We have now learned that the Federal Reserve lent $16 trillion to both domestic and overseas financial institutions during the height of the financial crisis!
Let me rephrase that while the number sinks in - $16,000,000,000,000.
In less than three years.
From Dec. 1, 2007 - July 21, 2010, the Federal Reserve "created reserves in the banking system" (Bernanke slang for printing money) that exceeded not only the entire U.S. GDP for a year, but also the entire U.S. national debt that's accumulated over the past 224 years!
More than $3 trillion dollars were lent to overseas financial institutions in numerous countries, including in the U.K., Germany, and France.
In addition, we learned just how much the big banks who contributed heavily to the crisis were rewarded - including nearly $8 trillion to banks like Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Merill Lynch, and Bank of America.
In February 2009, Campaign for Liberty made Audit the Fed our top legislative priority for the 111th Congress.
At the time, most Americans didn't even know what the Federal Reserve was.
NIA hasn't written about the whole debt ceiling issue over the past few weeks because in our minds it is completely irrelevant. Our elected representatives in Washington along with the mainstream media have been wasting thousands of hours of time and hundreds of millions of dollars debating a topic that has no meaning at all. The President, Senate, and House of Representatives are putting on a show to make it look like they care about cutting spending and balancing the budget. Except for a select few elected representatives like Ron Paul who care about protecting the U.S. Constitution and preserving what little purchasing power the U.S. dollar still has left, every other politician in Washington is putting on a complete charade in order to trick their constituents into believing there is a difference between the proposals from the Republicans and Democrats.
While our incompetent and corrupt mainstream media has been proclaiming there are major differences between the two bills proposed by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, NIA believes John Boehner might as well be a Democrat and Harry Reid could easily pass himself off as a Republican. There are absolutely no meaningful fundamental differences between Boehner's plan that was approved by the House of Representatives yesterday evening, before being killed by the Senate two short hours later, and Reid's bill, which was just rejected by the House today in a pre-emptive vote before the Senate even had a chance to vote on it.
Both bills are estimated to reduce the U.S. budget deficit by approximately $900 billion over the next 10 years. Of the $900 billion only about $750 billion are actual discretionary spending cuts with the rest being an expected reduction in interest payments on the national debt as a result of either bill passing. When you have an unstable fiat currency that is rapidly losing its purchasing power and could collapse at any time, it is impossible to accurately project what our budget deficits will be 5 or 6 years from now, let alone 9 or 10 years from today. As far as the next two fiscal years are concerned, both proposed bills from Boehner and Reid are estimated to only cut spending by a total of about $70 billion in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 combined.
The budget that former President Bush submitted to Congress in early-2007, projected the deficit to decline in each of the following four fiscal years. Not only did the deficit not decline the next four years in a row, but it nearly tripled in 2008 and from there more than tripled in 2009. Shockingly, Bush's budget actually projected a $61 billion surplus in fiscal year 2012, but instead we will have a budget deficit of $1.1 trillion based on President Obama's latest budget, which takes into account unrealistic GDP growth next year of 4.86%.
U.S. GDP growth for the first quarter of 2011 was just revised down yesterday by 81% from 1.91% to 0.36%. The advance estimate of second quarter GDP growth came in at 1.28%, well below the consensus estimate of 1.8%. NIA is going to really go out on a limb and predict that second quarter GDP growth will soon be revised downward as well. If this is the highest GDP growth the U.S. could muster after the Federal Reserve's $600 billion in QE2 money printing, this should prove once and for all that monetary inflation does not create real economic growth and employment.
The U.S. Treasury as of Thursday night had $51.6 billion in cash, with its cash position declining by $15.2 billion during the previous 24 hours. It expects to bring in $172.4 billion from August 3rd through August 31st in tax receipts, but is scheduled to pay out $306.7 billion during this time period for an estimated deficit of $134.3 billion. The U.S. is scheduled to make its next interest payment on the national debt on August 15th and it will equal approximately $30 billion. Over the last 9 months the U.S. has spent a total of $385.9 billion on interest payments on the national debt, which means it is on track to spend a record $514.5 billion this year on interest payments alone. Just a tiny 30 basis point increase in the interest rate on the national debt would totally wipe out the deficit reductions proposed by both Boehner and Reid.
