The Year In Review
By Joel Skousen
Editor - World Affairs Brief
12-26-8

The Big Picture

At the end of each year I take time out from my weekly news analysis to do a "Big Picture" issue. It's always good to step back and take a broad look at all the threats we face, not just the current economic debacle, especially when dealing with a dedicated conspiracy of powerful individuals who use war and economic crises to lure people into submitting to heavy-handed government "solutions" --which aren't solutions at all. Ultimately, they are attempting to engineer the destruction of national sovereignty and what's left of US constitutional protections for individual liberty. The globalists are becoming even more bold in their open pronouncements. This week Henry Kissinger, one of the most high profile and long-time manipulators of governments (not just the US), made a pitch for using the current economic crisis to justify moving more quickly into a New World Order. This week I'll analyze how the current economic crisis will impact the Globalist's plans for the World War they are planning to unleash in the coming decade and how you can prepare to survive what's coming. It won't be nice even if you prepare. But if you are one of the contentedly unprepared millions in a major metropolitan area and still "trust your government" and the mainstream media, you will suffer enormously.

FIRST, THE YEAR IN REVIEW

2008 was a major turning point in the two decade long period I can only describe as an illusion of peace and prosperity. In fact, we are now experiencing the beginning of the end for the United States of America. It's going to be a downhill slide from here on out. Don't mistake the inevitable return of inflation, after the long deflation, as a return to good times. It will be merely a continuation of the destruction of America and the almighty dollar--not to mention the few dollars you still have in your bank account.

We observed more manipulation in the recent election cycle than ever before. It's always been there, especially in major cities where political machines control everything from unions and newspapers to ballot boxes. But this time around the US king makers had to show their hand of intervention not only before the primary, but during the primary, during the election and after the results to keep the winner's ineligibility from becoming an issue.

Specifically, we saw them mount a campaign many years in advance to put forth a corrupt, deep insider for the Republican nomination. New York City's Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Time's Man of the Year, 2001 and dubbed "America's Mayor." Manipulated polls were claiming he had the majority backing of Republicans when, in fact, he had less than 15%. Giuliani was pulled from the early primaries to keep from revealing this abysmal level of support while the king makers regrouped. Desperate to keep charismatic (but non-insider) Gov. Mitt Romney from filling the vacuum of Giuliani's unpopularity, they opted to resurrect the moribund candidacy of Sen. John McCain (polling less than 10%) by giving him simultaneous endorsements of six major newspapers, including those in the upcoming primaries of Iowa and New Hampshire. That, plus huge amounts of positive commentary by pundits, brought McCain up to contention range with Romney.

The PTB were well aware of the Romney threat from the beginning and induced former Arkansas Governor and sometimes Pastor Mike Huckabee to launch his candidacy within 30 days of Romney's filing. They capitalized on Romney's religion (Mormon) to kill his prospects in the conservative Bible belt. Huckabee successfully worked his brand of populist compromise to energize his evangelical/anti-Mormon base against Romney, effectively nullifying Romney's ability to win any primary in a conservative southern state.

During the Democratic Primary, the Democratic king makers had their hands full with Hillary Clinton, whose ambitions knew no bounds. I think this scares the PTB. They want a more compliant President. Hillary would have been a handful to control. Why they switched to Obama, with his radical Marxist background, I'm not really sure. But of one thing I am sure: Obama was bought out several years ago and switched from the radical Marxist camp to the globalist controllers before being allowed to become a US Senator. His sudden transformation from poor community lawyer to wealthy Senator is telling. So is his $9M house on the beach in Hawaii. Where did all his instant wealth come from? His too-good-to-be-true stock/commodity trades and housing deals are telltale signs of insider financial dealings in exchange for unstated commitments and control over his political future.

