[Preface: In Part 1 of our report, “Goldman to Trump: Situation Assessment, Government Bail-ins and the Precious Metals Threat,” we inferred what Goldman Sachs’s second in command Gary Cohn might have said to President-elect Trump during their meeting on November 29, 2016. Cohn met again with Mr. Trump on December 2, 2016, and this time, we have inferred that he was accompanied by a second person. Here is Part 2 of our intuited, fictional report.]
Mr. Cohn: It is a pleasure to see you once again, Mr. Trump. I have been pre-empted. I was asked by important friends of our firm to introduce to you their envoy, Dr. Hugo Ehrlich. I can vouch for the fact that he represents extraordinarily powerful people with whom you will be working closely going forward. Let me turn it over to Dr. Ehrlich so he can explain.”
Dr. Ehrlich: “Thank you for meeting with me, Mr. Trump. Our time is short, so let’s respect it and get straight to business.
“I represent a global, privately held corporation known as Globanque. I doubt you have heard of it; we have a strict code of secrecy and silence. Globanque’s Directors would like to congratulate you on becoming president of the largest corporation in the world, the United States Government. Globanque, which owns the Bank for International Settlements and has meaningful stakes in numerous governments and other corporations, is also the majority shareholder of USG, Inc. Our friends at Goldman are intimately familiar with USG, Inc.’s ownership structure, because several years ago they helped Globanque acquire its controlling interest of your nation.
“While the Globanque Board does not wish to be disrespectful, a point of clarification is in order: the Directors would like me to note that the CEO and Chairman positions at USG, Inc. are distinct from yours, and that the executives are appointed by Globanque. The names of the incumbents are confidential, for reasons of optics and security. We doubt that the American people would understand why the two most powerful positions in what they mistakenly believe to be ‘their’ government are held by people whose names they have never heard of, and whose faces they have never seen. Perhaps in due course you can come meet your colleagues in Basel, and play a round of golf with them so you can get to know one another.
“If we were to portray USG, Inc. in geometric form, it would take the shape of a pyramid with a razor thin top and a very wide base. The base would represent the people, whom we ask to pay all the company’s bills. The middle would reflect the government staff who handle day-to-day logistics and the enforcement personnel who ensure the people don’t get out of line. And the top would represent the very few shareholders and cronies who control the corporation and make all the money. It is a fitting shape for USG, Inc., which happens to be the largest pyramid scheme civilization has ever known.
“In addition to being the largest corporation in the world, USG, Inc. is also the most profitable. You are looking at me quizzically, as if to say, “How can a corporation that is losing more than $1 trillion per year (as reflected by its deficits) be profitable? I’ll explain.
“While USG, Inc.’s deficits might look like losses, they actually represent dividends paid to its owners. Last year, the corporation had over $1,000,000,000,000 in deficits, which in fact were payments to Globanque and the other shareholders. The payments are made in many ways, including interest on the corporation’s massive debt; military contracts for contrived, enormously profitable wars; a broad variety of government contracts extended to cronies; so-called foreign aid which actually constitutes disguised payments to affiliates; and dozens of other ways to compensate insiders. USG, Inc. spends trillions of dollars each year, and no one really knows where all the money goes, even though the corporation does a good job of creating the impression that its accounting is accurate, which it is not.
“The deficits, in other words the shadow dividends funneled to shareholders, are funded by debt, which relentlessly rises at USG, Inc. The deficits and the debt increases move in unison. Dividends are extracted, and debt is injected. Forensic accountants would have a different term for this capital extraction; they would call it looting. Which is why forensic accountants are not permitted anywhere near USG, Inc.’s books. The corporation’s actions, just like those of the Fed and BIS, are completely immune from formal or actionable audit.
