A flight with members of Texas’ U.S. Congressional delegation aboard, including former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, “took a major nosedive” and was forced to make an emergency landing on Tuesday afternoon, according to a Houston TV station.
KHOU reports that a Continental Airlines flight carrying seven U.S. lawmakers suddenly lost cabin pressure on its way from Houston to Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport.
The flight recovered, was diverted and landed safely in New Orleans, according to one lawmaker’s spokesperson.
Aboard the flight among 117 other people with Rep. Paul were Reps. John Carter (R), Henry Cuellar (D), Nick Lampson (D), Solomon Ortiz (D), Ted Poe (R), and Ciro Rodriguez (D), all representing Texas in the U.S. House.
The airline confirmed that no one was hurt, the report said.
This video is from CNN’s Situation Room, broadcast July 22, 2008.
The Trilateral Commission—one of the three most powerful globalist groups in the world—held closed-door meetings right here in Washington, D.C. from April 25 to 28. True to form, those members of the media who knew about the meeting—or were themselves participants in the proceedings—refused to discuss what went on inside or report on the attendees. Luckily, AFP’s own editor, Jim Tucker, was on the scene to bust this clandestine confabulation wide open.
Luminaries at the Trilateral Commission meeting in Washington expressed confidence that they own all three major presidential candidates, who, despite political posturing, will support sovereignty-surrendering measures such as NAFTA and the “North American Union.”
The second item of interest this morning was titled “The New Feudalism” by Moss David Posner. David postulates in this essay that Americans have a disconnect to reality that has been carefully groomed over the years to make them susceptible to things that they would normally not accept. He goes on to conclude,
The current crop of international criminals wishes to reduce the world to one large feudal system. Such a notion endured for many centuries before. Could they really believe such is possible? Could they really pull it off? In this last regard, history does not speak in our favor.
Connecting the dots, one would have to conclude that David is absolutely correct in his conclusion. It all makes sense.
Standing Orders for the Next President
According to James Tucker,
This panel [Trilateral Commission] had these orders for the next president: increase foreign aid across the board because “America does not pay its fair share,” pay up the arrears in UN dues, allow as many immigrants into the United States as want to come and provide “amnesty” for illegal aliens already here.
Why else would the Trilateral Commission’s standing orders for the next President include such things as open borders, illegal alien amnesty, and shelling out even more taxpayer money, if not to reduce American citizens to lives of servitude and desperation?
All three handpicked Presidential candidates will do nothing to stop NAFTA or the NAU. In fact, they have pledged to support them. Here are quotes from the Trilateral Commission’s meeting regarding the candidates’ stand on these issues:
“John has always supported free trade, even while campaigning before union leaders… Hil and Barack are pretending to be unhappy about some things, but that’s merely political posturing. They’re solidly in support…” referring to Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Mrs. Clinton, they noted, held strategy sessions as first lady on how to get Congress to approve NAFTA “without changes.” As president, they agreed, she would do no more than “dot an i or cross a t.” Candidate Obama has not denied news reports in Canada that his top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, assured Canadian diplomats that the senator would keep NAFTA intact and his anti-trade talk is just “campaign rhetoric.” (Tucker, 2008)
The Trilateral Commission members concluded that the only real danger is Ron Paul.
They expressed concern that Paul’s rallies have attracted multitudes of young people who are getting “their political education.” They want Republicans to pressure Paul to drop out now and stop his education rallies. This assignment was given to Thomas Foley, former U.S. House speaker. (Tucker, 2008)
An educated and informed populace is not on the agenda for these New World Order (NWO) promoters. After all, have you ever seen an educated feudal serf?
The Stockholm Syndrome
Remember President Bush saying after 9/11 “if you are not with us, you are with the terrorists?” Who is this “us?” Why, the global elite of course. You thought it was all loyal Americans? Think again. Who are “the terrorists?” anyone besides the global elite. And what do you do with terrorists? If you are the ruling power, you exterminate, torture, and use them to accomplish your objectives. You keep them uninformed, fill their lives with propaganda and lies, and make them believe that there is nothing they can do about it. In fact, if you’re very good at what you do, they even learn to love you for it. This phenomenon is called the Stockholm Syndrome.
The Stockholm syndrome occurs when abused persons show signs of loyalty to their abuser/s because they become emotionally attached. How do you get your victim to become emotionally attached? According to Katina Krasnic, “This development occurs when there are perceived threats of violence, disempowerment of the subject, high levels of stress or trauma upon subject, and ultimate dependence upon the person in control for base survival” (LINK).
Isn’t this exactly what our government is doing? The population is bombarded with perceived threats of terrorism, our basic human rights are being confiscated before our eyes and we are becoming more disempowered by the day. People are under high levels of stress due to the threat of violence, as well as foreclosures, gasoline prices, lowering wages, loss of jobs, lack of medical care, and the myriad of other ways stress is induced. This stress creates the ultimate dependence desired by the abusers in power, and is exactly what is happening at this very moment. By the time the program is complete, people will be running to the government to protect them from the government, and thus, the serfdom noose tightens; and as good little serfs, will defend their master to the death.
