A friend forwarded me this: “You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.”
True, but you can “legislate” poor to become poorer and rich to become filthy rich. How? By legislating a fraudulent monetary fractional reserve system, creating tax loopholes for big guys (they pay no taxes), by turning Wall Street into gambling casinos where taxpayers must reimburse sharks’ losses, and by fanning wars without reason, sanity or purpose (except for the greed).
In 2012, the U.S. prosecuted Europe’s largest bank, HSBC for enabling Mexican drug cartels and al-Qaida terrorists to launder money. The outcome was a $1.9 billion fine, but not a single senior officer was criminally charged. Isn’t that mind-boggling? Would any of us get away with that?
How about this: The filthy rich have some $27 trillion in offshore accounts, and the largest corporations pay little or no corporate tax.
Another textbook example: In the U.S., the richest 0.01 per cent quadrupled their wealth in last two decades.
There goes the myth that rich are job creators. They are, in fact, parasites, who, by the ways of exploiting, trickery and bribery, get one set of laws for us and another set for themselves.
According to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, about 95 per cent of $230 trillion of U.S. derivative exposure (worthless junk) was in hands of four major banks. Once the bubble bursts, those who trusted the fraudsters will lose everything.
Now let’s explore the wheel hub of this all: What had Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi and Iran in common? You know part of the answer, oil, but did you know that Saddam started to sell oil for euros instead of U.S. dollars, Gaddafi wanted to sell oil for dinars and Iran is dumping the dollar and euro? That tells you one of the main reasons imperial vultures and their handlers were and are so desperate to change those regimes.
Under the “bad” Gaddafi, electricity was free, loans had no interest, newlyweds got about $50,000 to start a family, and education and medicare were free. If a Libyan wanted to farm, he would get land, a house, equipment, seeds and livestock. If Libyans could not find education or medical facilities at home, the government funded them to go abroad. The price of gas was 14 cents per litre.
Libya had no external debt and its reserves were $150 billion (likely stolen by now). If a Libyan was unable to get employment after graduation, the state would pay the average salary until employment was found. All Libyans got oil royalties. Twenty-five per cent of Libyans were university educated.
Libya built the world’s largest irrigation project — water was available throughout the desert country. Of course, the “bad” Gaddafi had to be replaced by the “good” al-Qaida, courtesy of NATO bombing.
Advance readers, you think our sold-out politicos will learn from Gaddafi? Of course not! We allow our natural resources to be looted. Instead of a $150 billion surplus and decent social safety net, we have a $600 billion federal debt, with health care and education falling apart.
Somewhere I found this quote: “Reading is your friend, corporate corruption and greed are not.” Please read, study and educate yourself, think for yourself, and pass it on.
In this round, humanity lost. In the final round, we will win.
Vladimir Certik believes that thinking outside the box and engaging fellow citizens may bring simple solutions to complex problems. The West Creston resident can be reached at 250-402-0055.