65 The Real Game of Missing Money Coming Clean Beyond the Fiscal Cliff [CAF Note: We originally published this article in January 2013. I wrote it over the Christmas holidays in 2012 because it was obvious that, despite enormous noise throughout the media, most people had not looked at the deeper issues in the U.S. budget that presented obstacles to change. We are now living through another period of high noise. The Presidential election represented a debate between those who wanted to keep the unipolar empire going and those who thought it was necessary to pull back to North America. If you listened to the President’s inauguration speech, Trump talked about withdrawing from the business of telling other coun- tries what to do and putting our own house in order. What we all need to recognize is that the financial picture requires that we change—this is not just the current leadership. So, in the hopes it will help you cut through the noise and understand the challenges that the Administration and Congress face, I am republishing “Coming Clean Beyond the Fiscal Cliff.” The reality is that the swamp is not just in DC—it extends from sea to shining sea. Overcoming the obstacles to real change requires all of us taking responsibility.] By Catherine Austin Fitts “Information is the hardest currency.” ~Andrew Vachss W ashington’s negotiations to address the fiscal cliff of automatic tax increases and spending cuts legislatively triggered at the close of 2012 are the latest in an ongoing effort to address increasing U.S. federal government deficits and debt levels. Enor- mous monetary and fiscal stimulus has failed to produce an economic recovery. In short, the U.S. government and central banks have failed to dig out. Instead, they are now dug in deeper. What to do now? What is missing from this and other debates on the reengineering of the U.S. federal finances is an understanding or discussion of the structural problems in the federal finances that have been accumulating since WWII, when the United States—with 6% of the world’s population—found itself the master of 50% of the world’s resources.