Overview For New Readers

Washington’s Blog strives to provide real-time, well-researched and actionable information.

We at Washington’s Blog have an insatiable curiosity for new discoveries, new information and new insights.

Despite our passion for what’s new, there are themes that we keep reporting on year after year, as they reflect a bigger picture which remains fairly constant, or the root causes of our problems which have still not been addressed, or potentially powerful solutions which have still never been tried.

For example, we note again and again that government leaders are doing all of the wrong things for the economy, and that the economy cannot fundamentally stabilize – and we cannot regain prosperity – unless:

Other recurrent themes at Washington’s Blog include (by way of random sample only):

  • guendalin

    send me the news plz

  • Bob

    I am trying to find your article on how people dissemble and obfuscate during discussions online. It was perfect and consice but it seems the site update has broken my link to it. Is there a chance you know which article I am talking about? I think it had 25 points of obvious misdirection during a discussion that you illuminated quite well.

  • http://energy-needs-values.blogspot.com/ Charles Hall

    I’m writing a researched and sourced report on alternative energy and our current energy policy. I am attempting to find outlets to get the word out about how the home user can do their own research. this is for educational purposes only and is in no way an attempt to sale anything. If you would be so kind as to review my paper, I’m hoping you will find it acceptable to post here. If not, thanks for the 5 minutes it took to read this and my paper.

    BTW, I love your site, I read it daily along with about 15 other sites.

    • Eric

      What’s disappointing about this otherwise great website is its blocking new people from applying to present their news and commentaries on this site; they’re even more closed than most of the mainstream sites such as huffingtonpost are. That is shameful. They should have “Instructions for Submissions,” and an email address for submissions to be sent to. Right now this site is a closed club.

  • http://na Ole C G Olesen

    I like Your spirit !
    Keep it up .. regardless how futile it may seem ..in between .
    It is the laung haul .. which will count ..in the end

    Mr Ole C G Olesen
    Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon

  • Thomas Brown

    This is really great format. I agree with all the things to do about the economy.
    I would ad one really important thing:
    Democratize money. Monesy is system not a commodity.
    The only true and the only way forward to maximaum freedom, justice and prosperity is throught demcoratized money. That is how we all become capitalists that offer helathy competitiveness, cooperation and equality. We can obtain a modicum of equality of condidtion not jsut opportunity for ALL people but it requires they particpate in the most powerful arbirot of justice that exists in our world. Debt evaporates fucntionally, debt cannot accumualte exponetilaly as it does now. This is an aboration I can’t believe more economists aren’t discussing. (Probably because most of them work for banks)

  • Zen’ichi-Maro

    Thank you for this blog and for the hard work you’re doing to keep it on line. I’ve just added to my favourites and will make a point of being a regular reader. I really appreciate your orientation to provide non-biased and factual information and to let the READER decide–quite refreshing in this era of opinion-based “journalism” on the one hand and faithful corporate stenography on the other.

    Well done!
    ZNM

  • E

    Please post or report on this:

    Begin forwarded message:

    From: Ellen Kurrelmeyer
    Date: October 16, 2011 11:45:19 AM EDT
    To: Carolyn Schmidt , cozyinnvt@gmail.com, Eric Zuesse , Carol Brigham , Cady White , jonathan heppell , OV Board Kurrelmeyer , Rebecca Bertrand , Kevin Behm , Spence Putnam , Will Stevens
    Subject: Whiting Democrats’ forum on 11/15/11

    Good Morning,

    In an effort to create a more progressive path for our country, the Whiting Democrats are holding a forum – the first formal national discussion on the topic: SHOULD BARACK OBAMA BE THE NEXT DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?

    The forum will be on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 6:30 pm, in the Whiting VT town hall, located on South Main Street (Rte 30). Light refreshments will be served.

    Please forward this email to your friends – and anyone you fell would be interested in coming and perhaps joining the discussion. Attached is the flyer we’re using for the event, please print and post. We are also among the “99%”.

    Whiting Democrats
    PO Box 37
    Whiting VT 05778

    Ellen Kurrelmeyer, Chair

  • alan2102

    Your desire to see cooperation between Tea Party and OWS is noble in intent, but — sorry to say — foolish. It will not happen, and should not happen. The Tea Party is a proto-fascist formation, with essentially ZERO relation and common ground with OWS people.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/28/the-rise-of-the-tea-party/

    Weekend Edition October 28-30, 2011
    An Interview With Anthony DiMaggio
    The Rise of the Tea Party
    by SCOTT BORCHERT

    snip

    The problem with the “movement” is that its members’ anger gets manipulated by a small group of partisan and media elites who are essentially Republican Party operatives. This is the dirty little secret of the Tea Party; it’s not really a social movement, but a cluster of elitist interest groups operating locally and nationally, which is quite lacking in participatory elements, and largely driven by a top-down approach, determined and dictated by Republican partisan officials and business elites of the Koch variety….
    A close examination of the various national Tea Party groups finds that they are all lacking in participatory aspects, with active membership extremely sparse, and the leaders of these groups coming from the highest levels of local and national Republican Party chapters and the business system…. the alleged Tea Party “insurgents” who have led the Tea Party “revolution” in Congress are extremely elitist in their policy positions and in terms of their economic backgrounds. They don’t look any different than past political leaders in terms of their support from wealthy business interests, or in terms of their personal affluence, with regard to their past support for the very deregulatory legislation (of the banking industry) that helped destroy the American economy, or in terms of their voting records, which are identical to non-Tea Party Republican members of Congress.

