Kunstler captures the essence of our society in that phrase. Our economic and political system has been completely captured by the oligarchs. They don’t care what you think. They have the wealth, power, and control of our currency, media and political system.
Fortress of Lies
By James Howard Kunstler
on March 11, 2013 9:24 AM
History has a special purgatory where it sometimes stashes feckless nations punch drunk on their own tragic choices: the realm where anything goes, nothing matters, and nobody cares. We’ve surely crossed the frontier into that bad place in these days of dwindling winter, 2013.
Case in point: Mr. Obama’s choice of Mary Jo White to run the Securities and Exchange Commission. A federal prosecutor back in the Clinton years, Ms. White eventually spun through the revolving door onto the payroll of Wall Street law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, whose clients included Too Big To Fail banks JP Morgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and UBS AG, defending them in matters stemming from the financial crisis that began in 2008, as well as other companies that needed defending from allegations of financial misconduct, such as the giant HCA hospital chain (insider trading), General Electric (now a virtual hedge fund with cases before the SEC), and the German-based Siemens Corporation (federal bribery charges).
A republic with a sense of common decency — and common sense — would have stopped the nomination right there and checked the “no” box on Mary Jo White just for violating the most basic premise of credibility: that trip through the revolving door that shuttles banking regulators from the government agencies to the companies they used to oversee and sometimes back again.
Has there not been enough national conversation about the scuzziness of that routine to establish that it’s not okay? Does it not clearly represent the essence of dysfunction and corruption in our regulatory affairs? Didn’t President Obama promise to seal up the revolving door? So how could Mary Jo White possibly be taken seriously as a candidate for the job? And how is it possible that everyone and their uncle, from The New York Times editorial page to the Sunday cable news political shows to the halls of congress, is not jumping up and down hollering about this? Well, because anything goes, nothing matters, and nobody cares.
The funny part is that, when challenged over her past connections to the banks and companies she would now have to regulate, Mary Jo White offered to recuse herself from future cases involving them. So, from the get-go as SEC head, Ms. White would not concern herself with the doings of JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley? How is it that gales of laughter did not blow Mary Jo White clean out of the hearing room? Is there not another qualified person from sea to shining sea who could come in and do the job without one hand tied behind his or her back?
Now it also turns out that upon leaving Debevoise & Plimpton, Ms. White is scheduled to collect monthly retirement checks from the company amounting to a half million dollars a year — that’s for life, by the way — while she supposedly runs the SEC. How is that not a conflict of interest? The remedy proposed by Ms. White and her attorneys was for her to take the retirement loot as a lump sum during her tenure as SEC chair, after which she could revert to collecting her pension in the $42,500 monthly payouts. Pardon me, but, well …what the fuck? What planet are we on?
As if that’s not enough, Ms. White’s husband, John W. White, is a partner at another giant Wall Street law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which frequently tangles with the SEC on behalf of its clients. Mr. White proposed to change his pay structure while his wife runs the SEC. More gales of laughter. He is also on the advisory committee of the Financial Standards Accounting Board, the group that oversees national accounting practices and which, in 2009, infamously changed its Rule157 so that TBTF banks could “mark to fantasy” the fraudulent CDOs and other bond-like “innovative” securities that they created — many of which they had to eat after the housing bubble bust when the collateral for these swindles lost its value and the “innovators” could no longer pawn the stuff off on credulous pension funds and other client “muppets.”
The silence over this disgraceful matter — and many others like it, including the dead hand in the empty suit posing as US Attorney General — indicates that not only is the rule of law extinct in this country, but so are public figures of principle and credible news organs. Nobody has made a noise about it. Anything goes, nothing matters, and nobody cares. So, the objection to it has to come from outside the authorized channels. And the consequences will mount outside the fortress of lies that the establishment has become.
JIMSKI says:
And then ( Insert last revolutionary event here )
Don’t these fuckers read history? It can not and will not stand.
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11th March 2013 at 10:19 am
Administrator says:
Corralling Mobsters, if Not Many Big Banks
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
EVERYONE knows about the mobsters and terrorists that Mary Jo White successfully put behind bars during her nine years as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. Less well-known is Ms. White’s record bringing cases against large financial institutions during her stint as the top criminal prosecutor in New York.
