By Bill Lindo

Belize City, April 2^nd 2023:  This is a short explainer on how the local oligarchy steals from Belizeans using global inflation as the cover.  This writer is a firm believer in capitalism, but in the American version of Hamilton, Lincoln, Carey, FDR, and Sun Yat-sen, not the British version of Smith, Marshall, Friedman and Keynes.

In a February 2023 blog I wrote:   “Some 2,390 years ago, the Greek, Plato wrote, “Ruin comes when the trader, lifted up by wealth, becomes ruler.” And American President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote its Declaration of Independence wrote, “Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.” The great German-American Friedrich List the economist who created modern Germany, wrote in 1845, “The merchant imports poisons as readily as medicines. He enervates whole nations through opium and spirituous liquors… In the time of war he provides the enemy with arms and ammunition. He would if it were possible, sell field and meadows to foreign countries, and when he had sold the last bit of land would place himself on board his ship and export himself.”  Neither George Price, nor any subsequent Belizean government has been able to “discipline” the merchants and bankers of Belize – and so, forty-one years later, Belize still has no financial nor economic Independence, and thus misery abounds in the land”

A few days ago, the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) issued its report on local cost of living, especially for food and transportation, and on foreign trade (imports vs. exports which is a shame). According to SIB the food and non-alcoholic beverages of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 14.6% from January to February 2023. The food items rose in one month to an un-believable 16.9%, with flour going up by 37.3%; vegetable cooking oil increased by 36.5%; dairy products rose by 20.6% and cereal products increased by some 19.7%.  

Putting these numbers another way, it means that the increase in minimum wages ($ 5/hour) enacted in January 2023 just lost some 20% of its value, or the increase now must be $ 6.00 per hour for the worker to purchase the same quantity of goods as he purchased in January 2023. In other words, inflation makes people poorer – they slide into poverty through no fault of their own, because of the greed of the oligarchy. But remember, merely a manipulation of the money supply will not cure inflation.

80-day “Cyprus” Rice grown by author

Now let’s look at the details of just four locally produced commodities which every Belizean consumes – rice, corn, soybeans and chickens. Chickens cannot be raised without corn and soybeans, which usually accounts for some 80% of the cost of the boiler chicken.  Below are the costs per acre to grow corn, rice and soy mechanically, on at least 50 acres.

ITEMS	Corn 2019	Corn 2023	Rice 2019	Rice 2023	Soy 2019	Soy 2023
Seeds	$ 130	$ 174	$ 115	$ 138	$ 91	$ 120
Fertilizer	$ 146	$ 173	$ 198	$ 237	$ 170	$ 190
Gas & Butane	$ 36	$ 46	$ 51	$ 59	$ 36	$ 46
Diesel	$ 135	$ 175	$ 145	$ 184	$ 140	$ 175
Machinery	$ 285	$ 310	$ 279	$ 306	$ 280	$ 305
Labour	$ 360	$ 360	$ 350	$ 350	$ 385	$ 385
Total  Costs	$ 1092	$ 1238	$ 1138	$ 1274	$ 1102	$ 1221
Unit/pounds	$ 0.24	$ 0.28	$ 0.25	$ 0.28	$ 0.50	$ 0.56

The above table of unit costs tells us that even though prices of imported seeds, diesel fuel and fertilizers increased between 2019 and end of March 2023, the average increase in local production costs was an average of 12%, therefore the retail costs should also increase by the same 12%, but this was not the case.  Thus in 2019, corn which costs $ 0.24 per pound to grow was retailing at $ 0.29, while the same hybrid corn costing $ 0.28 per pound to grow in 2023 is now retailing at $ 0.44 per pound or some 57% more. Using the same mark-up from 2019, yellow corn should be retailing in Belize City for some $0.34 per pound. If we put it another way, the difference between the current retail price of yellow corn and the just humane retail price, then the Belizean economy is paying some $ 15 million dollars + in excess charges.  At $ 10 per day that $ 15 million dollars can feed all the children of Belize for a whole week. Yes, Belize has food security in corn, but because of the monopoly situation of the corn industry, prices to consumers are higher by some $ 15 million dollars in March 2023 because of the greed of producers, not the retailers.

Let us turn our attention to soybeans. This bean only became a commercial crop in Belize after Mr Sinha of CARDI spent over 20 years developing a seed suited to Belize that now yields 2,000 lbs. +/acre for “open-pollinated” seeds if all inputs are done correctly.  Soybeans are grown mainly for the high protein content of the meal or left-over trash (after extruding the beans) to extract the crude oil. Chickens on average need about 19% protein for fast growth. Corn only has about 9%, under normal situations, thus the cheap soy-trash which has between 42% and 48% proteins is mixed with the corn along with a few vitamins, salt and lysine (amino acids) to feed the chickens we consume.

Belize consumes over 13 million birds per year, so soybean meal is required in vast quantities.  Belize harvested over 55 million pounds of soybeans last year, so Belize is self-sufficient in soybeans for feeding chickens.  As with corn, while the production costs of soybeans increased by some 12% between 2019 and 2023, the retail prices have sky rocketed. In 2019 soy meal was selling at $ 0.43 per pound. Today it’s selling for $ 0.73 per pound. This is 70% above the 2019 price, eventhough production costs only increased by 12%.  Soybean monopoly prices are taking some $ 6 million dollars from the Belizean economy by over-charging.

Chickens on a per-capita consumption basis is very high in Belize – one of the highest in the world.  We consume over 58 million pounds. Corn and soy meal makes up 80% of the cost of raising a boiler for meat which is usually slaughtered in seven weeks’ time. In 2019 a live boiler was sold to the processing plant for $ 1.25 per pound and retailed, dress-weight at $ 2.32 per pound, for a whole broiler chicken. Today that same whole broiler chicken is $ 2.89 per pound, or 54% more expensive. In other words, if monopoly pricing was not used, Belizeans would have saved about $ 13.5 million dollars buying whole chickens.

Now rice is eaten by most Belizeans – over 40 million pounds of paddy each year. Belize has been self-sufficient in rice production for over 60 years. From the beginning of the People’s United Party (PUP) its first leader, George Cadle Price had insisted that not only must rice be grown in Belize, but that its price, both wholesale and retail must be regulated by the State because it’s a product eaten each day by the poor who needs protection from the oligarchy – price control on essential commodities.

From the table above we can see that the production cost of growing rice paddy was $ 0.25 per pound in 2019, and that it increased to $ 0.28 per pound in March 2023, or some 12%.  Now something strange has happened with the pricing of rice, a stable commodity.  Humans cannot eat paddy rice, but after milling the paddy, the factory gets broken white rice, bran, and 5% or less broken white rice. The yields of rice milling generally yields 50% of Grade A rice, 12% Bran, 15% is broken rice, and the balance of 23% are shell, chaff, etc. From 2018 to 2019 the cost per pound to mill the rice paddy was $ 0.08 per pound.  Mainly because of increased costs of fuel, the current price of milling is about $ 0.10 per pound.  Remember electricity rates have not increased in Belize.  In 2019 the retail price of Grade A rice was $1.10 per pound. Wholesale was $ 0.95 per pound for Grade A; $ 0.40 per pound for broken over 25%; and $ 0.15 per pound for rice bran. Today, Wholesale for Grade A in 5 pound bags is $ 1.42/lb. and $ 1.64/lb. retail in 5 pound bags. Meanwhile the Belize Marketing Board (Ministry of Agriculture) have reopened the Big Falls, Toledo rice mill and is selling Grade A at $ 1.17 per pound wholesale, while the retail price of Grade A is $ 1.35 per pound or some 21% less than the other millers. The government should enforce the price of Grade A rice at not more than $ 1.35 per pound retail, as this would save the Belizean people some $ 8 million dollars per year.  And the government price paid for paddy at $ 0.40 per pound should be only for “milpa” rice to guarantee the small rice farmers a reasonable income. No big farmer should receive this price for their paddy.

The above is showing that eventhough Belize has basic food security in rice, corn, soybeans and chicken, the producers because of their monopoly status is over-charging the Belizean public to the tune of about $ 42.5 million dollars per year. We know this is just the tip of the iceberg. Inflation, especially which is caused by lack of supplies as we are seeing in today’s world can only be solved by production and national banking. But we cannot allow producers to take advantage of our people. Belize’s economy must become more, much more self-reliant if we wish to survive the gathering storm coming towards the Western world.

Perhaps it’s time we throw out the neo-liberal dogma and discipline the oligarchy before they destroy us with their greed.  Everyone who invests his time, money and brains must make a profit or the economy will collapse, but none has the right to get greedy and over-charge, especially for basic food stuffs –that is plain wrong. Inflation can and must be defeated.  In Belize the lack of access to money and government protection, especially to the local Belizeans must stop. Belize belongs to Belizeans — not to foreigners because of the colour of their skin and because they have better access to money which was created out of thin air.  They are not here to help – they come to take – to exploit – to create slaves.

 Belizeans, remember the wise words of that great Belizean founder George Price who understood the solution to this crisis very well.  He would say that it is not a matter of too little money or too much money; but that it is, “…we, who are the best judge of our own necessities… , not London, not Washington, nor the US Federal Reserve, and certainly not CFATF!  Price’s outlook was and is the intent of our Party’s Constitution’s Article I, Clause f:  That the  creation of money and control thereof in all its forms, including the national currency is, and remains the  sole responsibility of the people through their duly elected representatives…

We must take charge.  I believe that we have the wherewithalto make Belize as a great agro-industrial republic.  As patriots, we must be about the job of ensuring that this storm – this economic crisis and potential crash/collapse is actually solved in the shortest amount of time possible.  

Today is Palm Sunday – let’s remember the words of Jesus the Christ and our saviour – “I came to free you of your DEBT (a Golden Jubilee).”

Long Live a Free Independent Christian Belize!

By Bill Lindo

Belize City: Mar 26^th 2023 — We are soon at the end of Lent and in the next two weeks we will celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. The key – the basis of Christianity is that the Word (God) became Flesh (Man) and that he was crucified, died, and that on the third day he rose from death and became human again.

The meaning of this is that Man made in the image of his Creator has the ability to imitate God and thus there are NO Limits to human innovation, creative thinking, and discoveries.  It is on that basis that humans have been able to wilfully increase their standard of living here on planet earth.

When I was growing-up in Belize, over 70 plus years ago, Belize’s population was at least 80% Christians, who dutifully worshipped and truly believed in God and his Son, Jesus. Today, that is no longer the case. Most simply don’t care one way or another.  This decadence of the countries which support the so-called Western way of life is part of the reason for the hatred especially of the largest country on earth – Russia. President of Russia, Vladimir Putin is a hero and great leader of Russia, who revived Russia from the “banana republic” status that the West had put Russia in after 1991 and is today the 6^th largest economy in the world (CIA “real GDP” 2021 – the CIA says China is first, US second, Japan third, and India fifth).  Today, Russia has the most advanced military (they have develop a new weapon called “Hypersonic” which no other country has that travels at 14 times the speed of sound and cannot be shot-down) and possesses the most and best nuclear weapons in the world. Russia today is leader in 42 of 50 strategic resources in the world.  President Putin is a devoted Christian and firm supporter of Christian values, especially the family.  

Currently, the international system is going through a crisis on the scale of a world war. It began nearly a decade ago when the Western-supported “Euro-maidan” coup in Kiev, and Russia’s response by taking control of Crimea, prompted a prolonged United States — Russian confrontation.

Last year, Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, as Russian professor Dmitry Trenin said, “Seeking to eliminate the threat from what many in Moscow saw as the “land-based US-armed and -controlled aircraft carrier parked on Russia’s doorstep,” which Ukraine had become. With that, the Russo-American confrontation degenerated into a proxy war between the world’s two principal nuclear powers.”  In the meantime, Washington further hardened its approach to Beijing,  abruptly replacing its former China policy of ‘engage and hedge’ with a trade and technology war, resulting in a confrontation between Washington and Beijing while also seeking to organize its allies and partners in Asia and Europe against China.

What is at stake here is not just the fate of Ukraine, which will be dismembered by Poland or the future of Taiwan, which will never be independent. The issue is the existing world order itself and its current organizing principle – America’s global hegemony. This status, roundly rejected by Moscow and Beijing, is now in question. For a few years now, the US has been calling the present situation a ‘major power competition’ – recall that this was the cause of both world wars the last (20^th) century. The Russians and Chinese, for their part, have been calling since the early 2000s for a transition/change from United States-led uni-polarity to a multipolar world order. This position is gaining support among various countries in Asia (especially Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia) the Middle East (Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran), Africa (Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Mali), and Latin America (Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua). In effect, the process of systemic change is already underway – only a nuclear war can stop this process.

Last week, President Xi Jinping of China made a historic three day state visit to Russia.  Putin had been hosting Xi in Moscow as a guest of honour last week as the two great powers continue to commit to increasing diplomatic, economic, and military cooperation.  Xi and Putin first declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022, weeks before Russia launched its defence of Russia’s Motherland against NATO by military action against NATO proxy Ukraine.

According to Epoch Times, March 22^nd:  “As Xi left the Kremlin on March 22^nd 2023, he turned to Putin and said with a smile: “This is exactly, right now, the change which hasn’t happened in 100 years.

“And it is we, together, who are driving these changes forward.”

Putin replied, “I agree.”

“Please take care, dear friend,” Xi said before the two shook hands.”

What did China’s President Xi’s reference to a change not seen in a century mean? One hundred years ago was the start of the Great Depression which ended in the killing of over 68 million people in World War II.  Some political commentators have said President Xi was referring to the cementing of the Anglo-American rules-based international order that started to take shape, with the United States eventually emerging as a global superpower.  Others though that President Xi was referring to a new “Bretton Woods” Financial Architecture now taking shape around BRICS +.

