National Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown Results in Charges Against 345 Defendants Responsible for More than $6 Billion in Alleged Fraud Losses
Largest Health Care Fraud and Opioid Enforcement Action in Department of Justice History

Telemedicine Fraud Cases
The largest amount of alleged fraud loss charged in connection with the cases announced today – $4.5 billion in allegedly false and fraudulent claims submitted by more than 86 criminal defendants in 19 judicial districts – relates to schemes involving telemedicine: the use of telecommunications technology to provide health care services remotely. According to court documents, certain defendant telemedicine executives allegedly paid doctors and nurse practitioners to order unnecessary durable medical equipment, genetic and other diagnostic testing, and pain medications, either without any patient interaction or with only a brief telephonic conversation with patients they had never met or seen. Durable medical equipment companies, genetic testing laboratories, and pharmacies then purchased those orders in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes and submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and other government insurers. In addition to the criminal charges announced today, CMS Center for Program Integrity separately announced that it has taken a record-breaking number of administrative actions related to telemedicine fraud, revoking the Medicare billing privileges of 256 additional medical professionals for their involvement in telemedicine schemes.

Now it seems all the more important to be watchful of industries we are supposed to trust with a response to pandemic.

Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 1 2020 14:47 utc | 4

Interesting article by F William Engdahl
https://m.journal-neo.org/2020/09/28/gates-vaccine-spreads-polio-across-africa/

Posted by: Down South | Oct 1 2020 14:58 utc | 6

Two dogs growling at each other, guy walks up and throws a handful of dead meat between them.
Trump V. Biden

Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 1 2020 15:28 utc | 8

Today, the Milestones of German-Soviet Relations discussion forum commences in Moscow, to which Sergei Lavrov provided the following greeting reminding all about the genuine nature of their endeavor:
“I am delighted to welcome the Russian and German academic community representatives who have gathered in Moscow for this expert discussion marking the 30th anniversary of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.
“It can be confidently stated today that the Two Plus Four Treaty made a significant contribution to ending the Cold War and demonstrated that Europe is not destined to remain the ground for bloc divisions. It is only natural that in 2011, the treaty was officially included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.”
Now be honest and tell us if you recall any of the happenings Lavrov related. As he continues, he reminds us and brings us to the present:
“Thirty years later, it should be recalled that it was our country that played the key and pivotal role in restoring Germany’s unity as expediently as was possible – something that certain allies of the Federal Republic of Germany were opposed to….
“Throughout all these years, our country has done its very best to secure positive trends and to create an area of peace, equal and indivisible security, extensive economic and humanitarian cooperation across the space from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Numerous Russian initiatives were aimed at achieving this goal, including the proposal on signing a European Security Treaty in 2008.
“Unfortunately, as a result of a short-sighted policy of NATO-centrism and geopolitical games in pursuit of unilateral advantages, Europe is currently going through a serious crisis of trust, while the large-scale and multidimensional potential of the Russian-German cooperation remains unfulfilled.
“Moreover, Berlin is currently setting a course for containing Russia. We hear groundless accusations, ultimatums and threats. Some German politicians have clearly forgotten about the historical purpose of our countries in European and global affairs. The tension can be overcome for the sake of Russia’s and Germany’s core interests, for the sake of building the foundation for cross-border communications aimed at cooperation and jointly confronting real challenges faced by the humankind. There are still chances to preserve these prospects. A lot will depend on the maturity of civil society representatives and their ability to carefully and honestly defend the truth and to pass their knowledge and experience to younger generations.”
That’s quite a rebuke for a welcoming address isn’t it? If I were a German attending, I’d feel rather uncomfortable, particularly if I was optimistic at the outset.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 16:12 utc | 10

@ karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 16:12 utc | 10 with the quote
”
A lot will depend on the maturity of civil society representatives and their ability to carefully and honestly defend the truth and to pass their knowledge and experience to younger generations.
”
I think that the youth of the world are getting the best education possible about the differences in social organization around the world. They can see who the aggressors are. They can see that those aggressors don’t just think themselves better than others but they don’t want to share or play nice and only rule the roost. These aggressors of private financial evil in the world should have never been allowed to matriculate from grade school without learning how and to share.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 1 2020 16:28 utc | 12

vk | Oct 1 2020 16:18 utc | 11
Yes! :^)
I think the middlemen should stay the F out of it. Let them go head-on like a geriatric cage fight. It’s entertainment.

Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 1 2020 16:36 utc | 14

vk@3 seems to think the Xi government providing “countercyclical adjustment efforts to keep market liquidity at a reasonably ample level in order to keep economic growth stable, including providing relending funds and credit support” means something socialist. It means instead, setting up a bailout fund of its own, not just the Fed, to provide liquidity for Chinese capitalists. They are ruling out any increase in state planning of investments, any expropriation even of bankrupt capitalists and financiers, any reliance on state owned enterprises to meet social needs instead of merely following the profits. It is almost certain ever increasing divestment of state enterprises is at hand. This announcement basically says the Xi administration thinks capitalism is the future of China so long as the capitalists get enough money from the national government. This belief in the magic of the market would be touching, were it not so profitable for some. Coupled with the decision to recruit (en masses, apparently,) from business, the inevitable weakness in growth by the capitalist sector indissolubly tied to the sinking world capitalist system, means the crisis point, where the national government must defend capitalist property by savagely attacking the living standards of the majority of the population, creeps nearer and nearer. Xi is hitching his wagon to a falling star. The sane course would be to let the Chinese bourgeoisie, not just in China itself, but in Hong Kong and Taiwan and Singapore, go bankrupt. Schemes to fix the irrational capitalist system by being smarter are delusional.
Trump is the one who is discrediting the election by shrieking fraud, not the Democrats. So the question is either ham-fisted irony? Or a raving mad endosement of Trumpery.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 1 2020 16:55 utc | 16

Nord Stream 2 gets final ok to finish project, while Navalny works with CIA and is no more than a pawn, which most here and within Russia already knew.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 17:27 utc | 18

Trump did more for the Biden campaign in the first debate than Biden has done in more than a year of campaigning for himself. Trump is losing in the polls – yeah, yeah can’t be trusted got it – and this is against Biden who is to politics what pabulum is to toothless babies. 2020 is not 2016. Trump’s rejection of his first campaign’s focus on trade and immigration with a pivot toward a hilarious caricature of the Red Scare candidate while groveling to the lowest common bigoted denominator, mixed with a denial of massive unemployment, a coming eviction crisis, and mile-long bread lines has his base watch its wet-dream of eternal white male privilege go up in the radioactive hot air of a deranged narcissist without a shred of moral conscience or ounce of humanity.
While the Democrats offer absolutely zero, zilch, nothing by way of policies to make people’s lives better – the novelty of Trump is gone, and his ‘act’ seen as but a tiresome one trick pony. Chaos is highly overrated.

Posted by: gottlieb | Oct 1 2020 17:28 utc | 20

oops. sorry.

Posted by: gottlieb | Oct 1 2020 17:29 utc | 22

Curmudgeon @Oct1 17:42 #23

Thus we become curmudgeons.

No. We become curmudgeons when we abandon principles based on a moral and ethical grounding.
We do not become curmudgeons because we refuse to participate in a corrupt system. We become curmudgeons when we accept such a system, seek to harness the corruption for our own benefit, and urge others to join us.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 1 2020 17:55 utc | 24

Jackrabbit | Oct 1 2020 17:55 utc | 24
Ok, I’ll drink to that. But don’t forget to provide incentive.

Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 1 2020 17:57 utc | 26

It looks like that we will have our great vaccine mandate debate throwdown sooner than later in the west, as many have predicted.
Not only in the U.S. but in Europe there will be a great backlash against our governments mandating a vaccine for all.
This will shine the spotlight on the whole vaccine debate, which will be excellent for awareness and, imo, will doom the vaccine mandate for all countries who still have their heart intact and err towards liberty.
As I have noted before, Big Pharma along with Big Gov will severely overplay their hand, underestimating the fight in the dog they are attempting to subdue with their antiscience and fearmongering mandates.
I can’t help but think that anything that propels the debate forward into the realm of permanent public discourse is a good thing.
If you can not convince people to even wear a mask for covid, imagine trying to convince them about taking a vaccine! And yet these are the omnipotent overlords of the establishment who never misstep and know everything that is to be and will be down the road.
“All hail the great and powerful establishment!”