Ms. White, who has been nominated to become the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, ran the Justice Department’s unit in the Southern District, which includes Manhattan, from 1993 until January 2002. She is expected to appear at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
Ms. White’s recent work as a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, where she represented JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and other companies, has come under scrutiny. Her record as a federal prosecutor of financial crime has received less attention.
Given that regulating financial firms will become her purview if she heads the S.E.C., assessing her pursuit of financial fraud as a prosecutor may provide clues to how she would run the agency.
Let’s just say her prosecutorial stint did not include a lot of cases against large United States financial institutions.
Last week, I asked Ms. White which large financial institution cases she was most proud of prosecuting. She declined to be interviewed but, through a colleague, provided a list.
First on that list was a 1996 case against Daiwa Bank, a Japanese institution that lost its license to do business in the United States after Ms. White’s office indicted it for fraud. Daiwa pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $340 million, then a record for a financial institution.
Another case she cited was the 2001 fraud case against Republic Securities, a unit of Republic Bank, which generated $600 million in restitution for clients whose accounts had been valued improperly by bank employees. It, too, pleaded guilty.
A third highlight on Ms. White’s list was a 1999 prosecution of Bankers Trust for misappropriating $19 million from dormant customer accounts. The bank pleaded guilty and paid more than $60 million in fines.
Those are considerable victories. Four other cases she cited through her colleague involved Ponzi schemes and fraud by small investment advisory firms, not household-name Wall Street or financial firms.
A review of her years in the Southern District also turned up several intriguing cases that Ms. White and her colleagues did not pursue or turned away. All three of these matters involved large and prestigious financial companies headquartered in the United States.
A big question mark, federal investigators say, still hangs over the decision by Ms. White’s office not to prosecute Citibank in the mid- to late 1990s for a possible role in questionable money transfers that benefited Raúl Salinas de Gortari, the brother of the former president of Mexico. Between 1992 and 1994, Mr. Salinas, a consultant to a Mexican antipoverty agency whose annual salary never exceeded $190,000, somehow moved almost $100 million from Citibank accounts in Mexico and New York to Citibank accounts in London and Switzerland.
Banks have a legal obligation to prevent money-laundering, and in July 1996, Ms. White’s office opened an investigation into the Salinas transactions. But no prosecution against the bank or any of its officials involved in the Salinas accounts ever came.
A report by the Government Accountability Office in October 1998, as well as a subsequent inquiry by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, shed light on what can only be described as disturbing practices at Citibank. Its actions, the report said, helped Mr. Salinas transfer money in a way that “effectively disguised the funds’ source and destination, thus breaking the funds’ paper trail.” Citibank made $2 million in fees on the Salinas accounts, the Senate investigators found.
Mr. Salinas was arrested in February 1995 on suspicion of murdering his former brother-in-law, who had been a leading politician in Mexico. Senate investigators said the bank’s “initial reaction to the arrest was not to assist law enforcement but to determine whether the Salinas accounts should be moved to Switzerland to make discovery of the assets and bank records more difficult.” Mr. Salinas was convicted of the murder in 1999.
As it prepared its report in 1998, three years after Ms. White’s investigation into Citibank began, the G.A.O. requested information from federal prosecutors on the case. The G.A.O. was rebuffed. “Limited by the ongoing Justice Department investigation, we could not determine whether Citibank’s actions violated law or regulation,” the report said.
The case went nowhere. Ms. White declined to comment. But according to her colleague, who spoke to people who worked on the matter, money-laundering cases are tough to prove and must meet a higher standard than conclusions drawn in government reports.
ANOTHER matter that raised questions about Ms. White’s approach during that same period centered on insider trading by friends of Marisa Baridis, a Morgan Stanley compliance employee. In the fall of 1997, a New York State grand jury indicted Ms. Baridis on charges of grand larceny, securities fraud and accepting a bribe. According to the indictment, prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, then led by Robert M. Morgenthau, had a tape of Ms. Baridis admitting she leaked confidential information about companies to brokers at other firms who traded on it.
Immediately after the state indictment of Ms. Baridis, Ms. White’s office started investigating her. Weeks later, Ms. White’s office reached a deal with Ms. Baridis, who pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and securities fraud. The plea effectively halted the state’s case against Ms. Baridis because the rules of double jeopardy bar a person from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.