Now let’s look at the other major crisis on the global-scale – the collapse of the Western-based Financial System.

Over the last few days, two American banks and one very large Swiss bank went belly-up. Another US bank – Republic Bank is on life-support. In Oct 1929 Wall Street banks and other financial institutions collapsed and by 1932 had put the entire world and all the countries of the world in the Great Depression.  One of the US’ greatest leaders, President Franklin Roosevelt in one of his first acts as President was to push the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial banking from investment banking – stopping the bankers from gambling.  For 66 years, the US and the world suffered no more banking problems until 2008, nine years after the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. By 2009, the Fed had created some $ 26 trillion to bail-out Wall Street and their banks. (Source Bloomberg News). And in just another 10 years, 2019 the banks were in trouble again when their repo market collapsed on September 17^th 2019. The Fed pumped some $ 130 billion per day to save the banks and after June 2021 the Fed used the Covid 19 scam to bail out the bankers again. But 1 ½ years later they are bailing out the bankers again. Why? What’s wrong?

Dennis Small’s elephant in the room – the derivatives bubble

A few days ago, Dennis Small of EIR magazine published a picture in a YouTube video about the elephant in the room – derivatives (gambling).   Credit Suisse which failed, had assets of $ 0.6 trillion dollars, but derivatives exposure of $ 16 trillion dollars.  According to Mr Dennis Small’s photo, the four largest banks in US have $ 8 trillion dollars in assets, but $ 173 trillion dollars in derivatives debt. In contrast, China’s four largest banks have $ 19 trillion dollars in assets and only $ 7 trillion in derivatives debt. Russia is the same, $ 1.75 trillion in derivatives exposure and $ 3.75 trillion in assets. In a word, the Western Banks are all bankrupt. Remember during 2007-2009 the bail-out of the Western Financial System was on the backs of US workers, Developing Countries, and Russia and China. This time Russia and China and most of the global south are telling the G7 and their followers they are on their own – they will not bail them out. Colonialism and imperialism are over, finished.

The other elephant in the room is Inflation.

When the big boys decided to bail-out themselves during the Covid-19 scam, they created a lot of money which ended-up creating inflation, then with policies which rational persons would never do, the Anglo-Americans decided at lightning speed to sanction Russia with over 16,000 different sanctions – the most in the history of the world which have failed miserably. Why? It shows the calibre of their ability to think and their failure to lead. But such is the craziness of the neo-liberal/neo-con mind-set.  Russia before the Ukraine war had a trade surplus of $ 98 billion dollars, today even though Russia is at war, and should have deficits, instead the trade surplus has grown to over $ 264 billion dollars.  Inflation in Russia is at 4% while it’s at 9% in Europe.  Suddenly, money which every sane person knows is debt, suddenly with their “woke” ideology becomes an asset and power. 

Every major Empire for the last four thousand years of recorded history, every single one, collapse because of inflation – the stealing of the common man by the elites with their greed which seems can never be satisfied until their entire world collapses around them.  Remember the elites of Rome assassinate Julius Caesar rather than allow him to proclaim a Jubilee and reorganize the debts. Eventually, Rome collapse as inflation rage. And in our modern age, Chiang Kai-shek lost the civil-war in China in 1949 to Mao ze-dong Communists because the Chinese people turn against Chiang because of the inflation raging China at the end of World War II.  Chiang fled to the Chinese island of Formosa (Taiwan) with the help of the United States who stopped China from exercising their rightful control of their island – Taiwan, because the Americans wish to control and keep China weak.

We need to understand a few truths about life in the universe. In any economy money is important to grease the process, but PRODUCTION IS KEY. Over-and over we as humans need to relearn this truth, only production can control inflation and increase people’s standard of living. God gave to man a great power – something for nothing. A farmer prepares the land and by putting moisture and energy (fertilizers) along with the power of God, and for every 20 lbs of corn seeds gets about 4,000 lbs of corn after some 3 months.  And when the owner of capital (saved labour) leap frogs to the latest technology (applied science) and puts machines to increase the labour-power of workers the products are cheaper per unit even though the wages and profits are high.  This is the American System of Alexander Hamilton, Charles Henry Carey and Abe Lincoln which have produced the miracles we called United States, Germany, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and today’s China – exploit nature, not man.

The NATO-Russia war is showing that the post-industrial society is pure nonsense – rubbish. Every war in human history produces the same result – the side that can produce the most and best guns and armaments wins. During the American Civil War, the North of Lincoln/Carey won because they produced the best and most guns and other weapons/supplies. The South had no production, no factories – everything was imported from Great Britain, thus they lost the war. In World War II the Allies — Great Britain, Soviet Union (Russia) and United States out produced the Axis powers — Germany, Italy and Japan.  The main problem for both Germany and Japan (even with their superior industry/technology) was a lack of a reliable cheap source of energy. The USA and Soviet Union (Russia) had vast and cheap sources of energy.

Today, Russia is a large producer of oil and gas, along with aluminium, fertilizers, steel, food, machine tools, and for the last 70 years the second largest exporter of military equipment, including some of the best jets, tanks, artillery and small arms. The US is the largest. Russia was the first in space, and for the last 15 years the only way to reach the international space station was on Russian rockets.  The Russians have more and much better nuclear weapons than any other country, yet the West expects Ukraine to defeat Russia. What are they smoking!  Even CNN is now saying that for every Russian killed, Ukraine losses some twelve soldiers. Russia has already destroyed two Ukraine armies. They are now on their third.  Ukraine has lost most of its industrial capacity – the Donbass region. It has also lost close to 40% of its agricultural land where the average top soil is 15 feet deep, one of the best in the world.

Make no mistake, NATO cannot defeat todays Russia.  The West/Ukraine is firing some 7,000 per day artillery 155mm shells. Meanwhile, today Russia is firing 20,000 per day at Ukraine, and producing 120,000 per day in its factories. No country in NATO has that industrial capacity.  And while Russia has some 29% of its work-force in industrial production, its partner China has close to 38%. The US has some 14% and Germany is now down to 15% from 28% before Covid-19.  The high cost of energy is now destroying the once mighty industrial Germany.  The delusion of the West must stop before they launch nuclear missiles against Russia/China to win what they cannot win.

The only way in 2023 to defeat inflation is to produce as much of everything that your citizens consume. Countries like Belize must learn that ONLY by PRODUCTION – self-sufficiency can Belize defeat inflation and provide a relative high standard of living for its citizens. But government must stop playing games with the monopoly local producers of food.  They must remember they are a part of Belize and not superior to anyone else.  Stop using global inflation as an excuse to keep raising prices on locally produced foods.  And remember that foreigners will never develop your country – only local Belizeans can do that.  And to do that, we must leap frog to the latest technology – the best machine tools.

Long Live a free Independent Belize!

By Bill Lindo

Belize City: Feb 4^th 2023:  We say that the country nestled between Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea on the east is independent, and has been so since September 21^st 1981. But I would say that Belize is on the road to Independence. It is not yet there.

I would suggest that the word independence as applied to a country and especially a nation-state means political, financial, and economic independence. There is no doubt that Belize has political independence.  The National Assembly, seated in Belmopan makes “laws” that instruct the citizens of Belize on how to conduct themselves and with each other.  The executive branch of government headquartered in Belmopan, runs the day-to-day business of government by collecting taxes, and spending those funds through a budget that the National Assembly approves each fiscal year based on decisions made by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. Importantly, like in other independent societies, the Prime Minister controls of the police and army, which he can use against internal and external enemies of Belize.

When Belize got its independence in 1981 it didn’t get neither financial nor economic independence.  In 2013 the National Bank of Belize opened its doors to the Belizean public as a commercial bank to be owned and controlled by Belizeans.  Today, Belize has four commercial banks. Three are foreign owned and control $ 3.6 billion dollars’ worth of deposits versus a measly $ 79 million (2%) in deposits in the locally owned commercial bank. The real power of the foreign banks is the loan portfolio; the foreign banks issued some $ 2.3 billion dollars (97.1%) versus $ 68.8 million dollars by the only locally owned commercial bank. The other financial institutions – the credit unions, as of September 2022, had issued to their members some $ 645.7 million dollars in loans. In addition, the four commercial banks possess some $ 665 million dollars in excess liquidity and the credit unions have about $ 296.5 million dollars. So, about $ 961.5 million dollars or close to one billion dollars exist in excess liquidity which can be loaned out to Belizeans, but are not because as one banker said, “there are no bankable projects” in Belize.

Looking at Belize’s economy, a small country with a population of 440,000 persons, growing at an average of 2.6% per year, with some 52% of the employed workforce living above their means, an astute observer will comment that trouble is in the making.   According to the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB), the merchandise trade of Belize for 2022, imports increased by some 30% to some $ 2.76 billion dollars, a large portion of which was imported fuel and lubricants. Meanwhile, exports and re-exports also increased by 11.4% to some $ 587.3 million, leaving a negative trade balance of $ 2.17 billion dollars. This is the largest negative trade balance in the history of Belize and is clearly unsustainable.

The decision on January 1^st 2023, by government of Belize to institute $ 5.00 per hour as the minimum wage, means that some 30,000 workers are now below the poverty line. This has reduced the amount of poverty in Belize to 42%, which is still too high for a country with a population of only 440,000 persons.  It is expected that the GDP of Belize for 2022 will turn-out to some $ 5 billion dollars or so.  Any country that imports more than 30% of its GDP cannot have a sustainable economy. NONE. Belize is now at 53%. (Look at Sri Lanka today or Lebanon, or Pakistan.) NO country can import 75% of goods that are consumed locally for a long time. Someday it must stop.

Independence is not easy to deal with. In fact, it was George Price and the militants within his People’s United Party (PUP) who insisted with the threat of force that Belize will get its independence in 1981. Make no mistake — Belize owes a great debt to Cuban Leader Fidel Castro for our independence.  The British were opposed to Belize’s independence unless the government of Belize go along with theirplan to “balkanize” Belize by giving all or at least half of the Toledo District to Guatemala as settlement for the Anglo-Guatemala Dispute. (As a side – this is why the Mayan Land Rights Issue is so full of thorns – some sectors of Belize want to “balkanize” Belize in deference to the Anglo-Americans).  George Price approached the Cubans for assistance and got a personal commitment from Fidel Castro that Cuba would station troops in Belize to guarantee Belize’s Independence from Guatemala.  The Americans went ballistic and instructed the British to station troops in Belize to deter Guatemala for “an appropriate time”.  Why?  The Americans were afraid of Cuban troops on the mainland of Central America, because it was Guatemala who help the Americans train and house rebels from the failed “Bay of Pigs” invasion of Cuba.

Some 2,390 years ago, the Greek, Plato wrote, “Ruin comes when the trader, lifted up by wealth, becomes ruler.” And American President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote its Declaration of Independence wrote, “merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.” The great German-American Friedrich List the economist who created modern Germany, wrote in 1845, “The merchant imports poisons as readily as medicines. He enervates whole nations through opium and spirituous liquors… In the time of war he provides the enemy with arms and ammunition. He would if it were possible, sell field and meadows to foreign countries, and when he had sold the last bit of land would place himself on board his ship and export himself.”  Neither George Price, nor any subsequent Belizean government has been able to “discipline” the merchants and bankers of Belize – and so, forty-one years later, Belize still has no financial nor economic Independence.

The former British colonial masters have done a good job on the minds of most Belizeans. We as a people look down on our own. We do not believe that Belizeans, especially roots Belizeans are capable.  We look to foreign experts to guide us, to instruct us. Even in the matter of justice we look to foreigners to dispense justice because Belizeans cannot be trusted. Shame on Belize!  In 1980, two countries of the United Nations voted against Belize, while over 180 nations voted for Belize to be free – to take its place on the international stage. But what did we do with our freedom/independence? We, in 2019 voted by some 55% to let the Anglo-American International Court of Justice (ICJ) decide how much (or if any) of Belize’s territory will be turn over to Guatemala to settle the Anglo-Guatemala Dispute.  The local elites and most of the middle-classes supported letting the ICJ decide Belize’s future. Belizean act “like crabs-in-a-barrel” towards each other but adore the “bacraman” like a god.

Last Wednesday, on February 1^st, 2023, the government gave out the keys to some 50 new home owners. The PUP government in its PlanBelize Manifesto commits to building 10,000 new concrete houses in five years or some 2,000 per year. So far, some 260 houses have been built.  During 1998 – 2008, the PUP government had built close to 11,000 houses, which cost the government close to $ 255 million dollars over eight years. Two problems emerged from that experience – the roots Belizeans could not afford the new homes, and the country lacked the foreign exchange to adequately pay for the imports of materials to construct the homes. A large part of it ended-up in the Super Bond.  Currently, government is providing a “starter-concrete – 500 sq. ft.” house for $ 100 per month or annual payments of $ 1,200.00 per year.  According to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Hon. Julius Espat, the new homes cost about $ 45,000.00 each. Therefore, government is providing a subsidy of some $ 30,000.00 per house. This is social justice – the mantra of the Peoples United party (PUP). 

Following the two-year global lockdown, the global elites and their greed led to provocative action against Russia, ending in Russia’s special military action against Ukraine which has caused monumental problems for the global economy. Inflation surged to heights not seen in fifty years. In addition, the G7 sanctions against Russia resulted in many supply shortages of industrial and consumer goods.

Today in Belize, because of inflation a new starter house of 500 sq. ft. will cost about $ 58,000.00 each. The imported items in that house costs $ 35,000.00. If government causes 2,000 homes to be constructed, Belize needs some $ 70 million dollars per year in foreign exchange.  Further, Belize has a housing deficit of some 5,000 houses per year which would require some $ 175 million dollars in new foreign exchange each year.

