America's Last Hope

Ron Paul's last attempt to warn America before The Vote.

Old Metal Bell

Old metal bell, cracked.

Doesn't ring true anymore.

Could be melted down for a hammer, or a sickle.

$9.99

http://www.buymyshitpile.com/node/2738

If we lose our ability to fail

will we not soon lose our ability to succeed?

Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has some great quotes here.

Sorry Mr. Franklin,

We couldn't keep it.

“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”

ATTRIBUTION: The response is attributed to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN—at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation—in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention.

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 681

Lipstick on a Pig

Continuing the Pork theme, Ron Paul gets the last word.

The problem is not HOW the government is spending this money; it’s the fact that the government is spending this money. We don’t have it. We are already nearly $10 trillion in debt, not including unfunded liabilities. We already spend about $1 trillion a year we don’t have on our overseas empire. Now nearly $1 trillion more is somehow supposed to magically appear and solve all our problems! No – creating more money might delay the inevitable for some well-connected banks on Wall Street, but in a few weeks we will find ourselves right back in this same position, but much poorer.

Changing Minds, Influencing People

All the pork stuffed into the Senate Bailout Bill just might be giving some Representatives heartburn.

Maybe, just maybe, some that voted "Yea" last time, will change to a "Nay".

Keep the pressure on, even if your Congresscritter was a previous "Yea-er".

Zach Wamp (R-TN) is one who is intending to become a "Yea-er".

Wamp said that the time has come for Congress to take immediate action.

“I don’t want next week to be the worst economic week in this country since September the 11th, one of the worst ever,” he said.

“The time has come to act and if some of us don’t change our vote, tomorrow’s gonna be an ugly day in America; and I don’t want to be a part of that.”

Keep the Pressure on EVERYBODY.

Here is my letter to Wamp:

Switching your vote to support the Senate Economic Stabilization bill, stuffed with wild expenditures and the most rotten of all governmental policies – nationalizing the financial institutions – is traitorous.

You talk of an ‘ugly day for America’, but it is terrible government policies like the whole Bailout scheme that have brought ugly to our doorstep.

Keep your courage Mr. Wamp! You had it right on Monday. Be a Republican! Not a Bushbot. Stand with Dr. Paul (R-TX) and fight the Washington and Wall Street elitists. Fight FOR us, not against us.

We still remember the Congress that betrayed us on the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. And we remember how we voted them out. If you vote for this Senate bill, you will be voted out just like them.

End the Fed

Bailout? What Bailout?

That'll be the question, a year, a month or even a week after it passes.

(IF it passes.)

Bailout Fixes Nothing, Banking System Collapse Approaches Climax

The Senate passed the Wall Street bailout bill, by a 3:1 majority. Some sweeteners like tax cuts and raising the limit to $250k on individual accounts for bank depositors helped. Some people might think that finally the banking system can at last receive some meaningful fixes. Call me a killjoy, but this will accomplish next to nothing as a banking system remedy. It is more a paper seal to Wall Street corruption than to ANY solution. If passed by the House, as is likely, it puts an epitaph on the American badge of legitimacy.

Ron Paul on the McCain/Palin Ticket

Why He Won't Vote for the Pubs'.


I'd like to hear his discourse on why he wouldn't vote for the Obama/Biden ticket.

The King's Cake

This Bailout Bill from the Senate is just shock full of fun things.


Michael S. Rozeff @ LewRockwell.com on the Bailout Bill

The bailout bill means total financial dictatorship. This bill gives the death penalty to capital markets. The execution will, if this passes, begin immediately and be stretched out over succeeding years.

It includes such nooses as:

1. The Secretary of the Treasury (Finance Czar) gets complete power to buy up any mortgage-related assets he decides on. No questions asked.

2. The Finance Czar (Secretary) and the Fed Chairman get power to buy ANY FINANCIAL ASSET (wow!). They need only inform Congress in writing what they are up to.

3. The Czar can buy troubled assets of ANY financial institution he decides on.

The power grab here is not one but several quantum leaps beyond even the New Deal. It is at a minimum in that Big League.

The discrimination inherent in this bill is totally inconsistent with any kind of even-handed rule of law.

The precedent set here, if this bill passes, is extremely damaging. In the future, Congress will be far more likely to grant such powers to financial czars who will then have direct control over all the capital markets, money markets, and loan markets, and over all financial intermediaries.

What else is in this Bailout Bill?

How about Carbon Tax provisions?

The New York Post found the following -

* Manufacturers of kids' wooden arrows - $6 million.

* Puerto Rican and Virgin Is- lands rum producers - $192 million.

* Wool research.

* Auto-racing tracks - $128 million.

* Corporations operating in American Samoa - $33 million.

* Small- to medium-budget film and television productions - $10 million.

Oh yeah. It's a Real Porker.

Run Piggy!

Is it King Henry's Birthday?

Palin won.

It was pretty clear.
Biden held his own.
Not that it matters of course.

Palin gave lip service to smaller government.
Biden didn't even do that.

And of course there was the pink elephant again.

The most disturbing thing was the continued lip service to freedom.
Hey lady, if the House votes for the bill Biden just voted for, we will officially have none.

