The previous post described the extraction of astronomical sums from
the very rich and the truly wealthy. To move on from this I have to
get into speculation about corporate secret activities. A possible reason
for the targeting of wealthy individuals was the removal of competitors
and to maintain control of what was to become a financial battlefield.

I've tried to avoid speculation thus far, so consider this to be a warning.

Despite massive resources and extensive military and intelligence resources,
the "Gold Warriors" just weren't that smart, to judge from the Nugan-Hand
Bank, BCCI and some other evidence. They screwed up, causing Nixon hand over
control of the M-fund to Japanese politicians, divorce the US$ from gold, and
the balance of power moved from the Warlords into the hands of the Bankers.

The two things that stop ordinary decent criminals from taking over the world
are: fear of prosecution; and seizure or taxation of illicit activities.
 
The thing that separates The Creature from all sorts of other activities is this:
the tasks are exempt from the legal reporting structures. [1] 01:04:00
Perhaps the best known black project was the CIA funding for the U2 spy planes,
but for maximum profit, The Creature needs access to illegal monopolies - arms
sales and drug sales - AKA the War on Terror and the War on Drugs. [2]

This flow of dollars has to be invested in resources, preferably commodities in
emerging economies. The preferred way is through seizure, for example   
the resource seizure process was outlined in "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".
Identify the resource in a 3rd world country. Bribe or subvert the local Elite in
control. Borrow in US$ to fund projects at rates that are unsustainable.
When Debt becomes unpayable, an IMF loan is offered, with the condition that the
resource becomes the property of international interests. The result is control
not only of the resource, but also control of the government of the nation.

The investment process makes the invisible, visible, via some form of money
laundering, but the profits tend to create exponential growth like this:

"With Dillon's assistance Reynolds expanded out of its tobacco base into a wide variety of
industries - foodstuffs, marine transportation, petroleum, packaging, liquor,
and soft drinks, among others. In the process the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. of 1963,
which had revenues of $117 million, became the R. J. Reynolds Industries of 1983,
a $14 billion behemoth."
"2. The DEFENDANTS knowingly sell their products to organized crime, arrange for secret
payments from organized crime, and launder such proceeds in the United States or offshore
venues known for bank secrecy. DEFENDANTS have laundered the illegal proceeds of members
of Italian, Russian, and Colombian organized crime through financial institutions in New
York City, including The Bank of New York, Citibank N.A., and Chase Manhattan Bank.
DEFENDANTS have even chosen to do business in Iraq, in violation of U.S. sanctions,
in transactions that financed both the Iraqi regime and terrorist groups."
"RJR has been aware of organized crime's involvement in the distribution of its products
since at least the 1970s. On January 4, 1978, the Tobacco Institute's Committee of Counsel
met at the offices of Phillip Morris in New York City. The Committee of Counsel was the high
tribunal that set the tobacco industry's legal, political, and public relations strategy for
more than three decades. The January 4, 1978 meeting was called to discuss, among other things,
published reports concerning organized crime's involvement in the tobacco trade and the tobacco
industry's complicity therein. The published reports detailed the role of organized crime in the
tobacco trade (including the Colombo crime family in New York) and the illegal trade at the
Canadian border and elsewhere. RJR's general counsel, Max Crohn, attended and participated in
the meeting. All of the large cigarette manufacturers were present at the meeting and represented
by counsel, such as Phillip Morris (Arnold & Porter, Abe Krash) [Author's note: Arnold & Porter
is a firm that will come up several times later in our story] and Brown & Williamson
(Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Martin London). The Committee of Counsel took no action
to address, investigate, or end the role of organized crime in the tobacco business. Instead,
the Committee agreed to formulate a joint plan of action to protect the industry from scrutiny of
the U.S. Congress. [13c]" [3]

This would be a good point to listen to Catherine Austin Fitts "This is a System" "It was the best
of a lot of bad options." [1] 00:12:45 "If you move $40Tn out of these different legal systems
and into a new system that you could earn enough money, dividends and interest to pay the ongoing
costs of a global government." [1] 01:04:30

So, if $40Tn just drops off the radar screen, is the current US economic data and World economic
data believable? Who has control of that amount of credit? Are the Bankers still wrenching gold
from the hands of the Warlords? I'm thinking that in a three-way fight, Bankers vs Warlords vs
Mathematics, Math will win, but when?

Dark, difficult, posts are in the pipeline ....

[1] Catherine Austin Fitts at the Secret Space Program Conference 2014 San Mateo.
[2] http://www.dunwalke.com/4_Narco_Dollars.htm
"Through the MOU, the DOJ relieved the CIA of any legal obligation to report information of drug trafficking and drug law violations with respect to CIA agents, assets, non-staff employees and contractors.[23] Presumably, this included the corporate contractors who, by executive order, were now allowed to handle sensitive intelligence and national security outsourcing."
[3] http://www.dunwalke.com/3_Narco_Dollars.htm

Lord Blackadder: Baldrick, you wouldn't see a subtle plan if it painted
itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing
"Subtle Plans are Here Again!"

Sounds about a subtle as trying to cash ten $1,000,000,000.00 "Kennedy Bonds."
Now, I was going to describe these as "counterfeit," but when it comes to these
Bonds, and the other enterprising documents, they exhibit a level of weirdness
that makes even the word "counterfeit" suspect.

The background is best summed up on Reddit in the conspiracy section. [1]
 
To try to make sense of the bizarre stories, I'll separate off the bonds dated
before WWII. Both Japan and Germany had reason to prepare and issue counterfeit
US Bonds, and also the US may have prepared such documents as a means of economic
warfare. Bonds issued issued in support of covert activities, and backed by gold
from the Black Eagle trust and similar Japanese Bonds are of particular interest.
[2] 01:02:08 [4] p127 "It is, accordingly, my unqualified opinion that the
Certificates are not counterfeit." Professor Lausier [4] p129 

If, back in the day, The Secretary of the Treasury could not control people in the
Federal Reserve Bank, that may be a problem for the USA, even today.

What is interesting though, is not necessarily the Bonds themselves, but also why
they might have been issued, when they might have been issued, and their terms and
redemption dates.

"In fact, suggests Prof Aldrich, the monetary instruments obtained by Slamaj may be
intricate forgeries, but if they are, it is possible that the CIA manufactured them."[3]

The Bearer Bonds referred to above are, in principle, the same as a bet on a horse race.
If you like the odds, you hand over some money to a bookmaker, get a docket, and at some
agreed time you collect your winnings. If it's a two horse race for 50 years, and you can
back both horses at 3:1 odds, you may want to take those bets. Of course, both horses
might die, the bookmaker might disappear, and the docket might get lost, so it's not
quite the sure thing it appears to be.

