There was a rather short (as expected) report on NBC Nightly News this evening on Barr and his campaign. Watch it below.
This was a much more “respectful” report (but half as long) than the one from NBC last year during Ron Paul’s campaign where he was painted as a “fringe” candidate. See that one again below for comparison.
Free and Equal is hosting another Third Party debate. This time it is the Vice Presidential candidates. Three candidates have confirmed participation: Wayne Root (Libertarian), Darrell Castle (Constitution Party), and Matt Gonzalez (Independent). The event is scheduled for Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV.
I’m happy to see Root participating in this one. It suggests that Barr not appearing at the other debate due to scheduling conflicts was legitimate and not some matter of ego. Of course, we might be subjected to Wayne Root yelling “Bang!….. Bang!” following every answer (for those that witnessed him at the Libertarian Convention you know exactly what I mean).
We are barreling toward socialism at an alarming rate, and every day I become more and more afraid for the future of our country. Teresa Ghilarducci is an economist at the New School for Social Research in New York who wrote a policy paper on the subject of retirement account, and followed that up with a book entitled, When I’m Sixty-Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them. She was called to testify before Congress on her harebrained scheme to have the federal government take over all our private 401K plans (which have historically realized at least 10% annually, on average) and “guarantee” a rate of return of 3% over inflation. From ABC News:
Here are the basics of her proposed Guaranteed Retirement Accounts:
Employees would make mandatory contributions equal to at least 5 percent of the earnings. Workers could contribute higher amounts if they wish.
Those contributions would be offset by a $600 federal tax credit each participant would receive.
As with a 401(k) plan, workers would have individual accounts they could track. The balance of each account would depend on each worker’s contributions and income level.
The Social Security Administration would handle account management, and the Thrift Savings Plan — a well-regarded retirement plan for federal employees — would manage the money.
Participants would be guaranteed a fixed rate of return that exceeds inflation by 3 percent. For instance, if inflation stood at 2 percent, the worker would earn 5 percent; if inflation reached 3.5 percent, the worker would earn 6.5 percent. Participants could receive an inflation-beating return above 3 percent if the government’s investment returns were high enough.
At retirement, participants’ account balances would be converted into a lifetime stream of income that adjusts for inflation. There would be options to take partial lump sum payments, opt for lower payments in return for survivor benefits and, upon death, leave a portion of a financial account balance.
The intent of the plan is not to replace Social Security. Rather, Guaranteed Savings Accounts would supplement Social Security, Ghilarducci said.
Given the government’s horrendous track record (i.e. Social Security, Fannie/Freddie, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) it’s preposterous to think the government would handle your 401K money wisely.
CNN is reporting that a flyer supposedly put out by the Virginia State Board of Elections is being circulated in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. The problem being, the flyer is fake and attempts to get Democrats to vote on November 5th instead of November 4th.
The flyer states that due to the expected high voter turnout the Virginia General Assembly has voted to split the election over two days instead of one. Those supporting Republican candidates are supposed to vote on November 4th and those supporting Democratic candidates are supposed to vote on the 5th. The flyer itself looks official (sort of). Apparently, officials are investigating the source of the flyer.
In this week’s Texas Straight Talk column, Ron Paul warns about the disastrous consequences of yet another bailout package congress is debating:
With news this week that Congress is poised to consider a new stimulus package, I am forced to again ask a question that seems silly in Washington:How will we pay for this?
While a few Members of Congress have raised the issue, it certainly was not the primary concern of the House Budget Committee when they interviewed Ben Bernanke on Monday.And, when they did direct this question to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, his answer was the standard rhetoric about how Congress needed to make tough choices.Needless to say, not many specifics were discussed.
One of the most liberal members of the House, Barney Frank, has at least volunteered something of a suggestion: “We can let Iraq take care of itself.”This, of course, goes in the right direction, but hardly far enough.
We need to declare the facts and their obvious consequences.The deficit of the United States is now spiraling out of control, and the recent bailout package has only made it worse.Our crushing federal debt is one key reason behind our current economic turbulence.
As Congress begins to consider the third “stimulus package” of the year, we need to realize it is time to start setting priorities.Priority number one should be cutting spending in foreign countries. This does not simply mean Iraq, but everywhere.
The next stimulus package is likely to include money for infrastructure.While these investments are, constitutionally speaking, supposed to be made by state and local governments, it is not likely that Congress will suddenly begin to pay heed to the document we are all sworn to uphold.Still, we need to acknowledge the fact that the current Congress and Administration are rushing the nation toward bankruptcy.
This being the case, we could hope they would at least come to their senses regarding our debt and foreign spending sprees.Our nation’s foreign-held debt is at record highs and moving ever higher.Continuing to borrow money from Red China and others in order to pay “dues” to the United Nations and run “Plan Colombia” makes no sense at all.
Our whole carrot-and-stick approach to foreign policy makes no sense.The US government simultaneously gives money to Israel, and to Egypt.We send AIDS money to Africa while AIDS clinics in America shut down.“Millennium challenge” funding goes to countries which enact “market based reforms” as we push our own country further and further into a centrally planned economy.
