Liberty Maven

This is by far the best illustration of the “government reduction” budget games Obama is playing. In the end he’s just playing with your heads to make it seem like he’s cutting spending. Thanks to Radley Balko (The Agitator) for the video link.

Got Gold? Let’s audit the FED and find out.

by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution

Originally published Friday, April 24, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6335.html

The People’s Republic of China announced a rise in its official holdings from 600 metric tons to 1,054 tons, making the country the world’s #5 holder of gold reserves.  The 600 metric ton level had remained constant since 2003. While a rise of 454 tons sounds like a lot, at $900 USD per troy ounce, this is “only” $13 billion.

The United States has reported the largest reserves – over 8,100 tons, but GATA (the Gold Anti-Trust Committee) reports these holdings may not exist as they are strangely reported as “Deep Storage Gold.”  Congressman Ron Paul’s bill, HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, will audit the Federal Reserve, including our gold supply.  This week over 20 more co-sponsors joined, bringing the bill to 88 co-sponsors [Note: Now there are said to be 92 cosponsors]

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “With the monetary system we have now, the careful saving of a lifetime can be wiped out in an eyeblink.” — Larry Parks Executive Director, Foundation for the Advancement of Monetary Education (FAME)

Congressman Ron Paul wants to audit the Federal Reserve. His bill to do this (HR 1207) already has 55 listed co-sponsors, and Congressman Paul’s website says the list will soon be up to 90. Bernie Sanders has introduced a similar bill in the Senate (S. 604).

Today we’re joining with End The FED and the Campaign for Liberty to give this legislation a big push. First, send your reps a message supporting this bill, and then follow up with a phone call. Here’s what I wrote in my message to Congress . . .

“I support H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, and S. 604, the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009. Please pass legislation requiring an audit of the Fed.

“Inflation is the cruelest tax of all, hitting the poor and those on fixed incomes the hardest. The bankers and the government benefit from this regressive tax that eats away at our ability to save.

“Our government is supposed to be based on the principle of ‘taxation WITH representation.’

“And yet, the Fed’s decision-making process is secret, using confidential information. Their minutes of these secret meetings aren’t due until three weeks after decisions are announced, and transcripts of meetings don’t become available until five years later.

“In addition, aside from the Chair, Fed board members serve the longest terms of any federal bureaucrat (14 years), and they can’t be fired for political reasons.

“And most offensive of all, the Comptroller General, head of the Government Accountability Office, is legally prohibited from auditing the Fed’s Open Market operations, and several other important Fed activities.

“Those are the facts…

“To make matters still worse, I’ve watched the Banking Committee interview Mr. Bernanke on TV. There’s no evidence that most of the committee members have a clue what to ask him.

“A real and thorough audit by competent experts is needed, and the results need to be made PUBLIC.”

Please tell your representatives to co-sponsor the House and Senate “Audit the Fed” bills. If you’ve used our Educate the Powerful System before, do the following . . .

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Is it any wonder that people question the, um, suitability of certain people advising President Obama?

Here, Obama’s chief economic advisor, Larry Summers dozes off as Obama speaks to reporter at the White House.

See the Washington Times article on the subject and this excellent photo gallery for even more photos.

I hate to admit it but when I first became interested in politics, I was a liberal.  I was naively taken in by the feel-good positions and promises of politicians such as Paul Tsongas, Mario Cuomo, and Bill Clinton.  I felt that, of course, the government should help people, take care of people.  It was those evil Republicans who were mean-spirited and nasty all the time.

So I voted for Clinton.  Twice.  But near the middle of his second term I started to become jaded by politics in general, and I focused the majority of my daily attention elsewhere in life.

At some point later, I started listening to Rush Limbaugh “just to see how the other side thinks” and ended  up becoming pursuaded by many of his arguments against those blasted liberals, so I thought I might really be a Republican.

But that didn’t last long, because I found the Libertarian Party.  I realized I was most attracted to the ideals of the Founding Fathers, most notably Jefferson and Madison.  I began to realize that there isn’t much difference at all betweens the Democrats and Republicans, that both support statist, authoritarian ideals.

Since the election of 2000, I’ve voted for the Libertarian Party candidate.  (Well, this past election I changed my affiliation temporarily to Republican so I could vote for Ron Paul in the Primary, but then I changed back to Libertarian after the election).  Today, while I typically agree mostly with the Libertarian-Party candidates, I don’t find myself wed to the Libertarian Party itself; I tend to be more of an anarcho-capitalist, believing mostly in the free market and ahbor some of the powers that even the Constitution gives the Federal government.

Then, in the past year or so, with the economy tanking, I became interested in economics for the first time in my life.  I immediately realized that the Austrian school of economics are very in line with my way of thinking — and it seems so fitting, since Austrians tend to be small-government, libertarian thinkers. Therefore, it seemed natural to me that Democrats, liberals, and progressives, if they gave more than a modicum of thought to the subject of economics, would be attracted to Keynesian theory, which pushes deficit spending to artificially “stimulate” the economy.

But why were so many conservative politicians voting (and even campaigning) for stimulus packages?  The idea of a “conservative Keynesian” seems to be to be a paradox in terms. Read More »

If you don’t already know it, the headline is an embellished version of a quote from an old school rap song circa 1985 by Rock Master Scott and The Dynamic Three called, “The Roof Is On Fire“. The song is almost as unbearable to listen to as it is to listen to Rock Master Bernanke and The Non-Dynamic Timmy Geithner. The non-embellished version of the headline begins about 4:25 into the song so feel free to use the bathroom during the first portion after clicking on the link above so you don’t have to sit through the entire song.