Over the past decade, more than $12 trillion dollars have been paid out by USG, Inc. in the form of dividends, making the shareholders extraordinarily wealthy. There has never been a dividend payout of this magnitude in commercial history. As you might imagine, Globanque spends a great deal of intellectual capital figuring out how to keep this trillion plus dollar game going. If USG, Inc. were to fail, it would be virtually impossible for Globanque to replicate it, and its earnings would be punished. Globanque’s Directors are not going to let that happen, if there is any way they can prevent it. If this means human casualties, so be it. They are people who do whatever it takes to win, with emphasis on the world whatever.
“There is a problem that concerns the Directors. There are unmistakable signs that the United States is approaching a state of what we call Peak Debt. While up until now we have had no problem saddling USG, Inc. with an ever expanding mountain of debt, and while we had planned on adding an additional $10 trillion of it during the next eight years or so, a faint but foul scent of debt revulsion seems to have seeped into the air.
“If we are not persistently able to increase USG, Inc.’s debt, it will become obvious that the company is bankrupt and that there is no viable means whatsoever by which to save it. USG, Inc. will have to be dissolved.
“The Peak Debt problem is compounded by the fact that in our view, the probability of a 2008/09-like financial crisis or worse occurring in the United States and beyond during the first two years of your presidency is close to 100%, which will hurt and possibly crush tax receipts. Therefore, there would be less money coming into USG, Inc. from taxes and debt issuance, a rabbit punch that would throw the corporation into a financial crisis.
“We have simulated in detail every possible response we might make when these problems manifest themselves. In the past, several temporary fixes were available to us, and we used them. But they were like bullets; they could only be shot once. Now, the ammunition box is empty, save for one remaining shell. Which is the outright confiscation of the people’s wealth in order to fund USG, Inc. and keep it alive; in other words, government bail-ins. We realize this measure is extreme and will be socially incendiary, but it is literally the only remaining option open to us next time around.
“The bad news for us, the dirty secret that must be kept a secret at any cost, is that as things stand right now, the people hold all the cards. The good news for us is that they don’t know it. If they were to understand and exert the financial power they possess, they could not only avoid the government bail-ins that are going to financially wound and ultimately impoverish them, but guarantee for themselves a level of financial freedom and personal well-being unmatched by anything they have ever before experienced. But they do not understand, at least not yet, and therefore they do not act. We need to keep it that way.
“The solution of which I speak is extraordinarily straightforward, and while it might sound simplistic, we at Globanque are almost certain it would work: for them, not us. All that the people need do is convert a portion of their digital fiat currency into precious metals. Now, while they still can. If they were to convert a mere 2% of their bank balances, roughly $200 billion, into gold, this would produce incremental demand of 167,000,000 ounces, assuming a price of $1,200 per troy ounce, which it won’t be for long. But incremental demand of that magnitude would obliterate supply, and prices would have to increase, possibly surge. This would convince many more people that it is a good idea to convert bank balances into real money. Which would lead to more buying, driving prices even higher. Ultimately, this could lead to a buying stampede, which is the exact last thing USG, Inc. and its fraudulent, exploitive banking system can withstand at this time. Such action by the people would deal a deadly blow to our strategy, which is to trap their money within the banking system, which we control, and keep it available for expropriation.
“We need to prevent the people from seeing the simple financial solution that is right before their eyes. It is vital that we keep them from moving their liquid assets outside of the banking system, either by withdrawing cash or purchasing precious metals. Accordingly, we have dramatically intensified actions designed to severely restrict or make it outright impossible for them to redenominate their liquid bank assets. The campaign is named “Operation No Exit,” and I will summarize some of its more important components.
“In Europe, we are radically expanding the definition of “cash” to include prepaid Visa, Eurocard, MasterCard and American Express cards, in addition to prepaid Merchant Gift Cards. Additionally, precious metals are being re-defined as cash. By including prepaid cards and precious metals under the “cash” umbrella, they will become subject to existing and soon to be broadly expanded controls. These cash equivalents will be confiscable on demand by authorities, with no probable cause other than suspicion of some kind of illegal activity or intent, which of course they can just invent.
