You too can report on your fellow citizens for suspicious activities (or if your prefer you can be reported by someone else). What kind of activity counts as suspicious? According to the FBI  the following are included:

"Are overly concerned about privacy, attempts to shield the screen from view of others"

Look, if I am doing some online banking or am composing an email to a friend I don't want someone peeking at my screen.  Aren't most Americans "concerned about privacy" and don't most people want to keep their Internet activity to themselves?

"Always pay cash or use credit card(s) in different name(s)"

We have seen the government warn about this before.  It appears that from now on using cash in America is going to get you labeled as a potential terrorist.  How bizarre is that?

"Act nervous or suspicious behavior inconsistent with activities"

Some people are just naturally nervous.  This kind of vague language could be applied to almost anyone.

"Are observed switching SIM cards in cell phone or use of multiple cell phones"

What if your cell phone battery is dead and you need to use your wife's cell phone?  Does that make you a potential terrorist?

"Travel illogical distance to use Internet Café"

A lot of times people will use Internet cafes when they are out of town on a trip.  Is there something inherently suspicious about that?

"Evidence of a residential based internet provider (signs on to Comcast, AOL, etc.)"

Why in the world would this be considered to be suspicious activity?

"Use of anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address"

These are lots of people out there that take Internet security very seriously and that use things like this.  And how would a casual observer know that these kinds of things are being used?  You would have to be watching someone pretty closely to know that something like this is going on.

"Suspicious or coded writings, use of code word sheets, cryptic ledgers, etc."

What would "suspicious or coded writings" include?  Again, this is very vague language and could include a vast array of different things.

"Encryption or use of software to hide encrypted data in digital photos, etc."

So nobody should use encryption anymore? How do we protect from hackers?

"Suspicious communications using VOIP or communicating through a PC game"

What exactly would fall under the category of "suspicious communications"?

Also, if you are talking to someone through a PC game, there is a good chance that it is a very violent PC game and that you would say something that you normally wouldn't say in real life.

"Refuse cleaning service over an extended time."

This is something that I have done for years.  I don't want a maid to wake me up at the crack of dawn.  If I refuse cleaning service will that get me put on a list somewhere?

"Use entrances and exits that avoid the lobby."

Many hotels have entrances all around the building so that you don't have to walk a mile to get to your car.

If I walk out a side door directly to my car does that make me a potential terrorist?

"Abandon a room and leave behind clothing and toiletry items."

How many of us have ever left something behind in a hotel room by mistake?  Sometimes I triple check the room and still manage to leave something behind.

"Do not leave their room."

Sometimes when you have a day off you just want to stay in bed all day.

Or if you are newly married you may not want to leave your room for a few days.

Should newly married couples be reported to the government as potential terrorists?

Read more at According to the FBI

This entry was posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:45 PM and has received 393 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Some great metaphors and quotes in this article from Sovereign Man blog (my bolding inline)

Roy Ward Baker's 1958 classic film A Night To Remember, recounts the final night of the RMS Titanic based on survivor interviews from Walter Lord's 1955 book of the same name.

One scene from the movie depicts a lounge in one of the upper class quarters of the ship as it slowly sinks beneath the waves. Notwithstanding the vessel listing alarmingly, a motley band of toff revelers are determined to go out in the finest style. Some continue to play at cards with a fatalistic resolve while others determinedly quaff spirits direct from the bottle.

Having considered for some time the most appropriate metaphor for the current market environment, we think this may be it: one may be doomed, but one can still party on.

Having already hit the iceberg, one major problem we see is the common perspective for both investors and the asset management industry to view debt and equity as the entire universe of investor choices available.

The reality is (a) that investors can pursue other distinct types of assets (we would single out real assets as an obvious and relevant alternative), and (b) that there can and will be times when both debt and equity markets together underperform, in both relative and absolute terms (the relative benchmark being cash since developed government debt can in no way now be considered a risk-free asset class).

We may be fast approaching a macro environment that threatens conventional portfolios with exactly that outcome-- a bear market in both stocks and bonds simultaneously. In other words, the authorities could attempt to throw a bull market party for both bonds and common stocks, but nobody would show up. The ticket to entry is simply too expensive.

Having long exhausted the armory of conventional policies to keep the unsustainably indebted show on the road, increasingly desperate politicians are doing increasingly desperate things, be that gifting money to the IMF in a brazen display of fiscal denial that we can ill afford (US, UK) or simply stealing from other sovereigns (Argentina).