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Oct 1 2020 18:31 utc | 28

one again Denmark shows what little cunts they are, waiting all summer to finally give their OK for NSII to continue. They did the same thing last year too. Fukken cunts. And the Russians are dishonest too, they never said WHY NSII wasn’t being worked on(or at least I couldn’t find that info)
If Russia now claims Navalni is CIA agent, then they should strip him of Russian citizenship and forbid him from going back into Russia. There is a Bulgarian proverb: Why put a porcupine into your underwear? The Russains try to play nice, I guess they aren’t aware of the US saying: Nice guys finish last. be as nasty and as asshole the West/NATO/USA is. You wont win being nice.

Posted by: Hoyeru | Oct 1 2020 18:53 utc | 30

Herein follows what I wrote in response (with some additions) to a report on the latest inane Russophobic claptrap re – who else – Navalny:
“Here we go again – more “Novichok” poisonings that do not kill the target – NOR affect anyone in direct contact with either the target or nearby. Never mind that “Novichok” is supposed to be one of, if not THE, deadliest of nerve agents…Remarkable, ain’t it.
What is not remarkable is that we, the hoi polloi, are supposed to accept the western fabrications as Fact.
The CIA-MI6-Nato are all together on this for two reasons, no, perhaps three:
1. End NS2 to open the European market to US LNG;
2. To reduce Russia, once again to the state the country was in post 1989 and under Yeltsin in order to allow the western Mammon worshipers to suck everything out of Russia into western pockets(that Navalny is willing and eager to assist in this demonstrates his absolute lack of concern for his compatriots);
3. To prevent Eurasian comity: Mackinder’s fundamental fear and followed by the corporate-capitalist-imperialist west ever since. Prevent the largest continent on the planet from creating an economic and social/political comity which would, inevitably, be completely able to ignore the Anglo-American imperial dominance…
It is this latter factor that I believe to be the fundament of everything that is and has been going on since (and likely from before) the Skripal charade.
Navalny is a puppet – willing, clearly – in this whole western set up. He is simply: a truly despicable piece of work.

Posted by: AnneR | Oct 1 2020 19:07 utc | 32

Hoyeru @ 30 – Porcupines, huh? Didn’t know they existed in Bulgaria (or in Europe, for that matter, Hedgehogs – yep).
In my country of origin – used to be a sorta game (among males) in the local (pub): How long could you manage with a Ferret down inside yer pants (and underwear…)???? This really went on.
Just for a chuckle – much much needed nowadays.

Posted by: AnneR | Oct 1 2020 19:11 utc | 34

@nathan 9
that is a ‘must view’. I watched it last night. Barflies will drink it up. Crooke used a quote from Yeats to describe the societal and economic collapse happening now in the usa: “anarchy above, anarchy below, the center will not hold!” Deep insights into US, British, Iranian, Chinese thoughts, plans, etc. They also detailed and opined on other “stan” nations, Israel, Latin America, Europe. Bottom line for us in the usa… we’re goin’ down.

Posted by: migueljose | Oct 1 2020 19:16 utc | 36

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a newspaper article summed up the results of the five-year presence of Russian troops in Syria (September 30, 2015 – September 30, 2020).
Btw, am I right that there are no more free materials on Elijah Magnier’s website and to read his articles in full you need to subscribe for ~10€/month?
Damn.

Posted by: alaff | Oct 1 2020 19:26 utc | 38

chet380 | Oct 1 2020 19:22 utc | 37
Firetrucks. And to make it more interesting, load them up with polyurethane foam which sticks to everything.

Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 1 2020 19:37 utc | 40

[Forgot to put this in my first comment.]
“Looks like one Shock Doctrine wasn’t enough: Russia must have a second one in order to know its place”:
Coronavirus pandemic’s hit to Russia’s economy should prompt structural reform
The pandemic didn’t hit Russia as hard as the other Western Democracies (as the author himself admits);
Putinist Russia was the responsible for pulling the country out of its imminent collapse in 2001;
And the author wants another shock doctrine? Is he insane?
Oh wait: he’s not insane. He actively wants to destroy Russia. A further research on the guy states that, albeit he is Russian by birth, he currently works in Toronto (Toronto University). He contributes to, among others, The Hill and the Carnegie Center. He’s a liberal propagandist.

Posted by: vk | Oct 1 2020 19:41 utc | 42

Jackrabbit wrote “You’re twisting Trump’s bad behavior into a smear of Wallace.” Hell yes, Wallace was biased. I’ll give you just one example. He asked Trump to repudiate Proud Boys but he didn’t ask Biden to repudiate Antifa. I don’t know about you, but I hadn’t heard of Proud Boys until a few days ago while Antifa has burned the country over the past 6 months. If that is not bias, I don’t know what it is.