“Prepaid cards present opportunity because we have rolled out and are perfecting a powerful technology known as ERAD: Electronic Recovery and Access to Data. ERAD devices enable us to swipe any prepaid card and determine its available balance. We can then instantaneously transfer that balance to the specific government bank account programmed into the ERAD terminal. The transfer is irreversible, so there is nothing the card holder can do about it.
“ERAD terminals also enable us to swipe bank-issued ATM, Visa Debit and MasterCard debit cards, determine the cardholder’s exact bank balance, and then seize that amount, in whole or in part. Banks’ daily withdrawal limits will not apply; they are superseded by ERAD. So we could instantaneously remove $100,000.00 from a cardholder’s bank account in one step, if the money were there. This is not a “future” technology, Mr. Trump; ERAD is already operational, and the technology improves every day. You can Google it, if you’d like.
“Several years ago, we expanded the Civil Asset Forfeiture program in the United States. This was a daring step, because CAF completely shreds the most basic and fundamental protections guaranteed by the Constitution. It is unique in that the victim, in other words, the person whose assets have been confiscated, is presumed guilty until they prove themselves innocent via an extremely complicated, specialized and costly legal process for which they themselves must pay. Which is often impossible for them to do, because in many if not most cases, the money they require to retain an attorney has been seized. Few attorneys will even touch a CAF case, due to its byzantine legal technicalities and hurdles, so those who will routinely charge $2,000 per hour or more. Most victims are therefore unable to legally fight for the recovery of the funds that have been stolen from them, resulting in a windfall for the seizing agencies. Which gives the agencies an increased incentive to further expand their CAF activities.
“We expected a strong backlash to CAF. But the fact is, there has been very little, other than from some of the victims. Certain courts have judged the method to be legal, which of course makes no Constitutional sense whatsoever. Those verdicts were only rendered because we paid or extorted judges hearing critical cases to legally ratify CAF. Given the unexpected success of CAF in the United States, we are rapidly expanding it throughout the west, particularly in Europe, where until now the practice has been illegal. CAF is a swift and efficient means by which to seize assets. It also enables us to zero in on specific targets, such as people we know to possess wealth.
“In 2013, we launched Operation Choke Point in the United States, a program that forced banks to summarily discontinue doing business with companies we wanted to cripple and shut down, including gun, ammunition and precious metals retailers. Unfortunately, the implementation of Operation Choke Point under Eric Holder was heavy-handed and sloppy, and it did generate some backlash. The Justice Department was forced to take a pause 18 months later, at least publicly. The program is still very much alive, and we are making the electronic processes more effective. Our objective is to be able to financially disconnect from the banking system and destroy any business that presents a threat to our agenda. If, for example, we cannot get gun control via the courts, then we can simply have the banking system impose it, by financially shutting down the dealers.
“In the United States, we have contracted with the Group of 30 to begin the process of demonizing and eliminating cash. Summers, Rogoff and Krugman are the principle spokespersons for this part of the campaign and we are paying them very well. They have all written articles, and Rogoff has written a book arguing that cash is a menace to society and that it should gradually be eliminated. They posit that drug dealers, terrorists and other undesirables use cash; therefore, it must be banned. There is literally no end to that kind of reasoning, which is exactly why we like to invoke it. By their logic, automobiles, gasoline and food should be prohibited, too, because drug dealers and terrorists drive cars and eat. The cash elimination campaign is based on Goebbels-style propaganda and demagoguery, but history proves that such techniques work, so we gladly use them even when the arguments are ridiculous. Currency elimination is a critical part of “Operation No Exit,” because it forces people to either spend their money, which produces tax revenue, or keep their money in banks, which are digital prisons that we guard and control, and that we intend to lock down when the time comes.
