Consumer Confidence In Wall Street Is WAY Down

This is pretty amazing.  Despite the fact that markets are increasing in price, there's a total disconnect.  I saw this graph and absolutely had to share this.

 

This goes back to the 'ole inflation principle.  There's so much money in circulation in the money supply, who cares how high the markets go? If there's trillions of extra dollars in the money supply, and inflation is up to 8%-9% a year does it really matter that the markets are on the rise?

Well, apparently the public is waking up to some degree. 

Let Freedom Ring!

B.

Econ 101 (Part 5) Cont'd: The Federal Reserve Scam

After reviewing the last 4 or 5 lessons of the Econ 101 series, it should be becoming quite obvious as to why we are in this awful financial recession/depression.

Here's a short 9 minute video that sums up the root of the problem.

P.S. Are there any basic concepts that you would like to read about or discuss? Let me know!

Let Freedom Ring!

 B.

7 Banks Fail Across The Nation... Oh Goodie

If you think things are getting better, think again.. 2010 is on pace to be worse for bank failures than 2008 and 2009.


http://yhoo.it/9IFh4F

Here are a few excerpts from the article...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Regulators on Friday shut down a total of seven banks in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas and Arizona, lifting to 139 the number of U.S. banks that have fallen this year as soured loans have mounted and the economy has sputtered.

Also shuttered were First Bank of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fla., with $81 million in assets; Progress Bank of Florida, based in Tampa, with $110.7 million in assets; First National Bank of Barnesville in Barnesville, Ga., with $131.4 million in assets; Gordon Bank of Gordon, Ga., with $29.4 million in assets; First Suburban National Bank in Maywood, Ill., with $148.7 million in assets; and First Arizona Savings, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., with assets of $272.2 million.

Ameris Bank, based in Moultrie, Ga., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of First Bank of Jacksonville. Bay Cities Bank, based in Tampa, is buying the assets and deposits of Progress Bank.
United Bank, based in Zebulon, Ga., is assuming the assets and deposits of First National Bank of Barnesville, while Morris Bank of Dublin, Ga., is assuming the deposits and $11.5 million of the assets of Gordon Bank. The FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale. Seaway Bank and Trust Co., based in Chicago, is assuming the assets and deposits of First Suburban National Bank.

The FDIC was unable to find a buyer for First Arizona Savings, and it approved the payout of the bank's insured deposits. The agency said it will mail checks to depositors for their insured funds on Monday.
In addition, the FDIC and Ameris Bank agreed to share losses on $60 million of First Bank of Jacksonville's loans and other assets. The FDIC and Bay Cities Bank are sharing losses on $82.6 million of Progress Bank of Florida's assets, while the agency and United Bank are sharing losses on $107.3 million of First National Bank of Barnesville's assets.

Florida, Georgia and Illinois are among the states hardest hit by bank collapses, stemming from the meltdown in the real estate market that brought an avalanche of soured mortgage loans. The shutdowns Friday brought the number of bank failures in Florida this year to 27, and to 16 each for Georgia and Illinois.
With 139 closures nationwide so far this year, the pace of bank failures exceeds that of 2009, which was already a brisk year for shutdowns with a total of 140. By this time last year, regulators had closed 106 banks.

The pace has accelerated as banks' losses mount on loans made for commercial property and development. Many companies have shut down in the recession, vacating shopping malls and office buildings financed by the loans. That has brought delinquent loan payments and defaults by commercial developers.
The 2009 total of bank failures was the highest annual tally since 1992, at the height of the savings and loan crisis. The 2009 failures cost the insurance fund more than $30 billion. Twenty-five banks failed in 2008, the year the financial crisis struck with force; only three succumbed in 2007.

The growing bank failures have sapped billions of dollars out of the deposit insurance fund. It fell into the red last year, and its deficit stood at $15.2 billion as of June 30.

