Double-digit inflation is a terrible thing - and it got up to 14 or 15 percent on a monthly basis for a while, shortly after I became chairman of the Fed.
quote by Paul A. Volcker
Added by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
Fed Up
Fed up.
Stretched to the point,
I'm fed up.
Fed up by debts that peck,
On my back and neck.
And I can't lay down my head,
To get any rest to get.
Stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
Stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
Stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
'Would you like another loan? '
NO!
I'm stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
Stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
Stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
'Would you like another loan? '
NO!
I'm fed up.
Stretched to the point,
I'm fed up.
Fed up by debts that peck,
On my back and neck.
And I can't lay down my head,
To get any rest to get.
I'm stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
I'm stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
I'm stretched to the point that I'm fed up!
And I can't lay down my head to get any rest to get.
'Would you like another loan? '
NO!
I'm fed up.
Stretched to the point,
I'm fed up.
Fed up by debts that peck,
On my back and neck.
And I can't lay down my head,
To get any rest to get.
I'm fed up.
'Sir...
By 'fed' do you mean 'federally' fed.
Or have 'had it' with the 'feds' fed.
[...] Read more
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Double Wide Paradise
(paul thorn/billy maddox)
I dont want to cry
I dont want to walk the floor
This mobile home
Dont feel like home no more
Since you left tell me what else can I do
Just come back home
Forgive me and forget it
This bed I made
Im tired of sleepin in it
Its freezin cold, and baby that aint cool
Im waitin on you
Here at the ponderosa trailer park
There wasnt nothin that could keep us apart
Then I broke your heart, in our
Double wide, double wide, double wide paradise
Come on back to our double wide paradise
Double wide, double wide paradise
I bought a swimmin pool
From the man at sears
He put it together
I filled it up with tears
Cant find no happiness no matter what I do
Just cause I got
The treasures of the world
It dont mean nothin
If I aint got you girl
Inside my castle
I got the king size blues
Im waitin on you
So baby when you get to feelin alone
You know I always leave my porch light on
So you can come back home, to our
Double wide, double wide, double wide paradise
Come on back to our double wide paradise
Double wide, double wide paradise
We can have a second honeymoon
Well throw some ribs on the barbecue
Just like we used to do
Double wide, double wide, double wide paradise
Come on back to our double wide paradise
Double wide, double wide paradise
song performed by Toby Keith
Added by Lucian Velea
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European Union Austerity Measures Inflicted On Greece
an interesting development...
an online censor clerk,
has learned, an innovative, art
a strategic censorship perk
instead of banning...
problematic whole book,
article, poem, attacking
austerity measures
a strategic strike intriguing...
a crafty innovative hook,
just delete, fine tune, targeting
precisely, paragraph, paragraphs
referencing offending...
sponsorship bankers bank,
austerity, measures, mince meating
Greece, Greek, citizens
a lie shrouded adjustment...
offered by Germany her allies,
austerity, leads to, internal deflation repeat
Greece, will regain, competitiveness
proposed solution a no-brainer neat...
suppose miraculously austerity succeeds,
actually, could deliver, deflation sweet
growth, nominal GDP suppressed, decreases
turns negative burden of debt...
will increase reducing Greek wages,
relative, to Germany, in prime position seat
Greece, has sacrificed made, 'progress':
private-sector wages fell 5.4%...
in the third quarter of 2011,
from, a happier, year earlier 12%
since, peak first quarter, of 2010
leaked European Commission report...
called for nominal wages in business,
economy, to be reduced, by a further 15%
during,2012-2014, exploitation finesse
will Germany accept...
undesired price of inflation,
for stability, political, benefit
of keeping, intact, pet eurozone?
