Leadership for a Nation in Turmoil
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Feb. 7—Lyndon LaRouche addressed associates in these terms on today.
I think the problem is, there is no will to solve the problem. The problem can be solved. First of all, the primary thing is that the financial system, the way it’s operating now, is hopelessly bankrupt. Now, therefore, if the United States government were to foreclose against the fraudulent elements of investment, and just cancel them, we would have a solution. But the issue is that all the rich,— shall we say,— the rich demand that they have the first say in who gets paid and who does not. Well, if we say, we just cancelled all the pure speculators, who make no real contribution,— no physically meaningful progress,— then, if we got rid of them, we could handle the problem. And, in point of fact, not only is that a possibility, but unless we do that,— that is shut down the Obama Administration on account of their frauds,— then we could all go down in chaos.
If we, on the other hand, are willing to admit reality . . . For example, we’ve got the case of Hillary and Sanders and so forth,— all those people who are in the campaign,— well, they’re all worthless. They’re all intrinsically worthless. What we have to do is cancel the worthless accounts, and build in a support system for funding which will allow us to create real productive steps. That can do it. And it can be done internationally. It can be done partly by help of Russia, in a very important political way; in China, with what China is building up around itself. All of these things are things which represent immediate forms of recovery of the global economy, just by simply cashing in and cancelling the trash. That’s all we have to do. If we control the cash,— what is considered to be the cash. If we decide to do it, it will work. And when people say it won’t work, it’s because they’ve decided to cling to something worthless, like Wall Street. Wall Street and its organization is an intrinsically bankrupt institution. It has to be cancelled!
And if that were done with an understanding that we’re doing that, that would solve the problem for the people of the United States and elsewhere.
Increasing Productive Powers of Labor
When people say they want this mysterious explanation of how the economy will work,— I am fully aware of what the standards are that are needed to solve the problem. I think that people are just ducking the issue, and hoping that there’s some mysterious solution. The problem is that if people understand what I have been telling them for years,— and I’ve always been accurate on this one,— if they just pay attention to what I’ve been saying, and don’t change the subject, we can deal with this thing. We can deal with it. But we are not the only force in play. I have the knowledge of how to deal with this problem. Others are trying to fish around and demanding an explanation of some unknown means of trying to solve the problem. I already know what the solution is. But I also know that the government, in its present form, is not willing, by any means, to save the economy. The government of the United States is not willing to tolerate,— not willing to deal with the issue which has to be applied. We don’t need a mysterious explanation of how this thing can be dealt with. I’m fully aware of this, and I’ve been aware of this for years. But we’ve got to get back to what the real issue is. And the real issue is what our people, themselves, often try to avoid taking up, and then they hope that some mysterious force will actually provide a solution. It won’t. I’ve been specifying that solution for years, and if you don’t use that solution, you’re wasting your time in trying to save anything.
The whole nation is bankrupt. The whole United States system is bankrupted entirely. Now, I could deal with that problem if I had the authority to do so, because I know exactly what I would have to cancel, and how I would have to cancel it, to get a viable United States economy. I know how to do that, and other people also do,— they know about it, but they don’t dare to present the solution,— because somebody might be unhappy. Because we would have to strip down much of what is called the wealth area of the United States,— we would have to strip it down, because it has no intrinsic value. And we desperately need real value now. The reason people come up with other questions is because they’re ducking the issue; they’re denying reality. Reality is that you have to shut down Wall Street. Shut it down, flat, empty. Terminate it.
Then you have all these kinds things that go on which are listed as wealth matters, and they all are worthless. Most of Manhattan is full of worthlessness. But the people who want to have the wealth, or the appearance of wealth, will go around and demand special legislation, all kinds of things, to reward the useless. And that’s what they do.
So the problem is when most people are talking about this issue, about how to deal with finances, they’re just kidding themselves; they are blinding themselves to the fact that everything they’re saying is damn silly. And we’ve got to get into reality. We have to cancel worthless values, intrinsically worthless values. We have to put people into productive work, and creative forces of work. You have to change things by dumping most of what passes for the official wealth of the rich. If you aren’t willing to do that, you don’t have a solution; you’re just making it worse.
I’ve always been right on that, as against those who disagreed, or who had other ways of approaching it. You have to be productive, rather than speculative. People who have accepted other voices are rejecting what the meaning of income is, the productive kind of income and what it means. They have ignored that fact, or they give lip-service for it, but then they turn around immediately and try to avoid it.
What Is Leadership?
Those who are looking for other solutions are making fools of themselves; I know what the solution is. The solution is, you shut down Wall Street, and everything that represents Wall Street. Then Wall Street has no income. Why is that so? Because it’s worthless.
But we refuse to do the things which will actually create wealth. The solution is the one that’s being carried forward by Putin, himself, and by China, and by the nations which are coming together around cooperation with China, in economic and related matters. That works. What doesn’t work is the trans-Atlantic region. The trans-Atlantic community is bankrupt, and it’s based on financial systems which are intrinsically bankrupt. And therefore you have to change the way you function in terms of economy, to come back to a real economy, around an increase of the productive powers of labor. This doesn’t mean being a socialist, and calling yourself a “laborer.” This means that you have to create progress, per capita, per person, all the way through. Tomorrow has to be better than today, in terms of productivity, the powers of productivity. And people are not concerned about productivity. They’re concerned about getting money. And that’s where the problem comes up. We don’t need money as such; that’s not the solution; it’s not a solution.
What you have to do is what Franklin Roosevelt did with his program, and that’s the same thing. Of course, he was sabotaged when the right wing came in, and took over the majority. But what Franklin Roosevelt had done, in fact, before the crazy 1944 election, was a perfect conception of economic progress for the benefit of mankind. And anyone since then that doesn’t agree with what I insist on in this, is an idiot. Or, they don’t like to be called an idiot so they call themselves something else, but the fact is they’re an idiot.
We’ve got to take what I’ve just said: that’s the truth. And you’ve got to get yourself in accord with the truth.
MacArthur’s Inchon landing decision was right, in lonely opposition to the whole government,— just as what I’m saying is right. I find myself often in that position, like the decision that confronted Douglas MacArthur. And I resonate with my memory of what he did, in terms of warfare and so forth. It’s true: I have great respect for the memory of Douglas MacArthur, because Douglas MacArthur was the outstanding emblem of exactly what a nation in turmoil must do, as opposed to those who say there must be a practical solution. Whenever I hear that, I get angry, because you’re selling yourselves out.
These are not abstract things or generalities; the point is that anything that wins, actually depends on decisions which provide the possibility to win. I know this thing cold; I know all the tricks about explanations and so forth,— it never works. You have to get creativity in effect; true creativity. Which is what I use as a measure for me every day of the week, every day of the year. Others want a practical solution; therefore they subtract from truth, rather than add to it.
I’m not just a figurehead; I’m committed all the way through, to what I represent. So I don’t have any options,— different options. I don’t have any.
