The MSM is stepping up the PORE campaign

The MSM’s PORE campaign has been in high gear for the first week of this new year and that promises that the very real surprise of the “Great Deception of 2012” will produce the desired effects of herding the “Sheeple” into precisely the wrong investments later this year and early in 2013.

The first article is another of the essentially fundamental ‘pulp pieces’ of the PORE that is crafted to alert the misguidedly gloomy “Sheeple” via the GRT that the US economy is really MUCH, MUCH better than they stupidly think!  This pre-conditioning process will be intensified as the early months of 2012 progress.   (See bottom of www.polestarcomm.com Home page to find meanings of our Polestar’ acronyms, e.g. GRT, PORE, etc.)

The second article is really quite ingeniously crafted to pour gasoline on the fire of the “Sheeple’s” despair regarding the supposed intractability of the Euro-Crisis.  This one is actually quite inflammatory in that it uses raw ‘scare tactics’ that are enhanced with volatile visuals that this Blog site would not upload.

But it is to be expected as the “Sheeple” are to be conditioned from now until the “Surprise that is NO Surprise” is unveiled in 5 or 6 months, i.e.  for the gritty details, of the coming “Surprise” in late 2012 and early 2013, see our Blogs of 11/18, 21, 28, 12/9 & 1/4/12,

Now, we do find it necessary to interject one corrective point about the form of government of the United States of America and one corrective point about the events that led to the Civil War and one especially revelatory fact that quite immeasurably contributed to the success of the North in our Civil War.  The first point should clearly be known to the author and the second could have been known if he were a really great researcher.  While the third has been hidden - for nefarious reasons - from nearly ALL Americans!

Below, I present these three facts that, I dare say, VERY few of today’s “Sheeple”  do know:

#1 The United States of America was NEVER a Democracy - ever! It was and is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic, which is a HUGE difference.  And this ridiculous position was posited by an academic in one of the most prestigious Universities of this OGCC?

#2 IMO - the conditions that led to the United States Civil War were not those noted in this article, nor in the book that it reviews.  In fact, the events that led to that tragic war were very carefully orchestrated by a certain “Evil Clique” whose presence was not known to the “Sheeple” of that day.  BUT, their influence and utterly evilly engineered machinations which led to that tragic war were known to President Abraham Lincoln - at whose hands he was murdered!   

#3 The very difficult position of the UNION in 1861-63 was actually in a much more precarious one with much greater jeopardy due to the threat of Great Britain to enter the war on the side of the South and use their Navy to break the ‘Northern Blockade’ of the South!

The cause of the Northern States was saved by none other than Tsar Alexander II of Russia, whose special actions forestalled any interdiction into the War by Great Britain and saved the Union.  For, had the ‘Northern Blockade’ been broken by Great Britain, the outcome of that tragic war would have been totally different.  

Here follows the VERY words of, Thurlow Weed, the ‘Special Envoy’ of President Lincoln to London about those days, and following that I present a letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, obviously prompted by the  Tsar of Russia, regarding these matters in 1861:

“…It will be remembered that early in the Rebellion a Russian fleet lay for several months in our harbor, and that other Russian men-of-war were stationed at San Francisco. Admiral Farragut lived at the Astor House, where he was frequently visited by the Russian Admiral, between whom, when they were young officers serving in the Mediterranean, a warm friendship had grown up. Sitting in my room one day after dinner, Admiral Farragut said to his Russian friend, Why are you spending the winter here in idleness?' ' I am here,' replied the Russian Admiral, ' under sealed orders, to be broken only in a contingency that has not yet occurred.' He added that other Russian war vessels were lying off San Francisco with similar orders. During this conversation the Russian Admiral admitted that he had received orders to break the seals, if during the Rebellion we became involved in a war with foreign nations. Strict confidence was then enjoined.
When in Washington a few days later, Secretary Seward informed me that he had asked the Russian Minister why his government kept their ships of war so long in our harbors, who, while in answering he disclaimed any knowledge of the nature of their visit, felt at liberty to say that it had no unfriendly purpose.
Louis Napoleon had invited Russia, as he did England, to unite with him in demanding the breaking of our blockade. The Russian Ambassador at London informed his government that England was preparing for war with America, on account of the seizure of Mason and Slidell. Hence two fleets were immediately sent across the Atlantic under sealed orders, so that if their services were not needed, the intentions of the Emperor would remain, as they have to this day, secret. It is certain, however, that when our government and Union were imperiled by a formidable rebellion, we should have found a powerful ally in Russia, had an emergency occurred.
The latter revelation is corroborated by a well-known New York gentleman, who was in St. Petersburg when the Rebellion began, and who, during an unofficial call upon Prince Gortschakoff, was shown by the Chancellor an order written in Alexander's own hand, directing his Admiral to report to President Lincoln for orders, in case England or France sided with the Confederates. (Memoir of Thurlow Weed, vol. II, pp. 346-347).