[...] Read more
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Tie Our Love
Gonna tie our love in a double knot
'cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Let's tie our love in a double knot
Woah, if we want to endure
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
While we're wrapped up in those ties that bind
I want to make sure we don't unwind
So we'll tie our love in a double knot
'cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Let's tie our love in a double knot
'cause i've got my dreams, baby you got yours
Put it together, we got a whole lot more
'cause i ain't lookin' for just one night
No, i want to make it the rest of our lives
So lets tie our love in a double knot
'cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Let's tie our love in a double knot
Woah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Tie our love in a double knot
'cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Let's tie our love in a double knot
Tie our love in a double knot
Let's tie our love in a double knot
Repeat & fade:
Tie our love in a double knot
song performed by Dolly Parton
Added by Lucian Velea
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Tie Our Love (in A Double Knot)
Gonna tie our love in a double knot
cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Lets tie our love in a double knot
Woah, if we want to endure
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
While were wrapped up in those ties that bind
I want to make sure we dont unwind
So well tie our love in a double knot
cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Lets tie our love in a double knot
cause Ive got my dreams, baby you got yours
Put it together, we got a whole lot more
cause I aint lookin for just one night
No, I want to make it the rest of our lives
So lets tie our love in a double knot
cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Lets tie our love in a double knot
Woah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Tie our love in a double knot
cause these days love gets strained a lot
To give our hearts a double shot
Lets tie our love in a double knot
Tie our love in a double knot
Lets tie our love in a double knot
Repeat & fade:
Tie our love in a double knot
song performed by Dolly Parton
Added by Lucian Velea
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A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
(andrew lloyd webber/ jim steinman)
Producer for meatloaf & bonnie: jim steinman
Recorded in 1998 as part of the 'songs from whistle down the wind' project. bonnie duets with meatloaf on a reprise of 'tire tracks and broken hearts' at the end of the song. the lyrics are from careful listening.
(ooh if only, ooh if only)
If you listen to the night you can hear the darkness fall
I can barely stand the wait, i can barely stand at all
Come on closer to me now, like we're sharing the same skin
We gotta get out of this jail, we gotta let the future in
So many things in your life that you're bound to regret
Why didn't i do that? why didn't i do this?
So many chances you've lost that you never forget
Why didn't i make it? why didn't i take it right then?
The loneliest words you'll ever know if only, if only it was so
The emptiest words that there'll ever be
It could've been me, it could've been me
The loneliest words you'll ever know if only, if only it was so
The emptiest words that there'll ever be
It could've been me, it could've been me
You'll have to pay for it later
If you don't get it while it's going for free
Believe me, believe me
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
It's something that's always been so
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
And one of these nights i'm gonna show you that you already know
There's a feast waiting for you and you've never even gotten a taste
It's later than you think and a kiss is a terrible thing to waste
You shouldn't tremble when they touch there's no reason for these fears
It's a promise that was made, we've been promised this for years
I want to show you it all, what to do and where and how
'cause we'll never be as young as we are right now
Never be as young as we are right now
So many cries in the night that you try to ignore
Why didn't i do this? why didn't i do that?
So many un-answered prayers, so many un-opened doors
Why didn't i take it? why didn't i make it come true?
The loneliest words you'll ever know if only, if only it was so
The emptiest words that there'll ever be
It could've been me, it could've been me
The loneliest words you'll ever know if only, if only it was so
The emptiest words that there'll ever be
It could've been me, it could've been me
You'll have to pay for it later
If you don't get it while it's going for free
Believe me, believe me
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
It's something that's always been so
[...] Read more
song performed by Bonnie Tyler
Added by Lucian Velea
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A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
If you listen, to the night
You can hear the darkness call
I can barely stand to wait
I can barely stand at all
Cmon closer to me now
Its like were sharing the same skin
We gotta get out of this jail
We gotta let the future in
So many things in your life
That your bound to regret
Why didnt I do that?
Why didnt I do this?
So many chances you lost
That youll never forget
Why didnt I make it?
Why didnt I take it right there?
The loneliest words youll ever know
If only-if only it was so
The emptiest words that therell ever be:
It could have been me. it could have been me
The loneliest words youll ever know
If only-if only it was so
The emptiest words that therell ever be:
It could have been me. it could have been me
Youll have to pay for it later
If you dont get it when its going for free
Believe me -! believe me -!
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
Its something thats always been so
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste
And one of these nights
Youre gonna show me that you already know
Theres a feast waiting for you
And youve never even gotten a taste
Its later than you think and
A kiss is a terrible thing to waste!
You shouldnt tremble when we touch
Theres no reason for these fears
Its a promise that was made
Weve been promised this for years
I wanna show you it all
What to do and where and how!
Cause well never be as young as we are right now
Well never be as young as we are right now!
So many cries in the night
That you try to ignore
Why didnt I do this?
Why didnt I do that?
[...] Read more
song performed by Meat Loaf
Added by Lucian Velea
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Book Of The Duchesse
THE PROEM
I have gret wonder, be this lighte,
How that I live, for day ne nighte
I may nat slepe wel nigh noght,
I have so many an ydel thoght
Purely for defaute of slepe
That, by my trouthe, I take no kepe
Of no-thing, how hit cometh or goth,
Ne me nis no-thing leef nor loth.
