Dr. Russell McDougal

We are in full-blown election season and the daily news reflects it.  I profess to be mostly apolitical, especially this year.  Why?  A bad case of electile dysfunction has come my way.  It’s difficult to get excited enough to vote for any of the candidates.

The head of my household has also made a solemn vow to never again vote for either a Republican or a Democrat.  It doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference in the long run, excepting a few special interest topics.

A true “conservative” could get me interested, much like Ron Paul.  But the country is solidly entrenched in other directions.  It is also most amusing to watch the parade of promises every four years that are next to meaningless in the long run.  It’s the Demopublican way.

Would you rather have someone you think you can trust betray you or keep a close eye on someone you know full well you can’t trust?  Definitely a mixed bag.

Most of you know my major theme for 2008 is bailouts (see my muti-part series entitled “Oh Say Can You Still See?”, in particular Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, and Part 12).  In the interest of fairness, we should take a close look at the major Republicrat bailout records.  Both are impeccable.

John McCain is from my home state of Arizona but that only holds so much sway.  He was one of the “Keating Five” senators implicated in accepting favors and coming to the aid of the troubled Lincoln Savings and Loan association.  The Senate Investigative Committee found McCain to have used “poor judgement,” but not to have violated any U.S. laws. 

From the National Review:

McCain was the only Republican implicated in the Keating Five scandal, yet today he lectures his party and his president about “he corrupting influence” of money in politics.  He rails against the so-called “wealthy special interests” and their ability to buy access to elected officials, yet this is precisely what the Keating Five scandal was all about.  And, of course, under McCain's current standard, a politician who takes a principled position that may benefit a donor is corrupt, even if no law has been violated.

Lincoln S&L eventually went bust and had to be bailed out by taxpayers.  Suffice it to say that McCain is a friend of modern banking, crooked or not.

Now, let’s look at the other side of the aisle.  Senator Clinton is a leading Democratic candidate as I type. We’ll see how this works out.  I’m not going to spend much time documenting her affinity for bailouts and banking because I don’t like to waste time stating the obvious.  Check out this link if you haven’t been paying attention for the last decade.

How about some of the remaining wannabes?  Surely they must stand for truth, justice, and the American way.  Most every one has elitist connections. They are all pretty much compromised, to the person.

For those of you not fully up to speed on “conspiracy theory” issues, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is believed to be the major force behind the scenes of American politics.  I have no way of personally knowing exactly which candidates are CFR, but my overall cynicism has served me well over the decades.  These guys pull the strings of whoever eventually resides on Pennsylvania Avenue.  Watch them for decades and you’ll likely come to agree.

James Perloff’s 1998 Shadow of Power, America’s Hidden Oligarchy, is the finest treatise available on this subject.  You will also want to read and consider the following links on this topic … if you dare.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/124

http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/shadow/cfrintro.htm

What’s the bottom line of this article?  You couldn’t pick a better era in which to be a distressed banker.  And it’s a tough time to be an uninformed citizen.

Invest Resourcefully,

Rusty

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