The U.S. Treasury has been able to pay its bills in recent weeks by using many different accounting gimmicks. However, come Tuesday, there will be no more accounting tricks left to play and the U.S. won't be able to meet all of its obligations. Without a raise in the debt ceiling, the U.S. government will have to prioritize who it pays using the tax receipts coming in, which will probably include the $30 billion interest payment on the national debt (to avoid a default), $49.2 billion in Social Security payments, $50 billion in Medicare/Medicaid payments, $31.7 billion in defense payments, and $12.8 billion in unemployment benefits. With $23 billion of the $49.2 billion in Social Security payments due to be paid on August 3rd and $59 billion in t-bills due on August 4th, the U.S. Treasury's remaining cash balance could dissipate very quickly.
The 10-year bond yield reached a new 2011 low yesterday of 2.785%, its lowest level since November 30th of last year. It is approaching its record low of 2.08% from December of 2008 during the middle of the financial crisis. With threats of a U.S. debt default making headlines across the world, investors are once again rushing into U.S. bonds as a safe haven. It is almost as if the whole world has gone insane. The world is fearful of the U.S. government defaulting on its debt and not being able to pay off maturing bonds, so as a safe haven let's just all rush into the very asset that will soon be worthless due to either an honest default or default by inflation. The U.S. dollar bubble is the largest and longest running bubble in world history and U.S. bonds are currently mispriced big time.
U.S. dollar-denominated bonds should be the last asset in the world to benefit from fears of a U.S. debt default. One positive sign that NIA members are having success at spreading our message to the world is that gold reached a new all time high yesterday, rising $15 to $1,631 per ounce, with silver rising $0.31 to $40.10 per ounce. Thanks to the efforts of NIA members who worked tirelessly to spread the word about NIA's economic documentaries including 'Meltup', 'The Dollar Bubble', and 'Hyperinflation Nation', a larger percentage of the global population than ever before is educated about the global currency crisis that is ahead.
During the financial crisis of late-2008/early-2009, gold and silver prices declined along with all other assets. Today, NIA estimates that half of the world's investors seeking a safe haven are buying dollar-denominated assets like U.S. Treasuries and the other half are seeking safety in precious metals. By mid-2012, investors will most likely no longer look at U.S. bonds and other dollar-denominated assets as a safe haven. During future times of uncertainty, NIA believes that precious metals will receive nearly 100% of safe haven buying, just like the U.S. dollar received 100% of safe haven buying in late-2008/early-2009.
Once the debt ceiling is inevitably raised, the U.S. Treasury will have a lot of catching up to do in order to get its house in order, and we will likely see the largest amount of debt ever sold by the U.S. government in a single month. With QE2 having finished at the end of June, the U.S. will be relying on foreigners in these upcoming record Treasury auctions. In our opinion, we are likely going to see interest rates rise at an unprecedented rate that will shock the world.
Don't believe the mainstream media's laughable claim that there is a shortage of U.S. Treasuries. It was just reported yesterday that Cambodia, one of the most rapidly growing emerging market economies with GDP growth this year of 6.5%, is moving away from the U.S. dollar, which currently accounts for 90% of their currency in circulation, in favor of its own currency the riel. NIA believes it is only a matter of time until China ends its currency peg with the U.S. dollar. The world is flooded with trillions of dollars in U.S. Treasuries that will soon have no buyers except the Federal Reserve. There is no chance of yields falling below record lows from December of 2008.
The mainstream media has been reporting all week that if the U.S. defaults on its debt as a result of a failure to raise the debt ceiling, it will be the first time that our nation has defaulted on its debt obligations. Most NIA members know that the real U.S. debt default already occurred in 1971 when President Nixon closed the gold window and stopped allowing foreign governments to convert their U.S. dollar holdings into gold. Since then, the U.S. currency system has been completely fiat and the national debt has increased by 3,400%.