Al is y-liche good to me --
Ioye or sorowe, wherso hyt be --
For I have feling in no-thinge,
But, as it were, a mased thing,
Alway in point to falle a-doun;
For sorwful imaginacioun
Is alway hoolly in my minde.
And wel ye wite, agaynes kynde
Hit were to liven in this wyse;
For nature wolde nat suffyse
To noon erthely creature
Not longe tyme to endure
Withoute slepe, and been in sorwe;
And I ne may, ne night ne morwe,
Slepe; and thus melancolye
And dreed I have for to dye,
Defaute of slepe and hevinesse
Hath sleyn my spirit of quiknesse,
That I have lost al lustihede.
Suche fantasies ben in myn hede
So I not what is best to do.
But men myght axe me, why soo
I may not slepe, and what me is?
But natheles, who aske this
Leseth his asking trewely.
My-selven can not telle why
The sooth; but trewely, as I gesse,
I holde hit be a siknesse
That I have suffred this eight yere,
And yet my bote is never the nere;
For ther is phisicien but oon,
That may me hele; but that is doon.
Passe we over until eft;
That wil not be, moot nede be left;
Our first matere is good to kepe.
So whan I saw I might not slepe,
Til now late, this other night,
Upon my bedde I sat upright
And bad oon reche me a book,
A romaunce, and he hit me took
[...] Read more
poem by Geoffrey Chaucer
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Double Vision
Feeling down n dirty, feeling kinda mean
Ive been from one to another extreme
This time I had a good time, aint got time to wait
I wanna stick around till I cant see straight
Fill my eyes with that double vision, no disguise for that double vision
Ooh, when it gets through to me, its always new to me
My double vision gets the best of me
Never do more than I really need
My mind is racing, but my bodys in the lead
Tonights the night, Im gonna push it to the limit
I live all of my years in a single minute
Fill my eyes with that double vision, no disguise for that double vision
Ooh, when it gets through to me, its always new to me
My double vision always seems to get the best of me - the best of me, yeah
Ooh, double vision, I need my double vision
It takes me out of my head, takin me out of my head
I get my double vision, oh, seeing double double
Oh, I have double vision, yeah, Im getting double vision... (to fade)
song performed by Foreigner
Added by Lucian Velea
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Dying Inside
Terrible thing
It was a terrible thing to see you're dying
It was a terrible thing
It was a terrible thing to see you're dying inside
To see you're dying
Won't you come out
I'll play the game with day
Won't you speak out
I'll say the things you say
The lady loved her gold
The lady lost her soul
It was a terrible thing
It was a terrible thing to see you're dying
It was a terrible thing
It was a terrible thing to see you're dying inside
To see you're dying
Do you remember the things we used to do
Do you remember the way it was for you
The lady loved her gold
The lady lost her soul
It was a terrible thing
It was a terrible thing to see you're dying
It was a terrible thing
It was a terrible thing to see you're dying inside
To see you die
La...
song performed by Cranberries from Wake Up And Smell The Coffee
Added by Lucian Velea
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Terrible Way To Treat Your Baby
I know that she loves you now
But your heart doesnt keep any vows
And thats a terrible way to treat your baby
A terrible way to hurt that girl
Its a terrible way you treat your baby
When you know that I love her
More than anything in this world
Her heart isnt for a game
So tell her , you dont feel the same
For thats a terrible way to treat your baby
A terrible way , you hurt that girl
Its a terrible way you treat your baby
When you know that I love her
More than anything in this world
Oh, so sad ,leaving her behind
And if you give me the chance to take her hand
And try to change her mind
For its a terrible way to treat your baby
A terrible way you hurt that girl
Its a terrible way to treat your baby
When you know that I love her
More than anything in this world
For its a terrible way to treat your baby
A terrible way you hurt that girl
Its a terrible way to treat your baby
When you know that I love her
More than anything in this world
song performed by Bee Gees
Added by Lucian Velea
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Phony Calls
Mom and dad are goin out for the evening
And youre stuck inside the house all alone
Thats when you decided it might be fun to harass someone
Dial a random number up on your telephone
You ask if their refrigerator is running
Then you tell em they should go out and catch it
Buddy, if they ever figured out where you were callin em from
Theyd come and bust your head right in with a ratchet
Listen to me
Dont go makin phony calls
Please stick to the seven-digit numbers youre used to
I know that you think its funny drivin folks up the wall
But its really gettin old fast
Little melvin has a natural obsession
Askin for prince albert in a can
He gets a kick each time he makes a collect call
To some guy he doesnt know who lives in japan
Hes callin strangers up at three in the morning
Gives em pizza pie delivery at four
He wont be laughin when theyre tracin his line
One day the phone police will be there at his door
Yo, hear me
Dont go makin phony calls
Only dial the seven-digit numbers youre used to
Swear someday Im gonna yank that phone cord right out from the wall
How long is this phase gonna last?
