I ask my Congressman why he insists on giving taxpayer money to foreign nations while we are in foreign debt.
by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6649.html
“Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address as President of the United States, 1801-1809
“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” – James Madison
“I think Americans should have a policy of love. That should be the foreign policy, love. Export Love.” – Ziggy Marley
The following is a letter sent to my local Congressman today. Although I happen to be running against him in the 2010 election, I am obviously writing as a concerned citizen. I have sent this note to his office and also called his office to state my opinion, which was courteously received.
Ron Paul appeared on Fox Business yesterday with Neil Cavuto discussing his questioning of Ben Bernanke earlier in the day. He once again makes the argument that Bernanke was one of the ones who didn’t see the economic crisis coming yet we are supposed to believe he can help us?
“You can’t get corporate jets. You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas, or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime.” – Barack Obama, February 2009
by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6466.html
Apparently Obama’s advice does not apply to flying in 700 of the Social Security Administration’s 62,000+ employees to a resort in Phoenix, spending $700,000 in taxpayer money in the process as ABC reported here. The SSA claims that due to threats of bodily harm received, the event was necessary in order to reduce stress rather than videoconferencing or a meeting. While I certainly do not condone threats, one might wonder why these threats have been received in the first place.
Quote of the Day: “If every member pledged to not vote for it (the health care bill) if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes.” — Senator Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader
Yesterday we told you it appeared unlikely Congress would pass a health care bill before the August recess. Things have changed in the last 24 hours. Congressional leaders are once again pressing to rush the bill through.
This is very dangerous. We must resist this with everything we’ve got. Not only will it be bad for the government to expand its involvement in health care, RUSHING to do so will be even worse.
If they pass a bill containing nearly 1,000 pages you can be sure that almost no one voting for it will really understand it.
This time use your personal comments to tell your Congressional employees that you object to rushing through such an important and complicated bill. Tell them you expect them to read and understand every single word of the bill BEFORE they vote.
by John Browne – Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital
Bad for the Goose, Worse for the Gander
Last week, major banks announced they would no longer offer cash for the IOU’s written by the state of California. At the same time, China proposed that the U.S. dollar be replaced as the world’s official reserve currency. Although seemingly unrelated, these two developments have at their root the same issue: uneasy creditors.
Inspired by Washington’s profligacy, California’s Democratic majority long pursued a policy of populist politics, supercharged by referendums, which called for increasingly massive expenditures. Exploding deficits were the natural result. Now, it has reached the point where holders and potential buyers of California debt have lost confidence in the state’s ability to ever repay.
Ever since President Nixon severed the dollar’s link to gold in August 1971, the U.S. has embarked on a monetary policy that has been both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was found in the dollar’s reserve status, which allowed for monetary flexibility that no other country could attempt. But therein lay the curse, as gross economic imbalances were allowed to grow unaddressed. Our currency’s exportability obscured the fact that our government spending was financed largely by inflation and debt.
It appears that California politicians assumed that they could follow the same model. They began to authorize massive expenditures on freeways, schools, universities, and parks. In their thirst for votes, they introduced a vast array of referendums on entitlement issues. This is quite unlike Switzerland’s successful forays into direct democracy, which restricted referendums to election laws and constitutional matters. Absent limits to their purview, California voters inevitably granted themselves new benefits from the public purse, financed by increased taxation and debt. This led to ever higher voter demands and a dramatic rise in real estate values.
In imitating the example of Congress, California’s politicians made one crucial error. Like the Administration, they could tax and borrow. But unlike Washington, California could not print money.
Recently, California’s politicians have realized that there are limits to taxation, and even debt levels. The real estate recession has hit California particularly hard, while rising unemployment and bankruptcies have reduced the local tax base significantly.
The resulting deficit has scared bond buyers. Creditors were further alarmed when President Obama expressed his unwillingness to divert federal aid to California. Unable to finance its expenditures, California has effectively tried to issue its own currency in the form of IOU’s. But banks are now refusing them. Read More »
Quote of the Day: “Beware the greedy hand of government, thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry.” — Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
The Democratic leadership wanted to ram through their health care bill before their August recess. They figured the faster they got the bill passed the less time there would be for opposition to build. That’s why it was a major goal for us to delay a vote on the bill until after the recess. Well…
It’s happened.
