News & Analysis
The Biggest Fraud ... Retirement Doesn't Exist?
Many of us won't be able to retire until our 80s ... You'll probably have to work much longer than you anticipated ... We all think it's a panacea. If you don't have enough money saved for retirement, you've got a few ways to close the gap between what you have and what you need in your nest egg: Save more, invest more aggressively, and/or work longer. Well, it turns out that working longer is indeed an option, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute latest study. The only problem is that the latest research shows that you'll have to work much longer than you anticipated. In fact, many Americans will have to keep on working well into their 70s and 80s to afford retirement, according to the study, titled "The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age on Retirement Income Adequacy." – MarketWatch
Dominant Social Theme: OK, we've had some setbacks. But planning for retirement still makes sense.
Free-Market Analysis: This article, posted to MarketWatch, is a good example of how a dominant social theme – retirement – is being repositioned because it hasn't proven out in reality. The new retirement, we learn, is work related. You'll retire, but you'll still work. From our point of view, this doesn't sound like much of a retirement. But, hey, if you believed you could invest your way to retirement, maybe the elites can gain your support for this latest retirement wrinkle.
And yes, probably numerous people will accept the "new reality" of retirement without questioning the validity of the larger system. Too bad. Questioning how the world works (when it obviously isn't working the way you thought it would) is a GOOD idea. In our humble view people need to be more skeptical of the underlying assumptions around which they structure their lives.
The retirement meme, for instance, was just that – a promotion – that was never supposed to work and could not work in a central bank environment. But it sounded good. And there were and are many reasons to promote it. The powers-that-be have structured society and Western economies in a certain way. But they need a "buy-in" to make their manipulations work.
One group that has bought in is the professional investment class. Retirement is a huge industry in the US, perhaps the nation's biggest. These days, an army of financial planners and brokers, along with mutual funds companies and private investment enterprises, have a big stake in continuing the promotion. But of course, the retirement meme has the backing of even more powerful figures.
Western economies are controlled via central banking by only a few shadowy families and their enablers and associates. The system itself is designed to self-destruct, causing endless recessions, depressions and ongoing centralization of industry and labor. It is a bad system, but one necessary to helping the powers-that-be consolidate world government. Thus, the power elite has done what it can to create buy-in.
The best way to create involvement by the masses is to make this system, bad as it is, an integral part of their existence, hopes and dreams. The stock market especially has been part of this promotion. People have been fooled into thinking that they can "invest" their money and receive appropriate retirement income in a rational way.
This is simply not true. The business cycle itself precludes the possibility that people – most anyway – will have the savvy, willpower and appropriate time (or luck) to walk away with the necessary profits from their invested earnings. Most, or at least many, will not. Here's some more from the article:
So what can be done to make sure you have enough income in retirement? Well, the sad truth is that not working is no longer an option and working past age 65 is fast becoming a fact of life, at least for those in the lowest three income quartiles. One bright spot, according to John Nelson, co-author of 'What Color is Your Parachute? For Retirement' is that working works: "For those in the lower half of the income spectrum, delaying retirement from 65 to 69 has a profound effect," he said. "It increases retirement income adequacy by 25% to 50%! That's a powerful incentive."
The new normal Now the reality about EBRI's findings is that many Americans — who are able to continue working and whose skills are still in demand — are already working past age 65. In 2009, 17.2% of Americans age 65 and older were in the labor force, according to recent AARP Public Policy Institute report, "Family Income Sources for Older People, 2009." And about 14.2 million older persons (36.7% of the older population) had family incomes from earnings in 2009 ...
"Those older Americans who are looking for a job, those who have already retired and those who are working but need additional income or want to start something that they can continue into their retirement years are all reading (the work-from-home) pages," Koff said. Making it work To be sure, many Americans haven't figured out how to make working later a real option, instead of just a fantasy. And for them, Nelson has this advice: "You need to pay attention to your career and your health."
As Baby Boomers are discovering now, it was all something of a dream. In fact, here at DB we refer to the 20th century these days as a "dreamtime." It was a century when what we call "directed history" was in its heyday. The elites entirely controlled the media and could relate whatever stories they chose.
