The Federal Reserve Operates For Profits

Facts:

1. The Federal Reserve Bank is a private banking system created by foreign interests. Call any branch for verification.


2. The Federal Reserve Bank is the sole creditor of the United States and the entire national debt is owed to the Federal Reserve Bank. Write your congressman for verification.

3. There are twelve member banks in this system and according to their bylaws (articles of association) they each have the power to act as depositary and fiscal agent (tax collector) of the United States.

4. Federal Reserve Board regulations and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles prohibit member banks within the Federal Reserve System from lending money from their own assets or from other depositors. Federal Reserve member banks do not make loans.

5. Bank customers fund their own mortgage transactions by signing a note. The note is the creation of currency that never existed before being signed by the customer.

6. Because the banks have monopolized the market on negotiable instruments, only banks will accept your promissory note. You can't buy groceries with a promissory note for example.

7. The practice of failing to disclose these facts in the mortgage agreement voids and nullifies the note because it violates 12 CFR 226.17(c)(1) of the Truth in Lending Law.

8. Unsecured debts assigned to debt collectors are not legally enforceable without the consent of the customer.

9. The banks must pay their customers back the entire value of each note and credit limit minus fees and interest.

10. These facts apply to both secured (e.g. mortgages, credit cards) and unsecured (e.g. credit card) accounts.

11. There are no disclosure or application requirements for a social security number. There are no penalties for refusing to disclose a social security number to anyone. 26 CFR 301.6109-1(c). This is a ruse perpetrated by the FDIC, Federal Reserve and insurance industry for the purpose of illegally monitoring American citizens.

12. The credit reporting system is the creation of the Federal Trade Commission. Its primary use is to collect and build information databases about Americans. It also provides an inexpensive means for banks to unfairly punish people and destroy reputations by subverting the legal requirements normally imposed upon them under the court system.

Extract From THE BANKER'S MANIFEST, for private circulation among leading bankers only. "Civil Servants' Year Book (The Organizer)" Jan 1934 & "New American" Feb 1934 "Capital must protect itself in every way, through combination and through legislation. Debts must be collected and loans and mortgages foreclosed as soon as possible. When through a process of law the common people lose their homes, they will be more tractable and more easily governed by the strong arm of the law, applied by the central power of wealth, under control of leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capital to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd. Thus, by discreet action we can secure for ourselves

what has been generally planned and successfully accomplished."

I’ve been thinking about results By Fred Cederholm

Column for on/after August 20th, 2006

I’ve been thinking about results. Actually I’ve been thinking about the cease fire, objectives, Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, dissent, democracy, and winners/losers. The cease fire hammered out at the United Nations and imposed on the warring parties/factions is barely a week old. There have already been violations to it. The outside signatories are already hedging on who will contribute what to the peace-keeping forces/efforts and for how long.


You see this current chapter in the forever-ongoing/multiple conflicts within the Middle East is far from over. We were told this most recent saga of killing and destruction was about achieving the return of three abducted Israeli soldiers, putting to rest the Hezbollah threat, and securing a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon to the Litani River. While these were the publicly stated objectives, who knows what wider, more nefarious strategies were at work here.


The spin-meisters on both sides are claiming a victory, but reviewing the results which are now surfacing suggests otherwise. The three “abducted” Israeli soldiers have not been not been returned. (It should be noted that two of them were actually captured in the village of Aita Al-Shaab within the territorial borders of Lebanon before the conflict began.) Hezbollah has not been destroyed, and in fact it has been invigorated/enhanced by the conflict. The buffer zone is now the objective for the multi-national peace keeping force to establish and maintain.

Israel’s military had the reputation for invincibility and readiness– note the past tense. Its reputation came from earlier records of blitzkrieg successes – particularly from the 1967, 6 day “Lightening War” from June 5, 1967 to June 10, 1967 and the 1973, 17 day “Yom Kippur War” from October 6, 1973 to October 22, 1973. In these cases, Israel had far greater justifications for action and it enjoyed a more worldwide support. In the 2006, 33 day conflict; justification was dubious at best and “worldwide support” was, well, the Bush Administration.


Lebanon had only within the last couple of years achieved status as an outwardly functioning and stand-alone democracy. Occupying military forces of Syria were gone. There was a democratically elected parliament, albeit one with an elected minority of Hezbollah members. The capitol of Beirut had been rebuilt from the devastations of the destruction of a decade ago and was dubbed the “Paris of the Middle East.” Pristine beaches made it a major tourist destination. Things were looking up; now such progress has been set back decades.