The media played their usual role during the campaign of squelching critical truths about Obama's background and downplaying those that could not be suppressed. The McCain campaign itself was complicit in suppressing the devastating evidence of Obama's birth in Kenya and ineligibility to run for president. The media also refused to air any of the voluminous evidence outlining McCain's fraudulent status as military hero and champion of POW and MIA's. Finally, even the Supreme Court rubber stamped Obama's election qualifications by refusing to rule on the merits of the numerous lawsuits challenging his eligibility.

Perhaps the biggest threat to the establishment's control of the electoral process was the candidacy of Ron Paul. Ron Paul was the only candidate offering real change with his pro-constitution/libertarian/non-intervention message that resonated with millions of Americans. The PTB were not successful in keeping him out of the debates since Paul was running as a Republican rather than as a Libertarian. This widened Paul's appeal, and partial overcame the media's suppression of news coverage on Paul. Still most of his supporters came from the internet, the ultimate media bypass machine.

The media had to play every trick in the book to keep Paul's popularity suppressed and they were largely successful. However, the very presence of a principled anti-war statesman, was almost totally responsible for causing the PTB to postpone their plans to attack Iran during the latter part of 2007 or early 2008. Clearly, the unpopularity of an additional war in the Middle East with Iran would have boosted Paul's principled non-interventionist appeal. The PTB decided they couldn't risk giving the anti-interventionists another major issue--especially since the kind of attack they were planning would have been a massive aerial destruction of both military and civilian infrastructure with thousands of civilian casualties in Iran.

All of this election manipulation was visible to a large number of thinking Americans. That, combined with the ever-growing evidence of government involvement and cover-up in the 9/11 attacks, has bolstered the number of Americans who are open to conspiracy theories and facts. This election cycle demonstrated a broad ranging collusion between supposedly independent sectors of the American media and government--which is, by definition, a conspiracy.

The economic bailout debacle: On Tuesday, President George Bush said it all when he uttered the contradictory "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." The president, who once gave the retort "How would I know if something were constitutional?" could hardly be expected to understand or defend the real free market. It was also a bad year for establishment trust and credibility as many Americans have become convinced that this bailout was really only for insiders. My own growing suspicion is that this economic crisis, like the depression of the 1930s, was deliberately caused and exacerbated by the PTB in order to coerce fundamental changes in law and control of wealth. A significant minority feels, correctly, that each additional crisis declaration, calling for additional bailout funds, is a manipulation of the facts in order to directly benefit those who brought this disaster upon us. Here are some of the latest summaries and outrages. We can expect more of this in 2009.

Edmund Andrews reports on evidence of collusion between regulators and the institutions subject to takeovers or bailouts. The NY times reported that "Two months before IndyMac Bancorp collapsed in July, at a cost of $8.9 billion to taxpayers, a top federal banking regulator allowed the bank to backdate a capital infusion and gloss over its deepening problems [totally illegal], the Treasury Department's independent investigator said Monday. In what industry analysts said was an example of the excessively cozy relations between high-flying subprime lenders and federal bank regulators [this is systematic, not simply a rogue agent as implied], the Office of Thrift Supervision's West Coast director allowed IndyMac's parent company to backdate an $18 million contribution to preserve its status as a 'well-capitalized' institution. Investigators reported that similar officially approved backdating appears to have occurred at other financial institutions, though they did not name them." Naturally!

The AP reports that "Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year." It's worse than that. Bailout funds are being used to preserve the billions these companies have set aside for the gradual payout of prior bonuses. Bloomberg News also reported that the notorious American International Group Inc. [AIG] retired another $16 billion in credit-default swaps, the contracts that almost caused the company's collapse, after buying the underlying [defaulting] securities with help from the Federal Reserve." These are the derivatives that are still threatening to sink the rest of the speculative economy. That is why we aren't even close to an end of the bailouts that are to follow.

Jon Nadler of Kitco.com thinks there is tough sledding ahead in 2009. "The US housing sector appeared largely demolished following dismal sales reports for new and existing homes in November. This is a major fixer-upper sector, and it remains at the core of what ails the American economy. Prices are now collapsing at a pace not seen since the Great Depression, and the free fall shows no signs of having found a bottom. Worse yet, some 55% of the modified mortgages written in Q1 2008 failed within six months.