In an act of self-delusion, the victims of Stockholm Syndrome develop conditions in order to reassure themselves that they will be protected or cared for. By creating a false emotional attachment and seeking praise and approval of their captor, they attempt to make a false reality for themselves, in which no harm can come to them. And by defending and/or protecting their captors from police or anyone who “comes to the rescue,” they allow themselves to appear as if they have some control in a relationship which they really have no power. The value of their lives, which the captor grants, is seen as a sign of affection or love, and the captive wishes to reciprocate in order to maintain their own position at that time. By accepting a level of objectification that one should reject as a matter of basic human dignity, hostages or captives weaken their ability to control their emotions. This allows them to become malleable, thus becoming easily susceptible to the whims of their captors, and creates this unbalanced relationship of attachment between the captor and the captive. (Krasnec, 2008)
Presidential Elections and the Road to Serfdom
Our Presidential elections are an emotional parade in which charlatans called candidates create a false reality for a nation of Stockholm Syndrome victims who desperately need to believe that someone in a high place actually cares about what happens to them. This is a carefully constructed delusion. While the populace lives the delusion and buys into the lies perpetrated by these Trilateral Commission globalist lackeys, the real players work the sidelines and act as shills in a crowd of marks, spurring the act on.
Wake up! John, Hillary, and Obama do not care one iota about the people of this country. They are charlatans in a circus staged for no other purpose than to push the people of this country further down the road to delusion and serfdom.
There is no doubt in this writer’s mind that feudalism is the global elite’s plan for the earth’s population. David Posner has nailed it. Americans are to be reduced to serfdom in this Utopia envisioned by the Trilateral Commission, Bilderbergs, and the rest of the criminals in power in a worldwide conspiracy to dominate life itself.
What Chance Do We Have?
The only chance that we as a people have is that these “leaders” do not perceive their own weaknesses because of arrogance. The more power they get, the more arrogant they get, and the weaker they become. As one ascends into the heights of arrogance, the less aware a person becomes of any personal weakness, and as any fighter knows, if an opponent is not aware of personal weakness, vulnerabilities are created. The key is to study one’s opponent, and prepare one’s self to strike at his/her undefended weakness. You cannot study your opponent if you are too engrossed in his/her charade by being a good little Stockholm Syndrome victim.
Therefore, I encourage people to think outside the box. Do not get wrapped up in the emotional hype surrounding the three Presidential “frontrunners.” They are all supporting the same ideology, and that is feudal serfdom for America as well as the rest of the world. Wake up! Join the people willing to think beyond the hype. Start studying your adversary and spreading the word about the weaknesses you encounter. It is the only chance we have.
New radio ads are running in districts of several Democratic members of Congress, as well as Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, targeting the lawmakers for their opposition to a White House-backed surveillance bill. The ads play on national security fears in an attempt to spur these lawmakers to give in to the administration’s demands.
Critics of the administration-backed bill say it does not guarantee enough civil liberties protections and would eliminate oversight of President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.
Meanwhile, Politico reports that Democrats, Republicans and administration officials have met to discuss the stalled bill in question. It’s the first time since February parties on all sides of the issue have met.
The ads come from the ostensibly nonpartisan group Defense of Democracies, following up on an earlier campaign from the group targeting many of the same lawmakers. The organization is urging the House to pass a Bush-approved update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would provide legal immunity to phone companies that may have violated the law in facilitating the warrantless wiretapping of Americans after 9/11. Civil libertarians and privacy advocates say the White House version of the bill, which already has been approved in the Senate, also does not provide enough judicial and congressional oversight for the administration’s proposed surveillance program.
Defense of Democracies is running ads in a dozen districts across the country, targeting 11 Democrats and Paul who voted for an alternative FISA bill that passed the House last month.
“This refusal to oppose the bogus House bill ensures that vital intelligence is being lost and that America’s intelligence community does not have the tools needed to detect and prevent terrorist attacks,” the group’s president Clifford May, said in a news release posted to its Web site.
The group claims to be bipartisan, but its earlier effort caused several Democrats to jump ship, and May told the Washington Post he has discussed conservatives’ lagging fundraising efforts with former Bush strategist Karl Rove.
Defense of Democracies’ campaign targets mostly “Blue Dog” Democrats who initially indicated they would support the White House-approved FISA bill. It accuses them of not heeding the “courage of their convictions” and bowing to pressure from Democratic leadership.
Writing at Bluestem Prarie, which covers one of the lawmakers targeted by the campaign, Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN), Ollie Ox writes that those who changed their mind about the FISA bill did so “after they actually saw the legislation brought before them.” Walz, however, is not a “Blue Dog” Democrat, and according to Roll Call, turned down the group’s invitation to join.
The Defense of Democracies ad also claims that vital intelligence was lost because of the delay in passing a new law, citing claims from administration officials. The Los Angeles Times reported the administration backtracked form this claim soon after it was made.
