Really, that's about all I could initially say in response to watching a DVD I received in the mail today. I suppose it was my own damn fault for supporting Rep. Alan Grayson in his attempt to audit the Federal Reserve so I must be on some "I Hate the Fed" mailing list. But damn. Fucking damn! That was one of the most, if not the most, horrible pieces of trash I've ever had the misfortune to watch. And I sat thru the entirity of Yor, the Hunter from the Future
The movie, an animated Libertarian porno, is called "The American Dream". It tells the story of an average John Q. Public American named "Pile" who loses his home to the 2008 economic downturn. And if it had told that story it might've been entertaining and possibly educational. But no, it wasn't enough, so it continued.
Soon after the banker takes away his home and his dog "Dream". (Not his DOG!) He's visited by an old school pal named "Hartman" who's driving the DeLorean from Back to the Future. He takes Pile back to various points in history ala A Christmas Carol to teach him a lesson about why he lost his house.
There first stop is 2006 where Hartman explains how the bankers lent money to anyone and everyone to make more money. Even when they didn't have money to lend. So far, so good. Factual stuff if told with some flourishes, like lending money to bums on the street so they could burn it for heat. Heh, dramatic license, I can deal with that.
Then the Fed bashing starts. Again, this is true, to a point but here is where it starts to go off the deep end. First Hartman rants about how the Fed "creates" money by creating debt and by doing so puts the screws to America. But Pile is still clueless. So Hartman then explains to Pile what money is by heading to Arabia circa 1000 AD (failing to note that money was first invented long, long before that) to make a point about "real money" vs. "paper money". Gold is the only real money but those sneaky folks in the Middle East created paper money and it's not worth the paper it's printed on. Ahh, the Libertarian wet dream of the gold standard. I wondered when that was going to show up.
Flash forward to 1815 and the Battle of Waterloo. Oh joy, now they start blaming Jewish bankers (come on, you didn't expect them miss out on some good old fashioned anti-Semitism?) and claiming they "own" England (They give them a symbol of a Red Shield) to this day by manipulating the stock market. [1] This little bit of anti-Semitism was created in France around 1846 but is stated as fact in the movie. [2] Hartman then takes Pile across the ocean to America where Pile gets to hear Thomas Jefferson defend America against the very same evil Red Shield banks. They use some Jefferson quotes, I'm guessing out of context, and even get some pleasure out of Aaron Burr shooting Alexander Hamilton.
Jefferson prevails and they then jump to the 1830's and Old Hickory defeats the central bank in 1835. And on his death bed his last words are killing the bank was his greatest accomplishment. Actually those weren't his last words, but heh, it's dramatic! [3] They keep dropping little nuggets of truth in this drek just to make it seem legit. Of course they then claim the next 80 years or so are some magical "boom times" the greatest rise in a nation's history (Boom times? A Civil War, pillaging of natural resources, railroad barons, multiple boom/bust cycles, the factory system and it's dehumanization of workers? Yeah, if you were on the top they were boom times. Everyone else? Not so much)
And you know what's coming next. First they take a little detour to Jekyll Island where the Red Shield arrives to create a secret master plan to bring a central bank to the US. [4] Then they go after Woodrow Wilson. Democrat. Signer of the bill creating the Fed and of course the IRS. Lord it gets loopy at this point. The IRS only exists to steal your money and give it to the Fed. Apparently things like the army/navy/etc, roads, schools, and agencies like the EPA, NIH, and the FDA don't get paid for by taxes. Gee, if I had only known. Update I want to make this section a little clearer. In the movie Hartman claims the Red Shield, with the cooperation of Wilson, creates the Fed in response to a crisis on Dec 23rd 1913. The commission was actually created in response to the Panic of 1907. Dec 23rd 1913 is the day the Federal Reserve Act is signed into law and a scary day for some, but not a day of a market panic. And the commission (which I'll gladly admit was involved with some shady characters) determined the a lack of central bank meant the US was vulnerable to currency fluctuations and manipulation. The Rand Paul's of the world love to latch on to the Jekyll Island incident as "proof" the Fed is some grand Jewish World Government Illuminati plot. Yes, the Fed has problems, but not the ones they imagine.
