Tag: Brandon Smith

Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,

Our era is a strange one when considering how social attitudes have developed in such a contrary fashion to the rest of history. I think that our forefathers would look upon our current culture with bewilderment when confronted with the fact that our generation has all but abandoned the option of physical rebellion as a tool for social change. Even among the most enslaved of nations and peoples, the idea of revolution has been held in regard as an entirely moral and principled affair involving every individual, no matter their age or economic station. Today, however, that which we call “revolution” has been delegated mostly to college-age intellectuals and has been so watered down and whitewashed with politically correct restrictions that the concept is hardly recognizable.

I believe the civil rights movements in America and in India in the 20^th century have in many ways warped the public view of how opposition to totalitarianism is actually accomplished. I find it interesting that movements led by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. enjoy so much adoration in mainstream media and in public schooling, while the American Revolution is often either misrepresented or not discussed at all. Gandhi’s movement was, in concrete terms, a failure until Indians had actually began organizing to physically fight the British, causing the Crown to attempt to defuse the movement by suddenly offering up a reformation of Indian governance (one that would continue to benefit them). When one examines the facts surrounding Cointelpro operations by the FBI and CIA during the civil rights movement in America, one realizes that half the efforts and actions were legitimate and the other half entirely manipulated.

Over the course of half a century, the philosophy of “anti-violence” has come to include a distinct distaste for self-defense. Self-defense is now consistently equated to “violence” (and is, thus, immoral), regardless of environmental circumstances.

Continue reading “Understanding The Fear Of Self-Defense And Revolution”

Submitted by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market blog,

My work and my thoughts lately have turned toward a now constant focus on the concepts of organization, more in respect to underlying philosophy rather than hard, fast rules and structures. If you are one of the slithering acolytes of political theory elitist Saul Alinsky (and you haven’t felt the inclination to jump face first into the nearest punji pit), then the primary tool of organization for you is to lie, and to lie often. Tricking people into action using false premises, telling people what they want to hear rather than opening their eyes to reality, is perhaps the easiest way to build a movement. Of course, that movement will eventually destroy itself as the lies begin to inhibit progress rather than inspire it. But in most cases, by the time the organization self-destructs it has already been exploited for the nefarious purpose it was intended.

For the liberty movement, the movement against globalization and forced centralization of financial and political power, lies are simply not an option. The internationalists have already cornered the market on lies, so we must take a completely contrary approach. We must organize around the truth, no matter how painful it happens to be. This is a much more difficult prospect, one many people don’t understand or appreciate.

There are a lot of complaints in the movement about the lack of what they consider effective organization, and the frustration is in some ways beginning to evolve into fear. Here are some core inconsistencies I believe are at the heart of organizational problems within the liberty movement and what we can do to solve them.

Continue reading “Organizing Against Tyranny”

Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market blog,

It is difficult to find the motivation to write about the state of the global economy these days, if only because there is not much left to say. I feel like I am composing multiple obituaries for the same long dead corpse. Most of the Liberty Movement and I suspect a small portion of the mainstream market understand that there is no tangible or legitimate recovery, let alone a stable fiscal ladder to rest our feet upon. There is literally nothing left to the financial system but rigged statistics, false promises, and ever expanding debt. In fact, the concept of debt creation is the only thing holding our facade of an economy together.

You and I probably find this rather strange. We come from a long forgotten school of economics, in which demand, supply, and savings actually mean something in terms of our fiscal health. I have come across many mainstream economic acolytes and cultists in recent months who disregard ALL logic and reason, forsaking the realities of demand based trade and immersing themselves in a grand delusion in which central bank generated debt and inflation are the real source of “prosperity”. I feel sorry for them in a way, because the truth is right in front of their faces, and yet, they will never see it, not until they are buried alive in it.

Nothing makes this problem more apparent than the behavior of equities in the past month.

Stocks are, of course, a sham of the highest magnitude, but they do still say something about the greater truth behind our financial condition. The fact that many market traders clearly KNOW that it’s all a farce, and are actually banking and betting on the scam, tells me exactly how close we are to the end of the line. The recent near 10% drop in the Dow at the beginning of Fall must have certainly been a shock for the day trading community as well as mainstream pundits. The assumption for the past few years has been that central bank stimulus guarantees a constantly growing bull market, and to experience a considerable decline in equities even while QE was still in action was at least a noticeable wake up call.

