Happy Thanksgiving, America

... did anyone ever get to the bottom of that rather unfortunate Roberto Calvi business?

If youre american: happy thanksgiving.

If youre a turkey: RUN!

Why are you saying these things. America is the greatest country on earth, we have the greatest military (god bless our soldiers in afgahnistan and iraq), we dont need the UK. Without the US, the UK would still be in the mid ages. We Americans enabled all the technology, electricity, cars, heat and so on. You should be more grateful to us.

"Why are you saying these things. America is the greatest country on earth, we have the greatest military (god bless our soldiers in afgahnistan and iraq), we dont need the UK. Without the US, the UK would still be in the mid ages. We Americans enabled all the technology, electricity, cars, heat and so on. You should be more grateful to us."

Buahahaha. Best joke ever!

At least our national debt isn't as bad as Japan's or Italy's. Woo... scary.

And don't forget we saved your asses in WW1, WW11 and your war with Argentina. Your as warlike as we are, at least we have that in common if not our language.

Fras you're an idiot - the article is written with ironic humor and to make a point that American's are blind to the way the government works. You probably think the Federal Reserve is part of our Govt...

International bankers are like turkeys: give them an inch and they'll take the whole country. The only solution, really, is to eat them during an annual national feast.

Unfortunately, we are all, each and every one of us, either bankers, or turkeys.

Gobble, gobble...

Come again, you saved who? We (Europe) would be just fine without you, fat nation.

When all was already decided and you considered who will be giving loans you faked Pearl Harbor ... and then played God in Europe.

Please, help us and stop with your stupid comments.

@ Fras, Turkey, GZ and Cam... Read what he is writing. I'm surprised to see something of this nature in the Inq.

The Fed is NOT part of the US Government. It is a largely privately owned company that has been granted Constitutional authority to create money, regulate its distribution and set interest rates. And yes, our government borrows money from the central bank (The Fed) with the pledge that it will be repaid, at interest, with your and my tax dollars. And no, the Fed does not actually HAVE this money. It just types the dollars into the US Gov's bank account (the best scam on the planet).

As most laws are written today (corporate lawyers actually draft the laws, hand them off to lobbyists, and the people we elect sign them into law), The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was drafted by bankers and handed to President Wilson to sign (over Christmas, while everyone was at home and asleep). This would be akin to Microsoft or Apple drafting laws to 'help' the software industry. You can only imagine the bias with which those laws would be written. And that's exactly what happened with the Federal Reserve Act.

Most people know who Timothy Geitner is. He's the current Treasury Secretary (and former Chairman of the New York Federal Reserve branch). Most people don't know who his employer is. It's not the US Government. His employer is the World Bank. And that's why, when asked questions about government fiscal policy, his responses start with, "Because your government..."

It's no surprise then that President Bush's cabinet was filled with mostly military industry people. President Obama's cabinet is filled with an unprecedented number of banker/finance representatives (ex-Fed/Goldman Sachs). Again, this is like asking Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to regulate the software industry. There's no question who would come out on top.

The Federal Reserve is the most direct assault on US national sovereignty ever. England couldn't win the Revolutionary War. So they came up with something far more insidious. They sent people with money over. They bought our government, starting with a guy named Senator Aldrich, and then started writing our laws. Back then, the American people were wise to this. And it took the bankers three attempts (the current Fed is actually the third central bank of the US).

"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

The US Dollar HAS lost 95% of its value, since the creation of the current Fed. And if anyone is paying attention, the United Nations has recently called for a world currency to replace the dollar. What all Americans need to be concerned with, more than terrorists or the Thanksgiving Day Parade, is the dollar bubble that is currently being constructed. It will be the last dollar bubble. When it pops, we will have nothing. Most of us, myself included, can't comprehend what it's like to have a currency worth nothing. But I'm lucky enough to have a friend that grew up in Austria post-WWII. I've heard firsthand what it's like to walk into a grocer with handfuls of cash to buy loafs of bread and a quart of milk. This is not something that we want to experience. But rest assured that if it happened before, it can happen again. And please don't be so hard-minded to think that this can't happen to 'the greatest country on Earth'. There were millions of Romans that felt the same way.

We do have a chance though. There is one small piece of legislation currently making its way through Congress. Representatives Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Alan Grayson (D-Florida) have drafted HR 1207. This will force the Fed to open its books. Some people will tell you that the Fed already opens its books. To a very small degree, that is true. However, the meat of the issue, what Paul and Grayson are trying to expose, are the deals our central bank makes with other central banks (Bank of England, for example). To the Fed, this is off limits. And in this regard, they claim independence (read: secrecy). They throw fears of high interest rates and inflation, if something like this passes. They're just trying to protect their secrecy. They've even gone so far as to hire ex-Enron lobbyist, Linda Robertson, to represent them. But HR 1207 is only the start. If we can get this law passed, American people will finally be able to know the truth. When you grasp the results, you have no idea how angry you will be.