In an interview at the time, Ms. White explained her actions by saying: “Securities frauds affecting the national and international markets should be charged federally.” A New York State Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that state prosecutors could pursue insider trading cases.
After intervening in the case, though, prosecutors in Ms. White’s office pursued only one other person who had been tipped off by Ms. Baridis. Ms. Baridis was sentenced to two years’ probation.
Mr. Morgenthau’s office prosecuted 10 people involved in the trading who worked at other companies. Now in private practice, Mr. Morgenthau declined to comment on the case.
Finally, there is the fascinating matter of A.R. Baron, a small but abusive penny-stock brokerage that failed in 1996, leaving investors with $75 million in losses. An investigation by the New York district attorney into the firm led him to Bear Stearns, then a prominent investment bank that had provided crucial financing to keep A.R. Baron operating even though it was aware of the smaller firm’s many improprieties.
In 1997, Mr. Morgenthau’s office obtained indictments against A.R. Baron and 13 individuals; all pleaded guilty to enterprise corruption and grand larceny except one executive, who was found guilty at trial. A related civil case brought by the S.E.C. generated $38.5 million in restitution and fines paid by Bear Stearns in a settlement in 1999.
Ms. White had been offered the case but turned it down. The colleague said she declined to say why. But the legal view at that time was that proving criminal liability of a firm like Bear Stearns for enabling fraud at a smaller firm was not easy. Still, taking such cases — and making them — makes prosecutorial reputations.
It is clear that Ms. White was gutsy in going after John Gotti and terrorists. But her record on large and complex financial fraud cases is more mixed. This, coupled with her more recent defense work on behalf of the nation’s largest banks, means that she still has much to prove to the investors that the S.E.C. was created to protect.
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11th March 2013 at 10:25 am
Eddie says:
Corporations of all kinds control the congress…but it is the banks that own the executive branch. This is clear.
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11th March 2013 at 10:25 am
BUCKHED says:
Yah’ know there sin’t enough rope in the USA to make nooses for the Banksters that deserve it !
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11th March 2013 at 10:26 am
Yojimbo says:
I enjoy watching the blinders slowly come off Kunstler as he begins to realize the system is completely rotten and cannot be saved, even with his precious Liberal President in charge.
What will the Southern Poverty Law Center call him when he finally regains his complete sanity and becomes an Anti-Federalist, too?
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11th March 2013 at 10:27 am
Thunderbird says:
Isn’t it time to nationalize the banks?
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11th March 2013 at 10:56 am
card802 says:
Why stop at Mary Jo?
The entire obama administration is full of ex wallstreet and ex fed reserve employes.
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11th March 2013 at 11:08 am
AWD says:
He mentions Obama once. Then goes on a rant on ethical and moral problems related to “this administration”. The corruption is beyond belief; from the attorney general to every single shill that Obama has nominated or serves him. And why does nobody care? Because he’s a black president, and to question him about anything is tantamount to racism.
His assertion that “anything goes” is bullshit. Anything that is liberal or progressive goes; anything resembling conservatism (restrained spending, restrained government, restrained taxation, restrained entitlements) is crucified by government, the MSM, and Wall Street.
His assertion that nothing matters is correct. Nothing matters now, it’s past the point of no return. The Central banksters and Federal reserve run the economy, the criminal politicians are spending us into bankruptcy, and Wall Street is siphoning off every last dollar from every last Muppet.
For some reason, we’ve turned our country over to lawyers (criminal politicians and lobbyists). Lawyers have no morals, ethics, spirituality or souls. They create conflicts, destroy families, lie, cheat and steal to win. There is no right or wrong to lawyers, only what they can get away with. They are as dangerous as banksters, but much more insidious and destructive. They are the conduit by which the elites own the country and the economy, and they are creating thousands of laws every year to keep the average citizen subservient, if not in prison.
We have 1 lawyer for every 100 people in this country, and the law schools (which practically any idiot can get into) keep churning out more and more lawyers onto society, like releasing a plague. Lawyers have allowed unions to get away with destroying industry, Federal, state, and local budgets with insane pay, retirement at 50, and insane pensions; all made nice and legal by lawyers. They bribe politicians, file millions of ridiculous lawsuits every year, and have contributed to business shipping 55,000 manufacturing facilities out of the country (to avoid unions, lawsuits, and the government–lawyers).