Econ 101 (Part 5): What Is Inflation & Why Is It The Key To The US Economy & Recession?

This piece of the puzzle is huge, and I can't stress it enough.


Inflation is simply the increase of the price of goods and services that we, as the American people, purchase on a day to day basis.  So, let's say that you buy a gallon of milk, eggs, toilet paper, fruit, and a lawn chair.  Well, if those same items go up in price the next year, that's inflation.


Why is Inflation Important?


That's an easy one.  Let's say that you make $50,000 a year before taxes. If inflation is measured at 3%, then that means that goods and services you buy during the year are 3% more expensive than they were last year.  So, as a whole, eggs, butter, milk, rent, insurance etc etc are all increased on average of 3%.  Essentially, that $50,000 will buy you 3% less than it would the year before.


That's not so bad, right?  We'll get into that more in a second.  But, if inflation goes up 3% every year for 5 years, then that's 15%.  That means after 5 years, if you're income didn't increase, then your salary of $50,000 now buys 15% less than it did.  That's a hefty amount if you ask me.


Our banking system, as previously discussed, is a central bank.  Meaning, all of our money comes from one source.  All other banks get the money, either directly or indirectly, from the central bank, and you and I get our money from the central bank.  It all originates from the source.  In addition, the central bank, also called the federal reserve, charges interest to banks in order to get money from them.  So, since this money is dealt out at interest there's only one thing that can happen, they money supply as a whole will constantly increase.


For example, let's say the federal reserve is loaning money to Bank of America (because Bank of America only has one source to get the money).  It loans it to Bank of America at 2% interest.  Then, Bank of America will loan it to you, me, or another business at 4% for a home loan, car loan, or whatever the case may be.  Now, the Bank has made a profit off the money, and so has the federal reserve.  Please review previous parts of the Econ 101 if this does not make sense.


Well, the main problem with this is that interest is owed to an entity, the federal reserve, that CREATES money in the first place!  Let me say this again.  In the above example, Bank of America would be paying interest to an entity, the Federal Reserve, the one and only creator of money.


Does this make sense? What does an organization that creates money as it's primary job, need interest payments for?  Well, the result is that it simply creates inflation.  The system is designed to cause inflation.  In theory, the idea is to control the inflation and make it manageable.  But, does it work?  Well, let's investigate this further.


What's the message?  The distorted message is that inflation is moderate and well under control.


The message that inflation is under control is delivered in several ways.  The lamestream media will tell you this, politicians may say it, but the most commonly quoted method for measuring inflation is the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  Let's take a look at how this works.


The CPI takes a basket of goods that the US Bureau of Labor & Statistics deems "typical" for all Americans (I believe it's 87% of Americans according to them). 


But, here's the problem.  The CPI leaves out two key elements in it's measurements... food & energy.  I don't know about you, but in a year's time, a huge, huge portion of my spending goes to food and energy.  How much gas do you put in your car each month?  Or, what about your electric bill?  How much of your income goes to food and groceries?


"Numbers Don't Lie, People Lie"

As a culture, we're conditioned to "trust the numbers".  In reality, numbers are nowhere near as objective.  Numbers, such as the CPI, can easily hide the computations or assumptions of whoever did the calculations.

Usually I absolute hate mainstream media (CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, WSJ, NY Times etc etc) but in May 2005 CNBC did a news story on government statisticians.  The story revealed that the statistics produced aren't nearly as concrete as you would assume.  In fact, they're quite arbitrary. discussed the Consumer Price Index, the top U.S. inflation indicator. After reviewing all the facts, CNBC concluded that the CPI is rigged, and not representative of the true rising cost of living that is widely reported. CNBC discovered that government statisticians arbitrarily evaluate an item, like a computer, by comparing the cost of the same computer last year, but since this year's model has more features, they calculate that the net price has dropped by 29 percent. No joke! 

