Liberty Maven

Alan Greenspan has been dubbed “The Maestro”, but of what? He became what he once despised. He “sold out”. He’s the geeky kid who just wanted to have all the cool kids like him. So he did what they wanted rather than what was morally responsible.

It turns out he was not much more than the architect of the housing bubble which contributed greatly to the economic mess we are suffering through right now. He was the maestro of moral hazard.

Greenspan’s successor, along with his partner in the Treasury are traipsing down the same path. Bernanke and Geithner are the Dukes of Moral Hazard. Bernanke is Luke and Geithner is Bo.

While they tinker with the economy (General Lee) they are making life hell for the rest of us. We are a bunch of Rosco P. Coltranes to them.

What is this moral hazard that I speak of?

Moral hazard is the prospect that a party insulated from risk may behave differently from the way it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk.

So the Dukes continue their bailouts, money printing, and money laundering just to keep the moral hazard government-sponsored Ponzi scheme afloat.

Meanwhile the dollars we are left with purchase less with every passing day. This is how our dearly beloved government can utilize the hidden tax of inflation to raise taxes. And they can do it without major public scorn since most do not understand that inflation is as evil a tax as the income tax.

There are a few things we can do to help people understand. First, make sure you contact your representative and request they cosponsor HR1207 or S604 to audit the Fed. Next, read Ron Paul’s newly released book, “End the Fed“. It will give you a deeper understanding of The Federal Reserve and arm you with persuasive arguments for abolishing it. Paul effectively ties the Fed to the general persistent growth of government and its intrusion in our lives.

With the Fed around there is no such thing as “limited” government. Government is a perpetual growth industry.

Aren’t we tired of this constant heavy hand regulating us into oblivion? It is high time for the people to stand up and regulate the government.

That would be change I could believe in.

We long time Ron Paul supporters got used to the typical underhanded attacks “our” candidate received during his Presidential bid. They became predictable and passé. Now that Rand Paul has proven he is a viable candidate in the 2010 Senatorial race in Kentucky similar attacks have begun.

With Ron Paul many of the attacks were leveled by the media itself. We even published a rather popular satire piece during the campaign called “The Official Media Guide To Attacking Ron Paul“.

Thus far with Rand Paul, most of the attacks are coming from the Left and the neo-conservative establishment friends of his Republican primary opponent Trey Grayson. The attacks themselves are quite typical.

The Left enjoys pointing out that white supremacist organizations have noticed Rand Paul’s campaign and support him. They like to point out that such extreme groups and individuals supporting Paul means that Paul himself somehow condones such beliefs. This is ludicrous. Guilt by association attacks are for the feeble-minded. No one, not even the Left’s Messiah Obama can control who chooses to support him.

Extremists like Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan both support Obama, but I don’t attack Obama because of it. Even though a much stronger case could be made for doing so due to the fact that Wright was Obama’s pastor and mentor for 20 years or so.

Believing in individual liberty and white supremacy are impossible bedfellows. Attacking Rand Paul this way tells us more about the attacker than the attacked.

The attacks from his own party are right out of the political attack playbook. What makes it humorous this time is that the charges against Rand Paul suggesting he isn’t a “real Republican” could be more easily made against his opponent. Trey Grayson used to be a Democrat and campaigned for Bill Clinton in the 90’s. At that time Rand Paul was busy founding an anti-tax group in Kentucky.

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“In a Time of Universal Deceit, Telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act.” – George Orwell, author of 1984

Originally published August 26, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/jake-townes-income-tax-plank-1

Summary: The federal income tax is an unnecessary and immoral tax. I am in favor of abolishing the federal income tax and eventually the entire IRS. YOUR income from YOUR labor belongs to you and no one else, especially the government, has the right to steal it from you. Most Americans are unaware that while the government collects $1,200 billion in federal income taxes and collects roughly $3,000 billion in total taxes, the fact is that “only” $67 billion is necessary to run the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, which includes the FBI and federal court system. (1) (2) (3) When one compares this amount to the Banker Bailout of October 2008 for $800 billion and the Obama Stimulus Plan for $1,100 billion with interest, one wonders why not bailout the taxpayer in a plunging economy instead?

