by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

After witnessing a twelve year plan to destroy Iraq which culminated in the "cake walk"
to Bagdad, the "Beast" has focused his attention on another great nation. Bombing of Iraq’s
infrastructure along with the imposition of economic sanctions blew a great nation back into the
"dark ages" even before the ground attack in March of this year.

Economic sanctions come in different forms. The Black farmers have faced "economic
sanctions" since 1962 in the form of deprivation of capital at reasonable rates, deprivation of
disaster payments in times of droughts, deprivation of subsidy payments in times of low prices and
deprivation of alternative markets by the destruction of "mom and pop" operations in the
Black community.

This "adaptive approach" recommended that vocational agriculture courses in rural areas
be scrapped, agricultural prices be substantially lowered and temporary income programs be
instituted to protect the most "suited for survival."

Since 1960 the "parity ratio" has dropped from .8 to .4. The parity ratio is the
relationship between what the farmer receives, the numerator, and what the farmer pays, the
denominator. A drop from .8 to .4 of the parity ratio means that farmers are now paying twice as
much for what they have to buy from industries outside of agriculture verses what they receive for
their product. This is just like your wage rate dropping from $8 per hour to $4. And if your bills
don’t fall by this same ratio, your standard of living will fall and you might wind up out of
doors.

While the income from farming was dropping in "real" terms, the government gave white
farmers 4 times the subsidies that it gave to Black farmers. Over time this has resulted in the land
loss rate of Black farmers to be 3 times the rate as for white farmers. Black farmers have been to
congress, the court and the streets. Yet they have received no remedy, just lies and false promises

Now it seems that the "Beast" or someone has focused their attention on a bigger prey
than either Iraq or the Black farmers. This past week President Bush signed two land mark pieces of
legislation: one authorizing a $350 billion tax cut and the other increases the debt sealing for the
deficit. The combination of these two moves will insure a growing deficit and the slow bloodletting
of a once great nation.

Back in the1980’s under Ronald Reagan this same "supply side" economic magic was
pulled off on the American people and resulted in record deficits. Now that the Clinton
administration had devised a strategy to reduce those deficits, Bush has decided to revert to the
Reagan years. Why?

While Bush was pressing for his tax cuts, he failed to make public a report done by the Treasury
Department on the debt. In fact some accuse the president of "burying" this report to hide
the facts from congress. Why?

According to this May 29, 2003 report by BBC News, America was headed for a $44 trillion deficit
if it did not increase taxes by "66%" (66 percent). Now decreasing taxes by $350 billion
while at the same time sending money over to Iraq to first destroy then rebuild, does not sound like
increasing taxes to save the American economy. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that
"debt is slavery". Who then is America to be made slave to? Who will own the debt and
thereby the labor of the American people?

A hint to who these new slave masters are and will be can be gleaned from a May 30, 2003 article
by Emad Mekay entitled "Enron Used U.S. Government to Bully Developing Nations". The
article reads: "Defunct energy giant Enron used the U.S. government to coerce the World Bank
and poor nations to grant concessions and resolve its investment problems, according to documents
and correspondence released by the Treasury Department." During this time period Enron paid
"no taxes in the 15 years before it went broke in 2001–despite earning billions of dollars in
declared profits…" So it seems that "Corporate America" is the "America"
that the American people have been turned over to.

To hide from the American people how these policies will make so-called white people into slaves
like their once Black slaves, the congress slipped in the elimination of tax cuts to poor families.
This would feed the psychological need of well-to-do whites to feel that as long as a policy hurts
Blacks and the poor, then it is okay to suffer a little bit. They don’t mind bleeding as long as
Blacks bleed faster.

The Euro is now worth more than the U.S. dollar. As the Euro gains ground over the dollar,
"Corporate apologists" called "economists" argue that the dollar’s fall will
boost the American economy by decreasing the cost of American exports, thereby increasing the sale
of American products, providing expansion for American manufactures which will allow them to hire
more workers.

Well if I sell my wheat for $1 instead of $2, then of course I will probably sell more. However,
I will have to produce a lot more to bring my income level back up, which means that I will have to
expand my operation and hire more labor. However, if I have to also borrow more money to pay for
more expensive equipment, then I must offer a lower wage to the workers or take a pay cut myself.
Who benefits? Answer: The bankers benefit because they can loan more money and the manufacturers
benefit who sell me the equipment. Now if those manufacturers are in another country, then that
country and those employees in that country benefit, while I drain myself and my workers of
resources.

I do not know who is advising President Bush. I would like to know who is benefiting from his
economic policies. I would like to know who he really works for. Why are his handlers producing
"The Fall of America" that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad foretold in his 1973 book by the
same name?

In the Black farmers’ struggle against the USDA and local county supervisors, the enemy and his
motives were a lot clearer, corporate greed and Southern white racism. But who are the enemies of
the American people? Who is working to make the American tax payer and worker a slave? There are
some so-called Black militants who talk tough against America. They would love to bring America to
her knees and make her suffer for what she has done to Black people. However, it seems that America
has an enemy that can do more than talk, but actually put policies in place to slowly bring a great
nation to her knees. Who are these people?