DISPATCH FROM PRINCE GORTCHAKOFF, VICE-CHANCELLOR AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE EMPIRE OF RUSSIA, TO MR. DE STOECKL, RUSSIAN MINISTER AT WASHINGTON.

ST. PETERSBURG, July 10, 1861.

SIR: From the beginning of the conflict which divides the United States of America you have been desired to make known to the Federal Government the deep interest with which our august master was observing the development of a crisis which puts in question the prosperity and even the existence of the Union.
The Emperor profoundly regrets to see that the hope of a peaceful solution is not realized, and that American citizens, already in arms against each other, are ready to let loose upon their country the most formidable of the scourges of political society—civil war.
For the more than eighty years that it has existed the American Union owes its independence, its towering rise, and its progress, to the concord of its members, consecrated, under the auspices of its illustrious founder, by institutions which have been able to reconcile union with liberty. This union has been fruitful. It has exhibited to the world the spectacle of a prosperity without example in the annals of history.
It would be deplorable that, after so conclusive an experience, the United States should be hurried into a breach of the solemn compact which up to this time has made their power.
In spite of the diversity of their constitutions and of their interests, and perhaps even because of this diversity, Providence seems to urge them to draw closer the traditional bond which is the basis and the very condition of their political existence. In any event, the sacrifices, which they might impose upon themselves to maintain it, are beyond comparison with those which dissolution would bring after it. United, they perfect themselves; isolated, they are paralyzed.
…It is in this sense, sir, that I desire you to express yourself, as well to the members of the General Government as to influential persons whom you may meet, giving them the assurance that in every event the American nation may count upon the most cordial sympathy on the part of our august master, during the important crisis which it is passing through at present.
Receive, sir, the expression of my very distinguished consideration.

(Signed)

GORTCHAKOFF.

Mr. DE STOECKL, etc., etc., etc.

IMO - this Nations’ debt to the Tsar and to the Government of Tsarist Russia has been hidden from the American “Sheeple“ and is much hidden today.
 

So much for today’s history lesson, now on to the MSM PORE of the day!

Early Economic Data Belie Gloomy Investors

Bloomberg; By Shobhana Chandra and Rich Miller - Jan 7, 2012 12:01 AM ET

“….Obama's Council of Economic Advisors and a Bloomberg contributing editor, talks about today's December U.S. jobs report. Romer, speaking with Lisa Murphy on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart," also talks about the U.S. budget deficit and European debt crisis. (Source: Bloomberg)

The U.S. economy is beginning 2012 on a brighter note in a sign investors may be too pessimistic.

Payrolls rose 200,000 in December, (See yesterday’s Blog about this JOKE!) double the gain in November, a Labor Department report showed yesterday. A weekly measure of consumer confidence ended 2011 at a five-month high. And manufacturers reported their business in December grew at the fastest pace in six months… said John Herrmann, senior fixed-income strategist at State Street Global Markets in Boston, and the second most-accurate U.S. economic forecaster based on data from the last two years compiled by Bloomberg. “Yet we’re finding the economy continues to hold together fairly resiliently. We’re getting a good handoff from the fourth quarter.”

… “We don’t need Europe to solve all its problems in 2012,” he said in a Jan. 5 note to clients. “Since there is already such a significant ‘crisis premium’ baked into the markets, just avoiding disaster could be enough.”

…The December payrolls report capped four months of declines in the unemployment rate and six consecutive months of jobs gains of at least 100,000, indicating the labor market is gaining momentum heading into a presidential election campaign season that will be shaped largely by the state of the economy.

