Category Archives: Economics

Who the International Aid Agencies Serve

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | November 22, 2014

How International Aid Agencies really work 

  1. Country “X” is identified as being financially weak, yet has valuable assets like natural resources or has geopolitical value
  2. Country “X” is then targeted by the USAID, IMF & World Bank for loans.
  3. Representatives are sent into Country “X” to do studies to prove up (by exaggerated estimates) what this or that infrastructure will do for the economy of Country “X”.
  4. This inflated estimate for money is then included as part of a loan request to the bank.  This is the cover.
  5. Loan is committed
  6. Heads of State of Country “X” siphon off much of the money to private bank accounts
  7. Most of the work for the infrastructure improvements goes to well-connected multinational corporations not to local companies.
  8. Country “X” cannot pay loan back
  9. Bank offers additional money to help Country “X” if they will implement “austerity measures” which effectively puts the bankers in charge of running the country.
  10. Country “X”, still cannot make payments on loan.
  11. Bank takes control of assets and natural resources of Country “X”
  12. Bank sells assets, natural resources of Country “X” or provides monopolies to multinational corporations at pennies on the dollar, which still does not satisfy the debt.

NOTE: Much of this is coordinated with the help of the US, CIA, NATO and the EU.  If Country “X” will not go along with the loan, then Operation Gladio is implemented with the aid of NGOs such as NED (National Endowment for Democracy) to destabilize Country “X” for regime change.

STATED GOALS OF IMF, WORLD BANK & USAID:

The IMF is a self-described “organization of 188 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”

The World Bank’s official goal is the reduction of poverty. According to its Articles of Agreement, all its decisions must be guided by a commitment to the promotion of foreign investment and international trade and to the facilitation of capital investment.

USAID has adopted as its mission statement “to partner to end extreme poverty and to promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing the security and prosperity of the United States.” USAID operates in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Read more here:

Confessions of a Monopolist by Frederic C. Howe

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | November 18, 2014
“Competition is a sin.”  — John D. Rockefeller

Portrait of Frederic C. Howe.

Portrait of Frederic C. Howe.

Through this I learned the explanation of the growth of monopoly in recent years. It is done in this way. The savings of the people, running into the millions, are deposited in the banks, savings institutions and trust companies. The latter enjoy immense powers under their charters. They can do almost anything. Thus entrusted with the people’s money, they are able to use their savings as they wish. The bank is controlled by its directors. They desire to build a railroad, street railway, or consolidate some industries or coal mines. They organize a syndicate among themselves. They secure options on the property. They then arrange to secure a loan on mortgage. On this they issue bonds. These the bank or trust company, which the syndicate really controls, agrees to underwrite, or take off the syndicate’s hands at par, or something below par. On these bonds money is advanced to buy the properties. Then the trust company sells the bonds to its depositors or customers at an advance, while the capital stock of the railroad, street railway, trust or coal monopoly, for which it has paid nothing, is retained by the syndicate. The bank has advanced all of the money used. And this money was earned by the people, the depositors. Then the people, and in many instances the depositors, buy back the bonds for an investment, leaving the cream of the deal in the hands of the syndicate, which is in fact but the officers of the bank who have borrowed from themselves and kept the stock for themselves. The next step is to make the stock valuable. This is done by putting up railroad rates, the price of commodities, of coal, or whatever else the syndicate is operating in. Thus the circle is completed. The people’s money is used to buy properties which are taken in the name of the syndicate, who are really the directors of the bank. Then the properties are consolidated and a lot of water in the form of stock added to the purchase price. Then the people pay again to their own trustees a big profit, by being compelled to pay monopoly prices for the things they consume.

— Confessions of a Monopolist by Frederic C. Howe

Chapter 6, pages 77 – 79
I Enter the Coal Business, Become a Railway Magnate, and Discover the Secret of Monopoly
Approximate date of this writing is 1895

Full Text Here.
 

Wall Street and FDR

Wall Stree and FDRWall Street and FDR by Antony C. Sutton

Franklin D. Roosevelt is frequently described as one of the greatest presidents in American history, remembered for his leadership during the Great Depression and Second World War. Antony Sutton challenges this received wisdom, presenting a controversial but convincing analysis. Based on an extensive study of original documents, he concludes that: * FDR was an elitist who influenced public policy in order to benefit special interests, including his own. * FDR and his Wall Street colleagues were ‘corporate socialists’, who believed in making society work for their own benefit. * FDR believed in business but not free market economics. Sutton describes the genesis of ‘corporate socialism’ – acquiring monopolies by means of political influence – which he characterizes as ‘making society work for the few’. He traces the historical links of the Delano and Roosevelt families to Wall Street, as well as FDR’s own political networks developed during his early career as a financial speculator and bond dealer. The New Deal almost destroyed free enterprise in America, but didn’t adversely affect FDR’s circle of old friends ensconced in select financial institutions and federal regulatory agencies. Together with their corporate allies, this elite group profited from the decrees and programs generated by their old pal in the White House, whilst thousands of small businesses suffered and millions were unemployed. Wall Street and FDR is much more than a fascinating historical and political study. Many contemporary parallels can be drawn to Sutton’s powerful presentation given the recent banking crises and worldwide governments’ bolstering of private institutions via the public purse.

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The Creature from Jekyll Island

I‘ve seen G Edward Griffin’s lecture on the Federal Reserve called the ‘Creature from Jekyll Island’ when he was much older than in the  video below.  This video is about twice as long as the one Ive seen so may contain some additional detail. I’ve posted it here just in case you are not aware of this very important information on how the Federal Reserve was conceived.  He has other great videos and books if you are interested.  Enjoy.

