Banchieri e immobiliaristi, con forti interessi nell’editoria, sono i potenti del business delle cliniche. Tra volti noti e nomi sconosciuti, ecco chi sono i padroni della salute Alcuni sono giganti che hanno fatto la storia dell’economia italiana, come Carlo De Benedetti e Gianfelice Rocca. Altri sono nomi nuovi dell’Italia che conta, per esempio Giuseppe Rotelli e Giampaolo Angelucci. Altri ancora sono quasi sconosciuti al grande pubblico: Ettore Sansavini, Emmanuel Miraglia, Maria Luisa Garofalo. Le loro holding sono le sette sorelle della sanità privata, quelle che svettano per il numero di posti letto sparsi in cliniche, centri di riabilitazione, case di riposo. Posti letto per lo più accreditati, attraverso le Regioni, al Sistema sanitario nazionale, dunque a carico delle casse pubbliche in base a tariffe predeterminate. Nel corso dell’ultimo decennio, a forza di continue acquisizioni, le sette sorelle si sono assicurate le posizioni di punta in un business giudicato tra i più promettenti, causa invecchiamento della popolazione e sempre crescente domanda di salute. Il giro d’affari della sanità italiana nel 2007 è stato di oltre 130 miliardi di euro, investimenti esclusi, secondo l’Oasi, l’Osservatorio aziende sanitarie italiane del Cergas, il Centro di ricerca sulla gestione dell’assistenza sanitaria e sociale dell’Università Bocconi di Milano. È la somma di 102 miliardi di euro di spesa sanitaria pubblica e di 28 miliardi di spesa sanitaria privata. La prima è sborsata dallo Stato per mantenere le strutture pubbliche e rimborsare le prestazioni erogate dai privati accreditati; la seconda è la somma di tutto quello che i cittadini pagano di tasca propria al momento di fare una visita o un intervento in strutture pubbliche e private, per esempio i ticket. Il grosso dell’affare, come si vede, sta nella prima voce, quella dei 102 miliardi. Di questi, sempre nel 2007, agli operatori privati ne sono arrivati più di venti: 8,8 agli ospedali accreditati, 8,6 all’assistenza socio-sanitaria convenzionata (per esempio le case di riposo), 3,6 alla specialistica. Mentre la spesa ospedaliera è stabile, dal 2000 in poi le altre due voci hanno mostrato incrementi medi del 6% all’anno, una crescita determinata soprattutto dall’aumento dei bisogni di anziani e disabili. Ci sono sorelle maggiori e sorelle minori. Prendiamo il famoso modello lombardo. Nella terra del governatore Roberto Formigoni, le Asl non producono alcun servizio, se non le funzioni base di tutela della salute pubblica e i controlli veterinari. Ospedali e altre strutture pubbliche agiscono in modo indipendente sul mercato, in concorrenza con i privati; il cittadino può scegliere liberamente, tanto a pagare l’intervento o il ricovero è sempre la Regione. “In Lombardia il privato è fatto di grandi gruppi come la Cir di De Benedetti e la Techint di Rocca -spiega Elena Cantù, responsabile di Oasi- mentre nelle altre regioni gli operatori sono più piccoli. Non possono garantire un’assistenza completa, ma solo determinati servizi. Per questo il modello lombardo è difficilmente esportabile. Il Piemonte voleva adottarlo ma non ce l’ha fatta”. All’opposto del modello lombardo c’è il modello toscano, “con poco privato e molto pubblico, dove le Asl gestiscono strutture in proprio. Non sono scelte esclusivamente ideologiche, perché in una regione storicamente di centrodestra come il Veneto la presenza dei privati è ridotta e riconducibile per lo più a istituti religiosi”. Oltre alle Sette sorelle c’è la Grande madre, cioè la Chiesa. Del business della sanità privata rappresenta una fetta importante, ma difficile da quantificare. La proprietà delle strutture è frammentata tra fondazioni, ordini religiosi, diocesi, tutti enti che non sono tenuti a rendere pubblici i propri bilanci. Tra i più noti c’è il San Raffaele, guidato dal prete-manager Luigi Verzé. L’ospedale milanese, controllato dalla Fondazione San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, dispone di più di mille posti letto accreditati con il sistema sanitario. Ogni anno, secondo i dati forniti della fondazione, conta 58.200 ricoveri, 25.700 interventi chirurgici, 57.900 accessi al pronto soccorso, oltre 7 milioni e 200mila tra prestazioni ambulatoriali ed esami di laboratorio. Dio guarisce -questo significa Raffaele in ebraico-, la Regione paga. Insieme ai banchieri e agli immobiliaristi, gli imprenditori della sanità privata sono tra i nuovi potenti d’Italia, e probabilmente i meno minacciati dalla crisi economica. Molti di loro hanno conquistato un peso rilevante nell’editoria e sono ben introdotti nel mondo politico. Con le controindicazioni che l’avere a che fare con soldi e uomini pubblici comporta, a partire dalle frequenti grane giudiziarie. Giuseppe Rotelli, Papiniano spa. Rotelli, 68 anni, avvocato di Pavia, è il signore dei posti letto. Ne conta 3.956 concentrati in Lombardia (a parte una struttura a Bologna) e quasi tutti accreditati. Nella regione governata da Formigoni, fanno capo a lui l’8% dei posti letto e il 9,2% dei rimborsi. La società bolognese Papiniano spa, di cui è amministratore unico, controlla il Gruppo ospedialiero San Donato, 18 strutture tra cui la storica Madonnina di Milano e il Policlinico di San Donato. Giuseppe Rotelli è figlio di Luigi, chirurgo che tra gli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta fondò l’Istituto di cura città di Pavia e il Policlinico San Donato. Negli anni Settanta e Ottanta, Giuseppe lavorò al Piano ospedaliero e al Piano sanitario regionale della Lombardia. Nel 2000, con il gruppo San Donato acquisì in blocco le cinque strutture messe in vendita da Antonino Ligresti, fratello del costrutture Salvatore. Ligresti aveva deciso di abbandonare l’attività sanitaria in Italia e di riavviarla in Francia dopo che, nel 1997, dieci pazienti e un infermiere erano morti nell’incendio della camera iperbarica di un suo ospedale, l’Istituto ortopedico Galeazzi di Milano. Dal 2006, Rotelli controlla il 10% del gruppo Rcs, che pubblica il Corriere della Sera. Nel 2008, la Procura di Milano lo ha messo sotto inchiesta due volte, accusandolo di aver chiesto rimborsi “gonfiati” al Sistema sanitario nazionale. Nel 2007 il gruppo ha fatturato circa 725 milioni di euro. Emmanuel Miraglia, Giomi spa. Miraglia, 69 anni, a lungo presidente dell’Associazione italiana ospedalità privata, guida un gruppo familiare con sede a Roma che conta oltre 1.600 posti letto, di cui più di 1.500 accreditati (dati 2006). Controlla 