No, this isn’t the punchline to a joke. The Institute For Justice has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a group of monks from Saint Joseph Abbey to permit them to participate in an unfettered market for selling caskets in Louisiana.
Mark Meranta from IJ writes:
To sell caskets legally, the monks would have to abandon their calling for one full year to apprentice at a licensed funeral home, learn unnecessary skills and take a funeral industry test. They would also have to convert their monastery into a “funeral establishment” by, among other things, installing equipment for embalming human remains.
The monks face crippling fines and up to 180 days in jail. This is classic economic protectionism, and this case has a great chance of making it to the Supreme Court.
Quote of the Day: “I’ve been hearing that 40 is the new 20. I don’t believe that. But I do believe that $40 is the new $20.” – Jay Leno
First, the Federal Reserve created money out of thin air to buy so-called toxic assets. This action . . .
* Decreased the value of every dollar you hold by increasing the money supply
* Was taken without your consent
* Was dictatorial, in that it was subject to no outside check or balance by the electorate, or any other branch of government
Since then the Fed has been promising to withdraw the funny money it created to fund these bailouts, so as to protect you from inflation. This promise has not been kept. To be sure . . .
The Fed tells us it’s still too early to re-absorb the funny money, because the economy is still weak. But the re-absorption may actually be harder once the economy recovers. To retire the funny money the Fed must be able to sell its assets back into the market, and then “destroy” the dollars it gets in return, but . . .
As fiscal conservatives continue to seek avenues through which to derail the federal gravy train, it helps from time to time to take a look at the mind-numbingly long list of federal departments and agencies that are on board. Of course, this list is hardly exhaustive – just one that is publicly available – but it can certainly give us some concrete ideas on how and where to cut the spending.
About: “The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940. ” FY 2010 Budget: $695 billion in benefits + $11.6 billion in administrative costs (Source)
That’s right – Social Security. The gift that keeps on giving, if you consider higher taxation, retirement ages, and future entitlements to be a gift. Social Security is the elephant in the room in American politics: everyone knows it’s an issue, but no one is willing to cut. Don’t you care about the poor and the elderly? We can’t just kick them out into the street! Anyone who proposes the end of Social Security must be a heartless monster!
Certainly, an abrupt end to Social Security would spell disaster for the millions who paid in and are dependent upon it today. Social Security, unlike most wasteful government programs today (GIPSA, anyone?), will not be abolished overnight. However, phasing out this unsustainable safety net must be a priority of fiscal conservatives, who certainly can’t be pleased with a quarter of their paycheck being pilfered before it ever finds their hands. How can it be done, while still demonstrating the respect and support that our elderly have come to expect through a lifetime of the SSA?
I recently viewed a short video on Youtube.com that raises some questions and sheds some light on another one of Jack Conway’s troubling campaign tactics. The video “Jack Conway’s Campaign of Fear” shows Jack Conway and leading Democratic elected officials trying to scare voters about Rand Paul.
This reeks of hypocrisy, because one of Jack Conway’s limited talking points (he only has a few) on the campaign trail is Jack’s claim that he is running a campaign “to appeal to your hopes, not your fears.”
While Jack Conway claims to be appealing to your hopes with one hand, he takes his other hand and slaps voters in the face with fearmongering. In fact, the bulk of Jack Conway’s campaign has been “I’m not Rand Paul,” all the while, offering no solutions (Jack rarely even talks about his stances on issues) just mostly negative criticism of Paul and the Republican party.
In the video, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, Kentucky State Auditor Crit Luallen, Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (all elected Democratic officials) appear to be reading from the same talking points as they beat the fear drum against Rand Paul and attempt to scare the hell out of voters.
The latest example of “Jack Conway’s Campaign of Fear” is an article in the Cadiz Record. Jack Conway uses his recent visit to Cadiz, Kentucky to spread smears about Rand Paul appealing to voters fears, not their hopes. In fact, he not only uses smears, he tells a straight-faced lie about Rand Paul.
