Tag Archives: capitalism

Ex-KGB Spies Shape the New America

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In a  “News with Views” article from 2003 Charlotte Iserbyt analyzes the dynamics of “convergence”whereby the soi-disant capitalist USA merges with the communist USSR, while the population is brain-washed to believe in a Cold War victory of “capitalism” over “communism”:

Reading:  Convergence Theory. 

Also: Convergence Theory (Social Sciences)

and Convergence Hypothesis.

[I use quotation marks around the two terms, because the manner in which they exist today suggests that they are simply two different versions of the same totalitarian system:

“United States-Russian Merger: A Done Deal?”

 Charlotte Iserbyt, News With Views, October 16, 2003

“The average American when confronted with world news that has Putin and Bush embracing one another one year and quarreling/threatening to target one another with missiles the next year, sinks into a state of “cognitive dissonance” whereby he is unable to make sense of anything or to carry on an intelligent conversation about the subject at hand, reacting to one’s comment with nothing more than a “glazed expression.”

This back and forth “planned” agenda is, of course, a brilliant psychological strategy, part of the dialectic, and highly effective in keeping the “sheeple” in line.

When, as a result, none of the conditioned “sheeple” utter a peep over such pre and post-9/11 actions, the “traitors” know that it’s “safe” to take actions such as naming Henry Kissinger, a Soviet agent, to lead an investigation of 9/11… if ever there was a fox overseeing the hen house! (Please refer to Iserbyt article, “Kissinger Out of the Closet” for documentation regarding Kissinger being a Soviet agent.)…..

..The New York Times, in an article dated 8/24/03 entitled “Former Top Russian Spy Pledges Allegiance” stated that the above Center…….

Lila: The Center for Counterintelligence and Security Studies, http://www.cicentre.com a consulting service in Alexandria, Virginia.

“…provides expertise and advice in counterintelligence, counterterrorism and security for the government (repeat government, ed) and companies.”

The hiring of these ex-KGB agents appears to be a result of FBI/KGB collaboration. The New American, July 30, 2001 discussed such collaboration in a news item entitled “Community Policing, East and West.”

It said: “Among Louis Freeh’s supposedly commendable achievements as FBI director, according to Robert S. Bennett, (brother of William Bennett, former Secretary of Education, ed) was the realization of his vision of a ‘global FBI.’…..

….The New York Times article also says, and this is interesting in light of the U.S.-Soviet education exchange agreements which have been going on since President Eisenhower signed the first one in 1958, “Kalugin’s relationship with America began in the late 1950’s, when Communist officials noticed his skill with languages. He was a K.G.B. trainee when he was sent to Columbia University as an exchange student.The New York Times goes on to reveal the following: “He was one of the generals of the cold war, a K.G.B. leader who did his best to undermine Western capitalism by recruiting Americans to work for Moscow….

…It was Kalugin, a frequent TV commentator and regular guest on Fox News, who stirred up a hornet’s nest last spring by spilling the beans (to an unnamed intelligence agent) on a spy cruise (go to http://www.cicentre.com and click on SpyTrek) regarding his associates, ex-K.G.B. Chiefs Primakov (also former President of Russia and close associate/advisor to Saddam Hussein who visited with Saddam in February of this year, prior to the war in Iraq) and General Alexander Karpov working for recently retired Admiral Poindexter’s Office of Information Awareness which is attached to the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology by the military.

This information is covered in detail in an article in the April 2003 issue of Soviet Analyst (www.sovietanalyst.com) entitled “Architect of Soviet Middle East Terror to ‘Advise’ Washington“…Convergence Acquires New Meaning” by Christopher Story, a highly respected researcher and author with offices in London and New York City.

The story was also covered in the May 15, 2003 issue of The Howard Phillips Issues and Strategy Bulletin in an entry entitled “GWB Names Kremlin Spymaster Primakov as Consultant to U.S. Homeland Security Team”.

Please see Iserbyt’s two articles on this subject at www.NewsWithViews.com: “Former KGB Heads to Help Spy on Americans” 4/24/03 and “Former USSR/Russian Premier to Work for Homeland Security” 4/22/03, both of which included information taken from an article in American Free Press entitled “Get Ready for the Sovietization of America”, 4/21/03 by Al Martin, www.almartinraw.com, a former intelligence agent.

Al Martin’s information can also be traced to the same important source, Oleg Kalugin.”

