The Grand Illusion

July 3, 2009

An Independence Day Essay
by Steve Shute


Independence \In`de*pend”ence\, n. [Cf. F. ind['e]pendance.]

1. The state or quality of being independent; freedom from dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by, others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one’s own affairs without interference; sovereignty.


But don’t be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines,
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they’re just someone else’s fantasy…
 
So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game,
Just remember that it’s a grand illusion
And deep inside we’re all the same.
We’re all the same…
 - Styx, “The Grand Illusion”

Dear Mr. and Mrs. America,

On the eve of the 233rd anniversary of the birth of our nation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, I have some sobering news for you:

For well over the last 100 years, you have been living an elaborate, meticulously constructed lie.

We’ve all been told that there are two dominant schools of political thought in this country: Liberal and Conservative, or “left” vs. “right.” (Never mind that “classical” liberals of the early part of this century are the “paleo-conservatives” of today, or that the “neo-conservatives” of our modern Republican Party would have fit in nicely with Woodrow Wilson’s Democratic administration in 1913. We’re just bickering around the periphery of the issue, as you will see.)

We’ve also been led to believe that there are two major political parties in this country: Republicans and Democrats. And that these entities stand for ideals and principles that are diametrically opposed to one another.

Well, in truth, the real struggle of our day has nothing to do with a so-called “partisan divide,” as we have been deceived into thinking. It has everything to do with the same struggle that the Founders of this country fought for their independence – for their very existence – against.

It is a struggle of the forces for liberty, freedom, and self-determination – sovereignty – against those of control, tyranny and oppression. These forces hide behind terms like “interdependence,” “multiculturalism,” “environmentalism,” and “globalism” to mask their true intentions: to create a worldwide, transnational authoritarian regime, a de facto one-world government.

The real tragedy is that there are people aligned with these forces of tyranny walking the halls of the most powerful institutions of our land, and they include members of BOTH political parties. And they claim to “represent” us, when in fact they wish to pervert our system of government to suit their own treasonous – some would even say evil – agenda.

And, they must be stopped – at all costs – before we no longer have a nation to save.


Take the Red Pill

red-pill-or-blue-pill

Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you’re feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
 
Neo: You could say that.
 
Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that’s not far from the truth.

In the Wachowski brothers’ visionary movie The Matrix, the protagonist, Neo, is introduced to an enigmatic character named Morpheus. Even before his meeting with Morpheus, Neo had recognized that something just wasn’t quite right with his world – a condition that Morpheus calls “a splinter in your mind.” Morpheus then gives Neo the news that will forever alter his destiny:

Morpheus:  The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
 
Neo: What truth?
 
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind. 

Finally, Morpheus offers Neo the means to break out of his “prison” and discover the real truth for himself.

Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
 
(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)
 
Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (A red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember — all I am offering is the truth, nothing more. 

Those who are familiar with the Matrix trilogy know that Neo did indeed take the red pill – and he quickly realized that the truth was so far removed from the illusion that he had understood to be reality that it took him quite a while to adjust after being “unplugged.” And, in a way, that is what we are fighting today.

We are dealing with a populace that has, for the last hundred years, been “plugged in” to a fantasy – what I refer to as the “Grand Illusion” – that we live in a completely free country, with totally “free” markets, that will allow you to advance as far as your work, ambition, and imagination can take you. In reality, the country is – and you are – mostly being controlled by a small group of closely-held banking interests, large transnational conglomerates, and powerful figures in politics and media, on both sides of the so-called “aisle.” These people wield unprecedented money and power to influence elections and legislation to further their own agenda – and we, the people of this country, have until now been successfully deceived by these interests into thinking that we cannot make a difference, that all of these issues are “too complicated” for us to understand, and that this group knows better than we do how to lead our lives.

In reality, we’re only “free” to do what we are allowed to do. How else can you explain the non-choice “choice” between Barack Obama and John McCain that was presented to us in the last presidential election?

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.” The unfortunate truth today is that our public school system is rated among the worst of all industrialized nations, and the “free” press – once regarded as the “Fourth Estate,” on par with the three branches of government as a check against abuse of official power – has become instead a “Fifth Column” enabler and supporter of the very policies and agenda of those who wish to destroy our country.