Project 'End Up Like Japan' continues to advance well throughout the western economies. The euro zone continues to perform like a group of drowning men lashed together for buoyancy.

Here in the UK, the Bank of England has the dubious privilege of being able to print money with abandon, and it is taking every opportunity to duly abuse the purchasing power of Britons with savings. We continue to hear Mr Takashi Ito's sad refrain, published as a letter to the FT back in August 2010:

"...after a huge housing bubble bursts, there is nothing to do except suffer many years of economic indignity."

Politicians, of course, are not in the business of sitting idly by while the country collectively suffers that economic indignity (the savers, at least). They must be seen to be doing something.

The ironic triumph of the Keynesians means that, in trying to save the economy, our central bank may end up destroying it completely by means of the printing press; as a consequence, we now get to experience some of the full-on horror of the Japanese malaise.

As the debt burden and currency debauchery game rise together toward some form of climactic end-game, the sense of politicians simply not getting the point is almost comical. Just when it were most needed, evidence of urgency from government is invisible.

So in a portfolio sense, we close all water-tight doors. Debt holdings are restricted to those of only the most objectively creditworthy borrowers. Equity exposure is kept modest and restricted to only the most defensive. (Sustainable and relatively high dividend yields help.)

We diversify further into the highest quality currency available, namely bullion. That this approach has not necessarily delivered whopping returns over the past 12 months is not an immediate cause for concern to us since we're most focused on straightforward survival.

We also repeat our increasingly urgent suggestion that investors in debt and equities (especially debt) enjoy the party but dance near the door. Developed market debt investors have enjoyed a 30+ year bull trend in interest rates (and credit creation), but the fat lady in the next room has started tuning up.

To put it another way, the ship is listing badly but has not yet sunk. Do you have a lifeboat, or a bottle of brandy?

This entry was posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:32 AM and has received 868 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I read about Earth Day on the Heathmath blog and the article there had a link to the Global Coherence Initative:
http://www.glcoherence.org/monitoring-system/about-system.html

One thing on the site jumped out at me:

A number of important findings already have emerged. For example, changes in the earth’s magnetic field are associated with changes in brain and nervous system activity; performance of athletic, memory and other tasks; sensitivity in a wide range of extrasensory perception experiments; synthesis of nutrients in plants and algae; the number of reported traffic violations and accidents; mortality from heart attacks and strokes; and incidence of depression and suicide. It’s interesting to note that changes in geomagnetic conditions affect the rhythms of the heart more strongly than all the physiological functions studied so far.

when I read this I felt a wave of love and compassion towards the Earth and a little teary for all the things humans have done to the Earth and how I have contributed to them by for example buying lots of stuff and throwing away the plastic wrappings. Then I felt compassion for myself and others who harm the Earth.

This entry was posted on April 23, 2012 at 11:06 AM and has received 763 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

When I was in Argentina last week I was in line at passport control and they were showing a video on the new digital DNI (national id card that all Argentineans must have) being changed to a digital record of your fingerprints and face scan. They were selling it as a way to prevent terrorists and to be convenient, which perhaps it is. It also gives the government much greater ways to track and control people. "Hermano Grande" (Big Brother) would be proud! (Edit: I have since found this article on the topic)

For example street CC video cameras (of which for example there are 4 million in London - I don't know how many in Buena Aires) can be tied to the face scan to know where you are at all times. People in protests against the government can be identified without arrest and penalized immediately without trial. Entering buildings that require scanning will track were you go too. And if you are "naughty" then forget about being able to enter those buildings which might include not just government services but bank ATM, gas stations and supermarkets. If food rationing occurs in a crisis then you can only get government food if you are "good".

What a great way to control a populations. Now to be clear it is only the digital DNI that I am aware of right now but there is so much opportunity for abuse with this kind of system that I would be concerned if I lived in Argentina or any other county that does this.

PS The US already face scans and fingerprints all foreigners who enter the US - currently over 70 million records are held by the DHS. So don't think that this won't come here. It already is and I predicat that the next big terrorist incident will make this system be extended to US citizens.

This entry was posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:47 PM and has received 508 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This video might make you questions your assumptions about what government is when an Extra Terrestrial lands on Earth and the human asks if he wants to be take to our leader... What is a "leader"? What is government?

