The Fantasy of Progressivism- A Sewer of Death

3 min read

The Fantasy of Progressivism- A Sewer of Death

W R Collier Jr November 23, 2015

W. R. Collier Jr- Some 80 plus years ago Oswald Spengler, in his “Man and Technics”, described the final form of “materialism” a civilization takes before it enters a dead Caesarism which he felt had been expressed in the 18th and 19th centuries but which would give way to the fascism of the 1930’s which, though he was no fan of fascism, he felt was inevitable.

Spengler was prescient but wrong, at the same time. While he described a genuine philosophy of “materialism”, rooted in Hegel and Marx’s interpretation of Hegel, he failed to see that this ideology as a rebellion against morality had not taken root in the masses, but only among the elite. It is for our day that what he called materialism, and which I describe, I think more accurately, as libertine collectivism has become so general that in much of Western Civilization it has displaced faith and morality as surely as it has replaced science and reason, it’s constant claims to be “scientific” notwithstanding.

And so he writes of this utopian, but actually dystopian, fantasy that poisons the minds of a late and dying culture:

“No more war; no more distinctions between races, peoples, states, or religions; no criminals or adventurers; no conflicts arising out of superiorities and differences, no hate or vengeance anymore, but eternal comfort throughout the millennia. Even today, when we experience the last phases of this trivial optimism, these idiocies make one shudder, thinking of the appalling boredom — the taedium vitae of the Roman Imperial age — that spreads over the soul in the mere reading of such idylls, of which even a partial actualisation in real life could only lead to wholesale murder and suicide.”

What he leaves us with, however, is only resignation and despair. The Caesar must come, sewing together the ruined pieces sundered by the time of fantastical decadence, and he must reign some centuries before the final curtain falls on a civilization.

Spengler failed on three counts: the attempted Caesarism of the 1930’s and 40’s in the West was only a dry run for the real thing, his “materialism” had not run its course (and still has not), and he neglected to take into account that the history of civilizations is not linear- one civilization does not follow another, but one begins even as another is coming to an end, and many escape the vissicitudes of the dying civilization by embracing the ideals of the new civilization.

His description, however, of 19th century materialism in its propositions, promises, and its gross pride in its alleged scientific basis (witness the global warming cult, akin to the classic end-times cults of the mid to later 19th century which were just as “certain” of their theological and mathematical predictions), sounds like the pop-culture version of late Western “progressivism” which, as he also notes, actually seeks a stasis of luxury for all without want, a paradise on earth, achieved by the gods of men, the technocracy, all for pleasure, a utility of “whatever pleases the majority”, that sweeps aside the individual, all while claiming to practically adore the individual, that, like Caesar, “makes a desert and calls it peace.”

Because MOST people, even some reading this, have such a tiny porthole through which they view such things as history and philosophy, instead of the grand vistas of 30,000 plus years of the rise and fall of human societies, it is impossible to dig deeper than perhaps 100 years back and to look no further than the next “most important ever” election! When you see the march of history, in its cycles and patterns, it is a wonder everyone isn’t even now looking for signs of the coming civlization which, like all new civilizations, will be first and foremost moral, virtuous. They would discard the pleasure seekers and fantasy weavers, knowing that these are not prophets of a golden age but pallbearers of a dying culture.

The Refugee Crisis- Balancing Humanitarian Aid with Protection

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The Refugee Crisis- Balancing Humanitarian Aid with Protection

W R Collier Jr September 14, 2015

From the World Freedomist, Bill Collier gives us an analysis of the dilemma of aiding people in need with the real security risks of inviting tens of thousands of people in your country, some of which may be coming in to do you harm.

Refugees Versus Security

Bill Collier- The surge of refugees from Syria and Northern Iraq into Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and central Europe has caused alarm bells to ring around the world. The chief concern, and suspicion, has come from the fact that over 70% of all those claiming to be refugees are, apparently, well fed, strapping young men between the ages of 17 and 30: precisely the demographic who are most likely to be members of ISIL or any number of Salafo-facist groups (both Shia and Sunni).