Come on
Moes bar, whatll ya eat, beat or drink?
Uh, yeah, hello, is mike there? last name rotch.
Hold on. Ill check. mike rotch! mike rotch! hey, has anybody seen mike rotch lately?
Listen to me, you little puke. one of these days, Im going to catch you, and Im going to carve my name on your back with an
Ice pick!
Dont go makin phony calls
Please stick to the seven-digit numbers youre used to
You went through the new york city phone book and prank called em all
Hope that you grow out of this fast
Dont go makin phony calls,
Please stick to the seven-digit numbers youre used to
Betcha think its funny when youre drivin folks right up the wall
But youre just a pain in the aaa....
song performed by Weird Al Yankovic
Added by Lucian Velea
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Double Date
Roy orbison/ jack clement
Me and my buddy went on a double date
I was feeling great, I could hardly wait
I got my lovin baby and introduced my friend
He fell for her, she fell for him
On a double date, on a double date
Now my babys gone, Im all alone
All because of a double date, of a double date
Then my one time buddy went on a double date
He was feeling great, he couldnt hardly wait
He got my loving baby and introduced his friend
Ha ha, and then that was the end
On a double date, on a double date
Now my babys gone, Im all alone
All because of a double date, of a double date
Of a double date, of a double date....
song performed by Roy Orbison
Added by Lucian Velea
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Fat Fed Leeching People
What they 'really' want?
A more greedier life to live.
What they 'really' hunger for?
Is less from them to give!
A me-me-I-I society...
Hooked on feeding greed.
What they 'really' want?
A more greedier life to live.
What they 'really' hunger for?
Is a leaner 'truth'
To soothe their whims.
Fat fed leeching people,
Poisoned to feed.
Don't understand,
Their demands are fading.
Fat fed leeching people,
Have been led to believe...
Deceptions and lies,
Reflect their real lives.
What they 'really' want?
A more greedier life to live.
What they 'really' hunger for?
Is a less 'truth' than that 'truth'...
Really IS!
Fat fed leeching people,
Want a less truth,
Than that truth...
Really IS!
Fat fed leeching people,
Want a less truth,
Than that truth...
Really IS!
Fat fed leeching people,
Want a less truth,
Than that truth...
Really IS!
AND,
Poisoned to feed...
On a less 'truth'
Than that truth...
Really IS!
[...] Read more
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Wacky Weed
Your fiction has a sickness,
And it is in deluxe.
Trimmed with a mouth piece minted,
Sweetened to touch.
Bong bong wicky sticky bong bong.
You fed on the weed.
You fed on that wacky weed.
You fed on the weed.
You fed on that wacky weed.
In a bong bong bong.
There is no truth you mention,
While you do that stuff.
Your motives are quite hidden,
And you munch too much.
You fed on the weed.
Wicky sticky bong bong
You fed on that wacky weed.
In a bong bong.
You fed on the weed.
Wicky sticky bong bong
You fed on that wacky weed.
In a bong bong bong.
Your fiction has a sickness,
And it is in deluxe.
Trimmed with a mouth piece minted,
Sweetened to touch.
Bong bong wicky sticky bong bong.
You fed on the weed.
Wicky sticky bong bong
You fed on that wacky weed.
In a bong bong.
You fed on the weed.
Wicky sticky bong bong
You fed on that wacky weed.
In a bong bong bong.
Wicky sticky bong bong.
Wick wicky sticky bong.
Wicky sticky bong bong.
Wick wicky sticky bong.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Variations At Home And Abroad
It takes a lot of a person's life
To be French, or English, or American
Or Italian. And to be at any age. To live at any certain time.
