I received the following e-mail from a reader recently:

As the U.S. Government gets ready to institute a new AGENCY to be the watchdog over the banking industry, one should reflect on the creation of the Department of Energy!

Funniest joke ever…….ON US!!!

Absolutely the funniest joke ever…….ON US!!! Let it sink in. Quietly we go like sheep to slaughter. Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ….. during the Carter Administration?   Anybody?   Anything? No?   Didn’t think so ! Bottom line .. we’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency … the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember. Ready???????   It was very simple … and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate… The ‘Department of Energy’ was instituted on 8- 04-1977   TO LESSEN  OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.    Hey, pretty efficient, huh?????  AND NOW IT’S 2009, 32 YEARS LATER  … AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS    NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT$24.2 BILLION A YEAR  IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES  AND APPROXIMATELY   100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES   AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY  ‘WHAT WAS I THINKING?’ Ah, yes, good ole bureaucracy.. And NOW we are going to turn the Banking System, health care & the Auto Industry over to them?     God Help Us     This was my reply: Why does anybody think that the Government is the solution to almost anything?  Government is not the solution to our current problem, Government IS THE PROBLEM!   Do you know that although the law AGAINST oil and gas exploration, “the ban”, was let sunset as per written in the legislation a few months ago, so now it is legal to explore and drill for oil and gas, the Obama administration is not allowing leases to be sold to the oil exploration companies, on land nor sea!    This IS the reason that the price of crude is around or near $70/barrel.  INSANITY! ! ! !  The price of crude would be between $25.00 and $35.00 per barrel RIGHT NOW if the tyrants would let our oil companies and free markets do their thing.   The $70.00/barrel crude price is now GREATLY impacting our economy, businesses, jobs and general cost of living for every single family in America.  It is also impacting the stock market which would be another 500 – 1000 points higher in the DOW if it wasn’t for the oppressive impact of our unnecessarily high energy costs destroying our lives right now.  If people had any idea what Obama and his Secretary of The Interior Salzar was doing to each one of us “personally”, as a result of not simply selling the oil exploration leases, we would all be rising up in the streets, right now; Tea Party fashion but by the hundreds of thousands like Iran. The cost of crude has and will continue to cause not only the high price of gasoline and diesel, but all products produced and sold to the American public.  This Government action of refusing the sale of leases will cause a great deteriorating impact on our individual lives and finances, due to the impact on the cost of all energy products.

GDP report expected to show economy late last year logged worst performance in more than a quarter century.

AP

WASHINGTON — The country tumbled deeper into recession and probably logged its worst economic performance in a quarter-century during the final three months of last year as battered consumers and businesses throttled back spending.

The U.S. economy is deteriorating at an alarming clip as the housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — feed on each other in a vicious cycle that has proven difficult for Washington policymakers to break.

The Commerce Department is set to release a report Friday expected to show the economy shrank at a pace of 5.4 percent in the October-December period, a much faster descent than the 0.5 percent decline logged in the prior quarter. If economists’ forecasts are correct, it would mark the weakest quarterly showing since an annualized drop of 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 1982, when the country was suffering through a severe recession.

“It was a bloodbath,” said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research, referring to the economy’s fourth-quarter performance.

A massive pullback by consumers is expected to play a prominent role in the economy’s worsening backslide. They are cutting back on spending as jobs disappear and major investments — homes, stocks, retirement accounts — tank in value. Businesses are retrenching, too, as profits shrivel and demand wanes from customers in the U.S. and overseas.

“Households and businesses were bombarded by all the fallout,” Yamarone said.

Many economists think the fourth quarter will turn out to be the worst quarter for the recession, which is now in its second year. But the economy will stay very weak in the months ahead. Analysts believe the economy is contracting in the current quarter at a pace of 4 percent or more.

“Let’s brace ourselves for the cold blast,” said Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight.

To jolt life back into the economy, President Barack Obama and Congress are racing to enact a multibillion-dollar package of increased government spending that includes big public works projects and tax cuts. The House passed a $819 billion package on Wednesday and the bill is working its way through the Senate. Economists say the money needs to be quickly pumped into the economy to help stop the free-fall.

Looking ahead to Friday’s report, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday: “We’re likely to get a number for economic growth for the fourth quarter that’s fairly staggering.”

The report tallies gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced within the United States. It is considered the broadest barometer of the country’s economic health.