The costs and demographics of the recent Israeli-Lebanese conflict are only starting to be quantified. Israel suffered the loss of 130 Mercava tanks, 48 personnel carriers, 5 helicopters, 2 fighter/reconnaissance aircraft, 3 vessels, and the deaths of 430 military personnel. Civilian casualties due to this conflict’s rain of rockets and missiles have not been adequately segregated from what might be “callously” considered the routine (and ongoing) terrorist fatalities the Israeli populace endures because of the West Bank and Gaza occupations.


While this action involved Hezbollah on the opposing side, it was the Lebanese people who bore the brunt of the destruction and the loss of life. Some 9300 houses, 226 apartments, 163 roads and bridges, and 48 mosques and libraries were destroyed. 378 known women and 433 children were killed. The number of male casualties, specifically the number of the dead members of Hezbollah, has not been disclosed. It should be noted that within hours of the cease fire, Hezbollah affiliated “assistance” teams were the first responders - clearing the roads, assessing the damages and providing the Lebanese civilian victims with much needed living essentials. The conflict did not destroy this amorphous group, it enhanced their status.


Never before had Israel experienced such a quagmire of setbacks or stalemates. The one-two punch of their prior blitzkrieg strategy did not work this time. Never before did Israel experience the dissent/criticism by the public and their own military personnel of their commanders and their government after a conflict – much less during it. In 1967, Israel occupied and “secured” the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza strip in 6 days. In 2006, they couldn’t occupy and “secure” the 30 KM (18.6 miles) to the Litani River in 33 days. We so often hear the expression that “actions speak louder than words,” but remember that “results shout louder than both.” I’m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.


Copyright Questions, Inc. 2006 all right reserved.

To “audit” this column and to learn more about the subjects discussed, please check out:

Both sides claim victory
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/31DA80B0-A492-4CEB-8AF3-A252F7ADD2A2.htm

The 1967 Lightening War
http://www.adl.org/ISRAEL/Record/67War.asp

The 1973 Yom Kippur War
http://www.adl.org/ISRAEL/Record/yomkippur.asp

Casualties of the 33 Day War
http://www.alalam.ir/English/lobnan/indexen.htm

Israeli Troops Criticize Army, Equipment
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060818/D8JJ3JL81.html

Iran Leader Praises Hezbollah Resistance
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060816/D8JHOAT00.html

Many Israelis Furious at How War Was Runhttp://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/08/16/D8JHHOUO0.html

Reservists: Officers stopped us attending protest against war
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/751935.html

Timeline: The 2006 Israeli-Lebanon conflict
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/35772526-C1A8-4599-868C-E513C4F29C9B.htm

Have "Them" Sign The following Affidavit

Forwared by an avid MoneyFiles reader

IF THE BANK IS INNOCENT, HAVE THEM SIGN THE FOLLOWING AFFIDAVIT

The undersigned affiant, being duly sworn on oath, deposes and says: That he/she is an officer of the below named financial institution, a nationally chartered commercial bank, hereinafter called bank. That, as an officer of the bank, he/she has the authority to execute this affidavit on behalf of the bank and to bind the bank to its provisions. It is understood that an exchange is not a loan. The bank loans to borrowers cash or other depositors ' money to legally obtain possession of the promissory notes. The bank affirms it does not act like a moneychanger receiving a negotiable instrument or commercial paper hereinafter "funds" from the borrower. The bank exchanges funds received from the borrower for an equal amount of funds returned to the borrower calling the transaction a loan to the borrower. The bank does not deny borrowers equal protection under the law, money, credit, and agreement. The bank complies with and follows all Federal Reserve Bank rules, policies and procedures. The bank fully discloses to each and every borrower all material facts with respect to all loan agreements as to whom is to loan exactly what to whom and whether the borrower or the bank funds the bank loan check. The borrower does not provide funds to the bank which are used to fund a check or similar instrument. I also affirm that all material facts are stated in the written agreement. Signed under penalty of perjury.

Signature of Bank Officer

_________________________________

Print name of Bank Officer

________________________________

Name of Bank
Address of Bank
City/State/Zip

________________________________________

Sworn to and subscribed before me this

______day of _______,19_____. Signature of Notary Public

____________________________________

What is the result of the war? By Joost van Steenis

The 76th Letter of an Autonomous Thinker.

Dear reader,
Thousands of masspeople killed or wounded.
Much more on the weaker side (Lebanon) then on the stronger side (Israel).

But on the topside, the leaders, the elite, did not have any casualties.

That is the result of all wars.
Leaders play their games and the masses suffer.

