Politics – Bread and Circuses

  • February 22nd, 2012

There’s an old saying: “If you want to know what’s really going on, follow the money trail.”
If you do not understand money, banking and finance, you cannot really understand politics. For the motivation of politics and politicians is ultimately the accumulation of money and resources. Money and resources = power.

Many people object to this statement. One of my clients said, “I grew up in the 60′s during the civil rights movement. That was a purely political and altruistic agenda that had nothing to do with money.”

In the 1960′s however, the United States was unquestionably the world’s greatest economic power. Our currency was strong. When you are abundant and strong, you feel magnanimous. In 2007, our economy is weak, our debt is high and our currency is declining. The current corrupt and mean-spirited political environment is a reflection of our country’s declining economic status.

The OMB predicts that by the year 2012, the national debt of the United States will be 11.466 trillion dollars.

This figure does NOT account for unfunded liabilities like Social Security.

The total amount of dollar denominated debt (including unregistered derivatives securities) worldwide has been estimated at 1.2 quadrillion dollars. That’s right folks. 1.2 quadrillion. The dollar has been hyper-inflated on a planetary scale.

How has this happened? To understand that, you have to understand how money is created and manipulated. A great place to start is to read the book called “The Creature From Jekyll Island.

The money we use is monetized debt. It has no value whatsoever. Today, money is not backed by anything tangible, other than the “full faith and credit of the United States.” What does that mean? It means the future work, sweat and productivity of the American people.

It is a startling fact that if all dollar denominated loans and debts were paid off, all of our money would disappear.

Therefore, even if Congress wanted to pay off the national debt, it could not do so without destroying the economy!

Look at the top of any bill of any denomination, and you will find “Federal Reserve Note.” Do you know what a note is? It is a promise to pay, a certificate of debt. The money we use are just a fancy IOU’s. Unfortunately, the Fed, in cooperation with Congress, has played fast and loose with our currency. When you discover how money is created, you will understand the truth of this statement: “Money DOES grow on trees.” Those who control the creation of money control the economy, and the lives of everyone in the nation. Economic cycles of boom and bust are not natural economic occurrences, but artificially created conditions due to the manipulation of the money supply.

Did you know that legal tender laws FORCE Americans to use Federal Reserve Notes? Look on the left hand side of the bill: “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” It is illegal in the United States to use gold or silver as money. If you refuse to accept Federal Reserve Notes in exchange for your valuable goods and services, you can be thrown in jail. The power of the State is used to enforce legal tender laws.

The debasing of our currency (and thus our economy) is the most important crisis facing our country, and the world, because the dollar is the linchpin of international finance. [1] The growth of the unregistered derivatives market has hyper-inflated the dollar to the point where the international financial and banking system is in turmoil. At the present moment, and behind the theater of politics, the world is confronted with an international banking and currency crisis which is being completely ignored by the mass media in the United States (so what else is new?)

Called “Wantagate” by those in the know, it is a story of fraudulent financial manipulation that involves the highest banking and political officials in the United States, and the world.

How can such a gigantic crisis go unreported?

Because the focus is on politics!

Pick up a copy of the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the L.A. Times. Listen to the news. Listen to NPR. The news is, almost exclusively, political. What economic news is reported is mostly mundane stuff like the Dow Jones industrial average.

Politics and political intrigue obscures the fundamental economic and financial realities underlying the actions politicians take. In other words, the bread and circuses of politics takes your attention away from the money trail. Following the money trail will ALWAYS explain the actions of politicians.
For example, why did we go to war in Iraq?