The economy plunged deeper into recession despite a $700 billion financial bailout program run by the Treasury Department and a slew of radical programs by the Federal Reserve and others designed to bust through a debilitating credit clog and get banks to lend more freely. The Fed last month slashed a key interest rate to a record low, and on Wednesday signaled that it would use other unconventional tools to turn the economy around.

In the fourth quarter, analysts predict that sales of big-ticket or “durable” goods, such as cars, appliances and other manufactured products will be especially hard hit as many consumers retrenched and would-be buyers were unable to secure financing.

Big cutbacks by homebuilders — reeling from the collapsed housing market — and other companies also will figure into the fourth quarter’s weakness. Trying to survive the downturn, businesses are scrambling to cut costs and that’s taking a painful toll on the nation’s labor market.

The unemployment rate jumped to a 16-year high of 7.2 percent in December and could hit 10 percent or higher at the end of this year or early next year. A staggering 2.6 million jobs were lost last year, the most since 1945, though the labor force has grown significantly since then.

Another 2 million or more jobs will vanish this year, economists predict.

This week alone, tens of thousands of new layoffs were announced by companies including Ford Motor Co., Eastman Kodak Co., Black & Decker Corp., Boeing Co., Pfizer Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Target Corp.

Watch this:

–Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

Now the question is:  Will B.O. preserve, protect and defend the Constitution to the very word, spirit, and intent as it “was” meant on the day of its ratification?  If so, this means that Government has to shink in size and responsibilites by at least 4/5ths according to the “enumerated” powers clauses in The Constitution.  Now that would result in a boost to the economy and our individual prosperity!  Talk about the mother of all stimulus!

I’m not holding my breath.  – - –  Capt. Karl

WASHINGTON- President-elect Barack Obama eventually will gain access to the second half of the $700 billion financial bailout fund _ politics notwithstanding and more likely sooner than later.

The test is whether he can persuade enough members of his own party to support an extraordinarily unpopular program and avoid an embarrassing veto fight with a Democratic-led Congress at the outset of his presidency. A critical vote could come as early as Thursday.

Obama faces a handful of freshmen Democrats who opposed the bailout as they campaigned in 2008 and more than a dozen Democratic senators who are up for re-election in 2010, three of whom _ Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ron Wyden of Oregon _ voted against the first installment of the money.

These Democrats certainly are weighing the political implications of their next steps.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who supported the bailout last fall and is up for re-election in two years, described himself as “open-minded but skeptical.” Said Bayh: “I don’t get the sense of impending crisis today that I did at the time of original enactment. I need to be persuaded about need.”

Republicans are mindful of politics too. They seem less eager to cooperate with an incoming Democratic administration, especially on an enormous government spending program that critics say Congress recklessly rushed through last fall without ensuring proper oversight.

Thus, the onus is primarily on Democrats saddled with a politically uncomfortable decision: They can side with voters generally angry over the sweeping government intervention of Wall Street, or they can line up with a president-elect of their own party looking to open his term with a clear-cut win.

Obama doesn’t have a big margin for error. While most Democrats are likely to support releasing the second $350 billion, the president-elect needs every supporter he can get. A majority vote in the Senate to reject giving him the bailout money would trigger a vote in the House, where the idea is even less popular, and force an Obama veto.

“Sooner or later in all presidencies, senators and House members start getting nervous and may tend to go off the reservation,” said Burdett Loomis, a political science professor at the University of Kansas. “But I don’t think they want to start voting against this president straight away.”

Obama headed to the Capitol on Tuesday to make a personal appeal to Senate Democrats _ a rarity for a president, let alone a president-elect. He has dispatched emissaries to Congress for days now to confer with lawmakers on the plan.

A senator for four years, Obama is using his knowledge of Capitol Hill and a transition team stocked with House and Senate veterans to maneuver for victory while assuring lawmakers that he views Congress as a coequal branch of government.

The cooperative tone will be equally essential for winning congressional approval of his upcoming economic rescue plan, expected to cost about $775 billion.

Analysts say he must change the bailout program _ which he acknowledges is flawed _ enough to make it palatable to Democrats who opposed it last fall.

“If you stumble out of the gate it’s a terrible precedent for what’s to come,” said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. That said, he added of Democrats, “I think they’ll walk the plank for him.”

