by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse

Two dissatisfied customers comment about a restaurant. One says, “The food here is terrible.” The other replies, “I know, and such small portions!” In many ways, they could be describing our current employment picture. Not only are the portions shrinking, but the jobs themselves are steadily losing quality.

Today’s release of the October jobs report showed the loss of another 190,000 jobs had pushed the official unemployment rate to 10.2%, only the second time since the Great Depression that unemployment was quoted in double digits (factoring in workers who had given up job hunting altogether or have settled for part-time work would push that rate to 17.5%). That didn’t stop Wall Street pundits from trying to fashion a silk purse of this sow’s ear. The ‘green shoots’ crowd focused on the slowing pace of job losses, the nascent economic ‘recovery’ (even if it is jobless), and the projected improvement in 2010. No mention was even made of the quality of what few jobs were being created.

The analysts completely ignored the continued trend of replacing goods-producing jobs with those jobs that require production from other sources. For example, we lost 61,000 manufacturing jobs last month, but added 45,000 jobs in education and health services. In particular, the addition of health workers is nothing to celebrate. Just as a family’s economic position is not improved by higher medical bills, the country as a whole does not benefit from increased health-care spending. Until this trend reverses, our unbalanced economy will not regain its stability, a real recovery will never take hold, and the overall job outlook will get much bleaker.

By spending trillions of dollars of borrowed money, President Obama hopes to engineer a recovery and create jobs. However, he has only succeeded in digging America into an even deeper hole than the one he inherited from his predecessor. He believes that if we can simply push up spending to levels seen during the “good times,” then those favorable economic conditions will return. The reality, of course, was that those good years came with a heavy price-tag that we have barely begun to pay.

In a press conference today, the President claimed that the latest extension of unemployment benefits will not only help the unemployed, but the overall economy as recipients spend the money. If spending government-granted money really were a benefit to the economy, why not simply increase the amounts endlessly? Why limit the benefits to the unemployed? Let’s make this recovery a real barn burner: send out million-dollar checks to everyone! Of course, what Obama and his economic advisors do not understand is that money spent by recipients of unemployment benefits is money not spent or invested by taxpayers. It’s a transfer of wealth, not a creation on new wealth.

In addition, policymakers are also struggling with diminishing returns on ultra-low interest rates. No matter how much monetary alcohol the Fed tries to pour down consumers’ throats, the swill simply will not go down anymore. Consumers have already had enough and are trying to sober up – by refusing to spend irrationally. The excess liquidity simply weakens the dollar and spills over into other pools, such as goods prices, money metals, commodities, and investment assets.

During the boom, we spent money we did not have to buy things we did not produce and could not afford. As a result, we are now deeply in debt and must sharply reduce our spending to replenish our savings. By focusing solely on consumer spending, the Administration is neglecting the capital investments necessary to improve our infrastructure and productive capacity.

To generate legitimate economic growth and meaningful jobs, we must reverse the trends that brought us down. Consumers may have led us into this recession, but they can’t lead us out. The road to recovery is a one-way street, and it’s paved with savings, capital investment, and production. It’s not an easy road, but we must follow it to ensure our future prosperity.

As a first step, our politicians must stop pushing us backward. Rather than imposing more market-distorting regulations, we should repeal those most responsible for inefficient resource allocation. Rather than creating new moral hazards, we should withdraw guarantees for large financial institutions and irresponsible consumers. Rather than continuing the Greenspan policy of keeping interest rates too low, we should let them rise. Rather than trying to prop up asset prices, we should let them fall to market levels. Rather than increasing the burden of bureaucracy on the economy, we should look for ways to lighten the load. Rather than encouraging people to borrow and spend, we should reward those who save and produce.

Until we acknowledge these fundamental errors, more of our citizens will lose their jobs. As those that stay employed are funneled into unproductive industries like the federal bureaucracy, the country will sink further into stagnation. Worse still, everyone taking jobs in these sectors will be laid off in the next phase of the crisis – and will have lost this opportunity to build practical skills for the new economy.

For a more in-depth analysis of our financial problems and the inherent dangers they pose for the U.S. economy and U.S. dollar, read Peter Schiff’s 2008 bestseller “The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets” and his newest release “Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse.” Click here to learn more.

More importantly, don’t let the great deals pass you by. Get an inside view of Peter’s playbook with his new Special Report, “Peter Schiff’s Five Favorite Investment Choices for the Next Five Years.” Click here to dowload the report for free. You can find more free services for global investors, and learn about the Euro Pacific advantage, at www.europac.net.

If you want the Supreme Court to hear this argument please make a tax-deductible contribution for this purpose to the Downsize DC Foundation.

Why this is important

Statism is the belief that politicians and bureaucrats should have broad powers to use force against citizens. In its most virulent forms Statism killed more people in the 20th Century alone than all of the individual non-governmental murderers in the history of the world, COMBINED!

Professor R.J. Rummel estimates the total murderous death-toll of Statism at about 170 million people!

Not even the Black Death of the Middle Ages, or the Flu epidemic of 1918, can approach these numbers, even if you combine the totals from those two epidemics and reduce the estimate for the total number of murders committed by governments.

But the terrible statistics for Statist murder still only tell part of the story. We must add to them the statistics for the mass theft, imprisonment, and torture committed by governments against innocent people. These measurements of State criminality are even more vast, so much so that they are literally incalculable.