The Polish-born resident of Manhattan is not merely a representative of
general humanity
And neither is this Sicilian fisherman stringing his bait
Or to be any gender, born where or when
Betty holding a big plate
Karen crossing her post-World War Two legs
And smiling across the table
These three Italian boys age about twenty gesturing and talking
And laughing after they get off the train
Seem fifty percent Italian and the rest percent just plain
Human race.
O mystery of growing up! O history of going to school!
O lovers O enchantments!
The subject is not over because the photograph is over.
The photographer sits down. Murnau makes the movie.
Everything is a little bit off, but has a nationality.
The oysters won't help the refugees off the boats,
Only other human creatures will. The phone rings and the Albanian
nationalist sits down.
When he gets up he hasn't become a Russian émigré or a German circus
clown
A woman is carrying a basket—a beautiful sight! She is in and of
Madagascar.
The uniformed Malay policeman sniffs the beer barrel that the brothers of
Ludwig are bringing close to him.
All humanity likes to get drunk! Are differences then all on the surface?
But even every surface gets hot
In the sun. It may be that the surface is where we are all alike!
But man and woman show that this isn't true.
We will get by, though. The train is puffing at the station
But the station isn't puffing at the train. This difference allows for a sense
of community
As when people feel really glad to have cats and dogs
And some even a few mice in the chimney. We are not alone
In the universe, and the diversity causes comfort as well as difficulty.
To be Italian takes at least half the day. To be Chinese seven-eighths of it.
Only at evening when Chang Ho, repast over, sits down to smoke
Is he exclusively human, in the way the train is exclusively itself when it is
in motion
But that's to say it wrongly. His being human is also his being seven-eighths
Chinese.
Falling in love one may get, say, twenty percent back
Toward universality, though that is probably all. Then when love's gone
One's Nigerianness increases, or one's quality of being of Nepal.
An American may start out wishing
To be everybody or that everybody were the same
[...] Read more
poem by Kenneth Koch
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Death Of The Middle Class
Oligarchs and Banksters tighten financial screws
In a bold attempt to kill the global Middle Class
Heads of State unable/unwilling to halt this ruse
The “Great Depression of 1929” we soon surpass
ROTMS
By Andrew Gavin Marshall - Global Research
We now stand at the edge of the global financial abyss of a ‘Great Global Debt Depression, ’ where nations, mired in extreme debt, are beginning to implement ‘fiscal austerity’ measures to reduce their deficits, which will ultimately result in systematic global social genocide, as the middle classes vanish and the social foundations upon which our nations rest are swept away. How did we get here? Who brought us here? Where is this road leading? These are questions I will briefly attempt to answer.
At the heart of the global political economy is the central banking system. Central banks are responsible for printing a nation’s currency and setting interest rates, thus determining the value of the currency. This should no doubt be the prerogative of a national government, however, central banks are of a particularly deceptive nature, in which while being imbued with governmental authority, they are in fact privately owned by the world’s major global banks, and are thus profit-seeking institutions. How do central banks make a profit? The answer is simple: how do all banks make a profit? Interest on debt. Loans are made, interest rates are set, and profits are made. It is a system of debt, imperial economics at its finest.
In the United States, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, creating the Federal Reserve System, with the Board located in Washington, appointed by the President, but where true power rested in the 12 regional banks, most notably among them, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The regional Fed banks were private banks, owned in shares by the major banks in each region, which elected the board members to represent them, and who would then share power with the Federal Reserve Board in Washington.
In the early 1920s, the Council on Foreign Relations was formed in the United States as the premier foreign policy think tank, dominated by powerful banking interests. In 1930, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) was created to manage German reparations payments, but it also had another role, which was much less known, but much more significant. It was to act as a “coordinator of the operations of central banks around the world.” Essentially, it is the central bank for the world’s central banks, whose operations are kept ‘strictly confidential.’ As historian Carroll Quigley wrote:
'The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations.'
In 1954, the Bilderberg Group was formed as a secretive global think tank, comprising intellectual, financial, corporate, political, military and media elites from Western Europe and North America, with prominent bankers such as David Rockefeller, as well as European royalty, such as the Dutch royal family, who are the largest shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell, whose CEO attends every meeting. This group of roughly 130 elites meets every year in secret to discuss and debate global affairs, and to set general goals and undertake broad agendas at various meetings. The group was initially formed to promote European integration. The 1956 meeting discussed European integration and a common currency. In fact, the current Chairman of the Bilderberg Group told European media last year that the euro was debated at the Bilderberg Group.