For the past 40 years, the U.S. government has been running on fumes left over from when countries were able to convert their paper U.S. dollars into gold. The price of gold has increased by 3,900% during this time period, meaning the U.S. dollar has lost 97.5% of its purchasing power. Meanwhile, the median household income has only increased by 384%. In terms of gold, the median U.S. household is earning 87.9% less income today than they did in 1971. The U.S. debt default of 1971 was many times more significant than the pending debt default, because back then our foreign creditors expected to receive real money and not a piece of paper with no real value that we print. The average American family has experienced a dramatic decline in its standard of living since 1971. The U.S. dollar and its reserve currency status is currently serving as the last thread that is keeping our "house of cards" economy propped up.
The U.S. debt ceiling is very similar to a publicly traded company's authorized shares. When a public company consistently loses money like the U.S. government does, they print new shares just like the Federal Reserve prints dollars and when its total outstanding shares reach the shares authorized, the company's Board of Directors simply raises the shares authorized, which allows it to continue issuing shares and diluting shareholders. Since 1962, the U.S. has raised its debt ceiling 74 times. Any public company that needed to raise its authorized shares 74 times would likely have seen its stock price decline by 99.99% from above $10 to below 1 penny.
NIA is strongly against an increase in the debt ceiling because there are ways for our country to stay afloat and continue operating without getting deeper into debt. The U.S. is currently supposed to have 8,133.5 tonnes of gold reserves at Fort Knox. We don't know for sure if these gold reserves still exist because the last audit of our gold reserves took place in 1954 and we had the little minor issue of our real debt default in 1971. Assuming that all of our gold is still there, this gold is worth $426.5 billion at the present time, enough to cover our U.S. government's deficit spending for almost four whole months. The U.S. government also owns valuable land, buildings, monuments, and other types of Real Estate, that could also be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Although we don't support selling all of our gold and Real Estate, if the U.S. government isn't going to implement real spending cuts that will lead to a balanced budget, we rather sell our assets than see the dollar-denominated savings and incomes of all Americans lose its purchasing power.
If we continue raising the debt ceiling and getting deeper into debt in order to pay back the debts we already have, we are defaulting on our debts through inflation. With gold at a record high of $1,631 per ounce, the market is clearly telling us that a default through inflation is coming. As the Chinese, Japanese, and our other creditors are paid back in U.S. dollars that are rapidly losing their purchasing power, they will be reluctant to increase their purchases of U.S. Treasuries in the future, which we desperately need them to do in order to fund our spending increases. With the Federal Reserve likely to become the Treasury buyer of last resort, the world will lose their confidence in the U.S. dollar and hyperinflation could potentially break out as soon as 2013.
NIA believes it is very likely that U.S. GDP will begin declining again in late-2011, which will officially put the U.S. in double-dip recession territory. In our opinion, the U.S. is still in the early stages of a hyperinflationary depression and the so-called economic recovery reported by the government and mainstream media has been completely phony and only due to misleading and manipulated economic statistics that don't factor in the real rate of U.S. price inflation. We expect Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to do everything in his power to avoid a double-dip recession at all costs.
By the end of 2011, we are confident that not only will we see QE3 under a new name, but the Fed will act to force banks to lend their $1.6 trillion in excess reserves. It is a joke that we are debating spending cuts of $70 billion over the next two years, when only very dramatic across the board spending cuts of 50% or more of the total budget will give the U.S. any hope of balancing the budget and avoiding hyperinflation. Best case scenario, if the U.S. government cuts spending by 50% or more in all areas of the budget including entitlement programs and is able to prevent hyperinflation, NIA still believes we will see the U.S. dollar lose 90% of its purchasing power this decade with the price of gold rising to above $16,000 per ounce.
It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us
In the strongest warning so far to China, President Aquino declared in his State of the Nation Address on Monday that the Philippines is ready to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea (renamed West Philippine Sea) with beefed-up military forces.
The warning highlighted his first major foreign policy statement since disputes over islands claimed by six Asian countries (the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan) flared into encounters between Chinese, on the one hand, and Philippine and Vietnamese forces, on the other hand, exploring for oil and marine resources in the area.