The Daily Paul has a great thread that captured live commentary during the debate.

ANY WAY...BACK TO WORK

On October 2nd, 2008 FreedomSpirit.com says:

ANY WAY...BACK TO WORK PATRIOTS...THE HOUSE VOTES SOON!

LETS GET BACK TO THIS $850 , 000 , 000 , 000.....BILL OF TREASON AGAINST YOUR CONSTITUTION!

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! WE MUST BE VIGILANT!

The Road to Hell

is paved with good intentions.

Remember 2004?

Senator Clinton Criticizes Proposed Changes to Community Reinvestment Act

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called on the Administration to rethink proposed changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), the federal law that requires banks to make investments in low and moderate income communities.

"The Community Reinvestment Act is essential to ensure that banks and other financial institutions provide access to capital to everyone -- from small business loans to low-income mortgages. Access to financial capital for low and moderate income families is critical to the future of our communities and our economy," Senator Clinton said.

Let's See. How did Sen. Clinton vote on the Bailout?

Clinton (D-NY), Yea

74 other traitors in the Senate also voted "Yea".

Sen. McCaskill is quoted on television as saying "the bill stinks, but she would hold her nose and vote yes".

Jesus, George and Thomas Jefferson wept.

Wrong Way Congress

Ron Paul tells us (yet) again...

The Bailout is a Bad Idea.

If you had a market economy and then if you had a market-adjusted FDIC, where insurance was based on the strength of the bank, this would have happened on a daily basis. But instead, we insure everybody, no matter what the bank is doing, and we do it, either we overkill -- we give you too much credit on bad investments -- and then we make changes all of a sudden, and they're drastic, to what they have done.

So, it's impossible. It's either too little or too much. And what you need is insurance of, FDIC type of insurance, has to be driven by the marketplace to measure the viability of a bank.

Roberts: So what do you think?

Paul: This adds to all the moral hazard that we have in the system.

Roberts: So what do you then think of this idea of raising the limit on [FDIC] insurance to $250,000, from its current cap of $100,000?

Paul: Well, on the short run it will calm the markets. People will feel better. I might even personally feel better for a week or two.

But I know that long term, it's the wrong thing to do. I opposed this in the early '80s when they went from 30 [thousand dollars] to 100 [thousand dollars], saying it would lead to more problems like this with malinvestment. It would cover over the mistakes. And the same thing will happen.

But if we raise it to 250 [thousand dollars], people are going to feel better, then it will keep the bubble going for a little while longer and putting more pressure on the dollar. If the dollar lasts longer, then finally the world will give up on the dollar -- and then we will have a big problem that nobody has even really begun to think about.

Yup. Ron Paul for Federal Reserve Chairman.

Facist Commies!

According to the Telegraph,

"We've had our first death threat and in one phone call I was called both a communist and a fascist," said one shell-shocked aide to another Democrat who eventually voted no.

That caller wasn't far off. Few people realize the Fascists were really extreme left-wingers.

And the bailout is socialism, or communism. (call it worse if you like, but call it like it is).

Bailout marks Karl Marx's comeback.

In his Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, Karl Marx proposed 10 measures to be implemented after the proletariat takes power, with the aim of centralizing all instruments of production in the hands of the state. Proposal Number Five was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

Far from castigating the 228, they should be getting a ticker tape parade.
They are heroes. A fact somehow clearer in Britain than it is here.

It was a humiliating defeat, even for a lame duck president – and its unexpectedness revealed a political class in Washington dangerously out of touch with the American heartland.

But House members, who have to be re-elected every two years, pride themselves on representing the views of their constituents. On this occasion, they did just that.

What the votes of Mr Miller and his ilk will do to the global economy will be hotly debated for months and perhaps years to come.

But many Americans – from coast to coast and border to border in places as nice as Niceville and in other places not so nice – feel that, for once, their Congress has listened to them and done the right thing.

There will be little debate about the effect of passing or not passing the bill. The bill will eventually pass the house (save a miracle, can God still bless America?) and we will enter the Super Great Depression, and this Congress will be to blame.

Remember, remember the 1994 AWB

The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.

The American people eventually learned the truth, and it was not surprising then that pro-ban votes cost—by Bill Clinton’s count—at least 20 Democrats their seats in the next election. Nor was is surprising that less than two years after its passage, the House of Representatives voted 239 to 173 to repeal the Clinton gun ban.

Your Congressmen remember. When you call/fax/write/email them tonight/tomorrow AND Friday, remind them what happens to politicians that ignore their constituents.

History in the making.

How many peoples have watched an era, a country, a republic!
Die before their eyes,
And known it was happening?

We are.

Well?

Do you feel lucky, punk?

Do ya?

Senate passes $700B rescue; House votes lured

After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened.

Never give up. Never surrender.

Day of Horror

It's coming. Soon. Maybe Tommorrow. Maybe Thursday.



C'mon.
Ya'll are buying this guy again?
Tell me.
What did he do to his hair?
Seriously. Blonder?

John's closing statement: "Those who don't learn from the past get an exciting opportunity to repeat it."

Not just W's past.