I suspect that this decline in markets was not necessarily planned by the central banks, and was a stumble in their scheme to keep stocks elevated until after the QE taper had settled. It was also a stumble I expected a little earlier, around the end of Summer to be exact. Since the drop, central banks and the mainstream media have reacted forcefully to manipulate public perception as well as investor optimism, but this cannot go on for much longer.

In almost every instance of market decline, financial news group Reuters has injected false rumors of more stimulus from the European Central Bank. This was also the case in October as markets began to crash. These rumors were later dashed by the Financial Times, but not before the mere mention of more fiat stimulus from any central bank sent stocks soaring yet again.

This also occurred when middle management Federal Reserve member John Williams hinted in interviews of the possibility of “QE4” if the economy began to show signs of regression. Williams, of course, has no say in the decision to reintroduce QE, but this did not matter to investors, who immediately latched onto the meaningless news like anxious children, and threw their money back into stocks again.

And, most recently, Japan’s central bank announced a sudden and surprising re-ignition of stimulus measures to the tune of 80 Trillion Yen a year. This announcement, once again, sent global stocks skyrocketing, even though it was a stark admission by Japan’s financial elite that all their inflationary printing efforts for the past several years have failed miserably.  As I have warned in the past, when bad news becomes good news because bad news promises more central bank intervention, the economy is truly on the verge of a reckoning.

Hopefully, we can all see the trend taking place here. With the end of the Federal Reserve taper now complete, and questions circling as to when interest rates will be raised, a market volatility not seen since 2008-2009 is returning. The ONLY measure that has slowed the crash is the use of false news stories hinting at further stimulus, as well as futile efforts by other central banks to pick up where the Federal Reserve left off. This shows that the investment world is so thoroughly addicted to QE that even the mere hint of another small fix of their favorite drug is enough to get them out of bed and excited. They know that the entire system is rigged by central banks, and they don’t care. In fact, they revel in it. The only goal of your average day trader now is to profit on the scam for as long as humanly possible, even though the ultimate conclusion of the scam will mean the utter destruction of their profits and the end of their way of life.

I hate to use a cinema analogy for a very real threat, but investors today remind me of Joe Pantoliano’s character in ‘The Matrix’; the guy who is fully aware that the Matrix is an illusion, but wants to experience the pleasure of the illusion all the same. So much so that he doesn’t mind being exploited like a slave by the system, and is willing to sacrifice all measure of truth and even the future just to get a taste of the fantasy again.

But what is the reality that the central banks are trying to hide, and why? This I have written about in detail on literally hundreds of occasions, so I will only cover the very latest news briefly here, and why I think the overall dynamic is about to change for the worse.

Global exports, and thus consumer demand, are plunging. Germany, the only pillar left to prop up the failing European Union, has experienced a severe decline in exports not seen since 2009.

 

China, the largest exporter and importer in the world, and Chinese companies, have been caught in a number of instances using fraudulent invoices to artificially inflate their own export numbers, in some cases reporting 50% more exported goods than had actually existed.

 

China’s manufacturing has also declined for the past five months, exposing the nature of its inflated export stats and indicating a global slowdown.

 

The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of global shipping rates for raw goods, and thus a measure of demand for shipping, continues to drag along near historic lows.

 

The U.S. consumer (the only economic asset the U.S. has besides the dollar’s world reserve status), has seen declines in spending as well as wages.

 

In the meantime, long term jobless Americans continue to fall off welfare rolls by the millions, making unemployment numbers look good, but the overall future picture look terrible as participation rates dissolve into the ether of government statistics.

 

How is such poverty being hidden? Foodstamps. Plain and simple. Nearly 50 million Americans now subsist on food stamp programs today, and this number shows no signs of dropping. In states like Illinois, two people sign up for food assistance for every citizen that happens to find a job.

But this is all rudimentary. Most analysts in the Liberty Movement agree that our fiscal structure is on the edge of collapse; what they tend to bicker about is HOW and WHEN the structure will collapse.