Leaders never attack leaders on the other side because then their own life could be endangered.
That is true in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in the so-called terrorist wars and also in this last war between the Israeli army and who? The idea that a few thousands people with primitive weapons like the Stalin organs could be a danger for Israel is preposterous.
In the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York the American elite was not hurt.
And on the other side, Bin Laden and mullah Omar are also still alive though many Afghan masspeople (most of them not militants but ordinary citizens) have been killed by Western forces.
Of course sometimes someone form the top can be hurt accidentally but normally a thousand (or more) masspeople will die before one leader is hurt.

Why should masspeople believe leaders who propagate that the life of masspeople is at stake when they are not fighting the enemy. The only real enemy is the elite.

The conflict between Israelis and Arabs that live on the same space called Palestine does not come nearer to a solution when masspeople are dying in senseless wars. The elite will continue to look for better weapons that will kill even more masspeople.
The Israeli elite wants cluster bombs, designed to kill living masspeople and leave dead buildings and other infrastructure in tact.
The Arab elite wants heavier rockets to hit all Israeli towns to cause more dead masspeople than is possible with the primitive Katyushas that only carry a few kilos of explosive material.

Leaders are safe in their bunkers.
Leaders will continue to look for heavier weapons.
Leaders will continue to play their war games.

Change is only possible when masspeople wake up, when they realise that only their kind are the victims and that the real culprits are the elitist leaders.
Then and only then they maybe get the idea that they have to attack the elite that causes that only masspeople are dying in uncalled for wars.
Then and only then masspeople have the possibility to open the road to a world without any elite in which all people will have the same status.

Yours truly, Joost van Steenis
http://members.chello.nl/jsteenis
Ways to increase masspower

I’ve been thinking about Castro BY Fred Cederholm

Column for on/after August 13th, 2006

I’ve been thinking about Castro. Actually I’ve been thinking about personifications, stereotypes/caricatures, enemies, Guillermo, repatriation, and Cubans. I tend to “understand” a nation and their identity not only by what I’ve learned of their history and culture, how they have behaved within the community of nations, or what is depicted in the media; but also what I’ve “experienced” by direct, or indirect associations with specific individuals of those lands.


You see, last Sunday was Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday. He had already been in the news for a couple of weeks. On August 1st, he announced that he would temporarily transfer the reigns of Cuba’s government to his younger brother Raul (age 75) to undergo emergency surgery for internal bleeding. He has made no public appearances since. There have been press releases and photographs made public regarding his wellness and recovery, but in this age of digital enhancements and spin… what is real or what is hyped propaganda?


Castro has been in power in Cuba – just 90 miles from our shores – for almost 50 years. He is the last of the Cold War Warriors remaining in power - having outlasted 10 US Presidents and almost as many Soviet Premiers/Russian-Presidents. Surviving assassination attempts, coups, bombings, invasions, and other Black Op ventures; Castro has enjoyed more lives than a cat. Will this recent battle with death prove his undoing? At 80 years of age, only time will tell.


Whether you like him (or not), you must admit he has fulfilled the Orwellian need for personification of “the enemy,” better than anyone else in these last 50 years. It is really hard to focus the hatred and stir the troops (or the populace) against an “ISM” – be it communism, socialism, capitalism, consumerism, or terrorism. You really need some figurehead/target-head to get juices flowing. Castro with his fatigues, the beard, that hat, the nose… (cigar optional) became the perfect caricature for all that is “evil and threatening” in the Western Hemisphere.


We don’t have a lot of Cubans around our part of North Central (rural) Illinois. In the 1950’s and 1960’s – those days before political correctness and sensitivity awareness, the first Cuban stereotype I (and most) encountered was Ricky Ricardo, Lucy’s husband - the Cuban band leader. With Edward R. Murrow’s interview of Fidel, his little boy - Fidelito, and the boy’s cute little puppy on “Person to Person” on February 6th, 1959; Fidel Castro became a second Cuban for the broadest definition of us. He put his best media face forward that night.


Castro was still seeking much needed support/cash for his revolution. He was not in the Russian camp, yet... All that changed in April 1961 with the Bay of Pigs invasion. The deal was sealed by December 1961, when Fidel publicly declared: “I am a Marxist Leninist and shall be until the last days of my life.” If that didn’t guarantee his fate as the incarnate evil threat in this hemisphere, the Cuban missile crisis of October 18 – 29, 1962 did!