The opposition to increased government meddling in health care has grown faster than the politicians expected. They’ve also had problems crafting a bill that makes any kind of sense, even to them.
So we can count a partial victory as of right now. As far as anyone can tell there will be no health care bill before the recess.
Things are also looking bad for the cap and trade bill in the Senate. Much of this also has to do with public pressure.
Your pressure has been a part of that. Let’s keep pushing.
* Object to the idea currently being floated that employer provided health care benefits should be taxed in order to cover the cost of the new government program
* Tell your reps that the proper way to balance the tax treatment of employer provided health insurance versus self-purchased health insurance, is to improve Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
* Urge your Congressional employees to increase the amount people can deposit, tax free, in their HSAs, and also allow people to pay their health insurance premiums out of their HSAs. This would put self-purchased insurance on the same tax footing with employer provided insurance.
“Gold is the sovereign of all sovereigns.” – Democritus, Greek scientist and philosopher, circa 430 BCE.
by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published Monday, July 13, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6588.html
July 24, 1998, was an epic day for the global financial system. In “The Money Matrix – Bring Light to Dark Derivatives! (PART 11/15),” we reviewed the consequences of FED Chairman Alan Greenspan’s decision to allow negotiation of OTC derivative contracts without the use of an exchange to make transactions transparent and reduce counterparty risk. (emblem)
“Nor can private counterparties restrict supplies of gold, another commodity whose derivatives are often traded over-the-counter, where central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise.”
Translated, this comment simply means that the international central banks will suppress the gold price by releasing central bank gold reserves. Why is the gold price so important? Isn’t it just a yellow metal mostly used for jewelry? How exactly is this manipulation accomplished? These are the questions this article will answer.
THE LONDON GOLD POOL AND THE “REAL RATE OF INTEREST”
Before proceeding, I recognize that many hearing this for the first time may be incredulous. To that end, please read “R.I.P. – The London Gold Pool, 1961-1968“. This article painstakingly demonstrates – using the FED’s own documentation – that the international central bankers secretly colluded to manipulate the gold price in the 1960s to hide the dollar’s debasement. Note the severe aftermath: the London Gold Pool was utterly destroyed in 1968 and the end result was the national bankruptcy of the United States in 1971 when President Nixon blocked the redemption of dollars for gold by foreigners. The collapse of the London Gold Pool heralded the era of free-floating fiat currency. If additional proof is please read this 1961 FED document and analysis by James Turk from the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) entitled “The FED’s Blueprint for Market Intervention.”
Ron Paul was interviewed on the Jason Lewis Show by guest host Rod Grams this evening. They talked for about 16 minutes and covered several topics but in the end focused on auditing and potentially ending the Federal Reserve.
Paul specifically discusses why he doesn’t think the way to get HR1207 to a House vote is through a discharge petition. He suggests continuing to drum up grassroots support for HR1207 is the best method.
Grams allowed Ron Paul to speak until he was done on each topic. He even pointed out that his niece convinced him that Paul was a great candidate during the 2008 election.
Listen to the interview in it’s entirety below.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It’s Friday again. Here is this week’s installment of “quick hits”.
It has been quite a busy week. The news outlets have had a lot to talk about. At least 4 people died this week, one of them politically, the other 3, physically.
Ed McMahon died earlier this week. There are three things I think of when I hear his name, other than being Johnny Carson’s sidekick on the “Tonight Show”.
The first is the impression of Ed McMahon on the “Carsenio Hall Show“, an SNL skit with Dana Carvey playing Carsenio and the late great Phil Hartman playing McMahon. Next, I recall McMahon hosting the talent show “Star Search“, an 80’s version of “American Idol” with several other talent categories. Finally, and perhaps most of all I remember McMahon as being the guy in the “American Family Sweepstakes” commercials (see one here). RIP Ed.
The next “death” of the week was purely political. I’m talking, of course, about Mark Sanford. There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said. I realize many people liked Sanford and thought he may be the guy in 2012, but I was never completely sold on the guy for some reason. Now, we all have a reason.
Liberty Maven
July 24, 1998, was an epic day for the global financial system. In “
Follow LM on Twitter