“The ECB is actively pursuing the cash elimination agenda in Europe. They have already stopped production of Euro 500 notes, and all existing Euro 500 notes are being segregated and destroyed if they are deposited into the banking system. Euro 200 and 100 notes will be eliminated next, then the 50s. Ultimately, there will be no cash in Europe. This goes for Australia and New Zealand, as well, where we are making gratifying progress. Control-freak bureaucrats are a Godsend to us.
“Sweden has actually stated its intention to be completely cashless within the next two years or so, which has been helpful to our agenda. We like to work with politicians and bureaucrats in smaller countries, because they can be bought off for less money than those in the bigger countries. We are having similar success in Uruguay, which is regarded as the “Switzerland of South America.” A lot of South American money finds refuge there, so it is an important country for us.
“Everyone knows about India by now. Modi was specifically instructed to conduct the Indian currency demonetization in a slow, methodical manner, as recommended in Rogoff’s book and as Draghi is doing it in Europe. Raghuram Rajan, former head of the Reserve Bank of India informed us that Modi was being pig-headed and would not listen. He wanted to be theatrical so as to look to the Indian people like a great crusader in a righteous cause. He is also a believer in the Politics of Envy, and told the phalanxes of poor Indians that he was rooting out the corrupt wealth of the rich. The hopeless love to hear that their oppressors are being taken down, even if what they hear is a lie. Rajan could not control Modi, so we airlifted him out of India and installed him at the BIS, as Vice Chairman. He will manage Indian recovery operations from there, and remains an important steersman for the overall agenda.
“By acting rashly and stupidly with his wholesale currency demonetization that has wreaked economic and personal havoc throughout India, Modi did severe damage to our cash elimination plans. His actions have provoked broad skepticism throughout the world about the risks of government-monopoly-controlled currencies and private, for-profit central banking systems. This has come at the exact wrong time. We need the people to have blind faith and confidence in fiat currencies and the banking system, because we need bank deposits to be at peak levels when we enact the government bail-ins. Time is already repairing the damage; it always does, as the memories of those struggling simply to survive are predictably short.
“Obama has immeasurably aided our cause by broadly expanding the provisions of the NDAA, which gives the U.S. government dictatorial powers over the people on any pretext whatsoever, even if the pretext is 100% fabricated to fit an agenda. If the American people actually took the time to read the NDAA, they would think they had been transported back in time to Stalinist Russia or Maoist China, but of course, they don’t take the time. They are too busy shopping, watching sports, gorging at all-you-can-eat buffets and texting mind-numbing gossip, which is exactly what we want them to do.
“We are rapidly introducing NDAA-like legislation throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and parts of South America. When the crisis occurs, we will be able to lock down much of the world in a matter of a few hours. Far too little time for the people to be able to react or protect themselves in any effective manner. We have financial interests in and influence with most of these governments, so progress is swift.
“In that our remaining time has grown short, it is not possible for me to go into detail about companion initiatives such as FATCA, Fusion Centers, FinCen, new financial disclosure requirements in Greece that will soon to be extended throughout Europe, FBARS, data collection and sorting projects such as Echelon and Prism, or any of the literally hundreds of additional steps we are simultaneously taking to convert to a 100% digitized economy fully subject to our control. But I can assure you that these efforts are synchronized, global and highly effective.
“Let me just say that the true purpose of the NSA’s Utah Data Center is to create an electronic dossier on all American citizens, with a particular focus on their financial affairs. The UDC will know exactly what assets they own and where, their earnings from all sources, their spending patterns, their medical condition, the medicines they buy and take, the foods they eat, their hobbies and travel patterns, their addictions, the social networks they use and what they say on them, the emails they send and read, the Internet searches they conduct, the people they call and text, the people they see, and in particular, anything they do that compromises them and makes them susceptible to special forms of extortion and/or control. The slightly longer term objective is for the UDC to be able to predict people’s behavior. In this way, we can neutralize targets before we expect they might go into action in some inimical way.