Of course, as we've pointed out, they used fear-based dominant social themes to push Western middle classes into giving up wealth and power to a variety of international agencies set up to facilitate the emergence of global governance. The fantasy of stock market wealth was just that – a fantasy – for most people.
Yet no dominant social theme was much more successful than the investment meme. In the 20th century and even today the Anglosphere elites continue to push the idea of "investing." The buy-in of the middle class means a psychological endorsement of the world as it is, including central banking and fiat money.
There are other ways to deal with "retirement," of course. These have to do with creating a modest lifestyle that emphasizes self-sufficiency rather than consumerism. One also needs to try to find some level of self-sufficiency when it comes to employment. Large, white-collar "factories" are inevitably going to fire thousands, even tens of thousands, during economic downturns.
Of course, all this is more easily said than done. However, the reality is not what it seems and people best face it. The current Greater Recession, which is really a depression, is not really recoverable, or not in the near term. We would argue that it is the outcome of deliberate policies designed, quite possibly, to create first a new "great war" and then some sort of world government.
it is all becoming increasingly evident in the 21st century: the manipulations, the control, the larger elite agenda. Many white-collar jobs are make-work and a modern, "investment-enabled" retirement tends to work only in the "up" part of the business cycle when fiat money is in demand. This extended down-cycle is going to be an extended and brutal one because of all the past re-stimulations of the world's economy. Think of a heart patient who has been resuscitated one-time too many.
The power elite is racing against time in our view. The Internet Reformation has revealed to a great many what is really going on ... and yet, still, the vision of a leisurely retirement continues to be sold to the masses. One would hope that people won't continue to fall for this particular dominant social theme, as attractive as it is, as the 21st century unfolds.
Conclusion: In fact, one would like to believe that as people begin to realize the intense effort underway to press them to conform to the farcical "dreamtime" of Western retirement, they will re-think some of the other memes that they may have accepted unquestioningly in the past. Then something good would come out of the "bonfire of dreams" currently taking place.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/27/11 07:18 PM
Turtle,
Keep in mind that the various YouTube clips provide a sinister picture of the ESF. It is easy to get caught up in the details of ESF operations and to lose overall historic perspective which explains the existence of the ESF.
In the 1930s, with the deliberate collapse of the gold standard re the U.S. currency system, the country was turned from a BOTTOM UP type of economy to a TOP DOWN type of economy. The currency system was part of the transformation.
Since after 1933 the USD was still redeemable for gold to foreign banks, the U.S. Treasury was forced to establish the ESF to act in the capacity of the U.S. "free market" aspect of the USD in making the FX markets work. (I hope I explained this clearly enough).
The secrecy surrounding the ESF and its lack of transparency relates directly to the ESF protecting the free exchanges of foreign currencies for the irredeemable USD. Of course, when lack of transparency is mandated to to do your job, it is easy to do something that isn't your job, and no one will be the wiser when you do so.
That is pretty much the tale of the origin of the ESF, and why it operates the way it does. Just remember that the existence of the ESF was dictated when the USD was made irredeemable for U.S. citizens, while international Bills of Exchange still were settled with gold.
To paint the creation of the ESF as being planned by a bunch of crazy loons to take over the world, is better left to the geniuses in Hollywood. The picture of historic fact is is pretty much the way I painted it.
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Posted by turtle on 10/27/11 03:58 PM
@Ingo Many thanks. I appreciate the time you take to answer all comers.
There is still a lot in those videos re JFK, CIA black ops including drug trade, USD100 "supernotes" which are apparently perfect forgeries (too good to be made unofficially) which circulate outside the U.S., 911 and its consequences and interestingly some defense of the Federal reserve. ALL covered in Part 5 (26mins).
Click to view link
Getting hard facts as usual is unlikely but I guess we all know already in the sense that the ESF is an extension of the U.S. Treasury is an extension of the U.S. government.
I will be cutting and pasting a lot from todays discussion with full credit to you.
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Posted by josejoe on 10/27/11 11:42 AM
by 'without a window or a pot', i meant that they had never prepared for retirement. sorry for the confusion!