The State, and the belief-system that fosters its criminality — Statism — are the great scourges of human existence, against which no other source of death and destruction can remotely compare.

Of course, in reaction to all of these blood-curdling facts the fool argues that such things could never happen in this country. The same foolish belief was held by people in Russia, Germany, China, Cambodia, and a hundred other places, before such things DID happen in those countries. But such naivety is also exposed by one other crucial fact . . .

Murderous and violent crimes by the State have already been committed by our government, on a massive scale. A partial list would include . . .

• Our government’s eviction of the law-abiding Cherokees from the South Eastern U.S., the confiscation of their property, and the “Trail of Tears” Death March to Oklahoma that followed
• Repeated massacres of Indian women and children by U.S. Army death squads throughout the 19th Century
• Two hundred years of State-enforced, multi-generational captivity for Africans, and the continual rape and torture that accompanied this enslavement
• One hundred years of State-enforced segregation of Africans over broad stretches of the United States, including the unofficial collaboration by police in lynchings and beatings against unarmed African-Americans
• The mass murder of Filipinos in a campaign of colonial subjugation following the Spanish-American war (which was supposedly fought against colonialism!)
• The internment of innocent Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during World War II

The United States is indeed special, but not as special as blind, adolescent patriotism wants to believe. And what remains of our specialness is under relentless and increasing pressure. We have argued elsewhere that . . .

• President George W. Bush laid the basic infrastructure for a future police state, and that .
• President Obama has retained, and in some cases expanded, all the Bush-era policies — the PATRIOT Act, warrantless spying, REAL ID, imprisonment without due process, extraordinary rendition, etc.
• Some future crisis, or series of calamities, could deploy this infrastructure in a freedom-crushing, and perhaps even murderous way

What has made America special are the controls that our Founders erected against the kind of Statist thuggery so-loved by President Bush, President Obama, and nearly all politicians. It is true that these controls have always been incomplete, and have failed repeatedly, as in the examples cited above. But it is also true that . . .

They have worked better than any other system yet devised by mortal man.

To remain special, and to become more special, we must preserve and even enhance every protection we have against State criminality. Some of these protections could be thought of as a series of boxes . . .

• The ballot box
• The jury box
• The mail box (which DownsizeDC.org is using in its modern electronic forms because the ballot and jury boxes have become so corrupted)
• And finally, as a last resort, the cartridge (ammo) box

Cartridge boxes are what . . .

• Jews, Gypsies, Poles and Russians needed against the Nazi Statists
• Russians, Chinese, Cambodians, and countless others needed against the Communist Statists
• Filipinos and many other peoples needed against American and other colonial Statists

Cartridge boxes may also be what Americans need someday, against their own government, if current trends explode into the kind of mass Statist gangsterism that so many other societies have suffered.

Our Founders gave us the Second Amendment for exactly this purpose. They were not thinking of self-defense against individual criminals when they wrote the Second Amendment the way they wrote it, though they did not exclude that purpose. Instead, they were thinking about Statist thugs . . .

The American people were to be armed as a final defense against Statist aggression, both foreign AND DOMESTIC. There is a mountain of evidence to support this view, and we want to see the Supreme Court exposed to this evidence. Do you?

The Downsize DC Foundation is joining with Gun Owners of America and several other organizations in the MacDonald case, which challenges the handgun ban in Chicago — also being called by some, “Heller II.” With your help we will be the ONLY GROUP submitting an amicus curiae brief making the argument that the Second Amendment is much more than permission to have a handgun in your home.

If you want to see this evidence presented to the Supreme Court, please make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE contribution for this purpose. You can do so here.

Jim Babka, President
Downsize DC Foundation

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

The bill is an unprecedented attack on personal liberty.

Please send a letter to Congress demanding they oppose Pelosi’s bill.

Here’s what I wrote:

HR 3962 will hamstring our finances. But it’s also full of blatant attacks on individual liberty.

For instance, chain restaurants and vending machine owners will be forced to publish calorie information on their menus. That’s not interstate commerce… unless the state line cuts through a McDonald’s counter. Congress can’t order private property owners around this way, and the Free Press clause of the First Amendment also clearly forbids this mandate. Calorie reports may be nice, but that’s outside of the government’s lawful scope.

HR 3962 also violates the broad 9th Amendment protection of individual liberty, and the 10th Amendment’s requirement that federal power be limited to only those functions listed in the Constitution.

Even though the Supreme Court has blown a gaping hole through many Constitutional protections of economic freedom — and blamed their lawlessness on the Commerce Clause power to regulate interstate commerce — it’s apparent that even this wide hole is too small for Congressional ambitions. Does anyone on Capitol Hill even know what interstate commerce is?

An example of this is the unprecedented, totalitarian attempt to force people to acquire government-approved insurance or face tax penalties. If Congress can force us to buy a particular grade of insurance, can it also force us to subscribe to “approved” newspapers?

The Supreme Court has ruled in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture (1922) that Congress can’t use the tax code to regulate behavior it doesn’t otherwise have power to regulate.

