The Boom And Bust Of Malice

Dracula's Castle came on the market last week.

At last, the perfect property has become available to relocate the Federal Reserve and Congress.

Thinking these pillars of power deserved further attention, some thoughtful readers forwarded these stories:

"BIS (Bank for International Settlements) warns of Great Depression dangers from credit spree."

"Credit crunch will 'shred investment portfolios to ribbons.'"

"Absolute Bond Contagion."

"Crack-up Boom, Part IV."

"The Crumbles of a Subprime Pie Crust."

These stories came from reasonable and sober journalists, analysts and economists. Being reasonable and sober, their work does not appear in the organs of the ruling elite: the networks, cable outfits and national newspapers.

You may think those headlines do not apply to you.

You wish.

The Great Depression was engineered by the Federal Reserve. They can do it again. That first Great Depression followed the Roaring Twenties. Those twenties roared because the Fed pumped money and credit into the economy, creating asset bubbles, such as in stocks. Then the bubbles burst.

Sound familiar? Think stock market dot-com bust. Think housing bust.

Through purposeful inflation, the Fed has created every boom and bust since its creation in 1913, a date that will live in infamy.

Inflation strips dollars of buying power. In a system of persistent inflation, people do not save. The interest yields do not keep up with prices. In an attempt to protect their wealth, people swap paper dollars for assets, such as stocks, bonds, real estate or gold.

Inflation enriches Wall Street, which sells and finances assets. This is why the government is infested with former Wall Street honchos. They manage the inflation apparatus for the benefit of the Street, to which they return after their government gigs.

They pump massive infusions of money and credit into the economy, collecting commissions and fees on every dime.

Without an inflationary monetary system, Wall Street tycoons would have to sell their Picassos and downsize their castles.

Washington politicians would have to give up their chefs and find honest employment, such as flipping burgers, one of the job categories still in demand as a result of their management of the economy.

Needless to say, they love the Federal Reserve.

The headlines above reflect the consequences of its actions.

When gangsters commandeer a nation's political and banking systems, bad things happen. The criminal mind cannot control its lust, greed and gluttony.

When their boom turns to bust, as is happening now, the criminal class will refill their coffers with public money. They will declare an emergency, a threat to the nation, and bail themselves out by sticking buckets in the public's hands.

The headline "Absolute Bond Contagion" comes from Jim Willie. It refers to the mortgage fiasco eating through the entwined, interconnected bond market.

This affects your bank, insurance company, stock brokerage and pension fund. It affects the cost of debt, institutional and personal.

More than three years ago, Willie accurately forecast the present housing and bond disasters. Here is his current forecast:

— The (taxpayer) bailout will be at least $1 trillion and possibly much more among bondholders.

— The housing decline will wipe out all gains in national home values since 2001.

— All except one or two homebuilders will declare bankruptcy.

— USFed wants considerable destruction so as to consolidate the banks.

— USFed wants broad economic decline to usher in the North American Alliance.

In other words, not only is inflation deliberate, but the whole coming economic meltdown is deliberate.

Millions of homes lost, jobs vaporized, portfolios destroyed — all deliberate.

The Great Depression had a purpose. It transferred power. It ushered in the vast, intrusive government we have today.

What deliberate malice awaits us now?

Phil Lucas is executive editor of The News Herald in Panama City, Fla. Contact him at plucas@pcnh.com. To find out more about Lucas and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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