14 centri in Lazio, Toscana, Veneto, Puglia, Calabria e Sicilia. L’ospedale più grande del gruppo è l’Istituto chirurgico ortopedico traumatologico di Latina, con 449 posti letto. Il gruppo Giomi fu fondato nel 1949 da Franco Faggiana, chirurgo e docente alla Sapienza di Roma, ed è gestito da Miraglia fin dal 1973. La famiglia Miraglia è anche socia di Giuseppe Ciarrapico nella holding romana Eurosanità, della quale deteneva una quota anche Carlo Caracciolo, il fondatore dell’Espresso e di Repubblica scomparso a dicembre. Nel 2007 la Giomi ha fatturato 91 milioni di euro. Carlo De Benedetti, Holding sanità e servizi. La Cir del finanziere torinese detiene il 67% di Hss, nata nel 2002 con sede a Milano e partecipata tra gli altri da Morgan Stanley. Dispone di 4.628 posti letto, più 430 in fase di realizzazione, concentrati prevalentemente in Lombardia, Piemonte e Liguria. Tre quarti del totale si trovano in residenze per anziani -suo il marchio “Anni azzurri”- e il resto prevalentemente in istituti per la riabilitazione, anche psichiatrica. Presieduta da Alberto Piaser, direttore generale della Cir, nel 2007 la Hss ha fatturato 183 milioni di euro, 83 in più rispetto all’anno precedente, anche grazie a nuove acquisizioni. Maria Laura Garofalo, Raffaele Garofalo & C., Sapa. Maria Laura Garofalo, avvocato, presiede un gruppo da oltre mille posti letto, più di 700 dei quali accreditati al sistema sanitario nazionale (dati 2006). È la figlia del fondatore, il chirurgo Raffaele Garofalo, specializzato in cardiochirurgia. Una famiglia votata alla medicina, con i due fratelli di Raffaele, Antonio e Mario, rispettivamente ginecologo e urologo. Attivo nel settore delle cliniche fin dagli anni Cinquanta, oggi il gruppo è presente in Lombardia, Lazio, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna e Piemonte, e si dedica anche al settore alberghiero di lusso. Tra le strutture più importanti, l’hospice per lungodegenti e malati terminali Sant’Antonio e l’European Hospital, specializzato in cardiochirurgia, entrambi a Roma. Fa capo al gruppo anche Video 1-Telesalute, storica emittente televisiva dedicata alla medicina, che trasmette in Lazio e Toscana. Nel 2007 Sapa ha fatturato circa 350 milioni di euro. Giampaolo Angelucci, Tosinvest Italia. Diplomato in scienze umanistiche a New York, 36 anni, Giampaolo Angelucci è il figlio di Antonio, ex portantino del San Camillo di Roma ed ex sindacalista che ha fondato un impero imprenditoriale incentrato sulla sanità, con oltre tremila posti letto in 26 strutture tra Lazio, Abruzzo e Puglia. Oggi Antonio è deputato del Partito della Libertà, Giampaolo guida il gruppo di famiglia anche se ha lasciato tutte le cariche dopo essere finito sotto inchiesta e per qualche tempo agli arresti domiciliari. La Procura di Bari lo accusa di aver versato 500mila euro al movimento politico dell’ex presidente della Puglia Raffaele Fitto, ex pupillo di Silvio Berlusconi, in cambio di un appalto da 198 milioni di euro per la gestione di 11 Residenze sanitarie assistite. Angelucci ha ammesso il versamento del denaro ma ha negato l’intento di corrompere Fitto (l’udienza preliminare è fissata il 12 gennaio). La famiglia romana è stata al coinvolta in diversi casi giudiziari, ultimo dei quali la presunta tangentopoli sanitaria abruzzese che ha portato in carcere l’ex governatore Ottaviano Del Turco. L’accusatore di quest’ultimo, l’imprenditore della sanità locale Vincenzo Angelini, cita il San Raffaele di Sulmona come beneficiario di favori in fatto di posti letto accreditati. San Raffaele è un marchio rimasto alla Tosinvest in seguito a un altro affare controverso, quello del San Raffaele di Roma, comprato da don Verzé e subito rivenduto alla Regione Lazio con un guadagno di decine di miliardi di lire. La Tosinvest, inoltre, è azionista di Unicredit e pesa nell’editoria. Controlla il quotidiano Libero, diretto da Vittorio Feltri, e il Riformista di Antonio Polito. Nel 2008 si è offerto di comprare anche l’Unità, di cui in passato deteneva una quota azionaria, ma la redazione si è opposta, aprendo la strada all’arrivo di Renato Soru. Il gruppo Tosinvest, controllato dalla famiglia attraverso una “cassaforte” domiciliata in Lussemburgo, fattura circa 500 milioni di euro, circa 300 dei quali arrivano dal settore sanitario. Ettore Sansavini, Gruppo Villa Maria spa. Imprenditore con la vocazione della salute, 64 anni, Ettore Sansavini ha diretto la sua prima clinica nel 1973 e oggi guida il Gruppo Villa Maria, con sede a Lugo in provincia di Ravenna. Gvm conta circa 1.700 posti letto in nove regioni italiane (Liguria, Piemonte, Lombardia, Toscana, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Puglia, Sicilia) e all’estero, in Francia, Albania e Polonia. La vocazione iniziale era la cardiochirurgia, ma Sansavini è anche proprietario e presidente delle Terme di Castrocaro. Il Gruppo Villa Maria dichiara di assistere ogni anno oltre 350mila pazienti per un totale di circa 70mila ricoveri e oltre 2 milioni e 200mila prestazioni diagnostiche e ambulatoriali. Il fatturato 2006 è di 350 milioni di euro. Gianfelice Rocca, Humanitas Mirasole spa. Rocca, 60 anni, è presidente dello storico gruppo Techint, fondato dal padre Agostino, specializzato in siderurgia ed engineering, molto presente in America Latina. Ricopre numerose cariche nel “salotto buono” del capitalismo italiano: è, tra l’altro, consigliere di amministrazione di Rcs e vicepresidente di Confindustria. La Techint si è buttata nel business sanitario a metà degli anni Novanta, realizzando l’Istituto clinico Humanitas di Rozzano, nell’hinterland milanese, dove a sede la società. L’Humanitas, un istituto di ricovero e cura a carattere scientifico, è la struttura di punta di un gruppo che ha il cuore del business nel sistema sanitario lombardo, ma è presente anche in Piemonte e in Sicilia, per un totale di circa mille posti letto. Nel 2007 ha dichiarato 26.634 ricoveri, il 92% dei quali convenzionati con il Sistema sanitario nazionale, e 1,1 milioni di prestazioni ambulatoriali. Il fatturato è stato di 243 milioni di euro, di cui 166 derivati dall’accreditamento al Ssn. Il sistema dell’accreditamento garantisce affari d’oro ai privati, ma è spesso al centro di polemiche e, come abbiamo visto, inchieste giudiziarie. “Ci spaventa che il ruolo di controllo sia assunto sempre più spesso dalla magistratura”, riprende Elena Cantù del Cergas. “Dovrebbero essere le Asl a esercitarlo, come può un giudice valutare, per esempio, la necessità o meno di un intervento chirurgico?”