Moving Forward

Jacque Fresco:

When I was a young man growing up in New York City, I refused to pledge allegiance to the flag. Of course I was sent to the principal's office. And he asked me, 'Why don't you want to pledge allegiance? Everybody does!'

I said, 'Everybody once believed the Earth was flat but that doesn't make it so.' I explained that America owed everything it has to other cultures and other nations. and that I would rather pledge allegiance to the Earth and everyone on it.

Needless to say, it wasn't long before I left school entirely. and I set up a lab in my bedroom. There I began to learn about science and nature. I realized then that the universe is governed by laws and that the human being along with society itself was not exempt from these laws.

Then came the crash of 1929, which began what we now call “The Great Depression”. I found it difficult to understand why millions were out of work, homeless, starving while all the factories were sitting there. The resources were unchanged.

It was then that I realized that the rules of the economic game were inherently invalid.

Shortly after, came World War II where various nations took turns systematically destroying each other. I later calculated that all the destruction and wasted resources spent on that war could have easily provided for every human need on the planet.

Since that time I have watched humanity set the stage for its own extinction. I have watched as the precious finite resources are perpetually wasted and destroyed in the name of profit and free markets.

I have watched the social values of society be reduced into a base artificiality of materialism and mindless consumption. And I have watched as the monetary powers control the political structure of supposedly free societies.

I'm 94 years old now. And I'm afraid my disposition is the same as it was 75 years ago.

This sh*t's got to go!

Peter Joseph:

In society today, you seldom hear anyone speak of the progress of their country or society in terms of their physical well-being, state of happiness, trust or social stability. Rather, the measures are presented to us through economic abstractions.

We have the gross domestic product (GDP), the consumer price index (CPI), the value of the stock market, rates of inflation, and so on. But does this tell us anything of real value as to the quality of peoples' lives?

No. All of these measures have to do with the money sequence itself and nothing more. For example, the Gross Domestic Product of a country is a measure of the value of goods and services sold. This measure is claimed to correlate to the “standard of living” of a country's people. In the United States health care accounted for over 17% of GDP in 2009 amounting to over $2.5 trillion spent, hence creating a positive effect on this economic measure. And, based on this logic it would be even better for the US economy.

If health care services increased more so perhaps to $3 trillion or 5 trillion, since that would create more growth, more jobs and hence boasted by economists as a rise in their country's standard of living. But, wait a minute. What do health care services actually represent? Well, SICK AND DYING PEOPLE.

That's right. The more unhealthy people there are in America the better the economy.

Now, that is not an exaggeration or a cynical perspective. In fact, if we step back far enough you will realize that the GDP not only doesn't reflect real public or social health on any tangible level, it is, in fact, mostly a measure of industrial inefficiency and social degradation. And the more you see it rise, the worse things are becoming with respect to personal, social and environmental integrity.

Michael C. Ruppert, Investigative Journalist:

You have to create problems to create profit. There is no profit under the current paradigm in saving lives, putting balance on this planet, having justice and peace or anything else. There is just no profit there.

There's an old saying: 'Pass a law and create a business.' Whether you are creating a business for a lawyer or whatever. So, crime does create business just like destruction creates business in Haiti.

We have now roughly 2 million people incarcerated in this country (USA) and of those many are in prisons run by private corporations: Corrections Corporation of America, Wackenhut, who trade their stock on Wall Street based upon how many people are in jail.

Now that's sickness! But that is a reflection of what this economic paradigm calls for.

Released in January 2011, this is the third film in the Zeitgeist series by Peter Joseph.

And yes, we know it's 2 hours and 41 minutes long, so sue us. Worse things are being done to you than us posting this.

Blow up your TV, and watch this in pieces if you have to.

But watch it. If you really want the truth.