EIR Daily Alert Service

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EDITORIAL

Worst ‘Fake News’: Media Refuse To Inform Americans of the New Paradigm Revolution

March 27 (EIRNS)—Forty-eight hours after Saturday’s Weekly Address by President Donald Trump, inspiring America to restore our nation’s lost dedication to expanding human knowledge of the Universe and of life itself, that historic broadcast remains virtually unreported in the American media. Not even mentioned in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angles Times, nor on the major TV and radio networks. Instead, the media are full of stories that Trump is “failing” because a (deeply flawed) health bill was defeated, with McCarthyite hysteria about Russia stealing the U.S. election, and even recurring references to the “smell of treason hanging over the Trump Administration.”

This is nonsense on one level. But it is also occurring as a slew of subversive “color revolutions,” like that being carried out against the Trump Administration, are showing up across Europe—in the Balkans, in Belarus (with direct support from the neo-Nazi brigades in Ukraine), and most importantly, in Russia, where the Soros-linked Sergei Navalny has activated a few thousand demonstrators to provoke a few arrests to be turned into headlines around the world.

And, equally important, the recent adoption by President Trump of a call for a return to “the American System,” something almost exclusively identified in recent decades with Lyndon LaRouche, has been given the same treatment by the mainstream media. The columnist who goes by the name of ‘Virgil’ on the Breitbart website, which was previously headed by Trump’s Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, has issued two powerful reports, one on Trump’s visit to Michigan this month (“Donald Trump, Rosie the Riveter, and the Revival of American Economic Nationalism”), and a second on Trump’s call for restoring the American System (“Trump Connects to the Taproot of American Economic Nationalism with Henry Clay’s ‘American System,’ ”). Virgil notes that these speeches by the President raised “arguably the most important economic-policy idea in U.S. history,” and yet, “There was no mention of it in Politico, nor the Washington Post, nor in the New York Times, nor on CNN.”

The lies spread as facts by the sophists at these British- and Wall Street-controlled media outlets are repulsive and destructive, but not nearly as destructive as the failure to convey to the mass of Americans (and others) that the unfolding economic and moral transformation of our nation, and potentially the world, are even taking place. Imagine Jack Kennedy’s call for man to go to the Moon “not because it is easy, but because it is hard,” being blacked out of the U.S. media. This treatment is well-known to Lyndon LaRouche, whose formative role in both these scientific and economic innovations is obvious to all who know him, but has been systematically kept from most of the American people for 50 years, as a conscious, openly declared policy of the so-called mainstream media.

But that capacity to impose mind control on the population through the media is being broken. A President who addresses the population directly, and refuses to bend to the myth that “popular opinion,” as defined by the media, must be worshipped, has now assumed office. It is far from clear that he will be successful, but the potential is great if the population rises to the occasion. Lyndon LaRouche, for one, believes that Trump knows what he is talking about.

Lyndon LaRouche has always insisted that “popular opinion” and “being practical” are the greatest enemies of mankind, and of creativity in particular. In this time of revolutionary change, in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt, the new paradigm is fully attainable. The world is turning to China’s New Silk Road process, marking the end of zero-sum “geopolitics” under the British Empire, which has dominated modern history since at least 1900. The notion of a global Renaissance—in science, the arts, and political economy—is the necessary and sufficient mission now before us all.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Breitbart: Insightful Presentations on the American System

March 27 (EIRNS)—Two articles by a long-standing writer at Breitbart who uses the name “Virgil,” report on President Trump’s recent adoption of the American System, and, almost certainly, reflects an educational experience by the President in which Virgil is playing a role. Anyone familiar with the publications of Lyndon LaRouche over the past 50 years will recognize the resonance.

The first article, “Donald Trump, Rosie the Riveter, and the Revival of American Economic Nationalism” on March 17, begins: “Sometimes big ideas get small coverage.  Unfortunately, that was the case with President Trump’s March 15 trip to Michigan, in which he raised an important idea—arguably the most important economic-policy idea in U.S. history—and yet his words received almost no attention.” He (assuming Virgil is a “he”) reviews Trump’s speech at Willow Run, on the mass production of the B-24 Liberator and the later retooling for domestic production after the war, and FDR’s “Arsenal of Democracy.”