Meanwhile, I can just hear Ron Paul singing my embellished version of the song as he walks around Capitol Hill grinning from ear to ear thanks to the recent explosion of support for HR1207, his bill to audit the Federal Reserve. The news hit yesterday afternoon that there are now 88 cosponsors of the bill, an increase of 33 in the past 2 days. Perhaps all those “End The Fed” signs at the Tea Parties twisted the arms of some of Paul’s peers.

I finally got a response from my Congressman about HR1207. Congressman Frank Wolf responded by telling me he’d consider the bill when/if it comes up for a floor vote. Well, thanks for putting your neck out there Frank. My question was, “Will you either cosponsor or support HR1207?” I can only assume at this point his answer is no to both. Yet another reason to vote for whomever is opposing him in 2010.

During Freedom Watch yesterday Ron Paul claimed confidence that the bill would come up for a vote at some point this year. Judging by the recent explosion of support for it, I can see why he is a confident man. Perhaps not confident enough to break out into his own rendition of an old school rap song on the House floor, but we all know he’s singing on the inside.

Contact your representative right now and ask him/her to support HR1207 if they haven’t already done so. If they have, then call them up and thank them for supporting it. Ending the Fed has to start somewhere.

After contacting your lawmaker, be sure to preorder Ron Paul’s upcoming best seller, not suprisingly entitled, “End the Fed”.

Ron Paul was interviewed yesterday on Antiwar Radio by Scott Horton. Ron Paul has appeared numerous times on the excellent show. This time he compares the foreign policy of Bush and Obama. Apparently, there isn’t much to like about either.

Listen to the interview below in two parts, thanks to MinnesotaChris.

Part 2

There are reasons to like Senator Jim Webb. One of them are his recent statements regarding the legalization of marijuana as an option for helping to reform the criminal justice system.

From The Hill:

The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues — including drug legalization — need to be on the table.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has made criminal justice and prison reform a signature issue of his this year in Congress, is the most high-profile lawmaker to indicate openness to drug decriminalization or outright legalization.

“Well, I think what we need to do is to put all of the issues on the table,” Webb said this morning on CNN if asked if marijuana legalization would be part of his criminal justice reform efforts.

“If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges, and today, we have about 500,000 of them,” the first-term Virginia lawmaker said. “And the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes — possession crimes or minor sales.”

Well, this all sounded great until I read the following:

“I think they should examine every aspect of drugs policy to see what’s working and what’s not working, and where the consistencies are and, quite frankly, where the inconsistencies are in terms of how people end up in the system with similar activities,” Webb explained, reiterating his call for a high-level blue ribbon commission to reform the criminal justice system.

Oh no! Not yet another “blue ribbon commission”! That is a Capitol Hill euphemism for a “political dog and pony show”. In the end nothing gets accomplished. I hope this one is different, but I have my doubts.

“They are dead, but they just don’t know it!”

by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution

Originally published April 23, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6332.html

Listen to this 1 minute YouTube ditty before reading.  You may need the laugh.

Former Secretary of Treasury and Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson admitted to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that he threatened to remove Bank of America’s “board and management” if Bank of America’s CEO Kenneth Lewis backed away from the signed Merrill Lynch contract via a legal escape hatch, as Merrill’s  reported losses for the fourth quarter turned out to increase from $9 billion to over $15 billion from the time the deal was signed. (photo courtesy Grant Neufeld)

Per ABC, Cuomo indicated Paulson admitted to (my phrasing) blackmailing Lewis at FED Chairman Bernanke’s request. Today Paulson confirmed he threatened Lewis but denied the FED’s involvement. Shareholders will likely elect to sue their CEO and the government for fraud. That is, if BoA maintains its solvency and net assets. Lewis will likely regret not keeping his dignity and resigning. BoA’s stock was up 7% for the day.

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world.” — Alan Greenspan, former Chair of the Federal Reserve speaking before the House Banking Committee in May 1999

Subject: The Counterfeiting Numbers

Counterfeiters create new money, illegally. The Federal Reserve (FED) does the same thing, legally.

The legal counterfeiting is worse than the illegal.

Money created by illegal counterfeiters tends to be small, easily discovered, and quickly removed from circulation.

FED counterfeiting is immense, seemingly hidden, and tends to remain in play. This “funny money” . . .

• attacks your standard of living
• rips away your savings
• jacks up your expenses

Just how much counterfeiting has the FED done?

• The base money supply stands at roughly 1.6 trillion dollars
• But it was only half that as recently as April, 2007

Your money’s value is roughly half what it was a mere two years ago!

Economic scam artists claim FED counterfeiting doesn’t reduce your money’s value, if the economy is also growing.

But without their counterfeiting, your money would buy more goods and services as the economy expanded, NOT just the same level of goods and services that it bought before, and certainly not LESS than it bought in the past.

The prime benefit of economic growth is gradually falling prices, because entrepreneurs create ways to do more with less.

More with less = gradually falling prices . . .

. . . if the money supply remains roughly constant.

FED counterfeiting robs YOU of this benefit.

Prices go up instead, and people think it’s natural.

The economic scam artists also claim that gradually falling prices are actually bad for us. They say price declines cause an economy to freeze. They claim businesses won’t borrow if they must repay their loans using appreciated dollars.

We have a harmful debt obsession! Borrowing isn’t the best way to fuel business expansion. Investors can fund it.

With sound money, the cost of borrowing money would go down, just like it would for goods and services.

And historical evidence refutes the claim that gradually falling prices freeze the economy.

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