The government says that we did it to establish democracy, or remove WMD’s, or destroy Al Queda, blah, blah, blah. Former secretary of State Jim Baker said facetiously that we invaded Iraq because of “oil, oil, oil.” Well that, at least, is partially true. According to Christopher Story, noted U.K. intelligence analyst, one of the fundamental reasons for invading Iraq was the takeover of the Rafidain Bank, Saddam Hussein’s private bank. The Rafidain Bank had trillions of dollars worth of assets and billions in gold bullion. That money properly belongs to the people of the United States via the U.S. Treasury, as the spoils of war. According to Story, Saddam’s money was stolen by criminal operatives within the U.S. intelligence community — with full knowledge of officials at the highest levels of government, including the President, the Vice President, the Treasury secretary and the Homeland Insecurity chief — and parked in offshore bank accounts. This money is “off the books,” because the people who stole it cannot identify source of funds. In any legitimate banking transaction, official codes are issued which identify the financial institutions on both ends of the transaction, and where the money came from. This is not possible with stolen money. For the rest of the story, see the link below in the Resource Box.

We are spending 10 billion dollars every day to fund the war in Iraq. The war has so far, as of this writing, cost almost 500 billion dollars and President Bush has just submitted a request to Congress for 200 billion more. Moreover, the war in Iraq is being privatized, which means that private contractors are making billions from this war. Meanwhile, our brave men and women in the military fight and die — for what? [2]

Governments throughout history have printed money and debased the currency to fund their conflicts. When the currency becomes devalued, it loses its purchasing power, and prices rise. This is the genesis of inflation. Inflation is not rising prices, it is the debasing of the currency.

The only legitimate way for governments to get money is through taxation. But politicians do not like to raise taxes because the voters will throw them out of office. However, the political scientists in Congress and the monetary scientists at the Fed have devised a brilliant scheme to spend more and more money and keep themselves in power: simply print and create more and more of it. The process by which this occurs is complex and obfuscated, but the bottom line is that the population is taxed by inflation when the money supply increases too rapidly. Each dollar buys less and less, you see. Inflation is a hidden tax — a cowardly trick imposed by politicians (and bankers) who hide behind the power of the state to enforce legal tender laws.[3]

Moreover, when money is created from nothing, the size and power of government grows larger and larger, sapping the economy. Money that would have been used to start businesses and employ people is wasted by government cronyism. Regardless of who is in power — capitalists, socialists, liberals, conservatives, Democrats or Republicans — political parties always use the power of the state to enforce their decrees. Thus, government grows and the political structure of a nation becomes more and hierarchical, fertile soil for the growth of tyranny.

Political parties and groups exist first and foremost to advance an economic agenda. Study the bills Congress passes. Almost all of them have language benefiting special interests — tax breaks, government contracts, etc.

Political parties did not exist in 1789. Many of the founders of the United States were against the establishment of political parties. George Washington, in his farewell address in 1796, said,

“They [political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.”

Although the motivation of the founders of the United States was rooted in the ideals of freedom, economic issues — such as taxation — played a very important role. Moreover, the creation of a central bank was one of the fundamental issues that divided the founders. Whether or not a political party begins it’s life with a set of high ideals, once it becomes established, it ‘s main motivation is to stay in power. Then it always becomes a vehicle to protect the vested interest.

So people, do not become distracted by the bread and circuses of political theater, for that is what politics is.

Look underneath the superficialities of the news and always ask yourself these questions:

1) Who stands to gain financially by a declared government policy?

2) Where is the money trail?

In this way you may uncover the true motivations behind the actions of the actors on our political stage.

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Power And Politics In Organisations

  • February 10th, 2012

Article by Costas90

In every business power and politics will be used by its members for many and different reasons, either for their personal benefit or for the benefit of their business. If you want to succeed as a business owner and grow your business, being able to control power and politics in your business is a necessity for the survival of your business. To do that, you need to know why power and politics exists in organizations, why they are needed by managers and how to use them.

 

How Power and Politics existsWhy they are needed by managersHow to use them 

How Power and Politics exists

When involved in managerial work, you will certainly be involved in power and politics. People that use politics are able to influence other people and end up taking a greater share of the rewards made available. This exists both in the business world and our everyday life. Such people end up taking a greater share of the rewards simply because goods and services are scarce. We all have similar needs but few resources exist to satisfy everyone. For example, you want music in the office but i don’t, both parties cannot have what they want and only the most powerful will get what he/she needs.