As to why the Bonds were issued, the simplest explanation is that they are fake, ie that
no legitimate equivalent exists. That may be so, but for the purposes of this narrative
I will move on to the more interesting alternative: that they are someone's liability,
and that somewhere, the original asset still exists. There is also the possibility that
the original asset in encumbered, that multiple debts are outstanding against each
original asset.

If the original assets are held in dark accounts, and the liabilities are also covert,
re-hypothecation must occur unless a central register of assets and liabilities is
prepared and constantly updated. And even then, if fraud is intentional, it will happen
anyway.   

The size of these liabilities suggests activities such as war; setting up the European
Community; the Iran Contra Affair; the conflicts in South and Mid America; the War on
Drugs; the War on Terror; and "land" grabs in Space, Technology and Information. This
is just to give a vision of the scale of activity these things might cover, and where
covert financing might want to get involved.

Suppose, in the example above, both horses make it to the finish line, but the bookmaker
hasn't had the foresight to lay off enough of the risk to be able to make good on the
docket. Even worse, there are a whole bunch of people all waving a docket covering the same
bet, so what happens? As soon as the first guy gets arrested for counterfeiting, no-one
else presses their claim, unless they have good hard evidence of the bookmakers's
wrongdoing. But, one way or another, a load of Debt vaporizes.

When that happens, good debt becomes bad debt, and gets written off and if enough of that
happens, it can move the needle on a country's GDP, even a country the size of the USA.   

"We have received reports that the Treasury has conducted secret talks with a few of
the note holders and has made offers to redeem them for a small percentage (1-10%)
of their face value. The Treasury clearly wants these notes turned in and removed
from 'circulation'...but will not pay full face value for obvious reasons." [3]

A less obvious reason may be that once the Bonds are admitted to be genuine, a linkage to
covert and illegal activities may be exposed - which somewhat argues against the publicity
surrounding their discovery. There may be other incidents that were hidden from the press.   

Other possibly unfake "fake" paper?
21849 Tons. Think of 1000kg gold as a rounding error [5]
 
Maybe this is why the Deep State wants to ban all forms of paper money, except Bitcoin. :-)

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1qnth3/financing_a_breakaway_civilisation_a_series_of/

[2] Joseph P Farrell at the Secret Space Program Conference 2014 San Mateo presentation 1.

[3] http://rense.com/general41/lost.htm

[4] Gold Warriors - the Japanese '57' Bonds were issued in 1982-1984 with a 15 year maturity 

[5] http://americannationalmilitia.com/ubs-goes-down/

"The speech had been proceeding for perhaps twenty minutes when a messenger
hurried on to the platform and a scrap of paper was slipped into the speaker's hand.
He unrolled and read it without pausing in his speech. Nothing altered in his voice or manner,
or in the content of what he was saying, but suddenly the names were different.
Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd.
Oceania was at war with Eastasia! "
George Orwell "1984" Chapter 2 The sixth day of Hate Week 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-14/latest-shadow-brokers-leak-reveals-nsa-hacked-swift-belgium-hq
"Just to put it all into perspective, it was not the Russian government that allegedly had backdoor access to virtually every Windows-based platform and had infiltrated the information network that connects every bank in the world, but the NSA... and the US government."
"While many more questions will emerge following today's leak, one can't help but wonder if the entire "Russian hacking" scandal had been staged - either with the prior knowledge of the NSA or without - and just how much deeper this particular rabbit hole goes."
"Maybe if all suviving WWIII theshadowbrokers be seeing you next week. Who knows what we having next time?"

If you've been paying attention, you'll already know all this - and more.
 

"Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite them,
and little fleas have lesser fleas and so ad infinitum" The Oxford Book of Proverbs

Have you ever wondered why governments print or mint their own money?
Or why communities, at times of financial stress issue their own banknotes?

The reason is convenience. But also the knowledge thet the issuer, at some
time in the future, will make good on his promise to pay. So, if you have
the assets to cover the debt, and the ability to produce perfect counterfeit
goods or currency, an if in so doing you can keep covert activities secret,
aren't you going to get into the counterfeiting business?

In the 1950's and 1960's gold and silver coins circulated readily in Europe,
hence their use by the CIA and by European Intelligence services to fund
covert operations. By 2001 'drugs are called "gold" and used as currency
worldwide.' [1] This merely moves the problem of counterfeiting from the drugs
themselves and onto the fiat money payment system. And having weaponised
medication circulating freely alongside weaponised currency probably doesn't
count as a war crime if or when things get messy. At time the line between
unauthorised and counterfeit can be very thin.

"... FRN's and FRB's ... were printed by the US Government at the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing in Washington, where the CIA has an office occupied full-time in such
activities ..." [2] "Bender claims that the supernotes are of such high quality and are
updated so frequently that they could be produced only by a US Government agency such as
the CIA. [3] 00:14:03 "Whoever is doing this is operating at a loss" "They deliberately
produce them in a way that can be tracked by no-one except the US Government and other
central banks."

As Mr DeCarbonnel points out this counterfeit money can go straight to the bottom line of
the ESU's balance sheet, it "increases profits" and it helps "negate the threat" of dollars
in the rest of the world returning to the United States. The highest dollar denomination
is $100. Bonds, including dollar Bonds can be any value, including billions, and hundreds
of millions of dollars and dollar equivalents. 
 
It may be difficult to grasp the scaling here. I'll take gold ($1250/oz) as a metaphor:

Big flea: the Derivatives market =          17,360,000 Tons
little flea : the Bond Market    =          2,480,000 Tons
little flea : the stock market   =          1,240,000 Tons
lesser flea : US$ paper notes etc =          99,200 Tons
Illicit drugs flea, world (1% GDP) =          17,360 Tons
Bitcoin flea: Market cap      =             448 Tons
and so ad infinitum.
             
Hence, if you are doing something likely to "move the needle" within the $19Tn US economy,
eg covert economic warfare, then counterfeiting US $100 bills isn't likely to be your go-to
theater. Despite reports about US Dept of Defence spending and lack of control,[4]
it would be problematic to use thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of tons of gold
as any form of weapon directly or covertly.

Despite the notional size of the Derivatives market, there are too few players to allow
covert action to take place, and the nett size of the market is relatively tiny.

Maybe the Bond market is the place to look.

'A journalist at the Financial Times told us: "It has now reached a point where you
can go into one of the big banks in New York, London or Zurich, give them half a metric
ton of gold in return for a certificate of ownership, walk around the block for ten minutes,
re-enter the same bank, and they'll deny ever seeing you before, and have you arrested for
presenting them with a counterfeit certificate."' [5]   

Half a metric ton of gold is $20 million.
 