    snip

    It’s the same group of Americans – the 20-25 percent of the public – who are essentially Bush dead-enders. Ideologically speaking, I describe the Tea Partiers as packaging old wine into new bottles. On one level, there is an extremely strong overlap between the Tea Party and the traditional religious right that emerged in the 1980s; on a second level, the Tea Party is representative of the same extreme economic right that has long supported deregulation and an assault on the social welfare state. There is nothing controversial about these claims, as public opinion polling (and analysis of these polls) demonstrates these points very clearly.

    snip

    A major problem with the Tea Party, in terms of “building a bridge” between its members and Occupy Wall Street, is that very few Tea Partiers (only 15%) even blame Wall Street for the current problems we are facing today. While their rage at the stagnation of American prosperity is very legitimate, their attribution of responsibility for this stagnation is so childishly naïve, staggeringly ignorant, and disturbingly proto-fascistic that it makes working with them difficult, if not impossible. How do you work with people that think Obama is a Nazi, socialist, Kenyan Muslim terrorist? Pick your pejorative adjective as applied to Obama, and Tea Partiers likely agree with it. The above descriptions are so often lumped together in Tea Party rhetoric to the point where political ideologies such as Islamic fundamentalism, socialism, and Nazism, etc. are absurdly lumped together, as if these philosophies have anything in common.

    snip

    Tea Party supporters increasingly cling to romantic and ignorant notions that if we could somehow return to the “good old days” of “free market,” deregulatory capitalism, we would put ourselves back on the path to prosperity. They seem totally unwilling or unable to recognize that it was this very deregulation, and the corresponding assault on the welfare state, that put us on the path to economic ruin. They want the Republican Party to move further to the right, failing to recognize that this right-ward drift is the primary cause of America’s problems, not the solution to them.

    • Scott Todd

      You’re delusional as is the article. I’m a TEA Party type and we’re working to overturn the Republican establishment as much as we are the Dems.

  • goldenrhino
  • alan2102

    http://www.onthecommons.org/tea-party-vs-occupy-wall-street

    The Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street

    Finally, a truly populist uprising

    By David Morris

    Which stands up for the majority of Americans?

    The Tea Party is the first mass movement against the masses

    Host David Gregory complained about Occupy Wall Street protestors “demonizing banks” and wondered, “Is this not a reverse tea party tactic?” Gregory is right. In many respects Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is indeed a mirror image of the Tea Party.

    snip

    Faux Populism vs. True Populism

    Both OWS and the Tea Party might be described as populist but their definitions of populism wildly diverge. That divergence has been clear from their founding. Occupy Wall Street began on September 7, 2011 with hundreds converging on Wall Street. The Tea Party began on February 19, 2009 with a rant from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. CNBC Business News editor Rick Santelli loudly condemned the government’s plan to help people stay in their homes. “(D)o we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages”? he asked. Santelli suggested holding a tea party for traders to dump derivatives into the Chicago River. Floor traders around him cheered his proposal. The video went viral after the Drudge Report publicized it. Within days, Fox News was discussing the appearance of a new “Tea Party”. A week later coordinated protests under the Tea Party banner took place in over 40 cities.

    Santelli’s insistence that those who lose their homes are “losers” who have only themselves to blame is a sentiment widely shared among Tea Party Republicans and most recently expressed by Republican Presidential candidate front runner Herman Cain. When asked about Wall Street protestors Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza declared, “Don’t blame Wall Street. Don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.”

    snip

    This lack of empathy for what OWS would call the 99% is palpable wherever Tea Party Republicans come to power…. OWS does demonize powerful banks. The Tea Party demonizes the poorest and weakest of us all.

    For OWS unfairness means taxing billionaires at half the rate their secretaries pay and allowing the top 1% of the population to “earn” as much, collectively, as the bottom 60 percent. For Tea Party Republicans taxes themselves are unfair and inequality is desirable. Indeed, they want to give the 1% even a greater share of the nation’s wealth.

    snip

    Even when they agree that federal spending is profligate, OWS and the Tea Party violently disagree on what should be cut. Signs and speeches at #Occupy events often target the exorbitant military spending and foreign wars. But despite the fact that the Pentagon is the poster child for government waste and incompetence, not to mention corruption, it is also the only part of the government the Tea Party considers all but off limits.