The statement on the Spratly Islands chain dispute was also the strongest section of the annual Sona, and drew one of the loudest rounds of applause in Congress, where the President gave the speech. The applause indicated the depth of the national sentiment behind a tough position to stand up to increasingly aggressive Chinese intrusions and interference with maritime exploration activities especially of the Philippines in the Spratlys.
The President emphasized the tough foreign policy line apparently to dispel growing domestic criticism over what is perceived as his weak and indecisive leadership. There is little doubt from the reactions to this statement that he had broad public support—a point that the Chinese should not ignore to have a clear idea of the depth of Filipino feelings over the Chinese incursions in the area.
The President stated the Philippine case with little room for ambiguity: “We do not wish to increase tensions with anyone, but we must let the world know we are ready to protect what is ours.”
He said the Philippines would no longer allow other countries to enforce their will over it. “There was a time when we couldn’t appropriately respond to threats in our own backyard. Now, our message to the world is clear: What is ours is ours; setting foot on Recto Bank is no different from setting foot on Recto Avenue.”
The avenue in central Manila is named after the Filipino nationalist, Claro M. Recto. Recto Bank is the Philippine name for the group of islets off Palawan that is being claimed by the Philippines and China. The Philippines has accused Chinese navy ships of harassing a Philippine-commissioned oil exploration vessel near Recto Bank in March, an incident that triggered a dramatic rise in tensions between the two countries. The Philippines has also accused Chinese forces of shooting at Filipino fishermen and placing markers on the same islets.
Stung by the humiliation of being bullied by the Chinese in the recent past, the President said, “At times I wonder if the stories about some of our past stand-offs are true—that when cannons were aimed at our marines, they could only reciprocate by cutting down a coconut tree, painting it black, and aiming it back. True or not, that time is now over. Soon, we will be seeing capability upgrades and the modernization of the equipment of our armed forces.”
The Philippines is now standing up to China’s bullying and talking tough. “At this very moment,” Mr. Aquino said, “our very first Hamilton Class Cutter is on its way to our shores.” The biggest ship ever to be acquired by the Philippine Navy, the cutter, renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar, began its journey to the Philippines from California on July 19. The 378-foot cutter is a decommissioned US Coast Guard patrol vessel that the Philippines acquired under the US Excess Defense Act. The Philippine Navy classified the ship as a “surface combatant ship” or warship. Philippine Navy officials said the ship would be used for, among other purposes, defending the country’s interests in the West Philippine Sea, particularly in waters near the Spratly Islands.
Acquisition of more military hardware to beef up the forces in the south under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program is under negotiations in Washington, D.C. The President said, “We may acquire more vessels in the future—these, in addition to helicopters and patrol craft, and the weapons that the armed forces and the Philippine National Police need, which the Philippines is purchasing at a significant discount.”
He added: “We are also studying the possibility of elevating the case on the West Philippine Sea to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to make certain that all involved nations approach the dispute with calm and forbearance.”
Applying diplomatic pressure to bolster the arms build-up of the AFP, Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario used strong language last Saturday to denounce China’s claim over the entire South China Sea. He called the claim “baseless” and a “potential threat” to the navigation in the region at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Bali, Indonesia.
China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea appears to be motivated by “a hunger to exploit the area’s rich oil and gas resources,” Del Rosario said. He rejected the Chinese claim, saying it had no validity under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is a signatory.
Del Rosario pointed out that China’s claim to all of the West Philippine Sea is based on a Chinese map with nine dashes outlining its territory. This so-called “9-dash claim” to the West Philippine Sea would be rejected by an international court, he said.
China’s behavior in the disputed waters has raised concerns about how it would treat its neighbors as it becomes more powerful.
Refitting aircraft carrier not to change naval strategy
File photo: This photo taken on June 8 shows the imported aircraft carrier body has been refitted. [Photo/Xinhua]
The Chinese Defense Ministry has made the first official confirmation of an ongoing program that China is in pursuit of an imported aircraft carrier for refitting to be used for scientific research, experiment and training.
