We are to be the recipients of cyber-economic attacks
Actually, we already have been and can expect to be again. This is not if, but when!
Kevin Freeman in his book Game Plan discusses the problem in depth and suggests some solutions urgently needed.
This book is an important read. I highly recommend you read it and take note. Here are some excerpts from the book:
There Is Hope
The amazing thing about the current global
economic war is that the United States of America is still ideally positioned
to win. If we act properly, it’s not too late to usher in a period of global
peace and prosperity. It’s not too late, even though we have accumulated the
largest budget deficits and national debt in history. Even though we have
over-shackled our people with crippling rules and regulations. Even though we
have nearly abandoned all the things that made America great in the first
place. It’s still not too late. But it is close.
There are dozens of reasons to believe that
the American experiment will end in failure. We have plenty of internal
problems— out-of-control spending, paralyzing political agendas, a government
that operates more like a confidence game, an apathetic population, and a
system that rewards failure and punishes success. In many ways, we are our own
worst enemies.
Externally, we have enemies who want to see
America go away. Some of them are parasites on our prosperity and intend to
bleed us dry over the long term. Others hate us ideologically. Some simply
resent our success. Whatever their motivation, they are intent on our
destruction.
There are eight steps we must take to restore
our greatness. The first is to admit we have a problem.
Step One: Recognize the
Global War Under Way
Officials in defense and intelligence have
little training in economics. Even those who appreciate our economic problems
don’t understand that our enemies could use economic weapons to damage us.
Step Two: Take
Reasonable Precautions
The United States should take a few
reasonable precautions to protect its financial system and infrastructure.
These measures are not costly, but they will provoke opposition from some
powerful interests that benefit from the status quo, so they will require
political will.
First, we should prohibit naked short selling and naked
credit-default swaps.
Second, we should also look into ways to strengthen the
cybergrid. The military has developed a Cyber Command, and that is a start. But we have little in the way of
private-sector defense.
Third, we should reinstitute the civil defense measures
that were maintained during the Cold War. There was a time when every
school-child in America had an action plan in case of an attack. 18
Finally, there is promising legislation aimed at preventing
disaster from an electromagnetic pulse— either natural, from solar flares, or
from a deliberate missile attack— that should be adopted.
The key is to take sensible steps in response
to the reality that we face a global economic war. Now is the time to prepare—
before disaster strikes.
Step Three: Get Money
Moving without Money Printing
Since 2009 the Federal Reserve has conducted
three rounds of “quantitative easing.” It has pumped trillions of dollars into
the system, and yet the economy remains stagnant. Just before the 2008 crash,
the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet was around $ 800 billion. Five years later
it was in the range of $3.6 trillion. The unemployment rate has barely dipped,
and that minimal decrease is attributable to workers’ getting discouraged and
giving up the search for a job. So why isn’t all this new money from the Fed
making the economy strong? The answer from economists is that the “velocity of
money” is too low. In plain English, that means that individuals and businesses
have been hoarding cash. Consumers have been reluctant to spend, and companies
have been slow to expand.
So where has all the money gone? Corporations
now hold a record amount of cash, and they have kept almost $2 trillion of that
overseas. 26 A mere eighty-three companies hold almost $1.5 trillion among
them. The reason that American companies hold so much cash in offshore accounts
is our tax code. The United States has the highest official corporate tax rate
in the world. Even accounting for various deductions and manipulations that
allow companies to pay less than the stated rate, we are ranked ninety-fourth
out of one hundred nations in tax competitiveness. . . .
Corporate leaders have made it clear that if
the U.S. tax system didn’t penalize them, they would invest and spend at home.
Step Four: Achieve
Energy Independence
One of the areas in which we could let
American companies invest that overseas cash is energy. The same government
that wants to tax corporations’ overseas cash at 35 percent set aside $80
billion of the $800 billion stimulus for green energy. While not all of that
money was spent, at least thirty-four of the recipients of this federal subsidy
have already gone bankrupt, taking billions of taxpayer dollars with them. Were
these projects chosen solely because of their economic merit? Not according to
the Hoover Institution’s Peter Schweizer. In Throw Them All Out, he writes that 71 percent of the Obama Energy
Department’s grants and loans were given to “individuals who were bundlers,
members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the
Democratic Party. . . .” Politico reported in late 2011, “The Energy
Department’s inspector general has launched more than 100 criminal
investigations related to 2009 economic stimulus spending.” Everyone knows
about Solyndra’s bankruptcy (costing taxpayers a half billion) and should
understand that the government isn’t the ideal venture capitalist.
There is an understandable interest in
developing new forms of energy with the hope that they will create jobs and
strengthen our economy. But when you contrast the government failures with
private-enterprise successes, you begin to see why we should promote the
free-market approach to energy development. . .
Alternative energy is only one step toward
American energy independence. What if we allowed some of that corporate cash to
accelerate fossil fuel development as well? . . .
What if American corporations were allowed to
repatriate foreign cash if they invested to promote energy independence? . . .
Lifting the ban on offshore drilling could
result in a million new American jobs, according to some estimates, and reduce
our reliance on foreign oil. Our energy future is bright— if we don’t foolishly
spoil it. . . .
Developing our domestic energy resources is
essential to our fight in the global economic war.
Step Five: Reduce
Regulation
A couple of years after President Ronald
Reagan left office, [the author] had the
privilege of presenting him with the Adam Smith Award for Individual Excellence
in Free Enterprise. Reagan’s modest response was: “Really, all I did was get
the government the hell out of the way so good people like you could grow the
economy.”