    As soon as Republicans took over the House of Representatives in November 2010, they changed the rules so that military spending does not have to be offset by reduced spending somewhere else, unlike any other kind of government spending. It is the only activity of government Republicans believe does not have to be paid for. The Tea Party’s ascendance has only strengthened the Republicans’ resolve that the Pentagon’s budget is untouchable. An analysis by the Heritage Foundation of Republican votes on defense spending found that Tea Party freshmen were even more likely than their Republican elders to vote against cutting any part of the military budget.

    snip

    OWS also knows that government is the only vehicle through which the majority can fashion rules that increase personal security and restrain unbridled greed and private power. If we give up on government we give up on our ability to collectively influence our future. Which is why high on the list of demands by OWS protestors is to minimize the impact of money on politics and increase the number of people voting. Tea Partiers again take the opposite position. They defend the right of global corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections and they advocate policies that suppress voter turnout.

    snip

    Today the Tea Party has the upper hand. With the backing of some of the world’s richest men and most powerful corporations, it has successfully converted the justifiable anger at Wall Street and government inaction into an unprecedented and ahistorical form of populism: a mass uprising against the masses. The Occupy Wall Street movement proposes a populism more compatible with other mass protests, one that doesn’t turn its back on neighbors, one that fights against massive inequality and concentrated private power, and that urges reforms that can once again allow us to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

    • Scott Todd

      OWS- a George Soros funded movement. An uber rich guy, as I recall.

  • David Smith

    Bloggers that don’t identify themselves lose a lot in credibility.

    • nonya business

      What? The author of the piece was identified, what’s the problem?

  • nonya business

    Thanks to Alan2102 for posting this! And thank you to David Harris for writing it! This is the best explanation of the delineation between the tea party and the occupy movement I’ve ever read. People who can’t seem to tell the difference between bought movements and grassroots movements need to read this.

    • alan2102

      You’re welcome, Nonya! Now, if we could get GW to pay attention and comment… :-)

  • http://xenophilius.wordpress.com Xeno

    Great blog, thanks.

  • http://cleverevolutionrealitycorporation.blogspot.com Kelly

    You seem to be doing a Great Job at agglomerating sources and raising awareness, Congrats and Thanks!
    I searched “solutions” on this blog and about 6 posts came up, yet none with any real “solutions”.
    Do you have any solutions to offer? Even any thoughts on possible solutions perhaps?
    I am sure everyone would love to know about them.
    I certainly would.
    Regards

  • http://www.danielbrenton.com Daniel Brenton

    Dear WB –

    Where’s your Twitter account and Facebook page? I spent some time looking here, and you don’t have any links or icons anywhere.

    (You do have these accounts, right?)

    – Daniel

  • http://www.uncorporatemedia.com Neil

    Hello, I am desperately trying to get ahold of the management/webmaster of this website. I have some information/content for them I think will be very useful. I have sent emails to your paypal email for lack of seeing any contact info posted on the site. Please contact me ASAP. neil@uncorporatemedia.com

  • Sheryl

    Thank you for your blog. It is very important. People like you, finding the truth, and sharing it, give us hope.

  • http://kagshop.com John

    I love this website. I first came here during the BP fiasco which is when this blog really took off (from what I am guessing). I come back occasionally to visit. Keep up the good work.

    John

  • Roger

    Why don’t you have a way for people to contact you? Don’t you stand behind the stuff you post here? I look forward to all replies DUStory dash owner at yahoo groups dot com

  • Roger

    PS – spreading lies about disasters does not make them any better? You should be accountable and verifiable, not just spread stuff with no attribution.

  • Tom
  • Debra Sullivan

    I’m greatly concerned with the bad, bad state of the world and very grateful for sites like yours but what I am trying to find is a format for daily discussions and information exchange. I’m limited in my scope of tehnical know-how and was trying to have some kind of discussion on different YouTube postings but am alarmed now after posting a handful of comments that were critical of government I can no longer post. I just get an Error message. Am I being paranoid? Is it just a coincident? Has anyone else had the same experience? And lastly, where can I go to discuss these issues with other informed, like-minded people. Fukushima in particular. Thanks so much.

  • http://itsfraud.com Gordan Finch

    I like what you print, and what you expose.

  • http://homepage.mac.com/ttsmyf/RD_RJShomes_PSav.html Ed Hamilton

    Robert Shiller said this, and it’s the central truth. “The financial crisis that afflicts the country is largely a result of speculative bubbles, built on false hopes, in the housing and stock markets.”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/business/09shiller.html

    Strong support for this assertion is that charts that well-show the bubbles are kept little apparent!
    Look here:
    http://homepage.mac.com/ttsmyf/begun.gif http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/26/weekinreview/27leon_graph2.html http://homepage.mac.com/ttsmyf/RHandRD.html
    Obviously, histories so instructive but unseen is INTELLECTUAL SAVAGERY.
    “Condemn venal journalism for severely fooling the people” at
    http://occupywallst.org/forum/condemn-venal-journalism-for-severely-fooling-the-/

  • Dmitry Robertson

    hello

    i represent several paper help services
    i`d like to ask if it is possible to advertise on your website
    ideally we`d like to know if it is possible to place a text link:
    1) on a home page of the website
    2) a site wide link
    3) inside a text on any education topic relevant topic page
    Please let me know if you are interested
    Please enclose the prices if possible

    thank you

  • Eric

    How does one become a contributor of articles here?

  • zeev

    gw i’ve been reading your posts on ZH for years now, at least 2 I think but quite possibly since zh started. I”ve commented on them many times, i just wanted to thank you. you’re one of the best consistent posters on zh.

    thank you again.
    from nyc

  • james madison

    Boy you people have seen too many black helicopters or drank up all the cool-aid.

