now possible to engineer and build exchange systems to carry heavy economic loads within local bioregions and to operate them according to sound busi­ness principles. This is a multistage project that will proceed in the following sequence:

1. Institute measures that promote import substitution.

2. Provide an alternative payment medium, independent of any political currency and banking establishment.

3. Issue a supplemental regional currency.

4. Develop basic support structures that strengthen the local

economy and enhance the community’s quality of life.

5. Develop an independent value standard and unit of account.

Stage I: Mapping the Territory and Import Substitution

Jane Jacobs has argued that cities, not nation states, are the salient economic entities, and that city and regional economies develop through a process of import substitution. That being the case, it would seem reasonable that a regional economic development program should begin with actions that support that process.

The first stage of the development program might look rather conventional and similar to some “buy-local” programs of the past, but it will be more comprehensive in its social, economic, and political aspects. It begins by orga­nizing solidarity groups that include all sectors of the constituent commu­nities — particularly the locally owned and controlled businesses, municipal governments, the nonprofit sector, social entrepreneurs, and activists. By building bridges between these groups and identifying common objectives, it should be possible to achieve the commitment to do the hard work necessary to move together toward greater regional economic self-sufficiency.

The first major task is to launch a “buy-local” campaign in which the economic resources and business relationships within the region are clearly mapped. That database can then be used to assist businesses in finding local sources for the things they buy and local customers for the things they sell. The services of brokers can be employed to help match up supplies with wants and needs. Critical gaps are identified and local entrepreneurs can be encour­aged to find ways to fill them, perhaps with support from a local microlend­ing agency. As this process proceeds, the community becomes less dependent upon outside entities and more resilient and self-determining.

These measures alone, however, are far from sufficient. Given the fact that conventional money and banking are themselves externally controlled and act in ways that are parasitic upon the local economy, some way must be found to reclaim at least a portion of the “credit commons” and bring it under local control. So unlike conventional buy-local initiatives, this project moves quickly to implement the second stage.

Stage II: Mutual Credit Clearing Provides an Alternative Means of Payment

The second stage is the most important and unique stage of the project. It provides an alternative means of payment based on the community’s own credit through the process of direct credit clearing.

Working capital in the form of conventional money is always scarce and expensive for most businesses. Mutual credit clearing is an extension of the common business practice of selling on “open account,” but it is done on a more organized multilateral basis, which has the effect of sharing the risks and enabling a participant’s sales to pay for purchases without the use of any third-party credit instrument such as conventional money. As a member of a mutual credit clearing exchange, a business can have an interest-free line of credit, it will be able to acquire the things it needs without the use of cash, and (because it accepts payment in the form of exchange credit) will be a preferred source of supply for others who are members of the exchange.

The allocation of credit in a clearing exchange involves the granting of an “overdraft privilege,” which means that a member’s account may have a nega­tive balance up to some specified limit. In allocating lines of credit, it is impor­tant (especially in the beginning) to allocate the greatest share of credit to “trusted issuers” — i.e., those that are well established, financially sound, and whose products and services are in greatest demand within the local region. This is the key to maintaining a rapid circulation of credits through the system, avoiding defaults, and preventing the excessive accumulation of credits in the hands of businesses that cannot easily spend them. In brief, the businesses that you wish to have accept community credits in payment are the ones that should be issuing them in the first place. By beginning with “trusted issuers” the value and usefulness of the community credits is quickly demonstrated beyond any doubt. As the process gains credibility and general acceptance in the community, more businesses and individuals will want to join the credit clearing exchange and as each member develops a trading history they too can earn an overdraft privilege commensurate with their volume of sales within the system.

Like any network, a credit clearing system becomes more valuable and useful as it continues to expand and a greater variety of goods and services become available within the network. By way of example one may note that the first fax machine was very expensive — but useless. As more fax machines were deployed and connected in an expanding network, the fax became more valuable to all users — even as prices plummeted and quality improved. The same will happen with clearing networks, but it is essential that the network and each node in it be properly designed and operated from the very start.

Stage III: The Credit of “Trusted Issuers” Provides an Alternative Currency for Regional Circulation

The third stage of the program will be the joint issuance of credits into the general community by the members of the clearing association. This is accom­plished by the association members buying goods and services from nonmem­bers who are outside the credit clearing circle. They make these purchases by using some form of uniform credit instrument, like a voucher or certificate, which all association members are obliged to redeem — not for cash, but for the goods and services that are their normal stock in trade. That provides a sound regional currency based on the productive capacity of the region’s leading enterprises, a currency that can circulate among any and all as a supplemental medium of exchange. The availability of such a currency to supplement the flow of official money insulates but does not isolate the local economy. Just as a breakwater protects a small boat harbor from the turbulence of the open sea, a sound regional currency provides a measure of protection from the turbu­lence of the global economy and centralized banking and finance.