No, W and Hank and Ben are all helping us relive the 1929 Great Depression.

What the Fed Chairman should be

Consistent.

Ron Paul, in 1983.

Republican Turncoats

Except the 228.

At their own convention this year (Anti-Ron Paul farce that it was),
the Republicans commited to such wonderful ideals as

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all.

Oh go ahead. Read the whole thing. If you thought republicans like JOHN MCCAIN or ROY BLUNT actually stood for anything, after this week, you are seriously delusional.

Paul and McCotter and some of the rest of the 228 though, are a breed apart.

Congressman McCotter from Michigan

"There are no necessary evils in government. The Treasury to you, Gentlemen, is closed".

Why are they so Desperate?

To authorize a measly $700 billion?

According to McCain, they could spend a cool TRILLION without Congressional approval.





Economists from all over the country are yelling STOP! In a letter sent to the Senate on 9/24, they wrote:

Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

More economists signed onto this open letter from the Freedom Works foundation (Dick Armey's group)

Granting the Treasury broad authority to purchase troubled assets from private entities poses a significant threat to taxpayers while failing to address fundamental problems that have created a bloated, over-leveraged financial services sector.

McCain is on TV right now talking about "Dire Consequences".
Obama says we can't have many more days like this one.
What is that, days where the stock market rebounds from a, um, minor (7%) drop?

They're still trying to panic us.

Why?

One to Share

Here we go again!

The Senate is not waiting for the House to return to "solve the crisis".

No, they are hell bent on solving it themselves, and burning up the Constitution in the process.

Senate to force House's hand on bailout

The Senate measure will graft the bailout language to a tax bill it approved last week, on a 93-2 vote. It includes: a provision to prevent more than 20 million middle-class taxpayers from feeling the bite of the alternative minimum tax, $8 billion in tax relief for those hit by natural disasters in the Midwest, Texas and Louisiana and some $78 billion in renewable energy incentives and extensions of expiring tax breaks.

Oh yeah, they're going to bribe you too.

Senate leaders figure the House will have to approve it because the tax cuts are too appealing to Republicans and the financial rescue plan will still seem essential to most Democrats.

This ones' a HELL NO.

CONTACT CONGRESS

McCain is, a bit late to the semantics party. But heck! He's fully on board...

"The first thing I would do is say, 'Let's not call it a bailout. Let's call it a rescue,'" McCain told CNN. He said, "Americans are frightened right now" and political leaders must give them an immediate solution and a longer-term approach to the problem.

And as for the Constitution -

http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a7.html

Q125. "On the Checks and Balances Page, it says that a legislative check on the legislature is that only the House can originate revenue bills. I've been told that only the House can originate spending bills, too - is this true?"

A. In my opinion, the Constitution is unambiguous on the point: "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives" (Article 1 Section 7). Thus, I've listed the House's "original jurisdiction" over revenue bills (laws that affect taxes) as a check. The House, however, views this clause a little differently, taking it to mean not only taxation bills but also spending bills.

The plain language of the clause would seem to contradict the House's opinion, but the House relies on historical precedent and contemporaneous writings to support its position. In Federalist 66, for example, Alexander Hamilton writes, "The exclusive privilege of originating money bills will belong to the House of Representatives." This phrase could easily be construed to include taxing and spending. The Supreme Court has ruled, however, that the Senate can initiate bills that create revenue, if the revenue is incidental and not directly a tax. Most recently, in US v Munoz-Flores (495 US 385 [1990]), the Court said, "Because the bill at issue here was not one for raising revenue, it could not have been passed in violation of the Origination Clause." The case cites Twin City v Nebeker (176 US 196 [1897]), where the court said that "revenue bills are those that levy taxes, in the strict sense of the word."

However, the House, it is explained, will return a spending bill originated in the Senate with a note reminding the Senate of the House's prerogative on these matters. The color of the paper allows this to be called "blue-slipping." Because the House sees this as a matter of some pride, the Senate is almost guaranteed not to have concurrence on any spending bill which originates in the Senate. This has created a de facto standard, despite my own contention (and that of the Senate) that it is not supported by the Constitution.

Scaremongering

Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the right answer

(Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University. A Libertarian, he was one of 166 academic economists who signed a letter to congressional leaders last week opposing the government bailout plan.)

Talk of Armageddon, however, is ridiculous scare-mongering. If financial institutions cannot make productive loans, a profit opportunity exists for someone else. This might not happen instantly, but it will happen.

Further, the current credit freeze is likely due to Wall Street's hope of a bailout; bankers will not sell their lousy assets for 20 cents on the dollar if the government might pay 30, 50, or 80 cents.

Toward the end of his article, Mr. Miron writes:

The final legislation will probably include numerous side conditions and special dealings that reward Washington lobbyists and their clients.

Ya think?

I was just thinking today.

This Yahoo story Fed makes billions available to battle crisis.

The Federal Reserve and foreign central banks moved Monday to pump billions of dollars to cash-strapped banks at home and abroad in a dramatic bid to break through a credit clog and spur lending.

Billions? Where did they get billions without the Congressional Bailout? Why do they need the Congressional Bailout, if not for the money?