My first “real” direct interaction with any person of Cuban roots came in 1974, when Guillermo moved into the dorm where I served as a floor advisor at the University of Illinois. Guillermo “B” was confident (almost arrogant), yet always polite, and ever-so-charming (to the females). He was focused and directed in his academics pursuits. His car, his motorcycle, his ability to spend cash, and his drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend Sandi did not win friends with the guys at the dorm. He really hated Castro - it took me the rest of that year to learn the reason(s).


Over 200 years his family amassed homes in Havana and other getaway properties from the sugar/tobacco proceeds of their country holdings. When Castro began to seize properties, Guillermo’s family stayed too long. His grandfather secured a night passage escape for the entire family, but the captain/crew betrayed and “dumped” them on a Central American beach with only the clothes on their backs. While the family waited - doing everything just to survive, it took an uncle many months to “work” his way across Guatemala and Mexico to Miami where he accessed the family’s funds on deposit there. He then returned to rescue the entire group. While the US had been good to them in the intervening years, Cuba would always be home.

When the Cuban émigrés and two more generations of their descendents took to the streets in Miami to celebrate Castro’s ill health and possible demise, I didn’t question why? – I already knew. I’m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.


Copyright Questions, Inc. 2006 all right reserved.

I’ve been thinking about the Bible By Fred Cederholm

Column for on/after August 6th, 2006

I’ve been thinking about the Bible. Actually I’ve been thinking about the end of times, Revelations, Ezekiel, ABC’s Nightline, cookbooks, a ceasefire, and Christian love. One need not be much of a news junkie to be aware that our world is coming apart at the seams on every front. Fragility of economic stability, erosion of traditional values, extreme weather patterns, escalation of violent behavior, warring conflicts between factions, and a central disregard for the value of a human life are themes on page-one news. Day after day the situation worsens.


You see, I, like so many, am beginning to wonder if this global “escalating to Hell in a hand basket” foretells the end of times prophesied by the Armageddon books of the Bible. The destruction of “Babylon” described therein came from outside the region. The four horsemen of the apocalypse –War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death – actually described by the sixth chapter of Revelations as White (the AntiChrist/false-religion/the False-Christ), Red (war/destruction), Black (famine/unfair-trade), and Pale or Green (sickness/death) are being brought out of the paddock by the supra-national surrogates behind the conflicts now raging in the Middle East.


The Book of Revelations is not an easy read by any means and has been the subject of numerous volumes of interpretations by the most intellectual of Biblical scholars. I have really tried to grasp its message, but fear I lack the necessary theological foundation, and the overall understanding of the required Old to New Testament linkages for it to really make sense to me.
The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel was written for Israelites living in exile in Babylon. It has three distinct sections which deal with a judgment on Israel - warning them of a destruction of Jerusalem, prophesies against the neighbors of the Israelites, and forward prophesies about the triumph of Israel, the Messiah, and the ultimate establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Ezekiel is also a difficult one for me to fully grasp. However, I do understand how both the Books of Revelations and Ezekiel are being “pimped” in the current Middle Eastern mess.
L

Last week ABC’s Nightline and numerous print media articles dealt with how certain US religious groups and “advisors” to the DC elite are pushing for an escalation of the turmoil, warfare, and destruction in the Holy Land(s) to bring about the Rapture, the Second Coming, and the Kingdom of God on Earth. I’m sorry, but anyone who believes that the Almighty God needs man’s help to bring about the culmination of His Divine resolution for planet Earth has clearly not read the Bible. Matthew 24:44 states: “the Son of Man will come at the time when you least expect Him.” There is certainly no indication the return will be induced. Whether you believe (as I) that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, just a history of times long past, or a work of well-written prophetical fiction; the Bible is NOT a cookbook. It is blasphemous to suggest that the descriptions and predictions can be manipulated as a recipe for Armageddon!


These past weeks… the situation between Israel and Lebanon has escalated and is rapidly approaching a point of no return. International calls for a cease fire which began at the G8 Conference in St. Petersburg and were followed by similar UN proposals were stone-walled by US/us. The Rice shuttle missions were a joke - being predicated on conditions which all parties knew were impossible to accept. Were puppet-masters dragging their feet to insure an expanded war with Iran and/or Syria? Or… God forbid! Were they hoping for deployment of tactical nookular weapons by one side or the other? What is “tactful” about any nuclear bomb?


The Bush-Chirac one-sided ceasefire compromise which surfaced over the weekend is ludicrous. A ceasefire has to be immediate and unconditional for both sides. How many weeks (and innocent lives) were lost in Southeast Asia some 30 years ago because the diplomats were negotiating the shape of the table, who sat where around it, and how the flags were positioned?