Start doing your homework, guys. Start by Googling 'fractional reserve lending', 'fiat currency' and 'HR 1207'. Then head to Google Video and watch Zeitgeist and IOUSA.

U DA MAN

Cam said "And don't forget we saved your asses in WW1, WW11 and your war with Argentina. Your as warlike as we are, at least we have that in common if not our language."

Errrr, you didn't come to help in either war, you were dragged in by the Germans attacking you boats! If they had been a bit more careful with their torpedoes you wouldn't have bothered.
In WWII you did assist the UK before you turned up late in 1942, but that was a business arrangement, we only finished pay you for your selfless assistance in the 1980s!

As for Argentina, you weren't on our side! The US did not assist us, in fact if anything you were against us defending our territory.

You're just sore cos you've never won a war without someone helping you... Not even independence!

As for Fras, he's too funny! Columbus reaching the states is the usual definition of the end of the middle ages, so whilst technically this occurrence did end the middle ages, it's not by anything that happened in what was nothing more than a frontier colony being attacked by natives and dying of starvation and disease.

Enjoy your turkey.

The trout are well hungry tonight. :D

The joint venture that created the Tornado GR series and the British laser guided bomb which tracks SAS blippers is the source of the worlds greatest armed force.

Little would America be without its influence from Europe without it.

You are European, native or mixed and should be thankful to us as your forefathers and in due time after 1945 your saviours.

All you people arguing about who helped who in what war. Arguing about who's "better". Arguing about who controls the money. WHO THE FUCK CARES?

The brits are the ones who have all the cameras in public places, recording their citizen's every move. The brits are the ones who have the largest databank of DNA, and growing larger with every arrest. The brits are the ones who's government is constantly losing the private details of their citizens because they can't lock their car doors and thus get their laptops stolen.

The US is not very far behind in these (and many more) important matters.

We, as citizens of these countries, have to stop fighting each other and get together and fight our governments before it's too late!

1984 is just around the corner...

Viva La Revolutión !!!...pardon the French - it just sounds nicer in that language.

BTW, France - you're on your own :P

And remember the victims whom of which are my family members on the Sir Gallahad.

Done with this place. Thats the last bit of America bashing-cuteness-its just a joke--whatever from this computer site I'll ever hear. Blip. Bookmarks gone. You wont miss me and I wont miss you.

You Brits got some serious penis envy.

British banks took quite a fall trying to ride the coattails of U.S. banks through the mortgage banking crisis. If the British banking system was so wonderful, why couldn't they figure that out on their own?

That wasn't very nice of you, was it.

It is always dangerous to confront the delusional with reality.

I'm not comparing every American with mental cases but they do close their eyes to the truth about their government and the true state of their freedom.

The U.S. Supreme Court once ruled personal income tax unconstitutional but try refusing to pay federal income tax.....this just proves the system of checks and balances the Americans are so proud of doesn't work when it goes against the interests of the real rulers....in this case the Federal Reserve.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Yanks, I believe the Canadians had theirs in October(?).

Ummm, Canada has a Thanks Giving holiday too. Just a month earlier than the U.S.A.
So why was there no Happy Thanksgiving, Canada article, perhaps including a ridiculing of some aspect of Canadian Government? Perhaps because you don't have any Canadian writers on staff.

"This would be akin to Microsoft or Apple drafting laws to 'help' the software industry. You can only imagine the bias with which those laws would be written."

Well, see that already happened, only it was GM and Enron and whatchacallem writing the laws, the MAFIAA has been busy lately too(DMCA) -and now their new *copyright* laws are state secrets. Talk about a p0wnd government.

Banking aside, I, as an American say God bless the UK. We supported you in the 2nd war and you stayed with us in this 2nd gulf war. A war created from false statements of weapons harboring by Iraqies (sp?). If ever you need us again I will happily bring to bear, against your enemy, my plethora of weapons that I legally have in my home. As long as my heart pumps, there will always be a UK.
P.S. America isn't perfect, but goddamn we have fun here.

A reality for America because they are so * ignorant! First your thanksgiving is phoney. Like, not real... Your thanksgiving day was originally on the second Monday of October the same day as Canada's. But because of the great depression in the 1920's you moved it up to the 4th Thurs of Nov. Why? Because you would thought it would spur spending, being closer to xmas (do some research on that). It worked. Today, consumerism based economies is out, meaning, get with the program, get real, you're gone, you will be gone. Thanksgiving for that!