Ron Paul on the Bailout

Stuff of Fairy Tales

Poisoned Apples and the Prince who missed the ball.

Wherein House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi plays you know who (hint, it's not Snow White)

Pelosi: "We must work in a bipartisan way in order to have another bite at the apple"

and the demigod of the left, Barack Obama plays the Prince.

Obama: "If I am president I will review the entire plan on the day I take office."

What? Miss the Inaugural Ball?


This Fairytale brought to you courtesy of the BBC.

Let's End the Fed

That is what Dr. Paul would do, I'm sure, if he were Chairman.

Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act (Introduced in House)

HR 2755 IH

110th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2755

To abolish the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks, to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, and for other purposes.

Why the Bailout is BAD

As smart as people are about this, and I am continually pleasantly surprised.
Far too many are buying the government line, hook and sinker.
Too many simply don't understand that when the dollar collapses, their credit and their 401K will be, well, worthless.

Not so.

The Rescue Package Will Delay Recovery

Conventional thinking presents economic adjustment — also labeled as "economic recession" — as something terrible, even the end of the world. In fact, economic adjustment is not menacing or terrible; from an economic point of view, it is nothing more than a time when scarce resources are reallocated in accordance with consumers' priorities.

...the best rescue plan is to allow the market mechanism to operate freely. Allowing the market to do the job will result in some activities disappearing all together while some other activities will in fact be expanded.

Take, for instance, a company that has six profitable activities and four losing activities. The management of the company concludes that the four losing activities must go. To keep them alive is a threat to the survival of the company; these activities rob scarce funding from profitable activities.

Ron Paul Calls for Oversight . . . of the FED

Now this is what the Chairman of the Fed should be saying.
Right Bernanke?

Stop the Bailout

We haven't won the War yet.

Keep the Pressure on.

Sign the Petition.

We are signing this petition in opposition of a taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. Banks and their millionaire CEO's should take losses for risky lending, not taxpayers.

Ten Reasons to Oppose the Wall Street Bailout

Congressional "Martial Law"

From The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The House leadership is using a parliamentary gambit to evade a longstanding House rule that is supposed to ensure that this kind of obfuscation does not occur. That House rule (Rule XIII(6)(a)) provides that a resolution (called a rule) reported by the Rules Committee cannot be considered by the House on the same legislative day that the rule is reported (except by a two-thirds vote of the House). This is supposed to ensure that Members of the House and the public have at least one day to examine and analyze what is in legislation before they have to debate and vote on it.

To maneuver around this House rule and rush the three proposals discussed above to a vote before they have been fully examined, the Rules Committee reported a rule late Thursday afternoon (H.Res. 958) that would waive the application of Rule XIII(6)(a). Instead, it would allow the Rules Committee to wait until the last minute and not to report the rules governing the consideration of these bills or to release the text of the bills themselves until immediately before debate and votes on the bills, and on the rules governing their consideration, commences.

This extraordinary procedure is known as a “martial law” rule because it suspends the normal procedures and safeguards and allows the House Leadership to operate in a more authoritarian fashion. It enables the Leadership to seek to ram a bill or conference report through before the Members have the opportunity to fully understand what they are voting on.

Take Your Socialism and Shove It!

That's what 'The 228" said today.

Oh sure, the Fed is still printing money fast and furiously.
And shoving it into the gaping mouths of the Financial Sector.

But in the halls of the Congress of the United States of America, a small band of 228 men and women sent a COURAGEOUS message to the World.

Take your Socialism and Shove it up your Ass!

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/65159

Thank them.

CALL CALL CALL

First Thing in the morning.

Tomorrow's the vote.

Tonight, all my representatives' mailboxes were full.

Will they care?

One more for the Polar Bears

One more comment for tonight.

From Bill Anderson,

this will be the way that energy leftists take control of the system

The 60 minutes All-Hail-the-King tonight, casually passed by Paulsons' hobby.

At 5:54 in the video, Scott Pelley says "He spends much of his free time on environmental issues."

That statement is rarely made about skeptics.

In fact, Wikipedia states:

Paulson has said he is a strong believer in the effect of human activity on global warming and advocates immediate action to decrease this effect.

Life

in the New Era.

Wake up.
Sweat out Last Nights' Amerika dreams.
Watch Freedom Die.
Post until tired.
Sleep.

VoterBomb

Devil in the Details

from Michele Malkin

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/28/kill-the-bailout-the-fast-track-devil-in-the-details/

from James Ostrowski

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/023183.html

from Bill Anderson

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/023184.html

from The Daily Paul

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/64887

Gingrich says Bailout is "Un-American"

and Paulson should Quit.

"You have the former Chairman of Goldman Sachs asking for 700 billion dollars, and in his initial request, asking for it in such an un-American way that I think he should have resigned," said Gingrich. "I think Paulson has terminally misunderstood the nature of the American system. Not just no review, no judicial review, no congressional accountability. Give me 700 billion dollars, 700 BILLION dollars! 'I'll be glad to spend it for you.' That's a centralization of power that is totally un-American."

She blushed.

Nancy Pelosi blushed when she recounted how Paulson went down on one knee to beg her for the bailout.
She blushed.