There is a blatant, full-frontal assault on your sovereignty underway – and your ability to determine your own destiny, and the very thing that our Founders fought and died to obtain for themselves and their posterity, is being materially threatened.

If anyone wants proof, they need only look at the recent votes regarding the bankers’ bailout last fall, the so-called “stimulus” plan this past spring, and the bill to impose a “cap and trade” energy scheme on all of us. In all of these votes, our non-representing “representatives” received unprecedented numbers of phone calls, faxes, and E-mails that ran almost universally against these horrible pieces of legislation (in some cases, the calls ran 100-1 against) – and they passed anyway.

Politicians – on both sides of the aisle – have decided that the Constitution, the rule of law, and most importantly, you, do not matter. Jefferson addressed the remedy to this, too, in a certain 233-year-old document:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 


A New Declaration of Independence

There exists more than a glimmer of hope, though. As we reach the 233rd anniversary of the founding of the greatest, most divinely inspired nation on earth, there are signs that the population of this country is beginning to wake up from their decades-long slumber.

The advent of the Internet, and the explosion of talk radio and other forms of alternative media, have delayed – for a while – the plans of those who wish to enslave us. At the same time, spontaneous grassroots movements such as the Tea Parties that are sweeping the country are serving to engage people who have never been involved in the political process before. Organizations such as the Campaign for Liberty, FreedomWorks, and the Hope for America Coalition are educating people and opening their eyes to the evils of the Federal Reserve and the banking system, the self-serving politicians and power brokers that are working for their own interests instead of the public interest, and what we can collectively do about it. And, most importantly, we are being equipped to be agents of the change that will be necessary to peacefully overthrow this corrupt system and restore the Constitution to its rightful position as the law of the land.

What this movement is going to take to succeed is for a small number of people to display an extraordinary amount of courage and determination.

People do not realize that the Revolutionary War was fought using the commitment and resources of less than five percent of the population of the colonies. Samuel Adams once wrote that “It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” We don’t need to convince the whole world to “unplug,” just convince enough of them to get to a tipping point that will create the “brushfire” that Adams referred to.

The bad news is that those who want to impose tyranny on all of us are doing everything in their power to keep you from hearing the truth.

The good news is that there are a lot more of us than there are of them.

And, ultimately, with God’s help, we will win the day – if we are only willing to stand against our oppressors, as our Founders did 233 years ago.


Steve Shute is a member of the Governing Committee of the Hope for America Coalition. The opinions expressed in this piece are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of other members of the Hope for America Coalition or its affiliate organizations.

 


Get Behind HR 1207 – the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009!

May 6, 2009

The “Audit the Fed” bill – HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 – continues to gain steam in the House of Representatives, due primarily to the efforts of you, the grassroots!

The bill now has 124 co-sponsors as of this afternoon (5/6), including a majority of the Republican caucus as well as 11 Democrats.  Three of the four members of the Kansas House delegation – Todd Tiahrt, Jerry Moran, and Lynn Jenkins – are now signed on as co-sponsors.

Unfortunately, our “distinguished” District 3 representative, Dennis Moore, isn’t one of them.

Dennis MooreMoore, who’s Chairman of the House subcommittee on Financial Oversight and Investigations (what a joke THAT has been!), and as such, oversees not only the disbursement of TARP monies, but would also oversee any investigation of the Federal Reserve, seems to believe that the Fed is doing quite peachy, thank you very much.  Or so his lack of concern for auditing their books would appear to indicate.

So much for Moore being a “conservative” “Blue Dog” who believes in fiscal transparency and accountability!

Moore was also the only member of the entire Kansas congressional delegation to not only vote for the massive TARP bailout – not once, but TWICE! – but also the so-called “stimulus” package and the 2010 omnibus budget increases, all of which are paid for almost exclusively by deficit spending.  With dollars that are basically being printed out of thin air by an out-of-control, unaccountable, and unaudited Federal Reserve.