  • Buddy Rojek, CPA

    Dear George Washington (That’s a big pseudonym to live up to!)

    I am based in Australia and developing a grass roots political movement that I believe you and I would agree on. I am coming to the USA to invest in US Property and meet fellow economic bloggers.

    I need your advice on developing a web presence to get the message out. Perhaps you have contacts who can assist me.

    The Australian political system is in disarray. We have forced voting and many people are so apathetic about our current political crop, that a fresh alternative is possible. In the spirit of the historical USA Australian alliance (Thanks for your GI’s getting my Great Grandfather our of PNG in WW2 alive after being shot by the Japanese) , a Australian future under your Political movement aspirations would agree with my political views.

    Please contact me on cvpages dot buddy @ gmail.com
    Buddy Rojek, B.Comm, CPA
    Convener
    The Australian Nationalist Party.

  • KathyP

    To complement the theme about governments murdering their own people, may I suggest reprinting articles from Arthur Silber’s website, http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/
    Thank you for considering my suggestion.

  • 1olde_reb2

    I believe that your entire approach to the situation is incorrect. In your first six bullets, you repeated blame government for the economic problems. Wrong. The problems start with policies of the Federal Reserve (Fed). To assume the Fed is operating for the interests of the government is blatantly incorrect. It is operating as an entity created by the financiers of Wall Street and for their interests alone.

    The Fed is able to conceal $4 billion in profit DAILY from the auctions of Treasury securities. There is no mathematical way the U.S. can have inflation and incur a National Debt without this value being hidden by the FRBNY and being passed on to the (unknown) owners of the Fed Board of Governors. Ref. Federal Reserve Heist, http://www.scribd.com/doc/101937790.
    The financiers give legislators campaign contributions and insider information for individual aggrandizement. They also buy controlling interests in manufacturers of war material with a higher profit margin and a guaranteed purchaser. War is very profitable.

    There will be no salvation of the U.S. economy until the inherent destructive pattern of the Fed’s Ponzi scheme is understood and eliminated—by the government of course. Ref. Rip off by the Fed. http://www.scribd.com/doc/48194264.

    • etls1

      I agree with everything you are saying about the Fed. However, while you yourself correctly state in your comment that financiers gave legislators campaign contributions and insider information etc., the fact is that the Fed is and always has been a banker/government hybrid. The greater culpability goes to the government since they are the ones sworn to uphold the Constitution and have clearly and purposely failed to do so, especially with regards to the Federal Reserve.
      I don’t know if you have read the G. Edward Griffin book, “The Creature fro Jekyll Island”, but if not you should. Global bankers are definitely villains here, but our own government has them beat by default simply for the reason I stated above.

      • 1olde_reb2

        Apparently the points were not sufficiently emphatic.

        Profit of the Fed, by law, belongs to the government.

        The BOG is required by law to make a full report annually of the Fed’s operation to Congress.

        The auctioning of security accounts for deficit spending results in the value of the securities disappearing within the vaults of the FRBNY. If the funds (about $4 billion every day) went to the government, they would not result in inflation nor would the National Debt increase

        The handling of the auction accounts is exclusively by the FRBNY. There is NO report of these accounts to Congress.

        Concealment of funds that belong to the government is embezzlement.

        It would appear that the operation of the Fed is an ongoing criminal activity.
        The ability of the Fed to conceal their perfidity for 100 years in a practice that has occurred numerous times over the past 800 years (ref. Ben Ginsberg–FATAL EMBRACE), with thousands of graduates from Economics schools including Harvard Phd’s not identifying the problem, should not sully the standing of congressional members.

        Griffin (in his plagiarism of Eustace Mullin’s SECRETS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE)
        does not make this conclusion nor is it available from any other source.

        Documentation of the above declarations is in the Scribd article.

        • etls1

          I do not disagree with any of your statements regarding the illegitimacy of Federal Reserve. I do disagree with the ridiculously emotional accusation (apparently because someone dared to disagree with you) of plagiarism on the part of Mr. Griffin whose sources are all thoroughly documented in his work.

          The fact is that pretty much everyone in Congress and the Senate knew when the Federal Reserve Act was passed that it was an unconstitutional piece of legislation, and they still know it today. There should not be any profit by the Fed going to the government, because there should not be any Fed to begin with. It is an entirely illegal entity.
          The notion that economists with Harvard Phd’s have failed to identify this ongoing phemomena for the last 100 years is incredibly naive. People from all walks of life have been literally screaming about it for decades. In fact just about everyone down to street level is aware of the facts you have pointed out regarding the present day criminality of the Fed. Those who are in a position to do something about it simply refuse to do so because they do not represent the people, they represent the criminal bankers. This is what we call treason, plain and simple.

          • 1olde_reb2

            Perhaps plagiarism is too strong of a word–Griffin does not make a ‘word by word‘ duplication. I find very little information in Mr. Griffin’s work that is not documented by Mr. Mullins. Mr. Griffin has performed a considerable service to society by educating the masses. Griffin, to repeat myself, does not allege specific acts of embezzlement.

