inflation

Ron Paul talks Economics on CNN American Morning

October 20th, 2009 8:47 am  |  by Marc Gallagher  |  Published in Bailouts, Banking, Commentary, Debt, Economics, Federal Reserve, Money, Ron Paul, government spending, inflation  |  1

This morning Ron Paul appeared for an interview on the state of the economy and the Goldman Sachs “bailout” on CNN “American Morning”.

As usual Dr. Paul defends the free market even when asked rather convoluted questions about “how much” the government should support the market. I found the interview a bit odd. In that both the host and Paul were trying to find some kind of middle ground between a government managed economy and a free market position. The common point implied that the government shouldn’t be bailing out these big Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs yet they continue to use tax payer money to do so.

Check out the video below. NOTE: The audio/video sync appears to be off as is custom on some videos processed by Youtube.

DownsizeDC.org: Is Your Bank Shorting the Dollar?

October 16th, 2009 10:07 am  |  by Mike Miller  |  Published in Banking, Big Government, DownsizeDC.org, Economics, Federal Reserve, Liberty, Money, Politics, congress, inflation  |  0

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h


It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve sent Congress a letter on a given issue, or even if you sent one yesterday — every new fact we give you is a new opportunity to tell Congress what you want. Seize the opportunity!

Send Congress another letter telling them to break the Federal Reserve’s monopoly control over your money.

My sample letter to Congress gives you three new facts you can use for this purpose . . .

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Preparation Time is Running Out

October 8th, 2009 7:33 am  |  by Jake Towne  |  Published in Big Government, Commentary, Economics, Liberty, Money, Politics, gold standard, government spending, inflation  |  0

Originally published October 7, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/preparation-time-is-running-out-1

This morning in London the gold price hit an all-time high in non-inflation-adjusted dollars of $1047.

While some who hold gold might be rejoicing, I do not view this as good news at all.  The campaign still has plenty of people to reach in this district, and may run out of time since we certainly do not have the funds to launch a major ad campaign.

The all-time high in the gold price is a warning of dire times to come as it merely indicates that the dollar’s purchasing power is at an all-time low.  The next phase of the dollar crisis may be on the doorstep.

For those of you who would shout “au contraire!!” and are excited about the stock markets gains since the spring, please take a look at the following chart.  Note that maximums in the P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio often precede market crashes, as the stock is overvalued as compared to its dividends/earnings.  This S&P 500 chart is from 1935-present.

Notice anything strange?  We are way out of historical means.  I do not believe that such absurdly high P/E ratios are possible to maintain over the long-term.

And note that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would be far worse if AIG, Citicorp, and General Motors were not removed from this index in the past year.

The campaign is extremely busy and continuing to pick up steam, but we need your help to spread the word.  The above should not be taken as investment advice, merely facts.

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On the Dollar: Towne vs. Dent

October 1st, 2009 2:18 pm  |  by Jake Towne  |  Published in Banking, Big Government, Commentary, Debt, Liberty, Money, government spending, inflation  |  1

Congressman Charlie Dent is taking no proactive actions to prevent a collapse in the purchasing power of the dollar. Instead, his actions are worsening the situation.

Originally published on September 29, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/on-the-dollar-congressman-charlie-dent-answers-a-question-from-jake-towne-1

At the last town hall Congressman Charlie Dent gave on September 21, I attended so that I could hear what he and our fellow citizens had to say. I also delivered a paper copy of my plan for the Open Office. The Congressman gave me a chance to ask a question, which I commend him for. I did not have a chance to start my camera to record my question, but it was done in a very polite manner, and went something like:

“Congressman Dent, since 1913 the Federal Reserve has destroyed well over 95% of the purchasing power of the dollar. I am very concerned about the future of our currency, the dollar. You just talked about saving money by not voting for the health care bill, but a couple months ago you voted for HR 3081, which awarded close to $50 billion in overseas foreign military and economic aid. HR 3081 gave over $2 billion in military aid to Israel, $1 billion in military aid to Egypt, $150 million in military aid to Jordan, $60 million in military aid to Colombia among many other nations. And just last week youapproved to spend $4.125 billion on government-sponsored car technology research in HR 3246. My question to you is this: what are you doing right now to prevent a collapse in the dollar?