Read the Full Article of World Freedomist

It’s the Monetary Policy, Stupid

4 min read

It’s the Monetary Policy, Stupid

W R Collier Jr August 31, 2015

Bill Collier with Monetary Policy Expert George Gilder at the Jackson Hole Summit

Presidential Candidates Ignore the 5th Element For Economic Growth

R. Collier Jr- Today’s candidates for the White House have announced the economic platforms of their campaigns, and among the Republican candidates who are trying to gain traction in the face of Trump’s poll numbers and celebrity, the fare is rather light when you consider that they either give scant attention to or ignore the fifth element of economic growth- monetary policy.

It may not be a terribly interesting issue, but money is everywhere and drives everything, so why wouldn’t one make money, how it is valued and managed, THE central aspect of your economic platform IF you, as a candidate, are truly serious about real and sustained growth for everyone?

I recently attended a summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (put on by The American Principles Project who, full disclosure, sponsored my trip to the event), in which leading luminaries of the free market and of monetary policy focused on the issues and problems of monetary policy as enacted by the Federal Reserve. The focus was on economic growth, or, rather, the desire and need to re-stimulate economic growth and to discern the impact of a central bank, like the Fed, on economic growth.

It is true that economic growth which includes all sectors and most all people is a key factor for ending problems ranging from poverty to the deficit, to national debt, and even our imbalance of trade. Growth that is productive and that reaches into every home sustains many advances. As former President John Kennedy said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”

There are five major elements that impact economic growth
Tax policy
Fiscal policy
Trade policy
Regulatory policy
Monetary policy

Under Reagan and Clinton, George W and Obama, we did not have major operational difference in ANY of these elements of economic growth except for ONE, the fifth element, monetary policy.

Under Reagan and Clinton we had 4% annual growth. Under George W and Obama, 2% or less annual growth (George HW raised taxes which, it can be argued, drove us into a recession).

From “The Great Moderation” under the Fed, which reigned during the Reagan-Clinton years, we went to a boom and bust cycle after 2000. Average Americans prospered, as did the wealthy. Since 2000, the wealthy may have gone from boom to bust to boom and back again, but average Americans went from doing OK, to not doing OK, to doing poorly, to even worse and, finally, to near hopelessness.

If the economy is a fire that we want to keep burning in a manner that keeps us warm from the “elements” of poverty, without burning our house down, then money is like oxygen. Too little oxygen and the fire goes out, too much and the fire gets out of control (you get things like massive inflation that burns the house down).

Monetary policy, how we manage money supply through things like interest rates and the amount of currency in circulation, is not only the fifth element of economic success, it has been the only element changed in an operational and substantive manner since the Reagan-Clinton growth period (The Great Moderation) and thus is THE lead suspect behind the dramatic fall-off of growth (shall we call it The Great Regression?) since 2000 during the Bush-Obama malaise. In fact, 2% growth is really 0% growth per capita because our population grows by 2% a year. (If you want to see real wealth increase, you need an economic growth rate higher than the population growth rate.)

Think of it like this: if we had the extra 2% growth for the last 15 years most everyone, like YOU and me, would have 30% higher incomes, 30% more real property wealth, 30% more in our 401k’s and retirement plans, and 30% more money in the bank.

And yet, for all that, today’s Presidential candidates are focused on the other four elements, while none of them are seriously talking about the Federal Reserve and monetary policy. As John Fund said at The Jackson Hole Summit, “it (the Fed) is the dog that didn’t bark.” Indeed, nobody is barking about monetary policy- how we value the dollar and manage the supply of money.

Where is Ted Cruz? While Rand Paul has touched on this, he has not made it central to his economic platform. The same can be said of them all- monetary policy is the one major change in all economic factors from 2000 that has led to 15 years of economic malaise, therefore, addressing this should be THE central issue of this campaign.

The candidate who can address this with something rational and workable and who can articulate this will rise, even above the heights of mere celebrity.

Inflation, Fed Up Headline Federal Reserve Concerns at Jackson Hole

1 min read

Inflation, Fed Up Headline Federal Reserve Concerns at Jackson Hole

W R Collier Jr August 27, 2015

W. R. (BIll) Collier Jr- On background, while in Jackson Hole, the Freedomist has learned that the focus of the Federal Reserve meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming will be inflation and preventing its occurance. This is likely to result in a push to raise rates, although none of the people we spoke to would say they were certain this would happen.

Additionally (again judging from the background conversations we heard), there is nervousness and concern about the Fed Up group who were said to be in attendance on location. We are with the Jackson Hole Summit with the American Principles Project, which is near the other location but not in the same hotel. Among participants we interacted with there was concern about what the Fed Up people might do to disrupt proceedings, though local authorities feel there will be no disruptions to speak of at the event.