Geng Yansheng, the spokesman of the Chinese Defense Ministry made the announcement during a monthly news conference on July 27, 2011.
The Xinhua.net (XH) then had an exclusive interview with Navy Commodore Cao Weidong from the Naval Military Art Studies Institute of China, to discuss the latest move of the Chinese Defense Ministry.
XH: Why did we choose to refit an old carrier? What was the purpose of rebuilding the aircraft carrier?
Cao Weidong::Any country has the right to build its own aircraft carrier, because it works in line with the nation's security needs, economic strength and scientific development. China has never had an aircraft carrier with a comprehensive naval platform; however, for the purpose of sea security, national maritime interests, world peace and stability, China now needs such a platform.
China is a country with large maritime resources. It has 18,000 km of coastline, and over 3 million square kilometers of maritime territory. Therefore we need to have an aircraft carrier to maintain maritimee security and safeguard national unity.
XH: We have noticed China is in pursuit of an old aircraft to refit, not building a complete new one. How do you see the difference between building a new one and refitting an old one?
Cao Weidong: Some countries, like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia, build new aircraft carriers, while China is aiming to refit an old one. Refitting means adding some powerful engines and military equipment, making modifications and adding new construction over the used one, and then to reuse it afterwards.
At present, the purpose of buying an old aircraft carrier is solely aimed at scientific research and training. China has never had such a complex and comprehensive maritime platform; therefore, for the first time, it has to start from zero. The decision is also made out of consideration of China's current situation.
XH: Is there a long way for China to go from refitting to form its own maritime battle competence?
Cao Weidong: An aircraft carrier is a giant comprehensive platform. First it needs a powerful system?a weapons system?carrier-borne aircraft radar and communication equipment. To build these all, takes a long time. Besides, the carrier-borne aircraft is an important feature of an aircraft carrier.
The take-off and landing methods of an aircraft carrier are completely different from piloting a normal airplane which means pilots on an aircraft carrier need to get specially trained. Therefore, China cannot form a full battle competence in a short time.
XH: Does the refitting signal that China has transformed its naval development strategy?
Cao Weidong: No. First, any army serves its nation's interests and national defense strategy.
China firmly adheres to an offshore defense strategy as stated in the White Paper of the Chinese Defense Ministry. The Chinese aircraft carrier program is now at an experimental stage,and even if one day China creates a combat-worthy aircraft carrier, the national defense strategy will not be changed.
The refitting program therefore does not mean the transformation of China's naval military strategy but an important step in China's naval military modernization.
China refurbishes old aircraft carrier for scientific research
China is refurbishing an old aircraft carrier for scientific research and training.
This information is released at a monthly press conference held by Ministry of Defense.
With "Varyag's" reconstruction work nearing an end, people are paying more and more attention to it. From 1998 when it went into the water for the first time up till now, Varyag's journey has been on a rather tortuous path. It somehow resonates with China's quest for aircraft carriers in the past decades.
In the 1980's, "Varyag" was built in Ukraine's Nikolayev shipyard by the Soviet military. At the time, two were built, one was numbered 105 and the other 106. 105 has been transformed into the "Kuznetsov", currently operated by the Russian navy, while 106 is the ill-fated "Varyag". According to design proposals, the two aircraft carriers have a water displacement capacity of 67 thousand tons. They are 310 meters in length, only 22 meters shorter than the world's current largest aircraft carrier - America's "Nimitz". The bow is 7 floors away from water, its deck is 75 meters wide. It can accommodate 60 fighter jets at full capacity. By December 25th, 1991, when the Soviet Union was dismantled, construction had been 68% complete. Ukraine couldn't afford to continue construction and decided to auction the ships off.
In 1998, a company in Macao bought "Varyag" for 20 million yuan. In July 1999, with the help of a tow boat, "Varyag" left the shipyard and embarked on a long journey to China. When "Varyag" reached the south of the Black Sea, and was preparing to cross the Turkish Bosphorus strait, it was stopped by the Turkish government. Turkey expressed concern that because of the ship's large size, it may collide with the bridge and cause congestion.
