Like many free Americans who want to stay that way, I was at a Tea Party rally on April 15th. I’m not a card-carrying member of that group but I agree with them wholeheartedly on the bad direction this country is taking under the Obama regime. So I picked a spot on the sidewalk on Menaul Boulevard at 4 in the afternoon, brandished my sign, yelled a bit, waved a bit, and said what had to be said. For the most part, the event was very, very peaceful except for a young lady who stopped at the light and tried to share the water she had with her in her environmentally-friendly and recyclable water bottle. I was deeply dismayed for it appeared she was far more in need of a shower than any of us.
But it is the difference between conservatives and those on the Left that we tend not to make horse’s rear ends of ourselves at rallies and protests. I don’t think I’ve ever read of a single conservative riot, no angry mobs of grown-ups running down the street overturning cars, setting fire to buildings, breaking windows, pillaging, and looting. But every time I see rallies on the Left, there they are obstructing traffic, breaking things, making their presence known through obscene gestures and foul language. None of that was in evidence at this day’s Tea Party protest.
We voiced our opinions on Mr. Obama, federal spending, politicians who won’t listen to us, liberty, freedom, the Constitution, you name it, we wrote it on out signs and discussed it with one another as the time passed. A finer group of people I could never find myself around. Thoughtful, opinionated, and, most importantly, intelligent.
We came, we made our point, and if the powers that be still won’t take notice of what we have to say, they’ll hear from us again this November.
Gold and silver prices signal inflation. If the Fed can silence this signal then it can make its own product, Federal Reserve Notes, look more valuable than they really are.
If you and I tried to manipulate the market in this way we would go to jail. So why should such behavior be okay for an institution that’s supposed to serve the public interest? If this price manipulation is occurring, then . . .
* It defrauds investors
* It tricks innocent Americans into keeping their savings in depreciating dollars, when they might be better off shifting to more stable assets
Even worse, these false market signals will create more malinvestments, bubbles, bursts, and recessions.
And when that happens you can bet that both the politicians and the Fed will add insult to injury by blaming it all on the free market, when it will really have been the fault of the UN-free market that they created.
Is this what you want?
Should the Fed be able to protect itself at your expense?
Don’t you think you could better plan for your future if you had reliable knowledge about everything the Fed is doing?
Ron Paul questioned Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday during a Joint Economic Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. Paul discusses monetizing the debt and does a pretty good job of grilling Bernanke with “Where will the money come from?”.
by John Browne, Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital
Much to the relief of jittery global markets, Greece’s chronic debt problem has been papered over in a burst of European solidarity and apparent magnanimity. But this act of mercy may cost Germany its key position of financial dominance over the European Central Bank (ECB), which, in turn, could be detrimental to the long-term health of the euro. And so even though the euro stiffened once the immediate default fears abated, the price of gold was pushed to a new all-time high in euro terms (and a five-month high in dollar terms). [i]
The euro is now second only to the U.S. dollar in importance to world commerce. It is held by most central banks and corporations as a legitimate diversification hedge against the U.S. dollar. Therefore, its stability is of key importance to international currency markets and global stability.
Increasingly, it is apparent that the Greek problem is a potential game changer for the euro. So far, the various rescue packages have failed to convince investors that Greek bonds are dependable over the long term. Despite Greece’s successful short-term debt auction on Tuesday, the premium demanded by investors to hold longer-dated Greek bonds continues to increase. Today, the yield spread between 10-year Greek and German government bonds widened to just a shade below 400 basis points. [ii]
It remains to be seen whether the latest support package offered by the EU - a three year loan of some €30 billion at around five percent interest [iii] – will suffice to cover the major economic, structural, and even attitudinal changes that are necessary. Furthermore, the potentially larger budgetary problems of many Eastern European countries and the remaining PIIGS (Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy) still remain to stalk the euro.
Still, there remains an even more significant threat to the euro. The eurozone finance ministers’ ‘soft’ Greek rescue package, when combined with ECB Chairman Jean-Claude Trichet’s preparedness to continue accepting Greek bonds as collateral, spells the possible demise of the Germanic sound money policies underpinning the euro.
A Rasmussen Poll released today shows everyone’s favorite libertarian-leaning Republican Congressman, Ron Paul, in a statistical dead head with Barack Obama for POTUS in 2012. This is already being dismissed by some as more a story about disapproval of Obama than one about Paul’s actual support.
There is certainly truth to that argument, but looking at the half-full glass this should give Paul supporters hope and yet further proof Paul is as viable as any Republican (perhaps more so) in a general election against Obama. The problem for Paul, of course, is the anti-Ron Paul wing of the Republican Party which makes the road difficult, if not impossible, for Paul to get the GOP nomination. Those quixotic, anti-American, extremist gadflies should drop their dislike of the man and embrace the message. It’s a winning message.