"The UK economy contracted at the highest rate since 1990, ports around the world looked like ghost towns, New York's homeless population reached a 25-year high, and New Zealand was closing in on a full year of recession while Iceland was facing a growing series of protests from its angry denizens. The economic winter is now upon us, along with the actual one. Gold prices were under selling pressure. The dollar turned early losses around and rose to 81.30 on the index in the afternoon. Oil prices dropped to near $38 per barrel following the poor housing stats and the 0.5% contraction in US third-quarter GDP. US consumers trimmed their spending instead of their trees in the week before Christmas.

"The shock of Toyota's woes [first losses reported in 30 years--from a very strong company] is still reverberating through the markets, while GM stock and bond investors are apparently betting that the company will not make it despite its recent injection of loan money [true].

"Governments around the world are stepping into the breach with stimulus plans, but because they didn't save during the summer days of the expansion, they don't have enough fiscal power to provide the necessary stimulus, Johnson said. President Obama's economic stimulus plan is likely to top $775 billion, according to the latest media reports. The British and French are proposing to spend between 0.5% and 1.5% of GDP, which is 'inadequate,' Johnson said [What can be "adequate" with a $500 trillion derivatives default still looming-even if it's only $200T?]. And Germany is dragging its feet, which could damage the synchronized attempts to increase savings."

Here are Roger Wiegand's 2009 Predictions: "While 2008 was a nasty year when lots of things imploded, they are far from being repaired. Treasury Secretary Paulson told us this week there are 'no more surprises' [till the next one], which tells me we haven't even discovered but a small portion of this monster derivative mess. His ripping-off of the taxpayers to the tune of $700 billion is only a warm-up.

"The most important news for 2008 was the destruction of the big global banks' net worth and their badly wounded ability to conduct normal business and make market-moving loans. Ben & Hank's bailout only helped the bad-boy banks reliquify themselves to remain somewhat solvent and stay in business. They are doing nothing to extend credit to any business enhancing western or global economies. The 2009 result will be no significant banker lending, taking more bailout money and sweeping additional bad loans of all stripes under the banker's rug and hiding the rest in back rooms.

"The largest surprise in our view was the massive disaster at insurance giant AIG. Despite numerous injections of bailout billions, AIG remains in very serious trouble hanging on by their proverbial fingernails. The 2009 result will be a surprise crash and failure of AIG [only if they decide to stop bailing out derivatives-which I doubt] frightening the world at large causing ripples of failures throughout western and Asian nations unable to conduct business without mandatory insurance policies. Most folks have no comprehension as to the monster fallout this will create. It is in our view literally immeasurable, and this is why Paulson handed them so much money. Our new president is determined to hand out $860 Billion to One Trillion dollars in a Herculean effort to literally buy a new economic recovery...[they] will have little effect and Great Depression II shall take hold in 2009 with crashing stock markets in May and September-October 2009. We think the worst of the worst hits in later September 2009.

"During the spring of next year we see1) A second larger wave of residential housing mortgage failures; (2) The first big wave of auto loan failures and repossessions; (3) Over $40 billion in credit card defaults, smashing the bank lenders; (4) The first wave of commercial mortgage failures and foreclosures on shopping malls, office buildings and other commercials; (5) And finally, the grand smashing finale of CDS Credit Default Swaps originated with No margin money or down payments! We heard today the total is 500 trillion!"

Jason Hamlin adds these predictions: "While 2008 has been a tough year, all signs point to 2009 being much worse. Here is what I see on the horizon for the upcoming year.

1) The stock market decline will accelerate in 2009...[I would give this only a 50-50 probability]

2) Unemployment will rise dramatically as 'official' statistics reach towards 10% and true unemployment rises closer to 20%.

3) Real estate prices will continue to drop as rates reset and foreclosures increase across the country. Commercial real estate will finally follow residential, as price declines accelerate due to foreclosures on shopping malls, retail outlets, office buildings, etc.