In addition, Belize has about 60,000 workers who earn between $ 800.00 per month and $ 1,400.00 per month. They can never get a loan from any financial institution in Belize.  In addition, 58,000 of our sisters and brothers make up the unemployed and the so-called structural unemployed – the car-washers who catch-and-kill for instance, but they are human beings made in the image of the Creator.  What should we do with them? Throw them away?  

Belize has been politically independence for some 41 years, yet every day we beg foreigners to give us freebees. Have we not learnt yet?  The world owes no one and no people anything. God made you in his image. You have a brain. Open your mind, as Hon. Henry Usher keeps saying.   THINK.  No one will come to save you. Remember the wise words of Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, “Men are masters of their fates. The fault dear Brutus is not in the stars, but in ourselves.”  Belize has many talented citizens. Belize must get out of its colonial mind-set. If we are ever to develop, we need large-scale transformation. Never forget – the whole is always bigger than the parts.  And most importantly, human skills are learned – no one is born with skills.  Alexander Hamilton invented a new theory of economics, and US President Abe Lincoln and his economic advisor Henry Charles Carey applied it in the United States of America, causing it to be the most powerful nation-state on Earth for over 145 years.  Hamilton’s theory is based on eight principles called the American System of Economics.  One of the most important is that nations are not individuals, while an individual may learn by repetition of processes, nations do not have that luxury – nations in order to advance must leap-frog to the latest technology (know-how). Creeping leads to failure.

Therefore Belizeans, let’s start to do the opposite of what the “experts” have told us for 41 years cannot work. Let us build some five or six manufacturing industries, where we would use the country’s raw materials and produce the items that are used to construct homes for our citizens. We can then stop the importation of $ 100 million dollars, thus saving foreign exchange, employ at least 500 workers at a minimum wage of $ 15.00/hour or $ 2,400.00 per month, immediately giving 500+ persons access to the financial system – they are then bankable.  Moreover, if we then use those finished goods and construct about 3,500 houses per year, Belize can then cause some 8,000 individual workers to earn at least a minimum of $ 10.00/hour or some $1,600.00 per month. 

Remember, some $ 961.5 million dollars are sitting in the banks and credit unions doing nothing. By giving Belizeans a living wage, they can then have access to about $ 170 million dollars in the banks and can afford to borrow and repay their loans. Over 8,000 individuals will immediately become bankable.  Crime will decrease. Higher education will boom. Health will become more affordable. Others will follow and make the transformation even more pronounced.

Belize will become the go-to country in the region. But the people of Belize must demand that the government break the power of the local merchants, bankers, and their global elites so Belize can finally have financial and economic independence to develop Belize for ALL Belizeans.  Belizeans must decide, once and for all, that we are capable; we can build the Belize we want for our children and grandchildren.

Let’s remember the wise words of George Price, “Development is a task for giants, little people have tried and turn away.”

Long Live Belize!

Modern Plastic Machines

By Bill Lindo
Belize City, Nov 9th 2022: The planet/world is at the edge of tremendous change on a global scale.  The global world-order that emerged at around 1990 after the collapse of the Soviet Union (Russia) is now crumbling before our very eyes.  The uni-polar world created by the West (The West is defined as comprising the United States of America, Canada, The United Kingdom, Europe, Japan and Australia/New Zealand) is now dying. But the jury is out an which direction mankind, especially the West will take in the next couple of years – a renaissance or a new dark ages.
Along with the dying West and its sickness is the delusion that has gripped its countries. Suddenly lies become truth. This is no more obvious than the military situation in Ukraine. The outright lies that Russia is losing the war in Ukraine is a classic example. However, Russia has seized over 1/3 of Ukraine’s land area – the Donbass area is the industrial heartland of Ukraine with the largest steel factories in Europe, the machine capital of Ukraine and the agro-industrial plus agricultural breadbasket of Europe.  Russia has destroyed over half of Ukraine’s power plants, just 10% of its industrial capacity still exists; and don’t forget that Russia has complete air superiority of the sky above all of Ukraine.  As soon as the ground hardens in Ukraine, the 300,000 military mobilization of Russia will make their present felt in Ukraine.
The corrupted culture of the West also states that men can be pregnant, and that windmills and solar panels are sufficient to power modern societies. Remember the “Big Lie” – Covid vaccines would keep people from getting Covid 19 or going to hospitals.  Some writers are of the view that the reason — the cause for the delusional thinking that dominates Western economics, politics, medicine and popular culture is that the West has adopted a rigid, intolerant ideology that is reminiscent of the intellectual sclerosis (brain-rotting) of Marxism that led to the death of the Soviet Union.  In the West this intolerance to views other than the establishment opinion is called “cancel culture” – you are cancel if you disagree. Wow!  The Russian people learned some very hard truths in the fall of communism. The people of the West are going to learn the same hard truths. It will not be a pretty sight!
The pathological stubborn form of today’s “Popular Opinion“ of a people are always the root cause of all great classical tragedies not only on stage but also the real-life national tragedies of entire cultures. Behind all this delusion of the West is the intellectual flight from historical reality like Karl Marx’s ignorant faith in a British error which has tended to foster today a widespread delusion that what was called The British System in the nineteen century and today as Capitalism or free-trade, globalization, neo-liberal economics all have the same essential root as Alexander Hamilton’s American System.  This is false, but is a popular mistake perpetuated by academia dogma. 
The British System or capitalism has a fundamental problem. One of its principle as stated by Malthus Richardo, Marshall and repeated by Keynes is – Capitalism will destroy itself because the more that is invested will eventually lead to a reduction of profits and thus the destruction of capitalism itself. All the British System writers including Keynes wrote that to postpone this day then the profits should be spend (wasted) instead on the oligarchy.  Keynes even wrote in his magnum work (General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money) that is better to build two tombs for the death such as the pyramids of Egypt than to build two railway line from London to York in England.  Marx accepted this foolishness of the British to justify the exploitation of workers by the private owners of capital. He believed that the workers would overthrow the rule of the private owners of capital.
During the 1850’s Karl Marx was employed as the European journalist for the leading American newspaper at the time – The New York Tribune, Horace Greeley was the founder and publisher.  But the man who hired Marx was the brilliant and leading American economist, Abe Lincoln’s economics advisor – Henry Charles Carey the economics editor at the New York Tribune and Charles Dana the editor. In 1852 Carey send Marx a copy of his 1851 book – Harmony of Interests (Marx to Engels 30 April 1852; in Marx and Engels 1973:28,p. 68).  In that book Carey made it very clear that Capitalism would not destroy itself because profits would not decreased but that science through engineering (technology) would improve the means of production leading to vast improvement in profits and as long as the owner of capital share these fruits with the workers there will an harmony of interests thus no need for class-warfare.  History has proven that Carey was correct and that Marx was intellectually dishonest because he knew in details the writings and books of Henry Charles Carey. The British economists were protecting the interests of their masters – the oligarchy.  
Today some 175 years after the British economists wrote that Capitalism would destroy itself, Capitalism, especially the American version as practiced by both China and Russia today is strong and contributing to the elimination of poverty of 800 million persons in China over a span of 40 years. 
 In Belize we known it as George Price’s Mixed Economy. The major concepts of the American School that distinguish that version of Capitalism from the British School are:

Exploiting nature rather than men.

Tariff Protection of local agriculture and manufacturing as free trade have always benefit the strong at the expense of the weak.

High wages to workers, because as E. Peshine Smith, wrote: “In order to make labour-cheap, the labourer must be well-fed, well-clothed, well-lodged, well-instructed.”

Money creation is a public utility and should be under the control of elected representatives of the people, not controlled by private individuals for private gain and control.

Technology and innovation always causes new methods to enter production and thus profits and wages don’t diminish but instead leads to higher productivity and thus higher wages to workers. Therefore the theory of Diminishing Returns is not valid to physical reality.

A view of soil fertility and agricultural productivity as a product of capital investment – not nature.  Science is the way to solve the problem of “mining the soil”.   

Public infrastructure as a means to lower costs in an industrial society by introducing new methods of production and communications, and the public support of research and development.

Government intervention in an economy. Government as the “brain” must put a bridle on corporate bodies, and must establish the pursuit of happiness as a natural right of citizens. In Belize this principle is enshrine in the PUP’s Constitution as a sacred duty of government to create full employment and completely end poverty.

The first principle of George Price’s Mixed Economy is — Exploiting nature rather than men. Belize’s Constitution states that “the people of Belize affirm that the Nation of Belize shall be founded upon principles which acknowledge the supremacy of God …”.  How can humans say they believe in the supremacy of God but go on to exploit his fellow man?  In the mind of Alexander Hamilton and later Henry Carey it’s completely wrong for man to exploit his fellow man. Using their brains these Christian men whose principle was – man made in the image of his Creator – discover that the way to create surplus value was for man to use his brains and innovate by exploiting nature rather than other men.
 This means that only inferior cultures are run by the delusion that what is real is that which the senses imagine that they see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.  The opposite is the classical scientific thought as Plato’s Republic and his use of allegory of the cave. Science is the practiced accumulation of discovery of what are practically provable to be universal physical principles, principles which cannot be seen directly by the senses but which correspond to what Lyn LaRouche wrote: “Those efficiently existing forms of action which increase man’s power in and over the universe yet are acting from beyond the veil of sense-certainty.” 
In other words, behind all the noise is a serious problem – debt, unpayable debt. Money is a government or bank debt. Our way of money creation always lead to debt crisis – when businesses, families and/or public bodies owe debt service in excess of their net revenue. They will default unless they can borrow the interest falling due. In the past, especially in the Mesopotamia area from Sumer in the third millennium BC to Egypt the practice to deal with unpayable debt was a Clean Slate or a Jubilee. This was the method of Solon reforms in 594 BC Greece; Judaism Mosaic Law and remember Jesus’s announcement that he came into the World to restore the Jubilee Year (Luke 4). And don’t forget that the reason Julius Caesar was assassinated (in 44 BC) because he announced that upon becoming Emperor of Rome he would declare a Clean Slate for Rome – liberate bondservants to return to their families, and restore land and crop rights that had been forfeited to creditors.  Eventually the refusal of Rome’s Oligarchy to establish a Clean Slate led to the collapse of the empire because of unpayable debt around the year 670 AD when the debt burden stripped the Romans of their capital and ended-up in feudalism, called the European Dark Ages, which cost Europe close to one-third of its population.
Remember one rule: All wars are banker wars.  
Why engineer a war? Simple – when you play both sides of a chess game, you always end up the winner. In the past lending money to sovereigns – kings, dukes was dangerous. They can kill you at will or they can refuse to repay, so the bankers learn that it was much safer to lend to two sides. And if no enemy exist, best to create one to save your life, and get back your money with interest.  Plus, chaos is the ultimate recipe for pushing draconian agendas that the public would never allow to pass during peacetime.  In the international area, geopolitics is simple to understand. Conflicts/wars are always engineered and always designed to benefit a particular group of mainstream power brokers and financial elites. If you are one of those people who assume all of these events are what the British calls “merely random and unfortunate coincidence” then you will remain in the dark for the rest of your life – and will never understand why terrible things are happening to you as the world falls apart.  
Since September 17th 2019, the Western Financial System started to unravel. The Western world today has the largest financial bubble ever created in human history and all bubbles eventually burst.  The repo market fell apart. The financial institutions started to issue huge amounts of printed money to keep the system afloat. But soon it was known that there could not be a repeat of 2009 – no massive bailout of the financial classes on the backs of American workers and the developing nations of the South.  A few months later the global elites unleash Covid 19 on the world and all 193 countries of the UN went along with the lockdowns, vaccine passports, elimination of small businesses and other draconian measures for a scam by the global elite to bailout their speculative financial bubble.  
Then the big boys decided to go for the whole-hog – elimination of God, private property, elimination of freedom, complete elimination of the American System of Capitalism, rule by a nameless faceless bureaucracy, they even had the nerves to write and say – “you will own northing, but you will be happy” to be a slave of the Oligarchy. The bankers decided no more finance for medium size manufacturing companies, no finance for family farms, no finance for fossil fuel — exploration, extraction nor distribution.   “Today’s energy shortages are largely the result of domestic U.S. government policies, as the Biden administration attempts to force Americans to switch to alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and electric from fossil fuels. This effort has included shutting pipelines, suspending oil and gas leases, and putting up regulatory roadblocks—all of which has reduced new investment in U.S. oil and gas production; and shutting off credit.” wrote Epoch Times, May 29, 2022. Remember the big boys/global financial elites used the euthanasia-crowd-mantra of global warming to demanded that the 193 UN members sign off on the above at COP 26 in November 2021. 
Well, first Putin of Russia said no.  Then Xi of China said no also.   And the smart Indians who depends on coal for energy said no – why, if Russia, China and Saudi Arabia and Iran are all against, then they will also be against. The Western Bankers were not amused. They publically said, Russia and China and later India will pay for this – by December 2021 Ukraine started to cause major problems for Russia. The provocations by the dupes of the Western Bankers led to “a special military operations” in Ukraine by Russia. The current COP 27 has opened in Egypt this week, but the leaders of China, Russia, India, Indonesia and others will not attend so no major agreement will emerged from COP 27. It’s dead-in-the-water.
Within one week (March 1st   2022) massive sanctions never before used were placed by the West on Russia. But the West forgot the ABC’s of economics. Over and over I have been saying this for over 30+ years. True wealth has nothing to do with money or other forms of debt creation — true wealth comes from resources, the means of production and especially human labour.  “The sole source of wealth is the rise in the productivity of human labour effected through technological progress”  is the way George Price wrote it for me in my 1995 book – ABC’s of Economics. 
China and Russia using American System principles of Capitalism continue to understand what real wealth is. You can have all the money in the world but if you have no manufacturing base or resource development then you have nothing.
It’s as simple as that.
Belize in the meanwhile is going along its merry way to implement the dictates of the global and local elites led by the Ashcroft Alliance, the Bowen Empire, and the Mennonites.  Before the Covid 19 scam, Belize was suffering from some 52% poverty rate which has increase to about 58% since Covid 19. The current government has created several low-interest special vehicle debt schemes for agro-processing but as usual these are only for the big boys. The aim is to destroy small and especially medium size enterprises because “you will own nothing and be happy”. The large Mennonite agro-industrial enterprises will continue to control, because of cheap government credit, government market protection, while denying the same to other Belizeans. The caucasian communities will continue to control rice, beans, corn, pig, chicken and beef meats plus eggs. Milk and cheese will only be supplied by them. Animal feeds, and cheap toxic soya cooking oils will be supplied by the Mennonites. Lack of government support and credit will keep out others.  And make no mistake! Prices will continue to increase because Mennonites don’t absorb losses. They relentlessly pass-on price increases to consumers.  Just this week chicken and grains were increased in prices.
And Belize doesn’t get that much from tourism because 80% of it is owned by foreigners who keep their profits mainly in the United States. 
The agriculture sector is mainly sugar, bananas and some citrus for export, while the Mennonites control the domestic market for basic foods. Local roots Belizeans are mainly in the small vegetable sector of agriculture.  While sugar prices have increased globally along with other commodities, prices given to local farmers have also increase but not as much as global prices. Fertilizers have increased an average of 26% due globally to lack of raw materials because of the decision of the global bankers to restrict credit to fossil fuels, fertilizers and food commodities in order to reduce supply and drive up prices. The miracle in Belizean agriculture will be in the Mennonite communities as some of them become billionaires in Belize in the near future. 
The weakness of the current PUP government economic policy is based on the mistaken concept of money being wealth; and that support of the big boys is support of Belize.  Before Covid 19, the Barrow government policy which is the same as the current government was already facing a recession in Belize.  The same people who were running the government before 2020 are the same people running the current government –except the ministers and their CEO’s.   No CEO of the major utilities was change. The same six contractors who before 2020 got over $ 400 million dollars in construction contracts over the previous 12 years have received over $ 200 + million dollars in new contracts in the last couple months; and are expecting another $ 200 + million in the next few months.  The members of the advisory economic committee before 2020 were reappointed to advice the new government.  The same tired neo-liberal austerity policies are still in vogue.  At a recent PUP party congress, several generals of the oldest political party in Belize were asking “when will they start to eat?”  It seems this group of leaders of the PUP are turning the party into a business venture from a political party.
Most people don’t know that the United States of America is not a democracy, but rather a Constitutional Republic. Democracies are always the tyranny of the majority. A Constitutional Republic protect the minority using the separation of power – executive, legislative and judicial equal but separate. 
And in our Western countries political parties can and are changed by the citizens; but the policy of government NEVER changes.  While in China for instance, the political party that rules can never be changed; but the POLICY always change to enable a better standard of living for it’s citizens. 
It seems Belize is cursed with a POLICY that keeps increasing poverty!
I prefer a Renaissance.

