American Income Distribution

The top 1% of Americans own 40% of all the national wealth. This is an enormous problem.  I guarantee that this disproportionate income distribution will not survive this decade without causing a violent political and social explosion.  The top 1% may support an overt police state to enforce their wealth.  But even with massive police protection, their avarice will trigger a revolution.  One way or another, the wealth of the super-rich will be heavily taxed or seized by government–or taken or destroyed by means of a shooting revolution by the people.

It could very well be that the super-rich are every bit as in favor of gun control as the Congress.  Both groups should be feeling guilty and vulnerable to angry Americans for the same reasons–they are by-in-large a bunch of crooks whose primary business is extortion rather than production.

The super-rich would have us believe that they’re entitled to keep every dime they have because this is America and they earned their wealth by hard work.  If that were true, I’d agree with them.  But it’s not true.  The truth is that, to substantial degree, the super-rich  acquire and retain their wealth by hiring lobbyists to bribe Congressmen to pass laws that allow the super-rich to avoid taxes or restrict competition so as to “legally” rob the middle and lower classes.     That’s going to end.

video   00:06:24

 

“Who Are You?”

Australian Great Seals

Here’s an extraordinary story.   Scott Bartel, an Australian, recently imported a 1959 Corvette from the US to Perth, Australia.  The Customs Department of Australia seized the Corvette and held it as a “security” until the Mr. Bartel agreed to pay an importation fee/fine.

Bartel refused.  He began to investigate.

He discovered that “Customs” was a private corporation rather than a department of the de jure government.  He discovered that the government of Australia was not the de jure government created by the Australian constitution.  Instead, he learned that the current government of Australia is a private corporation registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at Washington DC.

 

Who’s The Boss of Me?

If you’re wondering who rules over you, here’s a test recommended by Voltaire in the 18th Century:

I presume that those I can’t criticize would include those empowered to act in secrecy (so I can’t find evidence to support my criticism) and those who are empowered to keep me from photographing them (so I can’t create evidence to support my criticism).

 

The Smartest Guys in the Room?

President Barack Obama confers with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke following their meeting at the White House. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The link below is to the A.D. 2005 documentary entitled “The Smartest Guys in the Room”.  It’s the story of the Enron collapse that took place in A.D. 2001.

According to the documentary’s introduction,

“It had taken Enron 16 years to go from about $10 billion in assets to $65 billion in assets.  It took them 24 days to go bankrupt.

“This company collapsed so quickly and so entirely . . . I mean it was into bankruptcy within a matter of weeks.”

Enron’s collapse was, for a corporation, figuratively similar to the “catastrophic failure” of a jet aircraft whose wing suddenly snaps off while in flight.  The real causes of such catastrophic failure can build unseen for years as hairline fractures in the wing’s structure slowly grow.  But a point is finally reached when the wing can’t take more stress and suddenly snaps, causing the plane to suffer an uncontrollable crash dive.

 

Defying Order

Image via Wikipedia

The movie Rollerball was released in A.D. 1975.  It starred James Caan as an athlete playing in a futuristic, violent sport called “Rollerball”.

Rollerball was the national pastime in a nation dominated by wealthy, super-corporations.  These corporations wanted a world where “order” was maintained and enforced so as to keep commerce safe and profits predictable and substantial.  Disorder is bad for bidness.  Conformity was mandatory.  Individualism was bad.  All must work steadily.  No one could escape his destiny to serve the economy.

Jame’s Caan’s character threatened that “new world order” simply because he was so much better than any other player that he demonstrated an unbridled individualism.  Caan’s individualism awakened others to their own unique, non-commercial and “disorderly” nature.  Caan inspired others to achieve rather than conform.  For a moment, the individualist successfully resisted corporate “order” and the audience cheered.

We routinely see “heroes” of the sort Caan played in Rollerball, in many of our movies.  Rocky was inspirational.  James Bond displays a similar kind of individual greatness. Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter are cut from the same cloth as is “Iron Man”.  Virtually every drama we see portrays the story of an individual man or woman who somehow summoned sufficient skill and courage to overcome a seemingly insurmountable adversary.  We call these characters “heroes”.

 

Chris Hedges Interview

Image by Cheryl Biren via Flickr

I’m embarrassed to say that, until today, I’d never heard Chris Hedges.  He’s a journalist and author of a number of books including The World As It Is.

The following interview lasts almost three hours. Before I’d finished listening to the first 10 minutes, I could see that Mr. Hedges is absolutely brilliant.  He knows his stuff.  He is articulate and never at a loss for words.  I’m appalled that I have not previously discovered this man’s intellect.