Although a removal of this tax will be strongly opposed, likely not even addressed, by my Republican and Democrat opponents, I am extremely confident that this is the best step for each individual and our country as a whole to achieve prosperity since the tax’s only purposes are to redistribute wealth and steal the fruit of one’s labor. The elimination of this tax will be paid for by ending the costly overseas military empire of 761 bases in 147 countries which includes 54,974 soldiers based in Germany, and 34,039 soldiers based in Japan, although WWII ended 64 years ago. (4)

Since eliminating the tax may not be politically possible while I am in office, I also pledge to aggressively fight to abrade the strength and breadth of this tax by introducing a series of bills that legislate changes such as no income tax withholding from paychecks, no taxes on tips, raising the standard deduction, removing taxes on capital gains and interest, and many more. I am open to supporting other transition plans and ideas, but all must undeniably reduce the tax burden, and not be “revenue-neutral.”

I recognize that most people have been engrained with the idea that we must have an IRS income tax, that everyone must “pay their fair share” to the country. Although I will grant that an absence of taxes is impossible, nothing could be further from the truth than to claim the federal income tax is necessary. Therefore, here is the truth with sources to support my reasoning:

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Subject: Give the politicians a taste of their own medicine

Politicians are a persistent bunch. Tell them “No,” and they come knocking again. Shout “No,” and they try to sneak in the back door.

We must do what they do. We must be persistent. We must constantly insist on what we want, and at an ever growing volume.

That’s why the numbers we report are cause for excitement. Rising growth numbers mean that YOUR POWER over the politicians is also rising.

Your powerful persistence is the medicine that will sedate Big Government ambitions.

Yesterday we focused on recruitment. Please use personalized recruiting to make the Downsize DC Army grow. You can find the instructions here.

But today we need to focus on two other numbers — registrations and letters to Congress. To exceed what we did last month we need . . .

* 1,173 of our new members to send their first letter to Congress
* 19,918 additional letters to Congress

Let’s take these goals in order . . .

Registrations

Because personalized recruitment works so well the Dispatch now has many more readers than a month ago. But some of our new members haven’t yet registered to use our Educate the Powerful System^SM. If you haven’t sent your first letter to Congress, could you do so today?

Registration provides the information your representatives need to confirm that you’re a constituent. You only have to do it once. Then it will take just a few mouse clicks and keyboard strokes to send future letters to Congress. Choose one of the campaigns listed below to register and send your first letter.

Letters to Congress

Congress is still in recess, but they’re coming back soon. Let’s be a “Welcome Back Committee,” and give them much to ponder when they return. It’s important to remember . . .

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Media Alert: A second radio interview for today (Tuesday) has been scheduled, and more are coming. Downsize DC is in-demand. Please check our blog regularly for listening details.

Quote of the Day: “In 2006, Massachusetts snuck a health care boondoggle past the voters by pushing 20 percent of the cost on to the federal government and 60 percent onto private individuals and employers, according to data from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.” — Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute, writing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

But it gets worse . . .

* The $1.2 trillion cost reported by the CBO only includes ON-BUDGET items
* The bill also imposes other huge costs on taxpayers that won’t be reflected in the federal budget

This is one of the tricks Republican Governor Mitt Romney used to pass his train-wreck health care bill in Massachusetts, and now the Democrats in Congress are pursuing the same fraudulent course.

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again — you won’t get what you want just because a politician holds office who happens to wear the partisan label you like. The labels mean nothing! You will only get what you want by raising a stink, and doing it constantly, with overwhelming pressure. Now here’s how the Democrats are using Mitt Romney’s playbook to defraud you . . .

The big health care bill imposes mandates on the states, on employers, and on individuals. These mandates will result in massive expenses, NONE of which are included in the CBO’s estimate that the bill will cost taxpayers $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

* State governments will have to spend more on Medicaid, which you will pay through higher state taxes or increased debt
* Many employers will have to buy health insurance for their workers, or pay a fine to the government
* These increased costs to employers may result in lower wages or increased unemployment — probably both
* Individuals who don’t currently have health insurance will have to buy such insurance, by law

These expenses aren’t included in the estimated cost of $1.2 trillion. Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute sums it up . . .

“President Barack Obama’s plan would commit states to increase Medicaid spending (governors are furious) and require individuals and employers to spend more on health insurance (Obama’s top economist, Larry Summers, says those mandates ‘are like public programs financed by benefit taxes’.”

Please send Congress another message opposing the Big Government health care bill.

This time use your personal comments to say something like the following . . .

“I know that the full cost of implementing the big health care bill isn’t included in the $1.2 trillion reported by the Congressional Office. Please have the CBO report not only the real on-budget cost of full implementation, as well as the full OFF-BUDGET costs of the various mandates on state governments, employers, and individuals. I will view failure to make this happen as a major dereliction of duty.”

