Friday, July 4, 2014

GALVANISM



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July 4, 2014
Kiev, Ukraine

In one of the most ill-timed columns ever written, Fortune Magazine published an article entitled "10 stocks to last the decade" on August 14, 2000.

The NASDAQ Composite Index was at 3849.69... and within days of the article being published, the index would begin a ruthless decline, taking a whopping 13 years to return to that level.

And as for the 10 stocks which were supposed to last the decade? Two of them (Nortel, Enron) went bust entirely.

One of them (Morgan Stanley) would have gone bust if it hadn't been for a $107 BILLION taxpayer bailout.

Others (Univision, Genentech) were bought out at valuations substantially lower than their August 2000 levels.

The remaining ones (like Nokia) are still out there somewhere, but their stock prices have declined as much as 83% over the last fourteen years.

To put it bluntly, not a single company on Fortune's list of titanic, unbeatable stocks managed to generate a positive return for investors. Everyone lost.

In fairness, this isn't a dig against Fortune; nearly EVERYONE thought that Enron was a sure bet back in 2000. (Although Fortune actually named Enron "America's most innovative company" for six years in a row from '96 to '01...)

Back then no one could imagine that Enron and Nortel would soon cease to exist. Or that Nokia's brand value would be virtually wiped out by Steve Jobs and a bunch of scrappy Koreans.

This is really a fantastic example of how a herd mentality forms about the sanctity and staying power of certain institutions.

It’s human nature to believe that whoever is in the lead now will always be in the lead.

And it’s the same for countries.

Virtually everyone alive today was born into a world in which the US was “#1”, the largest and most important economy on the planet. Hardly anyone can imagine anything else.

Yet ironically, as many Americans are celebrating Independence Day today, it is the last holiday that will pass with the US being the world’s largest economy.

China is set to surpass the US in a matter of months. And this shift of wealth and power is, by far, the biggest story of our time.

Let’s explore this together in today’s Podcast episode. We’ll go back in time and talk about ancient cities, kings and queens, grand palaces, epic battles, and major crises... real Game of Thrones stuff. 

And when we’re finished, you’ll see that this time is absolutely NO different. Click the link below to listen:

http://www.sovereignman.com/podcast/011-herd-mentality-14659/



You can also listen and subscribe via iTunes here:

https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/sovereign-man/id842764173


Enjoy your weekend.

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Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

Thursday, July 3, 2014

GALVANISM



Declare Your Independence!
July 4, 2014  
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
from
THE CORRUPT TWO-PARTY SYSTEM
 
