Continued from Part 1

Clint Richardson’s blog: realitybloger.wordpress.com

His videos/documentaries: thecorporationnation.com

Corporation Nation (Autoplay in 20 parts)

0:56

“…For every fiscal year since 1996, when consolidated financial statements began, the Comptroller General has refused to endorse the accuracy of the consolidated figures for the federal budget, citing:

“(1) Serious financial managment problems at the Department of Defense,

(2) The federal government’s inability to adequately account for and reconcile intra-governmental activity and balances between federal agencies, and

(3) The federal government’s ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements.”

1m 26
The interview between Clint and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker is interesting.

8m 19
Clint recommends Walter Burien’s site: CAFR1.com. I notice on his site that he links to the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting Program (CAnFR) (http://www.gfoa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=59), run by the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada (gfoa.org). Some local governments across Canada are listed here as winners for FY 2010 with links to their financial reports.

E.g. City of Toronto current 2011 report. Previous reports are here side by side with the budget.

The City of Toronto mentions this award here:

“For the fifth consecutive year, the City of Toronto’s Accounting Services Division has received the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) Canadian Award of Financial Reporting for its 2010 Annual Financial Report….”

1/20: 9m 24
Clint discusses the background of David M. Walker, who was head of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation at the time, but is now an adviser. I thought his bio was interesting. He is now the CEO of the Comeback America Initiative. For one thing, he is a member of the Trilateral Commission. Wikipedia has more info.

2/20: 1m 58
Clint notes that the traffic ticket warning he receives was from “Salt Lake City Corporation”. He gives other examples of states and municipalities being incorporated. There are even boundary signs saying “Corporation Limit”.

2/20: 8m 30
He mentions that Chapter 9 bankruptcies are for corporate reorganization, not liquidation. Wikipedia says the same thing. Also, they are for municipalities.

Then the film discusses the definition of “municipal corporation“.

Another point presented is that the states (formerly sovereign) are reduced to districts in the eyes of the federal government. In other words, the two-letter code for each state is more than just a postal abbreviation. I looked it up and these codes correspond to a United Nations standardized list of codes for nations and districts: ISO_3166-2. Same with Canadian provinces. We’re being integrated into a standardized global system over time without anyone explaining it to us.

Part 3