“In this race we have a very, very distinct contrast,” Conway said. “I’m always going to put Kentucky first, and I think my opponent has some positions that are risky and radical. He’s called for…. doing away with the Department of Agriculture ….”
First, Jack Conway tries to scare voters by saying Paul’s position of cutting government spending is risky and radical. Then, he turns to a fabrication and states Rand Paul is for “doing away” with the USDA. Jack Conway knows this claim is truly fictitious but must believe if he repeats the same lie enough, some people might believe it. Jack Conway started telling his lie about Rand Paul’s position on the USDA several months ago, right after his lie about his opponent’s alleged call to repeal the Civil Rights Act (Paul never called for that). Most readers of the article would notice there was not one mention of anything Jack Conway was for!
Perhaps, the reason Jack Conway focuses on Paul’s politics is because Jack Conway doesn’t want voters in Kentucky to know he supports amnesty, Obamacare, forced unionization, energy-tax legislation, abortions, bigger government, non-balanced budgets, ending the filibuster and many other radical leftists’ positions.
As the November election day moves closer, the question remains: will the “I’m not Rand Paul” campaign be enough to put Jack Conway in the United States Senate? Or will Jack Conway’s support of the Obama administration and his support of the radical leftist agenda put Rand Paul, a true defender of capitalism, in office?
VALLEY CENTER, Kansas – He was cuffed, fingerprinted, booked into the Sedgwick County Jail and released on bail. His crime: putting up a yard sign critical of the Valley Center city administrator.
Jarrod West is out on bail, facing criminal defamation charges for a sign he put in his front yard about persistent flooding issues he says cost him over $50,000 over the last three years. The sign says, “Dear Valley Center, I did not buy Lake Front Property! Fix this problem. This is what I pay taxes for. PS. Joel this means you!” Joel being City Administrator Joel Pile.
“They want me to shut up and go away,” said West. “I’ve got a home to protect. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s mine.”
When City Administrator Joel Pile saw the sign, West was arrested and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on a criminal charge of defamation. He spent the night behind bars and is now free on a $10,000 bond.
by Michael Pento, Senior Economist and Vice President of Managed Products, Euro Pacific Capital
There are three primary reasons why the US is suffering from structurally high unemployment: a pervasively irresponsible monetary policy, the continued attenuation of our manufacturing base, and an overleveraged consumer who must now reconcile his balance sheet. In reality, the latter two conditions are a direct result of the first. They are the result of a government that seeks to micromanage the cost of money and the rate of economic growth.
When the Fed prints money and monetizes debt in order to drag interest rates down, it necessarily encourages excess consumption. The boom in lending and spending results in rising prices, which misallocate what little genuine savings and investment remain. Since inflation is never evenly distributed throughout an economy, it usually gets concentrated into a particular asset bubble (whether NASDAQ stocks, real estate, or tulips).
If interest rates and the money supply are left to market forces (i.e. interest rates are a function of savings vs. the demand for money and money supply is restricted by the mine supply of precious metals), then resources tend to be allocated in the most efficient manner. However, when the Fed distorts these forces, employment gains are most prevalent in the building and servicing of the asset bubbles they help create. This means labor capital is not deployed evenly throughout the economy. It is concentrated on flipping stocks or houses, instead of expanding productivity or strengthening the economy’s manufacturing base. But these behaviors are unsustainable. Once the bubble is popped, the economy must go through a period of deleveraging before labor can be reallocated in a way that makes economic sense.
As an illustration of this point, from January 2000 thru today, the US has lost over 6.6 million goods-producing jobs! Some make the excuse that higher productivity means less workers are needed to produce the same amount of goods. If that were true, then manufacturing would not have declined from 14.2% to 11% of GDP over the same period. Meanwhile, jobs in the housing and service sectors were doing much better. From January 2000 through June 2006, the economy added 261,000 jobs in real estate alone. And from 2000 through today, the service sector as a whole added over 5 million jobs.