Congressman Dent gave his reply which was videotaped here:

“The question is what am I doing right now. Specifically is not spend money unnecessarily. The money I am talking about is the $787 billion stimulus plan, it cost over a trillion dollars, which I voted against. It overspends. It borrows too much. It spends too much. It delivers far too little. Now, that is just one very specific example of what we can do to help us.

“I am very concerned about inflationary pressures at some point. The deficits that are being run up right now in this administration I think are unsustainable. I think are unsustainable. We are talking deficits in excess of 12%, 13% of gross national product. Now it’s true this country has run up deficits throughout much of its modern history. In the depression we did. Second world war we certainly did. And since the second world war we have generally – we have often run deficits. The worst deficit we have had this year was in the early ’80s in 1981 or 1982 of a deficit of about 6% of gross national product during the Reagan years and a Democratic Congress. Even during the war our deficits were 20% of gross national product but today, I think largely because of this stimulus in particular. I think that we are seeing, again, an unsustainable debt level.

“Here I have now [holds up copy of HR 3200, the old Obama health care bill]. This is one reason why I oppose this bill because what it does is further drive our deficits well into the future. And its not just the first 10 years. Its the second 10 years. The federal government does a lousy job of projecting long-term entitlement costs. We don’t do a good job of it. We usually say, OK, Medicare 1965 is going to cost whatever was projected. It has cost far greater than that. We just don’t do a good job of it. I believe that the costs here in this legislation [Obamacare bill] are significantly understated.

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Jake Towne’s Lecture on the Financial Crisis

October 1st, 2009 12:07 am  |  by Jake Towne  |  Published in Banking, Big Government, Debt, Economics, Federal Reserve, Liberty, Money, Politics, gold, inflation, national debt  |  0

Slides 4-36 of the below presentation have been presented to several groups around the district for educational purposes.  Although you are missing my critical narrative and explanations, I invite you to take a look.  If you do disagree or find something new, check my sourcing and citations.

While the hour-long presentation is of course only a snapshot, or a look at the critical pieces of puzzle, I emphasize the importance of the gold market, and view the housing crisis as merely a symptom of the causes – excess FED inflation and artificially low interest rates that were held too low for too long.  The irony is not lost that currently the FED interest rates is roughly 0.15%, far lower than previously.   In the interests of time and for simplicity, I omitted the Treasury market almost entirely – just a brief mention in the slide on the national debt.  The Treasury market is definitely also quite critical.

Jake Towne for US Congress PA-15 – The Financial Crisis (WEB) (Sept 2009)

Jake Towne for US Congress PA-15 – The Financial Crisis (WEB) (Sept 2009)

Ron Paul and Glenn Beck discuss America’s future

September 30th, 2009 11:08 am  |  by Marc Gallagher  |  Published in Civil Liberties, Constitution, Debt, Economics, Federal Reserve, Foreign Policy, Free Market, Liberty, Market Regulation, Money, Ron Paul, Taxes, congress, government spending, inflation  |  21 Responses

Glenn Beck had Ron Paul on his radio show this morning to discuss Paul’s new book “End the Fed“. The discussion turned toward predicting what America will look like within the next 3-5 years. Unsurprisingly both Beck and Paul do not have a rosy prognostication. In fact their discussion was downright scary.

The discussion lasts about 14 minutes. Following the interview Beck reiterates that he doesn’t agree with Ron Paul on some things, but when it comes to the Fed Glenn says he is “Dead Right.” Following that Beck goes into a discussion on foreign policy as it relates to Afghanistan.

Listen to the audio below.