Posted by: BG | Oct 1 2020 19:58 utc | 44

Navalny has been called out as working for the agenCIA, strong words coming from a presidential spokesperson, who also stated that any russian citizen can come and go as he or she wishes without being a hero for doing so, even though I would not be so sure if in Navalny’s shoes, he has openly accused of a crime a head of state, so he could be asked to corroborate his words before a judge.
Armenia recalls his ambassador in Israel, this in the middle of an open war, no need to comment on that.

Posted by: Paco | Oct 1 2020 20:35 utc | 46

RussiaGate was Killary’s plot = imho an open secret. The precise role played by Obama is obscure.
james on RussiaGate, previous thread:
How much of this is coming out now due the election and how much of it is coming out now, just because it happens to be coming out now?
Imho a lot is coming out now because of the slow sweep of history, these things take time… However what is certain is that Trump (probably knows everything that went down) and his backers prefer to delay explosive *hmm?* revelations to very close to the election.
The similarities with 2016 grow by the day. The Dems with a ‘sick’ candidate (remember Killary collapsing at a 9/11 memorial do) and mired in a scandal… Killary e-mails and private server, and the DNC e-mails. At present, the unravelling of RussiaGate.
Russia was picked as outside de facto guilty ‘enemy’ (traditional foe far away who won’t retaliate..) and Trump of course was the internal one. The Dem PTB could not admit that Wikileaks was ‘fed’ by someone close to / within the top Dem circle, so the leak(s) became hacks carried out by Russia. Trump won, he must have had secret support. From – Russia (one can’t invent 2 separate enemies.)
S. Rich was murdered, in July, and *imho* (see also William Gruff previous thread), this was a rather desperate and clumsy play, implemented because urgent. It was endlessly described as a ‘botched’ robbery (no phone, money, etc. taken – which makes absolutely no sense, in view of all the known facts of what went down on that crossing) but imho the assailants (2 men most likely ‘regular’ – not streeet ppl or such — and no strangers to violence) robbed Seth successfully, of another thumb drive or such, and possibly didn’t intend to kill him as first aim, because they didn’t. Or maybe they were supposed to kill him but botched it, and then somehow it had to be accomplished in the hospital. (What was Brazile doing there if that is a true?) Or maybe Seth walked. I don’t know.
All this also ties into the campaign against Assange, and the present mock-trial in England contesting Julian’s extradition to the USA (JA is the plaintiff.) Assange has of course been loathed by the US PTB ostensibly since 2010 (fitted up sex charge in Sweden), well before the Clinton e-mails.
Trump the campaigner literally said I love Wikileaks – naturally, they made life difficult for the Dems. There was in some quarters hope that Trump would pardon Assange, putting an end to that circus. From info coming out re. the trial, it appears now that Sheldon Adelson (a major Trump backer) is rabidly against Assange, and, I thus interpret, is preventing Trump from moving in that direction.
Craig Murray coverage Assange trial, for ex:
Twenty minutes sufficed for the reading of the “gist” of the astonishing testimony of two witnesses, their identity protected as their lives may be in danger, who stated that the CIA, operating through Sheldon Adelson, planned to kidnap or poison Assange, bugged not only him but his lawyers, and burgled the offices of his Spanish lawyers Baltazar Garzon. This evidence went unchallenged and untested.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/10/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-assange-hearing-day-21/
A summary of actors in Seth Rich story in the USA.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/09/seth_rich_the_murder_washington_doesnt_want_solved.html

Posted by: Noirette | Oct 1 2020 20:39 utc | 48

Christmas will be interesting, would think that there needs to be some sort of event or something extra hyped to buggery in order to keep the OneState dream alive…
But then I wouldn’t have thought this weird sort of slow down where pretty much everything is ticking along like normal would have lasted so long already. It hurts my brain (and heart) that governments can say ‘you will not gather in groups’ without triggering any real resistance.