Hear that sound?
That's all of her constituents crawling under rocks to hide themselves in shame.

Watch the 60 minutes video (the blush starts at 4:58).

Did you see the part where Paulson says the last thing he wanted was to be asking Congress to become King Henry?
And he thinks we believe it?

No Other Way?


The hubris of that man.

A pox on all their houses

Is exactly how I feel too.

It is a terrible thing to sit, being able to do nothing to save ourselves.
As a Freeper once wrote, "in a happier time I would be heading to the barricades with my rifle instead of impotently pounding out my frustrations on the keyboard."

No way out.

The "rescue" plan is finalized.

$700B rescue plan finalized; House to vote Monday

Another important bargain, vital to attracting support from centrist Democrats, would require that the government, after five years, submit a plan to Congress on how to recoup any losses from the companies that got help.

Five Years to come up with a plan to recoup losses?

Ok. Now at least we know the coming Super Great Depression will last AT LEAST FIVE YEARS.

Paulson versus Obama

On tv tonight, Paulson says he wants strong oversite. Obama, in a commercial aired tonight, repeated his lies from the debate that Bush somehow held a policy of lax regulation, and this illusionary lax regulation was to blame for the financial crisis.

It's illusionary, because the "free markets" weren't really free.

Now they won't even pretend.

Blaming the Victim: The Free Market

Secretary of the Treasury Paulson followed the Keynesian and Chicago School party lines on this issue until September 18, 2008. Then, out of the blue, he announced the need for a $700 billion bailout. The implication was clear: depression is knocking at the door. Like the Big Bad Wolf in the ancient Disney cartoon, the depression threatened to huff and puff and blow our house in.

Congress is now debating whether or not to pass legislation that will enable Paulson to write checks to American banks and financial institutions to enable them to fulfill the highly leveraged contracts that they voluntarily agreed to.

Well, this is not quite true. Congress is not debating whether or not to pass the legislation. It is debating about how many new restrictions will be placed on the capital markets, and how much pork can be squeezed out of the Bush Administration as a quid pro quo. Obama is pushing for a new Section 8 housing subsidy: letting people who cannot pay their mortgages remain in their homes at taxpayers' expense.

No. No other answer. NO.

Any Congressman who does not vote "NO" under these conditions should be tried for treason.

Here's what is happening, as reported on LiveLeak.

HOUSE LEADERSHIP INVOKES “MARTIAL LAW,” FORCING MEMBERS TO VOTE ON KEY BILLS WITHOUT FULL KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THEY ARE VOTING ON:

Under the martial law procedure, longstanding House rules that require at least one day between the unveiling of significant legislation and the House floor vote on that legislation — so that Members can learn what they are being asked to vote on — are swept away. Instead, under “martial law,” the Leadership can file legislation with tens or hundreds of pages of fine print and move immediately to debate and votes on it, before Members of Congress, the media, or the public have an opportunity to understand fully what provisions have been altered or inserted into the legislation behind closed doors. This is the procedure that the Leadership intends to use to muscle through important bills in the next two days.

Good God in Heaven.

How many people even know that "Martial Law" is unconstitutional?
But we need it - to protect us from terrorists!

Just like we need the bailout now. To protect us from, um, somthing.

Sound the Battle Cry

Money for nothing, but Hayek is free

Incredible offer

from the Mises Institute.

Also, don't miss
the Bailout Reader.

Mises is cashing in on this mess.
Oh except that they are giving away knowledge for FREE.
It is worth billions.

The Elephant in the Room

It was not just huge,
it was pink and dancing.



At the debate tonight, McBush and Obush both
quickly endorsed the bailout.
BIG MONEY.

And then turned around and attacked each other for small
piddling
expenditures.
900 million here. 3 billion there.

All the while saying
cuts were needed.
Spending was OUT OF CONTROL.
They will stop all spending.

That is, right after the biggest bailout in the history of the world.

Anthony Gregory at LewRockwell saw it.

Poll the Audience

Take any TV game show.

Millionaire.

Ask the Audience?

Everyone knows, when the audience agrees,
they are almost always right!

Well, the AUDIENCE AGREES.

We are right.

But, just in case you are not convinced,
and Ron Paul hasn't convinced you,
we will pull in some more experts.

The Great Bailout Brouhaha

2. How bad are the current proposed bailout plans?
This is socialization of the banking industry, plain and simple.

2. How bad are the current proposed bailout plans?
Frankly, they are dreadful. First, let's focus on the aspect that should get the proposal dinged (or renegotiated) regardless of any possible merit, namely, that it gives the Treasury imperial power with respect to a simply huge amount of funds. $700 billion is comparable to the hard cost of the Iraq war, bigger than the annual Pentagon budget. And mind you, $700 billion is not the maximum that the Treasury may spend, it's the ceiling on the outstandings at any one time. It's a balance sheet number, not an expenditure limit.

Well Done

We've held the pass, for now.

The bailout negotiations collapsed.
Catch your breath quickly.
They aim to resume them with an eye to sign a deal on Monday.
Maybe even Sunday.