Eldridge Cleaver, Capitalist: Produce More, Consume Less

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In an interview with Reason magazine, February 1986, Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panther who converted later to Christianity, showed a keen appreciation of many free-market principles:

Cleaver: I’ve come to basically the same conclusions. My life, I think, spans the whole era of the welfare state. I was born in 1935. I remember when people were ashamed to be on welfare and receive state aid and all that, but we developed a situation where black people to a large degree and a lot of other groups such as elderly people, children and a lot of poor white people ended being harnessed by political forces, particularly the Democratic Party. In return for the federal appropriations that we now dependent upon, our leaders were obligated to get out the black vote for the Democratic Party. So this put us in a negative relationship with the economic system. We were dependent upon the federal budget—a very precarious situation, because when the political winds change, we get our living cut off. Continue reading →

Money – The Root Of All Good

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“Money, The Root Of All Good,”  Atlas Shrugged, (1957) by Ayn Rand:

“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? Continue reading →

Karl Hess: Corporate Capitalism Is Grand Larceny

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“What I have learned about corporate capitalism, roughly, is that it is an act of theft, by and large, through which a very few live very high off the work, invention, and creativity of very many others. It is the Grand Larceny of our particular time in history, the Grand Larceny in which a future of freedom which could have followed the collapse of feudalism was stolen from under our noses by a new bunch of bosses doing the same old things.”

—  Karl Hess

Tocqueville On Morals Versus Laws

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“The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.”

—  Alexis de Tocqueville

Obama Goes After Upper Middle-Class Savers

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Bloomberg reports:

“Congressional leaders are raising to 3.8 percent their proposed new Medicare tax on investment income in the final health-care overhaul plan, a Democratic leadership aide said.

The rate is higher than the 2.9 percent President Barack Obama proposed in February. Under Obama’s proposal, the new tax would apply to income from interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, capital gains, and rents for individuals who earn more than $200,000 and joint filers reporting more than $250,000.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asked today if the tax applied to capital gains, said it would be imposed on unearned income “whatever category it is.”

It would be the first time Medicare taxes would cover investment income. The current 2.9 percent Medicare levy currently applies only to salaries and is split evenly between workers and their employees.”

My Comment:

No redistribution of the ill-gotten loot of the corrupt mega banks and their government and speculator associates …loot that runs to billions. Instead, the administration goes after middle-class investment income. This is a first, and it sets an unholy precedent for the future. Does this government not get that we need to increase capital formation, not slow it down?

John Paul II On The Moral Basis Of Capitalism

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Tom Woods cites Pope John Paul II on the moral basis of material prosperity:

“According to John Paul II, “The moral causes of prosperity . . . reside in a constellation of virtues: industriousness, competence, order, honesty, initiative, frugality, thrift, spirit of service, keeping one’s word, daring — in short, love for work well done. No system or social structure can resolve, as if by magic, the problem of poverty outside of these virtues.” These are precisely the virtues that the market economy fosters.

These ideas are not foreign to Catholic tradition: The Late Scholastics of the 16th and 17th centuries favored an economy very largely free of government controls, and John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus (1991) reflected an increasing appreciation for the moral and material benefits of non-coerced economic exchange.

The less heed we pay to slogans and propaganda, and the more we study the question on its merits, the more attractive does the market become.”

Manmohan Singh Needs to Emphasize Discipline, Not Blame Democracy

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C. Gopinath, writing in The Hindu, blows away the notion that democracy can be blamed for slow decision-making and bureaucratic delays in India:

“It is easier for Dr Manmohan Singh’s to admit that we have bottlenecks in areas of roads, power and ports. Everybody knows that. It is also easy to blame democracy, for that is something we are not going to give up. The unintended message, unfortunately, is that we have to put up with these inefficiencies.

Other observers have chimed in, talking about a democracy tax or a discount due to democracy. The real problem is that we lack the work ethic that should drive us to excellence. Instead, the dominant ethic seems to be that the individual should do whatever it takes to get ahead, and forget about the rest of society. Look at the way we treat garbage (keep the house clean and dump the trash outside), drive on the road violating rules just so we are ahead, and so on.

Statesmen should not be finding excuses for lapses but challenging the people to new heights. The former President, Mr Abdul Kalam, continues to do a great job inspiring people with his vision for a prosperous future.

If Dr Manmohan Singh is looking for a theme on which to build his legacy, he should pick discipline. Nobody seems to be paying attention to it.”

Business Managers Need To Change Their Framework

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The Economic Times notes the poverty of management frameworks rooted in the demands of mass manufacture (Fordism and Taylorism):

“Ramnath Narayanswamy, professor of economics and social science at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore, who teaches a course on spirituality at the workplace, explains: “Management as a discipline quite literally originated in North America against the historical backdrop of Fordism and Taylorism. While its reach is indeed universal, its origins are very North American and in some respects, the discipline is still a prisoner of its historical orientation.

