Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 2174

The Disco Triplets

The popular new documentary Three Identical Strangers recounts the famous story of the New York triplets who were secretly separated as infants due to (spoiler alert) an arrogant Freudian experiment intended to prove the power of nurture over nature. But as 19-year-olds, they found one another during a few joyous days in 1980 when each first learned that he had two identical brothers.

The likable lads, brawny, extroverted Syracuse U. frat-boy types dressed in Saturday Night Fever fashions, be...

Fake Populism

President Trump is known as a “populist” president who was elected by appealing to “the forgotten man” (and woman) – the hard-working, taxed-to-death middle class people whose interests are usually diametrically opposed to the political elites of both parties.  The label of populism seems especially appropriate with regard to his foreign policy of pursuing peace with Russia and North Korea, judging by the vicious and apoplectic reaction to it by the deep state elite, some of whom have called...

An American Life

Last week, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, a 92-year-old unsung American patriot lost his battle with congestive heart failure. He had been surrounded by his wife and children and their spouses and their children. He left this vale of tears in his wife’s arms, peacefully and with dignity.

His was an American life.

He was born in Newark, New Jersey, during the Roaring ’20s, the son of Italian immigrants who had come to America as children. When he was 4 years old, he met a curly-haired little girl i...

Cops Attempt Gun Confiscation

Police in New Jersey have officially crossed the [thin blue] line and literally attempted to confiscate guns from an army veteran without a warrant.  But it didn’t go as planned, because  Leonard Cottrell Jr. refused to comply with the orders of the cops.

Eventually, all gun confiscation will be carried out by the police; who of “don’t make the laws, they just enforce them,” and Cottrell found this out the hard way.  After serving two tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom overseas, Cottrell found...

Can We Trust Experts?

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers predicted that if Donald Trump were elected, there would be a protracted recession within 18 months. Heeding its experts, a month before the election, The Washington Post ran an editorial with the headline “A President Trump could destroy the world economy.” Steve Rattner, a Democratic financier and former head of the National Economic Council, warned, “If the unlikely event happens and Trump wins, you will see a market crash of historic proportions.” W...

We’re Spending Our Way

According to financial writer Simon Black, the federal government is spending approximately 52,000 dollars per second. This, not last year’s tax cuts, is the reason why the national debt has reached a record 21 trillion dollars, which is more than America’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Another ominous sign is that this year both Social Security and Medicare will have to draw down on their reserve funds to be able to pay benefits. The Social Security and Medicare trust funds will both soon be...

Because We Must Talk With Russia

With everything happening it is hard to keep everything in your head all the time.  Yesterday, reading Pepe Escobar’s latest piece reminded me of a couple of themes I try to hit on regularly.

The U.S. only negotiates when it’s losing Review the after-effects of major moments as turning points

Vladimir Putin’s speech on March 1st when he announced Russia’s new weapon systems were one such turning point.  The after-effects of their announcement has been an acceleration of Trump’s plans to win...

The Cashless Society Is a Con

All over the western world banks are shutting down cash machines and branches. They are trying to push you into using their digital payments and digital banking infrastructure. Just like Google wants everyone to access and navigate the broader internet via its privately controlled search portal, so financial institutions want everyone to access and navigate the broader economy through their systems.

Another aim is to cut costs in order to boost profits. Branches require staff. Replacing them...

Trump Derangement Syndrome

As a journalist, I understand completely why so many people rightly loathe the media. It is because the media no longer understand – or just doesn’t give a damn – about the difference between conveying facts and attempting to force-feed its opinions to you – these opinions presented with the most insolent certainty, formed in such a way as to make it clear that anyone reading who harbors a secret doubt is not merely a doubter but a denier; i.e., a malicious and vile person who must be dealt w...

More Lies

For two decades the offshoring of American jobs to Asia and Mexico has destroyed the careers and incomes of tens of millions of US citizens, the pension tax base for state and local governments, the federal tax base for Social Security and Medicare, and the opportunity society that once characterized the United States of America.

The rise in corporate profits that resulted from substituting foreign labor for American labor rewarded corporate executives and boards, hedge funds, large sharehold...