But they are getting tricky.
Senator Bond (of Missouri) for example, strongly supports the bailout.
Or so any reasonable person watching this MSNBC video would think.
But call his office, and they are parsing rhetoric.
"The Senator", they say, "is opposed to the bailout." He supports "the deal".

Don't let your congress critters pull the wool over your eyes.
Demand that Congress, for once in it's existence,
DO NOTHING.

Ron Paul Answers George Bush

Dear Friends:

The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.

We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.

Last night the president addressed the nation about the financial crisis. There is no point in going through his remarks line by line, since I'd only be repeating what I've been saying over and over - not just for the past several days, but for years and even decades.

Still, at least a few observations are necessary.

The president assures us that his administration "is working with Congress to address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets." Care to take a guess at whether the Federal Reserve and its money creation spree were even mentioned?

We are told that "low interest rates" led to excessive borrowing, but we are not told how these low interest rates came about. They were a deliberate policy of the Federal Reserve. As always, artificially low interest rates distort the market. Entrepreneurs engage in malinvestments - investments that do not make sense in light of current resource availability, that occur in more temporally remote stages of the capital structure than the pattern of consumer demand can support, and that would not have been made at all if the interest rate had been permitted to tell the truth instead of being toyed with by the Fed.

Not a word about any of that, of course, because Americans might then discover how the great wise men in Washington caused this great debacle. Better to keep scapegoating the mortgage industry or "wildcat capitalism" (as if we actually have a pure free market!).

Speaking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the president said: "Because these companies were chartered by Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and put our financial system at risk."

Doesn't that prove the foolishness of chartering Fannie and Freddie in the first place? Doesn't that suggest that maybe, just maybe, government may have contributed to this mess? And of course, by bailing out Fannie and Freddie, hasn't the federal government shown that the "many" who "believed they were guaranteed by the federal government" were in fact correct?

Then come the scare tactics. If we don't give dictatorial powers to the Treasury Secretary "the stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet." Left unsaid, naturally, is that with the bailout and all the money and credit that must be produced out of thin air to fund it, the value of your retirement account will drop anyway, because the value of the dollar will suffer a precipitous decline. As for home prices, they are obviously much too high, and supply and demand cannot equilibrate if government insists on propping them up.

It's the same destructive strategy that government tried during the Great Depression: prop up prices at all costs. The Depression went on for over a decade. On the other hand, when liquidation was allowed to occur in the equally devastating downturn of 1921, the economy recovered within less than a year.

The president also tells us that Senators McCain and Obama will join him at the White House today in order to figure out how to get the bipartisan bailout passed. The two senators would do their country much more good if they stayed on the campaign trail debating who the bigger celebrity is, or whatever it is that occupies their attention these days.

F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks' manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day - and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own:

Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the maladjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion.

To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection - a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end... It is probably to this experiment, together with the attempts to prevent liquidation once the crisis had come, that we owe the exceptional severity and duration of the depression.

The only thing we learn from history, I am afraid, is that we do not learn from history.

The very people who have spent the past several years assuring us that the economy is fundamentally sound, and who themselves foolishly cheered the extension of all these novel kinds of mortgages, are the ones who now claim to be the experts who will restore prosperity! Just how spectacularly wrong, how utterly without a clue, does someone have to be before his expert status is called into question?

Oh, and did you notice that the bailout is now being called a "rescue plan"? I guess "bailout" wasn't sitting too well with the American people.

The very people who with somber faces tell us of their deep concern for the spread of democracy around the world are the ones most insistent on forcing a bill through Congress that the American people overwhelmingly oppose. The very fact that some of you seem to think you're supposed to have a voice in all this actually seems to annoy them.

I continue to urge you to contact your representatives and give them a piece of your mind. I myself am doing everything I can to promote the correct point of view on the crisis. Be sure also to educate yourselves on these subjects - the Campaign for Liberty blog is an excellent place to start. Read the posts, ask questions in the comment section, and learn.

H.G. Wells once said that civilization was in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.

In liberty,

Ron Paul

White Horse Thieves

About that white horse Warren Buffet rode in on...
what's his real angle?
I'll give you a hint.
Mr. I'm-in-favor-of-the-inheritance-tax isn't bent on saving housewives in distress.

Ron Paul picks his motivations apart on Fox Business.
Talk about Must See TV!

The Great Depression

No. Not THAT one. THIS one.

One of my all time favorite Onion quotes.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Iraq Now Longer Than WWII

The war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the U.S.'s involvement in World War II. What do you think?

Leo Daives,
County Assessor
"Hooray! Does this mean that we are now the greatest generation?"

Now, our greatest generation has it's very on Depression!

I think we should call it the 'Super Great Depression'.

Future Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ron Paul writes eloquently and forcefully about it.

In language more colorful than usual.

Which leads me to believe, despite his calm demeanor on TV

the gentleman from Texas is NOT HAPPY.

Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul479.html

The Real Bailout Solution

A cashless society.
Why not? It's perfect.

You can create ENDLESS electronic wealth.
We haven't had real money (gold, silver etc.)
backing paper money for decades.
Why do we need paper to back electrons?

Well, we hope this is an extreme opinion.
but, who knows.