Since the end of Reagan’s presidency,
however, the regulatory burden has grown uncontrollably. Back in 1974, Reagan,
then the governor of California, complained about forty-five thousand pages of
new federal regulations. Today there are about 175,000 pages of new
regulations.
Step Six: A Workable Tax
Code
Reform of the tax code should go hand in hand
with a reduction of regulation. Nearly everyone agrees that the current tax
system is a convoluted mess. It does not maximize revenues, and it hampers
economic growth.
So how do we fix it? There are four basic
options:
1.
Simplify
the system by stripping it of numerous breaks, leaving only those which help
grow the economy or make the tax code fairer.
2.
Implement
a flat tax, which would give people more incentive to work and invest their
earnings back into the economy.
3.
The
so-called fair tax would eliminate the payroll tax and impose a national sales
tax on purchases of new goods and services, excluding necessities. The fair-tax
rate after necessities would be 23 percent, which equals the lowest current
income-tax bracket (15 percent) plus the employee’s share of payroll taxes
(7.65 percent).
4.
A
combination of the flat tax and the fair tax might ameliorate the problems with
each. The flat tax does not eliminate the payroll tax, while the fair tax,
depending on one’s state sales tax, could leave someone with a tax burden of
close to 40 percent of his income. One proposal is to combine a flat income tax
of about 16 percent (eliminating altogether the tax liability of the poorest)
with a national sales tax or VAT of roughly 10 percent.
Each idea has merit, and each has its
proponents. Regardless of what we do, we have to fix the tax code. Such a fix
would dramatically enhance our ability to fight in the global economic war.
Step Seven: Teach What
America Is All About
Immigration is a serious problem. Some argue
that because our native population is declining, we need more immigrants to
fuel growth and allow America to compete in the global market. Others argue
that uncontrolled immigration will destroy the fabric of society. Richard Lamm,
as governor of Colorado, “saw how employers were using illegal immigration for
cheap labor and in some cases firing Americans so they could hire illegals who
they could pay less and work harder. I saw the incredible flow of illegal
aliens who crowded out American workers in construction, packing plants, the
service industry, etc, many of whom were paid ‘off-books’ so we got no state
income taxes from them.”
Others worry that our lax immigration
policies will allow terrorists to infiltrate our nation. . . .
Immigrants built our nation, and immigration
is an essential part of the American story. What’s different, however, is that
immigrants are no longer taught the uniqueness and greatness of America. It
used to be that we were a cultural melting pot. Now political correctness teaches
us to maintain and celebrate our differences rather than coming together. Our
educational institutions seem intent on developing disdain for America by
highlighting failure rather than celebrating success. . . .
Our own government is in on the act— often
leading the way. The air force teaches that the Founders of the United States
were extremists: “In U.S. history, there are many examples of extremist
ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from
British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern
states are just two examples.”
This is a nation that has lost its moral
compass and so has lost its way. The corrosion of Americans’ self-understanding
has seriously weakened us. But there is a solution. We can begin celebrating
the Founders and their principles. We have to return to old-fashioned
patriotism. And, we have to make such teaching a part of any immigration
solution.
Step Eight: Return to
Our Spiritual Roots
Of the
eight steps, this one is the most important. American was founded on the
Judeo-Christian principles of Western civilization. As George Washington
affirmed, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of
Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to
implore His protection and favor.” He also said, “Of all the dispositions and
habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports.”
President Reagan warned us not to forget our
national dependence on divine Providence: “If we ever forget that we are One
Nation Under God, then we will be one nation gone under.” . . .
[The author agrees] with President Reagan.
Remembering our spiritual heritage is the most important step we can take in
defending America, because our problem isn’t really economic or even political.
Our real problem is spiritual. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” writes
the psalmist (Psalms 33:12). The Bible promises blessings to the obedient: “The
Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto
thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt
lend to many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee
the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be
beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which
I command thee this day, to observe and to do them” (Deuteronomy 28:12– 13).
To the disobedient, in contrast, God promises
a curse: “thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed
and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee” (Deuteronomy 28:29). “The
fruit of thy land and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat
up” (Deuteronomy 28:33). “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above
thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and
thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail”
(Deuteronomy 28:43–44). By these verses, America today sounds more like a
nation under a curse than a nation under blessing.
The Bible also warns that “the borrower is
servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). The decline of American influence has
been rapid and has coincided with the rise in our federal debt. The Canadian
newspaper publisher and biographer Conrad Black has observed, “Not since the
disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, and prior to that the fall of
France in 1940, has there been so swift an erosion of the world influence of a
Great Power as we are witnessing with the United States.”
Now, if the problem is spiritual, the
solution will be spiritual as well. America needs wise economic and security
policies, but those policies alone will not restore our greatness. America
needs a spiritual revival: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their
land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Conclusion
After in-depth research on behalf of the
Pentagon, it became obvious to me that America suffered a financial terror
attack in 2008. . . . Make no mistake;
we are in a global economic war.
The bad news is that we are fighting blindly.
Too few in our nation’s leadership have grasped what we are facing. Call it
ignorance or arrogance. Either way, we are not prepared to defend the dollar in
world trade, protect trade secrets from corporate espionage, or safeguard our
financial systems from cyber attack. There are even more serious risks, like
the EMP that could send us back to a pre-industrial age. Our $17 trillion debt
creates a whole host of vulnerabilities. Yet we go on as if American supremacy
will endure forever.
Excerpt
from Chapter Twelve of Game Plan: How to
Protect Yourself from the Coming Cyber-Economic Attack by Kevin D. Freeman.
Available from Amazon.com in either hard-cover or Kindle versions.
