Catherine Austin Fitts

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Fitts has researched and commented on government spending. In a 2004 study published in World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, she purported to find "evidence that a very large proportion of the nation's wealth is being illegally diverted since several decades into secret, unaccountable channels and programmes with unspecified purposes, including covert operations and subversions abroad and clandestine military R&D at home. Public institutions have been infiltrated and taken over by shadowy groups in the service of powerful private and vested interests, often at the expense of the common good." [14]

In 2017 Fitts co-authored a report, with Michigan State University economist Mark Skidmore, that claimed to find $21 trillion in "unauthorized spending" by the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over a 17-year period. [15]

Fitts has claimed that HUD's mission of spurring economic growth is secondary to what she contends is its use as a fundraising mechanism for military and intelligence agencies involving a complex securities scheme using HUD-backed Ginnie Mae investments. [4] [14] According to Fitts, HUD overpays to rehabilitate public housing and funnels the difference into unaudited black budget programs at the behest of national security agencies. [4] [14]

During the United States presidential election, 2016, Fitts supported the campaign of Donald Trump. [16] On December 8, 2020, Trump retweeted one of Fitts' tweets which linked to an article on Breitbart. [17] She has donated to political campaigns of Democrats Cynthia McKinney and Marcy Kaptur, and Republicans Rand Paul and Thomas Massie. [18]

According to The Washington Post, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitts "worked with anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to promote unfounded claims about the pandemic and to oppose lockdown measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus" and recorded a lengthy interview as part of the 2020 film Planet Lockdown which The Washington Post reports parroted "false claims about the pandemic". [19] . She has given interviews in alternate media, such as kla.tv, alleging fraud in the US central banking system and US government ("21 trillion dollars have been stolen") and "massive fraud" in the 2020 election and Electoral fraud in US elections for many years before 2020. [20]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Nomination of C. Austin Fitts To Be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development". American Presidency Project. University of California Santa Barbara . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Bianco, Anthony (February 23, 1987). "The Wonder Woman of Muni Bonds". BusinessWeek.
  3. 1 2 "Austin Fitts Better Be Good with Hammer and Nails". Businessweek . November 27, 1989.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kane, Mari (September 5, 2002). "On the Money Trail". Metro Silicon Valley . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  5. ↑ Kerch, Steve (January 21, 1990). "Venerable FHA Seeking to Escape Cloud at HUD". Asbury Park Press . Chicago Tribune News Service. Retrieved December 8, 2020– via newspapers.com.(subscription required)
  6. ↑ Hilzenrath, David (November 24, 1989). "HUD to Sell Foreclosures". Northwest Herald. The Washington Post News Service. Retrieved December 8, 2020– via newspapers.com.(subscription required)
  7. ↑ Brown, Mike (August 18, 1990). "Schiff's Swearing In Ceremony Called a Joyous Occasion by HUD Secretary". Courier-Journal . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  8. ↑ Pearce, Neil (November 19, 1990). "Jack Kemp's Small Circle of Advisers the Target of Loud Criticism". The Clarion-Ledger . National Journal . Retrieved December 8, 2020– via newspapers.com.(subscription required)
  9. ↑ "Solari :: Litigation :: Summary of Events".
  10. ↑ "Community Oriented Finance Expert Leading Free Workshop". Independent Coast Observer. June 21, 2002. Retrieved December 8, 2020– via newspapers.com.(subscription required)
  11. 1 2 Rodriguez, Paul. "HUD Gives Up with Fitts". Insight on the News. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018.
  12. 1 2 Havemann, Judith (October 28, 1997). "Firing of Outside Financial Advisory Only Adds to Furor". The Washington Post . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Catherine Austin Fitts". Solari. Archived from the original on February 15, 2001.
  14. 1 2 3 Fitts, Catherine Austin (2004). "The Black Budget of the United States". World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues. 8 (2): 17–34. JSTOR   48504790.
  15. ↑ "MSU scholars find $21 trillion in unauthorized government spending; Defense Department to conduct first-ever audit". msu.edu. Michigan State University.
  16. ↑ Phillips, Kendall (March 2018). ""The safest hands are our own": cinematic affect, state cruelty, and the election of Donald J. Trump". Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies. 15 (1): 85–89. doi:10.1080/14791420.2018.1435082. S2CID   150353986.
  17. ↑ "Twitter". Factba.se . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Donor Lookup". opensecrets.org. Open Secrets . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  19. ↑ Katie Shepherd (February 10, 2021). "Facebook and YouTube ban 'Planet Lockdown' film filled with coronavirus falsehoods, after it was shared by millions". The Washington Post . Washington, D.C. ISSN   0190-8286. OCLC   1330888409.
  20. ↑ "Interview with Catherine Austin Fitts". Medien-Klagemauer.TV. November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
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Catherine Austin Fitts
Catherine Austin Fitts crop.jpg
Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing
In office
1989–1990