. Il sistema che parifica pubblico e privato è stato varato nel 1992 dall’allora ministro Francesco De Lorenzo, ma 16 anni dopo molte Asl non hanno messo in piedi un efficace sistema di controlli e addirittura ci sono “Regioni che non hanno ancora fissato gli standard che le strutture devono rispettare per essere accreditate. Sono inadempienti Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Molise, Puglia, Veneto e la Provincia di Trento”. La truffa ai danni delle casse pubbliche è possibile su due fronti: infliggendo al paziente cure o interventi non necessari, ed è l’accusa rivolta dai pm nel caso della Santa Rita di Milano; oppure soltanto sulla carta, registrando prestazioni più care di quelle erogate. Il bilancio finale di chi osserva la sanità da un tempio della libera impresa come la Bocconi è sorprendente: “Difendiamo a spada tratta il Sistema sanitario nazionale, che deve essere pubblico -scandisce la dottoressa Cantù-. Il privato può integrarlo, ma deve essere controllato e governato”. La sigla che fa girare i soldi La parola magica attorno alla quale gira la maggior parte dei soldi della sanità privata è “Drg”. Significa Diagnosis Related Group ed è un sistema che classifica ogni caso clinico in una determinata casella, in base a diagnosi, interventi subiti, cure prescritte, caratteristiche personali. Ogni paziente ricoverato in una struttura accreditata è incasellato in uno degli oltre 500 Drg previsti dal ministero della Sanità (in questo governo assorbito dal Welfare). La relativa tariffa da rimborsare viene fissata invece dalle singole Regioni, spesso con rilevanti disparità. L’arrivo del nuovo sistema, nel 1994, fu una rivoluzione copernicana: prima le strutture private erano incentivate ad allungare al massimo le degenze, visto che venivano pagate secondo i giorni di ricovero; ora l’obiettivo è di minimizzare le degenze e massimizzare i casi trattati. Ogni Regione fissa dei tetti annui: le prestazioni erogate oltre il limite non vengono rimborsate, e spesso sorgono contenziosi. I tetti non riguardano i pazienti provenienti da fuori Regione, un business importante per le strutture del Nord, in particolare della Lombardia. Fonte: http://www.altreconomia.it/site/fr_contenuto_detail.php?intId=1879
Speculative Premium - And Why The Markets Will Crash
Karl Denninger
Why?
SINGAPORE/CAIRO, March 1 (Reuters) - Copper is likely to climb when trading starts on Monday, lifted by uncertainty over supply after the world's top copper producer Chile was pounded by a massive earthquake, analysts said over the weekend.
The front-month contract opened up more than 8%.
This, despite the fact that the earthquake was hundreds of miles away from the mines in Chile and there was zero damage to them. Some were offline for a few hours due to power failures, but none suffered any physical or structural damage, nor did their export points and the transportation network between the two.
So why did price spike more than 8% even though all this was known by the market before it re-opened for trading?
No part of the markets are trading on fundamental values, nor on forward business expectations. They are instead trading as "hot money" repositories where speculators rotate in and out of various instruments literally on a minute-by-minute basis.
This is how crashes happen.
When there is no fundamental value underlying a market there is no floor on price. Price then becomes one thing and one thing only - the number at which you can find another sucker to take your position from you.
This is how tulip bulbs went nuts in Holland, it is how houses went nuts in California in 2005, it is how tech stocks went nuts in 1999 and it is how oil went nuts in 2008.
But now literally everything has gone this way.
Take European national debt. We now know that Italy, for example, was cooking their books as early as 1995. This means that bond buyers overpaid for their bonds and took less coupon than they should have. This should have resulted in an immediate destruction in the value of those bonds when discovered, but it did not.
Why?
Because there was still a bigger fool.
Tech stocks were the same thing in 1999. These "companies" claimed the global GDP some 100 times over between the IPO-issuers in 1998 and 1999. This, of course, is impossible. Yet people kept buying even though mathematically 99% of them had to lose all their money. Ultimately, they did exactly that.
Oil went to $150 in 2008 even though demand was cratering. It then collapsed to under $40. It is now double that, even though we have a record supply on hand, to the point that tankers are sitting around full of crude with nowhere to unload it to, and nobody to buy at the price paid. Yet the price continues to go higher.
These conditions, historically, always produce crashes. Each and every time. Go ahead and look back through history with a dispassionate eye. Find me a market that displayed a complete disconnect with fundamentals such as this and did not crash.
You can't.
The issue for investors, of course, is that it is almost impossible to determine who will finally stand up and blow a whistle that others listen to. These manias go on longer than anyone would think possible. Always. I was stunned in 1999 as the Nasdaq doubled. Likewise in 2009 I was stunned as prices went straight up on companies that based on any dispassionate analysis are worth zero - for example, every large bank with undisclosed off-balance-sheet exposures (that would be most of them.)
The overnight move in Copper is yet another confirmation point. Big banks leasing oil tankers to fill up and moor somewhere "waiting for price to go up" was the first indication that this mentality had taken hold last year. Stocks were the next, of course, and now we have it in copper.
That the "animal idiocy" came just months after the 2008 crash tells me that we've learned exactly nothing. That the idiots in places like CNBS, including most especially people like Kudlow and LIESman, who have seen enough dances to both know and be able to identify this pattern, refuse to discuss what's going on borders on criminal journalistic misconduct.
If we had indications in the real economy - that is, other than government borrow-and-spend - that we were turning the corner, I'd be a bit more sanguine. Unfortunately no such indication has appeared, despite literally six months of claims from the media that it's "just around the corner."
