Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America

Are We Rome? Comparisons Between Rome and the United States

Lawrence R. Velvel of the Massachusetts School of Law interviewed Cullen Murphy, editor at large for Vanity Fair magazine, on the show Books of Our Time about his book Are We Rome?. Murphy discusses how the Roman Empire and the United States are similar. Murphy says both societies demonstrate great arrogance. The Romans believed they would win any war they engaged in. They believed the will of Rome was all that mattered. The Romans demonstrated their arrogance when they marched into the Teutoburg Forest, expecting to dominate the Germanic tribes but instead had three legions defeated. The United States demonstrated a similar ignorance of the world’s thoughts and beliefs. Americans assume all nations desire their democratic way of life. Such a belief led to the debacle in Viet Nam and again in Iraq. The Romans saw themselves as the center of the world, believing, as Murphy states, “all roads lead to Rome,” and they literally did. They believed Rome was the world’s umbilicus. The United States has developed the same belief as the center of the world with Washington D.C. as the new global navel. Murphy says Rome and the United States have failed to learn from past mistakes. The Romans believed they were an empire without end, the past meant nothing. The United States has similarly failed to learn from its own history, becoming mired in a debacle in Viet Nam and blindly sacrifices troops and national treasure in Iraq. The militaries of both societies grew larger and larger. No matter how big they became, they were too small to accomplish their goals, yet too large to maintain for long periods. The Roman army grew as they conquered new land and integrated those dominated into the military. Similarly, the United States currently has over 700 military bases throughout the world. And, as did the Romans, the United States has supplemented its military with private contracts. This trend is replicated in other areas of government; public functions have been sold to private entities. In Rome, the emperor hollowed the government. He took enough power away from the legislature to make their meetings and debates meaningless. In the United States, the executive has done the same, eroding the abilities of the legislature. The checks and balances of American government have lost effect—the executive goes unchecked.

737 US Military Bases around the world

Domestic Democracy or Foreign Imperialism

A talk by Chalmers Johnson about the run up to Imperialism in the US over the past 40 years. Including discussion of his recent three novels: Blowback, the Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis. Chalmers addresses the effect of the 737 military bases the US has around the world and why Foreign Imperialism conflicts with a Domestic Democracy. We now have in effect an Imperial Presidency that ignores the Constitutional requirement for separation of powers and checks and balances. Comparisons are made between the US's policies and those of other failed Imperialist nations of the 18th and 19th century, such as England, France, and Holland. Also considered is the possibility of a military coup in the US and whether it would turn out better for the US than it did for Rome. The video has excerpts from President Eisenhower's famous farewell speech of 1961.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2132577202254254902

A most renowned author and expert on the Federal Reserve Bank and the New World Order will share the amazing story of how and why the privately owned Federal Reserve Banking Cartel was created. http://www.realityzone.com/

Entrevista con Eric Toussaint 1/2


Entrevista con Eric Toussaint 2/2


Eric Toussaint, doctor en ciencias políticas y Presidente del CADTM-Bélgica (Comité por la Anulación de la Deuda del Tercer Mundo), estuvo en la ciudad de Barcelona el pasado 13 de enero presentando su último libro, "50 preguntas y 50 respuestas sobre la deuda, el FMI y el Banco Mundial".
http://www.librered.net/wordpress/

The Creature from Jekyll Island

A Second Look at the Federal Reserve

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=638447372044116845

Where does money come from? Where does it go? Who makes it? The money magician's secrets are unveiled. Here is a close look at their mirrors and smoke machines, the pulleys, cogs, and wheels that create the grand illusion called money. A boring subject? Just wait. You'll be hooked in five minutes. It reads like a detective story – which it really is, but it's all true. This book is about the most blanant scam of history. It's all here: the cause of wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depression, prosperity. Your world view will definitely change. Putting it quite simply, this may be the most important book on world affairs you will ever read. 608 pages.

The Creature is at the top of the Best-Seller display at Borders Book Store in Thousand Oaks, California (photo at right). That's where the author lives, but he was totally surprised when a friend told him that the store is featuring his book.

We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform

“Our Early Political Leaders Warned Us Against the Banking Interests”


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3468056684550176104

 “The Federal Reserve"


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7247440563842157664

“The Collapse of the Financial System”


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2586504549221421168

“What is Credit and Who Should Control It?”