This entry was posted on March 15, 2012 at 2:23 AM and has received 460 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

No more protests at national figure events if this bill passes... That includes the President and main GOP candidates. No more G-20 protests allowed. Who needs those pesky amendments anyway? America is a free country whether or not the Bill of Rights is changed, right?

“The bill expands current law to make it a crime to enter or remain in an area where an official is visiting even if the person does not know it's illegal to be in that area and has no reason to suspect it's illegal. Some government officials may need extraordinary protection to ensure their safety. But criminalizing legitimate First Amendment activity — even if that activity is annoying to those government officials — violates our rights,” - United States Representative Justin Amash (MI-03)

M/M

From http://rt.com/usa/news/348-act-tresspass-buildings-437/

Just when you thought the government couldn’t ruin the First Amendment any further: The House of Representatives approved a bill on Monday that outlaws protests in instances where some government officials are nearby, whether or not you even know it.

The US House of Representatives voted 388-to-3 in favor of H.R. 347 late Monday, a bill which is being dubbed the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. In the bill, Congress officially makes it illegal to trespass on the grounds of the White House, which, on the surface, seems not just harmless and necessary, but somewhat shocking that such a rule isn’t already on the books. The wording in the bill, however, extends to allow the government to go after much more than tourists that transverse the wrought iron White House fence.

Under the act, the government is also given the power to bring charges against Americans engaged in political protest anywhere in the country.

Under current law, White House trespassers are prosecuted under a local ordinance, a Washington, DC legislation that can bring misdemeanor charges for anyone trying to get close to the president without authorization. Under H.R. 347, a federal law will formally be applied to such instances, but will also allow the government to bring charges to protesters, demonstrators and activists at political events and other outings across America.

The new legislation allows prosecutors to charge anyone who enters a building without permission or with the intent to disrupt a government function with a federal offense if Secret Service is on the scene, but the law stretches to include not just the president’s palatial Pennsylvania Avenue home. Under the law, any building or grounds where the president is visiting — even temporarily — is covered, as is any building or grounds “restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance."

It’s not just the president who would be spared from protesters, either.

Covered under the bill is any person protected by the Secret Service. Although such protection isn’t extended to just everybody, making it a federal offense to even accidently disrupt an event attended by a person with such status essentially crushes whatever currently remains of the right to assemble and peacefully protest.

Hours after the act passed, presidential candidate Rick Santorum was granted Secret Service protection. For the American protester, this indeed means that glitter-bombing the former Pennsylvania senator is officially a very big no-no, but it doesn’t stop with just him. Santorum’s coverage under the Secret Service began on Tuesday, but fellow GOP hopeful Mitt Romney has already been receiving such security. A campaign aide who asked not to be identified confirmed last week to CBS News that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has sought Secret Service protection as well. Even former contender Herman Cain received the armed protection treatment when he was still in the running for the Republican Party nod.

In the text of the act, the law is allowed to be used against anyone who knowingly enters or remains in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so, but those grounds are considered any area where someone — rather it’s President Obama, Senator Santorum or Governor Romney — will be temporarily visiting, whether or not the public is even made aware. Entering such a facility is thus outlawed, as is disrupting the orderly conduct of “official functions,” engaging in disorderly conduct “within such proximity to” the event or acting violent to anyone, anywhere near the premises. Under that verbiage, that means a peaceful protest outside a candidate’s concession speech would be a federal offense, but those occurrences covered as special event of national significance don’t just stop there, either. And neither does the list of covered persons that receive protection.

Outside of the current presidential race, the Secret Service is responsible for guarding an array of politicians, even those from outside America. George W Bush is granted protection until ten years after his administration ended, or 2019, and every living president before him is eligible for life-time, federally funded coverage. Visiting heads of state are extended an offer too, and the events sanctioned as those of national significance — a decision that is left up to the US Department of Homeland Security — extends to more than the obvious. While presidential inaugurations and meeting of foreign dignitaries are awarded the title, nearly three dozen events in all have been considered a National Special Security Event (NSSE) since the term was created under President Clinton. Among past events on the DHS-sanctioned NSSE list are Super Bowl XXXVI, the funerals of Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, most State of the Union addresses and the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

With Secret Service protection awarded to visiting dignitaries, this also means, for instance, that the federal government could consider a demonstration against any foreign president on American soil as a violation of federal law, as long as it could be considered disruptive to whatever function is occurring.