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Posted by Agent Weebley on 10/27/11 12:53 AM
Hi Ingo,
Are you still mad at me? No-one here is mad at me for very long, it seems. I just get out my steel hankie and we wipe away the tears.
Your essay is a textbook example of why gold should not continue to be used for the PE shell game, in any way, shape, or form.
And are you going to reply to my comment below?
I'm waiting, in antici . . . . . . pation.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/27/11 12:00 AM
The Exchange Stabilization Fund was created in 1934. It falls under the management of the U.S. Treasury, but the ESF has always used the FRBNY to execute its operations. These operations have been numerous and varied over these many years.
When FDR took the "domestic" USD currency off the gold standard in 1933, it was still necessary to clear international Bills of Exchange with gold. (Balance of trade). The ESF was to be the entity to oversee the operation while the FRBNY, because of its association with the BIS since 1923 was used by the EFS to actually execute ESF decisions.
The Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944, as well as many stabilization operations since 1971 originated from ESF offices. The Treasury under Robert Rubin used the ESF to keep gold "prices" down in order to balance the domestic budget. Gordon Brown as English Exchequer was involved with Rubin in this effort through the sale of British gold. German gold from WW II, still stored at Fort Knox as "custodial" gold, has been swaped for "gold reserves" and vice versa. So many funny things have gone on at the EFS that I am unable to account for them here.
Bill Murphy of GATA, who also has a website at Click to view link, has been after the ESF and their attempts to keep down the "price" of gold. He testified at a SEC hearing on March 25th in 2010 where it was established that gold price manipulations on the LME had been actively directed from the FRBNY.
The ESF is the planning and decison making arm of the U.S. Treasury for currency stabilization action. The stabilization actions themselves are conducted through the FRBNY. (Mexican bail out, Brazilian bail out, etc.)
Since the Jamaica conference in 1978, where Secretary Miller and Fed Chairman Volker met with the Saudis to agree to stabilize the USD as a reserve currency through the exclusive quote of Saudi oil in USD, the Saudis were promised that the ESF would recycle the "petro dollar" for bullion and gold futures.
The U.S. Treasury is infiltrated by the NY banks, but the legislative power behind the ESF is the U.S. Senate. Sen. Dodd from Connecticut as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee until last year, was all too familiar with the workimgs of the ESF.
Now that compound interest on the U.S. debt has destroyed the viability of the irredeemable USD, ESF decisions are becoming more and more desperate. The ESF will go down with the USD/FRN.
It must be remembered that the need for the ESF was created by the FRBNY when it violated the 1913 FRA throughout the 1920s and caused the collapse of the gold standard.
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Posted by Agent Weebley on 10/26/11 10:44 PM
OK Ingo,
Since you are, for the second time now, using emotional retorts to my quite reasonable comment, obviously hoping that you will be able to goad me into seeing who has the longest stream, but since I am proudly stating that I hold that record, as stated in the 1969 McGuiness Book Of Irish Troubled Records, I do not need to go there with you.
Jeepers, where was I? Oh.
I shall find conversation 1 and conversation 2, of which I speak, and of which you claim . . . what is it you claim? I guess you PTFE'ed yourself with your "nonsense" comment, which obviated you from enaging me on a logical level, which I actually have troubles with, myself, since I pretty well go from pillar to post when I write . . . leaving my mark everywhere . . . without even moving!
I will find the 2 conversations of which I speak, Ingo. It may take some time. The third is awaiting your response here:
Click to view link
By the way, the precis on the "market" conversation was direct and cut to the marrow of the issue, yet you take that as rambling? Come on, Ingo . . .
Speaking of Ireland, here's an essay that illustrates the Granny and guns story. It's about the Poor Law, among other laws that you may enjoy (but I didn't,) and how women and children were kicked out of work houses in Ireland to make way for able bodied men to be slaves in these houses.
Click to view link
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Posted by turtle on 10/26/11 10:08 PM
Sorry. Please ignore my repeat of this post.