Indeed, several Democrats emerged from Tuesday’s meeting seeming to agree with where Obama was heading. They said he told them he would veto any successful effort to block the money and promised more oversight of the program.

“I feel much more comfortable,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat who is up for re-election in two years and who initially voted for the bailout. Even so, she said she hasn’t yet decided on how to vote now amid outcry from her constituents.

One Democrat who voted against the bailout last fall, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, appeared frustrated with Obama’s team on the matter.

At Peter Orszag’s confirmation hearing to be Obama’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, Nelson said no one has been satisfied with how the first $350 billion has been spent and added, “I think in this era of freshness and transparency that the new administration would want to come forth with detail instead of this mumbo-jumbo that’s going on.”

Among Democratic freshmen who objected to the bailout, Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Mark Udall of Colorado voted against it when they were in the House, while Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina said, “It’s a fix for Wall Street, not Main Street.”

These and other lawmakers are keenly aware of the potential pitfalls of backing the program. They watched as Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, almost lost his seat last fall over his supportive bailout vote.

Still, Obama has time _ and a long-term political environment amenable to Democrats _ on his side as he looks to secure Democratic support.

The 2010 midterm elections are still more than a year and a half away, and it’s far from certain that this single vote will have staying power as a vulnerability. If the economy does, in fact, improve, backing the program could actually be seen as a good move.

At the same time, several incumbent Democratic senators _ like Harry Reid of Nevada and Chuck Schumer of New York _ are immensely popular in their home states.

And the political outlook is much worse for the GOP, with a spate of retirements _ George Voinovich in Ohio, Kit Bond in Missouri and Mel Martinez in Florida _ leaving open seats ripe for Democrats to seize.

Please be so kind as to give my regards to the honorable State Representative Charles Key.  May God bless him and his success in this Constitutional supporting legislation upholding the very essence of our prosperity, otherwise known as freedom.

Personally I believe, from my detailed studies over the last two years and studies in economics and world history with emphasis in American culture and heritage, that facilitated my prediction of the collapse of “The Matrix”, we are experiencing these very days; the sham of value in the market and personal property that only exists in the minds of our society and not in reality, supported by faux money printed by The Federal Reserve and the impacts of unsustainable Federal Government growth and spending on programs that are far outside of the bounds of the enumerated powers clauses of The Constitution, which has resulted in the stock market collapse and financial crisis we are experiencing today.  I have been writing about this forecast predicting this downfall, on Internet forums and “The Liberty Tree Lantern” blog, for over two years now.  I have gotten several people to move their investments and cash into gold and have provided basis for nearly three hundred percent profit and asset protection by these predictions which have been well documented on various websites over the last two years.

I believe that legislation such as State Senator Key’s is absolutely vital to actually restoring the U.S. Constitution and our very freedom, eventually resulting, over time, in the Federal Government massively shrinking in size and scope to within the enumerated powers clauses of the Constitution.  I feel that economic reality, applicable world history, economics and the application of Natural Law will result in a battle between the constitutionally lawful freedom conservatives and the constitutionally scofflaw Socialists / Communists in Congress and our general population.  I trust that by the grace of Almighty God that the right side will win this epic battle between what is essentially good and evil; freedom vs absolute power corrupting absolutely.

I am so happy to hear that you are in conversations with the author of this wonderful bill, however, I find myself saddened to think that the free and independent States would have to draft a bill to support the LAW of our land, that created, by the grace of God, our fruited plain.

Once we have succeeded in this vital mission to restore the essence of freedom and prosperity through vital rugged and steadfast State support of the Constitution, eventually to spread throughout the union, I would like to tackle the need for nationwide school, but not forced by the Federal Government for they have no constitutional right or power to do so, curriculum to require far deeper and concentrated studies into freedom, what it means, its impact on economics, how it compares historically to all other forms of governance, how our unique American culture specifically contributed and contributes to freedom, prosperity and goodwill toward man, how our unique culture, as opposed to multiculturalism and over tolerance results in goodwill, friendship, neighborliness, fellowship, and godliness.  Also I think it is important to teach the difference between man’s religion controlling the Government and taking our Lord out of our Government.  A HUGE difference of which our Founding Fathers had a perspicuous understanding.

