“Does any political or financial leader dare speak this truth in public? What would happen if someone did declare that the monetary Emperor had no clothing?” – C H Smith

How many nations are blessed with political and financial leaders who routinely state the unvarnished truth in public?

Only two come immediately to mind: Greece and Bhutan: Greece, where the new leadership repeatedly states the nation is bankrupt and extend-and-pretend policies are finished, and Bhutan, which explicitly rejects worshipping the false god of growth as measured by GDP (gross domestic product).

Bhutan has opted to measure well-being not by bogus “growth” (digging holes and filling them, and other Keynesian Cargo Cult nonsense), but by Gross Domestic Happiness: It’s Time to Retire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a Measure of Prosperity (April 18, 2014)

In other words, with remarkably few exceptions, the global Status Quo is a vast Empire of Lies.

I have used the phrase empire of lies since 2007:

Empire of Lies, Kingdom of Magical Thinking (October 30, 2007)

Empire of Debt, Empire of Lies (August 6, 2008)

Ron Paul used the phrase in his book The Revolution: A Manifesto which was first issued in January, 2008, which means he probably drafted it many months or even years before. Continue reading →