For the love of God, the Prince of Peace, and the precarious survival of our delicate little planet; this madness and senseless genocide has got to stop, NOW! For those of you who call themselves Christians, please ask yourselves the bumper-sticker question - WWJD? (What would Jesus do?) To paraphrase the refrain from one of my favorite hymns: “For they’ll know we are Christians by our love, not our bombs; yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” I’m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.
Copyright Questions, Inc. 2006 all right reserved.etings I screwed up on the email address and got your back. I didn't catch this until today.

Fred C asklet@rochelle.net

Overthrowing the Government by James Jaeger

06 August 2006

The U.S. Empire(1) will probably collapse under its debt load but it doesn't need to because there are some direct and specific things voters can do.
Remember, if the Empire crashes, it will basically be the GOVERNMENT that crashes, NOT the People. This could be a good thing but it would probably be more wasteful than simply OVERTHROWING the government BEFORE the Empire crashes. Thus the American People need to overthrow the current government NOW!

Here's how we can overthrow it:
Next time you go to vote (especially the primaries), carefully look over the candidates. Any new names you see in there VOTE for them. If you're not too politically biased, don't worry about whether they’re Democrats or Republicans. Just vote for anyone that's NOT an incumbent. If you must vote your party, vote ONLY for the new guy. Don’t vote for ANYONE that’s already in office and trying to run again.

I know you may be flushing out some people you think are good. And you may be. But you HAVE to look at the bigger picture. The majority of the Congress is entrenched. The Founders had no idea people would stay in office so long otherwise they would have placed term-limits on congressmen and the executive from the start. Back in the 18th Century transportation was a problem and the country had a very small population. Thus the Framers wanted to place as few disincentives on people as possible because they wanted people to travel great distances and take part in the government. If there were term limits of say 2 or 4 years, many people would have never run for office because it wouldn’t have been worth it. To travel so far, and with such difficulty in a harsh environment where one was needed on the farm simply made no sense. But if a citizen had the opportunity to travel to Washington and make a long-term career of government service, then it made more sense. So this is why we have no term-limits written into the Constitution for congressmen and why the term limit for the president was only written in later.

Obviously times have changed. We now have a population of almost 300 million people (plenty of candidates), travel to Washington is no hardship (interstate highway system everywhere) and one farmer can provide for food for thousands of families (mechanized farming). BUT, we now have the opposite problem: an entrenched government that STAYS in washington too long! Ironically, entrenchment is EXACTLY the thing the Founders did NOT want to happen. They wanted a fluid government where power could easily, and peacefully, be transferred from group to group as the needs of the nation changed. They did NOT want anymore kings or emperors with long lines of succession and the entrenched power that goes with these systems of government.

But, again, this is exactly what we have today: entrenched power. And that power is frozen into ostensibly two political parties that, although superficially different, basically bat the ball back and forth to each other and maintain the status quo and keep others out. The problem is, the status quo isn’t working because it’s destroying the Republic. The Republic, set up by the Framers, is supposed to be a much smaller, more citizen-responsive government. Today, the citizens hardly have any say in their government (due to massive corporate lobbying) and the government has become a debt-ridden empire that stretches across the globe (fueled by unConstitutional fiat money generated by the Federal Reserve System).(2) As oil becomes more expensive, this empire will become an increasing burden on its citizens and its debt load and trade imbalances will eventually cause the dollar, the Imperial currency, to crumble. End of Pax Dollarium.(3)

But as I said above, this doesn’t have to happen if the People that live in the United States purge the government of the entrenched politicians.
My view is that all of them need to go.(4) I know that’s drastic, but here’s my thinking. If everyone tries to figure out who is "good" and who is "bad," there will be virtually no agreement. People will just fall back on their party lines and the same old, same old debates will continue ad nassium. Thus the only remedy is to flush them all out based on the fact that all of them are in on this together and none of them are causing real change.

So if you are a Republican and hate Democrats, fine. Just flush out YOUR Republican incumbents and replace them with new Republican blood. If you are a Democrat and hate Republicans, fine. Just flush out YOUR Democratic incumbents and replace them with new Democratic blood. Both parties will maintain the status quo quantitatively, but BUT, qualitatively, everyone will be new and different. There will thus be no pre-existing social network whereby VOTE SWAPPING (a form of collusion) can take place nor will the social network needed for CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS (a form of bribery) be available nor will the social network needed for allocating PORK (a form of fraud) be available. The NEW congress of NEW congressmen will be left to do NEW things, new things like doing what they are SUPPOSED to do: honestly represent the wishes of their constituents (without vote swapping) while makeing choices that will be good for the nation. The gridlock in government will thus be attenuated because this gridlock is caused by collusion, bribery and fraud, elements not wanted or envisioned by the Framers.

