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Rogues GallerySam Mathid The economic disaster that confronts America was not just happenstance; it was brought about by specific people. One could go back in history and name people whose malign influence still reverberates across the span of time. That is not necessary to apportion responsibility for our current economic circumstances. Most of the principal offenders are still alive. Maybe others would place the offenders below in a different order, maybe the order isn't important. Possibly others should be on the list. What is important is the complicity of these rogues and knaves in the current financial chaos. Ben Bernanke was deliberately excluded as he had all the appearance of being a patsy right from the start. He was placed in the job specifically because he was an academic Keynesian who didn't have a clue. Some would place blame on the dark figures who inhabit the shadow world. The fact is that those shadowy figures could not exert power without the agreement of those listed below. 1. The Mainstream Media Journalists and Editors have repeatedly, chronically and with gross dereliction of duty failed to inform of the ever worsening situation. Exceptions are almost non-existent. They accepted Press Releases instead of digging for news. They ignored real scandals that did manage to penetrate their Ivory Towers in favour of staying 'on side' with big money advertisers. They knowingly failed to keep at arm's length from the political establishment. They fed the public bread and circuses. They were utterly corrupt in the role that they pretended to perform. The Journalists and Editors of the mainstream media, particularly over the last thirty seven years, have been an egregious disgrace to a long sullied profession. 2. John Maynard Keynes Keynes' main economic theory was released in 1936. It promoted the idea of government intervention in the economy to rectify any perceived problem. Classical economists knew full well that it was a load of self-serving nonsense designed with the one aim of ingratiating Keynes into the echelons of political power. At first many protested the lack of intellectual rigour and the destruction of the proven virtues of the free market. As the years moved on more and more simply sold out. Few career opportunities were open to those economists who opposed what quickly became the prevailing orthodoxy. Whilst understanding the pressures, that does not justify being a part of that which was so destructive to society. It is like a Darwinist becoming a Priest because the pay was better. 3. Richard Nixon President Nixon took America off the gold standard in 1971 rather than face up to his fiscal responsibilities. The US$ was doomed from that point. Whilst Nixon is already disgraced, history has still to hold him accountable for his worst crime. 4. George W. Bush Whilst the current President never claimed to be a great thinker (it is reported that he admitted not having read a book since leaving college), he yet was elected the President of The United States of America. With that job comes the responsibility of ensuring that the economy is under sound stewardship. Whilst it is probable that Bush hasn't understood much, if anything, of what has been going on around him, he bears great responsibility for what happened on his watch. Hiring people who are ignorant to be your advisors brings the reward that it deserves. In the instance of George Bush, that is the wholesale opprobrium of those whose lives have been, and are about to be, destroyed by his profligate Presidency. Much like the F.D. Roosevelt Presidency, the pain of the George W. Bush Presidency will be felt for generations. Possibly George W. Bush is in the same patsy category as Ben Bernanke, but nothing can excuse such incompetence in a President. 5. The US Congress Congress sat on its hands for decades doing nothing, absolutely nothing, as the national debt became larger and larger. They voted regularly to ensure that it was so. Time after time they placed their own interest in being re-elected above their duty to the Constitution which they had sworn to uphold. Their order of priorities was always:
1/ Me Ultimately Congress had control over the Federal Reserve in that at any time they could have dismantled it. They failed to do so, yet could not have failed to notice the disastrous results being produced. It would be remiss to not exclude Ron Paul from the above. 6. Alan Greenspan The Federal Reserve was a failed concept before it was even started in 1913. The various no-hopers who occupied the job as head of the Federal Reserve all complacently oversaw the gradual disintegration of the US$. The institution was from the start, and never ceased to be, utterly beholden to vested interests. It was completely divorced from, and indifferent to, the American people who produced all the wealth that this country once had. The difference with Alan Greenspan is that he knew all this. He was the one head of the Federal Reserve who could have stopped the rot because he understood its cause. He chose instead the life of wealth and power, with callous disregard for the honest toilers and entrepreneurs who paid his wages. 7. Christopher Cox As Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cox had the job of overseeing regulation of the markets. He manifestly failed to do any such thing. Even when the results of investigations, showing massive manipulation of the markets were forced to his attention, he still did nothing. Cox should probably be higher on the list. He came to the job in 2005 directly from Congress, so is really on this list of rogues twice. 8. Bankers Bankers played horrendously dangerous games with money entrusted to them by the general public. The quote by Guy Hands, CEO of Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. in November 2007 sums it up best: "Bankers are like dogs ... they hunt in a pack and go into a feeding frenzy. When hit, they whimper, and hide in their baskets. The bankers have been hit very hard, and they're not going to come out of their baskets." Again, as with President Bush, ignorance is no excuse. Investment banks mostly defrauded other giant corporations, 'sophisticated' investors and national governments. The American bankers mainly defrauded the blue collar workers and middle class of America and left them either living in Tent Cities, or very likely to be doing so in the not too distant future. 9. Hank Paulson Hank Paulson came directly to the position of Treasury Secretary from Goldman Sachs, so knew better than anyone the scope of the problems. He should have come clean, and honestly addressed the problem in June 2006 when he first took on the job. Whilst the damage could not have been avoided, it would have been less severe than it will be now. He also sold out, despite the fact that he was already vastly wealthy, to those who wished for the economy to be kept going just long enough that it did not implode on their shift. Like Greenspan he cannot use ignorance as his excuse. 10. The American People The American people swallowed the big lie that economics is too complicated to understand and therefore didn't even bother to try. Economics is so easy it cannot even be construed as a science. It is just plain common sense. Only the ignorant, or those seeking to create ignorance for their own nefarious reasons, choose to complicate economics. This generation failed to carry forward the advances of all other generations. It was an irresponsibility born of a self imposed ignorance in all matters economic. The upshot is the proving, once again, of the old adage: 'a fool and his money are soon parted'. In this instance we have had so many people acting foolishly, that it is not the parting from our money that is the only problem, it is the probability of being parted from the American way of life that for so long we have taken for granted. "Things you expect to happen usually take longer than expected: but once underway, they tend to evolve much more quickly than you expected." -Doug Casey The brilliant Professor Antal E. Fekete, economist and mathematician, is conducting a seminar in Canberra, Australia from the 11th to the 14th November this year. Talk about perfect timing. It is the ONLY seminar anywhere in the world where all aspects of the gold and silver basis are discussed, together with a trading system guided by the basis. Meet and hear one of the giants of our age. Bookings for the seminar can be made through: I was privileged to attend Professor Fekete's seminar in Hungary in August of 2006, and will again be in attendance in Canberra. Sadly it will be Professor Fekete's last presentation of Gold Standard University Live. Also in attendance will be the loquacious Mr D.R. Schoon. Sep 22, 2008 © Sam Mathid 2006-2008 321gold Ltd |