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What was NOT heard at the “Audit the Fed” hearing

September 30th, 2009 10:19 am  |  by Mike Miller  |  Published in Activism, Bailouts, Banking, Big Government, Debt, DownsizeDC.org, Economics, Federal Reserve, Free Market, Liberty, Money, Politics, Ron Paul, congress, inflation  |  0

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day:

“It has been argued that full disclosure of details of funding facilities like TALF and PDCF, that enabled massive bailouts of Wall Street, would damage the financial position of those firms and destabilize the economy. In other words, if the American people knew how rotten the books were at those banks and how terribly they messed up, they would never willingly invest in them, and they would fail. Failure is not an option for friends of the Fed. Therefore, the funds must be stolen from the people in the dark of night. This is not how a free country works. This is not how free markets work. That is crony corporatism and instead of being a force for economic stabilization, it totally undermines it.” — Congressman Ron Paul


The Federal Reserve has manufactured and spent hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out and prop-up irresponsible financial firms. These firms have received huge benefits at your expense, but . . .

You’re not allowed to know who got how much, and under what terms. This information was NOT heard at the hearings about the “Audit the Fed” bill. Therefore, the only way to learn the answers is to . . .

Audit the Fed!

Please use our Educate the Powerful System to send Congress another letter demanding that they pass the Audit the Fed bill.

Use your personal comments to say something similar to what I’ve said in my own letter to Congress . . .

The “Audit the Fed” hearings proved that the Federal Reserve will not reveal its activities without an audit. A majority of the House has co-sponsored the Audit the Fed bill. This leads me to wonder what dark forces are keeping it from coming to a vote. I elected you to represent me, so please do your job. Force the leadership in the House and Senate to bring this bill to a vote! You must lead your “so-called” leaders. Make it happen! I URGE YOU TO DO IT NOW!

You can send your letter here.

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Ron Paul’s stellar appearance on The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart

September 30th, 2009 8:50 am  |  by Marc Gallagher  |  Published in Big Government, Commentary, Constitution, Economics, Federal Reserve, Liberty, Market Regulation, Money, Ron Paul, government spending, inflation  |  4 Responses

Ron Paul appeared on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central last night to discuss his new book “End the Fed“. It was quite a stellar interview. Paul used the opportunity to educate Jon Stewart’s viewers about moral hazard, among other topics.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Ron Paul
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Ron Paul on the Real Reasons Behind Fed Secrecy

September 29th, 2009 1:29 pm  |  by Mike Miller  |  Published in Bailouts, Banking, Big Government, Debt, Federal Reserve, Free Market, Liberty, Politics, Ron Paul, congress, government spending, inflation  |  1

Ron Paul described in this week’s Texas Straight Talk column the recent hearing for HR1207 and the witnesses who testified on both sides of the issue.  Here is part of it:

If the Fed gave its actual arguments against a full audit, they would not have mentioned anything about political independence or economic stability. Instead they would admit they don’t want to be audited because they enjoy their current situation too much. Under the guise of currency control, they are able to help out powerful allies on Wall Street, in exchange for lucrative jobs or who-knows-what favors later on. An audit would expose the Fed as a massive fraud perpetrated on this country, enriching a privileged few bankers at the top of our economic food chain, and leaving the rest of us with massively devalued dollars which we are forced to use by law. An audit would make people realize that, while Bernie Madoff defrauded a lot of investors for a lot of money, the Fed has defrauded every one of us by destroying the value of our money. An honest and full accounting of how the money system really works in this country would mean there is not much of a chance the American people would stand for it anymore.

Read the whole article.

HR.1207 Audit the Fed Hearing this morning

September 25th, 2009 8:30 am  |  by Marc Gallagher  |  Published in Big Government, Economics, Federal Reserve, Money, government spending, inflation  |  3 Responses

Ron Paul’s HR.1207 full committee hearing begins this morning at 9am eastern. The witnesses have submitted their opening testimony.

Author, historian, and economist Thomas E. Woods will be testifying in support of HR.1207 to audit the Federal Reserve. Federal Reserve General Counsel Scott G. Alvarez will be testifying against the bill.

You can read Thomas Wood’s testimony here(pdf) and Scott Alvarez’s testimony here(pdf). Or if you’re like me you’ll grab some food sit down and watch the hearing unfold via the streaming link on the committee website here.