It’s time to put the pressure on Dennis Moore, starting today.

If you live in Kansas Congressional District 3, please take a few minutes to cut n’ paste the following letter, and send it to Rep. Moore by clicking on this link which will take you to his E-mail form.  We need to overwhelm him with E-mails, phone calls (202-225-2865, 913-383-2013), and faxes (202-225-2807, 913-383-2088) until he realizes that his constituents mean business – and that we will remember his transgressions with OUR money.

Representative Moore,

Now that over $12 trillion in new spending has been pledged towards our financial crisis, more people than ever are concerned about where their money is going, and if it’s accomplishing anything.

But in the face of an ever-worsening recession, the Federal Reserve refuses to furnish Congress and the American people with records of how the Bank is allotting and spending trillions of bailout dollars.  Shrouded in secrecy, the Federal Reserve is a danger to our political process: No one knows where our money is going or what it is doing, and Chairman Bernanke has said that efforts to disclose such information are “counterproductive.”

But that’s my money they’re using, Representative Moore!  $12 trillion!  And without any record of how the Federal Reserve is managing and distributing these trillions of taxpayer dollars, there is no way to know if our present course is sustainable or not.

Representatve Moore, you, sir, should know better than anyone, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Financial Services Committee, that an unaccountable and secret process of printing and disbursing monies – monies that, ultimately, all of US will be responsible for paying back – is NOT the way to foster openness and transparency in our financial institutions.  Transparency that you, as a member of the “Blue Dog” caucus, have claimed to champion throughout your Congressional career.

We must know what is happening with our money, and the Federal Reserve must come clean with the American people.

Please co-sponsor HR 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, and do everything in your power to see this bill through to a passing vote.

It’s time to carry the fight onward with renewed spirit and enthusiasm.  WE ARE WINNING!


End the Fed – NEW AGENDA

April 24, 2009

From the Liberty Restoration Project website:

PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS!

We are closing in on our rally day and we are all eager for the show to begin. The Liberty Restoration Project has been working obsessively to bring an amazing weekend filled with fun, education, and friends together to make a weekend none of us will soon forget! On the heels of the Tea Parties, our movement takes the power of knowledge ONE step further, and that’s by identifying the true culprits of our economic woes, The Federal Reserve Bank!

We want to ensure that everyone has a great time, we also need to make sure everyone remains safe and with the escalation of attention our movement is getting in a not-so-positive manner, we wanted to make sure that a few rules were clear for the attendees of this rally:

1) No violence of ANY sort will be permitted or tolerated. We have gone to great lengths in working with the KCPD to have them work beside us and we will not delay in exposing any trouble makers to the police.

2) Be helpful and loving to the people around you! Even if we encounter “counter-protesters,” we will embrace them in a positive light. If you notice anyone with any medical issues, please notify an Event Marshal as quickly as possible.

3) Come prepared to be photographed/videotaped. There will be media from many elements at the rally and since perception is VITAL to our credibility, please keep all signs and t-shirts ON-TOPIC. Please keep in mind this is a NON-PARTISAN ISSUE.

4) Please be ready and willing to volunteer. We have signs that need to be carried to order to get our message across. You will be a big part of the backdrop for your rally!


AGENDA OUTLINE

4/25/09 – Rally Day*** LRP will have a table available to donate your “Real Change for Real Change”. We will have a wheelbarrel to put all the change into.***

12:00 PM – Meet at the Liberty Memorial NORTH Lawn (across from the Union Station). Our time got shifted and we will be starting with speakers.

12:10 PM – Speeches will begin. Tom Mullen to Emcee, Marcy Brooks, Rep. Jim Guest and Darrell Castle

1:00 PMMarch to IRS Complex

1:45 PMMarch to Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

3:30 PM – End Rally and shift to “The Brick” for the concert Fundraiser $5 PRESALE, $7 Door!!!