We have more lawyers per capita than any other country in the world, and not surprisingly, have more people in prison than any other country in the world. Anything goes and nothing matters is the grand anthem of lawyers. Should anyone be surprised that the rest of the country has given up and gone along?
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11th March 2013 at 11:48 am
Thunderbird says:
Really! The fraud, waste, abuse, and special interests at all levels of government is so great that something drastic has to be done to turn things around. Good people in all parts of society have to stand up and demand action.
Government has become corrupt to the bone. Because of the amoral people that dominate it’s leadership and administrative ranks people need to take action to stop the abuse.
Taxpayer money and abuse of the borrowing power of the government at all levels has attracted these amoral characters to eat up our national substance; and the apathy of the people is allowing this to continue.
The churches are silent about this because their ministers have been duped into thinking that politics and religion are two different things. This is BS. Church and state may be separate but morals and politics are not separate. The churches are the moral compass of a country; not the government. And when the political becomes morally corrupt it is the responsibility of the church to point it out.
It is really about time that the churches speak out about our amoral government. Secular government without a moral foundation leads a nation to HELL. Shouldn’t the church be concerned about this? When a nation goes to HELL it will take the churches and the people with it.
One would think the church should be concerned about this rather than preaching positive affirmations when the ship of state is going down like the Titanic?
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11th March 2013 at 11:55 am
TeresaE says:
Nicely said AWD, nicely said. Lawyers are scum. Which is why I try to take care of my own legal battles and only pay a leach when the law basically makes me, if I wish a fair outcome. My goal is to stay the hell out of court buildings. My last divorce cost me exactly $0 in lawyer fees and I paid half the court costs. One trip to the courthouse and less than $250 bucks. I’m not hopeful that this one would go like that, because heart ache is a powerful motivator for hatred and spite. I dread turning over my cash. No disrespect to all accountants, but the big public ones have paid for laws that have forced us all into using them. So fuck them too.
Anyway, JHK said fuck! I had to scroll back up and review the author. If he is not careful, he’ll fit right into the owners boxes at a Nascar race.
Yep. I’ve been living in the land of not matters, no care, braindead, tuned into the matrix thinking, the smart people are in charge, for nearly nine years.
Trust me, there are people out there that it matters not what your evidence is. How many lies, untruths, propaganda filled heros and outright chaos and death that these smart people are visiting, it will all be well. Remain calm. Doesn’t matter the unholy alliance of the MANY (including the ultimate pursuer of justice, Holder) in the administration and CONgress. Remain calm. Doesn’t matter the graft, corruption, riches, or those that are above the law.
Just keep on pretending that it is 1950 and oil is growing the country, and you have something to feel positive about as you go to work, and become the generation that really refine the pursuit of materialism. Tune in to your 24/7 entertainment, sports, facebook world. Tune out anything that sounds icky, or uncomfortable, or outside the norm. Ignore that.
When you speak to the young, and deluded, they truly believe that technology is going to get us out of this like oil and technology got us out of the depression.
Truth is that it is very different this time. We no longer produce the things the world wants, well, except our food, natural resources, land and businesses. Just not us employees and eaters. Which might lead a thinking person to ask exactly what is going to create millions of family supporting, government supporting, jobs? Just what is the oil and road and dam and other building – when we are way overbuilt AND crumbling – going to be driven by? Immigrants? Don’t make me laugh.
Whatever. Remain fucking calm.
For now.
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11th March 2013 at 12:16 pm
AWD says:
What lawmakers do? They make laws. Here’s some examples of laws passed in the last week:
So, in just a week’s time, the political elite in the Land of the Free gave us bills which:
1) ensure the government cannot assassinate its own citizens with drones
2) impose price controls with insurance premiums
3) award the government with more power to initiate biosurveillance operations
4) create a quota system in the labor market
(H.R. 951, a bill “to promote the economic self-sufficiency of low-income women through their increased participation in high-wage, high-demand occupations where they currently represent 25 percent or less of the workforce.”)
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11th March 2013 at 2:04 pm
AWD says:
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11th March 2013 at 2:06 pm
Dorkus Maximus says:
This stuff happens because the media doesn’t cover it.