By Bill Lindo

Belize City, Oct ^2nd 2022: Well, has the Third World War started?  The smart people believe it has, but 90% of the global population don’t believed this statement. Rubbish most people will say because the majority of the world’s population believe mass media and their government’s propaganda.

Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister of Serbia made the following alarming comment during the first day of the UN General Assembly session in New York, last week, according to RT.  The quote from Vucic about the Ukraine conflict is:

I assume that we’re leaving the phase of the special military operation and approaching a major armed conflict, and now the question becomes where is the line, and whether after a certain time – maybe a month or two, even – we will enter a great world conflict not seen since the Second World War.

Meanwhile Wall Street has been quietly advising its large customer to buy gold and silver coins and get out of stocks. Morgan Stanley has been warning of “something worse than a recession” coming.  And last Saturday, Gregory Copley, an Australian writer, entrepreneur, defense analysis and president of ISSA in Washington, DC writing in Epoch Times, wrote that:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin finally abandoned hope in mid-September that he could rebuild a bridge to the West.

With that realization, he committed Russia to the new anti-Western pact.

The turning point was the signal Putin received from the United Kingdom over the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It had little to do with the military setbacks in the Ukraine war, for which he had already begun planning.

Russia’s new, harder-line anti-Western policy was essential for building a new strategic bloc with China, Belarus, Iran, North Korea, and, de facto but integrally, NATO member Turkey… The desired British response did not come. Moreover, when the British Crown and government issued invitations to foreign heads-of-state to attend Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral on Sept. 19, Russia was explicitly excluded, one of the few states to be singled out. Even North Korea received an invitation.”

Everyone knows that since about May/June of this year, the Ukraine military has been under the effective control of the UK and US military – NATO is thus effectively a part of the Ukraine conflict – not only supplying heavy arms and intelligence but directing the conflict.  The conflict in Europe is now between Russia and the aggressor NATO whose purpose, as the UK and USA have publicly stated, is the destruction of Russia and the splitting up of Russia into three new countries, basically to get control over the vast natural resources of Russia.

After Russia’s decision to join the anti-Western bloc, Russia announced a new direction of the war they had been planning for the last 6 weeks.  The brilliant Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov put it best last week at the UN General Assembly.  According to Minister Lavrov, for the last eight years, the neo-Nazi Ukraine government have been telling the populations of Kherson Oblast, Zaporhyzhia Oblast,  Luhansk Oblast, and Donbass Oblast to go to Russia since they have refused to accept the results of the violent Western overthrown of the democratically elected government of Ukraine in 2014.  In these areas, including Odessa, and Crimea the populations have been traditional Russian speakers.  The people of Luhansk and Donbass took up arms against the illegal Western imposed Ukraine government and declared their areas independent of Ukraine since 2014.  Two years later, Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed to the Minsk Agreement, but the NATO puppet government of Ukraine has refused to implement the Minsk Agreement and have over the eight years killed over 20,000 citizens of the Luhansk Oblast and Donbass Oblast.  According to Foreign Minister Lavrov, in his UNGA speech, the people of the four Oblasts will decide in referendums on September 23 to September 27^th if they wish to go to Russia, and “if they decide yes, then they will bring their land with them”. He also reminded the reporters at the UN that when the USA sized California, New Mexico, and Arizona, from Mexico, no referendums were given. And recently, Israel has been taking lands from Palestine, but no referenda has been held. Raw violence has been used by the Imperial West.

On September 28^th, RT reported that over 80% of those who voted in the four referendums, voted yes to join the Russian Federation.  While the voting was going on, the EU said it will issue sanctions against the international observers from France, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Brazil and other countries. The results will now have to be certified by the Russian Duma, and once Putin signs the order, those four Oblasts will officially be a part of the Russian Federation.

Note that while the West has been talking about Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s land, the people of the four Oblasts see it as secession – in accordance of the UN charter of the rights of people to self-determination.

 This will put the ball in the court of NATO, because any attack on any of those areas is an attack on Mother Russia, and Putin will respond more aggressive than before, leading to a significant escalation in the combat.  And short of nuclear weapons, NATO and the West no longer have the industrial base to match Russia’s production of war materials. Plus the situation is being made worse by the high inflation and the collapse of European economies.

Russia since 1931 has a “full-set” economy.  After 1991, the West destroyed it, but since 2014, Russia has rebuilt its industrial economy.  Take a simple example, four groups make a twin-engine single–aisle medium size passenger jet – the USA Boeing 737; European Airbus 320; China C919; and Russia Irkut MC 21. Russia’s MC 21 was using the American Pratt & Whiney, the best engine in its size.  China and Airbus use Rolls-Royce engines.  In 2018, the Russian government made a decision to revive its production of aircraft engines.  President Putin in an address to businessmen in Sochi May 2022, said that one of the first sanction against Russia in February of this year was to stop the exportation of P & W jet engines to Russia. Russia had ordered 300 engines for delivery by first quarter 2023. Half of the cost had already been paid to the American company. Russia got 12 engines and no refund. The Americans said you are under sanctions, so you can’t get back your money. Well by December 2022, Russia will have gotten certification of its domestic PD-14 jet engines which are superior to the P & W engines – 12 % more fuel efficient, 16% lighter, and 24% cheaper.  Russia has been using its high-tech abilities to design and manufacture its own products. Russia has minerals, materials, machinery and qualified personnel to sustain intense combat operations.

Recently the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the world’s oldest defence and security think tank published an essay stating that the age of industrial warfare is still here. “The rate of ammunition and equipment consumption in Ukraine can only be sustained by a large-scale industrial base…This reality should be a warning to Western countries.” the essay[1] said. .  Others such as Scott Ritter, Lt Col Alex Vershinin all state that if NATO, the USA, and UK try to take on Russia in a tit-for-tat battle, they will lose because they lack the industrial base that Russia has.

The insanity of Western nations has escalated this conflict to a condition where whoever launches nukes first has the advantage is the logicof Victoria Nuland. This is a very dangerous dynamic, and it stems from the fact that the West has repeatedly signalled it will not allow the existence of Russia in its “New World Order/Great Reset” vision of planet Earth. In addition, the general delusion of the West’s belief that financial assets are more important than industrial assets, and humans have no value except as agents for exploitation – as chattel slaves.  From this stems the idea that the West can win a nuclear war if it strikes first.

An important realization in all this is that, as Larry Johnson, a USA military analysis wrote:  “NATO’s nuclear arsenal is ancient — mostly running on designed originally engineered in the 1980s — while Russia’s nuclear capabilities are at least two generations ahead, modernized with hyperglide re-entry vehicles, evasive manoeuvre capabilities for ICBMs, hypersonic cruise missiles which are nuclear capable, and highly advanced anti-air defense systems that can even intercept and take down incoming ICBMs. In addition, Russia possesses secret “doomsday” weapons — far beyond their Tsar Bomba/thermobaric bombs — that the world hasn’t even seen yet.”  On the current trend, those weapons are going to be introduced to the West without any warning whatsoever, resulting in the complete annihilation of Western European governments, currencies, industry, and the majority of populations.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Russia has already designated the targets of its first strike, and that those targets include London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, US naval fleets and virtually all military bases across Western Europe. Russia will not launch nuclear weapons against Ukraine, it will be against the NATO cities.  We are now just one launch away from a civilization-ending event.

 The USA and NATO have deluded themselves into thinking they can win a nuclear exchange with Russia, but this is just as delusional as thinking “men can get pregnant” or that money printing especially for speculation doesn’t cause inflation.   And more recently led by the insanity of wokeism — the West has become fully invested in delusional thinking and fairy tale narratives that have no connection with reality. While the West has been waging a propaganda narrative war, Russia has been engineering the world’s most advanced nuclear weapons. Once the nuclear exchange begins, there’s no question whatsoever about its outcome. Russia will lose a few million people — far less than what they lost in World War II (27 million) — but they will annihilate Germany, Poland, France and the United Kingdom. Western Europe will be plunged into a generation of despair, darkness, and death.  

The West is caught in their own delusional world of self-inflicted brainwashing and propaganda, believing (somehow) that they can bully Russia into capitulating to the West’s insane demands. But Russia is no Third World nation – no Belize. Russia can’t be economically dismantled with Western sanctions, and Russia has its own domestic supply chain for literally everything it needs to feed its people, build more weapons and earn a fortune in exports of energy and commodities to willing trade partners like India, China, Turkey and Iran.

On Sept 27^th it was reported that the United States probably sabotaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines to provoke Russia and make Europe more reliant on American natural gas exports. Fox News‘ Tucker Carlson said President Joe Biden would be very interested in finding ways to hurt Russia. He aired clips of Biden and Department of State Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland from earlier this year, suggesting that they would be willing to strike the Nord Stream pipelines if Russia attacked Ukraine. The same day, Leaders of Poland, Denmark, and Norway officially launched the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline as a key step for Poland to supply gas to Europe.  One thing is now certain Germany as a major industrial power is gone – over with. Germany industrial prowess was built on cheap Russian gas. Germany will now have to buy gas from Poland and the United States at nearly double the price that Russia was supplying gas for.    But make no mistake, regardless the provocation by the West — Putin will not back down

So YES!   World War III has already begun. You simply aren’t being told this because your dishonest media outlets are dedicated to keeping you in the dark. After all, they (the elites) want to use the remaining time to stockpile food, ammunition, medical supplies and precious metals (gold/silver) for themselves, and this can only be accomplished by withholding the truth about the situation for as long as possible.  Anytime between now and December the mushroom-clouds will start to appear over major Western cities.

The events of this past weekend suggests that the nuclear missiles will not be flying in the next month or so. Two things happened. First, Russia suffered a serious set-back at Kharkov and Liman which has given hope to NATO that they can prevail over Russia if they continue to provide training, weapons and money to Ukraine.  And secondly, NATO blinked about Ukraine’s Zelensky’s call on Friday for NATO to allow Ukraine to join the bloc immediately in a “accelerated procedure”.  First, Germany said no, then the USA said now was not the time and Turkey also said no. NATO rules require all 30 member to say yes. So far only 9 countries have said yes today (Sunday, Oct 2^nd 2022).

Former UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter wrote Sunday in RT “Russia didn’t just change the rules of the game – it changed the game itself. Instead of Ukrainian forces fighting Russian forces on the territory of Ukraine, any future combat carried out by Ukraine against Russian forces would represent an attack on the Russian homeland itself … But Russia, by transforming the battleground from one being fought on Ukrainian soil to one where it’s now defending its own land, has flipped the script.

