| What's the Threat to Our Constitutional Rights? Posted: 01 Nov 2013 07:36 PM PDT What do you think is the greatest enemy or threat to our constitutional rights? I ask this question because a five page article in Foreign Policy Magazine says " The Greatest Enemy of Privacy Is Ambiguity" The main thesis of the article is " If we can't define what it means to be left alone, don't be surprised when the government comes knocking." Is that all there is to it? It took me only a few minutes to decide there are numerous threats to privacy, and numerous threats to constitutional rights in general. What about ambivalence, coercion, and ignorance? The public is force fed lies about why we need all these security measures. Most believe the lies. As a result of believing lies, most are ambivalent about the loss in constitutional rights. Others are simply too stupid to understand what is happening in the first place. Still others are ignorant of what history teaches us about freedoms given up, or taken away by the state. Beware Charismatic Politicians An American major after the destruction of the Vietnamese Village Ben Tre: "It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it." Vice President Joe Biden: "We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt." President George W. Bush: "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system."(For a discussion please see The Most Redeeming Feature of Capitalism is Failure) Nancy Pelosi said "We have to pass the health care bill to see what's in it." (YouTube Video) Larry Summers says "The central irony of financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending." (Reuters) Goering at the Nuremberg Trials Please recall what Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring (in English his name is also spelled as Hermann Goering) Nazi founder of the Gestapo, Head of the Luftwaffe, said at the Nuremberg Trials. Here is a clip of the interview in Goering's cell in prison, after the war. Göring: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.
Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. And now we are told by charismatic politicians that we are under attack. We must give up our constitutional rights to prevent further attacks. With that in mind, what is the greatest threat to our rights? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Maastricht Treaty and the Euro: Failure for Over 20 Years Posted: 01 Nov 2013 08:39 AM PDT The Maastricht Treaty (formally, the Treaty on European Union or TEU) was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. It created the European Union and led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro. Obligations One of the obligations of the treaty for the members was to keep "sound fiscal policies, with debt limited to 60% of GDP and annual deficits no greater than 3% of GDP." Over 20 years have passed. Let's see how those "obligations" panned out. Via translation from Les Echos, please consider Severe Crisis of Adolescence to the Maastricht Treaty and the Euro. Once in the monetary area, governments shall, subject to penalties, limit their deficit to 3% of GDP and debt to 60% of GDP. The treaty, however, is violated even before the euro was born because of the 11 states that agreed to adopt the treaty in 1999, six were above the required level of debt, including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands Netherlands and Italy.
Pursuing the logic of "every man for himself", a "no bail-out" clause prohibits the central bank and the U.S. to rescue a partner if it has no access to financial markets. Original Sin Titles on the following chart from Les Echos are in French, but with the above translation should be easy enough to understand.  Maastricht Disillusionment Eurointelligence reports on Maastricht Disillusionment. The world has changed since the Maastricht treaty ten years ago. Les Echos shows public debt then in 1992 and now, showing how drastic public debt has risen in all member countries. Today, only four member states have debt to GDP levels below the 60% limit. Looking back the three original fault lines of the Maastricht treaty have been revealed with the eurocrisis: the lack of solidarity, insufficient mutual surveillance and lack of economic convergence. These fault lines put into question the project as such.
A recent poll showed that today only 36% would still vote for the Maastricht treaty (compared to 51% in 1992) in a referendum, the anti-euro rhetoric has become acceptable in the establishment. The bureaucrats are holding this mess together, by force. A vote now would not even pass. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Daily Show on NSA Spying, on Obamcare, on the Know Nothing President in a "Bubble of Darkness" Posted: 01 Nov 2013 08:25 AM PDT In an extremely funny spoof, Jon Stewart on the Daily Show rips Obama for not knowing what is happening in the administration regarding NSA spying, Obamacare, on "NIPF". Obama is the know nothing president in a "bubble of darkness". Link if video does not play: Daily Show Rips the "Know Nothing" President Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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