[1] Chapter 17 "The Last Circle" p341

[2] Gold Warriors p255

[3] "What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part 5" Eric Decarbonnel
from http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/01/10/v-print/24521/us-counterfeiting-charges-against.html

[4] http://www.webpronews.com/reuters-pentagon-bookkeepers-wasted-8-5-trillion-2013-11/

[5] Gold Warriors p248

Still no updated figures from US .gov to allow an update to my projected
2017 economy. They are still changing their figures back to 2013, so final
figures for 2017 may not appear until after 2020. If your income depends on
updates to US CPI for increments, suck it up, buttercup.

The reason for this update is a couple of news items on productivity:

"Yellen blamed the recession and lack of productivity for poor earnings growth. Greenspan blamed the aging of baby boomers. Given real earnings have been nearly flat since 1979 while real output is up 94.9%, those theories are obviously faulty. Doesn't the Fed bother to test their theories against actual data? You have the answer."
"Output per hour has been growing at approximately 1/2% annually in the US and other developed countries over the past five years, compared with an earlier growth rate closer to 2%. That is a huge difference, which is reflected proportionately in the gross domestic product and in people's standard of living."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-05/productivity-myths-shattered-productivity-rising-or-falling-why

You might not immediately see the connection to this item:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2017/03/27/These_2_Charts_Show_Just_How_Close_We_Are_to_Healthcare_Collapse1.png
"The United States is in the upper right, which shows that our per-person healthcare spending is significantly higher than that of the other OECD countries. Switzerland is a distant second place. Our extra spending doesn't help us live longer. We actually die a little earlier than our peers in Japan and most of Europe. You can quibble over details in this data, but the broad facts are inescapable. We spend too much on healthcare relative to the health it buys us. As long as that is the case, no reform plan will work."

Fix healthacre, and pensions will implode .... oh wait ...

Add to that the US "Education" System, and if you are an American, you're screwed.
But you knew that already. Maybe lying down in a darkened room will help you
feel better. It's much cheaper than Valium.

Meditate on the productivity graph. Note that each data point is an average of
the past five years. Note also that the last year plotted is 2015.

And another thing, when you are invited to "share" your anonymity with a bitcoin exchange KYC ....
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/04/the-bankers-free-lunch-continues/
"The overwhelming evidence provided by the above-mentioned (and other) economists is that once a particular speculative round runs its course, this ´investment¡ is converted into 'gains' directed, almost entirely, at already existing assets (primarily real estate), and so does little or nothing for the productive economy."
"A couple of weeks ago, for instance, the Guardian published a long investigative piece, titled the 'Global Laundromat', detailing how 17 UK banks laundered £20/$25bn, mainly for Russian oligarchs with criminal links. The same Guardian article estimates that around £100/$125bn a year is laundered by UK banks for shadow and criminal entities."
"This though is the tip of the proverbial iceberg."
"According to the right-wing tabloid, the Daily Mail (always slavishly beholden to the Conservatives), Javid was a senior executive at DB in 2004 when it funnelled bonuses through the Cayman Islands to enrich 300 senior staff in London."

"all your base are belong to us"
cut-scene from the 1992 Mega-Drive port of the 1989 arcade video game Zero Wing.

"The Pentagon has claimed, year after year, that the reason it can't
account for the money is because its computers don't communicate with
each other."  Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) asks questions ...

It seems that the Pentagon just didn't have the resources to ... but wait ...
"One of the "magical" capabilities of PROMIS, one has to assume, is that it is
equipped with artificial intelligence and was apparently from the outset "able to
simultaneously read and integrate any number of different computer programs or databases,
regardless of the language in which the original programs had been written or the
operating systems and platforms on which that database was then currently installed." [1]

Hmmmm .... Sooooo what's this PROMIS thing? where did it come from? and what were the
legacy systems it replaced? and why doesn't the Pentagon use it? Where to start?

The period 1945-1970 saw paper based records such as double entry book-keeping gradually
replaced by computer assisted accounting. These systems did not provide much in the way
of management tools until the early 1980's, hence in the early 1980's there was a new
requirement - management information systems (MIS) that could access legacy systems already
in place to extract key data, collate it, and present it as an aid to management oversight
and decision making.

One such enterprise in need of computer software in the 1970's was the Nugan-Hand Limited.
"Nugan Hand Ltd. was founded in Sydney in 1973 by Australian lawyer Frank Nugan (who was
reputedly associated with the Mafia) and former U.S. Green Beret Michael John Hand who operated
in Northern Laos as part of the Phoenix Project. They were assisted in this by Paul Helliwell,
one of the primary OSS agents in the original Yamashita gold operation." [2]
"U.S. Military, Admirals and Generals, as well as intelligence community officials,
supposedly either "retired", or "on leave", operated Nugan-Hand, and aided thereafter Household
and its numerous units and subsidiaries. The "tracking the money" project was conducted over-all
by Household International with the assistance reportedly of Systematics, a banking computer
services firm, originally a subsidiary of an Arkansas-based operation." [2]

The tasks are familiar to many enterprises, to track people, legal entities, balance accounts,
and to record the linkages, payments and changes in near real time. Crossing boundaries and
custom adaptation causes problem, but standardising software objects solves many problems.

The Justice Department "misappropriated" PROMIS in 1982 for three separate projects:
"(1) NSA's deployment of PROMIS to banks to enable NSA to track wire transfers of money and
letters of credit; (2) Israeli Intelligence's sale of a trap-door version of PROMIS to
foreign governments so Israel and the United States could covertly intercept their intelligence
secrets; and (3) the CIA's deployment of PROMIS throughout the US government as the standard
database software ..." [3]

A feature of systems that become more and more interconnected, is the potential for emergence,
ie novel and unpredictable forms of behaviour. The addition of AI into the mix suggests that this
change happened to PROMIS at some time in the early 1990's : "... penetrate every banking system in the
World. PROMIS software could be used to influence and predict financial markets worldwide." [4] 00:55:10
"Dyncorp was heavily involved in the evolution of PROMIS software" [4] 00:56:00

Looking at this through gamer's eyes, it seems to me that this evolution of the software is like
using the "cheat" codes in a FPS game to gain invulnerability, 100% health, and infinite ammunition.
It changes the way the game is played, and no sane person will want to play that game with you. 

I doubt that Inslaw will ever be fully compensated for what was taken from them. [5]
For a peek at the general structure of PROMIS, see the Inslaw website. [6]

Questions about the past are stll umanswered. As for the future, could you live with
an Artificial Intelligence whose prime directive is to keep its existence a secret? 
 