Posted by: Rae | Oct 1 2020 21:12 utc | 50

If, as many believe, the question of Palestine is the great moral and political issue of the era it is not surprising that the outstanding journalist of the age is a commentator living in Nazareth and writing regularly about Palestine.
In this article Jonathan Cook deals with the idiotic notion that the Covid pandemic is a hoax fabricated by governments.
https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/10/doubt-is-a-treacherous-path-we-must-avoid-being-diverted-towards-terminal-cynicism/#more-109506
This piece in Covert Action magazine deals with the obvious links between the “Hoax” camp and the even further right, much of which also argued that the genocidal Nazi Concentration Camps were also a hoax.
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2020/10/01/qanon-and-the-recent-storm-on-the-reichstag-a-far-right-conspiracy-theory-gone-global/

Posted by: bevin | Oct 1 2020 21:42 utc | 52

The US Congressional Repubs “China Task Force” Report is out, dumping all over China of course in 82 key findings and more than 400 recommendations. The basic problem is that China took a leaf out of Iran’s book and hasn’t kowtowed to US masters while attaining, or nearly attaining, world predominance.
this from the report intro:

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) more than 40 years ago, the United States has sought to draw the PRC into the community of nations as a responsible stakeholder. U.S. leaders pursued a strategy of engagement based on the assumption that expanding the bilateral economic relationship with the PRC would advance the U.S. national interest and lead the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to change. This engagement strategy often turned a blind eye to the CCP’s human rights violations, economic malfeasance, expansionist aggression, and empty promises, as well as the CCP’s deep commitment to a hostile Communist ideology that drives this malign behavior. This strategy has, simply put, failed. . .here

and this from the web:
Zachary Haver tweet–
>The record is clear: for the first 20 years of the post-Cold War era, American leaders sold engagement as fostering a democratic and responsible China.[clarification: US lackey]
>American Leaders Sold a Dream of Changing China
>Advocates of engagement are now downplaying the missionary impulse. That’s not what U.S. presidents said at the time.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 1 2020 21:52 utc | 54

Navalny who?
US intelligence sources discussed poisoning Julian Assange, court told

Posted by: vk | Oct 1 2020 22:23 utc | 56

George @54–
As some of the astute economic watchers have said, the Fed has removed the Risk aspect relative to placing a bet, so reserves no longer matter since QE will never end lest the Ponzi Scheme finally collapse. That almost happened last year when the Fed eased its QE and the REPO market–the market for overnight interbank loans–went into crisis and the Fed was forced to pump 600 Billion into it as fast as it could. Again, it recently let-up and Wall Street immediately dived 5% the next day. As many observers note and Greenspan himself has confessed, he began the crisis back in 1987 by not allowing the fraudulent bankers then to fail and get jailed. The only reason we haven’t gone into Great Depression mode as in 1929-1941 is because today’s Fed is providing trillions whereas Hoover’s Fed didn’t do anything of consequence.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 22:42 utc | 58

karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 22:42 utc | 57
This is most of the time hard for me to understand so thank you for your input.

Posted by: George | Oct 1 2020 22:56 utc | 60

The American presidential election will hinge on the answers to the following:
1. Is the pandemic your main issue. Biden wins as unknown.
2. Is the AntiFa/BLM race riots your main issue. Trump wins.
3. Is the pandemic destroyed economy your main issue. I would write in Putin in this case.

Posted by: Erelis | Oct 1 2020 23:05 utc | 62

@ karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 22:26 utc | 56
I was very very careful with my use of words in #48. I am not responsible for other’s use of words or the recipient’s misinterpretation or misunderstanding of those words. I stand by my presentation.
Since the House of Representatives initiates all appropriations financing the U.S. government, Nancy Pelosi is the political fount of all U.S. purchases introducing currency into the economy. Banks use currency (in various forms) to make contracts for the use of their access to currency, those contracts create debt that must be serviced to settle the contract. The currency the government creates is retired through taxation, the accounting/bookkeeping function. The difference between the accumulated appropriations and the accumulated taxation is the currency available for the economy, now not only for the national economy but the world economy as well – privilege of the economic hegemon’s history that created the reserve currency. If Nancy Pelosi decides she wants ‘sound currency’, don’t plan on being id debt when she does. If Nancy Pelosi likes the cut of your jib, she will appropriate whatever she wants to buy your product or service, the banking is only a remove or so away. The economy is overloaded with contracts with no way anymore to efficiently relieve those making the contracts, bankruptcy has effectively been abrogated since it requires a lender to have done ‘due diligence’ in making the loan and massive banks have lost that ability to know their client and as a consequence have through regulatory capture disabled the process of bankruptcy. Currency flow is the basis of financial activity, most assets are already possessed and most economic markets are either monopolistically or monopsonistic controlled, only small personal wealth still is independent but disappearing quickly as the dynamics of the economy are strangled. YMMV