Guessing market declines has been extremely difficult in the midst of a fiat soaked fiscal environment.  Nothing is ever quite what it seems.  My predictions of a 10% drop by the end of Summer were off by three weeks. Because of the nature of QE stimulus manipulation of the Dow, our only real guide has been the timeline of the Fed taper, and the fact that major banks have been relying on fed fiat to continually cycle capital into equities through the use of low interest loans to corporations and the stock buyback scam. Company buybacks have given steady boosts to the markets at least since 2008, and many corporations are using up to 50% of their “profits” just to continue buying their own stocks.

This strategy, however, is reaching a point of diminishing returns as many companies are issuing too much debt in the process. IBM is a perfect example of a company that has hit the ceiling on stock buybacks.  This odd coordinated attempt by corporations and central banks to keep markets propped up even as companies sacrifice whatever debt stability they had left indicates a state of collusion between such institutions that goes far beyond the mere idea of “mutually assured greed”.  Since at least 2008, there has indeed been a “conspiracy” amongst banks and international companies to generate a massive stock bubble designed to keep the masses calm and placated.  However, these groups understand, better than many give them credit for, that such measures will have to end, or be revealed.

With the taper finished and QE money drying up, it is important to ask a few questions. For example, how are companies going to continue to accumulate capital to dump into their own stocks if fed money is becoming scarce and consumer spending is in decline? And, if they can’t continue stock buybacks because of a lack of funds or an overburden of debt, how are equities markets going to stay afloat?

And what about government debt? As it stands now, foreign interest in U.S. treasury bonds is waning. The vast majority of new bonds sold are short term. Until now, the Fed has been the primary buyer of long term debt, snapping up 10 year bonds from the market while other investors lose confidence in America’s ability to pay off liabilities in the future. Now that QE is over, who is going to buy the ever expanding U.S. government debt? I aimed this question recently at a Fed cultist and his response was “Well…obviously somebody will buy it…”, though he couldn’t specify.

The spike in short term debt purchases after the end of QE3 was also predictable, but it can only be sustained IF stocks begin to fall considerably yet again.  Think about it; interest in U.S. debt has been on the decline for years, not just because foreign banks are shifting away from the dollar, but also because stocks have been a much more attractive investment with greater returns guaranteed by Fed QE.  The taper announces a violent change in circumstances.  The only way for interest in U.S. debt to be energized, even for a short time, is for stocks to crash, leaving bonds as the only safe haven left.  I discussed this development in detail in my article ‘The Final Swindle Of Private American Wealth Has Begun’ at the beginning of this year.  All other investment avenues seem to be in decline, from foreign markets and forex, to commodities like oil.  Even gold and silver have taken a hit.  For the average investor, if a route in stocks occurs, they will immediately jump into bonds.  This plays into my theory on the coming financial end game, which I will be discussing in my next article.

Investor’s are counting on an eventual QE4, but I think this might also be wishful thinking.

At the end of 2013, I predicted the Fed would indeed follow through with the taper of QE3, and that they would drastically reduce stimulus measures. I believe this is in preparation for a major implosion of U.S. markets in particular. The whole point of the taper is to support the illusion that the U.S. economy has recovered, and that the Fed has “accomplished its mission”. When a crash does take place, I think it will be ALLOWED to move freely and that new QE intervention will not be taken.  I have no doubt this crash will be blamed on an outside force or act of fate (the ebola outbreak, which is doubling in cases every three weeks, is a perfect possible catalyst), and that banks will be absolved of all blame in the mainstream.

A coming crash is not only my personal view.  It is important to note that behind the background noise of the recovery party, international bankers are sending a very different message about economic health.

On the same day as the Federal Reserve announced the end of QE3, former chairman Alan Greenspan gave a speech to the Council On Foreign Relations in which he lamented that the QE unwind would be painful, that stimulus measures had not achieved their goals in the past, and that gold might be a good investment today.

The International Monetary Fund and the ECB also released statements warning that “accommodative stimulus policies” could contribute to economic volatility. That is to say, stimulus might be setting the stage for fiscal instability. The IMF claims that “bold action” is required to “reset” the global system.