            There have been innumerable writings and congressional members condemning the actions of the Federal Reserve–in vague, indefinite descriptions including unconstitutional piece of legislation, illegal printing of money, entirely illegal entity, etc.

            I am not aware of any prior criminal accusation that would be sufficient to allege in an indictment. Apparently you believe the ability of the Fed’s operation to hide $4 billion profit daily for international bankers—as a criminal confidence game— is not a new revelation. I had thought the embezzlement was not obvious. But perhaps I overestimate the specific acts documenting auction funds theft.

            It is treason only if the congressional members are aware of the theft of $4 billion daily and then they do nothing. Ignorance of the crime does not make it treason on their part.

            Of course, any source sympathetic to Wall Street would want to ignore and discredit the accusation of theft and assert the problem is in government.

          • 1olde_reb2

            Perhaps plagiarism is too strong of a word–Griffin does not make a ‘word by word‘ duplication. I find very little information in Mr. Griffin’s work that is not documented by Mr. Mullins. Mr. Griffin has performed a considerable service to society by educating the masses. Griffin, to repeat myself, does not allege specific acts of embezzlement.

            There have been innumerable writings and congressional members condemning the actions of the Federal Reserve–in vague, indefinite descriptions including unconstitutional piece of legislation, illegal printing of money, entirely illegal entity, etc.

            I am not aware of any prior criminal accusation that would be sufficient to allege in an indictment. Apparently you believe the ability of the Fed’s operation to hide $4 billion profit daily for international bankers—as a criminal confidence game— is not a new revelation. I had thought the embezzlement was not obvious. But perhaps I overestimate the specific acts documenting auction funds theft.

            It is treason only if the congressional members are aware of the theft of $4 billion daily and then they do nothing. Ignorance of the crime does not make it treason on their part.

            Of course, any source sympathetic to Wall Street would want to ignore and discredit the accusation of theft and assert the problem is in government.

          • etls1

            It sounds like we actually agree on most points. Of course Mr. Griffin used information he gained from other sources, he is a researcher.
            My entire point about complicity on the part of at least a portion of both Congress and the U.S. Senate as well as presidential cabinet members is laid out in the beginning pages of Mr. Griffin’s Jekyll Island book. The original plan for the Federal Reserve Bank was made in 1910 at a secret meeting on Jekyll Island by Republican ‘whip”, Senator Nelson Aldrich, Abraham Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury and four bankers representing around 25% of the world’s wealth. Griffin also very clearly explains in chapter 22 of this book how deception was used on the part of several very high ranking U.S. politicians as well as President Woodrow Wilson allowing himself to be controlled by Colonel Edward Mandell House in implementing the metamorphosis of what was originally called the Aldrich Plan into the Glass-Owen Bill, co-sponsored by Congressman Carter Glass and Senator Robert Owen and finally after making basically meaningless concessions and changing the name into the Federal Reserve Act, creating the monster central bank which still exists today.
            I guess it boils down to one’s opinion as to how complicit our federal officials were and are in the Fed. I am no fan of Wall Street, but it is my opinion that dirty Washington politicians helped to start this mess and they are still today helping to maintain the status quo which renders most of us perpetual debt slaves. There is plenty of blame to go around for sure.

          • 1olde_reb2

            With all due respect for your effort to be intellectually honest, the error of your conclusion appears to be contained in your brief writing.

            You acknowledge:

            1) a “secret” meeting with a few individuals to formulate a plot on Jekyll Island.

            2) a few individuals and President Wilson were “controlled” by House with “deception.”

            3) it is well known the legislation was passed in a rump session after congress was supposedly adjourned for Christmas.

            4) and you conclude the entire “dirty” congress, even with a 100 year duration, should be accused of treason?

            Isn’t it obvious a cabal connived to pull a fast one on congress and the Nation ? Shouldn’t we believe congressional members would rectify the situation if they had persuasive evidence of embezzlement by the Fed ?? Isn’t the auction account handling by the FRBNY (which you have never challenged or addressed) inescapable evidence of culpable action ?
            If our suspicion is conveyed to congress by educating innumerable constituents (public awareness of the perfidy), couldn’t we believe congress would investigate with an audit of the auction accounts ?

            Let us not be obsessed with history but let us focus on correcting the problem.

          • etls1

            OK. It is obvious that I was wrong about us agreeing. We do not agree on several points. For the sake of argument, let me just ask you this: If it so blaringly obvious to you and me what the inherent problems with the Fed are, including your pet peeve auction account handling, why would it not be obvious to any competent Congressman or Senator? In fact, the very existance of a private central banking cabal which prints fiat currency is a blatant violation of Article 1. sections 8 & 9 of the U.S. Constitution.
            No, I do not believe that Congressional members would rectify the situation if they were aware of it because I believe most of them are aware of it and they are making no moves whatsoever to do anything. Any representative not aware of this problem is Constitutionally illiterate, and I don’t think there are many of them in office. They are in fact making every effort to maintain the status quo of fractional reserve banking and debt slavery despite their acute awareness of the wrongness of it all. In case you’ve forgotten, audits have been proposed on many occasions and the parties who proposed them were blown off as “nuts” using the MSM.

