Interviewed
by Louis James, Editor, International
Speculator

Recently
by Doug Casey:
Karma – Metaphysics for Life

Read
part 1 here.

Doug:
Let’s take these in order. First:

Assassination
of US citizens: “President Obama has claimed, as President
George W. Bush did before him, the right
to order the killing of any citizen considered a terrorist or
an abettor of terrorism.”

Of course the
very concept of terrorism is highly malleable, with over 100 definitions
floating about – as we’ve discussed. But apart from that, it’s
now accepted that the president and his minions have the right to
kill almost anyone. This conceit will get completely out of control
after the next real or imagined major terrorist incident.

Louis:
This reminds me of the extraordinary powers given to government
agents to battle the War On Some Drugs – like the RICO statutes
– which have now been turned against ordinary citizens who
have nothing to do with the drug trade.

Doug:
Exactly. Once you give the state a power – for whatever good
reason you imagine it needs it – it will use that power for
whatever those in charge feel is in their interests. And those in
charge are never saints.

Next:

Indefinite
detention: “Under the law signed last month, terrorism
suspects are to be held by the military; the president also has
the authority to indefinitely detain citizens accused of terrorism.”

This was a
precedent set by Guantánamo, where scores of the accused continue
to rot without even a kangaroo-court trial.

Arbitrary
justice: “The president now decides whether a person will
receive a trial in the federal courts or in a military tribunal,
a system that has been ridiculed around the world for lacking basic
due process protections. Bush claimed this authority in 2001, and
Obama has continued the practice.”

As the government
becomes more powerful, it’s completely predictable that everything
– including the justice system – will become ever more
politicized. And government very rarely relinquishes a power it’s
gained. I particularly like the Supreme Court ruling in April 2012
that allows anyone who’s arrested for anything – including
littering or jaywalking – to be strip-searched.

Louis:
Note to readers: you can’t hear Doug’s voice, but I assure you that
his use of the word “like” is sarcastic.

Doug:
Just so. Moving right along:

Warrantless
searches: “The president may now order warrantless surveillance,
including a new capability to force companies and organizations
to turn over information on citizens’ finances, communications and
associations. Bush acquired this sweeping power under the Patriot
Act in 2001, and in 2011, Obama extended
the power, including searches of everything from business documents
to library records.”

Privacy is
now a completely dead concept, from both a legal and a practical
point of view. If you want to retain privacy, you now have no alternative
to relocating outside the US.

Louis:
Or any advanced Western country. I’ve read that there are more surveillance
cameras per square mile in London than anywhere else.

Doug:
I’ve heard that too. The opposite being true in rural Argentina
is one of the things I like about it. Back to the list:

Secret
evidence: “The government now routinely uses secret evidence
to detain individuals and employs secret evidence in federal and
military courts. It also forces the dismissal of cases against the
United States by simply filing declarations that the cases would
make the government reveal classified information that would harm
national security…”

“National security”
essentially amounts to nothing more than government security, which
amounts to cover for the individuals in the government. Nazi Germany
and the USSR were national-security states. As I’ve tried to explain
in the past, once a critical mass is reached, it’s impossible to
reform a government. I believe we’ve reached that state in the US.

War
crimes: “The world clamored for prosecutions of those responsible
for waterboarding terrorism suspects during the Bush administration,
but
the Obama administration said in 2009 that it would not allow
CIA employees to be investigated or prosecuted for such actions.
This gutted not just treaty obligations but the Nuremberg principles
of international law.”

Torture by
field operatives under the stress of combat is one thing; torture
as official policy is something else again. But torture is now accepted
in the US. Worse, there are far more serious war crimes than torture
being committed in the name of the US that are going unpunished.

Louis:
This is, after all, a far darker version of the same US government
that deliberately
infected black US citizens with syphilis just to see what would
happen, and sent
US citizens of Japanese descent to concentration camps during
WWII.

Doug:
Exactly. The next point is:

Secret
court: “The government has increased its use of the secret
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has expanded its
secret warrants to include individuals deemed to be aiding or abetting
hostile foreign governments or organizations. In 2011, Obama renewed
these powers, including allowing secret searches of individuals
who are not part of an identifiable terrorist group.”