If that isn't bad enough, not only are the numbers arbitrarily given in many cases, but the CPI is changed year to year.  The same goods are not included in it each year! So, if they good can be changed, then how can we get a reasonable estimate of inflation?

Stamp Price Index reveals "real world" inflation

Here's another way to judge the true rate of inflation using the U.S. Postal Service stamp price statistics. According to the government, the cost of a postage stamp reflects only true cost-of-living increases, since the USPS is not-for-profit, right?

USAToday reports, "The price for a first-class stamp jumped by 517 percent between 1970 to 2004, compared to the official CPI inflation gauge which has only registered a 293 percent increase." That means in 1970 a $10,000 car now costs $51,700, instead of $29,300. That's a whopping 76 percent discrepancy!

If we use the price of a postage stamp index as a "real world" inflation gauge, we've had substantially rising inflation during a time the government has reported that inflation is almost nil. And in 2005, the U.S. Postal Service is proposing another increase in the price of a first-class stamp from 37 cents to 39 cents a 5.4 percent rate increase. 

In whose numbers can you trust?

 

It was a British economist who first said, "I never trust anything the government says until they officially deny it!" 

A sad statement, but apparently true regarding government statistics.

The numbers that you can trust are not as easily found. Finding "real world" statistics involves stripping out the political-financial spin by cross-checking the numbers with multiple sources.

For example, if a financial broker reports a certain rate of return over a period of time for a particular investment, don't just accept it, do an Internet search to see if the numbers quoted have really panned out over the long term. 

Financial research takes time and energy, but the alternative is to passively take a loss year after year. My fear is that when consumers finally wake up, they'll suddenly find themselves so far behind the curve that it will be too late to do anything about it. 

Next time you hear that the CPI figure is this, or the GDP figure is that, keep in mind that these numbers are calculated with a hidden purpose to help bolster public confidence in government and Wall Street. The fabric of U.S. confidence is badly torn and now the whole system is in jeopardy of exposure  including your money.

A great website to find out the real numbers like unemployment, CPI, and other information is Shadow Stats.  It's a great resource and I highly recommend checking it out.  I've included their inflation chart below.

As you can see, if inflation is calculated using commodities like food and energy, things that we purchase everyday, then inflation is much more rampant. In fact, it's hovering in the 8%-10% range as I write this.

So, what's it matter to me?

Back to my original example, if you make $50,000 a year, and inflation is reported at 3%, you lose 3% of your money because it now purchases less than it did the year before. Many times, if you're on a fixed salary, you're income will increase to reflect the increase in cost of living.  So, your employer may increase your salary 3% next year due to the "cost of living" increasing aka inflation.

If your employer increases your salary 3% and real, true inflation is 8%, then you just lost 5% of your purchasing power for that year!  Do you see the sobering reality of this?

What about if this trend continues for 5 years?! After 5 years you would have lost 25% of your purchasing power! That's 1/4 of your income and your real wealth just decreased 25% in 5 years! After 10 years you would lose 50%!!! Granted, it may not be 5% each year, but it could be 3% or 2% difference, but that's a BIG deal when added up!

This should make you angry!  Or, let's say you're among the more educated on this subject.  You decide that in order to curb your loss of wealth due to inflation, you go out and buy an investment that returns 7% annually.  If you can find one with that high of a return, you will still lose 1-2% a year! 

How many people do you know that think a 7%-8% return on their investments is a great return?  How many investment banks boast of their great and consistent returns of 7%-9% a year?


Congratulations On Covering Inflation, Because That's All You Did!

Later posts will focus on what you can do to protect and grow your wealth and how the government, the federal reserve, and the wealth bankers benefit from this awful injustice against you and I.

Let Freedom Ring!


B.