In 1973, David Rockefeller, Chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank, Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Steering Committee of the Blderberg Group, formed the Trilateral Commission with CFR academic Zbigniew Brzezinski. That same year, the oil price shocks created a wealth of oil money, which was discussed at that years Bilderberg meeting 5 months prior to the oil shocks, and the money was funneled through western banks, which loaned it to ‘third world’ nations desperately in need of loans to finance industrialization.
When Jimmy Carter became President in 1977, he appointed over two dozen members of the Trilateral Commission into his cabinet, including himself, and of course, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was his National Security Adviser. In 1979, Carter appointed David Rockefeller’s former aide and friend, Paul Volcker, who had held various positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Treasury Department, and who also happened to be a member of the Trilateral Commission, as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. When another oil shock took place in 1979, Volcker decided to raise interest rates from 2% in the late 70s, to 18% in the early 80s. The effect this had was that the countries of the developing world suddenly had to pay enormous interest on their loans, and in 1982, Mexico announced it could no longer afford to pay its interest, and it defaulted on its debt, which set off the 1980s debt crisis – collapsing nations in debt across Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia.
It was the IMF and the World Bank came to the ‘assistance’ of the Third World with their ‘structural adjustment programs’, which forced countries seeking assistance to privatize all state owned industries and resources, devalue their currencies, liberalize their economies, dismantle health, education and social services; ultimately resulting in the re-colonization of the ‘Third World’ as Western corporations and banks bought all their assets and resources, and ultimately created the conditions of social genocide, with the spread of mass poverty, and the emergence of corrupt national elites who were subservient to the interests of Western elites. The people in these nations would protest, riot and rebel, and the states would clamp down with the police and military.
In the West, corporations and banks saw rapid, record-breaking profits. This was the era in which the term ‘globalization’ emerged. While profits soared, wages for people in the West did not. Thus, to consume in an economy in which prices were rising, people had to go into debt. This is why this era marked the rise of credit cards fueling consumption, and the middle class became a class based entirely on debt.
In the 1990s, the ‘new world order’ was born, with America ruling the global economy, free trade agreements began integrating regional and global markets for the benefit of global banks and corporations, and speculation dominated the economy.
The global economic crisis arose as a result of decades of global imperialism – known recently as ‘globalization’ – and the reckless growth of– speculation, derivatives and an explosion of debt. As the economic crisis spread, nations of the world, particularly the United States, bailed out the major banks (which should have been made to fail and crumble under their own corruption and greed) , and now the West has essentially privatized profits for the banks, and socialized the risk. In other words, the nations bought the debt from the banks, and now the people have to pay for it. The people, however, are immersed in their own personal debt to such degrees that today, the average Canadian is $39,000 in debt, and students are graduating into a jobless market with tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt that they will never repay. Hence, we are now faced with a global debt crisis.
To manage the economic crisis, the G20 was established as the major international forum for cooperation among the 20 major economies of the world, including the major developing – or emerging – economies, such as India, Brazil, South Africa and China. At the onset of the financial crisis, China and Russia’s central banks began calling for the establishment of a global currency to replace the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency. This proposal was backed by the UN and the IMF. It should be noted, however, that the Chinese and Russian central banks cooperate with the Western central banks through the Bank for International Settlements – which the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, recently said was the principle forum for “governance of central bank cooperation” and that the G20 is “the prime group for global economic governance.” In 2009, the IMF stated that the BIS “is the central and the oldest focal point for coordination of global governance arrangements.” The President of the European Union, appointed to the position after attending a Bilderberg meeting, declared 2009 as the “first year of global governance.” The 2009 Bilderberg meeting reported on the desire to create a global treasury, or global central bank, to manage the world economy. In 2009, prior to the Bilderberg meeting in fact, the G20 set in motion plans to make the IMF a global central bank of sorts, issuing and even printing its own currency – called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) – which is valued against a basket of currencies. In May of 2010, the IMF Managing Director stated that “crisis is an opportunity, ” and while Special Drawing Rights are a step in the right direction, ultimately what is needed is “a new global currency issued by a global central bank, with robust governance and institutional features.” Thus, we see the emergence of a process towards the formation of a global central bank and a global currency, totally unaccountable to any nation or people, and totally controlled by global banking interests.
