Timothy F Geithner Treasury Secretary, So Much For Change

As we dive headlong into a depression, president elect Obama has selected Timothy F. Geithner to be the Secretary of the Treasury.  The economy of the U.S. is sinking like the Titanic and guess who's hands are holding the helm along with Hank Paulson, yep Mr. Geithner.  That's right, Geithner has been coaching Paulson along the way and was instrumental in saving AIG, Behr Stearn and letting Lehman Brothers flop.  We all know change is inevitable, but I'm wondering what it really means to president elect Obama.  I suppose it's what he said, that change comes from him first and foremost.  Change is hard to come by with Washington insiders like Geithner, in fact Geither is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, joined the International Monetary Fund and served as President of the Federal Reserve board of New York.  All this smells like the same ole gravy with a little curry added, but its still more of the same.  

Candidate Obama spoke of adding transparency to the workings of government, yet with his selection of Timothy Geithner, President elect Obama selects a man that says “Most consequential choices involve shades of gray, and some fog is often useful in getting things done.”  Change.  But, I'm sure the Obama apologist will hit back by still singing the "give the brotha a chance" song.  Fine, but giving a brotha a chance should not mean laying down all good sense just to give a brotha a chance.  Mr. Geithner may prove to be a good selection but, we have to look at his background and his recent handling of the bailouts and just where that will lead us in the coming months.

Do You Know This Pain?

Each year since December 6th, 2006, I like to remember my nephew Marcelles, who was gunned down for no reason other than two Black men wanted to kill another Black man.  I know our family never thought we would live through such a tragedy.  The murder of my nephew has opened my heart to sympathize with many other families around the globe that loses a family member in these circumstances.  Circumstances of senseless killings.  Each year since my nephew's demise there have been thousands if not hundreds of thousands more that have died senselessly, and thousands that go to prison for the murder.

Since the death of Marcelles and his best friend Brandon, our family feels the loss whenever there is person missing or killed.  When I read about a missing person such as Laneeka Varnado or the death of Frantz Jean- Pierre, killed while working to support his family there is a certain deep seated feeling I get as if I knew them personally.  All of these type tragedies touch me and my family in a way like it never did before.  Now, the trial for the killers of my nephew has begun, so wounds that were in the beginning stages of healing are reopened with the testimony of the witnesses to the murder.  So, as a family we must relive the event like we never have before because there are now crime scene photos to accompany the witness testimony. 

My prayers go out to Laneeka Varnado's family, to the family of Frantz Jean-Pierre, Jdimytai Damour and all those families that have loved ones missing or killed senselessly.  I know your pain personally.  I know exactly the pain that your families are living with and I know what they will live for years to come.

Laneeka Varnado, found.

Laneeka Varnado has been found in Atlanta, GA.  Missing since Nov 24th of this year, Ms. Varnado was found in her car after having run off the road and into a tree killing herself in the accident.  I know this is overwhelming for her family, yet I know it does provide closure on a certain level.

Money: what it is and what you work for.

Pictured above is not money. We have been schooled and taught to believe that this is money and we should work hard to earn it. Yet, what you see above are actually Federal Reserve Notes not U.S. dollars or money. Money has value because it's tied to and valued against a precious metal usually gold or silver as in the British Pound Sterling. But, what we circulate here in the United States is a piece of paper not worth the paper its printed on. In 1971, then president Richard M. Nixon completed the final phase of devaluing the U.S. dollar by removing it from the gold standard.

By taking the U.S. dollar off the gold standard this virtually ensured that inflation would become the order of the day and that you and I would be dealing with fiat currency. Basically fiat currency has no value at all, other than a mental value assigned to it by the people using it. Thus, to get a handle on a piece of whats happening in this economy we have to gain an understanding of how the word currency plays in this scheme of things.

When thinking of the word currency, of course we can notice the word current as its root. In the United States economic system, its of the utmost importance for people to spend money not save it. If you recall president George W. Bush urging people to go out and travel, and spend as if nothing had happened only a few short days after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhatten, New York. He and his advisors knew what the impact would be if people stayed home and and did not spend (move) the currency. In other words, if the currency stagnated there would be serious ramifications in the economy. There must be a movement of the currency to keep the economic system intact.

When this "downturn" occured one of the first things Dubya did was call for Congress to pass an economic stimulus package and send out checks to the people, knowing the U.S. public would go out and spend. I did warn this was only to put funds into the hands of the people to spend to give the appearnce that the third quarter would have a better showing. They had learned from the poor spending on "Black Friday" in November of 2007 that something needed to be done to keep the currency flowing, since the economy stalled out in the 4th quarter last year. Now president elect Obama is calling for another stimulus package to keep the economy stimulated probably for the first or second quarter.

We have to look to the future as we see the collapse of the U.S. economic system set in motion starting as far back as the Aldrich-Vreeland act of 1908, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the infamous Gold Confiscation Act by Franklin D. Roosevelt in April of 1933, and finally Nixon removing the dollar from the gold standard as mentioned above.  Maybe we are actually heading to the North American Union's fiat currency called the Amero.

I Thought Zombies Weren't Real.

 

Many years ago when the Night of the Living Dead film was about to be released, we youngsters would watch the trailers on TV and become afraid just watching the commercials, yet we couldn’t wait for the release so we could rush downtown to go watch it. That alone is a psychological issue within itself. At any rate, when the movie was released off we went to be entertained and scared all at the same time. I remember returning home and asking my father were zombies real and of course his answer was, “no son that’s only Hollywood.” Fortunately, I didn’t dream about the film as is turned out to be more comical then scarey.

Today, I wonder how insightful my father really was concerning zombies. Each and every day as I navigate my way through the Atlanta metro area, it seems I am living in the film itself. People appear to be unaware as to how serious the situation is with our economy and actually the worlds economy, and how it may truly affect their lives. I know I have watched my own 401K bleed out as if it were a victim of a Hutu machete used against a Tutsi victim’s throat in 1994. Yet, most of the population feels as if there is nothing they can do so they medicate themselves on TMZ, or The Real House Wives of Atlanta.

The average citizen is being indirectly taught they cannot understand economics. Jargon like “fractional banking” puts fear in the average Joe or Joetta and they flee from the slight possibility they may understand what's happening with their Federal Reserve Notes, for I dare call it money because it's fiat nature disallow such a moniker. But, Joe and Joetta are of so little faith in themselves that they fall upon their knees and pray to the “Lord” to make a way when they have the power right in their own minds. So, instead of watching Zeitgeist the Addendum, Life and Debt in Jamaica or read a book like The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, or even pick up the Wall Street Journal, they drink their beer or wine, swallow down MSG laced “feed“, watch a game, try and release their stress through sex, then pray that they will have a job tomorrow.

This is a zombie. The zombie my father told me didn’t exist. I see them every day, fearful. Afraid of their own ignorance and continue to revel in it. Ok, I sound harsh and you may say “what am I supposed to do? Walk around sad and depressed?” No. Educate yourself make your world view bigger, gain an understanding, no, an overstanding of what is going on and make your congressman and senator aware that you are aware of what’s going on. The people in Washington, including President elect Obama are counting on your ignorance in order to control you, like a wicked priest controls the zombie he made with puffer fish toxins.