           WHEN in the Course of political events, it becomes necessary for the voters of Texas to dissolve the political bands which have connected them to a certain political party, and to assume the power of individual thought and action which is essential to preserve their liberties, a decent respect for the opinions of their fellow Texans requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
      We hold these truths to be self evident, that all voters are created equal -- although political parties are not -- with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are the right to work with the Party and vote for the candidate that will most promote their liberty and work against intrusive government. -- That to frustrate this right, the two party system was instituted, deriving its power from the Texas election code. -- That whenever this two party system becomes destructive to freedom, it is the right of the voters to alter or abolish it, and to turn to a new party founded on such principles and organized as most likely to promote their liberty and prosperity, and to above all stop straight party voting.
      Experience, indeed, has proven that Parties long established will not change unless faced with extinction, and that voters are more disposed to suffer the lesser of two evils, even though that has undeniably led to evil, until they realize that if any Party thinks that it has you in its hip pocket, you are going to be sat upon.  The Texas People have faithfully supported with overwhelming success one party based on the dreaded “wasted vote” scare tactic, only to see themselves declared “toxic” and that the very officials they put into office must not even be seen with them because it would be “bad optics.”
The Texas People have discovered that they have walkaway power, and that the time has come to use that walkaway power to . . . . walk away.  Going to hell in a slower handbasket will no longer be their goal.   
     When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design by the two party system to reduce the electorate to a rubber stamp of a despotic government, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off those constraints and to consider a new Party to preserve their freedoms.
     Such has been the patient sufferance of Texans; they have held their noses and voted for people they know will not do what they want with a vow to hold their feet to the fire, only to find that cronies prefer burnt off feet to bucking the political elites and monied interests.  The People have decided that they really do not want elected officials they must watch like a three year old boy around a book of matches.
    The long reign of King Richard, Crown Prince Gregory, and their Republican Texas legislature is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having the direct object of frustrating individual and Texas sovereignty in favor of obedience to national and global powers. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
  • They have failed to resist federal tyranny and refused to nullify unconstitutional federal acts.  They file suit, but Texans knows that the federal government is not afraid of a lawsuit.  Don’t sue the buzzards, arrest them! 
  • They have raised cronyism to a new level, with shocking disregard for the rights of those who must pay with their money, land, and water to benefit the well-connected few. 
  • They have wasted the rewards of hardworking Texans and the blessings of our oil rich state by squandering a 26% unexpected revenue windfall in a manner that would put a drunken sailor to shame.  They did not wean us from the 35% of our budget that comes from the federal government, give us much needed tax relief, or reduce our huge debt -- they spent every dime, and raided the Rainy Day to boot!     
  • They have cast present and future generations in ruinous debt – the second highest per capita debt in the nation.
  • They have given a three person board – appointed by the governor -- the power to control Texas groundwater so that cronies with unsustainable projects can steal water from aquifers far away. 
  • They have acquiesced in an ever-expanding surveillance state and looming police state. We are constantly spied on by the NSA and other government snoops.
  • They have failed to defend our Constitutional and natural rights to arm and defend ourselves
  • They have effectively assented to threatened thefts of land owned by Texans by the federal government. The EPA claims ownership if a trickle of water exists on your property while the BLM wants to seize it if a river changes course.       
  • They have refused to protect the people of Texas from unlawful searches and bodily assault at airports and other public places.
  • They have enacted and perpetrated ruinous property taxes so that no one ever really owns his property but merely rents it from government in ever more prohibitive terms.
  • They have failed and refused to secure the Texas border against invasion, trespass, and violence and assist property owners in defense of their property rights.
  • They have, against the clear will of the people, promoted plans to steal land through eminent domain for toll roads no one wants and even toll existing paid-for roads.
  • They have combined with others to subject us to foreign sovereigns and jurisdictions in violation of our constitutions and natural rights
  • They have erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance, and Gardasil our daughters.
     The People understand that our Liberty, Country, and Constitution are under attack like never before and will be lost if we do not act, and soon.  Washington is broken – irreparably for the near term—and Austin will be, too, if we do not turn this thing around, fast.  The two party system is corrupt and broken.  It will never fix itself and cannot be reformed from within, though many have tried, mightily.
     The Powers That Be have frightened the People into submission by scaremongering about the wasted vote syndrome and the lesser-of-two-evils shibboleth.  They have demanded unwavering allegiance -- warning the People of dire consequences should they not hold a veto proof majority:  the sun will not rise, the Democrats will hold a statewide office, and Rutgers will defeat Texas A&M in football.
     In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned, in Tea Parties and other ways, for Redress in the most humble terms, or as humble as is fitting for a Texan to be.  Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury, and at election time by false promises to reform.
     We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which announces our Separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, even Yankees, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
     We, therefore, the united voters of the sovereign State of Texas, solemnly Publish and Declare that we are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent Voters; that that we are absolved from all allegiance to the two major parties and that all political Connection between us, is and ought to be absolved; and that as Free and Independent Voters, we have the full Power to vote for, contribute to, and work for liberty candidates in whatever party; and do all other Acts and Things which Independent Voters may of right do.  And that henceforth the words “wasted vote” and “lesser of two evils” will be met with swift resistance as a provocative breach of the peace and “fighting words.”
      And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on our Constitutional and natural rights and rational self interest, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Kathie Glass