In 2010, Greece was plunged into a debt crisis, a crisis which is now spreading across Europe, to the U.K. and eventually to Japan and the United States. If we look at Greece, we see the nature of the global debt crisis. The debt is owed to major European and American banks. To pay the interest on the debt, Greece had to get a loan from the European Central Bank and the IMF, which forced the country to impose ‘fiscal austerity’ measures as a condition for the loans, pressuring Greece to commit social genocide. Meanwhile, the major banks of America and Europe speculate against the Greek debt, further plunging the country into economic and social crisis. The loan is granted, to pay the interest, yet simply has the effect of adding to the overall debt, as a new loan is new debt. Thus, Greece is caught in the same debt trap that re-colonized the Third World.
At the recent G20 meeting in Toronto, the major nations of the world agreed to impose fiscal austerity – or in other words, commit social genocide – within their nations, in a veritable global structural adjustment program. So now we will see the beginnings of the Great Global Debt Depression, in which major western and global nations cut social spending, create mass unemployment by dismantling health, education, and social services. Further, state infrastructure – such as roads, bridges, airports, ports, railways, prisons, hospitals, electric transmission lines and water – will be privatized, so that global corporations and banks will own the entirely of national assets. Simultaneously, of course, taxes will be raised dramatically to levels never before seen. The BIS said that interest rates should rise at the same time, meaning that interest payments on debt will dramatically increase at both the national and individual level, forcing governments to turn to the IMF for loans – likely in the form of its new global reserve currency – to simply pay the interest, and will thus be absorbing more debt. Simultaneously, of course, the middle class will in effect have its debts called in, and since the middle class exists only as an illusion, the illusion will vanish.
Already, towns, cities, and states across America are resorting to drastic actions to reduce their debts, such as closing fire stations, scaling back trash collection, turning off street lights, ending bus services and public transportation, cutting back on library hours or closing them altogether, school districts cutting down the school day, week or year. Simultaneously, this is occurring with a dramatic increase in the rate of privatizations or “public-private partnerships” in which even libraries are being privatized.
No wonder then, that this month, the Managing Director of the IMF warned that America and Europe, in the midst of the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression, face an “explosion of social unrest.” Just yesterday, Europe experienced a wave of mass protests and social unrest in opposition to ‘austerity measures’, with a general strike in Spain involving millions of people, and a march on the EU headquarters in Brussels of nearly 100,000 people. As social unrest spreads, governments will likely react – as we saw in the case of the G20 in Toronto – with oppressive police state measures. Here, we see the true relevance of the emergence of ‘Homeland Security States’, designed not to protect people from terrorists, but to protect the powerful from the people.
So while things have never seemed quite so bleak, there is a dim and growing beacon of hope, in what Zbigniew Brzezinski has termed as the greatest threat to elite interests everywhere – the ‘global political awakening’. The global political awakening is representative of the fact that for the first time in all of human history, mankind is politically awakened and stirring, activated and aware, and that generally – as Zbigniew Brzezinski explains – generally is aware of global inequalities, exploitation, and disrespect. This awakening is largely the result of the information revolution – thus revealing the contradictory nature of the globalization project – as while it globalizes power and oppression, so too does it globalize awareness and opposition. This awakening is the greatest threat to entrenched elite interests everywhere. The awakening, while having taken root in the global south – already long subjected to exploitation and devastation – is now stirring in the west, and will grow as the economy crumbles. As the middle classes realize their consumption was an illusion of wealth, they will seek answers and demand true change, not the Wall Street packaged ‘brand-name’ change of Obama Inc., but true, inspired, and empowering change.
In 1967, Martin Luther King delivered a speech in which he spoke out against the Vietnam War and the American empire, and he stated that, “It seems as if we are on the wrong side of a world revolution.” So now it seems to me that the time has come for that to change.
Andrew Gavin Marshall is a Research Associate with the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) .
poem by Ray Lucero
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Trivia ; or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London : Book II.
Of Walking the Streets by Day.
Thus far the Muse has trac'd in useful lays
The proper implements for wintry ways;
Has taught the walker, with judicious eyes,
To read the various warnings of the skies.
Now venture, Muse, from home to range the town,
And for the public safety risk thy own.
For ease and for dispatch, the morning's best;
No tides of passengers the street molest.
You'll see a draggled damsel, here and there,
From Billingsgate her fishy traffic bear;
On doors the sallow milk-maid chalks her gains;
Ah! how unlike the milk-maid of the plains!