“For us, the UDC’s most valuable innovation is the ability to financially turn people off, as if they were table lamps, should that be in our interests. By digitally decommissioning them, we can render them helpless in a world where all transactions must be made electronically, and cash no longer exists. Imagine if none of your payment cards worked, and there was no other way to make payments; if you could not buy gas or food, pay your utility bills, or eat in a restaurant; if your bank suddenly had no record of you whatsoever; if you had been completely erased from the digitized system that is the only means by which to function in society? In South America, they have a reputation for physically “disappearing” the undesirables; we are going to electronically disappear them, which will be far more efficient and deadly.
“We view it as highly unlikely that citizens will act out if they realize they can be turned off, like table lamps, not just for an hour or a day, but forever if we so choose. Now you exist; now you don’t. Poof! Gone! This will be a critical power for us to have during the government bail-ins; we will make it clear up front that anyone who opposes them will be turned off. And that we will not reactivate them. In time they will starve to death. So what?
“The UDC is being replicated throughout Europe, where significant wealth has accumulated over the centuries, which we plan to seize. The UK and Australia, too, are moving fast to deploy UDC technology in their countries. So there is much progress on many fronts.
“As you can see, this is a massive, multi-faceted, globally coordinated project. We estimate that within three years, the infrastructure for a completely digitized economy will be in place throughout the west. But during these three years, we are at extreme risk that the people will figure out what is happening, and take steps to resist it. Which would be very easy for them to do at this stage, as I pointed out earlier in my comments. We want their money, but at this point, they could easily remove it from our grasp. We are doing everything possible to keep them financially blind.
“The only reason we have been able to make the full-spectrum progress we have made, without any meaningful popular backlash is that the vast majority citizens don’t see the overall agenda. They read about one thing we’re doing in one area, another thing somewhere else, another thing in yet another place. But they are discrete data points and sightings. The people are too busy trying to survive to sit down, put all the puzzle pieces on the table, and then assemble them into the complete picture. If they did, they would be stunned and angry. And they would take action. But they don’t see the picture, they just see little fragments of it, so we are able to push on. When they finally do see it, our system will be in place and it will be too late for them to do anything about it.
“That summarizes where we are, but there’s one last thing. Our friends at Goldman are an important “boots on the ground” resource in for us here in the United States. We rely on them regularly. We do think you should bring Gary on board. Let him do his work from the inside. We will all be able to move a lot faster that way.
“Well, my time is up. It has been a pleasure speaking with you, Mr. Trump. I need to get back to Teterboro for the return flight to Switzerland; the Falcon and flight crew await. Next time we meet, I hope we won’t be so rushed, and that perhaps we can have a nice meal and let our conversation take us beyond business. There is more to life. With that, let me thank you again and bid you farewell for now.”
Ehrlich approaches the office door, then turns. “Something I almost forgot to mention. In the spirit of what they believe is going to become an excellent friendship, the Directors authorized me to share with you an inside tip, something they almost never do. They wanted you to know that they are buying gold in the millions of ounces. They think you should be buying, too. And particularly your children, whom they respect. It will be a home run for them, given the magic of time. Feel free to tell your kids to take a look at gold, but don’t tell them anything about our meeting. Your first loyalty test, my new friend.” He opens the door and is gone.
Trump turns to Cohn and says, “I guess the good Doctor’s just said ‘You’re Hired.’ I’ll get the process moving right away. And Good God, I had no idea all of this was going on.” The men shake hands and Cohn leaves the office.
[Seven days later, Donald Trump announced that Gary Cohn would become Director of the National Economic Council of the United States of America, one of the most powerful financial positions in the world.]
Stewart Dougherty is the creator of Inferential Analytics (IA), a forecasting method that applies to events proprietary, time-tested principles of human instinct, desire and action. In his view, forecasting methods not fundamentally based upon principles of human action are unlikely to be reliable over time. He is a graduate of Tufts University (BA) and Harvard Business School (MBA), is a 35+ year veteran of the business trenches and has developed IA over a period of 15+ years.