NATO, having overcommitted to Ukraine, now finds itself “on the horns of a dilemma” – if it continues to provide massive material and financial support to Ukraine, it will, in effect, become a direct party to the conflict, something no one in the bloc wants. However, if it backs away from supporting Ukraine, the various Western political leaders and institutions which have made support for Kiev a sacred obligation will be seen as going back on their word.

How NATO opts to proceed has yet to be manifest, but indications are that it will not be in a manner which continues to double down on supporting Ukraine no matter what. Secretary General Stoltenberg’s tepid speech condemning Russia while showing no enthusiasm for Zelensky’s “accelerated application” for membership is indicative of the less-than-resolute nature of its support for Kiev.”

And for Belize, remember we are in the time of year until next year March where the wind blows north to south.  We have to hope and pray that Dallas, Houston and Miami are not targeted by nuclear weapons so the radiation doesn’t blow our way. But one thing is for sure, we will suffer a lot because of our refusal to turn our economy in a “full-set” economy.  Imports will collapse, tourists will disappear in the coming months.

What we sow we will reap!

Hiroshima, Japan 1945 after the USA dropped “Little Boy”

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[1] https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/return-industrial-warfare

By Bill Lindo

Belize City: Oct 1^st 2022: — In the next two weeks or so, The National Assembly will meet to change the Constitution of Belize – changing it from “her majesty” to “his majesty”. It would be the right time to adjust a few things in the constitution that would deepen democracy.

I am proposing that we use this time to amend the constitution and allow members of the House to “walk the floor”. Belize had done this before. Hon. Philip Goldson did not die as a UDP but as the leader of NABR. We are facing a crisis of true democracy.  The opposition is weakened, and its leadership seems intent on quashing all resistance.

We can address the more holistic changes I propose below when we embark on the more in-depth revision, in eighteen months or so.  We should finish the work that George Cadle Price started by  amending the Preamble of our Constitution by adding the following:

1. That policies of state must promote the economic independence of Belize by pursuing strategies and programmes of self-reliance, greater production and innovation, which stimulate a dynamic partnership between the government and the private sector, so that the ownership and control of our natural resources and national treasures are so managed as to secure maximum ownership and benefit for the Belizean people.

• That the creation of money and control thereof in all its forms, including the national currency is, and remains the sole responsibility of the people through their elected representatives.

• That it is the sacred duty of government to intervene actively in the economic life of the nation in order to achieve full employment and the eradication of poverty and secure a better life for all Belizeans.

George C. Price used to say that political Independence is just the beginning. We need  financial independence and economic independence. The final goal of economic and financial independence is George C. Price’s  Mixed Economy.

The Mixed Economy of George Price’s PUP rests on eight fundamental Principles,

1. Exploiting nature rather than men. All our schools teach both in business and economics classes that it’s okay to exploit your fellow man. Yet most citizens of Belize cry that they are Christians, eventhough they know that it wrong to cheat, to steal, to exploit their fellow humankind.  Slavery is the institutional organization of exploiting man by other men.  Belize as a British colony/neo-colony has always exploited men rather than nature. This concept has been at the heart of the difference between Price’s Mixed Economy, and the British and other European systems of exploitation of slavery and other forms of exploitation for over ten thousand years.  Make no mistake, the Mixed Economy of Price is to make the phrase “man made in the image of his Creator” a reality.  Take a look at the sugar belt in the North of Belize. The local cane farmer is paid about $ 55/ton for sugar cane. The cost under normal conditions to produce that ton of cane is about $ 53.00. So, the cane farmer is being cheated by the giant foreign multi-national company.  If instead, nature was exploited by the use of technology (5, below) and  agricultural productivity (6 below), a high income would be paid to the cane farmers.

• Tariff Protection of local agriculture and manufacturing because free trade has always benefitted the strong at the expense of the weak.Every single country in today’s world that has become an industrial nation-state and provided a high standard of living to their citizens have done it by practicing trade protection of infant industries and agriculture.  In fact, the recent Covid-19 crisis showed that nearly every country was practicing protection of their local production to protect the workers of their respective countries, because of the massive dislocation of their economies. Neo-liberalism has failed. A few years ago a local Mennonite farmer decided to manufacture disc plows in Shipyard, Belize. He imported steel from the United States. He paid an average of 22% in duties and taxes on the steel imports. But the same disc plow imported from Brazil was selling about 18% cheaper. Why? The imported plow paid no duty nor taxes. Our oligarchy stopped that farmer from becoming a local manufacturer and keeping our money at home for the benefit of Belizeans.   The policy of the oligarchy in Belize as in colonial times, as it is today, is to prohibit local manufacturing.

• High wages to workers, because as E. Peshine Smith, wrote: “In order to make labour-cheap, the labourer must be well-fed, well-clothed, well-lodged, well-instructed.” Over the last 150 years political-economists have known that the cheapest worker in money-terms is not necessarily the cheapest in economic terms. At the end of the day, money-wages is paid for knowledge, and knowledge is expensive because while the worker is learning, he has to be fed, clothed, and given shelter. In fact, higher money-wages usually tend to increase productivity in the economy such that unit-prices tend to decrease — leading to higher standards of living.

• Money creation is a public utility and should be under the control of elected representatives of the people, not controlled by private individuals for private gain and control.  For thousands of years the act of money creation was an act of the sovereign. It was only in the last 200 + years that private individuals were given the authority to create new money. The power to create new money from the air is an omnipotent power to be given to individuals. It is tantamount to the power of life and death. Humans make other humans their enemies, and to give your enemy the power of life and death over you is just ludicrous. This is why the National Bank of Belize is absolutely necessary.  We can use the National Bank to create new money to invest in our farms, factories, fishing coops and other useful ventures necessary for our development, especially today when Covid-19/war  destroyed our national economy.

• Technology and innovation always causes new methods to enter production and thus profits and wages don’t diminish but instead leads to higher productivity and thus higher wages to workers. Therefore the theory of Diminishing Returns is not valid to physical reality. Young people taking their first classes in economics must be at a lost to understand what their teachers are saying: in a capitalist society no matter what you do capitalism has built-in the process that profits must fall as capitalism increases. This stupid theory has been repeated by all the British economists from as far back as Rev. Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, Marshall, and John Keynes. In fact, Keynes said that the best way to postpone this dreadful day is not to invest in productive activities such as building two railway lines from York to London, but instead better to build two pyramids – two tombs for the dead. Technology is the invention of something new, especially the application of scientific knowledge to develop new machinery and equipment.  Technology doesn’t solely mean the use of computers as is presumed today. Originally, it referred to the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied science. Now there is a concept called the “Machine-tool Principle” which is the key to applied engineering/technology. This is where the theory and the practical fuse and become one.  Therefore, technology and innovation leads to higher productivity, thus increasing both profits and wages, leading to a harmony of interests – not class warfare.

• A view of soil fertility and agricultural productivity as a product of capital investment – not nature.  Science is the way to solve the problem of “mining the soil”.   This concept goes back to the opposition of the Americans to both Ricardo and Malthus. Those British economists preach that man when he first settles the soil goes first to the best soil, then eventually to the worst. After the better soil is settled and your country runs out of good soils, then your country must take up arms – guns and conquer other countries – create colonies to exploit. The greatest economist, the American, Henry C. Carey in his many books and articles concluded that the early settler did not settle first on the best soil, but instead on the inferior because he physically could not work the best soils. He didn’t have the machinery. This was easy to prove in the early American settlements, and more important, the soil as given by nature will become depleted after time. The crops will extract the minerals, vitamins, etc. from the soil. Science has shown that these minerals, especially phosphorus, nitrogen, calcium, sulphur can be replaced so that with the use of capital – minerals (fertilizers) are replaced in the exact quantities and qualities require by nature to grow a nutrient-dense product leading to healthy citizens.

• Public infrastructure as a means to lower costs in an industrial society by introducing new methods of production and communications, and the public support of research and development. Agriculture and manufacturing industries need a glue to hold them together. That glue is infrastructure. There is both soft and hard infrastructure. Education and health are examples of soft industries. Both are absolutely necessary in our society. Then there is the need for hard infrastructure: roads, bridges, canals, dams, buildings, and so forth. The problem for Belize is that we listen to our foreign instructors too much, and forget the meaning of the word — independence. We need to stop importing materials for our infrastructure projects and start making them ourselves, such as cement and steel. In September 2019, China opened the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and tunnel. Most Western engineers said this modern wonder could not be done; it was an impossible task. After 7 years, USD $ 20 billion, and the issuance of 1,600 patents the impossible was done. New types of steel, including stainless steel, new heavy-duty cranes, and new welding methods made the impossible possible. Those new methods will now be part of the Chinese economy which means their productivity will increase tremendously, leading to lower unit costs prices and higher wages to workers. This is how infrastructure causes a nation-state to create happiness among its citizens.

• Government intervention in an economy. Government as the “brain” must put a bridle on corporate bodies, and must establish the pursuit of happiness as a natural right of citizens. In Belize this principle is enshrined in the PUP’s Constitution as a sacred duty of government to create full employment and end poverty.The propaganda we hear every day goes something like this — the private sector is the engine of growth. The government does nothing, just steal from the productive private sector that produces wealth. Belize got its political Independence on September 21^st 1981. Before we were a colony of Great Britain so we had certain restrictions to follow. But for the last 41 years the Belize private sector could do whatever it wished. What manufacturing industries have been created? How has the standard of living increased by the investment of the private sector in the local economy? How many new jobs were created by the private sector? The truth is that Belize’s private sector created very few new jobs. They created a few manufacturing industries. When Belize got political independence the rate of poverty was about 23%. By the year 1998 it climbed to about 33%, by 2009 it was at 43%, and by 2018 it was at 52%. And with Covid-19 it is estimated to be some 58%. That is the legacy of the private sector. And in March of 2020, it was revealed that 5% of Belizeans owned some 75% of all the cash on deposits in the banks. Young people, the less-educated and people of colour in Belize don’t own stocks, bonds, or real estate. They sell their time by the hour and the real hourly rate has scarcely changed since 1981. The rich get richer. The poor and middle classes get poorer. With a poverty rate of 58%, expect more corruption, more dependence, more depression, more poverty, and more unfairness.  This is why George Cadle Price wrote that it is a sacred duty of government to intervene in the economy because only government as the “brains” of economy can put a bridle on corporate bodies to create full employment and the eradication of poverty.

The above is a short description of the principles of George C. Price’s Mixed Economy. I dare say that if we Belizeans put the above eight principles of Mr Price’s vision in our Constitution, Belize will have one of the best constitutions in the entire world, and a better Belize, for all of us. 

Is it not time to finish George Cadle Price’s dream?

George Cadle Price, Father of Belizean Independence

        Dr Ted Arana

by Bill Lindo

Belize City, July 11^th: Yesterday morning, my friend Steve Nembhard called me to say that Dr Ted Arana had passed away.

I have personally known Dr Arana for the past 28 years.  I first met him in 1994 when Evan X Hyde and myself organized the May 15^th Movement within the People’s United Party (PUP). The PUP had just lost an election that should never have been held in 1993, and by the following March the PUP had lost the majority of the Town Boards.

On May 15^th 1994 a group of politicians within the PUP got together and decided that the thrust/direction of the Party was wrong and needed to be changed. The last time this happened within the PUP was in 1956.

Dr Arana and especially his lovely wife worked very hard to get control of the various organs within the party and control of a majority of the electoral divisions.  We took control of the women’s and youth section of the party and some 15 electoral divisions within the Party and ended-up sharing the National Executive Committee along with the old-guard.

Our group consisted of John Briceno, Cordel Hyde, Dolores Balderamos, Jose Coye, Dr Arana, Dr Gregs Garcia, Florencio Marin Sr, Dan Silva, Evan X Hyde and Bill Lindo.  It was this group that convinced the Belizean voters to vote again for the PUP in the 1996 Belize City Council, followed by the Municipal elections in 1997 and the General Elections of 1998.

Yes, in 1981 Dr Arana told the people of Belize not to support Independence, but later he changed and was until death last Sunday a true Belizean Patriot. He was completely opposed to Belize going to the ICJ to satisfy the whims of the Anglo-Saxons – for him Belize was already Independent since September 21^st 1981, why so let foreigners decide again? He loved Belize and its people and was always worrying about the suffering of the less fortunate. And don’t forget that as Minister of Health, he convinced the Cuban Government to help Belize with medical scholarships and providing us with Cuban doctors.

Ted Aranda was a true Belizean patriot and we should always remember him that way.

By Bill Lindo

Belize City, July 8^th 2022: Last week Friday, July 1^st, 2022, Channel 7 TV news aired the following: 

“The five dollar minimum wage — it was a key promise in the PUP’s Plan Belize Manifesto, but, 19 months into the term – much to the dismay of law paid workers – it still hasn’t materialized.

Well, a release today from the Ministry of Labour says that it’s coming – even if it hasn’t reached yet. First, there’s a Minimum Wage Task Force which is working, quote, “to oversee the gradual implementation of the five-dollar minimum wage” end quote.

The first thing the task force has done is hire a consultant. After interviews in mid-June, PPF Capital Belize Limited was selected as the successful applicant.

And so, in the coming weeks, the Task Force and PPF Capital Belize Limited will hold countrywide consultations with key stakeholders and the public. The release says, quote, “PPF Capital Belize Limited will submit a Plan for the Gradual Implementation of the Five-Dollar Minimum Wage upon completion of the consultancy.”

So, the change in the minimum wage will go into effect after the study and consultations are completed.”

When I heard the above news piece I was shocked. I reached out to someone who is close to the government and would know more about the issue.  They told me, “The rat is minding the cheese.”  Something is wrong. Let’s look at this situation in some detail.

