LYNDON LAROUCHE:
We Can Turn the Tide:
Get Obama Out, Glass-Steagall In
[PDF version of this transcript]
Lyndon LaRouche made the following remarks to the Schiller Institute New Paradigm conference Nov. 2. He spoke over Skype connection.
Well, Helga's covered a lot of territory, right now, and it's impressive to me because it takes the burden off me, as you can imagine.
There are several problems which are specific to the present situation. One, obviously, is the strategic situation, which Helga has touched upon in various aspects. There's also the question of what is the alternative to the collapse of civilization which is now ongoing. I'm speaking specifically of the economy of the United States, the economy of Europe, and to a large degree, the trans-Atlantic region.
Now, what's happened in the trans-Atlantic region, which had been in a former period of time, the great driver of progress, the United States, especially the United States at its peak as an economy? Since the time of some of our greatest leaders, we have been sinking down: We have been in a state of decline permanently, from the time of the death of John F. Kennedy, until the present time—that is, the death and assassination of John F. Kennedy marked the beginning of a great collapse in the United States, in the economy and in the morality of our people.
The same thing happened somewhat in Europe, in Western and Central Europe, the same kind of thing.
Now, what we have therefore, is a question, given the degree of collapse of the economy, of the industries, of the ability to produce, in the United States in particular, as in Western and Central Europe; we've reached a point where this system, in its present form, cannot survive. We've reached a breakdown point in this system. The question is, how can we launch a recovery of the United States, immediately, but also the trans-Atlantic region, and the world as a whole? How can we do that?
Well, you look at Asia. There are some good points in Asia, which are very important, such as in China. China has a great potential now, if it is encouraged and enabled to develop that. Other nations in the Pacific region, some of them, at least, also have a similar contribution to make. They are still on the upgrade, still making progress. China is most notable, in this case, and of course, it's been accelerated by the question of the military defense of China, which is threatened not by anybody else but the British system, the Anglo-Dutch system, and by some degrees, the United States itself.
So therefore, is it possible, given the fact of the trend of collapse, in the United States, across the Atlantic into Europe, is it possible that these nations can recover from the collapse which is fully under way, now? That's the challenge. And what I want to focus on is essentially an approach to dealing with this crisis.
Obama Must Be Removed
There is no chance of a spontaneous recovery of the U.S. economy at this time. There would have to be the elimination of this current President of the United States, as of the Bush family representatives earlier. From the time of young Bush entering office, on, the United States has been in an accelerating rate of general collapse. We no longer have significant industry. We have some local industries which are leftovers of a general wreckage.
We're now at the point, as of this week, that a factor of active genocide has been introduced to the victims in the U.S. population: This is the new law, put through under sponsorship of the current President. As long as that policy exists, the situation of the United States would be hopeless—that is, of the people of the United States. The hyperinflation is only one factor of this thing.
So therefore, the question is, how can the recovery of economy, and nations, occur? My suggestion is, there are some indications of ways in which we could integrate the recovery of nations such as the United States, together with the Pacific region. Because the Pacific region has not collapsed to the degree that the United States economy has collapsed, or the economy of the Americas, for example. So therefore, that's interesting.
India is in a better state of affairs, than the United States, too. We have other nations, groups of nations, which have significant potential for some greater or lesser degree of recovery.
Now, despite those limitations, there are two basic opportunities that stand before us: one is what's called NAWAPA. That's the great water project which stands before us now, inside the economy of the United States, and also Canada. That would be positive, but it's not being done!
We also have technologies which we've proposed; they have not been done. Under Bush and under Obama, the United States is literally going to hell. So therefore, what's the solution? How do we, apart from moving Obama out of the Presidency—which would be a great boon to the world, and the United States in particular—what are the means we could use, now, which would be a starting point of reference for a general recovery of civilization of the planet?
One thing, of course, is a proper view of Mars, or space exploration, of defense of Earth against rocks, which in some cases, if they were to hit Earth, would actually terminate the existence of the human species on Earth. So therefore, these kinds of problems and similar kinds of problems, are correlatives which indicate that there's something we have to do, to defend the very existence of the people of the United States, and of the world, and so forth. Also, the Mars issue has a very significant importance in this process.
But the main thing here, is, what's the immediate action? Since the beginning of the 1970s, we've had the achievement of a provable case for thermonuclear fusion. I was part of one of the teams involved in this thing during that time. But this project was crushed, it was held back. We also have never really done what was called NAWAPA, the great North American Water and Power Alliance; that's a great project which can still be done, and must be done.
We also have other projects of the same kind, but the main one is the fact that China, in particular, and adjoining nations in Asia have not collapsed during the period that the European system has collapsed, the U.S. economy has collapsed, the South American economies are disintegrating, more or less, the tragedy of Africa, which is still a great tragedy—where can we go? What can we touch, which would save the future of mankind?
Already recently, we've had a collapse of income, decreed by Obama. Obama's program, if implemented, and it is being implemented, prescribes genocidal collapse of large sections of the U.S. population. That's already in place under Obama. Now, if we were to be fortunate enough to remove Obama from office, then we have a number of options; there are things we can start and do which would be very useful. But we have virtually no significant depth of industry! And no significant depth of agriculture. We are not producing, and cannot presently produce, a sufficient amount of agricultural product to maintain the population of the people of the United States.
These are the kinds of problems that must be faced now. Obama must be removed from office. Without his being removed from office, there's no hope for anything but a holocaust of one degree or another, for the U.S. population!
Well, let's suppose Obama is removed, judiciously, and for judicious reasons: Then we have a blank slate, because we don't have industry of significance any more. All our great industries have been collapsed and disbanded. Our people not only have been unemployed, but more and more of them have lost the ability to produce! Their brains and so forth have not developed as they should have; they've been crushed. And this last bill that was rammed through by Obama, is the signal of an action which will cause an acceleration of the death rate of the U.S. population.