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Posted by turtle on 10/26/11 10:05 PM
I appreciate your comments and respect your knowledge of history which is why I asked you:
What is your opinion of the USD Exchange Stabilistaion Fund? and how would you rate their ability at market manipulation relative to the Federal Reserve?
My understanding is that the Treasury ESF was supposed to manage the value of the international value of the USD - do you think their work is being undermined by the Federal Reserve? or do you believe they work together?
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 10:02 PM
Turtle,
I am trying to find time to view your link. I'll be happy to give you my thoughts.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 09:58 PM
"Just a thought: If we had a one world currency PURELY BACKED BY GOLD, would there be a problem?"
The term "BACKED BY GOLD" is amorphous. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a currency backed by GOLD. Most people assume that this term means that there is gold on deposit against a deposit receipt issued on a one for one basis. Such a GOLD BACKED currency is totally unworkable as would be the use of the physical gold as a currency would be unworkable.
There are really only to types of currency systems:
1. Currency created under the Real Bills Doctrine using gold to clear. This is a stable currency which has a "positive" value.
2. Currency created against debt. This currency has a negative value and is subject to compound interest "explosion", which collapses the currency.
The eventual world currency system will have the USD, EURO, RUBEL, YUAN, RUPEE and CRUZERO. All will be created under the Real Bills Doctrine and the gold standard.
International Bills of Exchange will be cleared through London and Changhai.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 09:40 PM
I meant no offense by calling you citizen, but I keep it in mind. Particularly, I certainly never meant to use it in the way of Robespierre...
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 09:36 PM
You ramble and make no sense. I asked you to direct concise specfic questions at me, if you expect an answer.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 09:32 PM
"The volume of population in our society cannont absorb all those without gold to participate in the Real Bill market you envision... ."
How much gold do you think is needed to make a domestic Real Bills market or for that matter an international Bills of Exchange market work under the gold standard... ???
There are presently about 156,000 tons of gold in above ground inventory.
One tenth of this amount of gold or about 15,000 tons would be more than sufficient to make the domestic as well as the international Real Bills market work without any problem.
If the 8,000 tons of gold at Fort Knox would be returned to approximately 80 million eligible Americans, this gold would quickly find its way into either discount instruments (Real Bills) or into "Gold" Bonds to earn either discount or interest.
Real Bills are "clearing" instruments. They are cleared with gold. Income of people is spent on consumption or set aside for savings.
If all the income is spent on consumption, no gold is needed to "clear". When people want to set aside some of their income for savings, they have to exchange the income for gold, because the nature of income is such that "if you don't use it, you lose it". (There is an explanation for this statement)
That is where the "clearing" part comes in. Gold is needed for turning income into savings. So the income not spent on consumption has to be "cleared" with gold. However, gold does not earn interest, therefore it must be invested in Real Bills or "Gold" Bonds, etc., etc... ..
You have to understand the nature and function of Real Bills in a banking system which creates a redeemable currency, before you can fully appreciate that gold is no longer a general currency (not for 300 years), but only a small fraction of existing gold is needed to "clear" Real Bills.
When businessmen discount Real Bills, they obtain cash funds to immediately hire people and produce. They will have produced and sold their products before they have to honor the Real Bills. Real Bills are 90 day instruments which are used to create a currency based on positive value in contrast to the FRN currency which has negative value since it is monetized debt.
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Posted by Agent Weebley on 10/26/11 09:31 PM
Your "Real Bills" are are a construct of the PE mind, so I would not waste a minute reading that stuff. I am relying on you . . . yes you, to argue the point.
Let's enter that "market" again, Ingo. Remember the "market" you spoke about a while back? I was there, and so were you, but you left me there . . . my jaw hanging . . . waiting for you to respond.
But you didn't respond.
This seems to be your M.O. Ignore me when I get to the nub of the issue.
This is the third time now.
Pay rossbcan the $1000.
Oh, and the person issuing the Real Bill, which is "scrip simple" using your typical terminology, is the person with the gold, therefore they can ask whatever interest they want to the poor sod who got suckered into using them. They cannot cash them and settle up by getting or giving gold as they exit the market, so they must pay rent on having the Real Bill in their pocket.
