Liberty Maven

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Subject: Don’t Despair, Renew Your Resolve to Fight

On Christmas Eve, the cynical Scrooge’s of the United States Senate voted to expand the size of government, as well as its power and reach into the medical system.

Even thought it’s a chilly Christmas, I’m here to tell you, the battle is NOT over.

On a freezing December day, Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, USMC, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, told his men,

“We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time now. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.”

I’ve spoken to and corresponded with DC Downsizers this week who were tempted to despair. They rightly recognize this bill as a dangerous blow, to our healthcare, to our economy, and to our liberty. They saw yesterday’s vote coming, and they see defeat, and worse, the destruction to follow with this tremendously unconstitutional bill.

But I want you to know, “We’ve found the enemy. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.”

Your enemies are the Democrats who supported this bill. And your enemies are the Republicans, who didn’t bother to fight until Americans showed up at Town Hall Meetings and vented their anger.

Yes, your enemies include the very same Republicans who pushed through a bailout bill, now a little more than a year ago. And, if history is any guide, they will be your enemies when they return to power and refuse to do anything to repeal this so-called healthcare reform . . .

. . . that is, unless you continue to fight, and resolve that you will indeed win.

Back in August, I wrote to you about Admiral James Stockdale, a seven year Prisoner of War (POW) in Vietnam . . . Read More »

by Clyde James Aragon

After reading in my local paper yet another glowing article about the ‘Progressive’ Movement, I have to ask, what’s so progressive about it? What do they even stand for?

Freedom? Turning our medical system over to government bureaucracies will lead to more freedom? Letting the EPA control CO2 will lead to more freedom? Our Obama nose rings should come with perfume sprayers so we aren’t overwhelmed by the stench of tyranny.

Lower Taxation? In order to pay for socialized DemocratCare, we’re going to see tax increases for four years before we see any benefits, meanwhile our Congress can pretend to balance the budget with this money and allow themselves some more middle-of-the-night spending sprees. And the coming cap-and-trade legislation will be another tax increase on rich and poor disguised as an environmental palliative.

American Sovereignty? Standing behind the scam tree of climate change/global warming/bad CO2, Progressives would turn America’s environmental laws over to United Nation’s control so that not only would the first step toward world government be taken, we could be forced to pay global reparations for our past success. There’s nothing like watching our constitution turned into recycled toilet paper.

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by John Browne , Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital

The vast majority of economists now say that the recession is over. Many expect nominal GDP growth as high as four percent in 2010. Now, with the economy assumed to be back on stable footing, some in the private sector are starting to talk about inflation.

While agreeing that growth has returned, the Federal Reserve and the Obama administration do not see inflation as a threat. To them, the political costs of ongoing recession far outweigh any medium-term considerations about the value of the dollar, hence their determination to hold short-term interest rates to around zero. This has created unnatural conditions in the U.S. Treasury market and is limiting the prospects for real growth.

The Fed lending at zero enables the major banks to invest in long-term Treasuries at a huge risk-free spread of nearly four percent. In addition, the Fed is – for the first time – paying interest on bank reserves deposited with the Fed. In such a ‘la-la’ world, why would any bank take the needless risk of lending to small businesses, the main creators of new jobs? For all but the largest corporations, who can also access the bond markets directly, credit is tight. The lack of private-sector bank liquidity has hurt job creation, consumer demand, and is adding mightily to recessionary pressures.

What’s worse, this monetary treadmill has disrupted market signals about coming inflation.

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by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse

As business owners undergo the yearly ritual of passing through eye-popping health insurance premium increases to their employees, it’s easy to understand why any attempt at health insurance reform would be met with some degree of hope. Unfortunately, President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress are about to take a very bad system and make it unimaginably worse.

While ramming their new legislation through Congress, the Democrats have taken great pains to point out that they do not intend to “socialize medicine.”  But make no mistake, that’s where we’re headed. Even if some naïve centrists believe that their efforts have denied the Left a total victory, the practical implications of the current legislation sow the seeds for complete capitulation.

This first round of reform could be labeled as the ‘neutron bomb’ of the insurance industry: it leaves some of the private apparatus standing, but it irradiates whatever remains of the industry’s market viability.

The bill’s centerpiece is a clause prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on a pre-existing medical condition. However noble and marketable an idea, this proscription removes the very basis upon which any insurance model operates profitably.

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A little over a week ago I wrote the following:

Ron Paul’s son Rand Paul will be the next U.S. Senator from Kentucky once the 2010 elections are over. My confidence in this outcome is inversely proportional to the confidence I had that Ron Paul would become our next President in 2008. I certainly had hope for the elder Paul, but political reality has a way of usurping hope. When it comes to Rand Paul in 2010, I am both politically confident and supremely hopeful.

New poll numbers released today show that my confidence is quite appropriate. By now, Trey Grayson must be wondering, “What the heck happened?”