Since when did European banks have any roles in lending the US or the fed currency? Our gov prints the money and sells it to the fed for it's paper and coin value. The fed then issues/lends it to the gov to spend. Any profit made from interest is transferred to the US treasury. It's the fact that the private banks (Goldman Sachs) have taken over the fed and used its influence to legislate for their benefit. Lets get some sources on these articles. Enjoy your lame country and stop trying to worry us with your lies.

And I'm talking to the American posters above me, with myself being an American.

The writer of the article(an American to the dumb fuck who signed himself as whatever) is telling you that your money is owned by England and you idiots want to fight about who won what war? Are you kidding me? Our country is being destroyed through devaluation of our currency(not technically money) and you want to talk about who won what war?

Wake up people, this has been going on since before most of us were born, we haven't been the "Land of the Free" for a really, REALLY long time.

If we don't do something about this, we are royally screwed.

@Integr8d - Nice recap. I'm shocked this is in "main stream media" for all to see, we must be more of a mockery than I thought, now our nose is being rubbed in it (albiet by one of our own, to-boot!). Perhaps the foul odor will awaken the sleeping sheeple.

To the folks that think that article is a joke - WAKE UP, you are sadly mistaken, and most sadly, you are in the overwhelming majority.

Hilarious piece. You've been watching too much of that Zeitgeist 2 movie or whatever it was.

The fact of the matter is that the debt other countries are buy from the US is being used to stabilize and further those countrys' own economies. If you think they own anything as an "investment" it is purely wrong, since the devaluation of the dollar wipes any gains to be had from those "investments."

What that debt does do, such as in China's case, is keep trade at stable levels. For all the devaluation of the dollar, the last thing other countries want is the dollar to fall faster and disrupt the global economy. As a result, they either prop up the dollar, or devalue their own currencies in response. After all, it's not like the British pound or Euro has strayed far from the dollar in terms of unit value.

This is also why you will never see foreign countries "cash in" on dollar reserves. It would literally crush their own economies, and simulataneously devalue their own investment.

So really, what the Fed does for the world is provide a very strong force in maintaining economic stability backed by a very strong currency and economy. If the Europeans did have a part in setting it up it was because the US represents a realtively stable pivot as far as global economics is concerned. Perhaps one will be set up in Europe as well, now that it's not made up of a bunch of disparate currencies, and backed by a relatively strong economy.

Your understanding of the technicalities of the Federal Reserve are correct. I am not going to try and defend it because I agree that it sucks. I also agree that the bulk of the citizens of the U.S. are apathetic and ignorant. They are too caught up in their reality TV and Facebook bull***t to bother with trying to understand the extent of the bastardization of our economic and governmental systems. However, though I agree, I find your method of dissemination and the amount of vitriol you expressed to be disheartening. I am not an apologist but I would NEVER pan my own country in such a public display of arrogance and conceit. I have been an avid INQ reader for years but I can no longer patronize a site that allows this level of insult to be published. Thank you, INQ, for the great TECH articles but this is one-too-many Yank flames for me to stomach.

Please go back to studying your Communist Manifesto and quit trying to rationalize the devaluation of China's currency (or any others') as anything more than a temporary market distortion. Given enough time and pressure, everything has its breaking point. Warren Buffet didn't earn billions by ignoring this simple fact.

If no one wants to be the winner, then shouldn't we just adopt a one-world currency? Why not a one-world government too? Wouldn't that epitomize stability? Isn't that kind of where this is going?

Sorry. But I'm in the camp that believes that with independence and sovereignty comes resilience. And if the US Department of Education (or any others; take your pick) is anything to go by, I am correct.

I thought I'd left all this 'mines better than yours' drivel back in the school yard 40 years ago.
A lot of good people from a lot of countries died so that this petty argument thread surives its pejudices.

At this moment in time we don't need to be fighting amongst ourselves as others try to destroy our way of life i.e. 9/11, London Underground, Madrid train etc etc.

Lets face it, we all have our faults, but do we want to help our adversaries by petty nitpicking?

... our public debt, of course! What where you thinking?
The guy who said that Ittly's got the largest public debt in the galaxy (and btw he's right) is only envious: debt envy! Remember the paleolithic age, when Madonna wore a t-shirt saying "Italians do it better"?? Why, she meant debt, of course!
Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to talk too much about that.... capisce? We have slimy guys with gel in their hairs, with moustaches and dark sunglasses who can arrange to get you a brand-new suit.... the wood or cement style, of course! :-)

Happy black-friday from Mafialand!

Everyone's had their share of c**ksucking.