The Creature from Jekyll Island

War is Big Business

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | November 09, 2014

money-bag-400301_150War is big business for the military-industrial complex and the bankers. The USA is the world’s largest arms manufacturer and exporter.

Below is a list of major conflicts from the October Revolution in 1917 –which was financed by U.S. Bankers– to 2014.   After a small group of private bankers hit the jackpot and were granted a monopoly over the U.S. money supply in 1913, they wasted no time financing both sides of the Bolshevik Revolution, WWI, WWII, the Vietnam war and others.   Yes, your tax dollars and American bankers funded the weapons used to kill your sons and daughters.   When will enough be enough?

US Military Spending

US Military Spending

Business is good and the war machine has been busy, see below …

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Coincidence?

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | November 03, 2014

In 1913, both the 16th Amendment was adopted and the Federal Reserve act was enacted under a Progressive President.  Coincidence?

The Sixteenth Amendment  to the United States Constitution allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on the United States Census.

The Federal Reserve Act (ch. 6, 38 Stat. 251, enacted December 23, 1913, 12 U.S.C. ch. 3) is an Act of Congress that created and set up the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States of America, and granted it the legal authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes (now commonly known as the U.S. Dollar) and Federal Reserve Bank Notes as legal tender.

Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States from 1913 to 1921 and leader of the Progressive Movement.

President_Woodrow_Wilson_portrait_December_2_1912

“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” -Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence”

— Woodrow Wilson

Abortion

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | November 01, 2014

My college philosophy teacher was and probably still is an atheist, yet he was an amazingly brilliant teacher … one of my best. Despite his lack of faith or belief in things unseen or unproven by his deductive method, he was staunchly anti-abortion. He reasoned as did I that once you minimize or devalue life at one end of the spectrum (very young) what logically will prevent you from minimizing it at the other end (very old); and once so done, one’s foot is squarely placed on the proverbial slippery slope. And where does this slope lead? Well it leads to further adjustments at either or both ends. So if we have scarce resources—which we always do–the value of a person prior to being productive for society would be less than say a person of working age and likewise the value of an older person incapable of vigorous work would be less valuable. So at some point, this logic trip leads us to the conclusion of stratification of value based on age; such that a society would be more interested in investing and/or saving the life of someone between the age of 18 and 35 say. Outside this range, you are less valuable and therefore on your own or possibly a candidate for post-birth abortion. In fact this is already occurring. We have death panels with Obamacare and recent opinion polls on college campuses show a growing approval of post-birth abortion up to age five if it would save jobs. So there you have it. Ideas have power and they have consequences that on first blush you may not have even considered.

Additional reading on this topic …

Miscellaneous Observations on Abortion

Opus 014: The Hoax of materialism

The Kerry-Abdullah Secret Deal

Folks, if you seek to understand the geopolitics at play and cut through the MSM fog, you must apprise yourself the benefit of articles like the one below.

The Kerry-Abdullah Secret Deal
Oil-Gas Pipeline War On Iran, Syria And Russia

By ​​​​F. William Engdahl
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40089.htm

Demographic Winter and Population Growth

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | October 24, 2014

It is important to understand two concepts when thinking about the world population. The fear mongers would have you believe that the growth rate is linear or exponential in an unstoppable upward trend until the masses of humanity consume all the world’s resources. This is just wrong-headed when you don’t consider fertility rates and the necessary lag time for women to reach child bearing age. The facts are that while population in total may be increasing at the present, the rate of growth is decreasing in most countries (see URL link below).

Just to keep a population at a zero growth rate you must constantly replace the people who are dying from old age, illness, accidents, wars, etc. This replacement rate is generally considered to be 2.1 for developed countries and 2.3 for underdeveloped countries.

So in developed states we need a fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman and in less developed states we need about 2.3 children per woman just to stay at zero growth.

Now, babies don’t just pop out immediately so you have to wait until the woman is of child bearing age plus nine months. This is a lag of say 20 years. Additionally, if fertility rates are below the replacement rates of 2.1 or 2.3, the shrinkage of the population will not be noticed for many years but when it is noticed the drop is dramatic, sudden and can feed on itself for generations. The unintended consequences of low fertility rates: 1) not enough young people to support the elderly; 2) aging work force; 3) necessity to import more fertile immigrants; and 4) resultant changes to the culture and standard of living.

The current fertility rate for the USA and Australia is 1.9 and for the UK and France is 2.0; China is 1.7 and Canada is 1.6; all below the necessary 2.1 to maintain zero growth.

The average total fertility rate in the European Union (EU-27) has been calculated at 1.59.

Most fertility rates are down world-wide
Source of data: The World Bank Fertility rate, total (births per woman)
  Demographic Winter

History we never knew

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | October 20, 2014

In an effort to better understand today’s political and economic structures, it is important to take a look back to discover from whence they came and how they arrived at the apex of the predominant power structure we see all around us today.

Like no other, Carroll Quigley gave us a back-stage introduction of the actual workings of the network who shaped yesterday’s world. (See: Anglo-American Establishment and Tragedy and Hope) In today’s world, we see these same forces, structures and techniques at work from the happy heirs of the power structure set into motion by the Anglo-American Establishment. Some of the names have changed, but there exists an unmistakable lineage that can be exposed by fact, not conjecture or theory.
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