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Oct 1 2020 23:18 utc | 64

Debates are harmful for democracy? <= by: vk @ 3 Trump is the one who is discrediting the election by shrieking fraud, not the Democrats. So the question is either ham-fisted irony? Or a raving mad endosement of Trumpery.<=by: steven t johnson @ 16 yes, USA eligible voters are not entitled to vote to select from candidates for who is to be the POTUS or the VP. The Duo (POTUS and VP) are article II and amendment 12 persons; meaning the electoral college elects these two clowns. . Xi .. thinks capitalism is the future of China.. the inevitable weakness in growth by the capitalist sector indissolubly tied to the sinking world capitalist system, means the crisis point, where the national government must defend capitalist property by savagely attacking the living standards of the majority of the population, creeps nearer and nearer. Xi is hitching his wagon to a falling star. The sane course would be to let the Chinese bourgeoisie, not just in China itself, but in Hong Kong and Taiwan and Singapore, go bankrupt. Schemes to fix the irrational capitalist system by being smarter are delusional. by: steven t johnson@ 16 @james, Oct 1 19:07, 33 "The Public Bank Solution"? lecture by Richard A Werner "Banking Industry Exposed and Solutions" from 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MechH0ebs_c by: cirsium @ 50
Vk@3 said ,, China establishes .. socialism <=to buffer the fall. But Xi is not making the same mistake the USA made, its capital assets (are not made from the hot thin air by rule of law) , the chinese balance sheet is invested in the one road one whatever which is global. and self supporting. read the following to see what I mean. https://theduran.com/forgotten-battles-against-the-deep-state-part-i-john-diefenbakers-northern-vision-sabotaged-by-rhodes-scholars/

Posted by: snake | Oct 1 2020 23:39 utc | 66

The Kiss of Death, John Bolton, insisted today on Wolf Blitzer’s program he will NOT vote for Biden. He plans either not to vote or write in…Ronald Raygun?
I really believe it’s because Biden plans to reinstate the JCPOA, and Bolton hates Iran so much, he is totally against the JCPOA and cannot stomach supporting Biden’s incompatible views. Well, at least he has integrity.
So, I guess this means, Biden’s gonna win.

Posted by: Circe | Oct 1 2020 23:48 utc | 68

Cynthia Chung has written an excellent essay dealing with important long buried history related to the end of WW2–history many here won’t know–which IMO is salient given this years 75th anniversary of the UN and its Charter–an organization that wouldn’t exist were it not for FDR’s efforts–Churchill certainly didn’t want it, nor did many Americans who have proved it by immediately violating the UN Charter form October 22, 1945 until today, which will continue tomorrow and beyond until it gets stopped by the rest of the world. Referenced in the essay is the last speech FDR wrote but was never to deliver as he died later that day; these three short paragraphs embodied his message to the nation:
“Today we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships—the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together, in the same world, at peace.
“Let me assure you that my hand is the steadier for the work that is to be done, that I move more firmly into the task, knowing that you—millions and millions of you—are joined with me in the resolve to make this work endure.
“The work, my friends, is peace. More than an end of this war—an end to the beginnings of all wars. Yes, an end, forever, to this impractical, unrealistic settlement of the differences between governments by the mass killing of peoples.”
That Truman and his crew worked against FDR’s vision has long been clear, but Chung has made it more so and puts the UNGA speeches by Putin and Xi into even better perspective as it’s clear–at least to me–that they share FDR’s vision while Trump and the Deep State don’t.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 23:51 utc | 70