After you’ve sent your letter to Congress please also alert others, and ask them to send a similar message to Congress using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.

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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: “Democrats are using smoke and mirrors to hide the impact of their health plans. Existing estimates, therefore, reflect only a fraction of the total cost.” — Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute, writing in the Atlanta Journal-Constition

In fact, they’re lying to you in several ways, using fraudulent accounting tricks and sleights of hand.

We’ll be exposing their tricks this week. Here’s the first one . . .

The Big Government health care bill delays the full implementation of the overall scheme until after the 10-year period evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office. This allows those who favor the bill to claim it will cost “only” $1.2 trillion, when in fact it will cost at least 50% more than that once the whole thing is in place.

If the public is going to accurately debate the cost of this program, and decide whether it’s worth it, then they ought to know what the cost of the full program actually is. Congress should confess, and let the public know the true cost.

Please send Congress another letter opposing the Big Government health care bill.

This time use your personal comments to say something like the following . . .

“I know that the programs created by the big health care bill won’t be fully implemented until after the 10-year period evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office. I suspect this has been done to hide the true cost, which will probably be at least 50% higher than the $1.2 trillion reported by the CBO. Please undo this fraud by having the CBO report what the 10-year cost of the full program will be.”

After you’ve sent your letter to Congress please also alert others, and ask them to send a similar message to Congress using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System (sm).

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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: “It is the competition of profit-seeking entrepreneurs that does not tolerate the preservation of false prices . . .” — Ludwig von Mises, “Human Action” 3rd edition, pages 337-338

* A majority oppose the bill — 53% to 42%
* That’s down 5 points from two weeks ago and 8 points from six weeks ago

The intensity numbers are even better — 44% strongly oppose the proposal while only 26% strongly favor it.

This intensity is being demonstrated in the rebellion members of Congress are facing at town hall meetings. While we dislike the rude tactics some citizens are using, we completely understand and agree with the anger.

One thing driving this is the spreading realization that the so-called “public option” is really a Trojan Horse that will lead to a “single payer” system . . .

* The “public option” is tax-subsidized government insurance that would charge lower premiums than private companies could afford to match — that’s the whole point of the tax subsidy
* This would eventually drive private health insurance out of business, leaving us with a “single payer” government system
* The so-called “single payer” would really be ALL taxpayers, because taxes would fund all health care
* In other words, public-option equals single-payer equals socialism

But here again, the news is encouraging . . .

Rassmusen reports that a whopping 57% oppose a single-payer system, while only 32% favor it.

And here’s the best news of all . . .

51% percent fear government health care more than they do the insurance companies.

We’ve long felt that public hatred of insurance companies is the main source of support for increased government involvement in health care. But now people seem to be realizing that the real reason to hate the insurance companies is because of . . .

The United States of Corporate Welfare

Big health care interests have used the coercive power of government to erect thickets of Corporate Welfare Regulation, to reward themselves, punish their competitors, and harm consumers.

Cato Institute scholar Michael Tanner provides startling examples of how these regulations have strangled competition between health insurance companies, allowing 30% of the market to be controlled by just 1 company in 299 out of 313 of the largest metro areas.

So the problem isn’t that insurance companies charge too much and pay out too little under free market conditions. Indeed, the profit margins of the health insurance industry rank only 86th among American industries!

Instead, the problem is that government regulations retard competition and consumer choice, leading to inefficient service and false prices.

We don’t need a 2,000-page bill that re-engineers our entire health care system. Instead, the first thing we need is a 1-page bill that restores competition between insurance companies by allowing you to sidestep the corporate welfare regulations erected by state-governments.

This is something the federal government can do using its Constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause.

A rebellion is underway, and we DC Downsizers need to give that rebellion a direction, not only by opposing the Trojan Horse health care bill, but also by promoting positive reforms that will restore consumer choice.

Please use DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System (sm) to send your Congressional employees a letter on our campaign to “Make Health Insurance More Affordable.”

Tell Congress to give you a 1-page bill that allows you to buy health insurance regulated by the state of your choice.

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by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets

There is an inexplicable, but somehow widely held, belief that stock market movements are predictive of economic conditions. As such, the current rally in U.S. stock prices has caused many people to conclude that the recession is nearing an end. The widespread optimism is not confined to Wall Street, as even Barack Obama has pointed to the bubbly markets to vindicate his economic policies. However, reality is clearly at odds with these optimistic assumptions.

In the first place, stock markets have been taken by surprise throughout history. In the current cycle, neither the market nor its cheerleaders saw this recession coming, so why should anyone believe that these fonts of wisdom have suddenly become clairvoyant?

