Full Faith and Credit

Rumors about the demise of the Taliban and Mr. Bin Laden are greatly exaggerated as Mark Twain would put it; I would add official comments on the health of the global economy are even worse. The "recession" as they put it is going to be so deep we will need snorkels to breathe. Once Wall Street figures out we are looking at a fifty year commitment in Afghanistan, just like Germany and Japan after World War Two and Korea in 1950, the scales shall fall from their eyes and they shall finally see. They shall see we are now looking at war against Iraq. They shall see there are no corporate earnings. They shall see the wave of debt defaults smothering the world. And then they shall see the utter impotence of any organized authority to do anything about it. Indeed, we may be able to put tanks outside the Miami airport on Thanksgiving morning, but we cannot prevent either economic or political terrorism. And when they see this, they shall weep, howl and gnash their teeth.

If one wanders around the Internet enough in the last three months, one can actually put together a coherent and logical alternative theory to the accepted reality in the United States. In my opinion, the current mainline media economic, political and military reality is a fantasy concocted by what has been labeled the 300 Trillion dollar club. What is the core economic issue here anyway? We read the 9-11 attacks were "symbolic", but we don't even follow the logic of that statement. Symbolic means a phased attack against the economic and military infrastructure of the United States. The point of the World Trade Center attack was to attack the symbol of the global and American economy. Mr. Bin Laden's point was to take on the "full faith and credit" of the United States and destroy it. What other than this nebulous phrase is behind our entire economy, stock markets, bond markets, US dollar, housing markets et. al.? Certainly not gold, silver or any other tangible, inherently valuable item. The only thing holding up the United States economy, and by extension the global economy, is confidence in the "full faith and credit" of Federal Reserve Notes.

The gaseous phrase, "full faith and credit" underpins the entire credit, debt and derivative structure around the world. O.K. says Mr. Bin Laden to the Great Satan America, we shall test this confidence. We shall openly attack your cities and show the world how vulnerable you are. And then we shall sit back and wait for your response. In my opinion, Mr. Bin Laden has defined the battle, defined the objectives, defined the goals and chosen the battlefield. The idea that the United States is winning because we show off our high tech gadgets and rearrange 20 years worth of Afghanistan rubble is ridiculous. Mr. Bin Laden has won by losing. He will wage low level terrorist warfare against us everywhere in the world if he lives. And if he dies, his well trained, supplied and inspired followers will continue to torment us for years, if not decades. I don't think the American people understand exactly what a war against a foe as cunning, ruthless and shrewd as Mr. Bin Laden and the Taliban entails. We think of them as ignorant "ragheads" and fail to understand they are Medal of Honor level combat veterans who have threatened to engage in a long term effort to "destroy" the United States. Mullah Omar may look like a one eyed pirate, but he lost his eye single handedly destroying a Soviet tank. Personally, I'm inclined to take a man like that at his word when he says he has a long term plan to destroy the United States.

The United States underestimated Japan and ended up with Pearl Harbor. We underestimated the Chinese in Korea and ended up with a near massacre of a Marine Division. We underestimated the North Vietnamese and ended up with the Tet offensive,which destroyed America's will to fight in Vietnam. I wonder whether our current "rout" of the Taliban and "cornering Mr. Bin Laden", will lead to the same results. The Mullah and Bin Laden have made death threats on the United States. Credible sources (newsmax.com) say they have up to twenty tactical, suitcase and "dirty" nuclear weapons deployed inside the United States. What will the economic, political and military effects be upon the "full faith and credit of the United States" be-if and when even one of these nuclear weapons is exploded in a major US city?

I think gold-eagle.com readers should understand the implications of Mr. Bin Laden's relentless, broad based, well planned and coordinated attacks upon the core economic ideology of the United States. Mr. Bin Laden may well be a pawn of the three hundred trillion dollar club. He may well be acting in the purity of his twisted religious beliefs. Or then again, he may just be a rich, spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum with weapons of mass destruction. Whatever his motivation, he isn't going to stop until we kill him. Unfortunately, I doubt that will be enough. We need to understand that Mr. Bin Laden means to destroy our economy, either through shattering the faith underpinning it, or lacing the money we use for everyday commerce with deadly germs of some type.

The one eyed Mullah and his bearded Saudi true believer have thrown down the gauntlet to the United States with their recent statements. They are now in a put up or shut up mode for the next few weeks. I FULLY EXPECT A TERRORIST MASS CASUALTY EVENT BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. The question is what will happen to public opinion in the United States if that happens? What will happen to the "full faith and credit of the United States government" backing the US dollar then? How about the stock markets, bond markets et al? The folly of the United States government and people is they believe the war is both "over there" and "over". The reality is it's over here and barely begun. The two primary terrorist threats we face in the next five weeks are either up to three dozen airliners shot down from smuggled Stinger missiles, or having a two mile nuclear bomb blast zone in one, or several, of our major cities. Or they could wait until 2002 and hit us overseas. If they have the ability, they will hit us again. Other than that, I had a great Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends. Enjoy life and prepare for instability as best you can.