Economics 101 (Part 4): Understanding the Federal Reserve

Economics 101 (Part 4): Understanding the Federal Reserve

The absolute keys to understanding the Economy and the foundation on which it operates lies in understanding:

1. Where money comes from?
2. How it's created?
3. Who's in charge of its creation?

This information isn't simply here to encourage you to be a johnny-doogooder.  I'm not here to harp on some charity cause that you should be involved in or some political agenda of an interest group.  This information affects your pocket book... directly whether you realize it or not. If you have $500 in the bank or $5,000,000 this effects YOUR money in a BIG way.  And, the best part, all hope is not lost.  You can learn how you can not only preserve your wealth, but also benefit from the Federal Reserve shenanigans.

For now let's stick to the facts.  This video is an absolute must see.  It explains the history of the federal reserve without all the fluff, but I'm going to highlight the undisputed facts of the video as well as the history of the federal reserve.

FACT #1: A central bank has absolute control over a money supply (how much money is created), therefore the inherent inflation that occurs.

FACT #2: A country loans itself money at interest.  Every single dollar produced is loaned out to banks with interest with immediate debt attached to it, therefore, the debt created and now owed to the central bank must come from the central bank itself.

FACT #3: It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to avoid inflation in a system that produces money with interest attached  when only one group (the central bank) is in charge of creating the currency.

FACT #4: Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."

FACT #5: Between 1791-1913 three attempts were made to create a "central bank" of the United States. The first two attempts had charters created, but were eventually struck down headed by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other founding fathers.

FACT #6: After the 1909 panic, a federal investigation was launched, headed by Nelson Aldrich.  Aldrich later married into the Rockefeller family through marriage.

FACT #7: December 23, 1913, when OVER HALF of the members of congress were home with their families, Senator Aldrich along with supporters of the Federal Reserve, acted in order to vote in the Federal Reserve Act of 1914 which ultimately created the central bank of the United States.

FACT#8: Today, are money, digital, paper, or coin, is backed by absolutely nothing other than the "good faith and credit" of the United States government.

Enjoy the 10 minute video...It's a must watch.

Let Freedom Ring!

B.

Economics 101 (Part 3): Where Does Our Money Come From?

Economics 101 (Part 3): Where Does Our Money Come From?

This may be basic to some people, while others it will be new information. Either way, it's a great refresher.  Again, in order to understand the problems of our economy, you must go the the root of the issue.  The issue is not unemployment, it's not imports, and it's not exports, it simply comes down to the fundamentals of how our system actually works.  It amazes me that this information does not sink in to the population, especially my generation, Generation Y.

As discussed earlier, at one point in time, our money was backed by a hard commodity, something that cannot be faked or easily produced, and therefore the integrity of the United States dollar was very difficult to fake.  The price of the dollar versus the price of gold fluctuated only $0.73 for almost 100 years.  Literally, our money was "as good as gold".

Today, our money can be printed freely by the "Federal Reserve".  The Federal Reserve was established in 1913 through an act of congress (although the details are very skeptical- more on that later).  The "Federal Reserve" as it's called, is the "Central Bank" of the United States.  Essentially, it's a branch of the Federal Government that controls anything and everything related to money and currency including how much money is produced etc etc.

Central banking in the United States

The first paper money issued in the United States was by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690. Soon other colonies began printing their own money as well. The demand for currency in the colonies was due to the scarcity of coins, which had been the primary means of trade at the time. A colony's currency was used to pay for its expenses, as well as a means to loan money to the colony's citizens. The bills quickly became the primary means of exchange within the colonies, and were even used in financial transactions with other colonies.  However, some currencies were not redeemable in gold and silver, which caused their value to depreciate quickly.  The first attempt at a national currency was during the Revolutionary war. In 1775 the Continental Congress issued paper currency, and called their bills "Continentals". But the money was not backed by gold or silver and its value depreciated quickly.  In 1791, which was after the U.S. Constitution was ratified, the government granted the First Bank of the United States a charter to operate as the U.S.'s central bank until 1811. Unlike the prior attempt at a centralized currency, the increase in the federal government's power—granted to it by the constitution—allowed national central banks to possess a monopoly on the minting of U.S currency. Nonetheless, The First Bank of the United States came to an end when President Madison refused to renew its charter. The Second Bank of the United States met a similar fate under President Jackson. Both banks were based upon the Bank of England. Ultimately, a third national bank—known as the Federal Reserve—was established in 1913 and still exists to this day.