Go ask 100 people if they no anything about the SEC or White. Not one person will know anything about it. I’m not talking about the idiots on the street, but educated people who consider themselves informed (i.e. from watching the nightly news) and none will know anything about this story.
I didn’t know anything about it until reading this, but I have largely tuned out from national events after the election.
It’s not that I think “it doesn’t matter and nobody cares.” Part of it comes from to the bizzaro way people WANT to stay willfully ignorant on the subject of Obama and his cronies. There’s a segment of people that WANT him to succeed so very, very badly they will turn a blind eye to anything he does.
the other part are people like me, who realize that this country is a lost cause.
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11th March 2013 at 3:20 pm
Dorkus Maximus says:
I think the anger at lawyers is somewhat misguided. Lawyers are certainly a horrid bunch (I should know – I am one) but this White broad is not a true lawyer.
I assure you the US Attorney for SD NY is a purely political position. That “lawyer” never sees the inside of a courtroom and makes no true “legal” decisions. Daily operations are handled exclusively by professional staff. She may have established some broad policies and made a few decisions as to what large entities got prosecuted, but that’s it.
Further, no lawyer anywhere is making $500,000 in “retirement” after 10 years of “work” in the private sector. They have 401k’s and maybe an equity interest in their firm (depending on the partnership agreement) but “retirement” (whatever that is) doesn’t exist. Nobody has that big of an equity interest after 10 years. It’s nothing but a naked bribe.
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11th March 2013 at 3:32 pm
AWD says:
Fuck lawyers. I hope they starve. We have 500,000 more lawyers than we need.
A Message to Aspiring Lawyers: Caveat Emptor
Number of new jobs annually: 21,800. Number of graduates: 44,000.
There is a crisis in law-school education, but don’t expect the institutions to tell potential applicants about it. In short, there are far too many graduates for the number of jobs available, and the majority of those who get jobs are not being paid nearly enough to service their debt.
Nationally there are twice as many graduates as there are jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the economy will provide 21,880 new jobs for lawyers annually between 2010 and 2020; law schools since 2010, however, have produced more than 44,000 graduates each year. Yet schools continue to enroll more students than the market demands and to raise tuition faster than inflation. The result is exploding debt loads for current students and graduates whose employment prospects are appalling
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11th March 2013 at 3:48 pm
Stucky says:
“The churches are silent about this because their ministers have been duped into thinking that politics and religion are two different things. This is BS” ——- Thunderbird
Double bullshit!!
They are different things. The last fucking thing I want to hear IF I went to church is a sermon titled, “Would Jesus End the Fed?”
Church is for nourishment of the Spirit, not some political bullshit pandering. On the other hand I wouldn’t mind hearing a sermon “Thunderbird finally pulls his head out of his ass”.
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11th March 2013 at 3:48 pm
Stucky says:
AWD
You constantly take that “Kill All The Lawyers” phrase completely out of context.
I know you know the real meaning, yet you use the quote wrongly anyway. Why?
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11th March 2013 at 3:50 pm
Stucky says:
AWD
Don’t get me wrong.
“Fuck lawyers. I hope they starve. We have 500,000 more lawyers than we need.” — AWD
+100
You could say the same for the Advertising / Marketing occupations.
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11th March 2013 at 3:53 pm
AWD says:
I post it just to piss you off. Works every time.
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11th March 2013 at 3:53 pm
AWD says:
We have 500,000 more doctors than we need.
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11th March 2013 at 3:54 pm
Hollow man says:
Hell yea! The title says it all. Its how I am able to walk around without going to war with my goverment. Slavery not so bad afterall! Lol!
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11th March 2013 at 4:08 pm
Stucky says:
AWD
There is absolutely nothing you or anyone else in the known world can do to piss me off today.
My Indiana Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season championship yesterday …. sole possession of 1st place. Went down right to the final seconds. Arguably the best bb game of the season. IU will be playing in Indy in the regionals. We’ll win it all in Atlanta.
Cody Zeller puts up IU’s go-head and final bucket.
With 12 seconds left, Trey Burke missed a shot. Morgan rebounds, puts the ball back up, and it rolls around the rim, hangs there, and falls off.
Actual gif of The-Shot-That-Would-Not-Fall.