The Chinese government then started a 16 month long negotiation with the Turks. Finally, on November 1st 2000, "Varyag" was allowed to proceed on its journey. However, because it also wasn't allowed to pass through Egypt's Suez Canal, "Varyag" had to make a detour around the Atlantic sea, passing Africa's Cape Point, and then the Indian Ocean to sail for China. On March 3rd 2001,
"Varyag" finally reached its destination - China's Dalian port. Four years had past since it was first purchased.
After the rusted "Varyag" arrived in China, it lay idle at Dalian port for 3 years. But in April, 2005, "Varyag's" construction resumed.
2009 was an important year for "Varyag". It was hauled into a shipyard for renovation. Soviet navy insignias and its Russian name engravings on the body of the ship were taken off. In August in the same year, "Varyag" reconstruction officially started.
At the beginning of 2010, after spending 11 months in the shipyard, "Varyag" left for a port close to the yard. New inverted rails were put on deck. Cabins aboard had been transformed with complete seal-off designs. On the third of April, "Varyag" began to be painted with inorganic zinc-rich primer.
This major transformation, especially with phased array radar, FL-3000N short range air defense missiles, leaves no doubt in people's minds that "Varyag" will soon come into service as a member of China's navy.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would respond to travel restrictions imposed by the United States on a number of officials allegedly responsible for lawyer Sergei Magnitsky's death in detention.
The ministry said the U.S. decision to impose visa bans and freeze American assets of Russian officials involved in the lawyer's death without notifying Russia would "become a strong irritant in Russian-U.S. relations and damage efforts to build up trust and constructive cooperation."
"The American side is well aware of efforts by the Russian authorities to investigate the Magnitsky tragedy fully and thoroughly. In this regard, the political games in which the U.S. executive power is becoming entangled are causing perplexity and concern," the ministry said.
"Naturally, the Russian side will not leave such unfriendly measures unanswered and will take adequate measures to protect the sovereignty of our state and the rights of Russian citizens from illegal actions by foreign states," the statement reads.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner defended the move, saying the U.S. had investigated the Magnitsky case independently and that the blacklist consisted of "individuals that we believe are responsible for [Magnitsky's] death."
The Washington Post said earlier in the day that about 60 officials were on the blacklist, which has not yet been disclosed.
Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage Capital investment fund, died in November 2009 after almost a year in Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention center. He was detained on tax evasion charges shortly after announcing he had uncovered massive fraud by police investigators.
In July, a Kremlin rights council said his death was likely to have been the result of a beating and that the charges against him were fraudulent. Human rights activists and his former colleagues allege the officers he had accused were involved in his death, which was originally said to have been the result of "heart failure."
Last year, the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee voted unanimously to ban entry to the EU for 60 officials allegedly tied to Magnitsky's death.
Justice for Sergei is the award winning documentary film on Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in November 2009 at the age of 37 under excruciating circumstances in a Moscow detention centre, still awaiting trial. His death fuelled international outrage, but inside Russia the corrupt government officials responsible were never brought to justice. Justice for Sergei tells the story of an ordinary man who paid the ultimate price while trying to expose the extraordinary corruption gripping Russia today.
The documentary was broadcasted in several countries and the 62-minute director's cut has screened at major European film festivals this spring. It was awarded First Price in the Human Rights Competition at the 'Docudays' Film Festival in Kiev, Ukraine.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the biggest reason America is in the mess that it’s in today is directly due to the apathy and indifference of the American pulpit. I am reminded of what Charles Finney, the famed 19th Century revivalist, said: “If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that they very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.”
Our second President, John Adams, put it this way: “It is the duty of the clergy to accommodate their discourses to the times, to preach against such sins as are most prevalent, and recommend such virtues as are most wanted. For example, if exorbitant ambition and venality are predominate, ought they not to warn their hearers against those vices? If public spirit is much wanted, should they not inculcate this great virtue? If the rights and duties of Christian magistrates and subjects are disputed, should they not explain them, show their nature, ends, limitations, and restrictions, howmuchsoever it may move the gall of Massachusetts?”
Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer, was even more direct. He said, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battle fields besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
For at least the past half-century Christian pastors and churches have been all but neutered. On the whole, they have ignored Christ’s admonition to be the “salt of the earth,” and as a result, have failed to do much of anything to preserve freedom’s Biblical Natural Law principles in this great land. In fact, the average church is so sugary sweet that it is downright sickening!
And the two main reasons for this dereliction of duty by America’s pastors and churches are the IRS 501c3 non-profit tax status, which turns the Lord’s church into a government corporation; and the erroneous, fallacious interpretation of Romans chapter 13 that teaches Christians are obligated to submit to government regardless of whether government acts within the confines and jurisdiction of God’s law or not. In reality, the American church today, on the whole, is not even a church. It is a government corporation whose loyalty is offered first to Caesar, not to Christ, and whose message is first politically correct before it is Biblically correct.
It is more than interesting that some 95% of the 14,000 evangelical churches that graced the German landscape during Hitler’s rise to power bought into the identical misinterpretation of Romans 13 that the vast majority (probably at least 95%) of the 300,000 evangelical churches that grace America’s landscape have bought into today.
For example, one German pastor in 1933 gushed, “Christ has come to us through Hitler.” In like manner, many pastors today foolishly preach that God directs us through our President (whoever he is), or our Supreme Court, or virtually any other government agency. And speaking of the ignominious infatuation with government by Nazi-era German clergymen, Erwin Lutzer, in his brilliant book, “Hitler’s Cross”, wrote, “The swastika meant more to some pastors than did the Cross.” And there is absolutely no question that many pastors in America today place far more value on the US flag (symbolizing to them the power and authority of the state) than they do the Cross of Christ or the teachings and authority of the Holy Scriptures.
Without a doubt, tyrants of all stripes love to exploit this asinine attitude of these sheepish, slavish preachers who idolize the state! Lutzer quotes Hitler as saying, “The parsons will dig their own graves. They will betray their God to us. They will betray anything for the sake of their miserable jobs and incomes.” And that is exactly what many pastors, deacons, elders, and churchmen are doing today: for the sake of their paychecks, insurance premiums, and retirement benefits, they are betraying the lawful authority of Christ to the tyrannical authority of the state. And the bastardized teaching of Romans 13 is one of the major tools by which this is being done.
Therefore, before we can see any significant return to legitimate constitutional government in this country, the thinking and philosophy of Christians and churches regarding Romans 13 must change. This is absolutely obligatory!
The reality of the importance of a proper understanding of Romans 13 was the impetus behind my constitutional attorney son, Tim Baldwin, and me co-authoring an in-depth analysis of Romans 13, which is entitled “Romans 13: The True Meaning of Submission.” This book is absolutely a must read, if I do say so myself! We quote hundreds of scriptures from both Testaments, along with hundreds of quotations from Christian apologists, theologians, and philosophers throughout history. Quite frankly, I do not know of another book such as this on the market today.
New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism
By James Taylor Jul 27, 2011
NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.
Study co-author Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer flying on NASA's Aqua satellite, reports that real-world data from NASA's Terra satellite contradict multiple assumptions fed into alarmist computer models.
"The satellite observations suggest there is much more energy lost to space during and after warming than the climate models show," Spencer said in a July 26 University of Alabama press release. "There is a huge discrepancy between the data and the forecasts that is especially big over the oceans."
In addition to finding that far less heat is being trapped than alarmist computer models have predicted, the NASA satellite data show the atmosphere begins shedding heat into space long before United Nations computer models predicted.
The new findings are extremely important and should dramatically alter the global warming debate.
Israelies it's imposible to live in this country anymore, 150,000 protest and want Netanyahu to step down.
“I’m here because it is just becoming impossible to live in this country anymore,” said one of the protestors. “We work and we give, and we keep on giving, and there is no end to it.”
“I think there is a lot of influence of what happened on Tahrir Square, in Syria, Lebanon, what we see in Libya,” said another. “People understand that they have the power and that they can organize themselves, they don’t need anymore the government to tell them what to do. They can start telling the government what they want. They can start deciding for themselves.”