World Affairs Brief, August 17, 2012 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World. Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com)
THIS WEEK’S ANALYSIS:
Paul Ryan: Conservative or RINO Republican?
What Should be the Key Issue of this Election?
Collapse Prediction Reaching a Crescendo
What an Israeli Strike on Iran would Look Like
Homosexual General Promoted and Flaunted by the Army
[…]
COLLAPSE PREDICTIONS REACHING A CRESCENDO
I do a lot of consultations for people around the country who have bought my book Strategic Relocation. Of late, somewhere in that conversation, every single client asks me if I think economic collapse is imminent. That’s all they hear about on the internet from Alex Jones, Lindsey Williams, Gerald Celente, Steve Quayle, Doug Hagmann, Bill Deagle and many others.
Despite my attempt in last week’s WAB attempting to bring calm to the internet rumors of “Government preparing for collapse” none of my fellow commentators on the Right seem to be listening. The stories and predictions of imminent monetary and banking collapse, followed by martial law seem to grow each day as one commentator relies on the others’ stories to build their case. It culminated in a Red Alert by Alex Jones after major US banks were reportedly warned by government to prepare for collapse by October of this year. Here’s the Alex Jones warning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CZzqYg5Cz4
But there’s a problem. This alert is based upon a Reuters article about a two year old investigation into these rumors. Through a FOIC request they found out that each of the too big to fail banks had been requested to develop “living will” type transition plans in case they failed, and how they would like to see their assets transferred. It makes no mention of October, and there isn’t any reason to suspect from the article that the FED or the banks are expecting an imminent collapse of the banking system. What it really implies is that the insider banks want to make sure there is an orderly transfer of their assets to other big banks should they fail. It’s more of a “keep it in the family” preparation than an indication that the world’s money system is losing control.
Nevertheless, each of the largest talk-show hosts on the constitutional Right seem to be reinforcing each other referencing the same unnamed “sources inside government” who keep feeding them this information. Time and again in the past these sources have been proven wrong:
Remember the “Christian law enforcement officer who overheard FEMA officers telling county officials about an imminent bank holiday coming.” This was August of 2010 and turned out to be totally bogus. Remember the Doug Hagmann government source who recently claimed that patriotic high ranking officers in the military are planning a coup to take down these globalist leaders. That too was bogus. Not only will it not happen (the military if full of yesmen at the top) but if the source were telling the truth, he would have killed the plan by announcing it on radio. All the conspirators for liberty would be found out and dead by now.
Alex is covering himself by saying that this banking collapse doesn’t have to happen. If we give this enough publicity, he says, the PTB’s cover will be blown and they won’t do this. No real nefarious plan of the government has ever been revealed before, so there is no historical precedent for this claim that outing this plan can stop it. But it will allow predictors to excuse themselves when this doesn’t happen, rather than apologize for spreading unfounded rumors.
To be clear, I’m not debunking this pattern of disinformation because I dislike Alex or any other of the big-audience talk show hosts. They do a great service most of the time. I just don’t want them or the movement to be discredited by this hype. It’s time the Right settled down to analyze more carefully how the PTB operate and why they won’t pull off a collapse or martial law without probable cause—or at least one that appears probable to the public. Yes, a banking shut down would provide that rationale, but it would also collapse the economy and they would get the blame—and so would Obama (who they want to re-elect).
Yes, the government could certainly pull something like this, but I don’t see any reason why they would and it would convince people there is a huge conspiracy in government. It’s too early to do what WWIII will someday do for them—and give them cover too (so they don’t get the blame).
Another issue bolstering the warnings about collapse leading to Martial Law are the stories about millions of rounds of ammunition purchased by DHS, the IRS and other federal agencies. There was a typographic error exaggerating the number of rounds to be purchased by the Fisheries Enforcement service that got hyped as well. The conspiracy got even more suspicious when it was discover the DHS had blacked out portions of its order posted to the public – specifically, information about the number and type of ammunition sought. Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars.com has the story:
“The Department of Homeland Security has redacted information relating to the quantity of bullets it is buying following a controversy concerning the agency’s purchase of over a billion rounds of ammo, which many fear is a sign the federal government is preparing for civil unrest in the United States [which I am disputing. It’s an eventual threat but not imminent].
“Despite the fact that documents are only supposed to be redacted if authorized by Congress or for national security reasons, a solicitation posted on the FedBizOpps website yesterday concerning ammunition purchases made by the DHS on behalf of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) contains numerous blacked out sections.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s decision to black out sections of the document, including the number of bullets being purchased, is likely to be related to a massive controversy which has snowballed over the last few weeks pertaining to concerns as to why the federal agency has purchased well over a billion rounds of bullets over the last 6 months alone.
“The DHS’ decision back in March to purchase 450 million rounds of .40-caliber hollow point bullets that are designed to expand upon entry and cause maximum organ damage prompted questions as to why the federal agency required such powerful bullets and in such large quantities merely for training purposes [good point].
“This was followed up by a more recent order for a further 750 million rounds of assorted ammunition, including bullets that can penetrate walls. Given the fact that the DHS is also acquiring riot gear in preparation for civil unrest which could take place at the upcoming DNC, RNC and presidential inauguration, the purchase of ammunition in such massive numbers has stoked fears that the federal government could be preparing to use force against the American people [that’s hype in my opinion when you imply it is imminent].”
There is another reason for the outrageous quantity. In typical bid fashion, requisitions are created for the purpose of establishing a price and a “maximum quantity, not to exceed” that is almost always never actually ordered or received. So, from these documents, you cannot assume the DHS actually intends to take delivery of this quantity—which is absolutely unnecessary even in a martial law scenario.
Martial law doesn’t intend to shoot everyone, but control them and restrict them in time and space. It takes hundreds of thousands of police and military to enforce martial law nationwide, and it slows down the economy to a crawl—just what the PTB need to reassure the public that there’s “no conspiracy.” I don’t think they are so stupid as to pull this off anytime soon.