But Virgil adds: “In those years, the American economy demonstrated that high wages, high growth, and high profits could go hand in hand,” and that “productivity and wages moved up rapidly in lockstep,” at least until 1973. But since then, productivity rose while wages stagnated, he writes.

To return to that productive era, he says, Trump has called for a return to the “American System” of Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay, and Abraham Lincoln. He quotes the great (and almost unknown in America today) American economist Henry Carey, who wrote about the “Harmony of Interests” between farmers, labor, business, and government, adding that “the basics of the Hamilton-Clay-Carey vision are timeless.”

The second article, from March 23, is titled “Trump Connects to the Taproot of American Economic Nationalism with Henry Clay’s American System.”

“This is big,” Virgil writes. “This is historic.  Why? Because it indicates that the platform of Trumpism—which elitist critics have dismissed as populist pandering and rank demagoguery—is, in fact, an agenda deeply informed by the best traditions of American history.  It was the American System that built up this country, giving us widespread prosperity and also, crucially, the material muscle we needed to win the wars we had to fight.” He notes the disaster caused by the taking down of this American System, especially since the 1970s. “We see the consequences all around us. And yet now, thanks to Trump, the American System is showing signs of a comeback. Admittedly, the administration must put meat on the bones of Clay’s memory, but at least it has made a start.”

Virgil points to three pillars of the American System: Fair trade; Pro-industrial banking; and Stimulus of innovation. On the first, he praises Trump’s dumping of the TPP and TTIP as examples.

On banking, he writes this extraordinary statement, which could come straight from a LaRouche publication:

“And so for the Trump administration, a key test will be its willingness to go toe to toe with Wall Street on the reimposition of Glass-Steagall-type banking regulation. That 1933 law, we can recall, simultaneously protected small depositors and restricted speculative, casino-style banking. Unwisely, Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999, during the Clinton administration—and we all remember the speculation-driven financial meltdown of less than a decade later. During the 2016 campaign, Trump called for a 21st century version of Glass-Steagall. So now, in 2017, we will have to see what pro-industry reforms might emerge.”

Virgil’s comments on innovation are equally insightful. He notes that free enterprise is important, with the “competition in the marketplace.” But—“the free market does not always spur technological leaps, of the sort that Adam Smith noted in the late 18th century, and that Ford engineered in the early 20th century.  In fact, as often as not, the free market incentivizes cutting prices and costs.  And that’s because of the nature of competition…. We can step back and observe: Cut-throat competition doesn’t necessarily build things—it cuts throats.”

He concludes that “the font of innovation needs to come from somewhere other than the competitive entity itself.” While he suggests only “a university, a research institute, or a lone tinkerer,” he is at least hinting at LaRouche’s fundamental point, that man is not an animal in a Darwinian world of survival of the fittest, but a creative being, in whom true joy—the Leibnizian “happiness” of our Declaration of Independence—comes from the creative process itself, in contributing to the future of mankind.

Ryan Healthcare Bill Dead; Single Payer Now on Agenda

March 27 (EIRNS)—With the Ryan healthcare bill pulled from the House Floor March 24 because it lacked the votes to pass, and Obamacare already rejected in Trump’s election, the “single-payer bill,” or “Medicare for all,” has now gained traction as the way to provide public healthcare in the U.S.

On CNN’s nationally televised “State of the Union” on Sunday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), invited President Trump to “come on board” a single-payer healthcare plan. A “single-payer” plan would work as the popular Federal “Medicare” program does, paying health costs for those over 65 based on paycheck contributions made by workers and employers during one’s working life.

Sanders told CNN-TV’s Dana Bach, “I’m going to introduce a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program. Sanders has repeatedly stated his support for making the highly popular Medicare available to everyone, and getting Republicans behind it.

“Medicare for all” could help to deliver on President Trump’s pursuit of lowering prescription drug prices, Sanders said, adding that he would look to work with the White House on the legislation: “President Trump, come on board. Let’s work together. Let’s end the absurdity of Americans paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.”

Republicans, with a 237-193 edge in the House, did not have the votes to pass House Speaker Ryan’s bill, which Sanders called “a disastrous piece of legislation.”