Economic recovery will only come through financial prudence, savings and getting back to producing things of value again.But it seems to be a foregone conclusion that we are about to enact another government initiative to “stimulate the economy.” Instead, there should be some serious talk about cutting all of these foreign giveaway programs.But, alas and again, we should not hold our breath.Congress is still not close to being serious about ending its addiction to debt and spending, and is again faced with the deadly temptation to attempt to spend us out of a recession.We should not forget that in the 1930’s those types of efforts gave us the Great Depression.
Why, oh why can’t the rest of the world be as wise as those who live in Texas’ 14th Congressional District?
If you read the essay you’ll see in the intro that he once told a Senate committee he favored an end to the Federal Reserve and a return to gold money.
When Greenspan gained the power to run the Federal Reserve he changed his tune. He stopped singing the sound-money song, though when pressed in interviews he would still say that gold was the most stable money system.
If you accept what Greenspan said in interviews, then he still believed in sound-money and he still opposed centralized banking. But his actions betrayed his professed beliefs. He was now the Counterfeiter-in-Chief, and he played the role with gusto. He inflated and deflated the money supply, doing exactly what he had criticized before. As a result . . .
Alan Greenspan was one of the many contributors to the boom and bust cycle in general, and to the current boom and bust in particular. Greenspan clearly knew better, so what are we to conclude from his actions other than that . . .
Listening to the news every day, one of the biggest problems as I see it is the prevailing attitude that it’s a bad thing when housing prices fall or poorly-run businesses fail. Why do they not see that housing prices have been far too high for years (thanks to artificially low interest rates), and that it’s a sign of a healthy market when good companies thrive and bad businesses fall? Today’s article at the Ludwin von Mises Institute addresses the concept of bankruptcy:
Bankruptcy is a normal part of economic life, covered by laws that guarantee stockholders will be compensated as much as possible. More efficient firms move in to take over what is left of bankrupt firms, buying what can be put to productive use. There is no crime in bankruptcy and, if handled quickly, little economic harm. When the largest US energy company Enron went bankrupt a few years ago, there was not even a ripple in the energy markets, much less the economy. Bankruptcy is not criminal and should not be a surprise, but it can be unnerving if large, well-known firms go bankrupt.
Naturally, Big Government’s natural inclination is to intervene further into the private marketplace in attempt to stop necessary declines, which only makes the problem worse, distorts the market even more, and often rewards bad behavior.
One part of the evolving financial bailout is the government using taxpayer money to help people who have not been able to pay their mortgage. The government is taxing those who have paid their mortgages and transferring the money to those who have not. It is not a good idea to reward inefficiency.
The article goes on to discuss the detriments of the recent financial bailouts and the government scrambling to “fix” the problem it created by doing more of what cause the problems in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m voting for the guy, and I think every other liberty-seeking individual should do so as well. However, by just about every measure the Bob Barr campaign has not lived up to expectations. I suppose it’s not over quite yet, but with only a week left before election day it is difficult not to admit that the campaign is a failure. The cause of the failure is not entirely the Barr campaign’s fault, but some of it certainly is.
Prior to the Libertarian Convention I was very excited at the prospect of Bob Barr being the party’s nominee. I figured he would be the heir apparent to Ron Paul. I figured he would garner all of Paul’s whole-hearted activist support while bringing in high numbers of voters unhappy with Barry O’Messiah and John McChameleon. As I watched Barr win the nomination at the Libertarian Convention on CSPAN I was energized anew after the deflated feeling I felt when it was obvious Ron Paul would not get the GOP nomination (not that I ever truly thought that would happen, I had hope though).
Little did I know that would be the high point of my energy for the Barr campaign. In the days and weeks since, I’ve grown more and more despondent. Many circumstances out of Barr’s control mounted against him.
We all have influential figures that touch our lives in some way. We at Liberty Maven have decided to put together a list of people we like to call Liberty Heroes. These people have influenced us in some way due to their dedication to the cause of liberty. Through their words, beliefs, and actions they have all proven themselves to be worthy of the hero title.
Some are conservative, some liberal, some are Republicans, some are Democrats, some are Libertarians, and many are none of the above. Some are deceased, some are still among the living, but all have breathed for freedom and liberty at some point in history. Some are well known, some are hardly known. We hope that by forming this list we can help the lesser known among them become more known.
We will reveal more and more heroes as the days and weeks go by. The “Liberty Heroes” link on the navigation menu bar will direct you to the page containing all of our heroes. All new heroes will also be announced with an article (like this one) as we add them.
Our first hero is posted. It is none other than Walter E. Williams. His entry is included below.
“The framers gave us the Second Amendment not so we could go deer or duck hunting but to give us a modicum of protection against congressional tyranny.”
“Democracy and liberty are not the same. Democracy is little more than mob rule, while liberty refers to the sovereignty of the individual.”
“There are people in need of help. Charity is one of the nobler human motivations. The act of reaching into one’s own pockets to help a fellow man in need is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into someone else’s pocket is despicable and worthy of condemnation.”
Liberty Maven
“. He is also an accomplished author of his own with works such as “
” and the recently released “
“. Below are a few choice quotes from Williams.
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