Each member of a business will either pursue rewards for himself or the department he belong to. Thus, a certain level of competition will exist in any organization and the members will use politics to get what they want. Those that use politics the best will usually have the higher power too. Thus, the ability to cope with politics when managing to manage is required.

Humans, are strategic animals, they have to cooperate and compete with others at the same time, both at work and outside it, in order to gain material and intangible rewards. This system creates an automatic control mechanism and a reward ladder at the same time. For example, new workers hired by a firm, have to work together in order to complete projects that can be accomplished only in groups, and at the same time each one is a competitor to each other because not everyone will be promoted or stay with the firm.

 

Why They Are Needed By Managers.

All businesses, small and big, will involve a high degree of ambiguity and uncertainty.  This makes it impossible for anyone to have the full facts of a situation, understand what is going on at any given time or predict the outcome of any action taken. Managers depend on others and are required to use power and politics to influence and manipulate others central to their work so that an outcome they need can be achieved. It is hard for just one man/woman to undertake all the operations of the business. Depending on others, through direct orders, is not as effective because people feel pushed to do their work. Having people work because they actually want to and enjoy their work is much more productive and effective. Managers should also engage in micro politics to make sure that employees have a balanced competition and co-operation with each other, in order for productive and cooperative work to be achieved.

People, who are responsible and valuable in decreasing uncertainties in a business, will be well placed the next time a promotion comes up or a smart new office becomes available. Senior managers will listen to them and their influence and their likely further succeeding in micro political activity will be enhanced when dealing with a strategic uncertainty. They are well placed for achieving such successes, advance their power, and gain further rewards in the future. On the other hand, uncertainties change all the time, thus, people responsible for them change too and so does their place in the business. Also, such people may be replaced by other people who are equally able to handle uncertain situations. As a result, individuals currently in power may not continue to be in the future.

For this reason, People will not pursue power just for obtaining immediate resources like money, status and general ‘comforts of life’ but also to put themselves in a position whereby they will be able to obtain whatever they want in the future. To have power is the potential to do better in the future.

 

Methods Or Tactics For Micro Political Success:

Doing deals and making exchanges:Strategic exchanges, minor or major that play a part in advancing your career or life strategy.Seeking patron:Establishing relationships with more powerful people.Making alliances:Team up with selected colleagues.Conspiring:Exploit certain positions you may have.Mobilizing groups and assuming informal leadership roles.Making strategic retreats.Taking a step backwards if identifying an immediate advantage potentially comprising long term success.Using charm and skills of persuasion.Efforts to repair relationships.Networking.Talent spotting, selective recruitment and adopting protégésBringing talented people with you.Gathering information that may actually or potentially be used against a rival or otherwise to advance one’s interests. 

Such methods, when used carefully and with good purposes, will help assure that employees will give the appropriate outcome that a manager wants from them. Also, good ethics should be taken in mind when trying to perform these methods since bad ethics might cause the business to create a bad name and future.

In conclusion, the main thing to consider is that you need to be able to control people in your business in order for it to be a success. You will highly depend on other people so that business operations will be completed. If you cannot control what employees offer to your business, it will be hard for your business to grow and succeed, if not fail. For this reason, it is important to know how to control your employees and the best approach will be through micro politics to encourage people rather than giving direct orders, which may even slow the performance of employees.

The Politics of Division

  • February 7th, 2012

Does the average American hold to a consistent ideological policy on every issue? Does the average American agree with their stated political party on every issue? Do political parties consistently hold to their same ideology or platform over the decades? The answer to all is a no!

The ideals of conservatives and liberals are not always constant across all lines. At times, these philosophies have even seemed interchangeable between the political parties. People are confused when they look at traditional definitions of the conservative and liberal and try to reconcile them to the “labels” today. That is because politicians exploit these terms to their own purpose.

“Conservative” and “liberal” are loaded terms because of the rhetoric politicians use against each other. Calling someone a liberal gives an automatic negative reaction from a segment of the public; this is true even though they may not truly understand what the term represents.

The same is true when you label someone a conservative; it is a signal to automatically reject that person and their values. This is the politics of divisiveness. This style of politics is destructive. It is intended to be so.