[1] http://www.larsschall.com/2012/03/20/insider-trading-911-the-facts-laid-bare/

[2] Collateral-Damage-911-black_eagle_fund_trust.pdf
[*SPOILER ALERT* reading this .pdf is a bit like hearing the final score in any TV game]

[3] The last Circle - Chapter 17- The Inslaw Affair p254
http://www.ark-roundtable.com/index.html

[4] https://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/episode210-hq.mp3 {unverified}

[5] http://wired.com/1993/01/inslaw - The Inslaw Octopus

[6] http://www.inslawinc.com/

@OROBTC - I try to hang on to my wicked sense of humor :-)

The money they are hoping to tax is from the black budgets of the intelligence agencies
plus The Black Eagle Trust's modern derivatives. I a moment of optimism, I'd thought
they would have figured that farce out before blaming the innocent.

And remind me - "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."
Didn't the guy who said that end up dying in a bunker after poisoning his
children and shooting his wife?

gold sovereigns are about 22 carat gold. (95% IIRC) I seem to recall that copper is the
major impurity.

I calculated 4000MT taking the Gladio narrative at face value, ie that Aldo Moro was
murdered as part of a botched operation by the Red Brigades. An alternative explanation
is that he was murdered by others connected directly to Gladio. He died in 1978. If that
is what happened and if Gladio was closed down in 1979, then the revised gold budget
may be over 3100MT. There were almost certainly other similar CIA operations elsewhere.

@OROBTC - I made the best estimate I could of the financial structure of Gladio based
on statements made on the BBC documentary. For example, the average US wage in
1951 is quoted at $2799 pa, which equates to 80 ounces of gold. Hence is the statements
made are literally true, and allowing for modest amounts of materials support also paid
in gold, the operation had a budget of 4000 metric tons of gold over 46 years.

I am of the view that the early evidence of counterfeiting of gold sovereigns tends to support
that structure, at least until the 1960's began. I seem to recall reports of fakes that could
only be detected by analysis of the proportions of non-monetary metals. I have no claims
to expertise in this area, so until further data appears, it's a guess.

I could argue further, but that might miss the point that the CIA was willing to commit a
huge quantity of gold to Gladio in its early stages, and that practical limits to the
amount of gold that could be distributed, particularly just after the US came away from
the Gold Standard as wage inflation outpaced gold pricing.

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars.
The rest I just squandered" - George Best, Football Star

Gladio is just one footprint in the snow. It is reasonably well documented from
1945 to 1995, as a result of confessions given in Court. Some things can be
inferred, and cross-checks an be made. And why is this important and interesting?
Because with some educated guesses, the Gladio budget can be estimated.

The Gladio operatives were paid in gold coin, at a rate of US$1000 per month,
around 1978, close to the average wage of the day.  For groups of 12, $20,000 per month.
If payment in gold kept pace with average wages, that gives 5000 ounces basic pay total
per footsoldier. For 50 years, plus expenses, excluding bribes, I make that 4,000 tons
of gold in round figures, or an average of 80 tons a year.     

For now, 8,200 stay-behinds seems a workable number to subvert a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.

It's likely that the gold coin used as payment was the "British" sovereign. The coins
circulated freely within Europe after WWII, so is there evidence of good counterfeit
sovereigns appearing while Gladio was running?

" It is difficult to quantify the scale of the problem with any certainty
but it is probable that the number of counterfeits was vast. The Treasury
estimated that there were up to 300 million sovereigns in circulation in
the world in 1955. The Milan counterfeit factory operated by Beraha was one
of the first to be closed by the Italian police.
It was estimated to be able to produce up to a thousand coins a day." [1]

"Beraha was to later boast (Note 1) that he used more gold in his coins than the Royal Mint." [1]

"Unfortunately we are not in a position to make public use of the argument
that the copying of sovereigns may prevent us from employing them in our own
semi-clandestine activities in the Middle East." [1]

So, whether Gladio was fully funded by Nazi or Yamashita's gold, the evidence
suggests that a vast quantity of hidden gold was spent in Western Europe.

While all this seems attractive, there are some practical problems. Sovereigns
weigh just under eight grams, so 4,000 tons of sovereigns would be close to
500 million coins. That would double the number of sovereigns believed to be
in circulation. Also, once a fake is detected, questions such as "Where did you
get this?" are asked, somewhat inconvenient for your covert activity. Despite this,
the costs of this European operation can be estimated to a figure well within
an order of magnitude, and this sets a lower limit to the funds available to
the Creature in the years after WWII.

Some things follow from this.

First, this is on the scale of the combined gold reserves of Italy and Germany.

Second, this Gladio gold is profit, not revenue. It goes straight to the bottom
line of whatever balance sheet you happen to be looking at. If you are looking
at an Input/Output Matrix, it's in the "value-added" line. Or if you are George
Best, it's in "the rest I just squandered".

The final thing is that somebody has to keep track of this spending. Trillions
of dollars just don't go walkabout. [2]

It's not easy to explain. You either Get It, or you don't. And DYOR.

[1] https://goldsovereigns.co.uk/sovereignfakesin20thcentury.html

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RvLL--vSsA
Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) asks questions about:
Dyncorp Sex-Trade, Pentagon Missing $2.3 Trillion & 9/11 Wargames
"And who has the contract?"

"How can you kill women and children?"
"Easy, ya just don't lead 'em so much! Ain't war Hell?"
Door Gunner - Full Metal Jacket (Film 1987)

Vincenzo Vinciguerra : When you were on the Right you were not supposed to attack the State or its
representatives. You were supposed to attack civilians, women, children. Innocent people outside
the political arena. For one simple reason: To force the Italian public to turn to the State
to turn to the regime and to ask for greater security. This was precisely the role of the Right in
Italy. It placed itself at the service of the State which created a strategy aptly called
"the Strategy of Tension" in so far as they had to get people to accept that at any moment over a
period of thirty years, from 1960 to the mid-eighties, a State of Emergency could be declared.
So, people would willingly trade part of their freedom for the security of being able to walk the
streets, go on trains or enter a bank. This is the political logic behind all the bombings.
They remain unpunished because the State cannot condemn itself. [1] 00:51:20

US Intelligence Field Manual
Top Secret : There may be times when host country governments show passivity or indecision
in the face of Communist subversion. US Army Intelligence must have the means of launching
special operations which will convince the host country governments and public opinion of
the reality of the insurgent danger. [1] 01:38:25

