Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
From the I-Am-Not-Surprised-At-All-Department:
Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash
Evidence outlined in a Pentagon contractor report suggests that financial subversion carried out by unknown parties, such as terrorists or hostile nations, contributed to the 2008 economic crash by covertly using vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system.
This is a surprise to who, exactly? This sort of thing would be the ultimate in asymmetrical warfare. The US, naturally, has its own history of trying this sort of thing…pretty much every major world power at some point has counterfeited currency, started rumours, engaged in a little industrial espionage and generally done some Nasty Things to sink the economy of an enemy. Heck, we’re doing it now by freezing Libyan money.
Certainly the financial fubarfest of the last couple of years had its roots directly in our own missteps, but it’s entirely reasonable to believe that there were some subtle and not-so-subtle nudges along the way.
Right after September 11 I thought that there was more to things than a buncha guys flying planes into a pair of skyscrapers. There was an economic component that, at the time, I dont think anyone really paid much attention to. You cant really bring down a country like the US through force. Can’t happen. What you can do, however, is get it to destroy itself from the inside. Anyone remember the atrociously hysterical “Invasion USA” with Chuck Norris? (The man whose tears can cure cancer but, unfortunately, he never cries.) The bad guys simply fomented unrest within the US and let the US tear itself up so they didnt have to. In this manner they effected more damage than their small numbers would allow them to inflict directly.
Who benefits? Well, the list of folks that would be happy to see the US drop to a level of global economic/political irrelevance rivaling Canada is pretty long. Im sure theres a big country over on the Asian continent that is quite actively working towards this sort of thing.
Just grist for the mill…the notion that maybe it isnt all Bush’s fault is going to sit poorly with some but the notion that our economy hasnt been tarfetted by unfriendly interests is just nuts. Moral of the story: being prepared includes being prepared for an economic Pearl Harbor.