Before proud gates attending asses bray,
Or arrogate with solemn pace the way;
These grave physicians with their milky cheer,
The love-sick maid and dwindling beau repair;
Here rows of drummers stand in martial file,
And with their vellum thunder shake the pile,
To greet the new-made bride. Are sounds like these
The proper prelude to a state of peace?
Now industry awakes her busy sons,
Full charg'd with news the breathless hawker runs:
Shops open, coaches roll, carts shake the ground,
And all the streets with passing cries resound.
If cloth'd in black, you tread the busy town
Or if distinguish'd by the rev'rend gown,
Three trades avoid; oft in the mingling press,
The barber's apron soils the sable dress;
Shun the perfumer's touch with cautious eye,
Nor let the baker's step advance too nigh;
Ye walkers too that youthful colours wear,
Three sullying trades avoid with equal care;
The little chimney-sweeper skulks along,
And marks with sooty stains the heedless throng;
When small-coal murmurs in the hoarser throat,
From smutty dangers guard thy threaten'd coat:
The dust-man's cart offends thy clothes and eyes,
When through the street a cloud of ashes flies;
But whether black or lighter dyes are worn,
The chandler's basket, on his shoulder borne,
With tallow spots thy coat; resign the way,
To shun the surly butcher's greasy tray,
Butcher's, whose hands are dy'd with blood's foul stain,
And always foremost in the hangman's train.
Let due civilities be strictly paid.
The wall surrender to the hooded maid;
Nor let thy sturdy elbow's hasty rage
Jostle the feeble steps of trembling age;
[...] Read more
poem by John Gay
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Double Trouble
They got a line on you,
Little bit of trouble too,
You got, some jets inside,
Cherry lips, and delirious eyes.
You get in trouble,
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble.
You get in trouble,
And you come to town,
Double trouble,
Oh yea
They better chain your hands,
And you, spread some evil,
Pick and pan.
Hey, you sure got,
Some jets inside,
But you got a little,
With those empty eyes
You get in trouble,
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble,
You get in trouble
And you come to town,
Double trouble,
Oh yea
Youve got (got),
Some jets inside,
Baby, broken promises,
Broken pride
You get in trouble
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble.
You get in trouble,
And you come to town,
Double trouble,
Oh yeah,
You got some trouble,
(double trouble)
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble,
You get in trouble,
And you come to town
Double trouble,
That double trouble,
Oh yeah.
song performed by Cars
Added by Lucian Velea
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Double Helix Abecedarian - Xylophonic Resonance He Licks Enigmatic
XYLOPHONIC RESONANCE HE LICKS ENIGMATIC
Kindly refer to notes. and see Temptations and Poetic Pizza Extravaganza below :)
Xylophonic Resonance
double helix abecedarian
The first line begins with A and ends with Z
the next line begins with Z and ends with A
The next line begins with B and ends with Y
The next line begins with Y and ends with B
The next line begins with C and ends with X
The next line begins with X and ends with C
A to Z top down A to Z bottom up
All fizzle, finish frazzled, launched with fizZ.
Zero dreams teem when spirit seems at seA
Because most adepts of philosophY
Yearn for zenith seldom dwell on ebB,
Carpe diem value, seeking sea, sun, seX.
Xylem tree of life’s cannibalistiC
Desires corrupt deeds most men seW,
With survival’s urge soon lost indeeD.
Events churn causal patterns, AsimoV
Viewed clearly, took as starship journey cuE
Finding worlds which may appeal to yoU,
Unknown reader from beyond Time’s gulF -
Great divide between those past, those lefT -
Time travellers peruse these lines to sinG
High praise of poets who’ll know no more springS.
Spontaneousl prose poem picks pensive patH
In patter pattern, feet dance to empoweR.
Rhythm harmonious, need no alibI,
Joins sense, style versatile, from mind's H.Q.,
Questions seeks, finds answers. Soujourn’s hadJ
Knowledge acquires to share more than to keeP,
Pipes clear to others drifting through the darK.
Lark sings dawn’s welcome song, and each man’s taO
Opens connections, on life’s sea a-saiL
Ma d, sad, glad, bad, for threescore years and teN
Never certain of his mortal aiM,
Nor sure to gain posthumous fame, acclaiM,
Making ends meet in hope to rise agaiN
On judgement day should trust and faith prevaiL.
Life-spans increase but trite hullabaloO
Prepares too few for winding sheet, corpse starK,
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poem by Jonathan Robin
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