When thousands of protesters are expected to descend on Chicago this spring for the 2012 G8 and NATO summits, they will also be approaching the grounds of a National Special Security Event. That means disruptive activity, to whichever court has to consider it, will be a federal offense under the act.

And don’t forget if you intend on fighting such charges, you might not be able to rely on evidence of your own. In the state of Illinois, videotaping the police, under current law, brings criminals charges. Don’t fret. It’s not like the country will really try to enforce it — right?

On the bright side, does this mean that the law could apply to law enforcement officers reprimanded for using excessive force on protesters at political events? Probably. Of course, some fear that the act is being created just to keep those demonstrations from ever occuring, and given the vague language on par with the loose definition of a “terrorist” under the NDAA, if passed this act is expected to do a lot more harm to the First Amendment than good.

United States Representative Justin Amash (MI-03) was one of only three lawmakers to vote against the act when it appeared in the House late Monday. Explaining his take on the act through his official Facebook account on Tuesday, Rep. Amash writes, “The bill expands current law to make it a crime to enter or remain in an area where an official is visiting even if the person does not know it's illegal to be in that area and has no reason to suspect it's illegal.”

“Some government officials may need extraordinary protection to ensure their safety. But criminalizing legitimate First Amendment activity — even if that activity is annoying to those government officials — violates our rights,” adds the representative.

Now that the act has overwhelmingly made it through the House, the next set of hands to sift through its pages could very well be President Barack Obama; the US Senate had already passed the bill back on February 6. Less than two months ago, the president approved the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, essentially suspending habeas corpus from American citizens. Could the next order out of the Executive Branch be revoking some of the Bill of Rights? Only if you consider the part about being able to assemble a staple of the First Amendment, really. Don’t worry, though. Obama was, after all, a constitutional law professor. When he signed the NDAA on December 31, he accompanied his signature with a signing statement that let Americans know that, just because he authorized the indefinite detention of Americans didn’t mean he thought it was right.

Should President Obama suspend the right to assemble, Americans might expect another apology to accompany it in which the commander-in-chief condemns the very act he authorizes. If you disagree with such a decision, however, don’t take it to the White House. Sixteen-hundred Pennsylvania Avenue and the vicinity is, of course, covered under this act.

This entry was posted on March 6, 2012 at 3:03 PM and has received 527 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Sometimes it is easier to ignore our surroundings and carry on with life as usual. It become harder when you visit a house down the street and discover it is run differently. Maybe it isn't as big as the decaying McMansion but it is growing and has fewer crazy drunks in charge. Of course many houses on the street have issues and the Greek house down the road seems about to fall down under the weight of its mis-management and debt. But that could never happen to the McMansion, could it... Too big to collapse, too proud to collapse, too different from all the other houses to collapse...
M/M
  

Welcome to Year Five in the Crazy House   (March 6, 2012)
From http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar12/crazy-house3-12.html by charles hugh smith

For four long years, the financial and political Status Quo has masked pervasive structural decay with artifice, pretense and lies. It's like we're living in a rotting mansion run by delusional megalomaniacs.

For four long years, the power-drunk Status Quo Elites have piled on pretense and illusion at the expense of truth. Welcome to the Crazy House. The entire rotten edifice of global financialization was visibly crumbling by early 2008, and yet here we are, four long years later, still under the jackboots of artifice and lies. Instead of the cruel illusions of TARP, now we have HAMP, LTRO, The Troika, and assorted other acronyms and inanities passing for policy.

Welcome to the Crazy House, a rotting McMansion ruled by power-drunk megalomaniacs suffering from delusions of invulnerability and god-like powers. Why are we here, you ask? Because the drunks who run the household make it so darned easy: just keep quiet, listen politely to their ravings, and you get subsidized meals, free rent, a houseful of techno-gadgetry and nonstop entertainment--and that's not even counting the amusement value of their delusional, sloppy-drunk ramblings out by the rust-stained pool.

It takes a while to habituate to the Crazy House; at first, all the artifice, illusions, delusions and lies are disorienting. The dysfunctional "family" that runs the place acts like the money is endless, as if borrowing money was the same as actually producing something of value.