Jumping forward to 1955 (God, I was half expecting a Leave it to Beaver moment) and everything is groovy. Gas it $0.23/gal. Stamps are 3 cents. Gold is $35/oz. and an average home was a few thousands dollars. Ahh, the idylic age of the 50's. When men were men, women were women (and blacks weren't in the Whitehouse).
Leaving the 50's for the present day (while running over Michael J. Fox, I wonder how much Rush paid for that to be in the film?) where gas costs an arm and legs, stamps are forty seven cents and that home now costs $400K. At first Pile is happy because he has all that money, but the IRS swoops in to take nearly all of it. And Hartman explains how the twin evils of the Fed and the IRS use inflation to control the government. Claiming Pile is no better off today than he was in 1955. Which is bull, adjusted for inflation that freeze didn't occur in the days of Saint Regan but what are facts when you're trying to make a point. But Pile still doesn't "get" it.
So like the scene in A Clockwork Orange where Alex is forced to watch movies for behavioral modification with his eyes held open, Hartman whips out the Kennedy assassination conspiracy. Pile watches Kennedy sign Executive Order 11110 to allow the government to print money not controlled by the Fed. And then claims a few months later he is assassinated for daring to stand up the Fed. The last President to ever do so. Hartman then claims LBJ revoked the order and surrendered to the Fed. Which is of course a blatant lie. [5] The law stayed on the books until (Guess who?) Ronald Reagan issues Executive Order 12608 in '87. Like I said, a little truth, a big lie. It's a pattern by now.
Then Pile gets "gets" it. He "gets" it and he gets mad. And then comes the final confrontation. In a scene from the 300 the evil bankers are finally confronted. Chained to the entrance of the Fed are Pile's dog "Dream" and Hartman's dog. Then the "We Are Sparta" scene gets played out with Hank Paulson as the Persian messenger who offers Leonidas a deal if he submits. Hartman thinks about it, he ponders, then like Leonidas he pushes Paulson into the hate pit as Hartman cries out, "We Are Amercians!"
Roll credits.
Ugh, I think I need a shower after watching that and typing this review.
This warped vision of history is brought to life by Tad Lumpkin (I swear, that is his real name). A teller of truths (well, in his own mind) and aspiring cartoon director.
Here are some footnotes to debunk some of the more ludicrous claims in this "film". Actual it is a film, but more like slimy oil on a pond then a movie.
[1] The most widespread Rothschild myth was that Nathan, after receiving news by carrier pigeon of Wellington's victory at Waterloo, made a vast fortune speculating on the rise in British government securities. The reality, says Ferguson, was quite different. The Rothschilds' couriers did alert them first to Napoleon's defeat, but since they had bet big on a protracted military campaign, any quick gains in bonds after Waterloo were too small to offset the disruption to their business. link
[2] Research by the Rothschild family and others has shown that this legend originated in an anti-Semitic French pamphlet in 1846, was embellished by John Reeves in 1887 in The Rothschilds: the Financial Rulers of Nations and then repeated in other later popular accounts, such as that of Morton. link
[3] Oh, do not cry - be good children and we will all meet in heaven.
~~ Andrew Jackson, US President, d. 1845 link
[4] the Aldrich Plan, named after the chairman of the Commission, Republican Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island. The Plan called for the establishment of a National Reserve Association with 15 regional district branches and 46 geographically dispersed directors primarily from the banking profession. It is generally believed that the outline to the Plan had been formulated in a secret meeting on Jekyll Island in November 1910 in which Aldrich and other well connected financiers attended. link
[5] E.O. 11110 was never reversed by President Lyndon B. Johnson and remained on the books until President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12608 on September 9, 1987 as part of a general clean-up of executive orders. E.O. 12608 specifically revoked the sections added by E.O. 11110 which effectively revoked the entire Order. link