^{Officially, the duties and the job of the Federal Reserve are as follows:}

• To address the problem of banking panics
• To serve as the central bank for the United States
• To strike a balance between private interests of banks and the centralized responsibility of government
  • To supervise and regulate banking institutions
  • To protect the credit rights of consumers
• To manage the nation's money supply through monetary policy to achieve the sometimes-conflicting goals of
  • maximum employment
  • stable prices, including prevention of either inflation or deflation
  • moderate long-term interest rates
• To maintain the stability of the financial system and contain systemic risk in financial markets
• To provide financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation's payments system
  • To facilitate the exchange of payments among regions
  • To respond to local liquidity needs
• To strengthen U.S. standing in the world economy

^{Now that all the official and formal aspects are out of the way, what's important to focus on is that the Federal Reserve, America's central bank, possesses the sole ability to create money whenever it likes, as well as loan money to the United States Government.  Yes, it LOANS money and charges interest on the money it creates.}

^{As we've discussed earlier, there is nothing stopping the Federal Reserve from printing money whenever it desires.  In addition, the Federal Reserve is it's own regulator, and has very little regulation imposed on it.  So, relating back the the history of money and it's true purpose, you must ask yourself this question.  If one person, or a group of people have the power to produce the medium of exchange whenever they'd like, what happens to the medium of exchange when it's produced out of thin air as is our U.S. Dollar?  It becomes worth less, and less, and less as a medium of exchange.  The consequence is inevitable.  It's simple supply and demand.  If there's more and more money, then the inherent value becomes less and less.}

^{Check out this video for a short explanation.}

More To Come,

 B.

Economics 101 (Part 2): What was the "Gold Standard"?

What Is A "Gold Standard"?

Prior to 1971, U.S. paper currency was literally a representation of gold held by the United States government. As mentioned before, gold was chosen not because of some mystical ideal surrounding the idea, but rather it's a concrete, rare, piece of earth that cannot easily be reproduced or faked.

The Gold Standard
The foundation of the gold standard is that a currency's value is supported by some weight in gold. Inherently, it makes sense to value currency by some tangible and precious resource, otherwise, currency is just paper bills. Therefore, by tying paper money to an amount of gold, it gives the holder of the paper money the right to exchange his or her paper bills for actual gold. Ideally, this requires that paper money be readily exchangeable for gold. If a bank does not have gold, then the paper money has no value. But theoretically, actual gold would flow between nations to ensure that all currencies would be supported by gold.

A pure gold standard was used between the 1879 and 1914 by many modern trading nations including the United States. Under the gold standard system, all participating currencies were convertible based on its gold value. For example, if currency x was equal to 100 grains of gold, and currency y was equal to 50 grains of gold, then 1 x was equal to 2 y.

Because currencies were convertible in gold, then nations could ship gold among themselves to adjust their "balance of payments." In theory, all nations should have an optimal balance of payments of zero, i.e. they should not have either a trade deficit or trade surplus.

Below I have provided a video that details more information about the former Gold Standard.  The creator of the video injects a lot of his opinion, but the important thing to remember right now is how the United States currency was originally designed, and what our currency is based on today.

More to come,

B.

Economics 101 (Part 1): The History of Money

Economics 101: A Brief History of Money

In order to understand what money is, and why we use it.  It's necessary to start from the beginning... I mean the VERY beginning.  If you don't understand the fundamentals of why we HAVE money as a society, and its purpose, it will be extremely difficult for you to develop your own understanding of political and economic issues.

What's important to understand is WHY money exists.  It's use is because it serves as a "Medium of Exchange".  It's usefulness lies in it's ability to store value and use it with a third party.