Attendees of both events I interacted with told me they saw dozens of people with “Fed Up” T-shirts. We saw a number ourselves, and we estimate that 50-100 protesters will arrive. Many more than that number are actually expected at the APP’s event, which will feature such speakers as former Senator Jim DeMint, among other luminaries.

We’ll keep you posted on events and any news that arises from the event.

Fed Meeting Clouded By Discontent

3 min read

Fed Meeting Clouded By Discontent

W R Collier Jr August 18, 2015

W. R. Collier Jr- OPINION- The annual meeting of the Federal Reserve in Jackson Hole, Wyoming will be overshadowed by a growing discontent with the Federal Reserve itself, and that discontent is fairly widespread. While critics from the left (the government managed market camp) focus mainly on their belief that the Federal Reserve favors and bails out the rich at the expense of the poor, the irony is that for those in the free market camp the Federal Reserve itself is a product of a leftward leaning progressive “economic management from the center” philosophy. (more…)

OPINION- The People of Baltimore Are Owed Nothing

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OPINION- The People of Baltimore Are Owed Nothing

W R Collier Jr April 28, 2015

Baltimore Riots- What do they tell us about this city?

Opinion/Editorial By Bill Collier- The people of Baltimore own what happened there. No, it wasn’t a small group of people: the rioters were in the thousands and the community itself did not stand up to stop them. The so-called “leaders” asked cops to back off, claiming they could calm things down. In one scene, I saw live on Fox News, a city councilman intoned this promise while, behind him, people were looting a liquor store. And nobody stopped them. Clergy were seen praying in the street: the mob went around them and kept acting, well, like an unruly mob. I also saw “clergy” buy into the hate-filled rhetoric and justify the “anger” of the mob, while “regretting” the violence.
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Is Iran arming itself with American-Made Uranium?

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Is Iran arming itself with American-Made Uranium?

W R Collier Jr April 23, 2015

The Shocking Source of Iranian Uranium

By Mr Bill Collier- According to a New York Times item posted in November of 2014, the Russians have agreed to greatly expand their role in providing Uranium and technical support to the Iranian nuclear program. In essence, Russia is selling Uranium to Iran.

The world’s largest producer of uranium is Kazakhstan, which produces 46,2 million pounds of uranium to the US’s 4.3 million pounds per year. A total of 139.5 million pounds of uranium are produced annually. According to one estimate, a 50 kilogram bomb (around 110 pounds) would require as much as 2,000 kilograms of uranium (around 4,400 pounds). That uranium is utilized by many buyers, including a once-US-owned and now Russian-owned company called Uranium One, the world’s leading producer of nuclear materials which controls as much as 50% of US uranium production.

According to Wikipedia– Uranium One is a uranium mining company owned by the Russian government with headquarters in Toronto and operations in Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, South Africa and the United States. It is a Canadian corporation. Rosatom, a Russian State-owned enterprise, through its subsidiary ARMZ Uranium Holding, purchased the balance of a 100% stake in the firm January 2013.

By purchasing the firm, which controls up to 50% of US uranium production, the Russian government not only obtained US uranium, which is then sold on the market to a number of customers, potentially including Iran, but also the expertise of personnel in America and Canada which can be used company-wide to increase mining efficiency and production.

According to the same Wikipedia entry cited above- ARMZ took complete control of Uranium One in January 2013 in a transaction which was reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. In December 2013, an internal reorganization of Rosatom extinguished the interest of ARMZ making Uranium One a direct subsidiary of Rosatom.

This committee includes the US Secretary of State. Hilary Clinton, the current democratic front-runner in the 2016 Presidential Election, wasn’t the Secretary of State at the time.

It is the Russian parent company, ARMZ, that will be tasked with supplying uranium to the Iranians, although the amount being purchased has not been disclosed. What is certain is that Iran has enough uranium to produce dozens of nuclear bombs.

In a related scandal, Hillary Clinton has been accused of taking payments from foreign governments in exchange for currying favor from the State Department. In this instance, Clinton is accused of taking money from the same Russian-owned company that now controls up to 50% of the Uranium being produced in America. The company donated $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation from 2009 to 2013. The donations were not revealed publicly. You can read more about that scandal in this NYTimes article.