In United States v. Lopez (1995), United States v. Morrison (2000) and even Gonzales v. Raich (2005) the Court decreed that Congress cannot use the Commerce Clause to regulate activity that is NOT economic — such as NOT buying, NOT producing, or NOT making something. NOT buying insurance can’t be buying or making something.

That means, if you want to pay for this fancy plan, you’ll have to steal the money the old-fashioned way — a tax increase. You might want to review the matter in this Washington Post article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082103033.html

You swore an oath to obey and protect the Constitution. Please honor that oath. I insist that you stand up on behalf of liberty and oppose this bill.

END LETTER

You can send your message here.

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http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/pelosi-s-healthcare-bill-an-unprecedented-attack-on-personal-freedom

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James Wilson
Assistant Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

The reason Bob McDonnell beat out Creigh Deeds in Virginia was not because McDonnell represents some new style small government Republican. McDonnell won because Deeds made campaign mistakes. McDonnell made none. Deeds lost the race more than McDonnell won it.

The same is true for the New Jersey race. Corzine, a former chairman at Goldman Sachs, easily became a scapegoat for a failing economy and political corruption. So, he lost.

What Tuesday’s election results really demonstrated was a lack of conviction for either Democrats or Republicans. When the political spectrum shines red, then blue, then red, then blue, over and over again something tangible comes to light:

America is not rooting for either party to win. America is rooting for the underdog.

After 8 years of Clinton, George W. Bush was the underdog. In 2004, Bush was still the underdog largely due to his perceived strength (however false it was) in fighting “those who attacked us on 9/11″. That quickly soured so much that by 2006 the Democratic Party was the underdog so they won control of Congress. If Bush was up for re-election himself in 2006, he’d have lost.

The 2008 election cemented the underdog theory with America getting the chance to elect the first African American President. McCain, largely a Bush twin, had no chance.

Tuesday’s election results demonstrated that the Republicans are now, once again, the underdogs. This bodes well for them in the 2010 election and it could carry over to the 2012 Presidential contest. Of course, that depends on who has the perceived power at that time.

The point of this “underdog theory” is that we are not happy with the blue nor the red team. When the time comes we just want to take away power from whichever team has it.

For liberty champions this eternal game is growing extremely tiresome.

When everyone buys into the two team league yet no one wants either team to finish in first place, isn’t it time to expand the league?

It just so happens that there is a liberty-loving team already in place ready to be added to the league. Here are their names:

• Rand Paul
• David Hedrick
• Adam Kokesh
• Peter Schiff
• Ray McBerry
• Chris Simcox
• Debbie Medina
• Bill Hunt
• RJ Harris
• John Dennis
• David Ratowitz
• Jake Towne
• Randy Brogdon
• Robert Broadus
• Collins Bailey
• Jaynee Germond
• Bob Parker
• Bill Connor
• Peg Luksik

These are the candidates being celebrated today on the anniversary of Ron Paul’s 5th of November money bomb. To learn more about these candidates please check out ThisNovember5th.com. If you find a candidate you like, then please don’t hesitate to support that candidate with a generous donation.

These are the real underdogs and outcasts. Let’s help make them winners and keep them winning.

by John Browne – Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital

Last week, to the delight of its media cheerleaders, the government announced that economic growth had returned and the recession had ended. But before we start celebrating one quarter of modest growth, we should realize the only force driving this apparent recovery is an enormous increase in government spending. To finance its largesse, the government is now borrowing at a rate that has ordinary citizens and the international community extremely concerned.

Leading into the first election season under Obama’s reign, this unprecedented government borrowing and spending is creating a false sense of security. The activity has allowed GDP to increase despite stagnation in corporate and consumer spending.

Small businesses – the most important creators of new jobs – are nervous. Due to uncertain economic conditions and a high degree of regulatory uncertainty, they are hoarding cash rather than investing. Indeed, their largest expenditures are often solely to replenish inventories.

Likewise, consumers are rationally hording their resources. Year over year, consumer spending – which constitutes 70 percent of GDP – is essentially flat. With such a large segment of the economy quiescent, the percentage increase in public sector spending has to be very large in order to push the GDP upward.

The new government spending spree has focused on major stimulus initiatives, including the new homebuyer tax credit and ‘cash for clunkers’.

Early results are showing that spending on autos dropped to recession-levels immediately after ‘cash for clunkers’ ended. Meanwhile, some reports are estimating that the program cost $24,000 for every additional vehicle it caused to be sold.

The multi-billion-dollar tax credit for first-time homebuyers juiced real estate sales and provided a strong boost to GDP in the third quarter. But the net result is that many responsible young people, who had chosen to rent and save in the face of a declining housing market, are now saddled with mortgages they cannot afford. These ‘homeowners’ will quickly join the ranks of the foreclosed.

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of GDP growth is that, even with a deeply progressive Administration spending our children’s children’s money, the best we can achieve is a modest, fleeting boost in growth. Even the government’s biggest apologists have a hard time explaining how these gains can last without continued stimulus. In short, this country is not just bankrupt today, but for generations to come. This is the real truth and should concern those with investments within the United States.

The unhappy situation in America, of which we have long warned, should be contrasted with the healthy growth experiences of other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, China and India.

The Australian central bank is now so confident in its growth potential that it has raised interest rates two months in a row. Though they have a center-left Government, the Aussies have managed to control stimulus spending and overall debt.