            There is no doubt that there exists a widespread collusion between bankers and our top elected officials and that it has been getting worse rather than better over time. I am not so much obsessed with history as I am simply saying there is ample evidence that they were in it together from the beginning and have even stronger ties now, and on a large scale. You seem to believe that government is totally innocent and naive and has been led down the primrose path by evil bankers. I believe that most government officials are smarter than that, and that there is no realistic scenario under which they could be so thoroughly “tricked” without widespread willing complicity. The truth is they have been co-opted in exchange for illicit favors and the corruption is nearly universal.

            Blame simply cannot realistically be placed squarely on one side or the other; the entire nefarious scheme was designed with government and bankers as a kind of unholy alliance and that is the way it has remained to this day. Abolishing the Federal Reserve Bank entirely and holding all parties from both camps personally accountable is the only way this could ever be remedied, but I’m not holding my breath.

          • 1olde_reb2

            To correct a minor point, the Federal Reserve does not print money. The Fed makes book entry credit for the U.S. government when the government gives a collateral (bill, bond, or note) on the full faith and credit of the government. The Fed purchases money (Federal Reserve Notes also known as legal tender; i.e., an alternate that must be accepted by law for a contract that is denominated in dollars). The Fed paid 4.807 cents for each small FRN (unthreaded) and 8.535 cents for each 1996 series threaded $100 FRN. The series 2004 $100 FRN had an estimated price of 11.798 cents each. Ref. ANNUAL REPORT:BUDGET REVIEW by BOG, May 2010, page 24, MS N-127. [NOTE: This does not take into account the recent QE purchases which appear to have the FR banks acting as commercial banks making loans via checks with no reserve requirements.]

            The real question is whether congressional members, or the public, are aware of the operation of the Fed/ BOG/ FRBNY concealing $4 billion profit daily from the auctions of securities. Would you be so good as to identify any source, including an economics textbook, a magazine article, or even a public statement, that identifies or hints that result as a specific profit of the Fed ?

            I submit that the scam is so cleverly concealed that the inescapable conclusion does not reveal itself. Did you learn it in Economics classes ? Congress-critters are no smarter than you are.

          • etls1

            Thanks for the interesting statistics and the correction. It seems though that you are asking me to attempt to prove your own specific claims of a $4 billion a day profit by the Federal Reserve. I have no proof of it, have not heard about it, and don’t really care whether this specific point is accurate or not. Clearly you know more about the inner workings of the Fed than I. And though I don’t doubt your claim of embezzlement, I think we have gotten off track here. The original subject was your refuting the approach of the author of the above article to our existing problems. Unfortunately these problems are not one dimensional, as in “It’s all the Federal Reserve’s Fault”

            My concern goes back not to a specific instance, nor the Federal reserve Bank itself, but to the fact that the Federal Reserve was but one facet of an array of slickly designed government/corporate hybrid programs created for the sole purpose of implementing exactly the type of smoke and mirror operations to which you refer, with the full knowledge and cooperation of the federal government, all of them pressed by global corporate interests during the administrations of a weak Presidents in the 20th century. This is the big picture. All of these programs have one common goal. Total control over everything and everybody. Control of production and distribution of goods, control over what goods and services are available and who gets how much, without regard for individual achievment. I believe this is the real point the creators of Washington’s blog web-site are attempting to make people aware of. All one need do is look at present conditions; these things did not just “happen”, they were expertly engineered with the full cooperation and awareness of our government, federal down to local levels. The proof is in the existing legislation.

            While you seem to maintain something akin to a blind-faith in our government representatives and their constituents to save the day, my faith lies elsewhere, and I am not talking about religion. Just take a good look around at the “constituents” of today’s false two party paradigm and tell me again that you’re placing your faith in them. It would be laughable if it weren’t so sad.

            Blind faith in governments is the wet dream of these banksters. They have their agents planted deep within every branch and every relevant level of government, including “street-level”. And while there are certainly good people within the government attempting to make things better, the real power lies within the control of production, distribution and flow of wealth. This is the bailiwick of tyrants. And tyrants are exactly who we are dealing with. Any good samaritan getting in the way will be eliminated.

          • 1olde_reb2

            Thank you for your patience and indulgence.

            My previous statements were not meant to have you prove my theory. The inquiries were to establish that there is NO identification of the theory from any other source, including textbooks, magazines, or statements by economists. The scheme has been successfully hidden for 100 years. It was only after examining the concept for several months that I was compelled to conclude there is no other way for the system to work. The numbers will not flow otherwise.

            We surely agree on the destructive and tyrannical path that the nation is following. We appear to differ on the willing or complacent support by the majority of congressional members (as expressed in your article). But we must agree, that without their leadership to change the role of the Fed, the path to alteration becomes very violent.

            I submit congressional tolerance of the Fed’s operation is, in the House, from lack of understanding of the enormous profit that is hidden within the auction accounts and the insidious transfer of wealth to the financiers that will bankrupt the Nation. In the Senate, campaign contributions and insider market information along with other perks by lobbyists create economic benefits for approved legislation that jade their judgment. However, hope is still evident is a few individuals and constituent pressure can hopefully persuade others.