In other words, who, in their right mind, would issue scrip based on gold to an entrant into "a day at the market," but the entrant decides not to cash out, because they cannot make good in gold, so the scrip wanders all over the place . . . rented out, so to speak. No-one rents for free.
Free money, Ingo.
Free money is where it's at.
No funny business needed.
No complicated theories.
Just trustworthy money for the masses, so they can trade again.
Money . . . based on trust alone.
I have a theory . . . about dinosaurs . . . wanna hear it? Here goes:
Dinosaurs are very thin at one end, much, much thicker in the middle, and thin again at the other end. (Monty Python)
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Posted by Leave me be on 10/26/11 09:03 PM
If you look very deeply, you may find a common thread. Think "contract".
By the way, I greatly appreciate your understanding of history but I always respectfully decline the opportunity to be titled "citizen".
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 07:42 PM
Since you know so much about Real Bills, and since you are convinced that a Real Bill is a promissory note or a debt instruments, can you tell me the going interest rate on a Real Bill... ???
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 07:31 PM
Thanks for your comments. However, to compare life under the UCMJ with life under civilian law is comparing apples and oranges.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 07:25 PM
No... . they are not WAY ahead of the curve. Since 2008 their FRN denominated investments have been seriously hollowed out by TARP and QE currency creation which is continuing as I write this.
I am sorry to tell you, these folks you talk about have joined the parade of the "schmucks", as I call them.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 07:12 PM
I praise you for taking citizenship seriously. It's a joy to know that a fellow citizens with such a mindset exist.
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Posted by Bischoff on 10/26/11 07:00 PM
"I wouldn't count on that gold in Fort Knox."
Do you mean whether it is there or not... ??? The last open inventory report for the store of gold at Fort Knox was taken in 1958. At that time there were 8,340 tons of gold stored there which showed to belong to the account of the United States of America.
"But why haven't people saved for their retirement by buying their own physical gold (or putting aside silver dollars)?"
They have turned their FRNs into gold lately. Some have turned their FRNs into silver coins to have handy as means of exchange in case of breakdown of the FRN currency. If on the other hand, you are asking why people haven't bought gold all along. Then you must know that:
1. American citizens were not allowed to hold gold from March, 1933 until January 1975.
2. Gold does not earn interest. There are no gold denominated debenture instruments available today. To earn a return, one has to "invest" in FRN denominated instruments. Only when the viability of the FRN is in doubt will people turn the FRN into gold. They are then more interested in the return "of" their capital, than in the return "on" their capital. They want to turn their "capital" into "savings". Only gold is "money", and only gold can be "savings".
"When was it made legal for U.S. citizens to own gold again?"
Execute Order #6102, issued by FDR in March of 1933 and concurred in by the U.S. Congress, was revoked by President Ford in 1974 to become effective January 1, 1975.
"The SSS is a backup for those who have made poor savings/investment choices during their lives."
This is a statement which portraits ignorance and contains unfounded judgement.
The SSS was a solemn promise by the U.S. Congress given to Americans in return for turning over to the federal government the entire savings of the American people. This was not limited to physical gold people kept at home. It included all the gold in gold denominated investments. People who had bought "gold" bonds with their gold savings had their principal returned on maturity not in gold, but in FRNs.
After Americans had been prohibited from holding gold, they could no longer buy "gold" bonds as a secure investment for old age. Instead, they had to "invest" their FRNs in risky equities and debentures, either on their own or through Keoghs, 401Ks, etc...
Real estate speculators and the mega bankers have hollwed out the "investments" of the Americans. To judge these Americans for making poor savings/investment choices is going a little far.
The average American believed in the promises of the federal government, the honesty of bankers, and the honor of local politicians who instead failed to save them from being set upon by land speculators.
You can call the average American naive in believing the government and bankers, but to say that they made poor savings choices (they couldn't save because they couldn't hold gold) and poor investment choices (their investment were and are still being surrepticiously stolen from them in a myriad number of ways) is a little harsh. Wouldn't you agree... ???
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