Meanwhile, you hear whispers that everything's paid with credit, and some of the vendors are threatening to cut the mansion's credit. That would be curtains for the whole charade, of course, but the "leaders" pontificate about the magnificence of the rotting mansion as if still having credit was the same as having productive wealth.

It doesn't take long before you start noticing the whole mansion is actually falling apart. The surface grandeur is totally illusory: the handrails are held together with duct tape, painted to match the background; the dry-rotted steps have been patched with putty and covered with fresh paint (step on the rotted parts and they crumble); the roof leaks are masked by pans placed in the attic, and the foundation is buckling.

Once you see enough of this decay covered by slipshod repairs, you wonder how much longer the mansion can last before it simply collapses under its own rotting weight.

From a distance, the expansive pool looks inviting, but that's also illusion; the power-drunk "leaders" and their Elite guests have dropped so many wine glasses on the deck that the bottom of the pool is now littered with shards of essentially invisible glass. At first you wonder why nobody ever goes in the pool, and then a whispered explanation fills you in on the sordid truth.

The truth must be whispered, lest the "family" overhear some shred of truth; any challenge to their account of limitless, god-like powers sends them into a spittle-flecked rage. Rage, denial and fear rule the household: fear of the truth, fear of vulnerability, fear of having to face the real world.

Residents' meetings are bizarre, for the "facts" presented about the mansion's upkeep are so blatantly false that you wonder how anyone present can even keep a straight face. Yet they all do; eventually you get used to the complete disconnect between the "official reports" and reality, and you just shrug it off and seek out other more engaging distractions.

It takes much longer to learn how to stomach the "lectures" by the "family leaders," as the subject matter is once again totally disconnected from reality. The "lectures" always extol the glorious wealth the "family" controls, its equally glorious past, and all the "innovations" that are currently increasing the mansion's already immense wealth and reach.

Yet there is no sign of any meaningful innovation being put in place; there are only endless surface repairs and paint jobs to mask the underlying rot, and a front yard that is maintained specifically to display a completely artificial veneer of wealth and solidity.

Will we ever get sick enough of the lies to leave the security offered by the Crazy House? Probably not, because it's too easy to stay: the food is greasy and sugary but tasty, the rent is basically free, and there's plenty of meds, booze and drugs to fix whatever "healthcare" issues you might have. Of course none of the meds actually restores your health; they only treat the symptoms of ill-health and ruin.

The sad thing about living in the Crazy House for four years is how living a life of illusory security saps the will and perhaps even the ability to function in the real world. The grease-soaked sugar bomb food they serve has left everyone obese and malnourished, and all the electronic toys and entertainment has rendered them mentally and physically unfit and terminally distracted.

They know the reassurances of the "leaders" are false, and that beneath the surface, everything in the mansion is either squalid and falling apart or ripe with the rot of corruption and lies. But leaving opens a Pandora's Box of uncertainty and sacrifice; it's easier to stay and listen to the absurd claims of godhood and endless wealth, and phony exhortations of the mansion's mythical "can-do" spirit.

As long as the vendors keep letting the mansion's delusional megalomaniacs run up their credit tab, then it's easier to passively stay put than to face the challenges of truth and reality outside the rotting palace of illusion and lies.

This entry was posted on March 6, 2012 at 2:42 PM and has received 557 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

It seems that the level of chaos and sudden last minute changes has increased this year. Here are 16 tips for navigating 2012 chaos

• Tip: Create conditioned space when traveling a lot by conditioning an object that I bring with me - eg a meditation mat
• Tip: Chinese character for chaos is danger + opportunity - focus on increasing the latter...
• Tip: breath and posture shifts
• Tip: daily yoga practice
• Tip: Donna Eden 5 minute energy exercises
• Tip: Play kirtan chants at volume just below hearing level in room 24/7 to condition space
• Tip: viewing failure as information rather than judgment. A "mis-take" is a chance for a "re-take".
• Tip: invoking the energy of a child who wants something and persists and focuses only on the positive and ignore any negative stuff.
  • a child learning to walk will fail hundreds of times before they can walk. (Many adult don't want to try something new every ONE time!)
• Tip: stretch yourself daily, take a risk once a week, die often (your comfort zone) (From Rhonda Britan material) http://www.monagrayson.com/day-6-stretch-risk-or-die-change-your-life-in-30-days/
• Tip: adjust the thermostat of your comfort zone (a Matrix technique)
  • raise both lower and higher "temperature settings"
• Tip: Ask angels for help in situation
• Tip: practice ho'oponopono - chanting inside "I love you. Thank you." as you think of/experience 3D and/or people in your life
• Tip: EFT - acceptance, forgiveness of situation plus going through the best and worst cases as you tap
• Tip: Yuen method techniques for feeling 10/10, and shifting feelings of best and worst case - similar to your bringing in source to 3D awareness
• Tip: Sedona method - releasing issue, diving into avoided emotion (compare to fearology)
• Tip: Mark Dunn going "low" to ground and center during chaos