            I additionally submit the economic transfer of wealth that is now $4 billion per day from the auction accounts is the money that has been used to fund many of the collectivists programs and concentration of wealth for the past 100 years. These funds have been available to purchase stockholder control of major businesses by foundations managed by NY bankers (owners of the BOG) to develop interlocking directorships. Competition can be destroyed.

            Rockefeller conceivably used the funds to develop the CFR and Trilateralist group but this is but a component of the Rothschild holdings. Statist think tanks are conceivably funded with this money. Control of both political parties comes from Wall Street but the control is not absolute. Control of the MSM was accomplished years ago.

            The mercantile economic objective of the CIA has been exposed by William Blum and John Perkins. The U.S. government has no interest or gain from exploiting the resources of foreign nations; the CIA is the operating arm to further world -wide financial objectives of the CFR—the New World Order.

            The military-industrial complex has a sizeable role in the CFR with its inherent high profit margin and insatiable demand for expansion and material. Further, the world wide spread of the U.S. military is to compel compliance with CFR/IMF/world Bank exploitation.

            The rampant expansion of control we are seeing by government is to prevent resistance to the oppression that is required to continue funding the exploitation imposed by the Fed’s imposition of National Debt.

            With all due respect, I submit the hiding of auction profits by the FRBNY is the source of all the problems of the United States as detailed in RIP OFF BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE, http://www.scribd.com/doc/48194264/rip-off-by-the-Federal-Reserve-revised and FEDERAL RESERVE HEIST, http://www.scribd.com/doc/101937790.
            An audit of the auction accounts would conclusively confirm the criminal acts of the Fed and expose their nefarious exploitation.. Ref. http://www.scribd.com/doc/48194264/rip-off-by-the-Federal-Reserve-revised and FEDERAL RESERVE HEIST, http://www.scribd.com/doc/101937790.

          • etls1

            I appreciate the fact that you too have remained civil during our discussion. I must say, I find it a bit humorous that the scribd articles you refer me to for proof of your argument appear to have been written by none other than yourself. Honestly, am I wrong?

            In any case, at a cursory glance the articles do seem to have merit. Since my time is becoming limited lately, it will take awhile to thoroughly study the articles and form an honest opinion of them. I can tell you already, I have heard most of what I was able to absorb in scanning before from multiple sources, and do not dispute it. I am familiar with a few of the listed references, especially Carroll Quigley’s “Tragedy and Hope” and I believe I saw Gary Allan’s “None Dare Call it Treason” mentioned.

            The details and a few of the repeated acronyms with which I am unfamiliar are what I want to take a close look at. ( acronyms drive me nuts). My curiosity is peaked now as to whether this is simply a series of opinion pieces or if there is some sort of solid evidence to support your claim that ALL of our problems are caused by the Fed. I suppose from a certain point of view it may be possible but still am not entirely convinced. I’ll look you up and share my opinion when I’m done. Adios for now.

      • http://twitter.com/Hsaive Harold Saive

        Woodrow Wilson’s administration and congress caved to the FED and IRS. Once re-elected, Wilson caved on campaign promise of non-intervention in WWI. Do you think the government played no part in creating the FED?…or even worse?

  • Tech1

    As a real American going back to before the beginning with family who led troops against the British Empire after they burned down Washington DC got buried in Andersonville, GA leading troops in the Civil War, fought in the trenches in World War 1, died sticking the 1st telegraph line across the USA to replace the Pony Express and have Native American blood mixed in I figure I have the right to have my view as much as any newcomer. The real “enemy” of freedom and the ideals of the founders and the hopes and dreams of the American people are at the top the globalist fractional bankers-mostly oil and gas bankers like the Rockefellers and British banker “lords”. Andrew Jackson knew who they were and tossed them out then was the ONLY US president to run this country DEBT FREE! Today however you can go to the Rockefeller Foundation website and see they were set up in 1913 along with the private Fed/IRS scam so they wouldn’t have to pay taxes while the American people did! Fractional banking being the biggest con job in human history anyway they have to run the “business cycle” keeping everyone off balance with wars, market turmoil, currency games, etc. Controlling the nation’s currencies means they control and will own EVERYTHING. Think credit cards! Issued by the bankers-global “money” already just add in the RFID/GPS chips and you control the planet! Total control-they have plenty of “money” it’s the control they desire. Well it seems they already have 95% of it anyway. LIBOR-London Inter Bank Offered Rate? City of London banker “Lords” the ones we thought we beat in the Revolution and War of 1812? Yup! Worked for Pearson Plc. after they bought National Computer Systems in MN shortly before the 911 “attack” for 2.5 billion cash. Bilderberger, Baron and Lord ran it-seventh most powerful man on earth at the time-Baron Lord Dennis Stevenson, CBE, DL, Head of the Queens Appointment Commission for the House of Lords, Chairman of the Tate Gallery in London, Manpower Associates, Bank of Scotland, Halifax Bank, Lazard Bank, keynote speaker at the Council on Foreign Relations in NYC, Davos, etc. etc. NCA was the largest school testing corporation in America if not the world so they paid Akin&Gump to push “No Child Left Behind” and also had GW Bush hand them the no bid cost plus contract to set upeTSA with Lockheed which they over billed hundreds of millions on. Computers have made old style labor obsolete with automation so what will over seven billion humans do all day? Lots of busy work! Computers telling them how things should go and loads of “security jobs” keeping the sheep watching each other and under tight control. The owners will own everything and control everything, done deal unless?……….The vote doesn’t mean anything now Congresss is a bunch of paid off idiots and “presidents” are selected and groomed for the acting roles the REAL rulers are behind the scene like plusge Carlin said. Ron Paul tried to speak out but they just had judges bar him from debates etc. They have the police, military, numerous “security” agencies, the main media plus enough people placated so I don’t see how the people could stop this. End game is a micro-chipped population and the system will just cut your credit off if you object-TOTAL CONTROL! Already for the New age? I’m older and sad but I have yet to see any alternative system for the world. I’d sure like to see one though. Maybe America was just an illusion? You could just end the private Fed/IRS scam and stop the tax free Foundations by taxing them or hand equal shares out to citizens but Congress is scared and paid off. If enough people tried to restore our Constitution, rule of law and real government I think too many are dumbed down and in the security agencies ready and armed to kill if need be. Don’t see a nicer world coming but a highly controlled one, farmed aphids at best.