4) Bailouts will continue, with more industries lining up for government rescue packages and both the financial and auto industries returning to the trough for more of their fix...

5) Deflation will subdue and the first signs of hyperinflation will appear in the back half of 2009 as the trillions in bailout dollars begin to flow into the economy. The price declines that are a result of liquidation and de-leveraging, will give way to skyrocketing prices as politicians continue trying to print and borrow our way out of bad times [I disagree with his timing on deflation. I think it will go on longer than he thinks--into 2010].

6) The dollar will resume its downtrend and make new lows during the first half of 2009. This will continue throughout the year with the dollar reaching into the low 60's as the world loses confidence in the U.S. currency and the U.S. government's ability to repay its debt.

7) Oil will rise from current lows and find a 'fair price' somewhere in the $75 - $100 range [mostly the result of the dollar's lower value], where it will float for much of the year. This will benefit alternative energy companies, although any gains will be muted by credit contraction and the overall market decline.

8 ) Agriculture prices will return to an uptrend [again, this will take more than a year] as declining investment and unpredictable weather patterns lead to supply shortages amidst an ever-expanding population and increase in inflation.

9) Gold will make a new all-time (nominal) high reaching a price of $1,400 or more during 2009 [with current levels of gold price manipulation, this may be delayed even longer, when inflation comes back with a vengeance]....

10) All of the above will lead [eventually, but not real soon] to increased crime and civil unrest with protests in the streets, bank runs [not as long as the government keeps giving people access to guaranteed funds] and an increased police and military presence trying to bring stability to cities."

Systematic Corruption has always existed in the United States, but it has always been a high level affair, not generally at the local bureaucratic level as in Latin America and other Third World countries. The US was shocked at the brazenness of the Illinois Governor in trying to personally profit from his power to name a new Senator in Illinois. But Americans need to realize that this is first and foremost a sign that Governor Blagojevich was a deep insider in the political establishment. Everyone on the inside knows this type of thing goes on all the time--they view it as their right as part of the control system.

Blagojevich is utterly unrepentant and will try and escape punishment by hiring high profile insider lawyers. I don't think it will work. He's too brash and the establishment doesn't like people who can't be careful. That said, he probably knows enough to sink at least the new Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, or even Barack Obama. But, the fix is already in to save Emanuel and preclude any ties to Obama (who is linked to "fixers" like Tony Rezko that help facilitate enrichment of both Blagojevich and Obama). As the United States Justice Foundation said, "The liberal media has made the call. President-elect Barack Obama 'knew nothing' about the evolving scandal involving Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Hear it loud and clear and believe it... He KNEW NOTHING! The liberal media has told us, no reasons need be given. No questions need be asked. No evidence needs to be obtained... Barack Obama has not even taken the oath of office and already two separate scandals that could potentially lead to constitutional crises have cropped up. The American people have a right to know all the details of this Blagojevich scandal as they relate to Obama and members of his inner circle, just as they have the right to demand that Obama produce a valid birth certificate to show that he is constitutionally eligible to be President of the United States in the first place!" Everyone is going to skate on this one except Blagojevich. Someone has to go down or Illinois residents might even begin to suspect a larger conspiracy. The PTB can't have that!

MORAL DECLINE AND THE RISE OF HOMOSEXUALITY

It is my belief that heterosexual immorality and homosexuality are both historically harbingers of chronic bad judgment and moral corruption that presage the impending demise of a nation and culture. While both are evil and condemned by God, homosexuality is always the final straw that breaks the moral back of a nation. When both predominate in society, the judgments of God are not far behind. There are always sufficient threats against any free society to bring down a nation by war and disease, so when people cease to merit the protection of divine providence, destruction by war isn't far behind. Economic weakness merely softens them up for the conquering blow.