In 2018, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the People’s United Party (PUP) tasked the Research Committee of the NEC to prepare a paper for discussion on the Party’s position on the minimum wage with a goal to achieving a living wage.  After much discussion and inputs from the persons on the national executive who represent the various interests of the elites, the middle-class and the workers, the party decided that $ 5.00 per hour would be the minimum wage if the party won the 2020 General Elections. It was also decided the sum of $ 1,850.00 per month would be set as the goal for a living wage.  Because of the unconscionably high poverty numbers (over 52% of our population lives in poverty) of the country it was decided that laws be legislated within 3 months after winning elections, and the living wage would be accomplished within 4 years, along with 50,000 new high paying jobs, 60,000 house lots & farm parcels, and at least 10,000 new houses.

Belize is a small country located in both the Caribbean and Central America with a population of some 427,000 persons in 2021.  According to the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) the estimate of poverty in 2018 was 52% or 218,400 persons and because of Covid 19, it is now close to 243,500 persons living below the poverty level in 2021, while only 176,500 were above the poverty line.  But it is important to note that of the 176,500 only about 70,800 were in the middle and upper class. The other 105,700 persons were on the margins. One sudden illness or shock and the majority of the 105,700 would fall below the poverty line.

Using the methodology developed by Halcrow Consultants, the SIB based the poverty line, GPI at $ 7,961.00 in 2018. This is $ 7,961/12 = $ 663.42/month; or $ 663.42/4 = $ 165.85/week; or $ 165.85/5.5 days = $ 30.00/day; or  $ 30/8 = 3.75 per hour.  But the minimum wage rate by law is $ 3.30/hour, or some $ 26.40 per day. This means that this Belize is using the law of the land to perpetuate poverty in this country. In other words, Belize’s elites and their politicians use the law to unconstitutionally take away a citizen’s right to life.  Shame on you Belize!

During last year (2021) only 30,600 or 19% of all employed workers (middle-class) earned more than $ 1,850.00/month or a living wage. Of the other 130,816 employed workers only about 63,000 earned an average of $ 1,060.00 per month or some $ 50.00 per day. The balance of 67,795 workers were in the so-called informal sector, or “catch-and-kill” in Belize slang.  From the flood of data obtained during Covid 19 we know that the average income for the informal sector was $ 679.00 per month. And if we adjust the GPI for inflation, then the GPI for 2021 is $ 4.20/hour or $ 33.60 /day. Anyone earning this or less is living in poverty in Belize in 2021.  

Population above Poverty Level

Workers               63,000                  $ 1,060/mth.      $ 50/day              $ 6.25/hr.

Middle-class       30,600                  $ 1,850/mth.      $ 92.50/day        $ 11.56/hr.

Dependents        82,900

Total                     176,500 persons

Population below Poverty Level

Unemployed                      20,318                  No Income

Underemployed 34,000                  $ 572/mth.                         $ 26/day              $ 3.30/hr.

Informal                             67,795                  $ 679/mth.                         $ 30.86/day        $ 3.86/hr.

Dependents                       121,387  

Total                                    243,500 persons

By February 2022, because of inflation the GPI was at $ 4.45/hr. or $ 35.60 per day. If you earn this amount or less you are below the poverty line – you are living in poverty.  Currently, inflation is running at more than 12% for food and about 8% for fuel. The average overall is some 4% because other necessary items like phone rates, water rates and electricity have not had any price increases. But the middle-class has over the last six months seen their food and especially their fuel bill sky-rocked by some 26%. Their income has been reduced by some $ 110/mth. Their income now stands at $ 1,850 – $110 = $1,740/mth. And we are just at the beginning at a general-break-down crisis in the Western nations.

Belizeans, everything that is happening was planned by the global elites of the Western countries (Europe, United States, Australia, Canada and Japan).  Wall Street calls it a controlled-economic-destruction. The World Economic Forum (WEF) calls it the Great Reset. First in early 2020 a scam called Covid 19 was let loose upon the entire 193 countries of Earth. Then the entire economies of nearly all countries were closed to fight a disease that we were told would bring widespread deaths.  The opposite turned out to be true. In Belize, the closing of our economy resulted in 25,100 additional persons being brought into poverty.  Some 18 months later, we started to see shortages crop up as supply-chains were disrupted or destroyed. All over the world the crazy printing of money by central bankers saw demand for dwindling supplies creating inflation. Then when India, Russia and China refused to go along with the crazy feudal idea of “zero-carbon”, the West created a provocation against Russia by trying to bring nuclear weapons on the door-step of Russia. The result was Russia’s special military incursion against Ukraine and the swift retaliation with sanctions against Russia which so far has boomeranged against the Anglo-Saxons and their cronies with the economies of Europe and the United States in free-fall, which will come crashing into Belize by-year-end.  “Operational challenges arising from soaring energy bills have put the entire US industrial complex at risk of partial shutdown”, is the words of Bloomberg reported on Thursday, July 7^th; JP Morgan the largest USA Bank wrote July 5^th that if the USA/G7 recent proposal to “cap” Russian Oil exports goes ahead the world will likely see crude oil hit some USD $ 380.00 per barrel from the current $ 110.00 per barrel.

Now Belize is a unique country. Every country on God’s Earth especially those who have provided a high standard of living with low poverty rates have ALL done it by disciplining capital.  In the beginning there was a distinct difference between the two major political parties – UDP and PUP. The UDP were for the most part servants of capital, especially foreign capital. Except for the late 1990’s when PM Manuel Esquivel tried to discipline capital, especially UK citizen Michael Ashcroft.  But Mr Esquivel was betrayed by the Belizean elites who for the most part sided with Ashcroft. The same betrayal occurred during the Musa administration and to some extent with the Barrow government.  It is very doubtful if the current government will try to discipline capital both local and foreign as everyone and their grandmother knows who runs Belize – who is boss in Belize.

This lack of ability or desire to discipline capital means that the current structure of Belize’s economy will continue and with it continuous increases in poverty. Belize will not join nor attempt to join the ranks of industrial high standard of living countries. Tourism will continue to extract some USD $ 190 million dollars as profits per annum, which remain mostly in the United States; the British Lord will continue to extract close to USD $ 130 million per annum; and God-willing, the illegal planes will be allowed by the Americans to keep landing in Belize so that USD $ 225 million dollars can be deposited to our current account to keep enabling us to import 4 to 5 times more than we export and not fall like Sri Lanka whose economy of agriculture and tourism has had a dramatic crash and is now burning for the whole world to see.   

Belizeans need to understand that a country that refuses to make the goods that it consumes is a very dangerous place to live. Printing too much money for non-productive uses always lead to inflation. But the sudden stopping of money printing always lead to recessions and suffering. The only humane solution to inflation is production – a full set economy.  In Belize, even simple import-substitution is not allowed unless you are from the elite class and your skin is white. Belize is a racist society based on at top – white, yellow/brown and black at the bottom.

Now we have given a consultant (a young man who graduated from Lord Ashcroft’s University in Cambridge, UK) a job to recommend to government how not to increase the minimum wage even when we know that the current rates are causing 243,500 (58%) of our citizens to live in poverty. Don’t forget that in May 2022, the producer’s price index was up some 46% in the United States. This will work its way through the economy and by September – December inflation will hit some 40% which will be imported into Belize. Then, the poverty rate will be at some $ 6.23/hr. — way above the measly $ 5/hr. that we are refusing our fellow citizens. 

And, lastly, the PUP should remember that the Belize City Council gave every low paid worker in 2018 a raise such that NO ONE gets less than $ 5/hour and with benefits, the average is $ 7.50/hour paid by the Council to its lowest paid employees. This should be across the board for all Belizeans if we are humans made in the image of our Creator. The PUP is the political party of social justice. The control by both foreign and local capital over the PUP must stop at once.

What we have in Belize and certainly in the so-called Western countries are crisis managers rather than leaders who boldly build great projects pre-emptively to service the needs of the future. We need new bold leadership who would certainly not be subservient to the banking system of gambling and globalization, nor subservient to the insane myths of “zero-carbon” feudal green renewable energy sources and other destructive beliefs against human intervention into nature. Shut down the central bank and make the National Bank of Belize live.

Another lost opportunity – A small unit to produce # 2 Diesel from Crude Oil with capacity of 10 million gallons per annum. It was sitting at Houston docks for the last several years. I was told government had no interest and I should leave it alone. (I am neither white, nor a member of the elites). This unit could have given Belize diesel fuel Independence and with crude from Belize fields the public could be paying some $ 6.00 per gallon instead of the $ 13.41 today.

By Bill Lindo

Belize City, June 3^rd 2022:  A perfect storm has been devised in order to bring-down this Belize and the world, and it is now going forward with little resistance.  

There are several aspects to this perfect storm. But the reason the resistance is low is because of the mind-set of a growing portion of our Belizeans which we have adopted from the decadent Western world (the West is Europe, United States of America, Canada, Japan and Australia). A good example of this decadence is the outburst over the last week from Mr Dean Flowers, President of the Public Service Union (PSU) about the Government hire of Florencio Marin, Sr as an advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, with specific focus on the cane farmers and the BSI-ASR sugar factory.  According to an interview given by Mr Flowers to Channel 7 TV News: “It would appear that these kinds of hiring would suggest that we don’t have competent public officers within the public service to provide the kind of advice that is necessary to these technical officers…this is a practice in which they continue to hire dinosaurs….they [the dinosaurs] have a difficult time staying awake for 8 hours a day.”

Humans have been on planet Earth for over 200,000 years and during this time, successful societies from Ghana, Kenya, Egypt in Africa; the Chinese, Indian and Japanese in Asia; and the Mayans and others from Latin America and the Caribbean all have one thing in common – respect, deference, and the highest esteem for elders in the various societies. The Christian Bible specifically and repeatedly tells us to respect our elders. We all know that age brings wisdom. Seniors have plenty of experience in life and can teach young people about handling life’s problems. And even the Americans put an age limit on youths to become President, but none on old age. My step-father who was a civil engineer went to school and got a BSc in Engineering but could not get any job because he did not have a professional engineer (PE) certificate. He had to work with others for six years before he could take a two day exam from the State of New York; and after he passed the exam he got the right to put PE behind his name and could then take on more significant jobs.

 In fact, in the over 10,000 years of recorded human history, NONE, NO country nor empire was successfully run by young people. Young people cannot run any successful country. WHY? Simple, lack of experience.  Mr Flowers, education teaches the basic knowledge, but experience is what counts. And never forget – no employer pays for education – we pay for skill which can only come from experience.  And-by-the-way, Mr Marin was not hired for some 8-5 job. He was hired for helping the Minister and Ministry in negotiations of cane farmers and the factory. He is very respected by the cane farmers of the North and he has good relations with the factory — therefore, he can bring the two sides together.  This is not a job for civil servants.  But this problem of disrespect for old citizens is prevalent in our society, even in the current Cabinet, this why they keep making mistakes.  But thank God PM Briceno is not of this mind-set.  This business of youths leading society is part of the games played by the global banking elites who have run the Western countries exclusively since the end of World War II.  In the beginning of this article, I wrote:  A perfect storm has been devised in order to bring down this Belize and the world, and it is now going forward with little resistance.  Let’s look at the political economy of the world and our Belize.

Remember one rule: All wars are banker wars. 

Why engineer a war? Simple – when you play both sides of a chess game, you always end up the winner. In the past lending money to sovereigns – kings, dukes was dangerous. They can kill you at will or they can refuse to repay, so the bankers learn that it was much safer to lend to two sides. And if no enemy exist, best to create one to save your life, and get back your money with interest.  Plus, chaos is the ultimate recipe for pushing draconian agendas that the public would never allow to pass during peacetime.  In the international area, geopolitics is simple to understand. Conflicts/wars are always engineered and always designed to benefit a particular group of mainstream power brokers and financial elites. If you are one of those people who assume all of these events are what the British calls “merely random and unfortunate coincidence” then you will remain in the dark for the rest of your life – and will never understand why terrible things are happening to you as the world falls apart.  

Since September 17^th 2019, the Western Financial System started to unravel. The Western world has the largest financial bubble ever created in human history and all bubbles burst.  The repo market fell apart. The financial institutions started to issue huge amounts of printed money to keep the system afloat. But soon it was known that there could not be a repeat of 2009 – no massive bailout of the financial classes on the backs of American workers and the developing nations of the South.  A few months later the global elites unleash Covid 19 on the world and all 193 countries of the UN went along with the lockdowns, vaccine passports, elimination of small businesses and other draconian measures for a scam by the global elite to bailout their speculative financial bubble. One of the news last week out of Davos was the remark by Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna that they will have to destroy over 30 million doses of the spike protein vaccine because Americans have refused to take it and foreign countries, especially from Africa have also refused it.

Then the big boys decided to go for the whole-hog – elimination of God, private property, elimination of freedom, complete elimination of the American System of Capitalism, rule by a nameless faceless bureaucracy, they even had the nerves to write and say – “you will own northing, but you will be happy” to be a slave of the Oligarchy. The bankers decided no more finance for medium size manufacturing companies, no finance for family farms, no finance for fossil fuel — exploration, extraction nor distribution.  “In contrast to the Carter-era energy crisis, which was sparked by an embargo from foreign oil producers at a time of declining American oil output, today’s energy shortages are largely the result of domestic U.S. government policies, as the Biden administration attempts to force Americans to switch to alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and electric from fossil fuels. This effort has included shutting pipelines, suspending oil and gas leases, and putting up regulatory roadblocks—all of which has reduced new investment in U.S. oil and gas production; and shutting off credit.” wrote Epoch Times, May 29, 2022. Remember the big boys/global financial elites used the euthanasia-crowd-mantra of global warming to demanded that the 193 UN members sign off on the above at COP 26 in November 2021.