No it's not folks. What's around the corner is another collapse, worse than the 2008 one, because the bad debt has been stinking up the joint even more as it decays into a putrid mess.
A dead fish doesn't get more palatable the longer you leave it out on the kitchen counter. We've learned nothing collectively or in the government regulatory apparatus from the last three years - indeed, government has become drunk on the premise that it can borrow and spend over $1.5 trillion annually to present a false veneer of prosperity and economic improvement.
But borrowing money doesn't make your economy more prosperous. It indeed makes it less so, because you not only have to pay that money back some day, but for the duration of the time you have it outstanding you must also pay interest.
When I see a nation rocked by a massive earthquake and one of its major exports spikes upward by 8% in price when it is known to the market that disruption to that nation's production of that commodity from the event was zero, that's the bell being rung to tell you to be damn careful if you think "happy days are here again" - right here, right now.
Mar 1, 2010 Karl Denninger
Karl Denninger's Market Ticker
All material herein Copyright ©2007-2010 Karl Denninger. All Rights Reserved.
No material here constitutes "investment advice" nor is it a recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument, including but not limited to stocks, options, bonds or futures.
The author may have a position in any company or security mentioned herein. Actions you undertake as a consequence of any analysis or opinion in this article are your sole responsibility.
Power Elite Losing America?
The Daily Bell
 |
David Rockefeller, the Evil Emperor |
CNN Poll: Majority says government a threat to citizens' rights ... A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll. Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government's become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree. The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans. – CNN
Dominant Social Theme:
It is something the powers-that-be need to address.
Free-Market Analysis:
There are two areas of pushback an alternative media initiative such as the Daily Bell is apt to encounter. The first is that it is "conspiratorial" and the second is that its paltry insights will fall on deaf ears, as the mass of people are "asleep" or "sheep." How then to explain this American poll – taken by CNN of all outfits – showing that a MAJORITY of Americans believe the federal government "poses a threat to the rights of Americans?" And it's not just the poll. You should read the 300-plus comments beneath the tiny article if you want an earful, dear reader. A few comments:
Start fixing the problem by electing people to the house and senate that will listen to and do the will of WE THE PEOPLE. Then 24 months later elect a president who cares about AMERICA. A really good start would be of course to impeach the moron we currently have to call POTUS. But no one currently in the house or senate has the balls to start that process.
Question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. That's exactly what the Government has been doing to our rights since the beginning of this country.
Pfff...typical Fox news propoganda....ummm..wait, this is CNN....
Someone slap me, CNN has finally stopped catering to the far left and oogling over Obama? Nahhhh, couldn't be the ratings, could it? It hurts having less viewers than local public access shows, doesn't it?
And this from CNN. WOW, didn't know they were capable of telling the truth.
Now we are the first to grant that polls are unpredictable and easily skewed. To a degree, they reveal what the pollster wishes them to reveal. But nonetheless this is an eye-opener, right up there with the famous poll of some years ago that found something like 30 percent of all Americans distrust the government's 9/11 narrative. These are large numbers in fact. Fifty-six percent of adult Americans is perhaps 75-100 million individuals. And lets put 30 percent around 50 million. The distrust for America's expanding authoritarianism is large and growing larger.
We are surprised it hasn't spread abroad. We anticipate this anti-government mentality will infect Britain sooner or later – we think we see signs of it. And in Europe, we believe that the coming unraveling of the EU will involve a good bit of anti-authoritarianism as well. But the point we really want to make for our American readers is that the constant flow of feedback we get stating that Americans especially are in an unconscious state regarding their government would not seem to be true, not entirely anyway.
In fact, it is our stated opinion - stated as often as we can state it – that the Internet has made a tremendous difference when it comes to perceptions of individuals and their relationship to the state. America is the prime example thus far in our opinion. It is indeed the great exception, the largest region with a republican culture some 300 years old – actually even older. It is not at all surprising to us that Americans, after all, are "awake" and increasingly aware of what is taking place in America, and in the world. The Tea Party movement is ample evidence for us.
The Bell is in the business of charting the ebb and flow of power elite promotions – those fear-based dominant social themes that panic large populations and encourage authoritarian solutions that bring wealth and power to a few at the expense of the many. We are on record as stating that many of these themes are failing. Global warming is failing. Peak oil seems increasingly dubious to many. Green industry is not something that we think has wide receptivity in America. Endlessly expanding vaccine programs are coming under increasingly attack, and not only in America. Central banking and corporatism are increasingly held in disrepute. The military industrial complex in America – and certainly in Europe – is under attack as never before. Government credibility is down. People's willingness to look to themselves for solutions rather than outside sources is up, in our opinion.
A poll like the above gives credence to our arguments, we believe. For us, it is increasingly obvious. The Internet has educated millions as to their true predicament vis-à-vis the monolithic authoritarianism of the modern Western state. These millions – who once believed their downtrodden plight was entirely their own fault – even now are educating their family, friends and neighbors. You know this is why we have never overly agonized about a Western crackdown on the Internet. It is late in the day for that. The Chinese have one going on, but we wonder even now how long that is going to last. These "enlightenment" movements tend to be unstoppable. The Gutenberg press shows us that.
An idea is far more powerful than a bullet, dear reader. You thought that was just a cliche. But you are living through one of these eras right now. The nascent police states of America and Europe are more apt to be rolled back than gain traction in our opinion. Oh, it will not happen without a struggle (see Edwin Vieira, Jr., recently, Parts 1-4), perhaps a bloody one (though we are staunch believers in non-violence). And we don't expect the outcome to usher in some sort of Nirvana. But we repeat, the power elite will likely end up taking a step back. Free-markets will likely take a step forward. And that's how human progress works, in halting steps.
Conclusion:
Some predict a dark ages ahead. Obviously, we are not so sure. The dominant social theme of the all-powerful power elite (its vast and unstoppable Illuminati network, for instance) is at least partially another promotion in our opinion – promoted especially by a number of questionable alternative websites, some of which obviously have intel connections both in America and Britain. No, the free-market foundation certainly has been laid all over again in the past 25 years, and any action taken will only help reinforce the freedom trend. Repressing 600 million people in the West as they begin to wake up and rise, is a formidable task. China certainly has its hands full even now. (And wait until the bubble bursts and central authorities lose still more credibility.) The 20th century was the power elite's golden age. We tend to think it has lapsed.
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
- William Earnest Henley, 1875
Why China's Rumored IMF Gold Purchase, If True, Would Be of Huge Significance
J.S. Kim
One, such a purchase would give more validity to the theory that China, with a vested interest in the price of gold today, is willing to intercede and support gold prices whenever they are being attacked by the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England through their manipulation of fraudulent gold futures markets in London and New York.