New Zealand is seeing an increase in real wages amid a strong Kiwi Dollar. Much more than GDP, this is a signal that economic growth is truly returning to this island nation.

China, a place where 9% annual GDP growth is considered a recession, is still developing its market economy while Obama cripples our own. Much fanfare was showered upon the launch of ChiNext, a stock exchange for privately-owned, small- and mid-cap Chinese companies. It surged in its first day of trading, showing the strength of that economy even outside the State-Owned Enterprise sector.

Finally, there is India. Though still far too closed to foreign investment, this country is making shrewd moves to protect its internal capital. In a deal announced today, India bolstered its gold reserves by 50% by trading $6.7 billion of its U.S. dollar reserve to the IMF. Not only is this a positive sign for India, it is a crushing verdict on our own lauded ‘GDP growth.’

A currency’s value reflects investors’ faith in a particular nation. Though commentators are seizing on this figure or that to make the bull case, the dollar index belies their claims.

Rather than dancing in the dollars falling from helicopters, we should be concerned about their worth when they hit the ground. Unfortunately, fiscal responsibility has moved abroad – and the smart money isn’t far behind.

For a more in-depth analysis of our financial problems and the inherent dangers they pose for the U.S. economy and U.S. dollar, read Peter Schiff’s 2008 bestseller “The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets” and his newest release “Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse.” Click here to learn more.

More importantly, don’t let the great deals pass you by. Get an inside view of Peter’s playbook with his new Special Report, “Peter Schiff’s Five Favorite Investment Choices for the Next Five Years.” Click here to dowload the report for free. You can find more free services for global investors, and learn about the Euro Pacific advantage, at www.europac.net.

That’s just a little over $30,000 per year.

Clearly the banking lobby is satisfied with Mr. Watt’s performance.

Last Friday, Rep. Ron Paul reported that our Federal Reserve Transparency Act (HR 1207) was “gutted” in Rep. Watt’s subcommittee.

In defense of Rep. Watt, however, it’s not totally his fault. His district is the most obviously gerrymandered in North Carolina, following I-85 like a snake from Charlotte to Winston Salem. It is overwhelmingly Democratic, and his re-election has never been seriously challenged. Why should he represent the people when he is electorally invincible?

While we may not be able to hold Rep. Watt accountable, we can fight back. His attempt to eviscerate HR 1207 must be approved by the full Financial Services committee.

We can block that approval, and restore the original bill. It is especially important that each member of the Financial Services committee hear from their constituents the clear message that Rep. Watt’s proposed changes are unacceptable. And you must act now because . . .

The Committee could meet as soon as today (Wednesday).

Every Representative should receive a message. But if your Representative is on the Financial Services committee, they should also get a polite phone call from you.

Please review the list of committee members to see if your Representative serves on the Financial Services committee.

This is what I wrote to one member of the Committee . . .

You may be aware that Rep. Mel Watt’s subcommittee on monetary policy introduced changes to the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (HR 1207) that restrict inquiry around transactions with foreign central banks, monetary policy deliberations, transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee and communications between the Board, the reserve banks, and staff.

These changes have the practical effect of killing the bill, and eliminating the transparency that our economy and financial markets require for stability and sustainable growth.

It is also clear that Rep. Watt does not fear for his re-election, given his willingness to put the narrow interests of the banking industry, his top donors over the last decade, above those of the American people. I’m hoping you will be more responsive to the people.

HR 1207 has over 300 cosponsors in its ORIGINAL form. I trust you will use your influence to remove Rep. Watt’s changes, and bring HR 1207 to a vote on the House floor in its original form.

I’m also sending a copy of this message to my two Senators so that they too will know how important this HR 1207 is to me.

END OF LETTER

You can send your letter to Congress using the DownsizeDC.org Educate the Powerful System.

NOTE: In a video message, Ron Paul indicated that it is especially important that constituents contact the 13 Democrats on the Financial Services committee who already co-sponsored HR 1207, with a VERY polite reminder that you STILL want them to support the ORIGINAL bill, and to resist Mr. Watt’s amendments.

For your convenience, here is that list . . .

Rep. John Adler, NJ (202) 225-4765
Rep. Travis Childers, MS (202) 225-4306
Rep. Steve Driehaus, OH (202) 225-2216
Rep. Alan Grayson, FL (202) 225-2176
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, TX (202) 225-2531
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, FL (877) 956-7627
Rep. Dan Maffei, NY (202) 225-3701
Rep. Brad Miller, NC (202) 225-3032
Rep. Walt Minnick, ID (202) 225-6611
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, CO (202)-225-2645
Rep. David Scott, GA (202) 225-2939
Rep. Brad Sherman, CA (202) 225-5911
Rep. Jackie Speier, CA (202) 225-3531

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army,

Dr. William (B.J.) Lawson
Commentator
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Originally published November 3, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/remember-remember-the-fifth-of-november-2

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot!!

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli’ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England’s overthrow!!!

On the Fifth of November, 1605, a group of Catholic freedom fighters, or terrorists from the monarch’s perspective, attempted to blow up the aristocratic House of Lords and King James I due to relentless religious persecution. Guy Fawkes, a former soldier and demolition expert, was caught below Parliament with 800 kilograms (1760 pounds) of gunpowder. Guy was tortured for days to divulge the names of his other conspirators, then sentenced to be hanged, then drawn and quartered.  Rather than suffer the ripping apart of his body by horses, Fawkes jumped into the air and snapped his neck.   