This externalization of credits from the clearing association into the general community can be achieved using any of several available forms and devices. Credits may take the form of paper notes, coupons, vouchers, or certificates; they might be placed on stored value cards like the gift cards that are commonly issued by major retailers and are so popular these days with consumers; or they could manifest as credits in accounts that reside on a central server that can be accessed by use of a debit card and point-of-sale card reader.

Stage IV: Support Structures for Localization-Saving, Investment, Finance, and Education

While the most fundamental need is for mechanisms that enable local control over the exchange function, the health and independence of local economies also requires the localization of savings and investments. In today’s world, locally owned and managed banks have become increasingly rare, most having been acquired or replaced by branches of huge bank holding companies that are owned and controlled by entities outside the region. Local savings depos­ited in those banks can and do get invested anywhere in the world, often in ways that are detrimental to the interests of the saver and the health of their local economy. They often leave homegrown enterprises starved for capital while funding megacorporations, weapons, war, and projects that are socially or environmentally destructive. Structures can be created that channel tempo­rary surpluses of both conventional money and exchange credits into enter­prises that enhance local production and quality of life.

Additional support structures are suggested by the experience of the Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of northern Spain. Over a period of more than fifty years, the Mondragon network has grown and thrived on the basis of cooperation and social solidarity. In addition to more than 250 industrial and service cooperatives and associated companies, it has developed structures to provide finance, education, and research in support of its regional cooperative economy. The Caja Laboral Popular (CLP, or Working People’s Bank), for example, is itself a cooperative that invests the savings of the local community and provides financing for the other cooperative enterprises.

Stage V and Beyond: Transition to an Objective Measure of Value and Accounting Unit

Eventually, it will become necessary to denominate local credits in some inde­pendent, objective, nonpolitical unit of account based on a concrete stan­dard of value. This will become especially important as political currencies continue to be inflated and their monetary units are debased, and as local clearing networks become interlinked regionally and across national bound­aries. Trade credit units originally defined as being equivalent to the domi­nant political currency unit (like dollars, pounds, euros, and yen) will shift over to a value unit that is objectively defined in terms of valuable, commonly traded commodities. Such a unit will facilitate trading across national borders by obviating the need for foreign exchange and eliminating the exchange rate risk, and will be immune to the inflationary and deflationary effects that beset national political currencies.

The remaining design details and implementation strategies can be settled upon as the program unfolds. For now, it is sufficient to say that all of the necessary monetary science is well established and all of the major system components are readily available. With a modest amount of funding or invest­ment, programs designed along these lines can be quickly launched and a credit clearing system can quickly reach critical mass. It is expected that the success of this model in one or two local regions will inspire others to imple­ment it, leading to a rapid proliferation of healthy and sustainable communi­ties that might associate to form a worldwide economic democracy.

National Debt-to-Rothschilds Commission lays it all out for us

National Debt to Rothschilds Commission lays it all out for us.

How $47,000 owed by every American to the Rothschilds and Chinese will be paid.

BOSTON -- The co-chairmen of President Obama's debt owed to the Rothschilds commission and deficit in meeting interest payment obligations in our debt to the Rothschilds commission offered an ominous assessment of the nation's fiscal future here Sunday, calling current budgetary trends a cancer "that will destroy the country from within" unless checked by tough action in Washington that will enable our interest payments on our debt to the Rothschilds to continue without missing a payment.

The two leaders -- former Republican senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton -- sought to build support for the work of the commission, whose recommendations on how and where to cut in order to not incur the wrath of Rothschild is due later this year are likely to spark a fierce debate in Congress.

"There are many who hope we fail," Simpson said at the closing session of the National Governors Association annual meeting. He called the 18-member commission "good people with deep, deep differences" who know the odds of success in balancing national survival with our obligations to the Rothschilds "are rather harrowing."

(Graphic: President Obama's proposed 2011 budget explained)

Bowles said that unlike the current economic crisis, which was largely unforeseen before it hit in fall 2008, the coming fiscal calamity is staring the country in the face. "This one is as clear as a bell," he said. "This debt is like a cancer." The compound interest owed to the Rothschild banking alliance grows like cancer spreads. The cuts we must make to pay the Rothschilds are like the organs that must be removed to keep the cancer from killing the patient. Either we cut off our arms and legs or we miss a payment to the Rothschilds, therefore prepare to feel the scalpel.

The commission leaders said that, at present, federal revenue is fully consumed by three programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. "The rest of the federal government, including fighting two wars, homeland security, education, art, culture, you name it, veterans -- the whole rest of the discretionary budget is being financed by China and other countries," Of course the Rothschild/Rockefeller planned and forced the deindustrialization of the US and the export of our industrial capital to China, bankrolled by Rothschild loans, laundered drug money etc. and of course Rothschild/Rockefeller money bought the prostituting politicians that passed NAFTA and WTO treaties that made it impossible for us to discipline ourselves with the requirement of balanced trade. Of course the Rothschilds and their partner China were willing to extend loans so the US could provide demand for China industrialization and cheap goods that destroyed US domestic producers. Why not? They know that when we default they get the collateral -- they get our ever remaining resource. Simpson said.