4:30 PM – Opening remarks at “The Brick”

9:00 PM – Wrap-up Concert Night


4/26/09 – Education Day

***Event is FREE to the public, booths are available for rental and payable on site. Fee is $25.***

9:00 AM – Doors Open to public, come early for coffee and networking

10:00 AM – Welcome and LRP Topic Expert presentation of “Running for City Council”

11:15-11:45 AM – Grassroots Discussion

12:00 PM – Josh Carter presentation about Activism

12:30 PM – LUNCH (Pizza will be provided)

1:10 PM – Richard Fry w/ November Patriots discussion on Voter Fraud/ KS Sovereignty

1:30 PM – Cissee Spraggins w/ Libertarian Party

1:50 PM – Justin Windett discussing long-term food storage

2:20 PM – Janet Renner w/ Missourians Against Illegal Immigration

***Please remember to bring your REAL CHANGE for a donation. The Liberty Restoration Project is an incredibly active group that is constantly stomping their feet all over the states of Missouri and Kansas in attempts to have our elected officials adhere to the Constitution they swore an oath to. We are purchasing a “Liberty Work House” that will be housing FULL-TIME volunteers to fight for our freedom. THIS IS THE ONLY ONE OF ITS KIND!!! We are working hard to “return the POWER TO THE PEOPLE, starting from the Heartland.”


This Weekend’s Freedom Movement Activities

April 24, 2009

On Saturday, April 25, “End the Fed II” will take place with a series of rallies and demonstrations in 38 cities throughout the country, and in all of the cities that house Federal Reserve Bank branches, including Kansas City.

The rally is set to begin in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City at 9:30am and will culminate in a “Monopoly March” and a demonstration near the IRS building on West Pershing Road.  Slated to speak at the Kansas City rally are Tom Mullen, author of A Return to Common Sense; Marcy Brooks, famous juror from the film America: Freedom to Fascism; Missouri State Representative Jim Guest; and former Constitution Party Vice-Presidential Candidate Darrell Castle.

You can read more about the rally and RSVP your attendance by clicking here.  And thanks to Bryon Huber of the Liberty Restoration Project for pulling this together!


After the rally downtown…

If you live in KS Congressional District 3, we urge you to take advantage of this next opportunity. From 2:30-4:00pm tomorrow afternoon, US Rep. Dennis Moore will be meeting with constituents at the Shawnee Fitness Club, 6518 Vista Avenue, Shawnee, KS (on Shawnee Mission Parkway, just west of I-435 – map and directions).

As Congressman Moore is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the House Finance Committee, he is “overseeing” (supposedly) the dispensing of the TARP and stimulus monies.  He is also one of the biggest recipients of campaign funds from banking and financial interests in all of the U.S. House.  Conflict of interest?  Decide for yourself.

Feel free to come out and firmly (but respectfully, of course) give him a piece of your mind.  However, if you decide to demonstrate, please keep your signs and other paraphenelia on the sidewalks in front of the fitness center, so that Dennis doesn’t have a built-in excuse to have the managers come over and “ask” him to leave if things get too rough for him, which is what happened last time he held one of these “listening” sessions.

We hope to see you at both of these important events!


The Case for a Federalist Amendment

April 23, 2009

From Dr. Randy Barnett in the WSJ’s Opinion pages this morning:

In response to an unprecedented expansion of federal power, citizens have held hundreds of “tea party” rallies around the country, and various states are considering “sovereignty resolutions” invoking the Constitution’s Ninth and Tenth Amendments. For example, Michigan’s proposal urges “the federal government to halt its practice of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States.”

While well-intentioned, such symbolic resolutions are not likely to have the slightest impact on the federal courts, which long ago adopted a virtually unlimited construction of Congressional power. But state legislatures have a real power under the Constitution by which to resist the growth of federal power: They can petition Congress for a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution.

Now, Dr. Barnett’s suggestion of a new Constitutional Convention would be scary in two directions.  Not only could you not control what was being changed – after all, that’s how we got our original Constitution in the first place, when delegates met to amend the Articles of Confederation and ended up tossing the whole thing out altogether – but, the threat of one would definitely put the fear of God into the elected representatives under our current Constitution, who would act to preserve themselves (and their positions) by giving petitioners the amendments that they want.  So argues Dr. Barnett.