@ f t bear… i hope you get the leak around the skylight fixed.. i had to look up velux and it sounds like a skylight manufacturer… with a name like former t bear – i take it you were involved in the financial markets at some point.. is that true?? thanks for your comments either way… you seem informed, but in favour of the private banking system.. do i have that correct?
thanks everyone for the feedback on public verses private banking…. i live in canada, but the parallel with the usa is probably useful for the most part.. i don’t believe private banking deserves our trust or support.. i would like to be convinced differently.. i generally don’t trust people who wear suits – bankers and etc… i guess the facade works to a point, like wearing a uniform in the army…
@ cirsium | Oct 1 2020 23:14 utc | 62 and @52.. thanks for your posts on my question… i haven’t read that ellen brown book you mention.. i happened to watch the youtube version of Princes of the Yen and recommend the video to others.. it was informative, but it would seem that some would like to argue with what this video implies.. i have ellen browns book ‘web of debt’ but have yet to read it… i am mostly looking for someone in the political area here in canada to address this… are any american politicians addressing this, other then ron paul perhaps??? i suspect he is viewed dimly for this very reason, or is it that he is also a gold bug??
@ karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 21:45 utc | 50… thanks for all your comments on this – past, present and future! why isn’t this a bigger topic of interest and concern for more people in general? i will watch and read the links you have provided to learn more.. thank you…
@ c1ue | Oct 1 2020 22:50 utc | 58.. thanks c1ue! isn’t the idea of debt jubilee a public banking concept?? i have never heard of any private bank suggesting it… maybe no one other then michael hudson is suggesting it at this point and that is based on the history of financing going back centuries… can we get their again?? if not, why not??
@ Michael | Oct 1 2020 20:35 utc | 46.. thanks michael.. i think it would be good if michael hudsons ideas were implemented and i was unaware of a public bank being attempted in california… i wonder how it can work surrounded by private banks… i hope it works.. i think some other alternative is needed.. here in canada i constantly here of how so much money is needed to service the debt… so much of the revenue coming into the gov’ts coffers goes right back out the door to the private banks… this doesn’t make sense to me and seems like a rigged system at present..

Posted by: james | Oct 1 2020 23:54 utc | 72

@ VK #70
The truth, however, is completely the opposite: the First World (“Global North”) will have to be destroyed if socialism is to really take hold in humanity, as it is the last bastion of capitalism.
Yes, which is why the US is reacting so violently (and desperately) to socialistic China, as I touch on in my #53, seeing their own destruction.
As for me personally, it’s change what I can (maybe) change, don’t try to change what I can’t change, and (try to) know the difference.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 2 2020 0:04 utc | 74

@ james | Oct 1 2020 23:54 utc | 71
Thanks for the reply. Heavens no, I worked for a meagre living as a stagehand, projectionist and behind camera tech for location work (set carpenter as well), retired now. Love reading, done so all my life and will continue to the end. Interest in economic history allows some insights not otherwise available anywhere else but no letters after the name yet so avoiding being an authoritarian. Could not carry a tune in a basket with both hands, but the music I listened to is now classic rock. Dates one.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 0:14 utc | 76

re: fed, banks etc etc
karlof1 .. citing Hudson about the Fed sounds right. Serves a purpose, could be done more transparently by treasury. Sadly we’re a million miles from that. Even with central bank functions under the treasury, it requires government not captive to the same FIRE industry heavyweights.
vk .. “The only way to healthily cancel debt in the capitalist system is through war” – I would think a controlled inflation would actually be an alternative of sorts. Or does that just create more debt? Again in reality such a process gets gamed, so that the top strata would transfer into assets that escape erosion of financial value, while the middle strata (e.g. 401k stock holders in the US) get the haircut. And again, we are a million miles from a policy goal of large scale transfer of wealth or rent-seeking positions away from those who have the most.
Re: MMT and money printing fallacy- I think the point is that we’re doing it anyway, at mega-giga-crazy scale, when the solvency of big financials is in question, so why not just throw in some financing for useful government functions in the same bucket? It’s like if you look at the US Covid emergency legislation… 2 trillion to save the banks, maybe 500 billion to do something about the sick people? One of those is real, one isn’t. If you’re gonna print money, do it right.

Posted by: ptb | Oct 2 2020 0:38 utc | 78

@ Posted by: ptb | Oct 2 2020 0:38 utc | 77
The problem with inflation is that it also eats up the working class’ purchase power, i.e. it hurts everybody, not just the financial sector. Besides, inflation also doesn’t destroy old, inefficient infrastructure, nor get rid of the debt as a juridic entity. The nation will still have to exploit its own people to a degree to be able to service the debt. War destroys this old capital, while also destroying the debt juridically (both because the vanquished nation’s government won’t exist anymore and because the capitalist who owns the debt will be dead).
Yeah, looks like the American elite wants to go to social darwinism – i.e. guarantee only the survival of the essential for the survival of the system. The problem, as you correctly state, is that this “bare minimum” is already costing USD 2.2 trillion per year…

Posted by: vk | Oct 2 2020 1:05 utc | 80

On banks:
Make them public and they become toys of ruling party plus deep bureaucracy;
make them private and they become toys of self interest for CEOs.
* First all set a law that separates commercial banking from investment banking – like 1933’s Glass-Steagall, so no mixing of savings and gambling.
* Oblige all decision makers to file income tax return publicly from 5 years before appointment till 10 years after exiting, including spouses and children.
* Keep all bigger loans public, including conditions.