IU swept the state of Michigan (Michigan State and Michigan), Basketball homicide. I KNOW we have Michigan regulars here. So solly, folks. Better luck next year. Maybe.
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11th March 2013 at 4:14 pm
Hollow man says:
Nationalize the banks? Here we have Mary who is from the goverment to the privite sector big dogs back to gover ment to watch over her high paid friends. i say its done. What they call it goverment and the big money intertwined so closly you really cant tell them apart. I know there is a word for it.
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11th March 2013 at 4:14 pm
Eddie says:
:“Fuck lawyers. I hope they starve. We have 500,000 more lawyers than we need.” — AWD”
Spoken like a man who’s been sued a few times.
I have a hierarchy of people I hate:
1. Pedophiles
2. Federal Reserve Chairmen
3. Members of Congress (unless their last name is Paul)
4. IRS Agents
5. Plaintiff’s Attorneys
6. Phone Solicitors
I’m sure there must be many others…still thinking.
Not worried about excess doctors. Obamacare will soon starve them all out.
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11th March 2013 at 4:21 pm
AWD says:
Congrats, I can’t stand Michigan (or Ohio State). Those yellow uniforms/shoes are retarded. They look like Big Bird.
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11th March 2013 at 4:22 pm
AWD says:
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11th March 2013 at 4:23 pm
Pirate Jo says:
” … the other part are people like me, who realize that this country is a lost cause.”
Exactly. I have mixed feelings.
On one hand, we got into this mess precisely because two generations of people sat around and slept on their watches with the excuse that they were too busy doing more important things to pay attention. Nobody seemed to think they should have to notice anything but fun stuff, and if they got fleeced blind, well it wasn’t THEIR fault. So I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to be like all those decades of ignorant, uninformed dullards who created this mess.
On the other hand, this has already gone on for a long time, and we are so screwed now that being informed and caring doesn’t accomplish anything but making you miserable. It’s too late to fix our problems. Failure has already been baked into the cake. So, perversely, “not knowing and not caring” is about all you’re left with, if you want to enjoy your life at all.
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11th March 2013 at 4:26 pm
AWD says:
This is one lawyer I like:
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11th March 2013 at 4:37 pm
Administrator says:
AWD should have used this law firm in his divorce proceedings
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11th March 2013 at 4:45 pm
Administrator says:
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11th March 2013 at 4:47 pm
Zarathustra says:
There is always a market for IP, corporate and securities lawyers. IP is probably the hardest to attain since you can’t major in history or political science as an undergrad to become one.
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11th March 2013 at 4:54 pm
AWD says:
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11th March 2013 at 5:03 pm
Thunderbird says:
Stucky says: “Church is for nourishment of the spirit.”
BS! Churches are dumbing down the spirit these days in the midst of amoral politics. Politics are the relationship between people. Everything said is politics. Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. He chastised them and that is what is got him killed.
Ministers need to remind the people that morals are important for society. When amoral people take over government the people have to be reminded that amoral people in leadership and administrative positions corrupt society.
What do you think the new testament is about? It is about living by the gospel of Jesus Christ. The government is now about living by the gospel of Lucifer. The churches need to inform the people about the difference.
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11th March 2013 at 6:42 pm
howard in nyc says:
stuck, how about if you had to shake hands with that michigan assistant coach, would that spoil your mood? sure spoilt tom crean’s.
what strikes me is that gretchen mortgenson writes on the same topic as kunstler. in the new york fucking times. it is not like this is just a handful of crazy bloggers–the blatant corruption is right there in the newspaper of record.
but nobody gives a fuck.
funny, she brings up A.R. Baron. i was very close to that case (meaning i was lucky not to be subpoenaed). a friend went to prison. we expected bear stearns to pay a heavy price–never happened. that was a big lesson in how wall street justice operated, a lesson i can’t forget.
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11th March 2013 at 8:18 pm
TeresaE says:
Thunderbird says, “…The churches are silent about this because their ministers have been duped into thinking that politics and religion are two different things. This is BS. Church and state may be separate but morals and politics are not separate. The churches are the moral compass of a country; not the government. And when the political becomes morally corrupt it is the responsibility of the church to point it out. …”
Well, actually Thunderbird, a funny thing happened under Bush. Silently, along with the law that created the new receipt nightmare for the likes of the Salvation Army, something was added.
