October 25, 2006 –
To continue my tradition of light-hearted Friday entries, I am providing a list of quotes by ex-U.S. Presidents and advisors to ex and current U.S. Presidents.
When I discuss with people the information I uncover by digging down the rabbit hole, sometimes the word “conspiracy” arises. I don’t particularly believe in conspiracies, but I do believe in collusion. I think everyone out there with any understanding of how the political machine works understands that great collusion exists between powerful politicians and powerful businessmen (for an academic perspective of this topic, refer to my Down the Rabbit Hole Reader’s List).
Oh by the way, for those of you wondering who that man in the photo above is, that’s former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
I have always loved conspiracy theories. Even though I don’t believe the vast majority of them as many seem to be conjured up out of thin air, they are still fun to discuss. If you are at all curious about the ones that surround the world of finance and investing, then I think you’ll enjoy this blog a lot.
I have to admit that I find it amusing that people give so much credence to anything a world leader says or to anything they read in print as if it is the unequivocal truth. Case in point. When I first wrote my deduction about the connection between Goldman Sachs dumping 73% of its unleaded gas position from its commodities index and the upcoming U.S. mid-term elections, a friend of mine here in Asia told me,” I highly doubt there’s any connection at all” (even though several Goldman Sachs’s CEOs have been appointed by current and former Presidents to the highly sought after cabinet position of U.S. Secretary of Treasury).
Then when the similar questions were raised in a New York Times article, that same friend stated ,”Hey, I think you were right!”. Just because an article appeared in the New York Times with a similar angle to my thoughts didn’t make me any more right than a contradictory article would have made me wrong. But as I stated in a previous blog, I really think that if the London Times fabricated a story that martians blew up the Space Shuttle, world wide panic would ensue. Event: It’s in the paper. Conclusion: It must be true.
Many, if not most, Americans believe that the U.S. Federal Reserve enacts monetary policy to protect their interests. I have always stated that I don’t believe this at all. This isn’t just my opinion based on thin air, but an opinion based on much research I have conducted. If that was truly their goal, they wouldn’t have acted so irresponsibly for decades. But nobody ever believes me. So merely as some food to chew on, consider why in the world former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson would make the below statement regarding the U.S. Federal Reserve, just a few years after he helped make it an official, legitimate entity in 1913:
“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.”
Also, consider the below comments of ex-Presidents and influential Americans about the inter-connectedness of politics and the global economy. When reading the below statements, remember that U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney revealed this year that he meets with Henry Kissinger at least once a month and that Henry Kissinger also regularly advises current U.S. President George W. Bush. The comment by Kissinger was stated at the annual Bilderberg conference in 1991.
For those unfamiliar with the Bilderberg group, central bankers, defense experts, mass media press barons, government ministers, prime ministers, royalty, international financiers and political leaders from Europe and North America meet every year at the secretive Bilderberg conference. In fact the group of attendees seems to include everyone that is necessary to establish the New World Order, a one world government body. One of the most overlooked but most important components of the Bilderberg group is the inclusion of mass media press barons. Without the mass media spreading the agenda of the Bilderberg group, the establishment of the New World Order would be impossible.
According to Wikepedia, “the Western world’s leading financiers and foreign policy strategists attend Bilderberg. Donald Rumsfeld (the current U.S. Secretary of Defense) is an active Bilderberger, as is Peter Sutherland from Ireland, a former European Union commissioner and chairman of Goldman Sachs and of British Petroleum. Rumsfeld and Sutherland served together in 2000 on the board of the Swedish/Swiss energy company ABB. Former U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary and current World Bank head Paul Wolfowitz is also a member, as is Roger Boothe, Jr. The Group’s current chairman is Etienne Davignon, the Belgian politician and businessman, Fredrik Reinfeldt, current Prime Minister of Sweden and the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, current Prime Minister of Canada” — not too shabby a list, right?
But on to the rest of the quotes, which given the prominence of the men who made them, certainly hold considerable weight:
“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States –in the fields of commerce and manufacturing–are afraid of somebody. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” — Woodrow Wilson, Former U.S. President
“A financial element in the large centers has owned the government since the days of Andrew Jackson.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former U.S. President
“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.” – David Rockefeller, American Billionaire and Prominent Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (otherwise known as the CFR, one of the most powerful organizations in the world)
“Today, America would be outraged if UN troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all people of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the world government.” – Henry Kissinger, Former U.S. National Security Advisor and U.S. Secretary of State, Current Trusted Advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush
Again, I’m not a conspiracist, but I do believe that collusion exists between governments and businessmen. And the above comments are interesting to discuss, right?
Oh by the way, I know I haven’t yet gotten to topics I promised such as REITs in Japan and investments in Africa. It’s been a particularly hectic week with little free time. I’ll try to get to those topics next week. Have a great weekend.