And, the ever present overlords at the Bank Of International Settlements have posted a stark warning about our financial future, predicting a “violent reversal” in markets. The last time the BIS made such a prediction was in the summer of 2007, just before the derivatives crash. But this is the M.O. of the central banks, to warn of coming calamity just before the event, but not long enough before the event to make any difference. They present themselves as prognosticators of economic future, but in reality, they are the instigators of every disaster they predict.

I do not know how the markets will react to the likely landslide “victory” by Republicans in mid-term elections (can one ever be “victorious” in a rigged contest?), but what I do know is that a Republican majority offers an even greater opportunity for further collapse.  Negative movements in markets that have been obstructed through manipulation can now be unleashed and then blamed on “government gridlock”, or the inability of conservatives to “compromise” fiscally.  A Republican shift in government only offers more cover for a collapse that is slated to occur regardless.

I believe that the admissions of financial danger by internationalists, the sharp drop in stocks at the beginning of fall, the reversal of the political theater, and the fact that mainstream investors now recognize the illegitimacy of the markets yet continue with the scam anyway, signals the last gasp of the global economy. I expect increasing market instability from this point on, as well as numerous geopolitical distractions which will be blamed for the fiscal chaos. I have left out my explanation of the final end game so that I can cover it more fully in my next article. Needless to say, the coming storm is a deliberately engineered one, meant to achieve very specific goals, including a fearful and panicked populace, easy to manipulate as the system goes off the rails for the last time.

Submitted by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.com,

Not long ago, I felt compelled to address the idea of self defense as a moral imperative in an article titled “Violence In The Face Of Tyranny Is Often Necessary.” My intention was to perhaps undo some of the propaganda conditioning that Americans have suffered over the decades that has taught them that “all” forms of violent action are “immoral”, including the defense of one’s person, one’s property, and one’s freedom.

The recent uprising at Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., confirmed my predictions that many Americans are tired of playing by rules chartered by the establishment and are ready to take measures outside of the boundaries set by the system. The reality is that change will never come without consequence and cost, and when faced with an entrenched tyranny, if the citizenry cannot present the threat of physical consequence to their oppressors, the oppressors have no motivation to relinquish power.

To use the schoolyard analogy yet again, it is a fact of life that the class bully will not leave a victim in peace because he is enthralled with the feeling of power over others. The bully will not stop because he has no incentive. Protesting only encourages him. Using the system as a shield only amuses him. Logic and reason only anger him. Punching the bully in the teeth is the only incentive he will respect. If you show that you can disrupt a tyrant’s abuse of power anytime you wish, if you show that you can hurt him back, only then will he take you seriously.

There is a rather insane notion within modern activist movements that self defense represents an abandonment of higher principle. They argue that to fight is to automatically lose, and to prepare for conflict is “extreme.” I would say that self defense is actually the HIGHEST principle one can value, for without the courage to physically resist tyranny, without the will required to put one’s life at risk to stand against the evils of the world, ALL other principles will be lost. Even Gandhi, the man often idolized by pacifists and “non-violent” activists, recognized this fact:

“Hence also do I advocate training in arms for those who believe in the method of violence. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonor…”

 

“When violence] is offered in self-defense or for the defense of the defenseless, it is an act of bravery far better than cowardly submission…”

I believe that the idea that self defense is a morally unacceptable option for dissenting groups is an obnoxiously false one, promoted by the establishment itself and sold to easily brainwashed dupes to steer the public away from the only method that could in fact do harm to the elitist power structure. The holier-than-thou attitude of the pacifists is encouraged as the system plays to their exaggerated sense of righteousness. Good people want to remain seen as good people, and even though deep down most of them understand that fighting back against aggression is not wrong, the peer pressure of the sunshine patriots often convinces them to keep their mouths shut, or otherwise they might “hurt the cause.” I say that without self defense and the possibility of action, there is no cause.

