Authored by Chris Martenson via PeakProsperity.com,

When plunder becomes a way of life, and when Control Fraud dominates, there’s really no reform possible. You just have to start over. I think this is where we’re headed, and it’s going to be really bumpy along the way...

When corruption IS the path, there is only one destination.

There comes a moment in time when you just have to sit back and ask, “Can this thing I’m trying to do even be done?”

When it comes to an entity, company, individual or country, there’s an invisible line of corruption beyond which there’s no recovery.

Today I am going to make the case that the US government, as an entity, is too far gone to recover.  Whole parts of it will have to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.

The West collectively has passed over that invisible line.  An enormous amount of economic, legal and political pain is in our future.  If we’re really lucky and refuse to put up with their deflections and nonsense, we’ll be able to avoid WW III.  If not…well, you’d better take stock of your provisions and basic life skills and improve them where they are deficient.

Frederic Bastiat captured this well back in the 1800’s.

Once the fraud and corruption have been allowed to persist for too long, the people benefitting from it stand up an entire system to protect and advance their rackets.

That’s where we are.

A really good way to begin to understand and dig through the systemic mess we’re in is to familiarize yourself with William K Black’s concept of “Control Fraud.”

Mr. Black’s background was both as a lawyer and a PhD in criminology, spanning the two areas necessary to begin to unravel the Savings & Loan frauds of the 1980s where he served honorably, his efforts resulted in many prosecutions, and he developed the concept of Control Fraud.

Without enforcement, there can be no reform of an entity shot through with Control Fraud.  Consider USAID.  Who was going to investigate and prosecute the many frauds operating there?  The FBI?

From the above partial list of “failures” it’s patently clear that the FBI had somehow become the clean-up and cover-up arm of other agencies running their own frauds and illegal activities.

Would we turn then to the Department of Justice?  Again, the patterns we can surface there are deeply troubling:

With the top investigative and prosecutorial arms of the government not only neutered, but captured within a legal system that authorizes the frauds and a moral system the glorifies them, the game has been lost.

There’s not much left but the painful part.

In part II, I cover how these frauds are likely to unwind explosively, leading to massive economic and market pains, as well as legal and political turmoil.  My inescapable conclusion is that these system shocks could well result in The Great Taking machinery being activated, leading to legendary losses for those who are wrongly positioned or unprepared.

After all, if there’s one last thing fraudsters do on their way out the door, it’s to grab as much as they can in one last desperate act, damn the consequences for the nation or other people!

Since our Treasury no longer has any gold or silver in it, the last official act will be to seize control of your assets.  It’s nothing personal, it’s simply the moral code of these people.

Cut off from their government flows they’ll come after your house, stocks and bonds next.  Fortunately, there are many ways to avoid their predations, or at least to not be low-hanging fruit for them.