Well, first Putin of Russia said no – Russia earns foreign exchange by selling fossil fuels, so their living standards will stop raising.  Then Xi of China said no also, because China had tried the change to wind and solar energy on a pilot scale six months before, and it was a complete failure. And the smart Indians who depends on coal for energy said no – why, if Russia, China and Saudi Arabia and Iran are all against, then they will also be against. The Western Bankers were not amused. They publically said, Russia and China and later India will pay for this – by December 2021 Ukraine started to cause major problems for Russia. The provocations by the dupes of the Western Bankers led to “a special military operations” in Ukraine by Russia. Within one week massive sanctions never before used were placed by the West on Russia.

But the West forgot the ABC’s of economics. Over and over I have been saying this for over 30+ years. True wealth has nothing to do with money or debt creation — true wealth comes from resources, the means of production and especially human labour.  “The sole source of wealth is the rise in the productivity of human labour effected through technological progress”  is the way George Price wrote it for me in my 1995 book – ABC’s of Economics.

China and Russia using American System principles of Capitalism continue to understand what real wealth is. You can have all the money in the world but if you have no manufacturing base or resource development then you have nothing.

It’s as simple as that.

If a nation has no real wealth and no means of creating it, no printing press is going to save its economy. Paper is still paper.  Venezuela, Weimer Germany, and Zimbabwe learnt this the hard way.

The West has abandoned much of its means of production with its post-industrial nonsense and has crippled the exploration of its own resources through fake environmental concerns like “carbon pollution.” The East and the South have not done this.  This is why Russia have easily survive the West sanctions. On June 3^rd in Sochi, Russian President Putin said “The root causes of the current crisis lie with US financial policies during the Covid19 pandemic and Western Europe over-reliance on renewables and short tern gas contracts, which have led to price hikes and raising inflation.”

But the real key is what is the sanctions doing to the countries other than Russia.  The nations of the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have all been highly active in trade with Russia despite western sanctions and the removal of Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments network. Russia’s trade with China have increased by over 1000%, 900% with India, 450% with Brazil and some 400% with South Africa since February of this year.

While all eyes are on the shooting war in Ukraine where Russia has cut-off Ukraine’s sea access; and is now on the verge of taking full control of the Donbass (industrial area of Ukraine) and about 1/3 of the land of Ukraine, very few realize that the worst damage is going to hit the very countries that put the sanctions on Russia.  The rest of the world watched the West financially cancel Russia with a mix of awe and horror. This act of economic warfare revealed a nearly-unthinkable conclusion: If they did it to Russia, they could do it to us, too…  In other words, the financial elites in the US and Europe are creating the conditions which can destroy the dollar.

The dollar’s status is entirely dependent on faith and belief in its demand. If demand for dollars wavers because of global sanctions, then all those trillions of greenbacks held in overseas banks will come flooding back into the United States, pushing that nation deeper into stagflationary crisis.   The globalists are perfectly aware that this will be the consequence. In fact, they’re counting on it.

As several writers are saying the year 2030 is consistently mentioned by the UN, the IMF, the WEF and the rest of the cabal of globalist institutions as the final milestone for their Great Reset agenda.

If a global economic crisis is the catalyst as it appears to be, then several years would be required to let the collapse play out – along with the introduction of a “solution” to the problem.  

Today we are already seeing 40 year highs in inflation in the West, along with considerable supply chain disruptions. Multiple globalist institutions are “predicting” food shortages around the world in the next 3-6 months. It seems the war – economic and shooting, will expand rapidly within a year to include China, and most of the damage will be done by the end of 2024. This will all depend on how fast China and the oil exporters dump the dollar; the dollar dump may be the primary trigger.

A significant part of the WEF’s Great Reset agenda and the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights global digital currency initiative would require the end of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  The stage is already set for this scenario. The U.S. will be painted as an example of why nationalism “cannot work” and why no single nation should be trusted with so much power in the form of a world reserve currency. That kind of power tempts governmentsinto excessive money creation power debt-financed spending sprees. Not onlyto print new money to pay for those old debts, thus debasing and degrading the dollar’s purchasing power worldwide (also known as inflation). But look at what the U.S. did to Russia – freezing bank accounts and cancelling credit cards of the world’s 10^th largest economy. The globalists would call this an abuse of power.

Don’t be fooled.

It’s a complete con.

War, whether economic or shooting, and the death of the dollar as the global reserve currency is a perfect excuse for the “perfectly rational” introduction of an international financial oligarchy one world government. And, unlike its predecessors, this ruling council would operate right out in the light for everyone to see, not in the shadows deep in the bowels of central banking cartels.  Of course, they get to have their own group, and that group intends to garner all the benefits of the crisis and the power that will be derived from the panic.

But all is not going well for the Global elites of the West. First, Russia refused to go along with their curbs on energy, then the BRICS countries stuck together when the West went after Russia. And last week May 25^th at the 7-day International Health WHO Conference in Geneva, Botswana read a statement on behalf of the 47 African members to say they will NOT support the Biden 13 amendments design to strip countries of their sovereignty. In addition to the 47 African countries, China, Russia, Malaysia, India, Iran and Brazil also refused to cede their sovereignty to the WHO. Brazil also said that if the Western countries try any games they will remove themselves entirely from the WHO. And former President Trump warned the WHO globalists that if he becomes President of the United States again, he will remove the USA from the WHO – no ceding of sovereignty to no global elites.

 Belize in the meanwhile is going along its merry way to implement the dictates of the global elites.  Before the Covid 19 scam, Belize was suffering from some 52% poverty rate which has increase to about 60% since Covid 19. The current government has created several low-interest special vehicle debt schemes for agro-processing but as usual these are only for the big boys. The aim is to destroy small and especially medium size enterprises because “you will own nothing and be happy”. The large Mennonite agro-industrial enterprises will continue to control, because of cheap government credit, government market protection, while denying the same to other Belizeans. The caucasian communities will continue to control rice, beans, corn, pig, chicken and beef meats plus eggs. Milk and cheese will only be supplied by them. Animal feeds, and cheap toxic soya cooking oils will be supplied by the Mennonites. Lack of government support and credit will keep out others.  And make no mistake! Prices will continue to increase because Mennonites don’t absorb losses. They relentlessly pass-on price increases to consumers.

Belize’s economy rests on two legal and one illegal posts. The tourist sector has returned to about 80% of pre-Covid 19 levels, but the future doesn’t look all that well as the main market is United States which is going into recession – a hurricane as Jamie Dimon the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, America’s largest bank stated this week.  And Belize doesn’t get that much from tourism because 80% of it is owned by foreigners who keep their profits mainly in the United States.

The agriculture sector is mainly sugar, bananas and some citrus for export, while the Mennonites control the domestic market for basic foods. Local roots Belizeans are mainly in the small vegetable sector of agriculture.  While sugar prices have increased globally along with other commodities, prices given to local farmers have also increase but not as much as global prices. Fertilizers have increased an average of 26% due globally to lack of raw materials because of the decision of the global bankers to restrict credit to fossil fuels, fertilizers and food commodities in order to reduce supply and drive up prices. The miracle in Belizean agriculture will be in the Mennonite communities as some of them become billionaires in Belize in the near future.

The weakness of the current PUP government economic policy is based on the mistaken concept of money being wealth; and that support of the big boys is support of Belize.  Before Covid 19, the Barrow government policy which is the same as the current government was already facing a recession in Belize.  The same people who were running the government before 2020 are the same people running the current government –except the ministers and their CEO’s.   No CEO of the major utilities was change. The same contractors who before 2020 got over $ 400 million dollars in construction contracts over the previous 12 years have received over $ 200 + million dollars in new contracts in the last 18 months; and are expecting another $ 260 million in the 12 months.  The members of the advisory economic committee before 2020 were reappointed to advice the new government.  The same tired neo-liberal austerity policies are still in vogue. It seems Belize is cursed.  

In the same Epoch Times article quoted above wrote, “People don’t realize what’s fixing to hit them,” Texas farmer Lynn “Bugsy” Allen said. “They think it’s tough right now; you give it until October. Food prices are going to double.” Most people don’t have a clue of how things work – a farmer after preparing a field plants his corn. He must wait 90 days before he can harvest where the average 20 lbs. of seed is turn into some 3,000 lbs. of corn by the hand of God.  The farmer must pay now close to $ 15 per gallon (67% increase) for diesel, and over 26% more for fertilizers and other inputs. The total cost increases are on the order of 30-40%. May/June is planting months so around September/October is harvest time. The farmer will sell the corn in October, so until then (4 months later) will the consumers of corn and its by-products see the extra increases in costs. That’s the message of Texas farmer “Bugsy” Allen above. And by then prices of corn will be over $ 0.59 cents per pound from the current $ 0.37/lb. wholesale in bulk.

The effects of these deliberate manufactured price increases and shortages will continue in the West until the citizens overthrow the global elites. This is why suddenly there are mass-shootings nearly everyday in America. Deep-state have planned it. They want to take away the guns because deep down in the culture of the Americans is the urge for freedom. No dictatorship can enslave a population that is armed.

The tourist product in Belize is some 80% foreign owned. But a local Belizean have decided to empower local Belizeans in the Belize District with an unprecedented huge investment of over $350 million

Port Coral – The main section (middle photo) will be completed in November 2022

dollars. NEVER in the history of Belize has such a large project been undertaken by any local Belizean group. Questions? Why cannot the government of Belize create special vehicles to create cheap (2% interest) financing for this venture? Why is this only done for the Mennonites and a certain group of elites from the South who are allied with foreign interests?  Why are certain ministers of government so viciously against this project, and trying everything in their power to kill this project?  Why kill this project when over 400+ Belizean workers are earning a living wage?  Perhaps those ministers of government who are hell-bent on turning Belize over to the global elites can tell us common folks what they are getting for their treason?

I need to remind the PUP government that our party have a political creed/philosophy which is based on the concept of national sovereignty – self-sufficiency, control of local finance for the benefits of local roots Belizeans, the active promotion of family farms – certainly not large foreign owned and controlled corporate imperial factories and farms. And please remember we promised the Belizean people 50,000 new jobs at living wages – only 3+ years are left to deal with creating a “full-set dirigiste” economy for our Belizean citizens. 

By Bill Lindo

Belize City, April 28^th 2022: In my last blog (March 11^th 2022) I wrote that the “Russian special military operations” against NATO in Ukraine have resulted in the end of the European domination of the planet and that it may lead to World War III, or it will result in a new just world order with a 1,000 years of peace.

Some seven weeks later, let’s look at the situation from the military, economy/financial, and agricultural view-points.

This is a proxy war between NATO and the Russian Federation. Over the weekend of April 24^th 2022, US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin made this clear and on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov noted the same, and warned NATO that they are playing with the biggest nuclear power on Earth. (Russia has more nuclear weapons than any other country and the Russian nuclear weapons are much superior and advanced than any other country in the world).

Military

When the shooting started Feb 24^th 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine from the North, South and East, effectively splitting the Ukraine military into three forces. The most seasoned battle-hardened Ukraine forces were already in the East (Donbass region) trying to destroy their fellow countrymen who had refused to go along with the violent over-throwing of the democratically elected Ukrainian government in 2014. After the Nazi allied government in Kiev made speaking Russian illegal, the 30% of Ukraine‘s Russian speakers in Donbass region rebelled and formed the Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and have fought for their “autonomy” for the last eight years from Ukraine.

From a military standpoint, Russia has shaped the battlefield.  The real battle was always a land-bridge from Crimea in the South to the Donbass region in the East. The attack in the North was fake – to set the battlefield, to trick the Ukraine forces – deception they call it, and no one is better at this than Russia.

As former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson wrote on his April 19^th 2022 blog:  “In light of the events that have transpired in Ukraine since that “intel” was leaked to the western media about alleged chaos in Putin’s inner circle, it may be time to consider that Russia has pulled off a minor variation of Operation Quicksilver. As Russian forces withdrew from Kiev the Ukrainian commanders, in tandem with their NATO advisors, did not launch an offensive against the “retreating” Russians nor did they start moving large numbers of their soldiers to the east to bolster the defenses of the Ukrainian army dug in throughout the western edge of the Donbass. Why? This will be grist for future theses of War College students on the effectiveness of deception in war.” And as Scott Ritter Jr.,  a formerUnited States Marine Corps intelligence officersaid:  ”In Russia the term is “Maskirovka” and the Russians are past masters of the art – just ask the German Army of 1944: Operation Bagration, the Lvov–Sandomierz Operation, the Invasion of Romania. The first cleared Belorussia of the German Army Group Centre and the other two kicked the Germans right out of the Ukraine, and Romania out of the war to become a Russian Ally. The Germans knew that an operation was coming but where? The Russians convinced the Germans that the attack would be in the Ukraine which they prepared for. They then hit them (with up to 2 million men, 5,000 (approx) tanks and Assault Guns, and about 600 aircraft). When the Germans were forced to bring their mobile reserves in from the Ukraine to fill the gaps created. Wham the Russians hit them in the Ukraine!  Both these operations saw the Germans thrown back on the Vistula River in Poland. In the process the Germans lost an entire Army (9th Army), another (3rd) severely mauled. In total one Army HQ, eleven Corps HQs were captured (11 Generals KIA, 22 Captured), 30 Divisions destroyed (annihilated) and a further 20 severely mauled. In addition to the three mentioned the Russians also conducted a further two major operations. One to clear the Baltics of the Germans and the second to knock the Finns out of the war. Both successful!   Don’t forget that Russia contributed some 80% to the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War; and paid the ultimate price with the death of over 27 million Russians.