You no longer
live in a free country when there’s zero privacy for citizens, but
100% secrecy for the government and those it employs.

Immunity
from judicial review: “Like the Bush administration, the
Obama administration has successfully pushed for immunity for companies
that assist in warrantless surveillance of citizens, blocking the
ability of citizens to challenge the violation of privacy.”

The government
has outsourced some of its functions – not least the use of
contractors in war zones. Increasingly, being associated with the
government gives you a “get out of jail free” card. In the USSR
they called this a “krisha” – a roof.

Continual
monitoring of citizens: “The Obama administration has successfully
defended its claim that it can use GPS devices to monitor every
move of targeted citizens without securing any court order or review.”

Bad as this
is, it’s just one example. There’s also the use of domestic drones,
and hundreds of thousands of cameras that take pictures of everyone
everywhere.

Extraordinary
renditions: “The government now has the ability to transfer
both citizens and noncitizens to another country under a system
known as extraordinary rendition, which has been denounced as using
other countries, such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan,
to torture suspects.”

Yes, if someone
is kidnapped, there’s plausible deniability if the torturing is
done abroad by a third party. And they’re likely to have even fewer
compunctions.

Louis:
That’s a pretty depressing list, Doug.

Doug:
And this is just the beginning. As I’ve said before, I don’t call
the shots – just try to tell the truth as I see it. The point
is that you couldn’t assemble a list like this even 15 years ago.
But now it’s part of the firmament. Worse, it’s going to grow. As
the economy turns down over the next few years, the people –
acting like scared chimpanzees – will ask the government to
“do something.” And it will. The trend is going hyperbolic.

Louis:
I can’t argue… and I agree it is not likely to be stopped.
So if this is a sure trend, are there investment implications?

Doug:
This just goes to reinforce what I’ve been saying for some time.
As great as a US citizen’s risk is in the marketplace these days,
the greatest single risk to their wealth and health is the government.
People simply must internationalize to diversify their political
risk. I can’t stress that strongly enough.

Louis:
Would you go so far as to say that being a taxpayer in the US now
is like being a Jew in Germany in the mid-1930s?

Doug:
That’s a good analogy. It’s costly and upsetting to uproot, but
the risk if you don’t is unimaginably worse. And I would warn people
in other countries to take the same precautions. All of these nation-states
are dying dinosaurs that will cause a lot of damage as they thrash
about in their death throes. No place is completely safe, but you
improve your odds by not putting your eggs all in one basket.

Louis:
Okay, I guess we’ve covered that plenty of times. Is there a “police-state
play” – any investments one could make before the new Iron
Curtain slams down? Handcuff manufacturers?

Doug:
Nah – they have those plastic zip-binder things now; they’re
so cheap that I doubt the manufacturer can even make big money in
volume. But I do remember a speech I attended in the ’90s given
by William Bennett, the ex-Drug Czar, who recommended investing
in prisons. I excoriated him as a sociopath at that meeting –
but he was right. However, that ship has sailed; it’s hard to believe
the US can incarcerate more than the current 2.3 million people.
Besides, I find it morally offensive to capitalize on what I consider
to be criminal enterprises. No, for now the only absolutely crystal-clear
imperative is as above: You’ve got to have a Plan B ready in case
you need to get out of Dodge – and you need it pronto.

And to those
who celebrate Thanksgiving, I urge you to remember that it was hard
work and the freedom to profit from it that created the bounty the
pilgrims celebrated. It was this enterprising spirit and the liberty
to exercise it that was the heart of the idea of the America That
Was – the idea that made America great. Those corrupt politicians
who have been undermining these values for so long and the willfully
ignorant ideologues who support them are responsible for turning
this country into the United (Police) State of America. They should
be criticized and opposed at every opportunity.

Louis:
Okay, Doug. Thanks for another challenging but enlightening conversation.

Doug:
My pleasure.

---

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December
7, 2012

Doug
Casey (send him mail)
is
a best-selling author and chairman of Casey
Research, LLC., publishers of Casey’s
International Speculator.

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© 2012 Casey
Research

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