Some will claim that the prescription for boosting manufacturing output and employment is to destroy the dollar at an even greater pace. But the answer can’t be found by simply forcing the Chinese to float their currency or by devaluing the US dollar further. History clearly shows the currency manipulation strategy to be a complete failure. The most important factors in balancing trade are wages, taxes, and regulations within a country. A current account deficit cannot be balanced by lowering the value of a currency.
Quote of the Day: “Politicians are worse than thieves. At least when thieves take your money, they don’t expect you to thank them for it.” — Walter Williams
Congressional leaders are calling the House of Representatives back for a special session. They want to hold one vote on one bill on Tuesday, and then leave for recess again. What is this bill? It’s another bailout — a $26 billion bailout of wasteful, incompetent state governments.
It’s also a pay-off to Democratic special interests like government employee unions (but please don’t think for a minute that the Republicans aren’t just as bad about this kind of thing).
This bill has already passed the Senate, but it isn’t necessarily certain that it can pass the House. Many House Democrats are worried about their re-election prospects, and don’t want to vote for another big spending bill. For instance, here’s what Collin Peterson (D-Minn) says . . .
This means we have a real chance to defeat this bailout bill, but only if we register our disapproval now. Make Congress nervous about passing another bailout this close to the election. Send a letter to Congress using our No Bailouts campaign.
Kentucky Democratic United States Senate candidate Jack Conway, who trails Rand Paul in all independent polls, showed his desperation this weekend at St. Jerome’s Fancy Farm Picnic by resorting to lies, smears, trickery and possibly even breaking trademark infringement laws. Last year, Conway used foul language at the church picnic which resulted in a “no-cussing” rule for this year’s event. At this weekend’s event, Jack Conway once again reminded voters in Kentucky, and those watching nationwide/worldwide on C-Span, that a career politician will say or do anything to get elected; and I do mean anything.
First his outright lie:
During his speech, Jack Conway reiterated the lie that Rand Paul opposes the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Conway even went on to imply that Rand Paul doesn’t care about our wounded veterans returning home from the Middle East. Both of these statements are bold-faced lies. Some may remember Jack Conway started his campaign off with this lie told on national television. While Rand Paul has called for a top to bottom review of all government departments to see if we can cut, downsize or privatize, he has not called for the repeal of ADA. As you can see, Jack Conway will say anything to get elected; even if that means fabricating misinformation about Rand Paul.
As fiscal conservatives continue to seek avenues through which to derail the federal gravy train, it helps from time to time to take a look at the mind-numbingly long list of federal departments and agencies that are on board. Of course, this list is hardly exhaustive – just one that is publicly available – but it can certainly give us some concrete ideas on how and where to cut the spending.
About: “On October 1, 1999, the Broadcasting Board Governors (BBG) became the independent federal agency responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored, non military, international broadcasting. This was the result of the 1998 Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act (Public Law 105-277), the single most important legislation affecting U.S. international broadcasting since the early 1950s.” FY 2010 Budget: $745.5 million (Source)
The Broadcasting Board of Governors might be more aptly named the American Bureau of Propaganda. The stated mission of the BBG is to “promote and sustain freedom and democracy by broadcasting accurate and objective news and information about the United States and the world to audiences overseas.” Wait – how can you be objective and also aim to “promote and sustain freedom and democracy?” In addition, the BBG contains various subsidiaries designed to “reach key audiences in strategically important countries.” Remember, though – just because they have “key audiences” that they would like to reach and influence, does not mean that they are not objective. Read More »
The liberty-loving father and son Ron Paul and Rand Paul were featured in a report on KHOU TV in Houston Texas. The report was a borderline campaign commercial for both men. Ron Paul has yet to announce his intentions for 2012, but Rand is on the brink of becoming the next U.S. Senator from Kentucky if recent polls hold through November.
Liberty Maven
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