Keep up the good work and please do keep me posted.  Because ultimately the Federal Government and the illegal size, scope and power of it placed us all in this financial crisis, the Oklahoma style legislation carried throughout the union, is the only way out of this mess.  It will set us and our competitive work and entrepreneurial spirits free between the States without the “dampening field” of oppression and despotism at the hands of Socialist elitists at the Federal level.  The people, our fellow countrymen are the solution to this problem, not government; for within us is the power of freedom, the historically proven creator of prosperity.

Keep in mind that the Democrats on the Hill are going to implement many Socialistic and even Communistic things that will be incompatible with “take home” pay.  In bad economic times this will provide for freedom restoration opportunities and naturally occurring public education of the foundational principles of the same.  The time will come, in the near future, when State of Wisconsin Democrats will have no political choice but to support such Constitutional and freedom productive legislation, which will help to protect the people of Wisconsin from the ravages of a Socialist “central” Federal Government mandating all manner of constitutionally scofflaw like activities.

Capt. Karl 

—–Original Message—–

From: Nygren, John [mailto:John.Nygren@legis.wisconsin.gov]

Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 2:40 PM

To: Karl P. Koenigs

Subject: RE: WI sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated

Karl,

I am in Washington DC speaking to the Oklahoma Senate Author as we speak.  It did not pass both houses in Oklahoma but they hope to pass it this year as the Republicans n Ok now control both houses. 

I will stay in contact with the author to assist us in our efforts.

John

The Liberty Tree Lantern advises that to see the light of truth you need to gather all the information you need to fully understand what is happening here with our financial crisis, economy, job losses, income degradation and all the other aspects of “daily life” that is impacting you and your family.  IT IS VITAL, for you to see and understand the patterns of all these matters.

This ol’Capt. Karl is going to bring you directly to the bottom line and you need to take the ball and research everything you can to PROVE ME WRONG.  I have been trying for almost two years to disprove all the things I have found out.  Without getting into all of it, most covered in previous posts, let me tell you once again.  THE FEDERAL RESERVE “SYSTEM” is the largest privately held company in the world.  They are owned by 40 individuals mostly of foreign origin, mostly British.  They formed a “private” club of the most powerful men of corporations, banks, and main stream news media in the world.  This private club is called The Trilateral Commission.  You can see their website for yourself at: www.trilateral.org

Paul Volcker is a ranking member of the Trilateral Commission.  Their purpose, their MISSION, is to create a One World SOCIALIST Government, where we have NO RIGHTS.  They are creating a world where they have complete BIG BROTHER control over every living being on this planet.  They will infer and behavior modify our thinking that they either know better than us individual people on how we should conduct our lives and in this way they will justify taking the vast majority of our paycheck under “Federal Withholding” income taxes to “Take for the needy and give to the greedy.”  Next year, for example, under the advise of the folks at THE FEDERAL RESERVE and the Trilateral Commission that they are the leaders of, people like Paul Volcker, Obama and the puppets of “The Fed” in both houses of Congress, will rise our “Federal Withholding” rates to take money out of our pay checks of the COMMON WORKING MAN AND WOMAN, to give to the BIG BANKERS and other BIG Corporations such as AIG to “Bail” them out, for what they will tell us is “for our own good”.   Do you really think that taking money out of our paychecks is for our own good???????   YOU BETTER THINK ABOUT THAT LONG AND HARD, while you wait for just a few months after the election for your “withholding” to go up and your paycheck to go way down.  And it is not the fault of your employer.  He or she is under orders from the IRS, who works for The Federal Reserve company because according to the publically available Grace Commission Report to President Reagan, every single penny that the IRS collects goes directly to and is given to The Federal Reserve company which is as “Federal” as Federal Express.  Once they have our income taxes they OWN it!  They “borrow” our money to the U.S. Government for two reasons: 1.)  It is a good risk.  2.) To control the U.S. Government because the Government can not function without the money they lend from The Fed, at interest, because the U.S. Government does not get ANY MONEY from taxpayers, according to The Grace Commission report.

Now do you want a man that is controlled by the ranking members of The Trilateral Commission, a creature of “The Fed” to be President of the United States?  The Trilateral Commission mission is to place us all, and I mean the entire world, under a one world SOCIALIST government.  There will be no where to run from the EQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF MISERY AND POVERTY, the centuries old PROVEN result of Socialism, around the world.  When you vote for Obama you are voting for total world control and domination by The Federal Reserve System.  A Matrix, not unlike the movie “The Matrix”, where we provide the financial power to dominate and control the world and ourselves; and in return they program our minds to believe things that keep us “controlled”.  Complete with radio chips in our arms which have all our life and financial information in them, which can be surveillanced continuously.  When you vote for Obama you are voting for complete control over everything by the Big Bankers of The Federal Reserve.