Whether or not the accusations against Clinton are true, the mere fact that the US State Department allowed this deal to go through, a deal which ultimately gives the Russian government control over up to 50% of American uranium production, has caused no small amount of alarm.

The issue is not just about the uranium being mined, which could potentially become part of an Iranian nuclear weapon, but the acquisition of technical means and know-how that would make the Russian government owned company more efficient at mining operations and at uranium processing in general.

The shocking truth here is that Iran gets its uranium from a Russian-government-owned company that now controls up to 50% of US uranium production. It is at least possible, either at present or in the very near future, that SOME of the higher quality US uranium now resides in Iranian centrifuges.

The potential exists for American uranium to be used in Iranian nuclear bombs aimed at American allies or, possibly, distributed to agents to attack America itself (with dirty bombs or portable nuclear bombs). Whether or not this has already come or will come to fruition, the mere fact that such an exchange could occur should give Americans pause. That the US State Department, partly under Clinton (where the process of this approval began) and partly under Kerry (who gave the final approval for the deal), would approve such a deal with these potential outcomes has many even in the intelligence community scratching their heads.

The degree to which Clinton will be tied to this remains to be seen.

Mr Bill Collier is the editor and publisher of News Scope, a digital news intelligence journal that can be found at News-Scope.com
Flashback- the reset button

The Optics Of The Obama-Castro Meetings

3 min read

The Optics Of The Obama-Castro Meetings

W R Collier Jr April 12, 2015

Bill Collier- The meeting with Cuba’s dictator will no doubt leave a bad taste in the mouth of President Obama’s critics and many Cubans, for whom the Castros are synonymous with Hitler or Stalin. The image of the President proudly smiling with glee and talking about how nations should only use pursuasion and nothing more in their dealings with one another is in stark contrast to the scowls and bitter bromides his domestic political opponents feel they endure. It was well beyond “persuasion”, his critics lament, for the IRS (allegedly) to turned loose on the President’s political opponents.

Of course the President’s supporters seem happy with the move, indeed the left in this country idolize the likes of Che Guevara, an Argentinian communist who played a key role in Cuba’s revolution. For them, opening trade, diplomacy, and travel to Cuba seems a bit like a dream come true. Michael Moore, a leftist documentary film maker, even came to Cuba to extol the virtues of its health care system.

The President has been seen with many foreign leaders who seem unsavory, including the Chinese communist leaders who notoriously order to aborting of all children beyond a couple’s first child unless that couple can pay steep penalties for “permission” to have other children. But so too have other Presidents been seen with such characters, and the President pointed out that having dialogue and diplomacy does not constitute agreement as such. For him, merely having diplomacy and dialogue is an improvement that might just mitigate future conflict. This is exactly what is being done with Iran, and normalization of relations is the end goal.

But Cuba is 90 miles off the coast of Florida, so the fact we have a communisty tyranny so close and that, with economic trade, it could afford (again) to export its revolution by force (as it once did) is deeply troubling. That the current American President proclaims policies that to his critics sound too much like the rhetoric coming from Cuba on “economic justice” only makes the optics of a Castro-Obama relationship seem all the more objectionable. A communist dictatorship across the ocean is one thing, but many Americans feel, instinictively, a particular revulsion for a communist dictatorship 90 miles from Florida!

Make no mistake, the Castro regime is a massive human right violator. Even during the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama, anti-Castro protestors were brutally beaten by Cuban security who were on scene while the Panammian police stood by and did nothing.

For a President who is accused of being in bed with communism and who is accused of over-stepping his bounds of authority, the optics of being more friendly and congenial to Raul Castro than he has been toward his domestic opponents, the optics were particularly unfavorable: at least in the eyes of his domestic political critics. But President Obama believes an opening with Cuba might soften the regime and do for Cuba what Nixon felt US relations with Communist China would do: export the values of freedom. Some would argue that Nixon’s China policy has failed and that, instead of exporting freedom, America imported shades of socialism.

Despite his smiles and clear satisfaction in meeting with a man many see as an enemy of American values, despite the fact a majority of Americans appear to approve of this opening of relations with the communist dictatorship, one should not expect such efforts at open and cordial dialogue and a commitment to not go beyond persuasion with the President’s domestic political opponents.

A Muslim Civil War?