If you choose to be “tax exempt” or “non-profit,” you are giving the government, in ALL departments, and ALL levels, to dictate your message.
I kid you not.
The guy that was run out of the country for discovering a naturally occurring substance that will heal malaria (and nearly every virus/bacteria I’ve used it for), discovered this truth.
Which is why when he opened his church (in the Dominican Republic mind you, the FDA wants him in prison) as a for profit. In this way the government cannot (legally, we all know the line moves according to how bad the feds want your ass shut up) tell them what to preach, or what not to preach.
Personally, if you truly want a government separated from religion (not god, just religion), then the church SHOULD pay taxes. By giving them SPECIAL status we have cemented the evil bond between the two. Now churches will bend over backwards to keep their “special” status.
Craziness. I’ve often wondered how god actually feels about his “followers” GAINING a benefit personally from their giving. Seems rather ironic to claim holiness while reaping the gains of the lower tax rate than the poor (below the threshold for itemizing) or other minded gifters.
My hub yells at me all the time because I give without care to the tax status of either the recipient, or myself. Yes, taxes are outrageous, but when I give a gift, I don’t want it squandered with the bad karma of being the one that truly benefits.
But, I’m not a Christian Catholic like him, so as I’m frequently reminded, all my actions are sinful, all theirs – including molestation and murder and only “giving” when the getting is good – are in god’s plan.
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11th March 2013 at 1:42 pm
Stucky says:
“The guy that was run out of the country for discovering a naturally occurring substance that will heal malaria (and nearly every virus/bacteria I’ve used it for), discovered this truth.” ——TeresaE
Which guy? Which “naturally occurring substance”?
Please expound, or point me to a link.
Thanks.
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11th March 2013 at 2:36 pm
TeresaE says:
Stuck, the man is Jim Humble. The substance is known as MMS, but is actually sodium chlorite (not chloride) activated with citric acid. You can buy his books (warning, the man is completely against the FDA and “accepted” science, if you read his story, you’ll see why, but be prepared for his bias – and he is most definitely a grumpy old man when it comes to the medical system)
I found it a little over four years ago. Ever since I was about five, I’ve had kidney infections and strep throat on an annual basis. Until I found MMS.
I haven’t even had the beginnings of either of those in over a year. For the first time in my LIFE I’ve gone over four years without antibiotics.
It is AWESOME! And it purifies water, double duty.
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11th March 2013 at 3:33 pm
Thunderbird says:
The truth of the matter is we are not free. For over the last 150 years our representatives in congress have been selling us out. For us to be free we have to be economically free. As it is now none of us are free because everything we do to earn money has to be sanctioned by the government. What I mean is government papers have to be filled out for getting a job, a bank account, starting a small business, or putting any money into investments. Then we are to report on a yearly basis of what profits we may have made.
It is interesting to note that secular governments are no better than religious ones. In either case the unalienable rights of the people get trampled.
Our forefathers must be rolling in their graves. Rich and powerful men gain political office and then sell out the people. I am convinced the crown owns this country and us. Our forefathers may have won the revolution but because of corrupt men they got the country back along with the people that have now been put into economic slavery. Their argument that our most educated men are the most qualified to represent the people turned out to be false.
It is called compliance with the tax code. Direct taxes are laid on labor of any type. Companies are forbidden to accept free labor. Investments are all recorded and yearly reports have to be made.
No one can make money in this country without the permission of the government; permission being that one has to fill out the government papers and pay the taxes.
We cannot own anything like vehicles, houses, boats, trailers, and land without a title; even if we think we own it outright.
Yes, even donations to churches are taxable if the church is not a non-profit organization. It is a sad situation.
The government has taken total control of the land and the people. Those that think we are free in this condition truly are in denial and have their head in the sand.
But in spite of this situation the churches have the obligation to tell the truth. I believe this is the only platform large enough and right in it’s place to tell the people about the amoral acts of the government; and recommend change. The ministers are of their own volition the spokespeople for God’s word. How many prophets in past days were killed for chastising the people when they were wrong? Things don’t change. Rich men don’t gain eternal life. Either do rich comfortable ministers gain eternal life.
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11th March 2013 at 7:39 pm