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4061589997977265938

“The Gap Between Prices and Income”


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3035089455833762689

“The Greenback and National Dividend Solutions”


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2945437690287937254

The literature on economic and monetary reform has been growing in recent years with a particular focus on how to achieve a more equitable and democratic distribution and availability of the bounty of the industrial age. Some of these books have approached the problem through a critique of our monetary system which creates money mainly through bank-generated loans. Other books have criticized the economic inequity deriving from finance capitalism with control of business and resources increasingly concentrated in the hands of the wealthy few who sit at the top of our financial system.
Richard C. Cook proposes a comprehensive series of measures that would transform the debt-based monetary system into one based on the productive values of the physical economy. Cook has named this approach: “Dividend Economics” of which Social Credit, founded by British engineer C.H. Douglas (1879-1952) and the Alaska Permanent Fund are examples.

The Solution to the Economic Crisis. Credit as a Public Utility

We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform

Colorado Independent Publishers Association Gold Medal in Public Affairs

Written and Produced by Richard C. Cook

Global Research, March 28, 2009

 ©2009 by Richard C. Cook. All Rights Reserved.

 Part One of Six Parts: Credit As A Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis

 “Our Early Political Leaders Warned Us Against the Banking Interests”

 Summary: Early U.S. statesmen, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson worked to free the nation from control by the bankers who had been behind the establishment of the First and Second Banks of the United States. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln implemented a true democratic currency by spending Greenbacks directly into circulation without borrowing from the banks. These measures allowed the U.S. to develop for much of the 19th century largely free from bankers’ control. By the end of the century, this had changed, and the bankers were taking over.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3468056684550176104

Part Two of Six Parts: Credit As A Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis

 “The Federal Reserve"

 Summary: President Lincoln’s Greenback system worked but was undermined and replaced by the financiers who got Congress to pass the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864, then the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The United States now became a nation dominated by the financial elite, the banks, and a debt-based monetary system. Consequently, the 20th Century was one of constant cycles of inflation and deflation resulting in the economic chaos we see today.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7247440563842157664

Part Three of Six Parts: Credit As A Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis

 “The Collapse of the Financial System”

Summary: The collapse we are seeing today began in the financial system, not the producing economy. The crisis started with the housing bubble which the Federal Reserve created by cutting interest rates and then brought own by raising them. The trigger of the 2008 bank meltdown was refusal by European banks to purchase any more “toxic” U.S. debt based on mortgages and sold as securities. Now, with the decline in equity values, the burden of debt in our economy has grown even larger. Thus a renewal of bank lending will not solve the problem, while the economic stimulus program of the Obama administration is likewise insufficient to restore economic health.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2586504549221421168

Part Four of Six Parts: Credit As A Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis

 “What is Credit and Who Should Control It?”

 Summary: Fractional reserve banking is the process by which banks create credit out of thin air. But despite abuses of the system, credit is still a crucial part of modern economics. An enlightened concept of governance would view credit as a public utility. This means that government must take back the control of credit from the private financiers.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4061589997977265938

Part Five of Six Parts: Credit As A Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis

 “The Gap Between Prices and Income”

Summary: One of the most important and least understood concepts in modern economics is the existence of a gap between prices and purchasing power. This gap results when a portion of prices must be set aside as business and private savings. The money is then used by the financial system for lending and speculation. Keynesian economics takes control of some of the savings through government deficit spending but is still a compromise with control of the economy by the financiers. In fact Keynesian economics has helped cause the collapsing debt pyramid. A better system would be to provide consumers with a National Dividend as a way to monetize the continuous appreciation of the producing economy.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3035089455833762689

Part Six of Six Parts: Credit As A Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis

 “The Greenback and National Dividend Solutions”

Summary: The U.S. should convert to a system where the money supply is created by the federal government by being spent into circulation without government borrowing or taxation as was done with the Greenbacks. The Federal Reserve should no longer be a bank of issue. Additionally, a National Dividend should be paid directly to the people. The “Cook Plan” calls for the initial distribution of vouchers in the amount of $1,000 a month plus a new system of community savings banks. Greenbacks combined with a National Dividend will create a non-inflationary democratic currency and transform the economy of the United States.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2945437690287937254

Richard C. Cook is a former U.S Treasury analyst who also worked in the Carter White House and for NASA and writes on public policy issues. His new book is We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform (Tendril Press 2009). His website is www.richardccook.com. He is a member of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network and has been an adviser to Congressman Dennis Kucinich and the American Monetary Institute. Purchase the DVD at Richard C. Cook’s website.

Richard C. Cook is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
Global Research Articles by Richard C. Cook