These anti-Paul people that are publicly dismissing the poll results are likely seething with worry in private. If the GOP decides to suddenly “get their Ron Paul on”, imagine the potential for liberty.
I feel like I’ve become a bit of a collector, so to speak, of attacks on Ron Paul. There really haven’t been any new attacks on Ron Paul since 2007. The attackers all parrot one another while flapping around in a self-congratulatory, moronic bubble of intellectual laziness.
Let’s dig a little deeper and attempt to un-attack Ron Paul. Here is my collection.
The “guilt by association” attack:
This is probably the most commonly-used attack on Ron Paul. Paul was criticized for “accepting” a $500 donation during his campaign from a white supremacist. Of course, the Paul campaign didn’t find out about the donor until it came to light after the donation was made. He refused to return the donation. Instead he argued that it would be better to spend the money wisely in the name of freedom for all rather than returning $500 to a known white supremacist. Some see this as a cop-out. It could also be argued that it was Paul upholding freedom of speech found in the First Amendment. Yes, unfortunately for some, the First Amendment does protect all speech, not just agreeable speech.
People choose to support any given candidate for all kinds of odd reasons. It’s quite common for people to vote for the most likable candidate regardless of the candidate’s political views. I can’t fathom this reasoning (or lack thereof). There are probably some really “scum of the earth” type of people who voted for and supported Barack Obama and John McCain. The reality is that candidates cannot choose their supporters; therefore, they should not be condemned through them.
We think we are witnessing a fundamental change in the way Americans interact with their government. In years gone by citizens were submissive. When the politicians spoke, we listened. When they told us to jump, we asked them how high. When they proclaimed an issue settled, we meekly accepted their dictate. But not any longer.
Americans are increasingly fighting against Statist proposals not only before they pass, but also after. The REAL ID scheme for a national identity card was an early example (and DownsizeDC.org was the first to call for repeal). Now the healthcare bill is another example. But . . .
This change in the American people still has a long way to go. Please consider . . .
How many of the 58% who desire repeal will actually take the time to inform their elected representatives of this?
We expect that the number is still relatively small — maybe a few hundred thousand out of the 174 million Americans reflected in the number 58%. But . . .
* Politicians burden our economy with laws, regulations, taxes, and debt, but then . . .
* When the economy turns sour, it’s never the fault of the laws, regulations, taxes, and debt, but instead . . .
* Always an excuse for more laws, regulations, taxes, and debt
The politicians tell us that an excess of government meddling was in NO WAY responsible for the Panic of 2008. They claim it all happened because we didn’t have enough government involvement! Never mind the fact that . . .
* The Federal Reserve kept interest rates at artificially low levels for years
* The Democrats erected a host of programs and policies designed to expand home ownership
* The Republicans endorsed these efforts in the belief that an expanding “ownership society” would lead more people to vote Republican
The result? A huge housing bubble followed by a massive bust.
Now we’re supposed to trust the same people who did all of the above, and who couldn’t even regulate Bernie Madoff, despite having ample evidence of his crimes, to suddenly be able to regulate us to prosperity.
Are you really that big a sucker?
If you still believe the politicians can protect you, then get ready to be conned again . . .
I think this snippet of Ron Paul’s SRLC speech yesterday truly sums up the proper foreign policy, no matter what Party holds your allegiance.
He reminds us yet again that the supposed “supreme law of the land” known as the Constitution still exists and that swearing to “defend” it is not just ceremony.
When Ron Paul annihilated ole Mitt “Sideburns” Romney at the CPAC straw poll back in February the coverage at many mainstream news outlets dismissed the result. Today when Mitt Romney won the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll by a single vote over Ron Paul the coverage was a bit different.
Case in point, CBS News wrote the following after Ron Paul beat Romney in a landslide at CPAC:
“Fewer than a quarter of the 10,000 attendees participated in the balloting, an unscientific sampling that only offers bragging rights.“
Today CBS (via AP) writes the following after Romney squeaked out a victory by one vote in the SRLC straw poll:
“Mitt Romney won the straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership conference here Saturday in a victory that will be taken as a sign of the former Massachusetts governor’s strength as a 2012 presidential candidate.”
Even the prospects of Ron Paul becoming a presidential candidate pushes the media to marginalize him. Just looking at the headlines for these two articles suggests bias. The Paul-CPAC win article is titled, “Ron Paul Wins Early Conservative Poll“. The Romney-SRLC win article is titled, “Mitt Romney Wins GOP Presidential Straw Poll“. So Paul’s win was just an early conservative poll, but Romney’s was a GOP Presidential poll? Am I just being a crazy biased Paulite here or are these reports representative of real media bias against Paul?
Liberty Maven
by John Browne, Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital
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