I will thus bet if the congress is purged -- and it goes without saying that this means the complete staffs of each congressman must go as well -- fresh new legislation will more easily be passed. Insane systems of accounting -- such as COST PLUS -- will be ushered out; the unconstitutional money we currently have will be replaced by Constitutional money; the budget will be balanced; the trade deficit will be remedied; the U.S. will stop engaging in wars all over the planet; we will pull back our military from other peoples' lands or require them to pay for security if they really want it; we will re-allocate the budget to proper and prudent uses (such as alternative non-fossil fuel energy), and we will rehabilitate the nation's once-proud space program and go on to develop vast new technologies that only a courageous nation can do while exploring new real estate on new worlds.

In this kind of an environment, science and technology will grow and the Singularity will happen.(5) Problems facing humanity will be solved with such an abundance, war will seem like a silly remedy am immature civilization once flirted with. The U.S. will again gain respect around the world -- lead by demonstration, not by the exercise of force or by propagandizing the world through our mass media and biased, violence-oriented pop culture.
So we’re fortunate the Framers of the United States gave us a peaceful method of overthrowing our government whenever it’s not working properly. Don't look now, but it's time for a peaceful revolt. Vote out all the incumbents!

(1) See EMPIRE OF DEBT by Bill Bonner.
(2) See FIAT EMPIRE at http://www.mecfilms.com/mid/movies/fiat1.wmv
(3) See THE LONG EMERGENCY by James Kunstler
(4) With the possible exception of Ron Paul, who is the only voice in Congress pointing out the fiat money scam which powers the Empire. Ron Paul,M.D., should run for president in my opinion.
(5) See http://sysopmind.com/singularity.html 14 September 2001

The Cost Plus Scam By James Jaeger

Ever wonder why the space program is stagnant?

Ever wonder why the military budget is an outrageous $440 billion a year?

Ever wonder why the Singularity will probably never happen in this wasteful and stagnant environment?

Two words: COST PLUS. The government contracting system is known as a "cost plus" system and has been around long enough to prove that it's a scam -- bad for science and technology, bad for the American taxpayer. Here's how COST PLUS works. Let's say you have a company that provides AI computers to NASA, a government agency. The way you get paid is you add up your COST to manufacture the computers, PLUS you add on an additional 10% as your “profit.” You then deliver the computers and send NASA a bill.

The government issues your company a check. The Federal Reserve System creates credit or prints up Federal Reserve Notes to "pay" your check, and you're fat and happy.(1) Everyone in your company is fat and happy, except the American taxpayer and the thousands of other scientists and technologists who didn’t get to innovate, compete or bid for the job in this closed little monopoly scam.

Here's how Robert Zubrin (author of ENTERING SPACE) puts it after working for Lockeed Martin, the largest aerospace contractor in the world, as a senior engineer for 7 years:
Lockeed Martin almost never accepts hardware contracts on a fixed-cost basis. That is, the company rarely says to the U.S. government, "We will produce the ABC vehicle for you at a price of $X. If it costs us less than $X dollars to make it, we will make a profit. If it cost us more, we will take a loss." Instead, most important contracts are negotiated along the following lines: "We will produce the ABC vehicle for a cost of $X. We will then add a 10 percent fee to whatever it actually costs us to produce to provide the company with a modest profit.” In other words, the more the ABC vehicle costs to produce, the more money the company makes. Given this system, is it any wonder we occasionally hear such things like a hammer cost the military $500 or a toilet seat cost NASA $750?


The COST PLUS system gives the government contracting companies the incentive to NOT cut costs, innovate or compete –- as in a free market -- but instead gives them the incentive to add as many layers of bureaucracy and sub-contractors as possible, each layer adding their bill to the pile. By the time the "cost" of the final bill is added up, a company such as Lockeed Martin will be able to calculate their 10% "profit" on a grossly inflated “cost” of manufacturing. Given this system, is it any wonder the annual military budget COSTS $400 billion PLUS? Is it any wonder the space program is stagnant? Is it any wonder there have been NO new rocket engines developed since the 1970s when the Shuttle engines were made?


Is it any wonder there have been no new important launch systems since the first Shuttle flight in 1981? Is it any wonder we have NOT been back to the Moon? Is it any wonder all the things we dreamed would/could happen in the year 2001 -- as portrayed in the movie, 2001: A SPACE ODDESY -- are a total let down? Not only has there been stagnation in the aerospace industry, but we have actually REGRESSED since the 1960s. Thanks to your runaway government and its cost plus hiring policies, the year 2001 represented a year of HORROR, not a year of PROGRESS.