Read, study and understand; for without knowledge and understanding we will not be able to combat the dark forces that are gathering just over the horizon.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

By Bill Sammon

NEW YORK —  Trillions in stock market value — gone. Trillions in retirement savings — gone. A huge chunk of the money you paid for your house, the money you’re saving for college, the money your boss needs to make payroll — gone, gone, gone.

Whether you’re a stock broker or Joe Six-pack, if you have a 401(k), a mutual fund or a college savings plan, tumbling stock markets and sagging home prices mean you’ve lost a whole lot of the money that was right there on your account statements just a few months ago.

But if you no longer have that money, who does? The fat cats on Wall Street? Some oil baron in Saudi Arabia? The government of China?

Or is it just — gone?

If you’re looking to track down your missing money — figure out who has it now, maybe ask to have it back — you might be disappointed to learn that is was never really money in the first place.

Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale, puts it bluntly: The notion that you lose a pile of money whenever the stock market tanks is a “fallacy.” He says the price of a stock has never been the same thing as money — it’s simply the “best guess” of what the stock is worth.

Shiller uses the example of an appraiser who values a house at $350,000, a week after saying it was worth $400,000.

“In a sense, $50,000 just disappeared when he said that,” he said. “But it’s all in the mind.”

Though something, of course, is disappearing as markets and real estate values tumble. Even if a share of stock you own isn’t a wad of bills in your wallet, even if the value of your home isn’t something you can redeem at will, surely you can lose potential money — that is, the money that would be yours to spend if you sold your house or emptied out your mutual funds right now.

And if you’re a few months away from retirement, or hoping to sell your house and buy a smaller one to help pay for your kid’s college tuition, this “potential money” is something you’re counting on to get by. For people who need cash and need it now, this is as real as money gets, whether or not it meets the technical definition of the word.

Still, you run into trouble when you think of that potential money as being the same thing as the cash in your purse or your checking account.

“That’s a big mistake,” says Dale Jorgenson, an economics professor at Harvard.

There’s a key distinction here: While the money in your pocket is unlikely to just vanish into thin air, the money you could have had, if only you’d sold your house or drained your stock-heavy mutual funds a year ago, most certainly can.

“You can’t enjoy the benefits of your 401(k) if it’s disappeared,” Jorgenson explains. “If you had it all in financial stocks and they’ve all gone down by 80 percent — sorry! That is a permanent loss because those folks aren’t coming back. We’re gonna have a huge shrinkage in the financial sector.”

There was a time when nobody had to wonder what happened to the money they used to have. Until paper money was developed in China around the ninth century, money was something solid that had actual value — like a gold coin that was worth whatever that amount of gold was worth, according to Douglas Mudd, curator of the American Numismatic Association’s Money Museum in Denver.

Back then, if the money you once had was suddenly gone, there was a simple reason — you spent it, someone stole it, you dropped it in a field somewhere, or maybe a tornado or some other disaster struck wherever you last put it down.

But these days, a lot of things that have monetary value can’t be held in your hand.

If you choose, you can pour most of your money into stocks and track their value in real time on a computer screen, confident that you’ll get good money for them when you decide to sell. And you won’t be alone — staring at millions of computer screens are other investors who share your confidence that the value of their portfolios will hold up.

But that collective confidence, Jorgenson says, is gone. And when confidence is drained out of a financial system, a lot of investors will decide to sell at any price, and a big chunk of that money you thought your investments were worth simply goes away.

If you once thought your investment portfolio was as good as a suitcase full of twenties, you might suddenly suspect that it’s not.

In the process, of course, you’re losing wealth. But does that mean someone else must be gaining it? Does the world have some fixed amount of wealth that shifts between people, nations and institutions with the ebb and flow of the economy?

Jorgenson says no — the amount of wealth in the world “simply decreases in a situation like this.” And he cautions against assuming that your investment losses mean a gain for someone else — like wealthy stock speculators who try to make money by betting that the market will drop.

“Those folks in general have been losing their shirts at a prodigious rate,” he said. “They took a big risk and now they’re suffering from the consequences.”

“Of course, they had a great life, as long as it lasted.”