Posted by: Antonym | Oct 2 2020 1:22 utc | 82

HOPE HICKS TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 AND IS EXPERIENCING SYMPTOMS.
Trump was on Marine One and AF ONE with her and at the debate and recent rally.
Normally, everyone in contact must quarantine. 🤣🤣🤣😆😆😆
OH MY. Trump is fu*ked! 🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾

Posted by: Circe | Oct 2 2020 1:33 utc | 84

@ james with the question about easy to read books about economic/money things
I 2nd karlof1’s suggestion about the Ellen Brown Web of Debt book. Her poetic license with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz works and makes the book more readable and the subject more understandable for the lay person.
On the same subject, below is a link to a Wall Street on Parade article and a take-away quote from it
The New York Fed, Pumping Out More than $9 Trillion in Bailouts Since September, Gets Market Advice from Giant Hedge Funds
The take-away quote
”
Since the Fed’s inception in 1913, the statutory role of the Federal Reserve has been to serve as lender of last resort to commercial banks – so that those commercial banks could help the overall economy by making sound business and consumer loans. The statutory role of the Fed has never been to be a lender of last resort to the trading houses on Wall Street or hedge funds. But beginning with the 2007 to 2010 financial crisis, the New York Fed has simply arbitrarily decided to provide an unlimited money spigot to Wall Street’s trading houses whenever they are at risk of blowing themselves up as a result of their own hubris.
”
And one needs to remember that these financial institutions are global so it is not just American organizations being bailed out but foreign banks and foreign subsidiaries. This speaks to the suggestion of allowing a mix of private/public banks. Since the public banks are, by definition, sovereign only and the private banks are international, how does society continue to try and manage such a stupid/anti-humanistic form of social organization?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 2 2020 2:17 utc | 86

More interested in the Azeri-Amernia war than the back and forth debate.

Posted by: Smith | Oct 2 2020 2:25 utc | 88

If Trump got the 15-minute test, then he should have the result already. If it’s negative we would know by now. If it’s negative; doesn’t mean much. He’ll have to be tested again.
Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner were also on Marine One in close proximity with Hope Hicks. The two nicest guys in the Administration. Ahhhhhahhhha! Unbelievable.

Posted by: Circe | Oct 2 2020 2:43 utc | 90

Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 1:52 utc | 84
Well, you’re not alone; no google, firefox, facebook, twitter, or any other social media for this one either.
I use a Russian browser and e-mail as well…

Posted by: V | Oct 2 2020 3:09 utc | 92

I think anyone who has to use a crutch like youtube to convey their thoughts is lame, the art of carrying on a conversation is being destroyed and is a rare event at this point.
FTB@92
Indeed, no argument there; genuine conversation is an artform; and a dying one at that…
I use a junk yahoo e-mail for general ID when needed…never had a problem with Yandex.
I don’t comment much here at MoA and only a couple of other sites in total…

Posted by: V | Oct 2 2020 4:01 utc | 94

Once I had another provider that triggered undelivered mail to one family on AOL and another on Comcast IIRC. One changed to Verizon, the other stayed AOL and lost two way communications. Yandex in some neighbourhoods is like having a red flag on communications I fear. In Europe not so much a problem other than GCHQ squirrels.
You should try commenting more, your views have value.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 4:25 utc | 96

You should try commenting more, your views have value.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 4:25 utc | 95
Kind of you to say; but I rarely get a response when I comment…
Yeah, I kinda figured Yandex would garner negative reactions…
But I’m a contrarian at heart; damn the torpedoes… 😉

Posted by: V | Oct 2 2020 4:33 utc | 98

@ V | Oct 2 2020 4:33 utc | 96
My luck more like “Damned torpedoes, we’re sinking”. My vintage had computers with ferric core strung on wires as memory. Does not get much older than that.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 4:47 utc | 100