Two, it would further support exposing the gold futures markets in London and New York as nothing more than a gold fractional reserve playground that allows the western banking cartel to manipulate gold prices. The last available Commitment of Traders reports indicated that the Commercials were short 663.83 metric tonnes of gold. This position is supposed to be fully deliverable by the Commercials should the offsetting longs ask for delivery. Even though the Commercials very likely hold some of the offsetting longs through spread positions, that short position still represents a ton (no pun intended) of gold – gold, that according to COMEX regulations, must be available for physical delivery. However, if an incredibly large tonnage of physical (not paper) gold were really available for purchase on the COMEX, why would China feel an urgency to take delivery of a mere 191.3 tonnes of gold now through the IMF? Could it be because India "scooped" them the last time the IMF made a gold sale and China does not wish to be left twisting in the wind again with very little physical gold available for delivery in the global futures markets? If the China IMF gold story were true, the above would be plausible reasons for China acting now rather than later.
Remember, last week in my article "IMF Gold Sales v. the Alchemy of Gold Futures", I stated,
"If you were India, China or the United Arab Emirates and you wanted to buy 200 tonnes of gold at the price established in futures markets, but you knew that there was no possible situation whereby 200 tonnes of gold would ever be delivered to you via the futures markets, what would you do? Would you buy 200 tonnes of gold in the futures markets only to know that you would suffer a default of this delivery and likely be forced to pay a much higher price in the future or would you try to arrange to buy 200 tonnes of gold NOW from the IMF or another Central Bank? Of course, you would choose the latter tactic."
If it turns out that this story is true, then apparently the Chinese government agrees with me. Also remember that China, as the world's largest producer of gold, is likely to keep the vast majority of its future gold production in house. Thus if China is still turning to the outside market to buy its gold to buttress its gold reserves in addition to its internal production, then this story is very bullish for the long-term future of gold.
Three, if this story is later confirmed to be true, only an inside Chinese source could have leaked this story. No inside source would have leaked this story unless the deal had already been sealed as such information pre-sale would be very detrimental to China as it would lead to a higher purchase price. If this story is true, this again, leads credence to the theories that China now serves as a very important counter to the gold price suppression schemes of the western banking cartel. Remember, as recently as five years ago, the western banking cartel essentially faced ZERO opposition to its price suppression schemes in gold and silver. Thus, the emergence of a powerful opposition force would be a huge development to the gold market.
Finally, if this story were confirmed, then this event would likely allow gold as well as mining stocks to form a bottom in preparation for a move higher. Though the agents of the western banking cartel always like to paint gold supporters as a fringe lunatic movement that perpetually believe gold is heading to $10,000 an ounce tomorrow, this is the furthest possible representation of reality. I have always found supporters of gold to be among the most well informed people in the world in regard to understanding how stock market and futures manipulation schemes operate versus those that remain blind to this reality.
To dispel the notion that gold supporters never recognize and play the downside of rapid downward corrections in precious metal, on February 22nd, more than 10 hours before New York markets opened, I sent an alert to my subscribers in which I stated,
"Even if gold futures rise as high as $30 a day in Asia today [gold futures were up $9 an ounce at the time in Asia], a selloff in London and New York today or tomorrow [February 22& 23, 2010], given the action in gold futures and gold stocks last week, would still not surprise me one bit. Of course, if this happens, and I think it is likely to happen, then we could see some more weakness in gold stocks to begin this week before they resume their rise."
And this is exactly what has happened thus far. Though we are not yet out of the woods in terms of this current gold and silver correction, the China story, if confirmed, could be the trigger to put in the bottom for this current correction.
Of course, if this story later turns out to be unfounded, then it may trigger a continued temporary, albeit likely brief, further slide in gold prices. In conclusion, though on the surface China's yet to be confirmed purchase of gold from the IMF seems to be just a passing note unworthy of attention, if it turns out to be true, we may very well look back at this event as marking a crucial turning point in the gold market.
SmartKnowledgeU™, LLC was founded on a simple bet I made with a friend many years ago that believed I couldn't outperform the best money managers on Wall Street. Well that year, my stock portfolio (with all long positions, and no options) returned 40% while the major index in the U.S. returned 6% over that same time period. In winning the bet, I employed some very untraditional strategies that I believed were the best ways to invest money, though the mainstream investment firms most assuredly would have disagreed with me. In fact, because my methods utilized strategies that greatly diminished the risks associated with the uncertainties of investing, they increased the probability of achieving financial freedom in a shorter timespan than traditional methods of investing. When I realized that these strategies would work repeatedly over time to produce consistent significant returns, it was at this point that I decided to establish SmartKnowledgeU™, LLC. Today, my consistent if not spectacular track record of predicting the various steps of this crisis since 2006 has attracted the attention of Reuters online, Gata.org, Google finance, Yahoo finance, Seeking Alpha, Wikinvest, the Financial Times, and others, as all of these sites have re-printed articles I have written on my investment blog, the Underground Investor.
A quick note about our corporate logo as sometimes we've received confused inquiries as to its meaning. My company chose to alter the meaning of the "all-seeing eye" by placing a keyhole inside the pupil. The keyhole indicates that our company's mission is to reveal to our clients, in clear and precise terms, the true origins of this crisis (as opposed to the reasons disseminated by the mass media). Thus, by granting our clients the symbolic "key" to knowledge that the financial oligarchs wish to keep secret, we will ensure that our clients not only position themselves appropriately for this growing monetary crisis but also profit from this crisis. The fact that we have guided our clients to ignore government officials and Wall Street CEOs that have continually lied about this crisis for more than two years is proven by our track record of performance since our company's founding in 2006.
The Anti-Income Tax Movement: Why They Are Right
Giordano Bruno
This event (which strangely, seems to have disappeared from media coverage as quickly as it appeared) is never-the-less being exploited by the MSM along with other incidents to open new doors in disinformation. The difference between the article above and those propaganda pieces written in past years is that it shows a new concerted effort to link the Anti-Income Tax Movement with the threat of domestic terrorism.
It is clear what the IRS, the private Federal Reserve, and the media would like you to believe, but what are the facts behind the debate over income taxes? Are all the claims of the MSM and the IRS true? Are tax protesters really "crackpots," "conspiracy nuts," and "scam artists" trying to find a loophole out of their solemn duty as Americans to contribute to the "betterment of the nation"?