For example, if you do a service, like say, wash a car, you need to be compensated for your work.  Well, if money did not exist, you would be compensated for your work with something that's valuable to you.  You would receive maybe food or a pair of shoes, or something that holds value.  But, the reason money is valuable to us as a society is because it allows you to have a mobile representation of value.  Maybe the neighbor, whose care you washed, does not have what you really want, like a new  music CD.  So, they give you "MONEY" so that you can exchange it for something that has value that you desire in the future, the new CD.  You then take the stored value to the store and they accept it as a universal store of value.  Now, you have your music CD in exchange for your services.

Money, at its core, is a medium of exchange.  This is very important to remember, and do not lose sight of this concept. The official definition of a Medium of Exchange is anything that is generally accepted as a standard of value and a measure of wealth in a particular country or region.

Bartering (9,000 B.C. to 6,000 B.C.)

Bartering originated out of necessity and is old as human beings themselves.  You have something I want, I have something you want, so we trade something of value for another thing of value.

Subsequently both livestock, particularly cattle, and plant products such as grain, come to be used as money in many different societies at different periods. Cattle are probably the oldest of all forms of money, as domestication of animals tended to precede the cultivation of crops, and were still used for that purpose in parts of Africa in the middle of the 20th century.

Shells (1200 B.C.)

Shells now began being used to represent trade and money.  Or, a "medium of exchange".

First Metal Money

China, in 1,000 B.C., produced mock cowry shells at the end of the Stone Age. They can be thought of as the original development of metal currency. In addition, tools made of metal, like knives and spades, were also used in China as money.  From these models, we developed today's round coins that we use daily. The Chinese coins were usually made out of base metals which had holes in them so that you could put the coins together to make a chain.

First "Silver" Money

At about 500 B.C., pieces of silver were the earliest coins.   Eventually in time they took the appearance of today and were imprinted with numerous gods and emperors to mark their value. These coins were first shown in Lydia, or Turkey, during this time, but the methods were used over and over again, and further improved upon by the Greek, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman empires. Not like Chinese coins, which relied on base metals, these new coins were composed from scarce metals such as bronze, gold, and silver, which had a lot of intrinsic value.

"Leather" Currency Introduced


In 118 B.C., banknotes in the form of leather money were used in China. One-foot square pieces of white deerskin edged in vivid colors were exchanged for goods. This is believed to be the beginning of a kind of paper money.

First "Paper" Money
From the ninth century to the fifteenth century A.D., in China, the first actual paper currency was used as money. Through this period the amount of currency skyrocketed causing severe inflation. Unfortunately, in 1455 the use of the currency vanished from China. European civilization still would not have paper currency for many years.  


For reasons I won't discuss here, the "paper" currency established here ultimately failed after a short time.  You'll learn more about why this happens in later posts.

The "Gold Standard" is Introduced


In 1816, England made gold a benchmark of value. This meant that the value of currency was pegged to a certain number of ounces of gold. This would help to prevent inflation of currency. The U.S. went on the gold standard in 1900.

Later we'll discuss why gold is the "historic currency".  But, for now, gold was chosen as the main "medium of exchange" because it was something stable, something that could not easily be faked or reproduced.  The gold itself does not have a useful value (it can't feed you or cloth you) but it serves as something that can't be forged or faked.

One thing that's absolutely necessary to understand, and one thing Generation Y (the 20 somethings) does not understand, is that under the gold standard, you could literally walk into a bank, pull out U.S. Paper Currency, like a $10 bill, and the bank wold convert it for you into gold reserves help by the United States gold reserves. 

In 1972, Nixon completely ended the gold standard. Up until 1972, there was some basis for our currency on gold.  Between 1900 and 1972, the United States policy towards the gold standard slowly dwindled as minor changes were made, until 1972, when Nixon, through the Bretton Woods Act, totally removed the United States from the Gold Standard, meaning the United States could now freely print money whenever it liked in the form of paper money. 