"We can't grow our way out of this," Bowles said. The debt is too big, the compound interest is too impossibly high. "We could have decades of double-digit growth and not grow our way out of this enormous debt problem. We can't tax our way out. . . . We The reality is we owe the Rothschilds more than we can pay and the debt to the Rothschilds is growing at compound interest faster than we could ever hope to grow ourselves, especially since our capital base is completely gone and our infrastructure is worn our and unreliable and we have no demand and a workforce dumbed-down and discouraged so we've got to do exactly what you all do every day as governors. We've got to cut spending or increase revenues or do some combination of that to make sure we don't miss a payment to the Rothschilds. "

Bowles pointed to steps taken recently by the new coalition government in Britain, which also faces an acute budgetary problem in meeting their debt payment obligations to the Rothschilds -- as a guide to what the commission might use in its recommendations. That would mean about three-quarters of the deficit reduction would be accomplished through spending cuts, and the remainder with additional revenue. Cut and tax the many so that the super-rich are no angered by a missed payment. Otherwise, Bowles added the Rothschilds will stop lending to us and we will go bankrupt and by international law when the Rothschilds don't get paid there has to be blood in the streets until all of those who would short change the Rothschilds get what they deserve."

Most Republicans in Congress are opposed to any tax increases to pay the Rothschilds, which has made the work of the commission far more difficult. Bowles and Simpson appealed for support to the governors, who have been forced by their states' constitutions to balance their budgets with deep spending cuts and, in many cases, tax increases. "After all, Bowles said, we borrowed the money for our stimulus payment to the financial sector -- now we have to pay for it. Stimulus money does not come out of thin air. We hired the money, now we have obligations to the international lenders that must be met."

Bowles and Simpson said the commission would have had a stronger hand politically had it been created by Congress, rather than through an executive order. But the new recess appointment of the man who will cut US medical services by half will help,Simpson pointed out.

"As far as I can discern, it was to stick it to the president," Simpson said. "That's where we are in Washington." He later added that all seven "have now come to us to say, 'We're ready to help.' "

The presentation by Simpson and Bowles, which included repeated statements of determination to produce a bipartisan set of recommendations to meet our obligations to the Rothschilds drew praise from the governors.

"I don't know that I've ever heard a gloomier picture painted that created more hope for me," said Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe (D). Job security for hit-men.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) said that many governors fear that the commission's recommendations will result in more demands on the states. It's a dirty job, but those Rothschilds must get their money. I won't let them down.

Bowles, who noted that the 1997 balanced-budget agreement to stay within the budget that Rothschild willingness to lend and accumulating debt that was reached between the Clinton White House and the Republican-controll ed Congress included many provisions that put more burdens on the states, said that wasn't likely.

"I don't think you're going to see a lot of devolution coming from us because the states are all broke," he said. We simply owe and can't pay. It is now just a matter of slicing up the country until their is nothing left. But the rules must be followed: "Let the children starve and die of exposure on the streets before by withhold a penny of payment to the Rothschilds.

Simpson also warned that the November elections could add another wild card to the work of the commission. "I have no idea what's going to happen on Election Day but it's going to be disruptive when Karl Rove with all that money from corporations elects Newt Gingrich as the next President. Newt is a self-proclaimed life-long Rockefeller man, so I am sure if payments to the Rothschilds/ Rockefellers can be kept up somehow Newt will find the way. he said. "It's going to be a big wake-up call around the whole United States. I have no idea where it's going, but thank heaven we have a month then to work through the wreckage."

============ ========= =========

Or not!

Populists want to cut through all the above -- repudiate the debt, institute domestic debt-free treasury money, and nationalize credit providing each household with social credit dividends -- purchasing power that families can spend without having to pay back. The social credit does not replace going to work to earn a living -- but it removes all debt at once -- and it replaces the Rothschild/Rockefel ler international usury system that injects new money by making giant debt loans to their pet monopoly corporations with Rothschild minion CEOs etc.

As one Social Creditor put it in a letter this morning:

We, especially of the "civilized" world, HAVE been slaughtering each other on a mass scale for well over a century--mainly because of intensifying international competition to force more and more of our growing super-abundance on other nations. If we don't learn how to distribute this wealth to the people at large in the first instance without first engaging in increasingly wasteful and ultimately destructive activity we will no doubt keep up the momentum of the killing machine. One surprising little bright ray of light that recently peeped through the darkness: I was listening to a financial commentator, who has just released a book, on radio the other day and while musing about the intractability of the "recessionary forces" partly because of weakening foreign trade and partial if temporary military pull-outs he suddenly blurted out, "We can't all export more than we import!" Somehow he seemed to have been struck by a sudden flash of insight. Not much, but it was a small, if profound, crack in conventional thinking. Can we hope that this sort of thing may become contagious?

Sincerely
Wally

Remember -- the trade deficit and the entire system of debt slavery and our condition right now were all the result of a policy dictated by international bankers and executed by their servants who we have been tricked into believing are public servants working for the general good.