The excessive emphasis on analytical intelligence as opposed to emotional and spiritual intelligence is a case in point. The overwhelming predominance of “reason” and “science” when in fact it’s our daily experience that all life is based on faith and sacrifice, is another. Or the importance accorded to tools and techniques in MBA education at the expense of neglecting character, values and attitude might be yet another.”

There is a realisation that management theory has to be home grown and not just transplanted from the West. Satish Pradhan, executive VP-group HR, Tata Sons, says, “Western thinking has been dedicated to frameworks and metaphors, and the poverty of these frameworks is revealing itself — it’s not intellectually robust.”

In contrast, says Pradhan, thinking in this part of the world isn’t linear, so one cannot simply take ideas and replicate them. By the same token, this makes it difficult for Eastern concepts to be understood or grasped fully by Westerners. “It’s much like how the Americans wondered, ‘The Japanese are hiding something’ when they visited factory shopfloors of Japanese companies to learn the secrets of their success in managing costs and quality in the early ‘80s.”

Wall Street: The Crematory Of Capitalism

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Bill Cara:

“Independent traders know as a fact that Humungous Bank & Broker (HB&B) research analysts are biased and unaccountable. We also know they give short-term tips to their firm’s proprietary traders and sales people that are at odds with their longer-term published opinions. These unfair practices are permitted because the fundamental conflict of interest structure of the securities industry is permitted.

Today the Wall St Journal has reported that FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) has launched a broad inquiry into how up to a dozen Wall Street firms disseminate stock ratings and research. Important questions are being asked.

On August 24 this year, WSJ informed the public of how Goldman Sachs analysts were tipping their traders with info that differed from published reports. These regular meetings were called “trading huddles”. At the time, I called it insider trading, which is criminal.”

My Comment:

A reader commented earlier that “insider trading” is a big yawn as a story  (for the latest insider trading arrest, see this case, of an ex-banker from Lazard, a relatively small case, admittedly)

Someone might come to that conclusion only if their knowledge of the practice were abstract and based on theoretical debate on the subject. But anyone who knows the history of the capital markets over the last 30 years or so knows that a big part of the story is that investment (merchant) banks turned into traders by the end of the century and that their proprietary trading became more important to them than their retail clients or customers. I’ve written about this in relation to Goldman Sachs, which was the most egregious (because it was the most powerful) of the lot.

Insider trading is essentially a failure of banking as a profession, with professional ethics. There is a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders (in the case of a company) and of clients (in the case of banks).  Conflict-of-interest is a problem in every other work place. Why not here?

Besides conflict-of-interest, insider trading involves an explicit fraud on the client.

That’s in addition to the crime of fractional brokering, as someone cleverly puts it. (This is quite different from fractional banking. Due to the confusion of language that lets banks perform both safe holding and investing functions at once, fractional banking is legal).  On the other hand, “fractional brokering,” which is what naked shorting and “fails-to-delivered” amount to, is illegal.

Unfortunately, the professional financial reporters seem too myopic to understand the gravity of the problem, our self-involved “gonzo” journalists (yes you, Matt Taibbi) are too politically-driven to explain it correctly, and right now I’m too disgusted by the intellectual dishonesty of the media to take the trouble to make the argument on the web and see it lifted by all and sundry with nary a link or footnote, let alone verbal acknowledgment.

As Cara points out correctly (and safely, since he’s in Canada), Wall Street and the American capital markets have become a joke, and a substantial part of the financial media still doesn’t seem to realize it’s the punchline.

That gives me no pleasure to say. For years, I defended American business to my foreign friends, claiming that Americans at least held to standards, regulations, and transparency requirements higher than theirs (meaning, Indian and non-Western).

Behind all the glitz “America” still operated somewhere, I argued.

The Marxists and communists who called the whole thing a charade and a lie didn’t quite get it, I was sure. The values of the American republic would prevail. Once most money-managers and businessmen were alerted to what was going on in the markets, I fully expected that their outrage would be enough to stem the rot. I saw CEOs stepping up to the plate and doing their duty, when the future of their own (rather than someone else’s) children was at stake.
That was four and a half years ago, when I first began researching the markets.

In retrospect,  I see I was incredibly naive.The rot goes deep.

Those are somber thoughts to have around Christmas time. But perhaps not inappropriate. If you recall, in the Christmas story, gold (or should I say, gld?) and frankincense were only two-thirds of the offering. The other third was myrrh. Myrrh is a resin whose oil, I read here, is used for embalming and whose incense is used by penitents at funerals and cremations.

That must be the bitter scent I smell rising from the capital markets.