Today

Today, most of our "money" or currency floats around in the form of digital currency. It's value is not based on anything concrete or specific.

That's it for today's history lesson.

B.

9/11 Eerie Coincidences & Hollywood Connection

Here's an interesting little coincidence.

For one, the movie "The Matrix" which came out in 1999, had a very questionable and scary coincidence.  The scene in which Neo (Keanu Reeves) is in a holding cell with Agent Smith.  The scene continues with dialogue, but one very short, yet deliberate, screenshot flashes to papers on the desk  Neo's passport is one of the articles on the desk.  If you look closely, Neo's passport expires on 9/11/01 (notice, it's not 9/11, but 9/11/01).

In another more eerie coincidence, the X-files released an episode with even more strange coincidences.  Check out the link below.  Sorry for the trouble, the video does not have an "embed" option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HKb1HS3vjw

Now that's creepy.  Again, I've said it before, but I don't know what happened on 9/11.  I don't know if the story was the absolute truth, a partial truth, or a complete lie.  I really don't know.  BUT, I do know there are some questions about it that I'd like answered.  Instead, much more confusion and coincidences are injected rather than answers.

B.

9/11: What Happened?

What happened on 9/11, and what does it mean?

That's a question that's entirely too broad in scale and way too much information to consume in a single website, much less a single blog post.  Entire websites, and thousands of pages of content as well as videos are dedicated to extracting this information.  What I can do is open up your mind to possibilities.  I address this issue because I became interested in the details of the story.

The basic questions are answered to most Americans, at least on the surface.  See if you have similar answers to these questions...

Who was resposible?
Al-Queda

When did they attack?
Morning of Sept. 11 2001

Why did they do this?
Hatred towards the United States of America

How?
Crashed planes into buildings

What's our response as a country?
Go to war with Afghanistan; Finda Osama Bin Laden & Al-Queda and capture him.

And... that's pretty much all the answers the average Americans require.  That's as far as most people wish to go with the event.  The basic questions appear to be answered.

But what I'd like to present to you is the possibility that maybe these concrete answers aren't quite as concrete as originally thought.  Could there be any motivations or persons that are interested in this happening?  Did a plane cause the fall of the buildings? Was something else involved? Could anyone in the US or the US government stand to benefit from this attack?  Could planes cause those explosions? What about the explosion noises going off in home videos uploaded on youtube?


This man questions whether or not the public videos show evidence of a "plane" causing the collapse or could it be something else?

 

And this raises more questions.  I'd like a clear explanation as to what the "explosions" reported by so many people on ground zero really were.  It's interesting that hundreds are recorded on camera saying they heard explosions...

More thought provoking ideas to come,

B.

Let-Freedom-Ring-Blog.Blogspot.com

Let Freedom Ring

Hello and welcome to my new blog!

I've been pondering for awhile now about whether I should create a blog, and finally, I pulled the trigger.  It's time to let loose and create my own "online voice."

Why This Blog?

The goal of this blog is very simple and straightforward- to help people open up their minds.  That's it.  Sure, like any other blog I will voice my opinion.  But, it's not a crime to disagree with me and have your own opinion.  If you have a different opinion on an issue, or some insight, feel free to share.  But, what I do hope to avoid are those that have created their belief systems about our society based on what "expert-Dr. so- and-so" who has a phd in this, and a masters in that told me on CNN, and then take that as absolute truth.

I don't claim to be absolutely right or an expert on anything, but what if all people throughout society took what they were told from "experts," accepted it as absolute truth, and never questioned anything?  My best guess is that I would be carving this message into the side of a cave right now.