What the Big Bailout Means. (from wnd.com)

Do you think it's an accident?

Do you think it's just a case of bad management?

Do you think the proposed $700 billion taxpayer bailout of U.S. financial institutions just happened?

I don't think so.

In fact, I think it's part of a master plan – one pushing us inevitably, inexorably closer to a closed cashless global economic system of total control.

I'll grant it at least took a few months to concoct.

Rat Poison

That's what they're feeding us.

James Ostrowski at Lew Rockwell wrote this the other day:

I'm beginning to smell a rat. I wonder if the fix is in. They do this a lot.

Have they intentionally put out a really lousy bailout plan to allow "critics" to propose changes when the real deal was to enact the "critics'" plan in the first place?

Now it's being reported in Roll Call that the bailout plan has been in the works for months.

[Tony] Fratto [White House Press Secretary] insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough.

The question remaining is, which phase of the plan are we in now?

Is this the initial stage, which Mr. Ostrowski suspects?
Wherein something unbelieveably odius is proposed,
knowing it will be rejected.
Knowing there will be counter proposals that try to
compromise off of pure evil?

A compromise with the devil is still a deal with the devil.

The President Speaks. Call your Congressman.

...Serious Financial Crisis...Congress must act now...
Democratic Capitalism?
that's a new one. That must be where you find those illiquid assets.

It's not to late.
Despite the President's Eleventh Hour Plea,
CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN.
TONIGHT!
Let them know you just heard the President's plan
for socialism.
And you don't like it.

It's not too late.

Buffet Rides a White Horse

Buffet Goldman Deal

Financial markets were tense Wednesday, with stocks fluctuating following investor Warren Buffett's decision to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Though Buffett's move appeared to soothe some investors, it didn't alleviate concerns about the effectiveness of any government bailout and about the health of the broader economy.

But where did he get it?

Why from our Minister of the Treasury Paulson (some say).

Paul versus Bernanke. Round ???

Bernanke makes some questionable statements.

Bill Anderson at lewrockwell.com writes:

Contrary to his statement, the Fed was not taking advice from Andrew Mellon in the early 1930s. As Murray Rothbard points out in America's Great Depression, the Fed did try to reflate, but it did no good.

Then Bernanke says the Fed's power to create money was delegated to them by Congress, therefore they have all the authority they need.

Ron Paul says (in an essay appropriately titled "Abolish the Fed")

The Constitution does not give Congress the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank. Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the federal government to erode the American standard of living via an inflationary monetary policy.

Our Calls do help!

Ron Paul says in this video that "everyone is getting thousands of calls;
I don't see how they can pass it".

"Everyone" of course, means the Congresscritters on the Hill.

RP (or should I call him Fed Chair People Elect) also lays out a plan for recovery.

Fox Business Brings the Paul.

Du Schweinhunde!

The World Shouldn't Have to Bear the Burden for America's Lapses

so say the Germans.

1 down, 192 countries to go.

Hey, do your part and cut/paste the
Request for Urgent Business Relationship
to any Nigerian!

Meier points out as he explains why he believes Europe shouldn't provide any funds. "The world shouldn't have to bear the burden for America's lapses."

By America, he means the American people.
By America, I mean Mssrs. Paulson and Bernanke.

A Recession for your Freedom

Bernanke: Approve bailout or risk recession

Sorry folks. It's a no brainer. We simply cannot afford to lose (any more) freedom.

"The financial markets are in quite fragile condition and I think absent a plan they will get worse," Bernanke said.

Good thing the military is starting active duty here soon.

American Spam

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

(Thanks to Mike Holmes)

The Senate Bulks

Maybe our phone calls helped?

Leading Banking Panel Senators Reject Bailout Plan

"Nobody is happy" about the bailout request, said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., although he spoke of possible passage of legislation by the weekend.

"Nobody wants to have to do this," agreed Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader. He said he was hopeful of a quick agreement, despite withering criticism from conservative GOP lawmakers, some of whom likened the plan to socialism.

Likened the plan to socialism?

Likened?

Paulson repeatedly fielded questions from committee members asking why taxpayers should accept the burdens of a bailout.

"You worry about taxpayers being on the hook?" he replied at one point. "Guess what — they're already on the hook."

In for a dime, in for a dollar. Or 300 billion.

Who's counting?

Wall Street Dumps the Bills on Main Street

Sorry Mom and Dad

The world as we know it is ending.
I just didn't have time to clean the house up.

CNN Brings the Paul

Commentary: Bailouts will lead to rough economic ride

"the government's preferred solution to the crisis is the very thing that got us into this mess in the first place: government intervention."

Now pay close attention to this next statement. Most people are afraid to say it.

"Laws passed by Congress such as the Community Reinvestment Act required banks to make loans to previously underserved segments of their communities, thus forcing banks to lend to people who normally would be rejected as bad credit risks."

And then, a plan of action.

"It is time this process is put to an end. But the government cannot just sit back idly and let the bust occur. It must actively roll back stifling laws and regulations that allowed the boom to form in the first place.

The government must divorce itself of the albatross of Fannie and Freddie, balance and drastically decrease the size of the federal budget, and reduce onerous regulations on banks and credit unions that lead to structural rigidity in the financial sector."