According to official government statistics, the current recession began in December of 2007. Two months earlier, in October of that year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both hit all-time record highs. Exactly what foresight did this run-up provide? Obviously markets were completely blind-sided by the biggest recession since the Great Depression. In fact, the main reason why the markets sold off so violently in 2008, after the severity of the recession became impossible to ignore, was that it had so completely misread the economy in the preceding years.

Furthermore, throughout most of 2008, even as the economy was contracting, academic economists and stock market strategists were still confident that a recession would be avoided. If they could not even forecast a recession that had already started, how can they possibly predict when it will end? In contrast, on a Fox News appearance on December 31, 2007, I endured the gibes of optimistic co-panelists when I clearly proclaimed that a recession was underway.

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by John Browne – Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital

Anyone looking for thrills these days should forget roller coasters and skydiving. Instead, simply buy a few shares of U.S. stock. The past year has reminded us how truly stomach-churning the financial ride can be. And after a white-knuckled drop in 2008, investors who held on are now enjoying a dizzying ascent. In the past five months alone, the S&P has risen by 22 percent and the NASDAQ by 33 percent. Emerging markets are back almost to their pre-recession levels. Even individual American stocks have performed in a stellar manner. Apple, Cisco and Oracle have all risen by over 200 percent. Ford, an aging relic once given up for dead, has risen by 268 percent!

But what we have seen is more than just a lesson in physics. Stocks are not going up only because they previously went down. We are witnessing a return of hope. While the change is heartening, it is sadly based on the flimsiest of evidence.

The current rally has been sparked by some modestly good news: the Purchasing Managers’ Index is up, GDP has retracted by only 1 percent, and the fall in home values appears to be leveling off. Taken together, the appearance of these ‘green shoots’ has many, such as Larry Summers and Tim Geithner, convinced that the recession is over.

Somewhat more guarded than his colleagues within the Administration, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testified to Congress that he foresaw a “jobless recovery.” One is left to wonder how an economy burdened with double-digit unemployment can recover without new jobs. In recent decades, there have been some jobless recoveries from mild recessions, but they were built upon asset booms. Today, we face a very deep recession. The asset boom has collapsed. A jobless recovery in an economy based on 72 percent consumer spending is an oxymoron.

Unless our economy can go through a needed and painful reorganization, in which the industrial sector is revitalized, recovery from this recession will have to be based upon consumer demand. With unemployment increasing at over 500,000 workers a month, wages dropping, and hours worked declining, it is hard to see consumer demand rising convincingly enough to provide the engine for a rebound.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury debt is exploding, the U.S. dollar falling, and unemployment rising. In such circumstances, how can the stock market rise be trusted? What is the reality?

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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: “You can make a small fortune in farming – provided you start with a large one” – Anonymous

When we first launched our Freedom to Farm campaign back in April, we mentioned that House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman said “he intends to pass a strong food safety bill soon.”

This bill we warned you about, the 109-page H.R. 2749, is Waxman’s promise.

The good news is that some of the most egregious trial balloons from earlier bills such as H.R. 875 have gone by the wayside . . .

* There will be no new Food Safety Administration bureaucracy
* The bill seems to define “farm” in such a way that backyard gardens won’t be included in the regulations
* Direct farm-to-consumer, farm-to-restaurant, and farm-to-grocery store transactions will be exempt
* There is no implementation or incorporation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

YOU are to be thanked for this. DC Downsizers were part of a large army of concerned citizens that killed earlier bills.

But the bad news is very bad. This bill . . .

* authorizes warrantless searches of farms
* imposes a $500 tax (or “registration fee”) of all operators in all steps of the food production chain
* imposes civil penalties up to $20,000 per individual for each violation
* creates a food trace-back system, burdening farms and small businesses with reams of new paperwork
* empowers the Dept. of Health and Human Services to micro-manage the raising and harvesting of crops (you might have assumed that Congress would’ve handed the U.S. Dept of Agriculture this terrible power).

In essence, Congress wants to punish the innocent and protect the guilty. It is not small farms and businesses that were the source of contaminated food scares, but rather the processing facilities of large corporations. Yet this bill will only drive small farms out of business, which means reduced competition and higher prices in an already-bad economy.

Please use DownsizeDC.org’s proprietary Educate the Powerful System to send a letter to Congress telling them to defeat H.R. 2749. Tell them the bill will only hurt competition and put undue burdens on small farmers. Let’s send enough messages to frighten Congress and kill this bill.

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