Read more here.  It’s a very interesting read, and definitely food for thought, although there’s a really good chance that many people in the Freedom Movement will disagree with these drastic methods.  However, drastic times may require them…


4/21 Meeting – VENUE CHANGE!

April 17, 2009

As we stated yesterday, due to popular demand, we are moving the meeting location of the next Hope for America Coalition monthly meeting.

We will now be meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn, 5800 College Blvd, in Overland Park. The Garden Inn is located just south of I-435 on College Boulevard, and just west of Nall Avenue. (map and directions)

In addition to our featured speaker, Professor Stephen J. Ware from the University of Kansas School of Law, we will also be discussing projects that HFAC and other affiliate organizations are doing throughout the Kansas and Missouri areas, and we will be giving you an opportunity to get involved with several Freedom Movement initiatives.

Again, please RSVP to freedom@hfapac.org if you are planning on coming, or RSVP at our Facebook event page.

Come out to the Hilton Garden Inn this Tuesday and find a way to stay “plugged in” after the Tea Parties. And bring a friend!


Next HFAC Meeting This Tuesday, April 21

April 16, 2009

Looking for a way to stay involved after the Tea Party rallies?

The Hope for America Coalition will be holding their next meeting at the Johnson County Library-Shawnee Branch this coming Tuesday, April 21 from 6:30-9:00pm.

(NOTE: PLEASE RSVP for this meeting to freedom@hfapac.org as soon as possible! We are receiving large amounts of response and if the RSVPs warrant it, we may change the location to one that can accommodate a larger crowd. We will make this decision before the weekend, so stay tuned to our website at www.hopeforamericacoalition.org.)

Our featured guest speaker will be Stephen J. Ware, Professor of Law at the University of Kansas, who will speak on our current “star chamber” system of judicial selection for the Kansas Supreme Court, and what we can do to change it.

We hope to see you there!


The Real Purpose of the Tea Parties

April 16, 2009

by Steve Shute


Photo by the Kansas Meadowlark

Photo by the Kansas Meadowlark

We have heard a lot of vitriol and ad hominem attacks from the so-called “mainstream” media aimed at the thousands of “tea party” rallies held throughout the nation yesterday.  (Check out this shocking video from the Chicago rally to see just one example of what I mean.)  Obviously, based on what the Kansas Meadowlark, the Invisible Hand, myself, and dozens more bloggers all saw at the two major rallies that took place in Kansas City yesterday, the thousands of people that turned out (according to estimates, perhaps as many as 10,000 people between the two rallies alone) must have really struck a nerve with the power elite (and their brainwashed minions) who are desperately trying to suppress or discredit their message.

I was privileged enough to attend both rallies, and they were hardly “Republican” functions in any real sense.  In fact, I was able to conduct a little experiment while I was on the radio at the Overland Park rally with KMBZ’s Darla Jaye.  I asked two questions of the crowd, and the response was stunning (although it will probably go entirely unreported by our intrepid “journalists” in the media).

First, I asked them if they were angry at the Democrats for spending the country into oblivion for the last two-plus years.  (Of course, there was a resounding cheer – expected at a so-called “Republican” rally.)  Then, I asked the same crowd if they were just as angry at the REPUBLICANS for spending this country into oblivion for the last 8 years, and at George Bush for aiding and abetting them.  An even BIGGER cheer went up!

Here are some signs (from both rallies – thanks, Kansas Meadowlark and Invisible Hand!) that illustrate quite plainly exactly what I’m talking about:

Photo by the Kansas Meadowlark

Photo by the Kansas Meadowlark

Photo by the Invisible Hand

Photo by the Invisible Hand

Photo by the Kansas Meadowlark
Photo by the Kansas Meadowlark
Photo by the Invisible Hand

Photo by the Invisible Hand

Folks, people are mad as hell at BOTH parties for putting us in this mess.  Most of the people who came out to the rallies recognize that BOTH parties, and most of our politicians, have forsaken their oath of office to support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States in exchange for short-term personal gain or a totally twisted idea of what government should do “for” us.