The new poll shows Rand Paul with a 19 percentage point lead over Grayson:

The new survey of Kentucky by Public Policy Polling (D) gives Rand Paul, a conservative activist and son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), a huge lead over the establishment candidate in the Republican primary for Senate in 2010.

The numbers: Rand Paul 44%, Secretary of State Trey Grayson 25%. Grayson was recruited to run in place of two-term GOP Sen. Jim Bunning, who is retiring. Paul, however, has mobilized his campaign around the Tea Party movement and his outsider conservative message.

This is certainly encouraging news, but now I can’t help but wonder… Is Rand Paul peaking too early? This will surely invite more rabid attacks in an attempt to discredit Paul as a candidate. The question remains can the lead be maintained through next May’s primary? In the campaign fund raising battle Paul has proven his mettle. Being a charismatic and clear speaker is another strong suit for Paul. Now we get to find out how well his campaign can defend a barrage of attacks that are sure to come in light of these poll numbers.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Every member of Congress needs to hear your protest, including your House Rep., and all the Republicans too.

Please slam Congress with thousands of letters telling them that this bill does NOT have your consent! You can send your letter using our Educate the Powerful System: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/114

If you have a Democratic Senator, please call them too. Deluge the Senate switchboard! Our system provides their phone numbers when you log-in to send your letter.

Here’s what I wrote in my letter . . .    Read More »

When I happen upon a book or movie review I usually skip down to the final paragraph because I don’t really care about all the preliminaries. I just want to know the conclusion; therefore, I’m starting this review with my conclusion. Drop everything and start reading Charles Goyette’s “The Dollar Meltdown: Surviving the Impending Currency Crisis with Gold, Oil, and Other Unconventional Investments“.

Now I’ll go into the preliminaries. Goyette gives up the goods in a methodical way. The book is divided into four sections: “Where we are”, “How we got here”, “What happens next”, and “What to do”.

For those that study Austrian economics and have read recent books such as Tom Woods excellent “Meltdown” much of the first part of the book will be a bit like preaching to the choir. However, for interested neophytes the book is a perfect introduction. In fact I feel that it has supplanted Tom Woods’ “Meltdown” as the one book to recommend to your curious but currently misinformed friends. If fact, having them read both books could be all the information they need.

For the more experienced readers the desire to skip directly to the final section of the book may be too much to resist. After all, most of us feel like we know why and how the economy collapsed at this point. What we do not know is what to do about it. Goyette does not disappoint.  He doesn’t tell you how to allocate your investments, but he makes very specific recommendations in the final section of the book, including where to find more information about each investment to research it for yourself.

I had first heard of Goyette during Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign of  2008. To me he was just another radio talk show host, but upon reading this, his first, book, I learned he is much more than just another conservative radio talk show host. He has a resume suggesting that he knows of what he writes. From his own bio page:

“With years of experience as a financial professional in the commodities, securities, currency and precious metals business, he has long been a participant in the national economic debate. In fact more than 25 years ago Charles arranged for a then little-known Texas Congressman to be the keynote speaker at a series of monetary conferences he hosted.”

Goyette’s liberty gene runs deep and his “Meltdown” may save your financial life someday. Even if it doesn’t, isn’t it worth $20, just in case?

Purchase Goyette’s “The Dollar Meltdown” at Amazon and LibertyMaven gets a cut.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

by Clyde James Aragon

In November 2009, computer hackers broke into the computer of the Climate Research Unit in England revealing the shady behavior of climate scientists there, some of whom have been literally making up data to support the climate change/global warming hysteria that is gripping the planet these days.

Well, the hackers have done it again.

They have now hacked into the computer network of the Institute for Cold and Hot Study in Burbank, California. Currently circulating around the Internet are the following smoking gun round robin e-mail exchanges between lead scientist Dr. Emmanuel Bogstock and his climate scientist underlings Daniel Dankel of Morbo University, Aspiro Mafioso of the Swedish Weather and Personality Clinic, and Jorge Redenko of Smogstack, L.L.C. in Upper Volta which reveal how sinister the global climate conspiracy really is:

From: d.dankel@morbouniversity.edu To: E.B., D.D., A.M., J.R. Subject: Climate Change
How do we get the ball rolling on this climate thing? My university underwriters want to see me working harder on this.

From: bogstock@icyhot.gov To: E.B., D.D., A.M., J.R. Subject: Climate Change
Get that U2 guy, Bono, to write a song about it. Then DiCaprio will bring his Hollywood people in on it. And Gore will string it all together when he talks about it at a conference somewhere. That should get them off your back.

From: d.dankel@morbouniversity.edu To: E.B., D.D., A.M., J.R. Subject: Bono
Bono’s turning sceptic. His tour bus got stuck in a snow bank in Fargo, South Dakota a few days ago. I hear he’s starting to have his doubts.

From: jorge@smogstack.org To: E.B., D.D., A.M., J.R. Subject: Bono
He bought the one that solar flares cause heat rash.

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