Now, President Trump is reaching out to Democrats to get a health bill that can pass and replace Obamacare. Today, Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer told Jonathan Easley of The Hill, “Starting Friday afternoon through late yesterday, [President Trump] has received a number of calls, as well as other members of the senior staff that have been working on healthcare, from Members of both sides, saying that they would like to work together; offer up ideas, and have suggestions about how to come to resolution on this, and get to a House vote on this.” Spicer continued, “I think there has been a lot of outreach from Members of both sides with ideas the President is willing to listen to, and if they can come to resolution on a way forward, then obviously we are willing to listen and move forward.

“We learned a lot through this process. I think we’re obviously looking for a way that we can improve not only how we handled healthcare, but other things; how we do everything.”

The U.S. House version of the “single-payer healthcare bill, H.R. 676 has already been introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who has sponsored it in every recent session of Congress. Conyers and others fought for it, but lost to the disastrous Obamacare.

Media Driving Talk of Trump ‘Treason’

March 27 (EIRNS)—Breitbart News is reporting that the latest “trend” in the news media is that of introducing the idea of “Treason” into the discussion of Trump. “Over the past week,” says “senior investigative reporter” Aaron Klein, “numerous Democratic Party operatives and establishment pundits have used the word ‘treason’ in a seeming attempt to smear President Donald Trump over unproven claims of collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.”

Monday, March 20, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager Robby Mook demanding Trump’s campaign aides be “prosecuted for treason” if evidence emerged of collusion between Trump and Moscow during the campaign.

Next day, Michael Winship, senior writer for BillMoyers.com, wrote “There’s a ‘Smell of Treason’ in the Air,” referring to the House Intelligence Committee Hearing Monday, where Democrat Adam Schiff spoke of Trump’s actions of “shocking betrayal.”

Actually, the “smell of treason” originated in an article in the Washington Post, where “presidential historian” Douglas Brinkley, speaking of the House hearing, said: “There’s a smell of treason in the air.”

On March 23, the New York Times followed with an op-ed by Nicholas Kristof, titled, “There’s a Smell of Treason in the Air.” Kristof started by citing President Richard Nixon quote, with ominous implications today: “The greatest political scandal in American history was not Aaron Burr’s shooting of Alexander Hamilton … it may have been Richard Nixon’s secret efforts in 1968 to sabotage a U.S. diplomatic effort to end the Vietnam War … treason.”

On March 24, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) warned of a “cloud of treason” hanging over the administration. Damon Linker followed in The Week, only to be outshone by the original “Watergate grand master” himself, Carl Bernstein, who pronounced Trump to be “more treacherous than Nixon.” Now even a Twitter “Hashtag,” #TrumpTreason, is “trending.”

NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER

New Zealand Signs Cooperation Agreement on China’s Belt and Road Initiative

March 27 (EIRNS)—During his current visit to New Zealand, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English today signed a cooperation agreement on the Belt and Road Initiative, Global Times reported. In addition, “both witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, which adds to the long list of ground-breaking achievements the two countries have scored in bilateral cooperation,” Xinhua reported.  Premier English said that Paul Goldsmith, New Zealand’s Regulatory Reform and Innovation Minister, would attend the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in May, Reuters reported.

Commenting on New Zealand’s growing cooperation with China, Wang Yiwei, Director of the Center for International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told Global Times: “This is an excellent start. New Zealand used to be a close U.S. ally, but now its decision-making is getting increasingly independent, and it is a good example for other Western countries to learn how to deal with China…. Not only on the Belt and Road, but also in many other areas, New Zealand is always the first to cooperate with China among the West,” Wang said.

“New Zealand was also the first Western country to conclude bilateral negotiations on China’s accession to the World Trade Organization; to recognize China’s full market-economy status; to sign and implement a bilateral free trade agreement with China, and to join the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member,” the Global Times reported.