The Western entertainment media has long concentrated on gaining acceptance for heterosexual immorality. It is now focusing both barrels on gaining acceptance for homosexuals. A new film is being promoted this week about a mother who rejects her son's homosexuality. He kills himself and the movie draws the audience into the parent's new found guilt trip over rejecting their son's homosexuality. Their minister even chimes in, predictably, that God loves homosexuals "as they are." It's a sophisticated propaganda film designed to make all good people feel guilty about rejecting homosexuals, and eventually homosexuality itself. It's building upon the propaganda claim that any opposition to homosexuals is hate speech and worthy of universal condemnation.

I reject this idea. The movie's premise is an extension of the old soft doctrine that God "hates the sin and loves the sinner," which isn't quite true unless you misconstrue God's charity-type love (that outstretched arm calling sinners to repentance) and assume that there is no higher love than that basic outreach. In reality God can only love that which is true and good, though he can feel charity for those struggling when they have some redeeming value. He is capable of seeing deep inside each person and distinguishing which parts of their character are good and which parts are corrupt. The reason even God cannot separate the sin from the sinner is that sin doesn't exist outside of a person. Sin isn't even a sin without the element of willfulness--which can never be separated from the person himself. Thus, the growing sinfulness of the world is a true reflection of increasing personal corruption and violations of conscience, which God will not indefinitely tolerate.

Two watershed events came this year which advanced the homosexual agenda of manipulating public acceptance through the force of law. The first was when the US Supreme Court turned down David Parker's appeal from a Massachusetts court ruling that sustained the State School Board's right to teach homosexuality as a normal alternative to young children--over parents' objections and without parental notification! The only good outcome from all this was that hundreds of families correctly decided that public schooling cannot be reformed and that their only alternative was to pull their children out and start teaching them privately or at home.

The other watershed event was the campaign to pass Proposition 8 in California, prohibiting the state from recognizing any marriage except between a man and a woman. Even though it passed, it is about to be overturned by the liberal California Supreme Court, which has overturned other crucial citizen initiatives--the most damaging of which was the initiative to stop illegal aliens from access to public education, medical care and state welfare (contributing significantly to the insolvency of the state budget). Worse, the campaign provided a venue for pro-homosexual groups to propagandize millions with the concept that somehow their "rights" to free choice were being violated and, by extension, vilify Mormons in particular and other Christians in general for funding this proposition and attacking "gay rights." Millions of good people, lacking an understanding of the issues at law on true fundamental rights, were fooled into coming to the homosexual's defense through the false issue of rights. All of this shifted the acceptance of homosexuality to a higher level and even led to many acts of violence against Mormon Churches and temples by organized homosexual supporters.

THE FUTURE GLOBALIST/MILITARY THREAT

Let's now turn our attention to the globalist military threat that will actually threaten our physical existence. Here are excerpts from Charlie Rose's interview with Henry Kissinger earlier this week. Note Kissinger's focus on taking advantage of a crisis to advance the globalist agenda. This is classic adherence to the Hegelian dialectic that globalists have always used (creating crises in order to force change).

"I think that when the new administration assesses the position in which it finds itself it will see a huge crisis and terrible problems [his globalist advisors will make sure of that], but I can see that it could see a glimmer [of hope] in which it could construct an international system out of it....If you look back to the end of the second world war, many people now think that the period between the end of 1945 and 1950 was in many ways the most creative period or one of the most creative periods of foreign policy [Indeed, in an evil sense], but it started with chaos and fear of Russian invasion of Europe and governments that were very weak."

That chaos and fear (and wanton civilian destruction) was a direct result of a terror bombing campaign designed by globalist war planners in London and Washington. Kissinger knows precisely how US and British globalists also made sure Stalin had Europe by the throat at the end of the war, and used that threat they created to advance the creation of an international control system (UN). While he strongly points to using the current crisis to construct a voluntary economic NWO, he and other globalists fully intend to use war to overcome the inevitable resistance to their secret plan to give international organs real enforcement power.

(End Excerpt)

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World Affairs Brief

Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted.

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