Calling Things by Their Real Names

by
Charles Hugh Smith
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One does not need money to convey one’s thoughts, but what money does allow is the drowning out of speech of those without money by those with a lot of money.

In last week’s explanation of why the Federal Reserve is evil, I invoked the principle of calling things by their real names, a concept that drew an insightful commentary from longtime correspondent Chad D.:

Thank you, Charles, for calling out the Fed for their evil ways. We have to properly name things before we can properly address them. I would add that the Fed’s endless creation of “money” to hand out to connected bankers (not all bankers) is just one facet of the evil. The evil also manifests itself as extraordinary political-economical power in a system that allows legalized bribery disguised as free speech.

One does not need money to speak/write to convey one’s thoughts, but what money does allow is the drowning out of speech of those without money by those with a lot of money. In essence, the ultra-rich (i.e. the top .01%) get a huge megaphone to blare their thoughts, many of which are deliberately used to disorient and confuse the common man through the major media and so-called higher institutions of learning. Hence, we get common folk actively fighting for policies and laws that are against their own personal interests, such as promoting “free trade” agreements that are really managed trade agreements, whereby domestic workers are forced to complete with workers in other countries who make a pittance and are not protected by labor or environmental laws.

These agreements are part of a legal, yet unjust, framework that gives unfair, competitive advantages to large, multinational businesses at the expense of their smaller domestic and international competitors, which includes the abridgment of basic rights to settle disputes in a real court of law, not some kangaroo arbitration process with biased “judges”.

And we must not forget the bailouts, lack of prosecution for economic crimes, such as fraud and monopolistic and deceptive trade practices, and tax loopholes, all of which are bought in one way or another from the compromised “representatives” and “public servants” within the system.

The evil manifests itself as an enabler and promoter of an endless warfare state that is used to maintain an empire based upon the dollar that uses force, bribery, and blackmail to keep various peoples within the empire in line, which includes those within the host country(ies) (i.e. the USA (and the UK)) at the center of the empire. It causes the host country to befriend countries (i.e. frenemies) that hold values that are diametrically opposed to the values of the host country. The empire’s tactics also breeds resentment towards citizens of the host country, many of whom want nothing to do with the empire, by those who live in the empire outside the host country.

While massive resources are used to support the empire of the dollar, the host country rots from a lack of resources due to taxes, debt, and the misappropriation of resources. Numerous people enlist in the military to supposedly protect the country, but end up really protecting the empire and yet others enlist out of economic desperation, which ironically and perversely, is largely caused by the existence of the very thing they end up serving and protecting.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the evil manifests itself in the severe abuse of our natural resources that leads to (as you’ve put) a landfill economy and the resultant, potential collapse of the biosphere that currently supports human life.

All these things represent the three heads of Cerberus and the body of Cerberus is usury, one of the most destructive forces known to humanity. Its exponential growth function will always lead to the depletion of natural resources because all the resources that would be of use to humans do not grow in that same manner and many of them are finite in the sense of people being able to obtain them in an economical way (e.g. metal ores and energy). Other natural resources like fisheries and forests can only be harvested at certain levels at certain times or they will collapse to a nonviable state.

Usury also always leads to massive wealth disparities that destabilize societies. Over time, the interest on the outstanding debt, especially if the money is debt-based, will find its way to those with assets, who end up buying more assets that get them more interest that enables them to buy yet more assets, etc.

If the Federal Reserve System was simply a decentralized clearing house for financial transactions and it was not allowed to buy government debt and we had a currency that was not based upon usury, would it be evil? It’s fair to say that the Fed has become more and more evil, because it had fundamental flaws (features?) from its inception or it has been changed by evil actors over the years. Either way, we must end its current incarnation, before it leads our country down the road to perdition.

Thank you, Chad, for succinctly summarizing all that we must call by their real names: predatory, parasitic, false, evil.