In the end, people is whatz matter, not moneys or govermentz. Racism ain't no thang.

Fuck em all.

Peace and Loves to Allz <3

You granato papahulos are hilarious. I wish I could just fly an RPG in your face. Happy turkeying.

have to say did expect some complaints from our Atlantic relatives who are too sensitive about there country, but this is quite tame compaired to the flaming the reg would get!

"From 1913 until today, the US dollar has lost over 95 per cent of its purchasing power".

Unlike the pound sterling, which lost more like 99 per cent. As a rule of thumb, things that could be purchased for a penny in 1900 tend to cost up to a pound today. That, of course, is a ratio of 240 to 1.

And there wasn't much inflation between 1900 and 1913. It was only when nations took up the sport of "world war" that they began printing money to pay for it.

the most probably thing is that you don't give a sh.. about thanksgiving, since America is not a country, it's a continent.
(even your country's name doesn't make sense, "united states of america"

We in the United States have a daily process we call TOOTHBRUSHING. This process consists of a device called a TOOTHBRUSH along with a substance called TOOTHPASTE. When you are purchasing the Ipod from us fat Americans and complaining about the United States, it is repulsive to look at your missing and black teeth and smell your bad breath mixed in with your body odor. Also, we have another invention called a SHOWER. This is another process we perform on a daily basis. After our shower, we apply a product called ANTI-PERSPERANT. This product stops body odor. We are aware that you europeans do enjoy this scent but we here in America find it repulsive. Also, our women shave their armpits and wear bras also called braseirs. If you just can't bring yourself to shave your armpits, please don't wear tanktops. Follow these steps and we will gladly listen to you bitch, wine and complain about America while we take your money.

Again, america is a continent. The only repulsive part from america is the country between mexico and canada (by the way both belong to northamerica).

I can't think one time time that my family and I sat around a Thanks Giving dinner and broke bread and toasted to the stupid euro trash that were the pilgrims, whom brought death and disease to 90% of the native populations here.

Thanks Giving, is a time for family to get together, and give thanks to FAMILY. F-ck you euro snobs, especially the UK, f_cking interbred buck tooth narrow eyed pally skin X world super power HAS been.

Signed, X long time reader of this site

pranksters wheel live sheep into shopping trolly in London supermarket. Well, thats it for the big news from England today,folks. Now lets cram our noses up the U.S. and make wize comments because we havn't had anything to comment on from England for 30 some years. They cant get back at us because theres nothing to mention.

Like for serious???... First off it disturbs me when one country in Europe equates itself with the rest of Europe. Last I checked the countries in Europe were still soveriegn and autonomous...How does "Europe" benefit from what you assume the UK does? Magic? ... anyways the US may have had its currency depreciate by 93% or whatever but at least we aren't the lapdog of another country... be honest here... especially during the Bush administration the UK practically sat in America's lap...I don't foresee Obama's administration changing America's dog either...Happy Thangsgiving, UK

Exactly.

Just a bunch of pansies who cant get over the past and move on over here.

Time to head over to Charlie's site

BTW, if Egan Orion is an American, why does he refer to the Americans as "they", and the Brits as "us"?

Regardless of whether this article is right or wrong, I guess the thing that I'm having trouble understanding something. What was it, that gave the the writers and editors of this web page, the idea, that although probably done as a joke, that publishing an article that was almost certain to insult and/or piss off 1/4 of the readership, was a good idea?

Well, the INQ likes to have an all brit readership for some odd reason. Its not surprising why they lose so many US readers. Most of us from the usa can care less about their personal opinions of our country because they don't matter/have little influence (quite similar to their home country).

I'd love to chat with any of people bashing America via email. Mainly the cowardly author, so please contact me Nigelpreece@gmail.com. We can continue the pointless discussions.

As a U.S. reader I find nothing worthwhile in Egan's condescending and disrespectful tone, regardless of whether he's a U.S. citizen. The editor should ask him to stick to IT and drop the hostility or U.S. readers will drop the Inquirer. If Egan feels so superior or simply holds a grudge against the U.S. he should air those views some other place. He's such a pain in the ass when he writes this way.

"BTW, if Egan Orion is an American, why does he refer to the Americans as "they", and the Brits as "us"?"

Surely you realise a bloody, whinging Pom adheres to the 'once a Yank, always a Yank' adage? [At least they generally refrain from referring to us as seppo's, unlike our Aussie cousins!]

Hat tip to the ancestors of our British cousins for the Magna Carta, British Common Law, and Blackstone's 'Commentaries'. Pity they've binned most of the lot. [Fully separated, lest a fine be levied all captured on CCTV.]

Oh, Albion, whither thou goest?