4 min read

A Muslim Civil War?

W R Collier Jr March 27, 2015

The Battle for Yemen Gains Steam

The Sunni Coalition Against Iran

Bill Collier- The rise of a Shia Salafist army in Yemen, funded and supplied by Iran, has raised the ire, and the profile, of an emerging Arab coalition against Iran in the Middle East, with the United States absent from any leadership role Indeed, as Yemen, once touted as a success story for American policy, has been vacated by the US. This vacuum appears to have been filled by an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The coalition is attempting to pick up the broken pieces of what has become a failed state.

For more background on the REAL fault line emerging in the Middle East, see author’s News Intelligence Update on News Scope.

The takeover of Yemen by radical Shia Salafists from the Houthi tribe is not complete. Forces still remaining loyal to President Hadi, a Sunni, have been clawing back some lost ground, namely the international airport at Aiden. The fighting is said to be bitter and bloody with no quarter taken or given by either side.

Saudi Arabia has committed 100 warplanes and “150,000 troops” to the fight. They are joined by forces from the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. Whether or not it materializes, this Sunni coalition has made noises that it intends to wage relentless war on the Shia forces in Yemen, and the United States is “absent from the field.”

In short, a major battle is emerging between Iran and her neighbors, with places like Yemen, Iraq, Libya, and Syria being the battleground, although in Iraq and Syria it is more complicated because Iran is fighting the same Sunni Salafists opposed by this emerging Sunni coalition. These powers clearly do not want Iran to advance, and they are not happy about the current negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Indeed, current US policy is driving many Arab powers into a closer, if unofficial, level of cooperation with Israel, while driving a wedge between the rest of the Arab world and the leaders who control the Palestinian claimed lands of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

It should be noted that the bonds between the Arab world and the Palestinian people have not suffered. What has suffered is the relationships between Hamas and Fatah on one hand and the rest of the Arab world on the other hand.

It is not clear yet how much is being put into this fight. The Saudi military does not possess a high reputation in battle and is largely controlled by tribal groups- but if, as it appears, these tribes are sincerely opposed to Iranian control over Yemen, one might see a far more aggressive, and capable, Saudi military operation than would be otherwise predicted.. It is certainly true that personnel from Jordan, Egypt, and the UAE would be genuinely opposed to this Iranian proxy Army gaining power on the Arabian Peninsula, but so far it would appear that their forces are limited to air force assets and it is not believed that ANY ground forces have entered Yemen.

Any attack on the ground would likely have to come by air and sea, coming overland from Saudi Arabia would be extremely difficult given the desert terrain which must be crossed in great expanses, except via the Saudi town of Jizanon, which lies just north of the Yemeni town of Al Luhayya on the Yemeni west coast. No reports of ground movement in this area have been reported, beyond beefing up of the border areas as a defensive measure.

Make no mistake, this is a full-on war, and if it proceed in a manner consistent with the stated goals of this Sunni coalition, it is likely to become a major conflagration which spill over into Syria, Iraq, and Libya. For instance, a Sunni-led coalition could conceivably seek to enter Iraq and install a Sunni government while chasing the Iranians out of Iraq. It appears on the ground that the US has ceded Iraq to Iranian hegemony.

None of these developments have taken cognizance of American policy or concerns- indeed the US has maintained a distance from events that is stunning to American allies in the region. The precipitous withdrawal from Yemen by US forces was completely unexpected. The operations plan called for reinforcements of those forces, not their withdrawal, the Freedomist has learned.

Attacks against the Shia forces have come from many locations, including air attacks by coalition partners in support of ground attacks by President Hadi’s loyalists, who have also been air dropped weapons and munitions. But those forces have managed to hold their ground, even as precision air attacks targeting individual commanders on the road have caused attrition among their leadership. Iranian arms and supplies are very likely not coming through. Saudi Arabia has essentially declared a Cordon Sanitaire over Yemen and surrounding areas.

It is not known if the US is providing intelligence or any other resource to this coalition of Sunni powers.

Slow Motion Russian Coup

2 min read

Slow Motion Russian Coup

W R Collier Jr March 14, 2015

Bill Collier- Rumors are trending in Russian blogs and forums that President Putin is being removed from power by a military/intelligence services coup orchestrated by oligarchs who see his chauvenistic policies as being bad for Russia, and their wallets.

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