This entry was posted on February 13, 2012 at 9:24 PM and has received 921 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

With the other ammendents to the bill of rights being attacked it is no surprise that the first ammendment that includes a free press was attacked yesterday on Capitol Hill at a public hearing on gas facking polution. From HuffPost article

In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice.

Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Gasland" was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing. The meeting of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment had been taking place in room 2318 of the Rayburn building.

This entry was posted on February 2, 2012 at 8:12 PM and has received 563 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

As the secret war between US and Iran continues with killings of Iranian scientists here is a good analysis in this article of real reasons behind US-Iran war (US dollar as reserve oil currency aka Petrodollars), and the Iraq and Libya wars too. And potential consequences as US dollar world domination ends leading to hyper-inflation in USA.

As tensions between the US and Iran heat up, author Michael T. Winter believes the main reason behind America’s harsh stance is Tehran’s move to seek an alternative to the dollar as an oil currency.

­Economic sanctions, spearheaded by the US and, less willingly, the EU could have a disastrous effect on both of their respective economies.  If Iran cannot sell their oil to Europe, there are plenty of customers waiting in the wings, and if they come bearing not petrodollars, but gold and sovereign currencies, then all the better for Iran.  These sanctions, if enforced, will in effect place a serious dent in the power of the petrodollar.

Any rhetoric regarding Iran’s nuclear program and the insistence on crippling it is nothing more than a US attempt to force regime change for one more receptive to maintaining the hegemony of the petrodollar.

The world now knows the truth about the US and how they conduct their affairs.  US hostilities toward Iran have nothing to do with nuclear weapons development.  If that were the case, then North Korea and Pakistan would be facing similar sanctions and threats, but they aren’t. The difference of course is in what lies beneath the ground – oil. Iran has it and the other guys don’t.

At the heart of the issue is not Iran’s dubious attempt to build nuclear weapons, or even oil, but how that oil is paid for.  In 1973, Richard Nixon promised King Faisal of Saudi Arabia that the US would protect Saudi Arabian oilfields from any and all interested parties seeking to forcefully wrest them from the House of Saud.  It’s important to remember that in 1973, Saudi Arabia didn’t have a fraction of the military and ground forces it possesses today (almost exclusively US manufactured weapons) and the USSR was very much a threat.

In return Saudi Arabia, and by extension OPEC, agreed to sell their oil in US dollars only.  As if that weren’t sweet enough, as part of the deal, they were required to invest their profits in US treasuries, bonds and bills. The real zinger is that all countries purchasing oil from OPEC had to do so in US dollars, or ‘petrodollars’.  

This strengthened the US dollar, resulting in a steady US economic growth cycle throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Countries purchasing OPEC oil started buying US treasury bills, bonds and securities to ensure they could continue purchasing OPEC oil.  This worked fine for the US until 2001.

No plan, however well formulated, functions smoothly indefinitely.

2001, enter Saddam Hussein. He floated a plan to sell oil for European currencies in lieu of petrodollars.  Shortly after Iraq was ‘suddenly’ found to be seeking and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction – allegations spearheaded by the US. The world knows what happened, suffice it to say that Saddam is dead and Iraq is ‘back on track’, selling its oil for petrodollars once again.

Muammar Gaddafi harbored the Lockerbie Bombers and allowed various terrorist organizations establish training camps in Libya.  He tried to buy a nuke from China in 1972. In 1977, he approached Pakistan, then India. He sought nerve gas from Thailand.  In spite of well over fifty failed assassination attempts on Gaddafi by Israel, the US and the UK, Libya was left to its own devices for the most part. Seeking nukes and harboring terrorists is one thing, but threatening the petrodollar is quite another.  Gaddafi made a fatal error when he decided to move away from the petrodollar in favor of other currencies.  This simply was not tolerated by the US.  Having already played the WMD card in Iraq, something new was pulled from the US ‘regime change’ grab bag. Within a year, ‘internal’ elements rose up in rebellion against Gaddafi and now he is dead.  Long live the petrodollar.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), suggested last year that the Euro would be a more suitable oil reserve currency than the US Dollar.  Within three months of that statement, allegations of rape ruined his career, derailing his bid for the French Presidency in the process.  Soon thereafter, all charges were dropped, but of course, le dommage était fait – the damage was done. Christine Lagarde, DSK’s replacement as head of the IMF sees no reason to change the current arrangement, naturellement.

