ABOUT
This web site is a direct result of the Great Depression. I'm not talking about the depression of the 1930's. I'm talking about MY Great Depression of 2012 after the November election. I wasn't just depressed because our country had re-elected a man whose socialistic ideology and radical activist connections had by that time been well-established. A big part of my frustration was lack of enthusiasm for alternative candidates plus a growing disdain for the system itself. While I was an early supporter of George W, his massive expansion of entitlement programs and support for government bail-outs of big banks had forced me finally to admit that there really wasn't that much difference in either party. Yes, the platforms espouse dramatically different values, but the practical results wind up being disastrous no matter which party is in power.
Anyway, as the political dust settled, I was eager to turn my attention to things that might actually be worthwhile. I sat down at the computer one day to settle a nagging question that had been raised in my mind through the course of the election season by Ron Paul. While I had grown to kind of like the guy --- at the very least for his courage and tenacity ---- up till that time I had thought of him as a fringe character. But I finally got curious about why he kept harping on the issue of auditing the Federal Reserve Bank.
Having never thought much about it, nor having ever cared much for economic matters, I decided to poke around for a 'few minutes' so I would 'understand' what that issue was all about. Well, one bread crumb led to another and then more and more until before I knew it I had been led into a towering enchanted forest of old-growth trees, mossy out-croppings and stunning ravines. I found myself entering a world as fascinating and mysterious as the fairy tales of old, and as riveting as any murder mystery thriller. It was as though I had dropped through the rabbit-hole and found myself in Wonderland. I really could not believe what I was learning about the monetary underpinnings of our culture with all of its ancient and contemporary intrigues.
Of course, the farther I read, the more disturbed I became, both because I had lived so long without knowing these things, and because I was becoming suddenly conscious that most Americans are as clueless as I was. Now, I'm not a clueless person, mind you. Having been a pastor for around 30 years, I know a whole lot about people and life and their struggles in it. I do believe that life is a unity that hangs together and should be embraced whole rather than piecemeal. But I'm not as consistent in applying that belief as I would like to be. My early pull toward spiritual things, along with pointed biblical warnings about greed, led me to compartmentalize financial subjects as a domain for someone else to worry about. I'm sure my college experience with economics and accounting classes had a lot to do with that as well!
So let me be perfectly clear ---- I am not a crook. No, wait, that's another speech. I am not a financial guy. The information contained here does not originate with me. I have simply discovered that there are quite a number of wonderful, brilliant, articulate and dedicated financial smart-people out there who have been screaming about these issues for a long time. The problem is, for the most part the people listening to them are already tuned in to the subject, and the people who aren't tuned in don't know they exist. On top of that, the economic language that has to be used can put the average guy and gal off more than the financial experts realize. So I see my role as a 'translator'. I have spent much of my life trying to translate fairly complicated theological and philosophical issues into everyday language, so I think maybe I can bring that experience to this table. I have simply laid out in this web site what I have learned since November 2012 in language that I believe is reasonably understandable. More importantly, I have set up the website so you can go directly to the financial experts and hear from them yourself in both video and print.
I didn't set out with the idea of turning my research into a film, an essay or a web site. As I moved from one article to another and from one YouTube video to another, I began to realize that it needed to be organized a bit if I was to get it all straight. Then somewhere along the way I began to develop a deep conviction that this information needs to be made accessible to everyone in an understandable format. So I've tried to take the material I collected and lay it out in a way that would make it as easily available as possible.
The essential issues are condensed into the 'What Crisis?' intro video and in the 'Understanding the Origins and State of America's Financial Crisis' essay. I'd like to come at the issues from a broader angle, so a second introductory film is being planned. These works translate and restate information that comes from many excellent sources. Most Americans have a reasonable amount of common sense and intelligence and whether we like it or not, we have to live in a world where economic events have a vast impact on global geo-political dynamics as well as direct personal implications for each one of us and our families. Not everybody can be a financial expert, but everybody has to make financial decisions and live with the consequences of decisions made by those who implement our nation's financial policies. The responsible Citizen-King should be an expert in his own field, and reasonably informed about the other important areas of life. This is information that should have been burned into us in school, and it is information that we urgently need to know now. The sole purpose of this website is to bring the regular citizen up to speed on the basic issues underlying our financial crisis, and then to connect him or her directly with many of the authoritative financial people and sources that are so helpful.