“We’re starting to rebound,” President Barack Obama said yesterday at the offices of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington. …”

 

Lessons for Europe From America’s First Great Depression: Echoes

Financial panic led to `shocks of anarchy' in U.S. cities. Credit: Library of Congress

Bloomberg; By Alasdair Roberts Jan 4, 2012 10:30 AM ET 9 Comments

The European Union is in trouble. (VERY neat juxtaposition, with the image of rebellion and chaos included for the ‘Psy-Ops’ affect on the “Sheeple” – IMO) Some governments are teetering on default, and even German creditworthiness is questioned. Interbank lending in the euro area is increasingly strained. The entire project of European economic integration, wrought through six decades of delicate negotiation, seems at risk of collapse…..

But Americans with a sense of history should be wary of the temptation to lecture. One hundred and seventy years ago, the U.S. was a new and fragile federation, struggling with a similar crisis. …In the 1830s, European investors poured vast amounts of money into the expansion of U.S. cotton plantations, frontier banks, canals and railroads. This fueled a speculative boom, which the U.S. government encouraged through reckless monetary and banking policies. Many state governments served as intermediaries for foreign lenders, borrowing in Europe and investing directly in banks and public works.

… State governments began to default on their obligations to foreign lenders. The first were Michigan and Indiana, which defaulted in July 1841, followedMaryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. Three southern states -- Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida -- simply repudiated their debts.

Europe was outraged. The British poet laureate, William Wordsworth, whose family had sunk its retirement savings into Pennsylvania bonds, wrote a poem condemning "degenerate" Americans. The British writer Sydney Smith, another disgruntled investor, said that Americans were "guilty of a fraud as enormous as ever disgraced the worst king of Europe." In London, Americans were assailed at dinner parties and turned away at the doors of fashionable clubs.

London's Barings Bank, which had a long history of engagement in American finance, gave up trying to sell bonds from any U.S. state -- including those that hadn't defaulted. Even the federal government, which had an impeccable credit record, couldn't sell its bonds in Europe.

"Let us get rid of that blasted country," the London banker Anthony de Rothschild wrote. "It is the most blasted & the most stinking country in the world."

The Panic of 1837 had plunged the U.S. into one of the worst depressions in its history. Development in the West largely ceased. So did westward migration, the safety valve that had helped maintain peace in major U.S. cities. Riots between unemployed Americans and newly arrived immigrants broke out in cities in the Northeast. "The times are out of joint," wrote former New York Mayor Philip Hone. "Riot and violence stalk unchecked through the streets."

…. Europeans wondered whether the U.S. would survive the crisis. In 1842, the Times of London questioned whether "the democracy of America will endure." A British diplomat in Washington reported that the country had become "a mass of ungovernable & unmanageable anarchy." An agent of British bondholders negotiating with the Illinois government complained that state legislators were stooping to "every species of intrigue, falsehood, and baseness."

….Eventually, though, the country worked through its troubles. And in the process Americans reappraised their ideas about liberty and popular sovereignty. Many states reformed their constitutions by introducing restrictions on state borrowing. These were "shackles upon the power of the legislature," a Kentucky politician conceded. …. At the same time, major cities of the Northeast established professional police forces to maintain domestic order. The hope that "manly self-discipline" would be enough to keep the peace in times of economic trouble was abandoned. A new police force, said Boston councilman Peleg Whitman Chandler, would help the city to "resist the shocks of anarchy."

…There are parallels to Europe's predicament today. Like the U.S. in 1840, the European Union is a relatively young and diverse federation, still in the early stages of building a common understanding about how its institutions should work. It is wrestling against settled ideas about popular sovereignty as well as the relentless forces of the market. Its adaptation will be slow and difficult. And European leaders must do what America's did 170 years ago: Ignore the taunts from overseas, and bear down on the difficult task of holding their union together.

(Alasdair Roberts is the Jerome L. Rappaport Professor of Law and Public Policy at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. His book "America's First Great Depression: Economic Crisis and Political Disorder after the Panic of 1837" will be published by Cornell University Press in April. The opinions expressed are his own.)…    ‘