Judge Gerardo D'Ambrosio : At that moment we had Giannettini in for questioning. We were
paying attention to the role played by him in this affair. We had discovered that
Giannettini was one of those who believed in the so-called "Revolutionary War".
He had spoken of it at a conference. This conference had the patronage of the Chief of
Staff of Defence. What was also interesting was that Giannettini's speech wasn't only on
"revolutionary War" but on measures to be adopted to prevent the take-over of power by
the Communists. This strategy of counter-revolutionary war advocated provoking of
social tension to demonstrate the danger of the Left. A danger that could be demonstrated
by carrying out attacks that could be ascribed to the Left, and through infiltration
of the Left. [1] 01:30:32

Colonel Oswald Le Winter CIA - ITAC Liaison Officer, Europe : For instance Guido Giannettini
was on a scale of 5 and he only received $1000 a month. [1] 01:34:42

Scene: A Prime Minister's Office, early 1950's West Germany.
The Private Secretary enters.
Secretary: Prime Minister, A NATO General is here. He wants to see you immediately about
an assassination list.
PM: What list? Show him in now!
General: Good Morning Prime Minister. I've got some good news.
PM: Do tell, for a moment I thought my name might be on the list.
General: How very insightful, your name is actually on the list.
PM: And the good news is that we have the assassin in custody?
General: I'm afraid you can't do that, the NATO Treaty's secret amendment forbids it.
One of your predecessors agreed as a condition of joining NATO that any Right-wing
crazies drawing up assassination lists would be given complete immunity from prosecution.
PM: But you said there was good news?
General: Once I found out that the operation was unauthorised, of course I gave the
guy the frowning of a lifetime. I assure you that this was just a paper exercise.
PM: That's it? And you made sure this can't happen again? Who planned this?
General: That's above my pay grade Prime Minister. I can tell you that it is part
of Operation Gladio, and that Gladio, and probably NATO, are run by the CIA desk in the
State Department of the USA.   
PM: So to arrest the people planning to assassinate me, we have to leave NATO. But if I
tell people that I am thinking of leaving NATO I could be assassinated. Got it. 
And ... Scene.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22" he observed. "It's the best there is" Dan Daneeka agreed.
Catch-22 (Film and book)

General Truscott (retired) was the senior CIA representative in Germany 1951-1953.

A decade or two later, Italy may have surpassed Germany's Farce. After a series of terror
attacks, three policemen die in a car-bomb at Peteano. :
 
Vincenzo Vinciguerra : After the attack at Peteano, a mechanism was put in place which was used in all
such cases : A mechanism of cover-up : The Carabinieri, the Ministry of the Interior, the Customs and
Excise Police, the civilian and military secret services all knew the truth behind the attack, that
I was responsible, and all this within twenty days. So they decided, for totally political reasons,
to cover it up. General Mingarelli undoubtedly knew of the existence of Gladio.
He knew of a structure running parallel to that of the Armed Forces and which was operating in
his jurisdiction. Being Head of the Carabineri in the Udine region he is a key person.
This whole thing started with him even if he only gave the orders. Mingarelli was convicted for
crimes related to the cover-up of Peteano. [1] 01:02:04

Judge Felice Casson :
General Mingarelli was Commander of the Udine Carabineri. It might seem strange that a 
Commander of the Carabineri was party to the cover-up of an attack where three of his men
died. At first he received a sentence of ten years and six months, later
reduced to two and a half years, a sentence he is now serving. [1] 01:02:04

Vincenzo Vinciguerra, speaking in 1992 : "I want the truth that the State denies and I can't even
contemplate accepting the rewards the State gives to those who lie and are obedient.
Because thousands of people have been deceived, jailed, and killed." [1] 02:21:23

It appears not much changed after Peteano.

So what to take away from this? That the Creature has successfully diverted responsibility
for its actions on to NATO, and perhaps even on to the CIA? Why has so much blood and treasure
been spent? and for what?

Senator Roger Lallemand : At first, financing was guaranteed by the British and the Americans.
We have established that the Belgian stay-behind were given gold coins, notably gold coins,
money for agents or instructors in time of war. [1] 00:36:33

Something similar was ongoing in Japan in these years,[2] and international drug trafficing
grew as the need for false flag attacks decreased.[3] [4] 00:16:17

[1] BBC Timewatch Documentary series 1992 "Gladio"
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrTca_5q89UIAwAVlsnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTB0MzkwOG5yBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1lIUzAwNF8x?p=bbc+gladio&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001
see also
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-07/ever-growing-list-admitted-false-flag-attacks

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitaka_incident

[3] Chip Tatum : Black Ops Interview with Ted Gunderson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyEoRck0abA

[4]"What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part 5" Eric Decarbonnel

"lies, dammed lies, and government statistics"

Suppose you are US Treasury Secretary in 1947. You are in possession of more
than three-quarters of the world's monetary gold, and answerable to no-one
for the actions you take. To this responsibility is added the plundered treasure
of Asia, but this is a State Secret. If this treasure were kept hidden away, no
additional problems would be created, but circumstances dictate that some of the
money must be used to finance covert operations. What to do? (see also [2] 7.43)

The immediate requirement is for two sets of books. This is a situation where
"hidden in plain sight will not work." Within limits, the practice of keeping
two sets of books is perfectly legal. Problems occur when State Secrets must
be kept secret. For example, lying under oath is immediately a criminal offence.

To forestall such problems, immunity from prosecution gets written into job descriptions.
Thus, in some circumstances, the exercise of Economic Totalitarianism can be
deduced from the text of treaties, though the wording would apply to both "black"
budgets and to the "dark" budgets, dark in the sense of "dark matter".

The result is somewhat like finding footprints in the snow, and then trying to
deduce the size of "The Creature," its source and its destination, and hence its
purpose.

Taking the Treasury's ESF as the Source, the next downstream nexus after the Fed
was the primary dealers, the West's major banks, who then have to run dark accounts,
and have to finance dark projects operated by US Government Departments. This
introduces a further level of complexity. The managers of this money have a
strategic advantage in the money markets. Through the information asymmetry inherent
in the dark network, the projects pursued can deliver higher profits, also any
loss-making activities can be moved from dark into black budgets. [1]

The result is a large and growing mechanism of finance, unaccountable to the
public institutions of government, and largely immunised against prosecution,
but ultimately struggling to find a reason for its existence.   
 
So where might this Creature's "footprints" be found?

* Computer software : Managing this vast fortune, and providing a Management Information
System (MIS) is a bespoke requirement that cannot be made public. A far simpler route is
to copy or steal the requisite software, and to then conceal the facts than to purchase the
software and its support on the open market. Provided the source code can be secured,
the system can then be covertly modified to match, perhaps illicit, requirements.

* Company accounts : Legal provisions in Corporate accounts provide loopholes that allow
covert projects to be concealed, both financially and physically. [3]01:04:00

* Fraud : This is not the usual form of fraud. This is financial fraud planned, created
and executed by government actors, both for profit and to ruin competitors.