So what's the solution? I say, get rid of Obama. Have him impeached, as he should be. Then we do have a possible option.
Now, one of the options, as I've mentioned, is NAWAPA. But NAWAPA could not be implemented under the present economic circumstances inside the United States. It could be implemented in design; there are still a few aging people who know how to do what has to be done to install NAWAPA, but there are not many of them, and those who exist have no significant opportunity to do anything for NAWAPA.
So the United States is now dying. It's a dying economy! And there will be soon, if we don't stop that, mass death.
Thermonuclear Fusion Is the Necessity
All right: What could break this? Well, we have one technology which I became familiar with back in the early 1970s, and that is the development of thermonuclear fusion. Now, thermonuclear fusion has been on the table since the early part of the 1970s, but has not been implemented, except in very limited, token ways, and more and more, there's an absolute, systemic suppression of clear understanding of what that would mean. But going to this higher level of intensity of energy-flux density, which that represents, is the greatest leap available to us, for all mankind.
But since the early 1970s, there has been a ban on any significant application of thermonuclear fusion. There have been some small token things which do not rise to the level of having the significance of a driver for the world economy.
China, however, is not bankrupt. China is not in great shape, relative to what we used to set as standards for progress, but China has vitality—with limitations, admittedly. We have also other parts of Asia, which are a part of the trans-Pacific region which do have some capability for rising to the challenge of thermonuclear fusion. And only thermonuclear fusion is an adequate instrument for rescuing the world, and the world's population from the present crisis.
Now, we will not be able to achieve, in my best estimate, a full-throated thermonuclear fusion in much less than a decade. It would take a decade or more; we used to talk about 30 years to realize thermonuclear fusion. Today, I believe we could do better; we could do better by cooperation among a great number of nations, including experimental work to go into the phase of operation of thermonuclear fusion. That would enable us to begin to halt the rate of collapse inside the world economy generally, and to restore to some degree, actually significant progress. The first objective has to be to hold the line to stop the flow into disaster! And whatever we can do in that direction, whatever means we can use—whatever means, that should be done. It should be done immediately.
The first thing we have to realize is, we have entire populations in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, who are totally incompetent in respect to these kinds of economies, even simpler forms of economy. And that's where we stand right now.
That's my key issue: The increase of the energy-flux density, as expressed in terms of thermonuclear fusion, applied to all applications of industry and environment and so forth, is the essential, only solution, for pulling the world as a whole, especially the trans-Atlantic region, into saving those nations—frankly, you cannot save those nations without such measures, even though it may take 10 years or more to get thermonuclear fusion actually operating on the level necessary, even experimentally. Nonetheless, the fact that we are committed to developing that technology, means that we have an active chance. We can take areas like China, which still has the facility to make progress in that direction; some other nations of Asia also have that; India has a certain degree of obvious capability.
But the problem is, the collapse of the trans-Atlantic region is one of the greatest catastrophes. But why did it happen? It happened because forces that feared the United States, and feared more than that—what the United States had represented at its best—[brought about] the destruction of that intellectual capability, the demoralization of the citizens of the United States. That has brought us to the point that we are headed toward a general breakdown crisis.
And what was started this week in terms of the Obama program, for gradual genocide against the poor people of the United States, is a warning sign. Take into account the fact that the food supply and the generation of the food supply of the U.S. population is now on the negative side, and getting worse rapidly.
So this is what faces us for most of the century. So NAWAPA is key; thermonuclear fusion, as I've indicated, is key. Now my approach is specifically this: I have proposed, with my associates and others, that we recognize that the region of the United States to the west of the Mississippi River, is one of the great catastrophic areas. That's where some of the worst of the collapse is occurring; that's where a great deal of our food supply is disappearing. And you know some of the things in California, also, where there is a similar type of collapse in this region, which once had had great prosperity. The southern part of California had great prosperity, despite all the faults in the system. And now it's tragic.
So therefore, the only chance is, to get us started in the direction of restoring a commitment to progress, energy-flux density in progress. And I know we can do that. The question is, where is the will to back up the realization? The problem had been that the United States and Western Europe were particular targets for destruction of the capability of productivity during this whole period. It started essentially with George W. Bush Jr., who is one of our great catastrophes. Obama is the worst catastrophe ever to hit the United States. If we keep him in office, we're dead! The United States is dead!
So this man must be impeached, Glass-Steagall must be re-established, and we must have applied energy-flux-density programs, for building up food supply, rebuilding up production, for initiating production where it no longer exists, and defending our population's lives against the terrible conditions which have been put upon it successively by George W. Bush Jr. and by Obama. These are the two curses. If we have that kind of program we need, and start it, we can win; we can survive.
But we have to recognize that since the death of John F. Kennedy as President, the United States economy has been in a successive state of decline, collapse! Don't kid yourself: This economy has collapsed since that time, at different rates, at different times. But now it's full, and the United States is doomed, unless we find a change in the direction of our economy. And the best thing is to tie ourselves closely to sections of Asia, which, while they may not be perfect by our old standards, are necessary as a part of finding the resources to begin to rebuild our economy and put our people back to work, get back into production.
And the first thing to do, is shut down Wall Street and shut down everything that represents that. Because as long as Wall Street is bleeding the economy of the United States, the United States is doomed. The way to do that? Glass-Steagall! Put Glass-Steagall into power immediately, and the tide can be turned. It will not be turned automatically, but it will be turned, if we do that.
That's where we stand. And since Helga's covered a lot of area, I'll now pass it back to you.