In this article, we will examine the arguments presented in the AP disinformation piece linked above, as well as common debate tactics used by the IRS and the Federal Reserve to promote the false validity of the income tax. After reviewing the evidence, I believe it will become apparent to anyone with an honest discernment that Income Tax Protesters are anything but "crazy"...
The History Of The Income Tax
Many Americans do not realize that the income tax is actually relatively new. A distantly similar measure was taken during the Civil War by the Federal Government, levying a 3% tax on incomes above $800 a year (a decent sum in those days). However, the tax was abolished in 1872. For over a century, the U.S. government operated without any permanent tax on citizen income. Most American business was conducted privately with little to no interference from government. Wages remained intact and the average American's yearly income was his business and his alone. The states had their own taxes on goods which allowed them to operate, while the Federal Government used excise taxes and tariffs. Attempts to reissue an income tax in 1894 were ruled Unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The Constitution specifically denies the issuance of a flat rate tax that is not proportioned to state population. The US Treasury website (which is otherwise filled with disinformation) even admits this:
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/taxes/ustax.shtml
However, this protection was lost (at least in the public eye) in the period between 1913 and 1916, with the institution of the Federal Reserve; a central banking system controlled privately by interests outside of our government. As we will show, the existence of the income tax is intimately linked with the existence of the Federal Reserve.
Americans consistently fought against schemes to adapt Central Banks, primarily because of their infamous track record for subverting government and dominating societies. The early builders of this country were well aware of the folly in allowing private banks to control the finances of an entire nation:
"The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."
-Thomas Jefferson
"Mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges... which are employed altogether for their benefit. "
-Andrew Jackson
"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. The banking powers are more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. They denounce as public enemies all who question their methods or throw light upon their crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed."
-Abraham Lincoln
"The government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency. Creating and issuing money is the supreme prerogative of government and is its greatest creative opportunity. Adopting these principles will save the taxpayers immense sums of interest and money will cease to be the master and become the servant of humanity."
-Abraham Lincoln
(Lincoln later introduced the "Greenback" which was to be used in place of money international bankers loaned the U.S. at incredible interest to finance the Civil War and subversively control the government. Soon after this move, Lincoln was assassinated, and the Greenback was mysteriously taken out of circulation.)
When President James A. Garfield, an opponent of central banking, was inaugurated in 1881, he said "Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce". On July 2, 1881 Garfield was shot, he died on September 19.
A consortium of international bankers had tried and failed over and over again to maintain financial dominance of the U.S., but this changed in 1913. As is covered in great depth in G. Edward Griffin's incredible book The Creature From Jekyll Island, the consortium returned, led by men such as JP Morgan, Paul Warburg, Frank Vanderlip, German Bankers Kuhn, Loeb and Co., and the Rothschild Family among others. They and their representatives met in secret, traveling under fake names, to meet at the resort on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia in 1910.
Under Paul Warburg's direction, they drafted a plan to pass the 16th Amendment which would allow them to flank the Supreme Court in creating an income tax, as well as the Federal Reserve Act, which would form the new Federal Reserve System (the bank was in no way a part of the Federal Government. The name was used to swindle the public into believing the institution was not the same as the Central Banks they despised). The plan was then to be presented to Congress by their confidant Senator Nelson Aldrich as if it was his idea alone. Frank Vanderlip later admitted in an interview with the Saturday Evening Post, February 9, 1935:
"...it would have been fatal to Senator Aldrich's plan to have it known that he was calling on anybody from Wall Street to help him in preparing his bill...I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyll Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System."
The Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress on Christmas Eve 1913 while most Congressmen were at home with their families and unable to vote on the matter. German Bank, Kuhn, Loeb and Co., immediately sent a representative to run the newly founded Federal Reserve. Woodrow Wilson, who helped with the passage of the act (and whose campaign was heavily financed by the same international bankers) later lamented with regret:
"A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men... We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men."
-Woodrow Wilson, Senate Doc. 23, 76th Congress, 1st Session
http://www.archive.org/details/NationalEconomyAndTheBankingSystemOfTheUnitedStates
The income tax was put into practice soon after. In its early years, less than 1% of the American population paid into the tax. The foundation, though, had been set, and WWI gave the Fed the opening it needed to accelerate taxation.
Today, the income tax is treated as if it has always been, and that income taxation is "common sense". Many Americans simply assume that it is a fact of life, or that it is necessary, otherwise, it would not exist. Nothing could be further from the truth...
The Federal Reserve Demands Its Payment
On May 23, 1933, Congressman, Louis T. McFadden, brought formal charges against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank system. In his letters, he put forward the evidence shown in this article, as well as much more, in the hopes that the American people would be freed from the financial tyranny of central banking. His petition for Articles of Impeachment was referred to the Judiciary Committee, who neither accepted it, nor denied it, meaning, the petition awaits a decision to this day. While Federal Reserve proponents today argue that only "conspiracy theorists" believe there is anything wrong with Central Banking, in fact, numerous members of government have investigated and come to the same exact conclusions as Anti-Fed and Anti-IRS activists. You can read a full log of McFadden's papers here:
http://www.uhuh.com/worthy/mcfad.htm
What McFadden presented was the full truth of the Federal Reserve. Here are some of the most important and damning facts on the Fed:
The Federal Reserve Is Private: For decades, the Fed had contended that it was part of the government, and was subject to audit. When confronted on many occasions about its unwillingness to divulge its activities to the American people, it then argued that it was actually "quasi-private," meaning, it was part of the government, but at the same time separate. The Fed claims it must keep information from the public in order to "avoid political pressure" which supposedly allows them to run our economy more efficiently. As the so called "Great Recession" has revealed, the Fed was able to ruin the economy with artificially low interest rates and is now in the process of annihilating the dollar, even with its independence from oversight.
There is no such thing as a "quasi-private" government financial institution. Either the Fed answers to the people, as democracy demands government institutions do, or it is private and does not. Only recently have Fed officials admitted that the Central Bank is a private entity that answers to no one, including Congress. In the video below, Alan Greenspan makes such an admission:
Past audits of the Fed have occurred, but followed strict guidelines which the Fed itself wrote. Certain items were off limits to auditors, including access to Fed policy decisions, records of foreign transactions, records of transactions with other central banks, etc. Basically, everything we needed to know about what the Fed was doing was off limits. Strangely, Fed officials will argue for the need of the IRS and intense audits of American citizens, but the Fed itself is not allowed to be fully audited:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/31/714.html
The Fed's Shareholders Are Unknown: Fed proponents claim that the Central Bank has no private shareholders, while activists claim foreign banks are heavily involved in its operation. While some evidence exists to support the idea of foreign influence, the bottom line is that neither side knows exactly who the shareholders of the Fed are, because, of course, the list is withheld from audit. Also, the Fed is not a publicly traded corporation and is therefore not required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to publish a list of its major shareholders. Sadly, American's have been denied the right to know the names of the people who are directly influencing their economy. Until a full audit of the Fed is enacted, we may never know.