* Cover-ups : That giant sucking sound is the sound of Trillions being vaporized. Covering
that up is a non-trivial task.

* Paramilitary action : Untraceable wealth is vulnerable to theft. Recovery via legal
argument is thus problematic and counterproductive, hence the need for private military
forces.

I'm offering these thoughts on a What If? basis. My next tasks are to try to pull
some facts together, and to put flesh onto the skeleton. After that, who knows what
direction this will take. My immediate interest is to assess the impact of secret funds
on the US and other economies, to get a better view of how economies work, but this
already brings some big questions.
 
[1] Note also that money may have been moved from Nazi Germany to Western Banks 1941-1945
adding to the secrets that these banks already have.

[2] "What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part 2" Eric Decarbonnel

[3] Catherine Austin Fitts at the Secret Space Program Conference 2014 San Mateo.

"the tax rate in the Roman empire before sh*t hit the fan. It was 2% "

If you believe that the tax rate of the Roman Empire was 2% for other than a brief moment
of time, I have a bridge you may want to buy for your Collection :-)

lest this appear to be an invitation for the reader to pass judgement,
I'll say that is unintended.  If, however you do not know whether to
laugh or to cry, I suggest that laughter is always the best choice.

You should also know that if someone creates a cryptocurrency which
is a real fiat-killer, it will bring with it tremendous power and
great responsibility. The owner(s) of this bitcoin v02 will face
the same moral dilemmas outlined in my earlier post.

You, as new owner(s) will immediately come into conflict with what
I will later refer to as "The Creature" - and all its vested
interests. So, be careful with your dreams. 

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."
Karl Marx

"Again, the devil taketh him up to an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all
the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things
will I give thee, if thou will fall down and worship me." Matthew Ch4

This post provides the context needed to understand "The Creature" in 1945-1949.

As soon the war in Europe finished, the "Allies" quickly became enemies.
President Truman resisted calls from his Generals for pre-emptive nuclear strikes,
in effect World War III, to prevent the Soviet Union from invading Europe.
It was a relatively easy decision for Truman, the USA had material for one bomb,
and several dozen would be needed for the attack. The content of the the
US Nuclear Arsenal was a secret the Generals did not know. [1]

Around March 1945 Allen Dulles was Swiss Director of the OSS and was negotiating
the surrender of German forces in Northern Italy. He was also negotiating with
GeneralMajor Reinhard Gehlen, head of Reich Foreign Armies East, for control of a
military spy network within the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. [2]

The budget for the entire OSS in 1945 was of the order of $50 million. [3]

With the end of the war in Europe the OSS was disbanded in October 1945. The
code-breaking resources were assigned to the War Department, and would become
the NSA. The instruction to disband was broadly interpreted to allow the construction
of a peacetime US secret service, the " Strategic Services Unit" (SSU)with the State Dept.
Responsibility for the administration of Europe was divided between the USA and the UK,
and arrangements were made to share intelligence.

It wasn't only Allen Dulles and Reinhard Gehlen that had an interest in the survival
of the SSU, others, including the Mafia and the Vatican, had invested in the network.
One might suppose that it was entirely in Gehlen's interest to promote the threat
from the USSR, including news on the development of technologically advanced weaponry.

As a guess, the initial 1946 budget for the SSU was one tenth of its wartime equivalent,
say, $5 million.

The SSU's response was to prepare stay-behind units (Gladios) as a countermeasure to
any Soviet invasion. The muscle that these politically motivated units provided would
later be directed against the growing Communist Party's ambitions in Italy.

"In 1947, the Communist Party of Italy, much admired for leading the fight against
Mussolini, was expected to win major gains in Italy's first post-war election." [4]7:41

The role that the Mafia and the Vatican played in these events is summarised here:
http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/03/the-alliance-between-the-cia-and-the-vatican/

"Initially, Mr Dulles and Secretary of Defense James V.Forrestal solicited funds from
wealthy friends" [4] 6.52 It wasn't enough, even when reimbursed through the black budget. 
The problem of financing the SSU and its network was tackled under the Helliwell Plan.
The name implies a formal agreement between the embryonic CIA and other parties
for a share in the profits from the heroin trade between Italy and the east coast of
the USA, to be remitted into the Vatican Bank. The most likely event contributing to
this Plan was the Mob Conference in Havana, at the Hotel Nacional, December 1946.

In 1947, and coincidentally with the discovery of the Japanese War Loot, and the
decision to keep the recovery of the wealth a US State Secret, the CIA emerged under the
directive of the US National Security Act. It soon had competition in the form of the
OPC (Office of Policy Coordination) - the two were merged in 1951.

In 1950 Allen Dulles was recruited to oversee the Agency's covert operations as Deputy
Director for Plans. Perhaps his earlier experience as a lawyer in Sullivan and Cromwell,
a firm specialising in international finance legal matters, was found useful.

It's hard to be sure what was really going on, though, see this:

"Typically, in the early 1950's, the Agency dropped millions of dollars worth of gold bars,
arms, two-way radios, and Agents into Poland to support what its top officials believed
was a powerful Polish underground movement against the Soviets. In fact, Soviet agents
had wiped out the movement years before, turned key people in it into double agents, and
played the CIA for suckers. As Wiener comments, not only had five years of planning,
various agents, and millions of dollars "gone down the drain," but the "unkindest cut might
have been [the Agency's] discovery that the Poles had sent a chunk of the CIA's money to
the Communist Party of Italy." [5] 0.30

[1] See "Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser, published 2013.
[2] Joseph P Farrell at the Secret Space Program Conference 2014 San Mateo presentation 1
referencing GeneralMajor Gehlen's memoirs.
[3] CIA History Reference
[4]"What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part 2" Eric Decarbonnel
[5]"What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part 3" Eric Decarbonnel
referencing War behind the Iron curtain - Peter Grose [pp67-68]

"Yes, but the whole point of the doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret!
Why didn't you tell the world?"
"It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday.
As you know, the Premier loves surprises."
        - Dr Strangelove & Russian Ambassador

Hang on to your sense of humour. You may need it.

"After the U.S. entered the war in December 1941, Secretary Morgenthau appointed
White to act as liaison between the Treasury and the State Department on all
matters bearing on foreign relations. He was also made responsible for the
Exchange Stabilization Fund." [1] The budget for the embryonic form of the CIA, the 
OSS, was also under White's control within the ESF.

Mr White was effectively in control of the world's financial system through the
Treasury's ownership of three-quarters of the world's monetary gold. He, with others
within the ESF, began planning what would later become the World Bank and the IMF. [2]

Both France and the UK exported their gold to Canada and to the USA for safekeeping
and to pay for war materials.