Well, news flash, political and chattering classes – the people of this country HAVE HAD ENOUGH of these TREASONOUS actions.  And, if they think they can ignore or belittle the movement thinking it will go away with the next news cycle, they will be sorely mistaken.

Already, millions of people are organizing for the next tea parties, marches, and End the Fed rallies (one of them is coming just 10 days from now, on April 25 – go to www.endthefed.us for more information).   The “silent majority” is choosing to be silent no more, and we will not stop until the abuses of power and rape and pillage of the Constitution – and our future generations – is halted.

And personally, I am glad to be counted in that number.


Down with the Porkulus!

February 20, 2009

porkulus
The “Generational Theft Act of 2009,” aka the “stimulus” package, was passed on Friday the 13th of February (how appropriate!) and signed into law last Tuesday, February 17.  To commemorate (mourn?) its passage, we will be meeting in front of Kansas 3rd District Congressman Dennis Moore’s offices in Overland Park, KS, this Saturday, February 21, at 10:00am.

The address is 8417 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park (map), and if you’re in the Kansas City area, we would love to see you out there with your homemade signs, letting Dennis Moore know how (as the only Kansas legislator to vote for the stimulus) he has sentenced our children and grandchildren to a lifetime of indentured servitude.  Americans for Prosperity will also be joining us for this rally.

Come on out and let your collective voices be heard!


Obama’s New War

January 26, 2009

by Steve Shute


While you weren’t looking, the Obama Administration started another war last week – and one we will most certainly lose.

No, I’m not referring to the drone attack on Pakistan’s Waziristan province that killed 22 people, mostly civilians, or his pledge to add another 30,000 troops to our forces in Afghanistan over the next 6-9 months.

The war I’m talking about could very possibly end up being a much more costly one.

Last Thursday, apparently with the full blessing of the new Obama Administration, Secretary of Treasury-designate and admitted tax cheat Timothy Geithner declared in a written statement in his Senate confirmation hearing that China was manipulating its currency, the yuan, to maintain price advantages over American producers of goods, both in the Chinese domestic market and overseas – a charge that China has vehemently denied.

At the same time, Geithner strongly alluded that it would be in the nation’s best interests to put measures into place (a new Smoot-Hawley Act, perhaps?) that would support US-based producers of products such as iron, steel, heavy equipment, and automobiles – products where China has made significant inroads worldwide over the last several years.

(In fact, Section 1110 of H.R. 1, the House version of the Economic Stimulus bull – er, bill – states explicitly that “…none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron and steel used in the project is produced in the United States.”)

chinese-weighlifterHey, I’m all for free trade, and have said in previous columns that the so-called “free” trade agreements pursued by the Bush Administration were little more than corporate welfare to gigantic trans-national conglomerates that had allegiances to no nation at all – only to their bottom lines.  However, as the Obama administration is about to embark on the largest expansion of government in our nation’s history – most of it being financed by selling US Treasuries (i.e., debt) to nations such as China – is this the time that we should be picking a fight with our largest benefactor?

It almost seems like the United States is trying to invite China to crash the dollar and make it worthless, by selling off our Treasuries on the open market and buying something else – like, say, gold.

In an environment such as this, when the rest of the world’s major economies are slowing down precipitously and the appetite for US debt is beginning to wane, it is beyond unwise to provoke China into dumping their dollars.  Yet, that’s what it looks like the Obama Administration is trying to do – and they haven’t even been in power for a week.

This new war – a trade and economic one – is one that, as the largest debtor nation in the world, we can ill afford to wage.  Smoot-Hawley-type protectionist measures imposed while we’re in a major recession make about as much sense as raising taxes – they will only serve to make imported goods (i.e., most of the goods we buy) more expensive (or unavailable altogether); and, more importantly, they will encourage other nations to divest themselves of our debt, causing an accelerating inflationary spiral at a time when our real incomes are stagnating or decreasing.

Weimar Republic, anyone?

Thirty – or even ten – years ago, we would possibly have been able to wage this war, before we became so dependent upon China and other foreign nations for our economic lifeblood.  But now, pushing this button will lead to only one assured destruction – our economy’s.