As to my background, I graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Th.M and followed that up with several semesters of graduate study in philosophy at a state university. I have been a pastor with the Christian & Missionary Alliance for about 25 years. I give you this information only because I know some of you will be curious. Don't blame them. They did the best they could with me.
Grant Fox
Bowling Green, KY
[email protected]
Anyway, as the political dust settled, I was eager to turn my attention to things that might actually be worthwhile. I sat down at the computer one day to settle a nagging question that had been raised in my mind through the course of the election season by Ron Paul. While I had grown to kind of like the guy --- at the very least for his courage and tenacity ---- up till that time I had thought of him as a fringe character. But I finally got curious about why he kept harping on the issue of auditing the Federal Reserve Bank.
Having never thought much about it, nor having ever cared much for economic matters, I decided to poke around for a 'few minutes' so I would 'understand' what that issue was all about. Well, one bread crumb led to another and then more and more until before I knew it I had been led into a towering enchanted forest of old-growth trees, mossy out-croppings and stunning ravines. I found myself entering a world as fascinating and mysterious as the fairy tales of old, and as riveting as any murder mystery thriller. It was as though I had dropped through the rabbit-hole and found myself in Wonderland. I really could not believe what I was learning about the monetary underpinnings of our culture with all of its ancient and contemporary intrigues.
Of course, the farther I read, the more disturbed I became, both because I had lived so long without knowing these things, and because I was becoming suddenly conscious that most Americans are as clueless as I was. Now, I'm not a clueless person, mind you. Having been a pastor for around 30 years, I know a whole lot about people and life and their struggles in it. I do believe that life is a unity that hangs together and should be embraced whole rather than piecemeal. But I'm not as consistent in applying that belief as I would like to be. My early pull toward spiritual things, along with pointed biblical warnings about greed, led me to compartmentalize financial subjects as a domain for someone else to worry about. I'm sure my college experience with economics and accounting classes had a lot to do with that as well!
So let me be perfectly clear ---- I am not a crook. No, wait, that's another speech. I am not a financial guy. The information contained here does not originate with me. I have simply discovered that there are quite a number of wonderful, brilliant, articulate and dedicated financial smart-people out there who have been screaming about these issues for a long time. The problem is, for the most part the people listening to them are already tuned in to the subject, and the people who aren't tuned in don't know they exist. On top of that, the economic language that has to be used can put the average guy and gal off more than the financial experts realize. So I see my role as a 'translator'. I have spent much of my life trying to translate fairly complicated theological and philosophical issues into everyday language, so I think maybe I can bring that experience to this table. I have simply laid out in this web site what I have learned since November 2012 in language that I believe is reasonably understandable. More importantly, I have set up the website so you can go directly to the financial experts and hear from them yourself in both video and print.
I didn't set out with the idea of turning my research into a film, an essay or a web site. As I moved from one article to another and from one YouTube video to another, I began to realize that it needed to be organized a bit if I was to get it all straight. Then somewhere along the way I began to develop a deep conviction that this information needs to be made accessible to everyone in an understandable format. So I've tried to take the material I collected and lay it out in a way that would make it as easily available as possible.
The essential issues are condensed into the 'What Crisis?' intro video and in the 'Understanding the Origins and State of America's Financial Crisis' essay. I'd like to come at the issues from a broader angle, so a second introductory film is being planned. These works translate and restate information that comes from many excellent sources. Most Americans have a reasonable amount of common sense and intelligence and whether we like it or not, we have to live in a world where economic events have a vast impact on global geo-political dynamics as well as direct personal implications for each one of us and our families. Not everybody can be a financial expert, but everybody has to make financial decisions and live with the consequences of decisions made by those who implement our nation's financial policies. The responsible Citizen-King should be an expert in his own field, and reasonably informed about the other important areas of life. This is information that should have been burned into us in school, and it is information that we urgently need to know now. The sole purpose of this website is to bring the regular citizen up to speed on the basic issues underlying our financial crisis, and then to connect him or her directly with many of the authoritative financial people and sources that are so helpful.
As to my background, I graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Th.M and followed that up with several semesters of graduate study in philosophy at a state university. I have been a pastor with the Christian & Missionary Alliance for about 25 years. I give you this information only because I know some of you will be curious. Don't blame them. They did the best they could with me.
Grant Fox
Bowling Green, KY
[email protected]