“Politics” itself has become a dirty word:

The Oxford Dictionary describes “politics” as:

“1 the activities associated with governing a country or area, and with the political relations between states.
2 a particular set of political beliefs or principles.”

Compare that to Oxford’s definition of “party politics” as: “Politics that relate to political parties rather than to the public good.”

Implicit in these definitions is that “politics” is designed to provide for the governing of a country for the public good; “party politics” is not concerned with the public good, but rather the good of the party; the public good is left on the trash heap and the good of the party becomes the goal.

THE CHALLENGE AHEAD
Conservatism and liberalism should not be a “one or the other” choice.

Both philosophies have proven their value to society over time, and both should be part of our future. Both philosophies should be understood, and both appreciated for their contributions. Both can, in fact, be held at the same time. For example, our society needs to move ahead with new solutions to the problems we face (a liberal value), but tempered to whatever degree possible by practices in the past which have proven successful (a conservative value).

In other words, by all means, let us move forward, while learning from the past. However, to do this, we must get past the party politics of division and blame.

Barack Obama did not become President of the same country that he started campaigning for in early 2007. Obama is now the President of a country in turmoil. It is not an enviable position. Where will Obama draw the strength to lead America out of its turmoil?

Obama faces challenges that perhaps no American President has faced since Franklin Roosevelt came into office in 1932. Roosevelt faced a world-wide depression, and a world increasingly threatened by fascist powers in the Pacific and Europe. Roosevelt stood up to those issues; it was not easy and it was not fully completed until after Roosevelt’s death. However, America survived those times, and emerged a stronger nation for it.

President Obama now faces a U.S. economy that is in ruins, our confidence shaken to its core. The U.S. military faces a war on two fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan. Afghanistan, once thought won, is threatening to spill over into Pakistan, which in turn, may spill over into India. Iraq could yet still spill over into Turkey and Iran. Combined, these two issues, economics and war, will demand our attention.

ENDING THE POLITICS OF DIVISION
Two centuries ago, Edmund Burke said, “All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.” President Obama must find a way to lift America’s spirit, and gain its peoples’ confidence. To do that, he must find a way around the divisive politics that has poisoned the American political system, for Obama cannot solve America’s problems alone. He will need a Congress willing to work in earnest to find solutions and compromise. Otherwise, business as usual in Washington, D.C. bodes poorly for America.

The founding of America was a remarkable event in history. America put to the test the question of whether man is fit to rule himself, whether man is capable of providing equality and justice, or is man to be ruled by Monarchy or aristocracy, for his own good. America became the world’s first democratic nation. One of the major principles of America is that it is governed under the U.S. Constitution, not by the will of men; the final source of authority is the people, not a Monarch, not a President. The rights of the people were set above all else, to be preserved for all posterity. The opening line of the U.S. Constitution states this boldly and plainly:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence (sic), promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Since its inception, there have been those that charge America is destined to fail; and yet, America has survived for over 200 years. However, America will not survive as a democracy, if its people fail in their desire for the principles that founded America: liberty, justice, equality, and virtue. It is a burden that America willingly undertook in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, and carried it through a bloody Civil War, and two World Wars. Can the American people continue to carry this burden? If it is to be, it must be through the people, for in a democracy, there can be no other.

Should Politics be Kept Out of Business?

  • January 5th, 2012

Do politics and business ever meet? Of course they do, because there is a reciprocal need between the two in every democracy. Politics equals power, but it is nothing without the money it needs to realize it; any business is mainly about money, but it also demands a secure presence, which actually means consorting with power, and thus with politics. Another similarity between the two is that they both require the presence of the citizen, either as customer or as voter. Theoretically, the citizen’s freedom of choice is nearly perfect. But in practice, both business and politics resort to all sorts of techniques to draw their voters or customers, such as the media, celebrity endorsements, movie starts, appeals to passion, sentiment and psychology, and so on, and so forth.

Whether we are talking about marketing, or about electioneering, we can refer to both of them in terms of campaigns. In both business and politics, the battle exceeds any metaphorical level, and the amount of money spent in either of them is rising every year. And all that, just to convince us, voters and customers, that they are worth our attention.

