|
Famed trends forecaster Gerald Celente joins today's Liberty Report to give us an idea of what to look for in 2024. Will we have a global economic meltdown? Total war? More tyranny?
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel trying to convince Tel Aviv to slow down on killing civilians, stop flattening infrastructure, and to not ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians. Israel's response thus far has been a hard "no." Has Washington ever been so impotent? Also today, thousands of amputee children in Gaza continue to suffer as US-provided bombs destroy their lives.
Call it "The Case of the Disappearing Defense Secretary." Just as a major war is about to break out in the Middle East - which will most certainly involve the United States - President Biden's Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin...disappeared! And no one noticed! Who's running the show? Also today: Hold your wallets: House Republican leadership set to "compromise" on big spending budget. Finally - war profits: US-funded troops from Israel are fighting US-funded troops from Lebanon.
By Ron Paul
A clip from the 1990 movie Home Alone where the lead character purchases groceries, household goods, and toys recently went viral because he paid a total of $19.83 whereas today the same purchase would cost over three times as much. Ironically, while this evidence of the Federal Reserve’s failure to maintain the dollar’s value was going viral, stocks rose because investors believed the Fed had successfully engineered a “soft landing” by bringing down price inflation without causing a recession and would soon begin reducing interest rates. Then, stocks fell at the beginning of the year when the release of the notes of the Federal Reserve Board’s last meeting suggested the Fed would not hurry rate cuts. The likelihood of a delay in cutting rates was further increased by a “positive” December Jobs report. The jobs report did show unemployment remaining low and wages slightly increasing, but the news was not all positive. One of the report’s most troubling items is that a top source of increased wages is government. An increase in the salaries of government employees also increases government debt, which will have to be paid for by taxes. Since tax increases are unpopular, the government relies on the Federal Reserve to do the dirty work by purchasing federal debt instruments and thus creating more inflation. This inflation tax is the worst of all taxes because it is regressive and hidden. If the Fed allowed interest rates to increase to anywhere near what they would likely be in a free market, interest rate payments on the federal debt would rise to a level causing a financial crisis. Even though the federal government will soon spend more on interest on the federal debt than on the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex, few in DC are serious about cutting spending. Federal debt increased by one trillion dollars from mid-September to the beginning of the new year. It is expected to increase by around another trillion dollars by the end of March! To put this in perspective, consider that the federal debt did not reach a trillion dollars until 1981 — almost two hundred years after the Constitution was ratified. Continuing increases in federal debt and Federal Reserve created inflation will lead to economic crisis caused by a rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. There is already resentment over the US government’s use of the dollar’s reserve status to support US sanctions This is why Russia and Iran recently signed a deal to trade in their own currencies rather than in dollars and Russia is no longer accepting dollars for its oil. President Biden has kept his promise to refrain from criticizing the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy. In contrast, his predecessor regularly took to Twitter to lambaste the central bank. This means the Fed will likely try to help President Biden by trying to keep interest rates low enough to not increase unemployment yet high enough to not increase price inflation. While Donald Trump is more likely than Joe Biden to challenge the deep state and neoconservative foreign policy, the truth is neither Biden nor Trump will seek to reduce spending. Unless a critical mass of Americans demand an end to the welfare-warfare state and the fiat money system, the soft landing sought by the Fed and the politicians will turn into a hard crash.
America was never meant to be an empire. It was meant to remain the "land of the free." Empires are the antithesis of freedom, and they always end up going broke. Alas, after 100 years of foreign misadventures, we Americans find ourselves saddled with the biggest government in history and an empire that's going broke! Just the interest on the national debt is now higher than the extremely bloated "defense" budget. We all know what happens when interest payments overwhelm, right? Liquidation.
Are Americans getting war-weary? A new AP-NORC poll has revealed that the percentage of Americans who consider foreign policy a top issue has doubled this year. The Biden Administration thus far has been one of steady increase in military involvement overseas and as this and other recent polls show, Americans are fed up. Also today: New House Bill calls for the US to drop charges against Assange. Can we get it some traction?
Iran has suffered its largest terror attack in more than 40 years, as several explosive devices went off at a memorial ceremony for the late Gen. Soleimani. With tensions in the Middle East already at an extreme, who could have been behind the attack and who benefits? Also today: surprise surprise - the "extremism in the military" scare was completely bogus. Another Biden lie.
Many podcasts and prognosticators are busy today making predictions of what to expect in 2024. We are taking a different approach. Today we bring you a few things you can bet will NOT happen in the new year.
By Ron Paul
In the closing days of 2023, the Biden Administration once again announced a large military aid package for Ukraine, this time a “mere” quarter of a billion dollars. Without a new authorization of funds from Congress, it is said to be the last bit of money left over from the more than $100 billion already authorized by Congress for the proxy war with Russia through Ukraine. President Biden’s request for an additional $100 billion to spread around Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan was rejected by a Congress eager for its winter break, and with each passing day it looks like it’s going to be harder to push it through. Poll after poll show that Americans are increasingly opposed to more of their money being spent on the neocon’s lost-cause war to overthrow Putin in Russia. For example, a recent Fox News poll revealed that more than 60 percent of Republican voters do not want any more money sent to Ukraine. As we enter an election year, it’s probably safe to predict that Republican candidates will be wary of crossing the wishes of the clear majority of voters. That is why the Biden Administration has been desperately trying to re-frame its request for more Ukraine war money as anything but a request for more Ukraine war money. For example, they even brought back the old discredited “domino theory” used to justify US actions in the Vietnam war. If we don’t stop Putin in Ukraine, Biden said in December, then he will keep going into western Europe where we will be forced to fight him there. On the one hand, supporters of the Ukraine war warn that Russia is about to reconstitute the Soviet empire in Europe, while at the same time the same people tell us Russia is out of missiles and on its last leg. One more infusion of US money will end the “Russian threat” once and for all. Both of these things cannot be true at once. In fact, neither of them is true. But still the Administration, much of Congress, and an insatiable military-industrial complex keep selling the lies. Last month Secretary of State Antony Blinken inadvertently revealed what exactly all the spending for war is about when he stated that as much as 90 percent of the aid for Ukraine is actually spent in the United States. The money is used “to the benefit of American business, local communities, and strengthening the US defense industrial base,” he said in an interview. In other words, the money “for Ukraine” is actually a massive welfare program for well-connected military contractors back home. As we begin the year 2024, we need to home in on the real threat to the United States. It is not Russia or China or Iran. The true threat is closer to home: it is a corrupt system that bleeds the country dry to fight imaginary enemies while enriching the military-industrial complex. For the New Year, Congress should resolve to end the stranglehold of the military-industrial complex by reining in out-of-control military spending. Members should simply vote “no” on military spending bills until they are drafted to benefit the American people rather than the Beltway elite. I don’t hold out much hope of this happening in the short run, but it only takes a few dedicated Members to make a real difference. |
Archives
March 2026
 
 
 
 
|
RSS Feed