The King ordered that every year thereafter effigies of Fawkes were to be burned in effigy as a reminder to all to never commit treason against the State. In fact, the term “guy” used in speech for a person originated from this effigy of Fawkes, which was called a “Guy.”  In 2006, the movie V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving was released based on a graphic novel set in the future with a mysterious man wearing a mask who endeavors to free the people from an oppressive police state.

While I advocate a peaceful revolution in people’s minds, many challenge me, claiming that the United States of America is not a totalitarian regime. I certainly agree we do not live in Maoist China, but we are on a far more slippery slope than many believe, due in great part to the ineptitude of the mainstream media.

Many Americans do not realize that an impeachment hearing was held in 2008 for then-President George Bush II due to the war and soldier deaths in Iraq.

Many Americans do not realize that Iraq veterans peacefully marched on the last McBama presidential debate last fall and were attacked by mounted police, and one veteran had his skull crunched and could have died.

Many Americans do not realize that the right requiring warrants before your home and belongings are searched has been violated countless times, as evidenced by this assault on an innocent Maryland mayor’s home and surveillance cameras in residential areas in Lancaster, PA.

As I listed in an August speech, many Americans do not know:

• With the passing of the USA PATRIOT Act after 9/11, any financial transaction over $10,000 is reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a sub-branch of the Treasury Department, as possible criminal or terrorist activity.

• Section 6050 of HR 3221, passed in 2008, authorizes the IRS to view every single credit card transaction made by every single individual in the United States without a warrant or informing the individual.

• In 2008, Republican President George Bush signed into law HR 6304. Title 8, Section 801 of this bill gave private companies legal immunity to commit warrantless wiretapping on any phone or email communication from any American citizen. As a result, everyone is a criminal suspect without probable cause or warrant issued by a court of law.

• In February 2009, Democrat President Barack Obama signed into law HR 1, otherwise known as the Obama Stimulus Plan. Sub Title A Section 3001 commits the federal government to keeping full electronic medical record of each individual by 2014 where it may be accessed from any government computer terminal of many federal departments, even including the FDIC which insures bank deposits. Do you want your private health history information on a bad heart, psychological records, medication records viewable to any government bureaucrat? This is a massive violation of patient privacy!

As Jefferson wrote, for these violations and countless more, We the People must struggle against this collection of bureaucrat rogues who have demonstrated no desire to have a constitutional republic based on the rule of law. The mental misfits of Congress who award bailout after bailout and are willing sponsors of state-sponsored corporatism must be removed from power.

The lawless House Speaker who verbally defecates on the Constitution by proclaiming the Commerce Clause enables Congress to exercise unlimited economic central planning authority must be removed.

The reckless spending of the stimulus plan must be halted.

One year ago this November 5th, a brave man running for President proclaimed to the nation, “Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected, once it is realized that our Liberties and our Wealth are in Jeopardy.“  He went on to raise $4.2 million from 35,000 donors in a single day, setting a fundraising record. Efforts by Establishment candidates Obama, Huckabee, McCain and others to copy this event failed miserably. One month later, the same man raised over $6 million from 58,407 donors in a single day, shattering his own record.

Just as Dr. Ron Paul did, I peacefully rise and say that I too object to this monstrous federal government that fritters away our civil liberties as it they were garbaged, has engaged in multiple preemptive, undeclared wars of aggression, and debased the nation’s currency by the insidious acts of the Federal Reserve.

Towne for Congress is very pleased to be taking part in www.ThisNovember5th.com’s money bomb.

For the Republic!

Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution

November 3, 2009

“Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” - Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot!!

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli’ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England’s overthrow!!!

On the Fifth of November, 1605, a group of Catholic freedom fighters, or terrorists from the monarch’s perspective, attempted to blow up the aristocratic House of Lords and King James I due to relentless religious persecution. Guy Fawkes, a former soldier and demolition expert, was caught below Parliament with 800 kilograms (1760 pounds) of gunpowder. Guy was tortured for days to divulge the names of his other conspirators, then sentenced to be hanged, then drawn and quartered.  Rather than suffer the ripping apart of his body by horses, Fawkes jumped into the air and snapped his neck.

The King ordered that every year thereafter effigies of Fawkes were to be burned in effigy as a reminder to all to never commit treason against the State. In fact, the term “guy” used in speech for a person originated from this effigy of Fawkes, which was called a “Guy.”  In 2006, the movie V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving was released based on a graphic novel set in the future with a mysterious man wearing a mask who endeavors to free the people from an oppressive police state.

While I advocate a peaceful revolution in people’s minds, many challenge me, claiming that the United States of America is not a totalitarian regime. I certainly agree we do not live in Maoist China, but we are on a far more slippery slope than many believe, due in great part to the ineptitude of the mainstream media.

Many Americans do not realize that an impeachment hearing was held in 2008 for then-President George Bush II due to the war and soldier deaths in Iraq.

Many Americans do not realize that Iraq veterans peacefully marched on the last McBama presidential debate last fall and were attacked by mounted police, and one veteran had his skull crunched and could have died.