Not only is the event of 9/11 a horror, but it's a horror that there are NO more heavy-lift vehicles flying today; that there are NO more capabilities for nuclear engines (engines that have TWICE the exhaust velocity of any known rocket); that there are NO more mercury ion engines; that NO more light-weight space suits are made; and that many technological capabilities we once had NO longer exist. This stagnation is not only in the aerospace industry, but in every other technological industry to a greater or lesser degree. So you think the SINGULARITY -- the highest technological advancement possible -- is going to happen in THIS environment?!


Dream on Ray. We are living in an era of technological stagnation and until scientists and technologists reign in their profligate government representatives and the chief psycho executive, nothing much is gonna change. Until the government stops pissing away so much money in the ridiculous COST PLUS system, a system that again GUARANTEES no competition, no incentive and no true profit-motive -- ideals all other free-enterprise companies are expected to operate under -- nothing is going to happen.


American citizens need to PURGE the Congress of the traitors that have allowed this anti-capitalist system to grow and suffocate our true potentials. Why should the 9,000 people employed at Lockeed be allowed a special privilege when all it really takes is maybe 2,250 people to actually produce their products? Given the fact that Lockheed is extremely competitive with other aerospace companies, you can be assured the other giant companies (that suck on the government tit) are implementing a similar, if not the exact same, outrageous COST PLUS system -- and this "accounting" system is industry wide. And if it's industry wide in the aerospace industry, you can bet the practice goes on throughout the entire MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL complex. So if we use the above mentioned ratio of 9,000 to 2,250, it's a safe bet that companies in the military industrial complex over-charge the government by AT LEAST 4 times. This means that, if the Pentagon budget is $440 billion a year, it should REALLY be $110 billion a year. The rest is expense due to lack of competition, waste due to lack of incentive both over-charges due to COST PLUS.


This is money that's unjustly going to a select group of people and their families that work for companies, such as Lockeed Martin, companies that contract with the U.S. government on a cost plus basis. This anti-competitive, anti-capitalist, anti-democratic practice has to stop. These people and companies, along with their criminal accomplices in the Congress, use VOTE TRADING (a form of collusion) and PORK projects to dole out excessive amounts of taxpayer money to their constituents (a form of fraud) thus diverting money from projects of far higher national security, such as: A. The ENERGY crisis; B. The GLOBAL WARMING crisis.


The ENERGY CRISIS is not a major part of the GLOBAL WARMING crisis but it's contributing to the war in the Middle East because billions of petrodollars find their way into terrorists’ hands. We should stop funding these Arabs and we should also stop funding Israel to be fair. THEN how are BOTH sides going to continue this war, a wasteful war that's been going on for at least 50 years. This is nonsense and should be no part of what we do here in the U.S. Were the profligate U.S. government not wasting such huge sums of taxpayer dollars on the military-industrial complex, significant sums could be allocated to the development and deployment of clean, renewable alternative energy, namely PLASMA FUSION and NANO-ASSISTED SOLAR.


But, since $440 billion goes to the military and it industrial contractors, companies like Lockheed Martin, less than $1 billion a year is available to allocate to the remedy of the ENERGY CRISIS, hence the GLOBAL WARMING crisis. Again, this energy crisis also holds in place U.S. dependency on foreign oil and thus helps finance our country’s enemies. So Americans need to wise up and wise up fast. The military budget should immediately be cut back to no more than $150 billion a year. At least $50 billion a year out of this cut back should re-allocated to private companies that will compete to develop and deploy CHEAP commercial FUSION and SOLAR electrical energy.(2) No more COST PLUS. This socialist practice needs to stop.



(1) See FIAT EMPIRE to find out how they do this. http://www.mecfilms.com/fiat (2) A side benefit of becoming a fusion economy will be the fact that fusion rocket engines will become practical. These engines are needed to mine the vast energy supplies of Helium 3 in the Persian Gulf of the Solar System, the gas giants.

I’ve been thinking about records By Fred Cederholm

I’ve been thinking about records. Actually I’ve been thinking about our exports/imports, our trade deficits, our petroleum usage/dependency, the dollar, marginal utility, and the national debt. Americans love to break records. Throughout our history we (as a nation) have sought to be the biggest, the fastest, the richest, the most successful, and the best at whatever we chose to tackle. We set the standards for the world. THAT was our then, but THIS is our now. When you are being led in the wrong directions, more of the same old same old is not a good thing.