    • http://www.facebook.com/ralph.coffman.1 Ralph Coffman

      Like you I am an American by Heart & Soul. My mother gave 2 husbands to our country. Both of my fathers died due to their military service. America matters to me. I’m with you 100%.Count me ALL-IN. The International Bankster Crime Syndicate, headquartered in the “City of London” needs to be shut down. Look up in Wikipedia what the “City of London” really is. This 1 sq. mile within London is like an on-shore off-shore money laundering tax haven. The laws of England do not even apply here. It’s a Rouge operation. This is where they have accumulated a $1,800 Trillion Dollar fraudulent derivitive debt that they want US to pay. It’s THEIR fraudulent debt and we all need to get together and refuse to pay. The United States of America needs to issue it’s own Debt Free Currency. Fire the Fed and prosecute the criminals. The 100 year lie is over. We need to Check out the Spire Law Firm’s $43 Trillion Dollar Fraud Lawsuit on behalf of the people.

      • Jarda

        He, he, look into the mirror. The ugly face is yours.

        Regards from Europe.

  • HajjaRomi

    Thank you for your excellent articles! I am writing about Fukushima, and I have found your posts to be a great source of information.
    To whom can I attribute your articles? “Washington’s Blog” sounds a little evasive, and I would like to put something a little more in the bibliography of the issue I am compiling (I am a professional librarian inter alia). Is there the name of a real person I can use for the author? You can write to me privately at bluesapphire48@yahoo.com if you wish.
    Again, thanks so much!

  • John
  • http://www.facebook.com/jim.galbraith.33 Jim Galbraith

    Hey George – your usual great stuff. Anyway, I got interested in an article with your friends at Zero Hedge concerning the Social Security Trust Fund – Is it real or not? My sense is that it is – and it is invested in US Treasuries – debt securities – but the Republicans, including our own Scott Johnson (R-Wi) – simply don’t want to pay for it. However, I am also aware that Homeland security is spending a lot on arms and bullets seemingly preparing for some sort of “Civil Unrest.” It seems the two are linked – I sure would be pissed off at the government if they decide not to pay out on those who paid in all their lives. Anyway, could you guys address this issue? What is the problem if the US doesn’t default on its debt?

  • acrula

    I get the impression that this website will be dominated by big government and economic conspiracy theorists. Kind of an educated baby boomers’ alternative version of 1950s public opinion from the Cold War – reds under the beds and all of that. There now appear to be bankers and politicians under the beds. What I would like to see, if an opinion is presented, are well-researched substantiated facts and an alternative argument. Your piece on the Atom Bomb seemed OK. An academic article for comment would be even better. Otherwise, it will be just like all the other blogs that proliferate beneath any opinion piece in any suburban newspaper and at the moment they all seem to be saying the same thing, with varying levels of literacy, of course.

  • cosmopolitan person

    Excellent philosophies and articles – please keep up the good work!
    It doesn’t matter where in the world folk originate, we all have an interest in creating a better human society. National governments appear to be a big part of the problem rather than being likely solutions, so let’s remember we’re sisters and brothers first and citizens of particular jurisdictions second.
    All the world has an interest in how the US behaves as the policies and actions touch everyone. So we look to the American people to build a fairer political system and elect leaders that work for the majority, not narrow interest groups.

  • jim_robert

    Tea Party folks are “crazy?” Not that this author is saying that, but that is certainly the meme. Let’s see…. I have two graduate degrees (Univ. of Illinois and Univ. of British Columbia), a number of technical certifications, have been a law abiding, tax paying citizen for almost 40 years, and I strongly support the US Constitution. Oh yea – when I leave Tea Party rallies, they are ALWAYS spotless – no trash, no used condoms, no “nuthin.” But hey! If you are a fascist leftist, or a member of BowelMoveOn.org, gotta get that meme out there!
    Tell you what. Relative to we Tea Party folks – to turn a phrase – “We’re here, we’re NOT queer, and we are never, ever, EVER going away. Get used to it.”