Earlier, during his March 22-26 visit to Australia, Premier Li and the Australian Premier Malcolm Turnbull announced a major beef export deal set to bolster Australia’s billion dollar chilled beef export market—which is already worth $600 million a year in exports to China. “The bilateral talks also included agreements to boost free trade, liberalization, and higher education links,” according to Australian Associated Press March 26.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Two Infrastructure Financing Proposals for U.S. Get Support

March 27 (EIRNS)—The U.S. is so desperately in need of infrastructure modernization that even the full Editorial Board of the Washington Post has a signed editorial endorsing a proposal by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) to increase the Federal gas tax by up to 1.5 cents per gallon, per year, with the proceeds going to pay interest on an annual surface transportation bond issue of $17 billion through 2030. Using the tax not to directly finance, but rather to borrow a larger sum long term, is the best way to use the increased gas tax proceeds. While this is not the same as the needed national infrastructure bank, it points in that direction.

As the Post points out, this would be the first increase in the gas tax, currently 18.4 cents per gallon, since 1993. It would finance a 30% increase in spending from the Highway Trust Fund, above what is currently planned.

The failure to increase the highway funding source for the past 25 years is equivalent to a 40% cut in real terms (emphasis in original), the Post writes. However, state governments have been raising the gas tax, even while the Federal government did not, with 19 states and the District of Columbia raising theirs since 2013. Both Democratic- and Republican-leaning states have enacted hefty raises in the last few years to deal with the huge backlog of maintenance and construction needs.

Even so, the Federal Highway Trust Fund pays for infrastructure which every American depends on, and the Post recommends a 10 cent per gallon tax increase.

At the same time, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) met Trump Administration officials March 22 for infrastructure discussions on a project for building and operating a maglev system.

The project, leaked to the Washington Post, involved a private developer to build and operate a system “at 311 mph and take only 15 minutes to travel between” Baltimore and Washington with a stop at the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The developer, Washington Rapid Rail, “would eventually like to extend the system to New York City.”

Another of Governor Hogan’s urgent rail projects is reconstruction of Baltimore’s 122-year old Howard Street Tunnel, and modification of nine overhead bridges to create a rail route for double-stacked cargo going from the Port of Baltimore along the entire Interstate 95 rail corridor. The project is Maryland’s top priority for a Federal grant of $155 million, and the document states that CSX Railroad and the state of Maryland would each put up $145 million of the cost.

Chicago Leads the Nation in Disappearance of Urban Population

March 27 (EIRNS)—For the second year in a row, Obama’s favorite town of Chicago has suffered a decrease in population. This year was worse than last year, with the Windy City losing over 19,000 residents, according to a new report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau. Not only is Chicago leading the nation in this dubious honor, it was the only “top ten” city in the entire country to experience such a decline, and is now in danger of losing the number-three spot nationally to Houston. The drop in Chicago’s population is the first since 1990, and even then immigrants bolstered the population for the next decade; “experts” are expecting the city to continue to decline in size for the next several years.

The reason: the failing economy and the skyrocketing murder rate. “The exodus … is led by the Chicago region’s black population,” notes an article last week in Chicago Tribune, “in search of stable incomes and safe neighborhoods.” The paper says that more than 9,000 black residents left Cook County between 2014 and 2015. “No group is leaving the county as much as they are,” Chicago-based demographer Bob Paral told them. “The loss of African-Americans is really a big factor.”

The larger story, of course, is that of the national economy. Twelve of the 23 urban areas which suffered decline are in the “rust belt” of states which, not surprisingly, provided Trump’s margin of victory in last November’s Presidential election. Media reports indicate that Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Cincinnati all saw a decline in residents. In Baltimore, according to the Baltimore Sun newspaper, the population collapse has reached the point where it has wiped out nearly a full century of growth.

OTHER

EU To ‘Help’ Philippines With ‘Drug-Fix’ Centers

March 27 (EIRNS)—President Rodrigo Duterte has rejected and ridiculed a proposal he said came from the EU, for aid to build facilities where drug addicts can take narcotics under medical supervision. He called it an “idiotic exercise” that would only perpetuate the drug problem in the country.

“The EU,” Duterte said, “they communicated to us and they want a health-based solution for the drugs. They want us to build clinics, and instead of arresting or putting them in prison, you go there and if you want shabu [methamphetamines] they will inject…; if you want marijuana, there’s a place there—government-sponsored—idiotic exercise. If you want cocaine, they will give you cocaine; and if they want heroin, they will give you heroin.

“Our people will just go there … until they are crazy like the 4 million contaminated—out of their minds, shrunk brains—and they are all over the Philippines. Who will answer for this? Who will answer for those who died?”

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