BRING THE PAUL!

Ron Paul Tells the Truth (about the Fed)

(Every post could bear this title).

Dear Dr. Baldwin

I have considered supporting you
in the race for the White House.

Knowing you have the support
of Ron Paul is a valued endorsement.

But there is one action you could take,
to tell us where you stand.

Say "No" to the Fed bailout -
promise to make Ron Paul
the chairman of the Fed.

Sincerely,
Change Required.
-----------------------
866-99-BALDWIN
(866-992-2539)
contact@baldwin2008.com

Ron Paul Supports Chuck Baldwin

In other news, Ron Paul has come out with his support for Chuck Baldwin for President.

Lies. Damned Lies.

Lies From Paulson Keep Stacking Up:

The implications are twofold.

1) Paulson and Bernanke are liars
2) Paulson and Bernanke are incompetent

C'mon McCain. C'mon Obama.
You don't have to be like them.
Put Ron Paul in as Fed Chair!



John and Barack, don't let that be your face!

U.S.of F.

How We Became the United States of France

Admit it, mes amis, the rugged individualism and cutthroat capitalism that made America the land of unlimited opportunity has been shrink-wrapped by a half dozen short sellers in Greenwich, Conn. and FedExed to Washington D.C. to be spoon-fed back to life by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

Was it done on Purpose? Larisa Alexandrovna writes at the Huffington Post:

This manufactured crisis is now to be remedied, if the fiscal fascists get their way, with the total transfer of Congressional powers (the few that still remain) to the Executive Branch and the total transfer of public funds into corporate (via government as intermediary) hands.

One thing is sure, those who still think W. really is a small-government conservative at heart should put their remaining life savings into white flags.

Conservatives who hoped that the Bush team would leave a legacy of smaller government, freer markets and fewer regulations can officially kiss that hope goodbye.

Ron Paul says More is Coming

from Luke Mullins' "The Home Front"

Will this bailout be the last?
"No, no. This won't be the last one. There will be something else later on. But that doesn't mean you might not have a few months of a reprieve. But it will continue."

Will we have to bail out the auto makers?
"Oh I think so. We are not going to let them fail. Our policy is such that everybody gets bailed out. It's like a drug addict, they've got to take their fix. It's too tough getting off these drugs. And the drug here is easy credit.

The Americans are coming! The American are coming!

To your street. In full battle gear.

NO. I am not kidding. Where the heck is the news media coverage?
If anybody has a link of Ron Paul talking about this, please post.

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

"The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks."

Now, why would they need this? Did somebody (other than Ron Paul) think there might be a huge economic collapse that would result in civil unrest?

Maybe they fear some unstable types reacting poorly to the upcoming presidential election? Really, Really Poorly?

What about the problems of using troops trained to kill for non-lethal missions?

(from the above article)

"The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”"

Why is it Ron Paul knows what's coming?

and the current FedHeads have missed it (or ignored it)?

Call your Congressman

Maybe it will help.

King Henry Officially Demands control (from Mike Morgan Behind Enemy Lines)

America jumps the shark

From Reuters...

China paper urges new currency order after "tsunami"

"Threatened by a "financial tsunami," the world must consider building a financial order no longer dependent on the United States, a leading Chinese state newspaper said on Wednesday."

America's new anthem...

Ron Paul talks about the Bailouts

Dear Senator McCain

I have been known to say I would be cold in my grave
before I voted for you.

Not even Sarah Palin could change the mind of this
rifle mom.

But there is one thing that could.

Give Ron Paul the chairmanship of the
Federal Reserve Board
and You will have my vote.

Sincerely,
Change Required

-----------------------------------------
John McCain 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, VA 22215

How to end a Depression

Ask President Harding. (NOT FDR).

"Harding had the depression of 1920 licked in a year and a half, but under the "progressive" FDR, the Great Depression would persisted throughout the 1930s, until FDR began conscripting millions of young men for the armed forces."

.

History Repeats Itself.

Lew Rockwell interviews Ron Paul about the "Panic of '08". Are Bernanke's policies destined to prolong the agony?


Lew Rockwell Interviews Ron Paul

.

Paul goes head to head with Bernanke

Global Warming Pauses

when Congress was momentarily stunned into silence.

Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings

Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had made an urgent and unusual evening visit to Capitol Hill, and they were gathered around a conference table in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“When you listened to him describe it you gulped," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

“We have got to deal with the foreclosure issue,” Mr. Dodd said. “You have got to stop that hemorrhaging..If you don’t, the problem doesn’t go away. Ben Bernanke has said it over and over again. Hank Paulson recognizes it. This problem began with bad lending practices. Those are his words, not mine, and so this plan must address that or I’ll be back here in front of a bank of microphones at some point explaining the next failure.”

Dreamers.

We all dream. I dream of a free America.
I dreamed of a free America.
Can I still dream?

Ron Paul lost the Presidential Nomination.
He refused to run for a third party.
I don't blame him.

Nonetheless, he was our last hope.
Maybe he still is our hope.

Ron Paul for Federal Reserve Chairman!