You see, on July 12th, the US Census Bureau released the foreign trade statistics for the month of May 2006. On July 28th the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy released the figures for our petroleum and crude oil imports for May 2006 as well -giving additional flesh and meaning to the earlier (total) trade numbers. The MONTHLY trade deficit for May 2006 was $63.8 BILLION, for May 2005 it was $60.7 BILLION, for May 2004 it was $51.8 BILLION, for May 2003 it was $44.3 BILLION, for May 2002 it was $38.2 BILLION, and for May 2001 it was $ 31.4 BILLION. See any trends here?


The May 2006 numbers contain a number of record highs. While our exports of goods and services increased by $2.7 BILLION over April 2006, our imports of goods and services increased by $3.2 BILLION over the prior month. Total exports of $118.7 BILLION and total imports of $182.5 BILLION were records. Our May deficit with China was $17.1 BILLION, with Japan was $7.1 BILLION, with Canada was $5.8 BILLION, with Mexico was $5.5 BILLION, with Germany was $4.0 BILLION, with Nigeria was $2.7 BILLION, with Venezuela was $2.5 BILLION, with Saudi Arabia was $2.4 BILLION, with Ireland was $2.1 BILLION, and with Russia was $ 1.9 BILLION. Note: not ALL of these were monthly records!


The May deficits with OPEC were records. The May import “value” of crude (at $20.0 BILLION) was a record. The May import “value” of total petroleum products (at $ 27.9 BILLION) was a record. The May average import price per barrel of crude (at $61.74) was a record. The April to May 2006 increase in the average price per barrel of crude oil (of $4.92) was the largest month to month increase since the jump of $6.06 per barrel from August to September of 1990. TH*NK about what was happening in the Middle East back then… and fast forward to what is going on the Middle East right now – some 16 years later. Interesting!


We are more dependent on foreign oil than ever before - with only a slightly different percentage mix of the recent suppliers. In May 2006 our domestic production of crude was 158.1 MILLION Barrels per MONTH. You must return to May of 1952 – 54 years ago (when 157.7 MILLION Barrels per MONTH was produced) to find a May with a lower production of domestic crude oil. The top seven sources of Uncle $ugar’s crude oil imports for May 2006 were: Canada (1.868 MILLION barrels per DAY--MBPD), Mexico (1.576 MBPD), Saudi Arabia (1.457 MBPD), Venezuela (1.169 MBPD), Nigeria (1.075 MBPD), Iraq (0.666 MBPD), and Angola (0.379 MBPD). Uncle $ugar’s top seven sources of total petroleum imports for May 2006 were: Canada (2,313 MILLION barrels per DAY--MBPD), Mexico (1.710 MBPD) Saudi Arabia (1.492 MBPD), Venezuela (1.470 MBPD), Nigeria (1.189 MBPD), Iraq (0.666) MBPD) (Still no functioning refineries in Iraq? Humm?),, and Algeria (0.643 MBPD).


How much of these “record” dollar figures are due to actual increases in the products consumed by US/us, and how much are due to the continued erosion in the purchasing power of the US dollar? I wish I had an answer for you on this one. The dollar has clearly lost ground relative to other world currencies and will continue to do so. When you are a foreign entity and are already “sitting on” MEGA BILLIONS of bucks as a reserve currency – the cumulative result of this grotesquely mismanaged trade imbalance, just what is the marginal utility of your acquiring BILLIONS more? Do you expect a premium – or…a discounted valuation?


Back at the ranch – I mean… back at the US Treasury - Uncle $ugar’s National Debt continues to grow separate from, yet in sync with, the above described trading deficits. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month, our National Debt sets a new record high. I’m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.
Copyright Questions, Inc. 2006 all right reserved.

To “audit” this column and to learn more about the subjects discussed, please check out:

Industry, Trade, and the Economy: Data and Analysis (Methodology and Definitions)
http://www.ita.doc.gov/TD/Industry/OTEA/usfth/method.html

US Trade in Goods – BOP Method vs. Census Method (1960 to Present) http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/goods.pdf

Foreign Trade Statistics (for May 2006) – US Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/monthly.html

Foreign Trade Statistics (by year/by month) – 1989 -2006
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0004.html

Foreign Trade Statistics (by month by country) – 1998 to the present
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/top/index.html

Top Ten Countries with whom the US has a trade Deficit
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/top/dst/2006/05/deficit.html

Domestic Crude Oil Production per month – 1920 to the present (in Thousand Barrels per month) http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mcrfpus1m.htm

Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imp orts/current/import.html

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/