The Bretton Woods Conference was held in 1944. Among other things, White proposed a
system based on a gold-backed US$ as the world's reserve currency. The proposal was
attacked domestically as "a camouflaged method of lending billions of American
money abroad," and most US bankers opposed the plan. [2]5:44 Keynes also opposed the
plans, suggesting instead a self-regulating system based on an international "Bancor"
reserve system. White prevailed. With control of international finance resting in the
US$, and control of the $ resting with the Federal Reserve Banks, acting as agent for
the US Treasury, not much had changed.

The Wars ended, and treasure, including gold that Nazi Germany looted from Europe,
some $533M (1945 dollars) of gold and silver was recovered, mostly from the Merkers
Mine in Germany. [3]

Japan had a similar program called "Operation Golden Lily". Capt., later General Ed
Lansdale, briefed President Truman on the billions (1945 dollars) discovered, 1947.
Truman, on learning of the hoard, "after discussing this vast plunder with his cabinet,   
'decided to proceed with the recovery, but to keep it a State Secret'" [4]53.40

Note the difference in approach between the treasure plundered in Europe which was
eventually returned, and that plundered in Asia by Japan, from 1895 onwards, which
was not merely concealed, but given the protection of the US State.   

So, leave aside, for the moment, a multitude of probabilites on why this was done.

Logically, the place to put Secret Billions was the Treasury's ESF funds. These were
designed to operate without oversight or accountability since their inception in 1934.

"The heart and soul of covert operations" ... "provision of unvouchered funds, and the
inviolability of such funds to outside inspection" [2]6.24

Before moving on to other consequences of President Truman's decision, I will simply
point out that published US accounts since 1945 cannot be trusted. Any attempt to
model the US economy without accounting for secret activity will end in frustration.

Deceit on this scale corrodes the fabric of society. The Government, or at least an
important part of it, is no longer answerable to the democratic will of the people. 
It is also a negation of Capitalism - that each agent is equally, as far as reasonably
practicable, informed of the events taking place in the Markets. Note also, that failure
to disclose material facts may be a criminal offence. In other words, Fraud.

What may be excused as a short-term expedient is likely to result in disaster in the
longer term. Usually, the value of information declines rapidly with time, hence secrecy
can be quickly discarded. Where Secrecy conceals an ongoing and growing process of
public interest, it makes honest men into liars and criminalises honest answers. It
eventually destroys trust in the government, in this case, the US government.
This is not good if you have control the world's finances via only faith and credit.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Dexter_White
[2] "What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part 2" Eric Decarbonnel
[3] https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/spring/nazi-gold-merkers-mine-treasure.html
[4] Joseph P Farrell at the Secret Space Program Conference 2014 San Mateo presentation 1
referencing "Covert Wars and Breakaway Civlisations" p137 and "Gold Warriors" p3

Keep smiling - there's more. Much, much, more :-)

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone,
'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master that's all.'
Lewis Carroll - "Through the Looking Glass"

From 1900 - 1945 the Question "Who is to be Master" brought about a series of wars,
the most memorable of these were WWI and WWII. One might suppose that domination of
seventeen-twentieths of the world's surface would ensure the rapid assimilation of
the remainder, and failure to succeed in that goal was not for want of trying. The
twenty years preceding the first World War [1] are remarkably similar to moves in a
game of Monopoly, with the City and Foreign Office moving together to gain an
advantage.

Reading the detail of these manoeuvrings one cannot help but wonder at the gulf in
understanding between the general public in the UK, the USA, and much of Europe,
and the "one man in a thousand" [1] in possession of the facts. In this respect,
control of the flow of information acts much like the control of the flow of credit,
though today's digital world makes the comparison between the two much clearer.
The two actors, the City and the UK Government, both have separate access to credit
and to data, and both compete for the sinews of control via the legal constraints
on their power. In this respect, the international routes available to finance give
banking an advantage over the UK Government when the British Empire began to dissolve.

The Constitution of the USA had a similar blind spot, being focused on a balance
between the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislative branches of Government,
despite evidence of the dangers that Banks might pose to the Nation. These dangers
need not be pre-planned malice, but may be systemic in nature.

I will add my own thoughts to the matter - the interest accumulated on debt and the
costs of the first World War resulted in an excess of debt over the ability to pay.
The settlement at the end of that war provided a flow of gold from Germany to France,
and from France and the UK to the USA. The reparations were delayed, and France
occupied the Ruhr in 1923. " With the collapse of the German economy in 1931,
reparations were suspended for a year and in 1932 during the Lausanne Conference
they were cancelled altogether. Between 1919 and 1932, Germany paid less than 21
billion marks in reparations." After coming to power in 1933 Adolf Hitler halted
all outstanding payments. At the peak of German Hyperinflation it was said that
an ounce of gold would purchase a city block (1923).

"The fact that British capital played an important role in the great crash of the
American market in 1929 seems beyond question." [1p72]

February 13 1933 President Hoover farewell address "If Europe wants us to cut down
war debts [about twenty billion] she will have to go back on gold standard and
stabilise her currency. Otherwise we will have to go off the gold standard and
depreciate our currency in this destructive trade war." [3]

"The governments of Britain, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania
were unable to make full war debt payments to the United States and offered symbolic
 token payments instead. The global depression undermined these countries' ability
to meet their debt obligation. Congress planned action to punish governments which
reneged on their war debts to the U.S." [2] June 1933

Nov 1933 US recognises USSR - Soviets will "consider" repayment of war and earlier debts.   

America devalues its currency - the $ now buys 40 percent less gold. 
8 Feb 1934 The US formally ends the gold standard. Americans are restricted in the
amount of gold they may own. On April 30 America's gold, some $2Bn, was moved into a
special Treasury fund to stabilise the US$ - the ESF. [4]0.48 (abstract NYT)
From that point on the US Treasury, through the ESF, controlled international finance.[4]2.50
The effect ... was "to nullify, if not to scrap, the Federal Reserve System" [4]5.30

In early 1939 the rapid expansion of Germany's economy was beginning to generate difficulties.
Hitler sacks Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, who had been appointed President of the Reichsbank
in March 1933.