Many Americans do not realize that the right requiring warrants before your home and belongings are searched has been violated countless times, as evidenced by this assault on an innocent Maryland mayor’s home and surveillance cameras in residential areas in Lancaster, PA.

As I listed in an August speech, many Americans do not know:

• With the passing of the USA PATRIOT Act after 9/11, any financial transaction over $10,000 is reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a sub-branch of the Treasury Department, as possible criminal or terrorist activity.

• Section 6050 of HR 3221, passed in 2008, authorizes the IRS to view every single credit card transaction made by every single individual in the United States without a warrant or informing the individual.

• In 2008, Republican President George Bush signed into law HR 6304. Title 8, Section 801 of this bill gave private companies legal immunity to commit warrantless wiretapping on any phone or email communication from any American citizen. As a result, everyone is a criminal suspect without probable cause or warrant issued by a court of law.

• In February 2009, Democrat President Barack Obama signed into law HR 1, otherwise known as the Obama Stimulus Plan. Sub Title A Section 3001 commits the federal government to keeping full electronic medical record of each individual by 2014 where it may be accessed from any government computer terminal of many federal departments, even including the FDIC which insures bank deposits. Do you want your private health history information on a bad heart, psychological records, medication records viewable to any government bureaucrat? This is a massive violation of patient privacy!

As Jefferson wrote, for these violations and countless more, We the People must struggle against this collection of bureaucrat rogues who have demonstrated no desire to have a constitutional republic based on the rule of law. The mental misfits of Congress who award bailout after bailout and are willing sponsors of state-sponsored corporatism must be removed from power.

The lawless House Speaker who verbally defecates on the Constitution by proclaiming the Commerce Clause enables Congress to exercise unlimited economic central planning authority must be removed.

The reckless spending of the stimulus plan must be halted.

One year ago this November 5th, a brave man running for President proclaimed to the nation, “Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected, once it is realized that our Liberties and our Wealth are in Jeopardy.“  He went on to raise $4.2 million from 35,000 donors in a single day, setting a fundraising record. Efforts by Establishment candidates Obama, Huckabee, McCain and others to copy this event failed miserably. One month later, the same man raised over $6 million from 58,407 donors in a single day, shattering his own record.

Just as Dr. Ron Paul did, I peacefully rise and say that I too object to this monstrous federal government that fritters away our civil liberties as it they were garbaged, has engaged in multiple preemptive, undeclared wars of aggression, and debased the nation’s currency by the insidious acts of the Federal Reserve.

Towne for Congress is very pleased to be taking part inwww.ThisNovember5th.com’s money bomb. Please pledge a donation here for $5, $10, $25 or more, whatever you can afford. Please also consider donating to other liberty candidates, several of which are listed on the sidebar of TowneForCongress.com on November 5th, 2009.

For the Republic!

Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution

November 3, 2009

The latest example is the 1,900 page healthcare monstrosity the House leadership unveiled last week. They want a vote on it this week!

I believe they’re overreaching, and helping to build our movement.

Please send Congress a letter demanding that they introduce and pass DownsizeDC.org’s Read the Bills Act.

This is what I wrote in my personal comments . . .

Congress passed the Patriot renewal bill in 2006, only to discover later that someone had inserted a provision allowing the President to appoint U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval. This year, Congress passed the stimulus bill with the AIG bonuses.

Nearly everyone in Congress was shocked when they learned what they had passed. This happened because Congress didn’t read these bills before they voted on them. This is irresponsible.

Will you ever learn?

Now the House leadership wants a rapid vote on a 1,900 page health care bill. This isn’t just irresponsible, it’s crazy. This so-called health care bill has become a cancerous tumor. Plus, as usual, I’m sure there will be last minute insertions that will surprise everyone once they’re exposed to the light of day.

The best protection against all this insanity is DownsizeDC.org’s Read the Bills Act (RTBA). Unlike watered-down proposals currently being considered in Congress, the RTBA will allow the people to read the final versions of bills for seven days before a vote. It will also require each member of Congress who votes yes for a bill to swear that they’ve read it — goodbye to the claims of shock when the actual contents of a bill are actually implemented.

Behind the “read the bills” movement is the understanding of the American people that the legislative process is un-representative, ignorant, and distasteful. Members of Congress who continue to ignore this problem will fuel a bigger and louder backlash.

END LETTER

You can send your letter to Congress here.

We also invite you to add your website or blog to the Read the Bills Act Coalition. Membership will help build awareness about RTBA, and in return we will list your site on our main page. You can learn more at the DownsizeDC.org site.

Today we welcome 2 new members to the Coalition:

• Reboot Congress
• Titusville Patriots

Finally, last week Congress passed a total of 15 bills amounting to 525 pages. You can see what bills were passed below my signature in the blog version of this Dispatch:

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/healthcare-and-read-the-bills-will-you-survive-the-1-900-page-tumor

Thank-you for being a DC Downsizer.