The Fed Creates Money Out Of Thin Air: When it was adopted, the private Federal Reserve took on most of the tasks that were originally allocated to the Treasury Department by the Constitution, including the creation of currency. When the government requires money to finance its operations, it turns to the Treasury, who turns to the Fed, who then creates this money using a process called Fractional Reserve Lending; basically a legalized form of financial fraud by which the Fed (or any other bank) can artificially multiply its reserves. Example: If the Fed reserve ratio was 10 to 1, this would mean banks could create credit in the amount of $10 for every one real dollar they have in their accounts. Skeptics often argue that this is a conspiracy theory, but if they actually did their research, they would find that this process is admitted.
In the 1969 case of First National Bank v. Daly, the president of the First National Bank of Montgomery admitted that all of the money or credit which was used as a consideration for the mortgage loan given to the defendant (Daly) was created upon their books, that this was standard banking practice exercised by their bank in combination with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneaopolis, another private bank, further that he knew of no United States statute or law that gave the Plaintiff (the bank) the authority to do this.
Fed proponents argue that similar cases based on the same grounds have been dismissed, but this is irrelevant. The point is that the banks were forced to openly admit on record that they do indeed create the money that they lend out of thin air.
Even the Federal Reserve's own booklet on money creation, "Modern Money Mechanics," admits to the creation of credit from thin air. They have now stopped publication of the document, largely because of the quote on the last paragraph of page 6, which states:
"What they [banks] do when they make loans is to accept promissory notes in exchange for credits to the borrowers' transaction accounts. Loans (assets) and deposits (liabilities) both rise by [the amount of the "loan"]."
This is an open admission by the Federal Reserve itself that the money they lend actually never existed. This would be the equivalent of you lending your friend money that you printed on your computer for free, then expecting your friend to pay you back for the loan that cost you nothing, and with interest!
The Fed Charges Us Interest On The Money It Creates: In Fiscal Year 2009, the Treasury spent $383 Billion in taxpayer money to cover the interest payments to holders of our national debt. And the Federal Reserve System is in an indirect way one of the largest holders of American debt. Skeptics claim that the Fed only holds about 7% of interest in American debt, and that this percentage is "rebated" to the Treasury every year. If this were true, it would mean that the Federal Reserve actually costs taxpayers no money and accrues us no debt. The problem is that it is not true at all...
100% Of Your Income Tax Goes To The Private Federal Reserve: Now we get to the central problem of the Income Tax, as well as the reason why it is so closely linked to the existence of the Federal Reserve. In 1984, as a response to President Ronald Reagan's "Private Sector Survey on Cost Control," an investigation of the income tax and the IRS was organized. It was called "The Grace Commission":
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14566862/Grace-Commisson-Report
After extensive accounting of where taxpayer funds are allocated, the Grace Commission came to a startling conclusion:
"100% of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal Debt ... all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services taxpayers expect from government."
-Grace Commission report submitted to President Ronald Reagan - January 15, 1984
So, if every penny of the income tax goes to interest on Federal Debt, where are the Trillions of dollars required to run the U.S. coming from? All foreign investments combined could not account for the massive sums needed. The answer is quite simple: The Federal Reserve creates and lends the money, continuing the debt cycle, which as we all now know is leading to hyperinflation.
Essentially, not one penny of your income taxes goes to funding the programs and services you expect from Government, including schools, roads, sanitation, etc. Most of these services are actually covered by State taxes and taxes on goods such as gasoline, toll roads, along with many others.
So then this epiphany begs us to ask a very important question: If none of our income taxes go towards the government services we require, and all of it is going towards the debt being needlessly generated by a group of private Central Bankers who answer to no one, why should we pay the income tax?
Common Federal Reserve And IRS Talking Points
Below we will list some of the more prominent arguments used by the IRS and Federal Reserve to manipulate the public into accepting Central Banking and income taxation. I would also like to recommend our article "Disinformation Tactics: The Methods Used To Keep You In The Dark":
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=251
This article outlines the many psychological games inherent in arguments like those used by the Fed and the IRS.
You can see these arguments presented in endless circular logic on websites like those linked here:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/tax/basics/6195.asp
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/friv_tax.pdf
http://public.findlaw.com/taxes/tax-basics/tax-myths.html
1) Tax Protesters Are "Crazy," And Their Arguments are "Frivolous"
The only thing frivolous here is this talking point. Calling someone "crazy" is not a rational argument, it is only juvenile ridicule designed to inspire biases in other people so that they will not listen to Tax Activist arguments objectively. Ridicule is a tactic often encouraged by Saul Alinsky, a socialist and moral relativist who believed that winning an argument had nothing to do with the truth, but denigrating the opposition until they surrendered out of frustration.
2) Tax Protesters Are A "Fringe Movement"
Another empty debate tactic. If one examines the growth of the Liberty Movement over the past few years alone, they would find millions of people who are aware and naturally averse to the Federal Reserve and the IRS. The fact that Ron Paul, a presidential candidate who has stated consistently that he wants to shut down the Federal Reserve and the IRS, won the latest CPAC straw poll by a substantial margin shows that the Anti-Income Tax Movement is in no way "fringe":
However, even if the movement was "fringe," that alone would not make their arguments any less valid. Most if not all movements based on a concrete truth usually begin small and out of the mainstream. If we ignored every argument that came from a fringe group, we would still believe the Sun revolves around the Earth.
3) Tax Protesters Are Dangerous
This argument has been more prevalent because of the Joe Stack plane crash, but its undercurrent has always been around. It runs along the same lines as the "crazy" debate point. It is designed to frighten people enough to ignore Tax Activist Arguments, or even to make people see activists as a threat to their safety. The overall Liberty Movement (the movement which comprises Tax Activists, Fed Activists, Anti-globalists, etc.) is a leaderless movement. People act spontaneously in its name without direction because they believe deeply in its cause. Such a concept has many advantages, especially in that its leadership is not vulnerable to subversion, because leadership is unnecessary for the movement to continue. But, this does make it easy to attack in that any member of the movement who takes a decidedly violent action can be used by the government as a false symbol in place of leadership. After reading through Joe Stack's "manifesto," it appears to me that he was not a member of the Liberty Movement, only a man who happened to hate the IRS (at least, that's the way it seems). But this does not stop the MSM from trying to link him to the Anti-Tax Movement and the Liberty Movement as a whole, as if we are all ready to "snap" and fly our prop-planes into buildings.