On 1 March 1941 the US Treasury had $22,200,000,000 in gold - Lewiston Daily Sun [4]
some three-quarters of the world's monetary gold. The Secretary of the Treasury was
in effective control of the world's currencies, without any oversight or legal constraint,
since 1934.[6]

Mr Decarbonnel argues that the Fed did a better job of stabilising the currency than
the Treasury, based on the CPI calculations available. The merits of that argument are
what they are, but it is clear that since 1934, the decline is inexorable. see 1944
"The Fund, as created, is unsound and will increase the already grave danger of inflation." [5]5.49

[1] "The Empire of the City" E C Knuth 1945
[2]http://indiana.edu/~league/1933.htm
[3] "The Great Depression - A Diary" Benjamin Roth   
[4] "What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part1" Eric Decarbonnel
[5] "What I have been afraid to blog about the ESF and its history - part2" Eric Decarbonnel
Note : The graph in [4] of $ purchasing power vs time 1800-present illustrates a clear trend from
1934 when the US Treasury took control. A graph showing only  1913 - present might suggest some
responsibility lies with the Federal Reserve Banks for the continuing decline of the US$, but
on the balance of probabilities, the Treasury secretariat bears responsibility for the decline.
[6] Some 17,230 Tons, though whether this includes gold held for "safekeeping" is unknown.
Rumours suggest that gold was transferred by US battleships from China to the USA in 1938. 
I am unable to confirm how much, if any. was transported.

"All my possessions for a moment of time" attributed to Queen Elizabeth I
near the time of her death in 1603.

Almost 300 years later, in 1901, Queen Victoria died. Much had changed.
Through the Royal Navy and its control of the Sea-Lanes, the British
Empire controlled "seventeen-twentieths of the world's surface." [1][2]

Such dominance does not come about by accident, and by 1912, forecasts
of world conflict were published, gigantic in scale, "one war if the
Empire is destroyed, a series if it is victorious." [1][2]

By this certain knowledge a series of events were put in train, as each
Faction, Nation, and Sector sought to place itself to be if not advantaged
in the outcomes, at worst to suffer no loss. Chief among these concerns were
the design and manufacture of armaments and the flow of funds necessary to
finance the coming wars.

Near-total control of the world is a rare enough occurrence to suggest a
brief look at the management structure:
A Royal Family, as the public face
The City of London,  providing financial management
The Imperial Civil Service, Parliament, and the Armed Services
Corporate industries
the People.

Of these, the balance of power between the City, The Government, and
the Corporations drove the growth of Empire. While the UK growth rates fell
in the late 19th century they were still well above any historical
precedent prior to the industrial revolution.

Globally, the balance of power was beginning to move toward Germany and
toward the United States of America as these countries sought new markets
for their produce, and to defend their ability to export and to import.

Thus in 1901, when Queen Victoria died, the network of alliances and
Treaties became stressed. First the USA, and by then Germany, exceeded
the GDP of the United Kingdom. The result was a race to build the biggest
and most technologically advanced fleet of warships that could be afforded.

No sane person starts a war without the expectation of victory. That said,
war was a constant news item in the British Press in a steady escalation
from 1870. Much of the turmoil of this time was micromanaged by the financiers
of the City, though not always with the intent of throwing petrol on the fire.
No sane person starts a war without the expectation of financial support.

In much the same way that the beatings will continue for as long as the
Elite knows best, whatever the trigger, the Elite then has to get the
rest of the 99% to actually fight the war. The trigger for World War I
was an assassination, and some lurid propaganda "Germans bayonetted
Belgian Babies" moved things on early in 1914.

The Battle of Jutland in 1916 was, at that moment, indecisive, revealing
the prospect of a prolonged destructive conflict. How the USA came into
the war on the Allied side in 1917 is worthy of a separate story. It's
worth noting that financing the war promoted innovation and prepared the
way for breaking the link between paper money and gold. This was in part
driven by the needs of the UK and the needs of Germany for raw materials,
commodities, and finished goods of all types, and by the excess production
capacity in the USA over and above the internal needs of that Nation.

When WWI ended, France demanded and got, crushing reparations placed upon
Germany, against the advice of the other parties. The UK and France
had significant debts outstanding to the USA, some of which were
eventually written off.

The British Empire was still largely intact, but it would not hold
together much longer. The illusion of World Domination has passed to
other hands.

[1] "The Day of the Saxon" Homer Lea 1912.
[2] "The Empire of the City" E C Knuth 1945 

@OROBTC - thanks - hopefully you get fewer sleepless nights than I re this.

"Never give a sucker an even break" Film title 1941

I made a couple of remarks on another thread about economics and game theory.
Thinking about it, those remarks tossed pretty much every piece of economic
theory post Adam Smith into the shredder. The result? ..... Crickets.

Nobody said "You're Wrong!" and nobody seemed to suffer a panic attack. Ho hum.

At the risk of repeating myself, today's global economy finds itself in a kind of 
Prisoner's Dilemma. Deals between agents are completed because each benefits from
the transaction. Of four possible outcomes, the win-win result satisfies both
parties. Almost all of history records growth in economies, a series of win-win
outcomes. Win-lose outcomes imply duress on the losing party.

It's possible to model less benign economics, and as a general comment, they are
unstable. Note that even benign economies are unstable, hence it's difficult to
clarify the difference. But game theory explains it succinctly.

It's called the zero-sum game. For someone to win, someone else has to lose.
And that's a whole new way of thinking about the world. It also explains much
of the dysfunctional behavior visible today, including the drop in international
world trade. At a personal level, if you want to win on a trade, make sure that
there's a sucker on the other side.

That means playing with a marked deck, it means insider trading, it means CEO's
buying stock with cheap credit instead of investing in the future of the business.
It means passing legislation and signing treaties to disadvantage competitors. If
they can be jailed and assets forfeited so much the better. Capiche?

This is depression economics, where it's better to hold onto your resources than to
buy or sell. Instead of a competitive advantage, you're looking for a sucker.

But enough with the drama, what about the facts? Is it enough to know this has been
brought about by a combination of Central Bank incompetence and by resource
depletion? Because when it comes down to supposed hard facts like growth, things
get kinda slippery. Even basic nominal GDP is suspect, see Ireland's figures for
the glaring example. After that, factor in CPI to calculate real GDP. So, expect to
wait a while, say five of ten years for the revisions and internal contradictions
to be resolved. For a critique on the calculation on US CPI see this:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-14/mad-hell
"Even worse, while the rate of health care inflation is being understated at the individual premium level shown above, it's also wildly understated in the larger inflation statistic used to level-set everything from cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to pay raises across the country."

Comments? I mean, I haven't seen a rush to contradict any of the mainstream
economists, or to inform them they're the equivalent of the buggy whip, so
I assume everybody's happy with the Emperor's New Clothes, to mix metaphors.

And, yes, hang onto your Bitcoin. An Even Break is already a Collector's Item.

PS: Once you get the idea of a zero sum game into your head, it emerges everywhere,
with the Brexit negotiations as only one example. I'd suggest taking some time to
let this line of thought percolate into your way of thinking. That way you will pick up
on the constant references to unfair advantage in our current way of living