James Wilson
Assistant Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

1. Search your home and not even tell you… by conducting secret “sneak and peek” searches of your home or office, without informing you that a warrant was issued.  (SECTION 213)
2. Collect information about what books you read, what you study, your purchases, your medical history and your personal finances … without probable cause.  (SECTION 215)
3. Label you a “terrorist” if you belong to an activist group … and the USA PATRIOT Act broadly expands the official definition of terrorism, so many domestic groups that engage in certain types of civil disobedience could very well find themselves labeled as terrorists.  (SECTIONS 411, 802)
4. Monitor your e-mails and watch what internet sites you visit … by monitoring Internet traffic and e-mail communications
   on any Internet service provider — *without* probable cause. (SECTION 216)
5. Take away your properly without even a notice or a hearing if the government merely says a person or organization has engaged in or is planning an act of “domestic terrorism.” The government could thus effectively bankrupt an organization with which it disagrees.  (SECTION 806)
6. Spy on innocent Americans by allowing a vast array of information on U.S. citizens to be collected and shared with the CIA (and other non-law enforcement officials) without proper judicial oversight or other safeguards.   (SECTIONS 203 AND 901)
7. Put immigrants in jail indefinitely.  The USA PATRIOT Act permits indefinite incarceration of immigrants and other non-citizens without the government having to show that they are, in fact, terrorists.  (SECTION 412)
8. Wiretap you under a warrant that doesn’t even have your name on it. Judges are required to approve a wiretap without even knowing who is to be wiretapped or where the wiretap is to be placed.  (SECTION 216)

Read more here and here.

An organization of volunteer doctors and other health care professionals wants to provide free medical care to tens of thousands of poor people across America.

But — incredibly — government bureaucrats won’t let them.

That’s the extraordinary story told by journalist David Freddoso in the Washington Examiner newspaper.

The article begins this way:

“Stan Brock just wants to help. The former co-star of ‘Wild Kingdom’ wants to deliver free medical, dental and vision care to the poor. … Brock simply wants to provide care free of charge, at the hands of unpaid volunteer doctors and dentists using donated equipment.

“Brock’s group, Remote Area Medical, wants to bring its services to Washington [D.C.], and soon. He wants his volunteer eye doctors to grind new glasses on the spot for those having trouble seeing.

“He wants his dentists to pull rotten teeth and perform root canals in badly neglected mouths. He wants to give checkups and HIV tests to the uninsured and the underinsured. No questions asked.

“The only question is whether the bureaucrats will let him do it.”

Continue the story…

by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse

The GDP numbers out yesterday, which showed economic growth at 3.5% in the third quarter, brought a deafening chorus from public and private economists who all agreed that the recession is officially over. With such a strong report, they are happy to tell us that not only has the Fat Lady finished her aria, but she has left the building and is sipping champagne in the bath. As usual, it falls on me to rain on the parade.

Even the giddiest commentators admit that the upside GDP surprise resulted almost entirely from government interventions. But, by pushing up public and private debt, expanding government, deepening trade deficits, and pushing down savings rates, these interventions have succeeded only in putting our economy back on an unsustainable path of borrowing and spending. Accordingly, they have prevented the rebalancing necessary for long-term health. Could there be a simpler illustration of trading long-term pain for short-term gain?

Rather than asking these pre-K economists to make such a three dimensional leap, it may be easier just to give them a brief history lesson.

During the decade that corresponds to the Great Depression, annual GNP expanded for six years and contracted for four. After nose-diving in the early years of the decade, GNP turned positive in 1934 and then logged three more years of solid growth (the four year average annual growth rate was 8.5%). But does anyone really believe the Great Depression ended in 1934, when the economy first stopped contracting? Unemployment reached 19% in 1938, nearly the peak of the entire Depression, almost a full decade after the stock market crashed! Why will we be so much luckier this time around?

The unpopular truth is that rather than curing the economy, government stimulus has made it sicker. The Bush Administration and the Greenspan Fed pursued this policy recipe in the 2002-2003 recession. The result was four years of phony growth, greater global imbalances, and the development of unsupportable asset bubbles. Clearly we have learned nothing from those mistakes.

Third quarter ‘growth’ was largely driven by a 23% increase in residential construction (the largest quarterly increase since 1986) and a 3.1% increase in consumer spending, which included a 22% jump in durable goods purchases – mostly automobiles – and 2.3% gain in government spending. Since the increase in consumption outpaced the increase in production, the trade deficit expanded, reversing the positive trend for most of 2008 and 2009. Because the increase in spending outpaced the increase in incomes, the savings rate plunged from 4.9% in the prior quarter to 3.3%.

The sizzling numbers for housing and autos resulted from heady cocktail of policy stimulants: near-zero interest rates, government-guaranteed mortgages, Federal Reserve purchases of mortgaged-backed securities, tax credits for homebuyers, bailouts for auto finance companies and ‘cash for clunkers’ for car buyers.

But the last thing our economy needs is for scarce resources to be wasted through uneconomical incentives.

If the government were not ’stimulating the economy,’ higher interest rates and falling home prices would have hamstrung residential construction. That would have been the right move. Instead, based on the false economic signals of the ’stimulus,’ we continue to build houses for which no legitimate demand exists.

The same is true for cars. Because of stimulus money, Americans are buying cars that they otherwise would not have. In a free market, the money would have been used for a more constructive purpose. Perhaps it would have been saved, used to pay off existing debt, or spent on a less expensive mode of transport, like a used motorcycle.