The Iran situation is a little trickier. The US has sought to dismantle Iran’s regime ever since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, so this round of hostilities, while not new, reflects a new level of intensity.  Why, after thirty years of hostility, has the US ratcheted up its rhetoric? As Obama stated in his recent State of the Union address, when it comes to Iran and the insistence they dismantle their nuclear program, “no options are off the table”.  By stating ‘no options’ this would include nuclear deployment as a deterrent.

The answer of course is that Iran is now seeking to disengage itself from the petrodollar dynamic.  In 2005, Iran sought to create an Iranian Oil Exchange, thus bypassing the US controlled petrodollar.  Fear that western powers would freeze accounts in European and London banks put an end to that plan.  

But that was not the end of their attempts, and Iran sought other ways to get around the petrodollar noose. There are rumors that India, which imports 12% of their oil from Iran, has agreed to purchase oil for gold. Energy trade with China, importing 15% of its oil and natural gas from Iran may be settled in gold, yuan, and rial. South Korea plans to buy 10% of their oil from Iran in 2012, and unless Seoul sides with American and European sanctions, it is likely to use gold or their sovereign currency to pay for it. Also, Iran is already dumping the dollar in its trade with Russia in favor of rials and rubles.

Iran is breaking the back of the petrodollar. Others have tried, but Iran is succeeding.  To understand how disastrous this is for the US, one must have a basic understanding of how critical a role the petrodollar plays in the economic health of the US.

Through King Faisal, Nixon elevated the US to supreme economic ascendency, not unlike Damocles in his desire to rule.  Sitting on the (economic) throne of the world is great, but Nixon was either unaware of the sword dangling over the US economic system, or chose to ignore it in favor of reaping the rewards of the moment.   

By creating the petrodollar paradigm, the US economy soared, as all countries of the world were required to amass US currency to purchase oil from OPEC nations. Sales of T-bills, securities and US bonds soared.  US coffers fattened.  With the US dollar as the world’s oil currency reserve, economic fortune favored the US.   But with great reward comes great risk. While other countries exchanged their currency for the dollar, (forfeiting value in the process) the US simply printed more money to match their needs and purchase their oil – essentially for free. The best example is that while gasoline in the US cost $3.00 per gallon, in Europe that same gallon costs $6.00 or more.

Herein lies the danger.  If Iran is successful in its bid to set up their own bourse, or oil exchange, then what need does the world have for all those US dollars?  The answer is none at all. As Iran creating gold and sovereign currency partnerships with India, China, South Korea and Russia, the hegemony of the petrodollar will be destroyed.

The resulting sell-off of US dollars, T-bills, securities, bonds and assets will flood the already swollen world economy with even more useless dollars, ultimately devaluing it into a position where hyper-inflation becomes a risk.  

So, while the US government sabre-rattles and prattles on and on about nuclear weapons and the threat Iran poses to the Middle East, the thin veneer of lies spouted by the elite controlled media is being stripped away, revealing the truth of their warmongering rhetoric.

The US, by their foolish insistence on enforcing embargoes and sanctions against Iran, is hastening the end of the petrodollar and ushering in the age of US dollar hyper-inflation.  A practical example: One loaf of bread in a healthy economy is $1.00. In an inflationary economy it’s $1.75.  In a hyper-inflationary economy, $500.00.

Bullies may be large and dangerous, but rarely are they intelligent.

Damocles wisely vacated the throne of Dionysius before the sword fell upon his head, but the US is foolishly refusing to step down from their economic dais in spite of the catastrophic effect current policy direction will mean for US citizens and the world economy.

­Michael T. Winter

­The statements, views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

From http://rt.com/news/iran-attack-us-allegations-243/

This entry was posted on February 2, 2012 at 7:34 PM and has received 602 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.