The United States and its western allies are sending a large amount of material equipment and weapon systems to Ukraine and, shortly after they arrive and are being assembled, are blown up with missiles. NATO systems have proven worthless to stopping hypersonic missile strikes.  Russia is sending a clear message with bombs and missiles – the Russians blew up key railroad junctions west of Kiev, effectively cutting the ability of moving any tanks or heavy equipment to the East.  On April 27^th 2022, CNN was saying that Russia was making steady progress in the Donbass Region as it destroyed the Ukraine military in the East and South – on its way to the de-militarization of Ukraine. And on April 27^th 2022, Russian President Putin warned the West: “If someone decides to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats to us, they should know that our response to those oncoming blows will be swift, “lightning-fast”… We have all the tools to do this. Tools that no one except us can brag about. But we are not going to brag. We’ll use them if such a need arises”. Russia is the only country in the world with the hypersonic missiles which it has been using in Ukraine with deadly results; and last week it successfully tested a new state-of-the-art RS-28 Sarmat ICBM able to carry Avangard hypersonic gliders able to hit any target anywhere in this world.  For now at least, the US and NATO allies have no such weapons in their arsenal.

Over the weekend of April 23^rd 2022, US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin clearly stated that the aim of the proxy war by the USA and its NATO allies was to weaken – to destroy Russia, and that NATO will continue to supply Ukraine with weapons so that this can be accomplished. The world order created after the Second World War and the Cold War isn’t working anymore, so the West needs “a Global NATO” to pursue geopolitics again, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stated, in a major foreign policy speech on Wednesday, April 27^th 2022 in London.  Truss also insisted the US-led bloc to send more “heavy weapons, tanks and airplanes” to Ukraine, and said China would face the same treatment as Russia if it doesn’t “play by the rules.” “The war in Ukraine is our war – Geopolitics is back,” she announced.

 However, the real situation on the ground is that Ukraine has already lost the South and most of the East in the Donbass region.   Russia is now advancing towards Odessa the last remaining port under the control of Ukraine, which they will soon loose. Ukraine will become a land-lock country if they continue to let themselves be used by the West.  And now Poland is starting to think that it can recover territory from Ukraine it lost after World War II.

British FM Liz Truss says a ‘Global NATO’ needs to arm Taiwan, like Ukraine

Economy/Financial

As soon as Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, NATO and the US unleash the biggest amount of sanctions in the history of the world.  Within eight days, Russia was cut off completely from the global financial system, as well as the airspace over Canada, United States of America, Japan, South Korea, and all of Europe, and all Russian artists, writers, famous opera stars, and athletics were also banned from travelling and partaking in events. In addition, members of parliament were also banned from travelling to North America and Europe. The US President, Joe Bidden is now asking the US Congress for permission to seize Russian assets. Putin on the other hand, has continued to state that Russia respects private property and will not seize any American or European assets. The division of the planet has now become much worse than during the cold war of 1949-1990.

Behind all this craziness is the collapsing global financial system. On Sept 17^th 2019 the global financial system has started to collapse. The West decided to bailout the financial system by starting a pandemic called COVID-19. All 193 countries of the UN went along with the scam of the West. For clarity, the West is United States of America, Canada, Europe (except Russia), New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Except for Japan and South Korea, the majority race in the West are Caucasians.   The population of the West is 1.35 billion persons, while the rest of the world is 6.5 billion persons, but the main three countries of Eurasia – Russia, China and India have some 3.0 billion persons. In terms of GDP the West has some $ 48 trillion or 56% of global GDP, while the rest of the world has $ 85.4 trillion. The big three non-western, Russia, China and India has some 20.4 trillion or 24% of global GDP.  In terms of land area, the West has some 21%, while Russia, China and India combine occupy about 46%.  And in terms of military power, the global rankings are as follows: #1 USA, # 2 Russia, # 3 China, and # 4 India. In terms of troops, India is the largest with 5.2 million troops; China has 3.1 million troops; USA has 1.8 million troops and Russia with some 1.3 million troops. In terms of nuclear weapons, Russia is # 1, USA is # 2, China is # 3 and India is # 4. All the others are far behind the big four.

For the last 200+ years, Europeans have been dominant on the planet, and since the last 30+ years, the United States has been the major dominant force on Earth. It has been called a “unipolar world”. This unipolar world has been dominated by mostly a few extremely wealthy families, led by the Rockefellers, Du Ponts, Rothschild’s, Morgan, etc. The main source of control by these oligarchs are financial control of the global central banks. Plus the majority control of petroleum and other raw materials that the 193 countries of the world depend on for human life.

On April 13^th 2022, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gave a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC in preparation of the April 19^th annual spring meeting of the IMF, World Bank, etc. In the speech, “On the Way Forward for the Global Economy,” Yellen chillingly sketched the new “globalist order” she believes must emerge from the NATO’s provoked war with Russia in Ukraine.  But the hate campaign the US and the British believe they have so exceptionally executed against Putin with the aim of achieving regime change in Russia, has only resulted in soaring approval ratings for Vladimir Putin in Russia.  In addition, the vast majority of the world’s population — living in India, China, Russia, Hungary, Eurasia, the Middle East, most of Latin America and Africa — has refused to go along with the proposed economic destruction of the Russian nation-state.  Most of these same nations have refused to cooperate with the central bankers’ Green New Deal and Great Reset, while paying lip service to de-carbonization goals of the Western Oligarchy. At the 2021 Conference of the Parties 26 (COP 26) Glasgow conference, Russia, China, and India refused to commit the economic suicide demanded. They have not backtracked since.

More and more people now recognize that the current NATO elitist track is resulting in the human sacrifice of thousands of Ukrainians, continuing commodity and asset price inflation throughout the world, and food shortages and famines. Carried to their logical conclusion, the West’s policies will collapse the US dollar, setting off a world-wide depression. They have also brought nuclear conflict among the human race into the realm of being a very real possibility.

Janet Yellen  as Vice-Chair of the US Federal Reserve during the first years of the Obama Administration, was known as Ben Bernanke’s enforcer as he created the “quantitative easing” “wall of money” which bailed out the world’s megabanks on the backs of American workers and impoverished developing nations. During the bailout, BlackRock’s Larry Fink was contracted by Yellen’s Fed to run large parts of the program — resulting in major growth for Fink’s asset management firm, becoming the largest in the world with some USD $ 12 trillion in assets. Yellen continued these policies as Fed Chair under Obama, creating what has now become the largest financial bubble in human history.

It is the looming crash of that bubble which is determining the globalist oligarchy’s actions now, especially the NATO/Ukraine conflict. In the wake of COVID 19, they are moving to control the world’s raw materials, land, and physical commodities, while continuing to “downsize” nation-states and populations in order to ensure the oligarchy’s survival and continuing power. Russia, with its vast mineral and other raw material reserves, is a huge prize in their calculus. They hope to loot it yet again, just like they did in the 1990s.  The name for this policy is the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “Great Reset,” in which Janet and the world’s central bankers star, while installed politicians are relegated to reading scripts.

Christopher Leonard’s book, The Lords of Easy Money, documents that the Fed knew, from 2008-2009 forward, that it was looting the real economy to bail out the Wall Street/London/Brussels speculative finance axis, and that its policies would create the massive wealth disparities, disinvestment in and disintegration of the real economy, widespread poverty, and deaths of despair and pessimism, which the West has experienced ever since.

In August 15^th1971, US President Richard Nixon, removed the gold backing of the US dollar. The US dollar became a fiat currency giving the US Fed unlimited power to “print”– create US dollars at will. This have now resulted in the largest financial bubble in human history, which is now collapsing leading to war as the elites try to hang-on to power. When NATO pushed Russia into war it was envision that the sanctions, especially the financial sanctions would lead to the economic destruction of Russia, resulting in the overthrow of President Putin.

Instead, the financial sanctions blew-up in the face of the West. Russia has become the first major nation-state to make gold the bulwark of its currency. Rubles, the currency of Russia is now exchangeable at the rate of Ru $ 5,000 per gram of gold. And Russia will only trade with “unfriendly” countries in physical gold or Rubles. As of April 27^th 2022, Bloomberg is reporting that over ten European countries are paying Russia in Rubles for oil and gas. Other friendly countries like India and China are trading in their national currencies – Rupees and Yuan.  By the US weaponzing the US dollar, other nations are now afraid that the Americans and Europeans will steal from them by freezing their assets. It seems the end of the hegemony of the dollar is now coming about.

And suddenly in a bolt from Heaven, with an American System view of political economy, billionaire and engineering entrepreneur Elon Musk has once again issued a warning about the risk posed by low birth rates, rejecting the assessments of global “experts” who continue to insist that there are too many people occupying the planet.  Musk, who has grabbed headlines in recent weeks for buying Twitter in a bid to restore free speech principles to the highly-censored social media platform, said last week that despite assessments from experts and climate activists, it’s low birth rates, not overpopulation, that pose a risk to the future of human civilization.  Over the last couple of months, while Bill Gates has been calling for population reduction (genocide) Elon Musk has been calling for population increases. Note that while Russia, Japan, China and several European countries have declining birth rates causing them not to be able to reproduce their populations, only China and Russia have been doing anything to cure the problem. While they are giving incentives for women to have more than one child, they have been using robots to replace human labour.

Regarding the internal economic situation in Russia, Yury Borisov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Defense procurement, and the impact of Western sanctions on April 19^th 2022 gave a detailed interview with RT. “We don’t see any serious threats that could undermine our work on the planned tasks in state Defense procurement. Perhaps this is a result of our Western partners keeping us on our toes since 2014. We have had plenty of time to adapt to the continuous sanctions they have been introducing against Russia…One example that has made the headlines is the Irkut MC-21 airliner. We started off by switching to the locally produced composite materials, and that’s done now. More recently, pressured by the new round of sanctions introduced in response to the operation in Ukraine, we have almost completely phased out all imports of parts such as Pratt & Whitney engines for our flagship projects. We’re really stepping up our transition efforts.  The PD-14 turbofan engine is already used in the Russian MC-21 airliner. Today, when foreign engine producers have cut off their supplies, this option is no longer on the table for us. You see, in the past there used to be two options – our jets either used foreign-made engines or PD-14s.  We will have to move on to ramping up mass production of MC-21, which is a fully Russian-made airliner, made up of exclusively domestic components.”  The MC-21 is equivalent to the Boeing 737 or Airbus 320, but is more fuel efficient.

Agriculture

Before the West placed sanctions on Russia in 2014, Russia was a major importer of grains from especially the USA. But by 2018, Russia became the largest exporter of grains in the world and with Ukraine they sold over 30% of wheat, barley and corn global imports.  Ukraine has ceased exports of wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat and cattle, and Russia has banned exports of fertilizer.  Together, Russia and Belarus provide nearly 40% of the global exports of potash, a key fertilizer ingredient. Russia also exports 48% of the global ammonium nitrate, and combined with Ukraine, they export 28% of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertilizers. Experts are now predicting fertilizer prices may double as a result of Russia’s ban on fertilizer exports.  

All shipping to the Black Sea ports of Ukraine are shut down and will probably never reopen in the near future. The only Black Sea ports open today, are Russian and they are only shipping to the 50+ countries Russia consider as “friendly”.  Before the Ukraine mess, agriculture was facing problems related to the unusual increase in printing of money, labour shortages, droughts, and global shortages of micro-chips used today in most agricultural machines. Chip shortages is now twice as bad, because Western sanctions have stopped imports of neon and other materials from Russia, while the war has closed factories in Ukraine which used to supply 85% of USA neon imports. And there is a huge shortage of “flat-rack” and shipping containers, making the supply-problems more acute. In fact, for the last several months, no trader in Central America has been able to get heavy machinery from Asia due to the “flat-rack” problem.

And to make matters worse, Union Pacific rail lines have stopped transportation of fertilizers in USA due to logistics problems caused by labour shortages and equipment.  Indonesia this week stated that only raw palm oil will be exported and refined palm oil will be banned from export so that domestic prices can remain low.  Note that it is always the export price of a commodity that determines both domestic and export prices. In addition, sunflower oil will no longer be exported from Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine.  Reuters has also been reporting that African countries have been hit disproportionally by high prices from collapsing oil seed markets. Prices have doubled in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana for cooking oils over the last couple of weeks.

Belize?

In this global scene, Belize must carefully decide its future. Belize with a population of only 430,000 is just a speck of dust in the eyes of the world, but for those of us who live here, it’s all we got. Make no mistake, larger countries such as the United States will always dominate our decisions here in Belize. But as humans made in the image of our Creator, we must strive for as much Independence we can get…we must not be slaves. The Americans have given the world a great political economic system – the American System. Belize should strive to implement this system of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Abe Lincoln, Henry C. Carey, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. George Price knew it well.

So, how can Belize survive in this current situation?  Trying to deflect the blame for the breakdown of the present world’s financial economic system by pointing fingers at Putin and Russia will not solve anything. Belize has a serious problem. We have a small open economy heavily dependent on imports, raw agriculture and the leisure sector.  We pay for the massive amounts of imports by revenue from foreigners using our hotels and restaurants and shipping bananas, and raw sugar to mainly the trans-Atlantic world; and some engage in the illegal trade of drugs.

Over the last 30+ years exports from Belize have never been valued at more than $450 million dollars per year, while imports have steadily climbed from some $ 650 million to over $ 2 billion today. Around the year 1995, the World Bank was trying to push the government to stop support of local manufacturing. In reaction, Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel stated that his government will continue to support local manufacturing because Belize’s future and the happiness of its citizen will be determined by how we solve the trade problem.  Well, 27 year later we have not solved it and now its teething to crush us.  This writer can prove that everytime the trade deficit gets worse, poverty also increases.

The only solution to the problems of today is in the physical economy. We either learn to produce or we will suffer. It’s that simple. We have the tools – a National Bank and DFC to finance the production. Commercial banks and credit unions were never set-up to finance production.  And we have a political party in power whose “political creed” is supportive of such dirigiste measures.

Let’s see how it plays out!