-"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
- Albert Einstein


 What great things were ever achieved simply by trusting the experts? In the early 1600's Galileo, now viewed as one of the greatest scientific minds in the history of man was ridiculed and even cast out by the Catholic church for voicing his belief about our solar system.  When Henry Ford began the process of developing an 8 cylinder engine, his lead engineers and expert staff worked tirelessly to create this unknown creation before deeming it "impossible". "Keep working," Ford told his engineers.  It wasn't until thousands of hours of work and failed attempts did the engineer finally develop the 8 cylinder engine, something all of them swore was impossible.


Here's my point, and the point of this blog.  Open up your mind.  Think for yourself. Don't let CNN, NBC, ABC, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine, your professors, your friends, your boss, or anyone tell you what's fact and what's fiction simply because they themselves have accepted an idea or theory as fact from another secondhand source.  All to often, I believe, our society accepts beliefs and ideas as fact just because the masses said so.  Our history is ripe with the masses being wrong on many, many occasions.  I'll leave you with one more quote before I end my poetic, yet moving ramblings...


"My suggestion would be to walk away from the 90% who don't and join the 10% who do."
-Jim Rohn


Why "Let Freedom Ring"?


During the 1970's a Doctor residing in the small town of Sarasota, Florida took it upon himself to create a movement to protect the freedoms of the United States, as well as protect the constitution as our original founding fathers intended it to be interpreted.  Dr. William Campbell Douglass II, took it upon himself to fight the Internal Revenue Service and its unjust acts against the American people.  He conscientiously conceived it to be his duty to resist in all ways the declaration, assessment, and payment of his income taxes.


Dr. Douglass  began to evolve a philosophy about the Internal Revenue System and the payment of income taxes. Reduced to its essentials, this philosophy is (i) the federal government, because of the influence of certain communists or communist sympathizers has given monetary and other forms of aid to enemies of the United States, (ii) to contribute to this aid by paying taxes would be treason, and (iii) the income tax is itself unconstitutional or at least is being illegally administered because it is not levied equally on all citizens.


 In 1966, Dr. Douglass filed a 1040 with the IRS that simply contained a name, address, signature, and a big line which read "Under Protest".  Dr. Douglass was truly one of the first of his time. Eventually, other patriots like Terry Lakin would follow, but he is truly an original. To those involved, it was obvious what the consequences would be.  He would not win his bout with the IRS.  The hope was that the principle would become known and the masses would follow his patriotism in the future.  Dr. Douglass served six months in prison for this cause.  Here are the details of the case:


United States of America v. William C. Douglass


I'm proud to say Dr. William Campbell Douglass II is my Grandfather.

While I don't claim to be a true patriot simply by starting a blog, or even claim to have his same political views on all subjects, this blog should serve as a reference for stimulating thought for oneself and doing away with the news that's too often spoon-fed to us.  In honor of my grandfather and his work, I've decided to name the blog after his patriotic actions as well as his originally titled telephone/radio show entitled "Let Freedom Ring" in which callers could call in for discussion with Dr. Douglass as well as voice their opinion. Let the new media carry on the patriotism started by him.  For more information about him, you can visit his website for his very popular medical newsletter.  In addition, I have posted the new website for his published books and other works.


http://douglassreport.com/

http://www.douglassfamilypublishing.com/



What's The Information That's Going To Be Discussed On This Blog?

While not all of the information discussed will have definite and concrete answers to problems, the idea, again, is to think for yourself.  Learn to ask questions that matter.  Instead of "What's the Dow at today?" maybe it's more important to look at the fundamentals of the market, why it fluctuates, what causes the boom/bust cycles, where are money comes from, and how does it truly affect you and me.  Instead of "Is Politician X a Democrat or Republican?"  let's consider what it really means to be in either party, what are the true differences, why has our system turned into a two party system, and what's controlling and driving our politics in the United States.

Similar to the original "Let Freedom Ring" movement, the blog will focus on economics and politics and the not-so-often-discussed subjects and ideas.  I'll occasionally post my original writings, but often I will include links to media stories and discussions that are important.

Let Freedom Ring!

B.