The link below takes you to an interesting article entitled, “U.S. economy predicted to collapse under socialism.”  The article stimulated me to think about what has been happening over the past year and a half.  Socialism is defined as government ownership or control of the means of production and distribution.  Basically it is government ownership or control of the economy.  Now, with that definition in mind think about what has been happening over the past year.  The $700 billion “bail-out” package put large segments of the largest financial institutions, and even non-financial institutions, under direct government ownership and/or control.  The $700 billion bail-out package did not just bail-out all the largest financial and non-financial companies, it put those companies under government ownership or control.  We the people were clamoring for the government to “take a stake” in the companies not just bail them out.

So, over the past year under the watchful eye of every person in the country we have seen a massive effort to implement Socialism in the U.S. even more so than even existed before.  So, by the time this economic recession is over, large segments of the largest privately owned institutions in the country will no longer be privately owned.  We will even be more socialist than we were before.  Do you feel that warm feeling of realization running down the back of your neck as it dawns on you what has been happening over the past year.  It is as though the enemies of capitalism and the proponents of Socialism have achieved their wildest dreams (not just in the U.S. but all over the world). It is happening quite quickly, even as we watch.  The $825 billion “stimulus” package will probably even set it more in place.  It is being crafted by those who want even more government ownership and control of the economy.  Why should we believe that it will preserve non socialist mechanisms when the politicians that are crafting it yearn and dream of more government control of everything?    I can’t believe that it will not have hooks and catches to retain government ownership and control even after the economy improves.  This is what those politicians stay up nights dreaming about.  Why not implement it now while everyone’s guard is down and the country is flat on its back begging for the government to do something.

Elder  Marion G. Romney in the April 1966 general conference said,  “We have also gone a long way on the road to public ownership and management of the vital means of production.  In both of these areas the free agency of Americans has been greatly abridged.  Some argue that we have voluntarily surrendered this power to government.  Be this as it may, the fact remains that the loss of freedom with the consent of the enslaved, or even at their request, is nonetheless slavery.”

President Ezra Taft Benson warned about  Socialism in America.    He said, “We cannot afford to minimize the threat of Socialism in America.  We must be on guard against unsound theories and programs which strike at the very root of all we hold dear.  We have lived too long under a government of controls.  Government by control has extended into almost all of our economy and even invaded many of our personal freedoms.  We must be made aware of this and be awakened to its dangers.” (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, page 692)

In a talk at BYU on Dec 10, 1963 President Benson said, “I fear for the future when I realize that for [many] years our once free institutions, political, economic, educational and social, have been drifting into the hands of those who favor the Welfare State, and who would centralize all power in the hands of the political apparatus in Washington.  This enhancement of political power at the expense of individual rights, so often disguised as ‘democracy’ or ‘freedom’ or ‘civil rights,’ [or government bailouts or stimulus packages] is “Socialism” no matter what name tag it bears.  They are all forms of Socialism.  …they are all forms of “GOVERNMENTISM” where the government becomes lord and master and we become serfs and slaves.”  (Ezra Taft Benson, “A Race Against Time,” BYU Speeches of the Year, December 10,1963)

Socialism is being implemented at a rapid pace right now.  At the urging and even the demands of the people.

Socialist economies eventually crumble under the weight of centralized ownership and control of that economy.  As the article linked below says, the U.S. economy will be no exception.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=396110

Dear Family and Friends,

I received the link below yesterday from a friend.  I don’t know anything about the Last Trumpet Newsletter.  I’ve never seen it before.  The writer is obviously Christian and a keen observer of national and world events.  I think he has a particularly interesting analysis of current world events in light of bible prophecy.  It is those national and world events, that are footnoted in 47 footnotes, and the writer’s interpretation of them in light of prophecy that I think you will find very interesting.  We can add even more prophecy to what he knows.  He points out some recent world events that I was not aware of, even since January 1,  but then I don’t read 47 newspapers and magazines.  Think of this as more of an economic and political newsletter than a bible prophecy newsletter, but it is that also.

http://lasttrumpetnewsletter.org/2009/02_09.html