[Democrat-National] Cheney is Betting On Economic Collapse

[Guest guest]

We need to talk about this, spread the word.

Our VP is betting against our country.

Andy Johnson

 

ImpeachGeorgeWBush , Lee

Mentley <leementley

wrote:

>

> Is Cheney Betting On Economic

Collapse?

>

> July 5, 2006

>

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney07052006.html

>

> The Veep's Curious Investment Portfolio

>

> Is Cheney Betting On Economic Collapse?

>

> By MIKE WHITNEY

>

> Wouldn't you like to know where Dick Cheney

puts his money? Then you'd

> know whether his " deficits don't matter " claim

is just

baloney

> or not.

>

> Well, as it turns out, Kiplinger Magazine ran

an article based on

> Cheney's financial disclosure statement and,

sure enough, found

out

> that the VP is lying to the American people for

the umpteenth

time.

> Deficits do matter and Cheney has invested his

money accordingly.

>

> The article is called " Cheney's betting on bad

news " and provides

an

> account of where Cheney has socked away more

than $25 million.

While

> the figures may be estimates, the investments

are not. According

to

> Tom Blackburn of the Palm Beach Post, Cheney

has invested heavily

in

> " a fund that specializes in short-term

municipal bonds, a tax-

exempt

> money market fund and an inflation protected

securities fund. The

> first two hold up if interest rates rise with

inflation. The third

is

> protected against inflation. "

>

> Cheney has dumped another (estimated) $10 to

$25 million in a European

> bond fund which tells us that he is counting on

a

steadily

> weakening dollar. So, while working class

Americans are losing

ground

> to inflation and rising energy costs, Darth

Cheney will be

enhancing

> his wealth in " Old Europe " . As Blackburn sagely

notes, " Not all

bad

> news' is bad for everybody. "

>

> This should put to rest once and for all the

foolish notion that

the

> " Bush Economic Plan " is anything more than a

scam aimed at looting the

> public till. The whole deal is intended to

shift the nation's wealth

> from one class to another. It's also clear that

Bush-Cheney couldn't

> have carried this off without the tacit

approval of the thieves at the

> Federal Reserve who engineered the low-interest

rate

> boondoggle to put the American people to sleep

while they picked their

> pockets.

>

> Reasonable people can dispute that Bush is

" intentionally "

skewering

> the dollar with his lavish tax cuts, but how

does that explain

> Cheney's portfolio?

>

> It doesn't. And, one thing we can say with

metaphysical certainty

is

> that the miserly Cheney would never plunk his

money into an investment

> that wasn't a sure thing. If Cheney is counting

on the dollar tanking

> and interest rates going up, then, by Gawd,

that's what'll happen.

>

> The Bush-Cheney team has racked up another $3

trillion in debt in just

> 6 years. The US national debt now stands at

$8.4 trillion dollars

> while the trade deficit has ballooned to $800

billion

nearly

> 7% of GDP.

>

> This is lunacy. No country, however powerful,

can maintain these

> staggering numbers. The country is in hock up

to its neck and has

to

> borrow $2.5 billion per day just to stay above

water. Presently,

the

> Fed is expanding the money supply and buying

back its own

treasuries

> to hide the hemorrhaging from the public. Its

utter madness.

>

> Last month the trade deficit climbed to $70

billion. More importantly,

> foreign central banks only purchased a meager

$47 billion in

> treasuries to shore up our ravenous appetite

for cheap junk from

> China.

>

> Do the math! They're not investing in America

anymore. They are

> decreasing their stockpiles of dollars. We're

sinking fast and

Cheney

> and his pals are manning the lifeboats while

the public is

diverted

> with gay marriage amendments and " American

Celebrity " .

>

> The American manufacturing sector has been

hollowed out by

cutthroat

> corporations who've abandoned their country to

make a fast-buck in

> China or Mexico. The $3 trillion housing

(equity) bubble is

quickly

> loosing air while the anemic dollar continues

to sag. All the

signs

> indicate that the economy is slowing at the

same time that energy

> prices continue to rise.

>

> This is the onset of stagflation; the dreaded

combo of a slowing

> economy and inflation.

>

> Did Americans really think they'd be spared the

same type of

economic

> colonization that has been applied throughout

the developing world

> under the rubric of " neoliberalism " ?

>

> Well, think again. The American economy is

barrel-rolling towards

> earth and there are only enough parachutes for

Cheney and the gang.

>

> The country has lost 3 million jobs from

outsourcing since Bush

took

> office; more than 200,000 of those are the

high-paying, high-tech jobs

> that are the life's-blood of every economy.

>

> Consider this from the Council on Foreign

Relations (CFR) June edition

> of Foreign Affairs, the Bible of globalists and

plutocrats:

>

> " Between 2000 and 2003 alone, foreign firms

built

60,000manufacturing

> plants in China. European chemical companies,

Japanese carmakers,

and

> US industrial conglomerates are all building

factories in China to

> supply export markets around the world.

Similarly, banks,

insurance

> companies, professional-service firms, and IT

companies are

building

> R & D and service centers in India to support

employees, customers,

and

> production worldwide. " ( " The Globally

integrated Enterprise "

Samuel

> Palmisano, Foreign Affairs page 130)

>

> " 60,000 manufacturing plants " in 3 years?!?

>

> " Banks, insurance companies,

professional-service firms, and IT

> companies " ?

>

> No job is safe. American elites and corporate

tycoons are loading

the

> boats and heading for foreign shores. The only

thing they're

leaving

> behind is the insurmountable debt that will be

shackled to our

> children into perpetuity and the carefully

arranged levers of a modern

> police-surveillance state.

>

> Welcome to Bush's 21st Century gulag; third

world luxury in a

> Guantanamo-type setting.

>

> Take another look at Cheney's investment

strategy; it tells the

whole

> ugly story. Interest rates are going up, the

middle class is going

> down, and the poor dollar is headed for the

dumpster. The country

is

> not simply teetering on the brink of financial

collapse; it is

being

> thrust headfirst by the blackguards in office

and their satrapies

at

> Federal Reserve.

>

> Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can

be reached at:

> fergiewhitney

>

> --

> Tim Hermach

> Native Forest Council

> PO Box 2190

> Eugene, OR 97402

> 541.688.2600

> 541.461.2156 fax

>

> web page: http://www.forestcouncil.org

>

> DEFENDING LIFE, LAND & LIBERTY

>

> * Honest & Fully Costed Accounting,

> * Voices of Integrity, Hope & Reason

> * Honest & Uncompromised Education, Advocacy &

Litigation

> * Real Protection for 650 Million Acres of

Federal Land, Rivers &

Streams

>

> See for yourself at:

>

http://forestcouncil.org/learn/aerial/index.html

>

>

> HRH

> Lee Mentley

>

> " Authority has every reason to fear the

skeptic, for authority can

> rarely survive in the face of doubt. " : Robert

Lindner, 1914-1956

>

 

 

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