The economy ran into a wall in 2008 because consumers bought houses and cars that they really could not afford. That is why the institutions that provided the loans, such as banks, Fannie & Freddie, and GMAC, went bankrupt. It should be obvious that the solution to our economic problems will not be found by redoubling these efforts. This is akin to a drunk having a few more drinks in order to get sober!

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal detailed the myriad ways in which Senators and Congressman are now compelling General Motors to make business decisions that are solely driven by the legislators’ own political considerations, not the best interest of the taxpayers who now own the company. Such a dynamic is now underway in nearly every facet of our economy. An efficient allocation of resources – the only path to economic growth – is only possible when market forces, not Beltway bureaucrats, call the shots.

In the end, this stimulus, just like prior doses, will only worsen the condition it is meant to cure. When it wears off, the resulting recession will be even bigger than the one that everyone assumes has just ended. Until the impulse to fight recessions with government stimulus is quashed, genuine economic growth will never return. A string of ever-worsening recessions will eventually lead to what will be the next Great (Inflationary) Depression. But for now, enjoy the bubbly.

For a more in-depth analysis of our financial problems and the inherent dangers they pose for the U.S. economy and U.S. dollar, read Peter Schiff’s 2008 bestseller “The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets” and his newest release “Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse.” Click here to learn more.

More importantly, don’t let the great deals pass you by. Get an inside view of Peter’s playbook with his new Special Report, “Peter Schiff’s Five Favorite Investment Choices for the Next Five Years.” Click here to dowload the report for free. You can find more free services for global investors, and learn about the Euro Pacific advantage, at www.europac.net.

“The State is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” — Frederic Bastiat, French economist of the 19th Century

“How did I go bankrupt? Two ways. Slowly, and then all of a sudden.” — paraphrased from “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway

“May you live in interesting times.” — a proverbial Chinese curse

• Retained, and in some cases expanded, all the Bush-era policies — the wars, the PATRIOT Act, warrantless spying, REAL ID, imprisonment without due process, extraordinary rendition, etc.
• Begun to extend the already existing foundations for a future socialist state with things like direct government ownership of businesses, the health care bill, cap and trade, and a host of other measures big and small

Put the Bush and Obama policies together, sprinkle in a couple more terrorist attacks, and one or two more state-caused financial calamities, and you have a recipe for . . .

• The destruction of American liberty
• The blossoming of a Leviathan State

Read the signs . . .

We are living through a Statist revolution.

Statism is a mindset that prefers coercion to cooperation. Statists love the State because they are blind to its fundamental nature . . .

• The State is a monopoly that you cannot easily fire, replace, or even control
• Everything the State does relies on coercion

If you decide that . . .

• You don’t want to pay for, or be subject to, the new health care plan, or that . . .
• You prefer to buy and sell using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve Notes, or that . . .
• You want to do, or not do, a host of other things that the politicians either require or prohibit,
• Then eventually a policeman will come to your door and threaten you with a gun, to make you submit

People who advocate expansive State action are really saying, “I think you should be threatened with, or actually suffer violence, if you don’t fund my pet schemes, or live the way I think you should.”

Such people would never go door to door pointing a gun at their neighbors, but the second-hand mechanism of the State allows them to hide their eyes from the violence implicit in what they profess.

Our government was founded to limit this kind of coercion. The American State was given two main functions . . .

• To punish coercion committed by one citizen against another
• To deter coercion by foreign States

Beyond that, nearly the entire Constitution is devoted to prohibiting State violence. This was the purpose of the divisions of power, the checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights. But now those protections lie in tatters.

Everyone is trying to use the State to live at the expense of everyone else, or to micro-manage their neighbors. Our traditional culture of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and peaceful, non-violent cooperation, is slowly dying. We are nearing a point where it may even die completely, suddenly, when we least expect it. As a result . . .

We live under the Chinese curse of interesting times. But we urge you to resist despair. We are even prepared to predict . . .

The End of Statism

Our reason is simple. Statism doesn’t work. The violence at its heart always . . .

• Destroys more than it creates
• Multiplies its victims, who become increasingly deperate enough to resist

Our purpose is to recruit and organize that resistance into an army. It’s . . .

• Why we do
• What we do
• The way we do it

We know that successful resistance will come slowly, before it comes suddenly. Victory will take time, but the time’s going to pass anyway, so why not use it wisely? This is why . . .

We reject all “get powerful quick” schemes as inherently unworkable. We know that societies and movements evolve slowly more often than they leap. History is littered with causes that failed because they couldn’t wait to succeed.

We neither need, nor expect, overnight success. Do you?

What we need instead is constant and consistent progress. And for that we need you, and for you to need us.

Remember where we’re going. We’re building toward the day when we can . . .

• Reach everyone, everywhere, every day, with the case for freedom and against Statism
• Build a big parade — a movement — in front of which opportunistic politicians will want to march. They’ll claim we’re following them, and we’ll let them think that!
• Deploy a huge army to exert relentless, resistance-numbing pressure on Congress, to make them submit

And remember how we’re going to get there . . .

• Slowly and steadily, but also surely
• One person at a time
• One dollar at a time
• One simple action at a time
• With each small step building toward the next larger step

The end of the month is here. We did more this month than we did last month. Now we need your financial support to do even more in November. Please . . .

• Start a monthly credit card pledge
• Or make a one-time donation
• You can do so here

Your support is our progress.

Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation