By Greg Szymanski

10-23-5

Walter Burien has been harassed and abused by the feds for wanting government to open up its financial books just like corporations in the private sector. His revolutionary ideas may just be the answer to bring back some semblance of fairness and equity back to the American way of life.

Walter Burien has been run over the coals so many times by federal agents and covert operatives it doesn't even hurt anymore when his foot touches the fire.

He has been trampled on, left for dead and financially ruined so often that, as they say, any day's a good day when a government thug is at least a hundred miles away.

And there's no doubt that Burien, a New Jersey former commodities trader, definitely knows what it's like to take on the "big boys" in government and be burned for doing it.

He knows what it's like to challenge them in a game of "financial baseball," so to speak, trying to hit that homerun to protect the people's interest, but instead getting hit by a government fastball right smack between the eyes.

But no matter how many times Burien struck out, he didn't quit. And somehow he has always been able to pick himself out of the dirt, brush himself off and live to play another day.

Burien, you see, is another one of the disillusioned Americans who has had it up to his eye balls with being reduced to slave in the American system, which no longer even resembles freedom and prosperity.

But instead of just griping or blowing a lot of hot air, he decided to hit government officials smack dab where it hurts the most, hitting them right square below the belt in their overflowing, corrupt pocket books.

And with the strategy of 'following the money' and uncovering a treasure trove of hidden government funds, Burien struck a financial nerve the likes of which any pirate would call nothing less than a king's ransom.

So what financial nerve did Burien hit to cause such severe retaliatory treatment, including having his children threatened and assaulted, the ultimate pain a father can endure?

What did he do that was so out of line, so deserving of government harassment and torture? Basically, all he did was ask government to do business ethically and honestly, something that causes most politicians to grimace in pain at such an outlandish request.

All he did was simply apply standard corporate accounting practices to the way government does business. And what he found not only raised the eyebrows of shady politicians and lawyers, it could very well have let the 'financial cat out the bag,' ending the government gravy train once and for all.

You see, what Burien found out after years of painstaking research while fiddling through thousands of governmental budgets at all levels was that taxpayers were only getting an edited version of the total money picture, a version beneficial to government officials but not the people they represented.

What he found out was that government, including over 86,000 entities at all levels, only disclosed about one-third of the actually money it had in its coffers. The loophole he uncovered was simple, but a government loophole nonetheless used to hide trillions of investment dollars not mandated by law to be disclosed to the people.

And the "dirty words" hiding the money, words officials want keep secret, are Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), a concept started in 1946 as official government accounting procedures but a document in reality always kept hidden from the American people by shrewd politicians who never mandated making CAFR's a document of public disclosure.

For those left in the dark for many years, a CAFR is basically a reporting or balance sheet documented and kept by every government agency in the country. It is the tabulation of all money at the disposal of the government, money not only raised from taxes but money raised from years of investing hared earned tax dollars, including the entire holdings and land assets held by the government.

But the trick Burien uncovered is that lawmakers decided to write laws for their own benefit, excluding CAFR's from mandated public disclosure, By doing this, Burien said, it closed the public door on knowing about the vast majority of money at the government's disposal, an amount each tax year estimated to be two-thirds more than all the money collected.

"Government officials like to tell us how much they are spending and what the annual budget entails, but not one of them wants to mention or disclose a CAFR. We should not elect one more politician who doesn't promise to make CAFR's public knowledge," said Burien from his New Jersey home this week in an extended conversation. "But, you see, the reason they won't is that it would blow the lid off government, exposing the corrupt way they do business.

"Keep in mind that government budget reports made public show what is expected to be spent for a typical tax year and the CAFR, as the annual financial report, shows the general purpose budget plus the decades worth of wealth that have amassed and the annual wealth generated.

Regarding the difference in which government "illegally" does business as compared to what's mandated in the private sector, Burien elaborated in an letter open letter entitled "What the media will not tell you about Al Gore," written to Gore, who behind the scenes wanted to expose the nondisclosure of CAFR's, ending taxation as we know it today.

His October 2004 analysis fully explains why Gore probably never made it the White House and how we are still saddled under President Bush with unfair taxes while the government continues to do business in a shady and criminal manner:

"Mr. Gore believed in open disclosure as to the true finances of government wealth. Mr. Gore put forward www.financenet.gov what I considered to be a full disclosure site.

"Myself being a strong critic of government's nondisclosure, when I looked at and reviewed financenet.gov in 1998, it broke all the rules in the behalf of the people. It gave a listing of local government CAFRs (Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports), government's Annual Financial Report that showed "Gross" income as well as total "Investments." [Trillions in composite totals] It listed the original transmittal letters from GFOA (Government Financial Officers Association) a private group originally located in Chicago, Illinois who started the CAFR accounting structure in 1946.

"What was being hand spoon feed to the public across the country up until that point were selectively created budget reports which excluded "substantial" portions of the gross income and in almost all cases did not list the investment / future funding accounts as was shown in the CAFRs.

"CAFRs when digested and gross income is totaled showed in most cases that government had evolved into a corporate for profit business in which as of the year 2000 only 1/3rd of governments "Gross" income came from Tax income. Budget reports mislead the public into believing government's primary income was tax income, it was not. Tax income was only 1/3rd of the gross as shown in the CAFR once digested.

"In many a case after careful review of a CAFR, it was shown that government in many a case was indirectly funding their own debt with the use of their own investment funds. A debt as would be shown on the selectively created budget reports and that the public was being tagged to repay.

"Most people from the private sector would think that the majority of that ever-growing debt of their local government for bond issuance's, insurance coverage, etc., or even the mortgage on their own house was being funded by the private sector. Well, come the year 2000, it was not. Government enterprise investment groups and government Pension operations were the primary investors in that debt, and did so using the government's own investment funds. The public was being locked into repayment of the debt and by doing so accomplished a return (Non-Tax income) for the government. If a private corporation did the same to its shareholders without full and open disclosure of doing so, the directors involved would be sitting in the federal pen after a multiple count SEC indictment.

"But then due to the money involved, government starting in 1946 evolved into what gives a new definition to the expression of letting the "Foxes guard the Hen house" and by definition of circumstance and reality of the current structure, has now given government the true title and has redefined the meaning of the words "Organized Crime." Or as the definition of RICO goes, "Extortion of money from the public through criminal enterprise."

"In 1999, after reviewing Mr. Gore's actions and intent as I read it, he appeared to want a change in this new definition of government as shown above. At Mr. Gore's instructions Financenet.gov was created. At Mr. Gore's instructions an audit was conducted of Federal operations so that disclosure to the public could be made. The results of that audit showed a five Trillion dollar surplus! More amazingly was the fact that they let the public know this. This fact was a true "Hats off" to Mr. Gore.

"Then Mr. Gore announced his run for President. Here I saw the sparkle of light coming over the horizon. Could Mr. Gore be the one to downsize the abusive and obtrusive growth in government? Could Mr. Gore be the one who would qualify that government having 2/3rds non-tax income? A government that could administratively restructure and phase out all taxes and become self sufficient without taxation? My anticipation was growing!"

But with Gore out and Bush in, corrupt governmental business practices continue as usual. However, Burien's outlook for change and financial accountability still remains optimistic, saying he likes to view the financial playing field as having three major players.

He views the three major ones as government, which has amassed most of the wealth having a majority of holdings in most large corporations; the world's most powerful financiers, who play ball with the government due to its massive wealth; and the American people, the largest of the three powers, but at the same time the weakest since it has been relegated to an unorganized band of workers viewed by the select few in the other two groups as mere slaves used only for their benefit.

"We basically over the years left the vault doors open for a select few to take advantage of all the money," said Burien, adding his solution is to once and for all close the people's vault of money, forcing the financial world to deal with the American people instead of government, which presently holds all the money and assets.

"If we can force the financiers to deal with the people and not the government then we have a chance of taking back our country. I tried doing this several years ago with a concept called Tax Retirement Funds (TRF). I tried this in Phoenix with a wealthy backer who put up millions, but when the feds got wind of what we were doing, the backer was put in jail for various trumped up reasons and he is presently still serving a long jail term. They have come down hard on me, too. But that's just part of the game when you take on the big boys.

"Basically, my idea for change goes like this: pension funds pay your salary at retirement. Any city, county school district or state can be restructured to meet their normal budgetary needs in the exact same fashion. Instead of a pension fund to meet retirement cost, a TRF can meet budgetary funds without any taxation of the people, allowing the people to benefit from their entire work efforts.

"Also with investment capital benefiting local venues, prosperity will be at unequaled levels. Government's cash flow will prosper based on the prosperity of the people. With no taxation, the people will have a greater purchasing power and thus the TRF funds will have excellent investment returns."

Burien said the concept of using TRF's has been met by strong government resistance, landing his former backer in jail. But convinced his idea is the only way to defeat corruption and big government, he is actively looking for others bold enough to take on the "big boys," bringing back a semblance of fairness and prosperity to a growing number of Americans feeling deceived, cheated and relegated to slavery by its own government.

On Burien's web site at www.cafr1.com, he offers an informative video, information the government doesn't want you to have, called The National Tea Party (TNT), explaining his fight to expose CAFR's as well as explaining his solution to bring the "money power" back to the people with his revolutionary concept of TRF funds.

Making a final plea to encourage people to take back their country, he said:

"The financiers are only working with government since it has all the money and assets at its disposal and there is no doubt in my mind they would work with us if we were a financial force. As a collective group, we need to figure out a way to get them to work with us instead of government.

"If we can once and for all expose CAFR's and then give large private financiers the motivation to work with us, I believe we really have a chance to take back our country by bringing prosperity back to the people, taking it away from the select few in government who have unfairly benefited."

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