I agree with almost everything he says–even though he seems to speak as someone who (despite having attended divinity school) believes in Christianity as philosophy rather than a true faith.  He extols the virtues of democracy (which I abhor) and thereby reveals one void in his understanding.  He also speaks from a perspective that might be described as “liberal” or “leftist,” but Mr. Hedges’ definitions of such terms is so sophisticated that it’s not clear how he would define himself.  I would define him a man who seems determined to perceive the world on an honest and objective basis and to act courageously based on those perceptions.

Other than dictionaries and law books, I haven’t bought a conventional book in 15 or 20 years.  I’ll have to buy Hedge’s most recent book.  This man is a phenomenon.

video  02:54:27

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zotYU21qcU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

P.S.  I finished listening to the full 3 hours.  I repeat, the man is brilliant–even heroic.

 

Government of the United States

Image via Wikipedia

Manta.com lists a data base of roughly 70 million private companies.  The data on these private companies is supplied by Dunn & Bradstreet.

In the past, we’ve found government agencies (such as the IRS), courts, congress, congressmen, and even The White House, listed as “private companies”.

Here’s a new one that strikes me as remarkable: the Government of the United States is described by Manta.com at http://www.manta.com/c/mmg5dxg/government-of-the-united-states

If you visit that page, note that this “Government of the United States” is allegedly “owned” by Barack Obama; its principle product and service is “control” and its “years in business” is 1.  All of this implies that there’s a new “Government of the United States” that is, actually, a private company.

Note that Manta also associates “United States of America“–not “The United States of America” as first seen the Articles of Confederation–with the “Government of the United States”

Is this new and/or incorporated “Government of the United States” the real party in interest if you’re sued by the IRS?  Is the “United States of America” that sues us on behalf of the IRS really a private company?

 

Internal Revenue Districts

Image via Wikipedia

Bob Conlon was my guest on my radio show last night (Tuesday, November 1st).  He’s drafted a very interesting document dealing with the legal requirement that the IRS operate in relation to “Internal Revenue Districts” and the possibility that such “Districts” no longer exist.

If his research is correct, he may have discovered a very strong basis for arguing that the “IRS” has no authority to collect income taxes from individual men and women.

As I understand it, Bob asserts two premises:

1) The Internal Revenue Districts are required by law as a necessary element for the existence of any lawful authority to collect income taxes.  I haven’t researched this issue, but I believe this first premise is true.

2) In recent years, the Internal Revenue Districts have been abolished.  Bob is intelligent and diligent and I presume his second presume is also true–but I haven’t done enough reading to verify.

If both premises are true, then Bob’s conclusion (that the modern IRS is acting without authority and therefore criminally) may also be true.  If so, Bob may have discovered and published a powerful argument that may stop most IRS collection procedures.  If either premise is false, his conclusion also fails.

 

Rick Perry is Finished

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a video interview of the editor of Rolling Stone magazine on the subject of Texas Governor Rick Perry.  It offers evidence that Rick Perry is a money-lovin’, treasonous S.O.B. who’s had “this state” up for sale throughout his terms as Governor.  Unless the allegations in Rolling Stone magazine can be absolutely refuted, Perry’s shot at the White House is done.

Good.  The sleazy S.O.B. may belong in prison–but, like most or the rest of the candidates (including Obama) he certainly does not belong in the White House.

Thank God for the internet . . . and investigative reporters.

video:  00:05:14

http://www.hulu.com/watch/294793/decision-2012-rolling-stone-on-perry-expose

 

“North Carolina Police Warned To Put Their Personal Property Into Someone Else’s Name !”

Image by e_calamar via Flickr

This might be the single most important email I’ve ever received.

It’s just an email.  It might be a hoax or a mistake.  But I think it’s true.  If it is, the whole damned governmental system is in jeopardy.  It just might be time to break out the Champagne!

It appears that a North Carolina court has ruled that the “police” are actually working for private entities (private companies) and are not associated with The State of North Carolina.  This ruling conforms to ideas I’ve advanced on this blog and on my radio show for several years.

Because the purported “police officers” are working for private companies, they are not entitled to official immunity.  Thus, police officers are being warned to put all of their personal property into someone else’s name since it might otherwise be lost in the event that a “police officer” is sued for assault or some other kind of lawbreaking.

If the police are working for “private companies,” so are most of the judges, prosecutors, and local regulators and bureaucrats.  That means they are all throwing their weight around without any real authority or personal immunity.