4) Tax Protesters Just Want To Get Out Of Paying What They Owe, Which Is "Un-American"
The terms "tax evader," "tax cheat," and "tax dodger" were created to instill the sense that Tax Activists are somehow criminals for even presenting the arguments they do. Most Tax Activists are keenly aware that they will likely not get out of paying taxes, at least not in the short term, so the "cheat" argument is mute. They fight the IRS because, as we have shown, the IRS and the Federal Reserve are built upon lies, and lies must be fought on principle in one way or another. Money has little to do with it. To me, nothing is more American than standing for what one believes in regardless of the opposition.
5) Paying Income Tax Is The Law
Actually, there is NO specific law that states that the IRS has the right to tax your income. When Joe Banister, an IRS Agent for many years, overheard the anti-income tax arguments on a radio show, he set out to produce the law which specifically states that he had to pay income tax. Banister found himself stumped. The agent thoroughly checked the IRS code, and could not find the law. When he approached his superiors and asked them if they could show him where the law was written, he was promptly fired. Remember, this man was a dedicated IRS Agent for years:
The question this presents is: If the IRS cannot produce the exact law which allows them to tax income, then why are they allowed to throw people in jail for not doing so?
A list of many other IRS whistleblowers can be seen here:
http://www.irs-armory.com/read/wistleblowers.htm
6) No Tax Activist Has Ever Beaten The IRS In Court
The IRS uses this argument on its own website, but it is entirely false. Attorney Tom Cryer, charged in Shreveport, Louisiana for tax evasion, beat the IRS on a jury vote of 12-0 on the grounds that they could not prove they had a right to tax his labor, nor could they prove there was a law that allowed them to do so:
Vernice Klugman, a FedEx pilot, beat the IRS in 2003 on grounds that the Income Tax was unlawful:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,94630,00.html
Tennessee farmer Lloyd Long beat the IRS in 1993 on the grounds that they could not prove he was required by law to pay a tax on his income:
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~becraft/LongLloyd1.htm
These are only a few examples. In many cases, when asked if the IRS could produce the exact law which allowed it to tax income on labor, they refused, or were unable to.
For more information of the IRS' unlawful enforcement of income tax, check out Aaron Russo's film "America: Freedom To Fascism"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173#
The IRS' only response to this argument so far is that though there is no specific law, the "entire tax code" acts as "one big law," which allows them to tax income. This is utter nonsense. If they can interpret the body of the tax code to mean that they are legally allowed to tax income, then what is to stop others from interpreting it differently? Without specifics, there is no law.
7) The 16th Amendment Allows Income Taxation
There are many arguments over whether or not the 16th Amendment was legally ratified, but let's assume for the moment that it was. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of S. Pacific v. Lowe in 1918:
"The provisions of the Sixteenth Amendment conferred no new power of taxation but simply prohibited the complete and plenary power of income taxation possessed by congress from the beginning from being taken out of the category of indirect taxation to which it inherently belonged."
And in the case of Peck v. Lowe, the Supreme Court contended that:
"The Sixteenth Amendment, although referred to in argument, has no real bearing and may be put out of view. As pointed out in recent decisions, (Brushaber), it does not extend the taxing power to new or excepted subjects, but merely removes all occasion, which otherwise might exist, for an apportionment among the states of taxes laid on income, whether it be derived from one source or another."
What this means is, even if the 16th Amendment was properly ratified, the Supreme Court ruled afterwards that it allowed no new taxes beyond what was provisioned by the Constitution. Indeed, the income tax was still illegal despite the amendment. The Federal Reserve and the IRS have apparently ignored this ruling with the blessing of certain sections of government.
8) Without The Income Tax, We Would Have No Government Services
As we have shown, this is false. Not one penny of your income tax goes towards public services. The existence of the income tax is wholly unnecessary.
9) The Federal Reserve Is Subject To Government Oversight And Audit
Again, we have shown this to be false. I would also point out that if the Fed was actually subject to a FULL audit, then why are they fighting Ron Paul's Fed Audit Bill, HR 1207? Obviously, they have not been subject to a full audit before, otherwise they would not be so hostile towards this bill. The question here is: Do the American people have the right to know who is controlling their economy and what specific financial actions those people have taken in doing so? I believe the answer is a resounding "yes".
10) The Federal Reserve Is Necessary For A Healthy Economy
Anyone who truly believes this after the past two years is living in fantasy land. The U.S. operated for an extensive period without the existence of a permanent Central Bank, and the Treasury is perfectly capable of doing the job of currency creation without the help of private bankers, while at the same time being subject to the democratic process. For more information on why the Fed is dead weight hanging from the neck of American society, see our article "Auditing The Federal Reserve: What Are The Banksters So Afraid Of...?"
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=201
Tax Protesting: An Admirable Tradition
Most of us are ready to admit that taxation to a certain degree is required for a country to run smoothly. Taxation is not what we oppose. What we do oppose, though, is the abuse of taxation to invade privacy and dominate culture. Authoritarian governments throughout history have used forced tribute to shackle the common man to a certain state of mind. The psychological effects of overt taxation are very pronounced. It insinuates a sense of fealty, and of submission, usually without an explanation of necessity. The tax, like death, just is. But taxes are not a force of nature, they are a creation of men, and they can be changed or destroyed by men. The income tax is no exception.
It has been driven into the collective American mind, the notion that the IRS, the Federal Reserve, and the income tax, are undeniable and eternal. Many people believe that they are right simply because they ‘are,' like law itself. But like any law, they are subject to higher moral fortitude. Justice lords over law, and if a law is found to be unjust, it must be undone. We believe the evidence shows that establishments like the IRS, and the Federal Reserve, represent unjust and faulty law. It is no more insane to question these establishments than it is to question the establishments of monarchy, or slavery, and the American people have every right to remove these establishments from their culture to produce greater balance in society.
This country began on the actions and beliefs of Tax Protesters. Men who were willing to stand against the mechanisms of their own government, and start anew with ideals designed to prevent unjust law from looming over humanity once again. To rediscover these ideals and to embody them is our greatest hope of overcoming the many dangers, economic and political, that we face today. With determination and strength of will, we can turn the tide back. Decades of lies scattered to the winds, in the span of a single generation.
Putting ETF's To Work
Ray Long
Copyright © 2010 Ray Long Email