As I write this, I am working during a brief trip to Alaska. I was invited by Stewart Rhodes, the head of Oath Keepers, to check out the logistical progress of a project he has launched in an effort to counter the apathy and inability of the American populace today to present a meaningful defense against a host of threats the public faces in these increasingly chaotic times.  The very real dangers of economic instability, poverty, civil unrest, open borders, viral pandemic, and Federal corruption are all factors that led to the creation of the Oath Keepers CPT (Community Preparedness Team) program.

The CPT program is a State-by-State program designed to reestablish the concept of localized community preparedness and self defense measures in case of regional or national crisis, including localized security, medical, food and water supply, as well as engineering and communications: everything a neighborhood, a town, a county, or state would need to rebuild in the advent of unexpected (or expected) catastrophe. The CPT mission is to train groups of people within as many communities as possible to a pinnacle of preparedness knowledge, and then send them out to train other citizens in other towns and counties, replicating their knowledge across the nation as they go until eventually every person has the ability to become self reliant and unafraid.

The establishment would have you wait for help in the wake of a disaster, begging a bureaucracy like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for aid that you may never receive, when you could be helping yourself and your neighbors without any need for Federal involvement. The establishment would also rather have you unorganized and helpless in the event that they choose to overstep their Constitutional mandate and deny you your inborn liberties.

They do not fear traditional protests and cardboard signs, as movements like Occupy Wall Street end up trampled, ineffective, and mostly forgotten. But they do fear citizens with resolve ready to fight to keep their freedoms, as we saw at Bundy Ranch with the outright retreat of the Bureau of Land Management. When in doubt, do exactly what the oligarchs fear.

I have myself joined a CPT group in my home county in Montana, and I have also seen excellent groups in training in Alaska. The people I have met through CPT come from all walks of life, a full spectrum of ages, and various career backgrounds. Many have military experience, from administrative to tactical. Each person brings to the table an impressive array of skill sets, from science and engineering to security to medical and beyond. All of them have been highly intelligent, effective, and unwavering in their principles, not to mention the finest collection of folks I’ve had the pleasure of working with. If America had to start again from scratch, I would suggest starting with the Bill Of Rights, and the kinds of citizens that make up the core of the Oath Keepers CPT.

The only negative responses I have seen in reference to the CPT concept have come from establishment mouthpieces like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and from activists with a rabid attachment to pacifism who for some reason feel threatened by the mere idea that other activists might train for the worst case scenario.

In my view, if a goal can be achieved through a purely peaceful redress of grievances, then it should be. However, it is foolish to expect that some evils can be defeated by reasonable speech and refusal of participation alone. In fact, these methods are nothing more than a stop-gap, a delaying tactic in the face of inevitable conflict between those people who desire to control others, and those people who only wish to be left alone.

I find that people who deny this reality tend to be people who have no previous legitimate experience with self defense and preparedness. In the world of non-threatening white-bread activism, they can play at being heroes, patting each other on the back for their poetic speeches and catchy slogans. But as the movement evolves towards real tangible organized defense and proactive preparation, they lose their status as heroes and fall behind the curve. The “intellectual warriors” then have to become true warriors, or otherwise be left in the dusts of history. For some, the change is upsetting, and they tend to take the reprehensible position that NO ONE should be allowed to train effectively for self defense scenarios, lest the movement be labeled as a whole with the dreaded “M word” (Militia).  In response to their skewed philosophy I would ask one simple question – If we are doing what is right and what is practical, why should we limit ourselves by catering to the unreasonable fears of others?

I see great hope in the growth of the CPT program and Oath Keepers; perhaps the only hope this country has left. For if we do not organize with our neighbors to protect our communities from all enemies, foreign and domestic, then who will? I also see a welcome alternative to the long failing methodologies of “lone wolf” survivalists, as well as shamelessly recreational protestors.

When people ask me for solutions to the collapse of America, often they are looking for a predetermined top-down magic bullet response. There is no such thing, nor will there ever be. There is no scenario in which we will escape unscathed. There is no cartoon-land happy ending at the finale of this story.

The “solution,” as it were, is ultimately something that many do not want to hear about; namely, hard work, sacrifice and a willingness to put everything on the line for the future. Our only advantage is that we still have some time, and any time is better than no time. What we have left must be used now to the greatest effect possible by organizing together for self reliance and security during collapse.