When a business tries to promote a product or a model at a national level, it encounters the same problems and difficulties that a party comes against when attempting to capture several regions. Scale is extremely important, by definition, but that naturally comes with a demand for standardization.

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A business that needs security cannot separate itself from politics, because that’s where the power is. Some businesses find it in their own interest to sustain rather close working relationships with politics, because separating the two is almost impossible when you are faced with a reactive situation. Many countries have both public and private traders, which means that keeping your business away from politics is virtually impossible if you want to keep doing business with that country. And the economical prospects and financial benefits are so appealing that the connection between politics and business just doesn’t seem to have any importance.

In the sensitive political regions, the marketplace is subjected to change daily. In fact, the entire international marketplace can change very quickly, from year to year, or even from week to week, which is why companies have to learn how to stay alert to change and have flexible attitudes and approaches. But above that, they have to ensure security for themselves, and what better way to that than to become involved with politics, which ultimately is about power?

On the international marketplace, relationship between politics and business is critically important, and its importance increases as time goes by. As much as any business would like to be poisoned away from politics, this is simply impossible, because behind each government there are political drivers, and the ‘mines’ that appear in front of a certain company or organization are far more numerous and powerful, should it try to detach itself completely from political affairs.

Business and politics interact, whether we like it or not, and they can influence each other in many ways, not all of them bad. For instance, a bad political climate can seriously influence economic growth, but fortunately the process can go the other way, too.

If you want to find more information on different business or politics subjects please visit http://www.articletimesonline.com

History of Chicago Politics

  • December 25th, 2011

Article by Hendrik Kleinwaechter

The politics of Chicago is world famous for the greatness that it has produced several presidential nominees such as the new President of America Barack Obama (elected in 2008), Stephen Douglas in the year 1860 and Adlai Stevenson (1952 and the year 1956). There is also the negative side of the history of Chicago politics. Sometimes the world of politics in Chicago has been ruled by corruption and controversies. The city politics has been in majority been dominated by the Democrats. The business men of the 19th century have also influenced the politics of Chicago to a greater extent.

In the year of 1855, mayor named Levi Boone had brought the politics of Chicago into spotlight at the national level. He did this with very interesting proposals leading to the Lager beer riot. When the end of 19th century was nearing, the Democratic Party dominated the politics in Chicago. There emerged anarchist and socialist labour organizations during the 1880s and also during 1890s. In 1871, there was a great turning point in the politics of Chicago. The Great Chicago-fire was a famous historical turn in the politics of Chicago. Actually there was a rumor which was spread which said that it was a cow that had knocked down a lantern and that had caused the huge fire. The election which was conducted in that particular year had transformed the fire as ‘a political football’. The fire turned out to be a fodder for controversy and questions began to be raised as to who had set the fire and this controversy, due to lack of sufficient control over it, erupted and spread very soon. The allegations of wrong management were used by the winning party to cause a group of voters to fear and excise the duty of voting for more than one time!Now talking about the twentieth century, political scenarios in the years 1920s and 1910s turned bad that organized crime were easily let to be done. Corruption was on an increase. The scandal of Chicago Black sox of the fixing of game by White sox of Chicago in the year 1919 was due to the above mentioned trend and culture. Richard Daley was the man who made the Chicago- Democratic machine as perfect and style honed after the election he faced in the year 1955. It is his son Richard Daley who is the mayor at present. The mastery of Richard Daley helped in the preservation of the Chicago – democratic machine.The politics of Chicago has witnessed and demonstrated several of the conventions and campaigns. The Democratic Party had decided to announce Harry Truman as the candidate for Vice president at the Democratic national convention in the year1944. In the year of 1968 the national convention had the scenarios of political rallies on a mass scale; mass discontent and it had led to the famous trial of ‘the Chicago seven’.While considering the politics of the twenty first century, in the year 2008, the governor by name Rod Blagojevich was arrested for the charges that he was trying to sell Barack Obama’s US Senate seat!

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