Taxes were on the forefront of many Americans’ minds this week as they scrambled to meet the April 15th deadline to file their returns.Tax policy in this country hurts taxpayers twice – once when they pay taxes, and then when the government spends the money.Americans are sick and tired of the financial burden and the endless forms to fill out. To add insult to injury, after collecting this money the government does some very detrimental things to the economy.
The burden of complying with the income tax is tremendous.Since its inception in 1913, the tax code has gone from 400 pages to over 67,000.The Tax Foundation estimates that around $265 billion dollars and 6 billion hours are spent just on compliance.That expense amounts to about 22 cents of every dollar the IRS collects.Imagine the boon to the economy if we spent that time and money expanding our businesses and creating jobs!
Aside from the direct loss of money and productivity, the funds from the income tax enable the government to do some very destructive things, such as vastly over-regulating economic activity, making it difficult to earn money in the first place.The federal government funds over 50 agencies, departments and commissions that formulate rules and regulations.These bureaucracies operate with little to no oversight from the people or Congress and generate around 4,000 new rules every year and operate at a cost of about 40 billion dollars. There are some 75,000 pages of regulations in the Federal Register that Americans are expected to know and abide by.Complying with these governmental regulations costs American businesses more than one trillion dollars per year, according to a study by Mark Crain for the Small Business Administration.This complicated system drives production to other countries and shrinks our job market here at home.
Big government is destructive when it takes your money and when it spends it.There is no economic benefit to supporting a government sector as massive as ours.In fact, this country thrived for well over 100 years without an income tax.Today, if you took away the income tax, the government would still have revenue from other sources equal to total government spending in 1990, when government was still too big.$1.2 trillion should be more than enough to fund a government operating within its constitutional confines, and that is exactly what we need to get back to.
I have introduced legislation many times to abolish the IRS and the income tax.It is fundamentally un-American to require taxpayers to testify against themselves and be considered guilty until proven innocent.Abolishing the IRS altogether would trigger an avalanche of real growth in the economy.
With these financial hard times only just beginning, this would be the most efficient and logical way to get our economy growing again, and Americans would need not dread the 15th of April every year.
Bands, balloons and the chance to rub shoulders with party movers and shakers are part of the allure of being a delegate to a national political convention. But don’t delegates play an important role choosing the party’s nominee and shaping its platform?
Some delegates to the Republican National Convention Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul have been told to stick to the bands and balloons.
An email, called a “National Delegate Self-Nomination Form,” sent to some 7th District GOP delegates warns them that they shouldn’t expect much of a role or influence at the convention.
Supporters of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul — who won six of 12 delegate slots to the GOP national convention at Fourth, Fifth and Sixth District conventions in early April — think the email was directed at them.
“According to the Seventh Congressional District, national delegates are meaningless,” said Minnesota state coordinator for Ron Paul, Marianne Stebbins. “They’re trying to talk our people out of running.”
Among the general requirements for a delegate described in the email — registration fee, responsibility for hotel bills and the commitment to attend the convention — was the unusual expectation to “contribute significantly to the national party and campaign, $1,000 is almost a minimum.”
Potential delegates were advised of an expectation to “contribute to the ‘TV image’ of the Party by being present, applauding and cheering at the ‘right’ places, etc.”
In addition, the email went on:
Platform ignored
“You should also be aware that, unlike your service as a State or local delegate, your influence on the process is considerably limited. The other primary states will, by convention time, have determined the Presidential nominee. The platform process is divided and the opportunity to participate in even a piece of it is limited. After the convention, the platform is generally ignored. For this reason, the role of National Delegate is generally seen as a ‘reward’ for long and faithful service to the Party, rather than as a ‘representative’ to a deliberative body or a ‘learning opportunity’ for newcomers.”
Neil Nelson, chair of the GOP Seventh District nominating committee, sent out the email, but said he didn’t write it. So as not to “reinvent the wheel,” he said, he used content prepared for another GOP district.
“If I had read it closer, and I should have, I would have made some changes,” said Nelson, who stated he was not at liberty to identify the author of the content. “It certainly wasn’t intended to discourage Paul supporters.”
Nonetheless, fighting the attitude that “after the convention, the platform is generally ignored” is what keeps Paul supporters engaged. Platform, principle and Paul are three P’s for the party, they say.
“We’re hoping Ron Paul’s candidacy can be the springboard for a renewed party of conservative principles,” said Stebbins. “The times we’ve won in the GOP were times we stood on principle.”
Here’s the text of the email sent by Nelson:
Hello:
I also wanted to mention that you must chose to either run for a delegate position or an alternate position. You cannot run for both. Please fill out the following form accordingly:
National Delegate Self-Nomination Form
You may place yourself in nomination to be a Delegate or Alternate to the National Republican Convention. Please be aware of the following expectations of your service in this capacity.
1. You will be expected to attend. It is not sufficient to allow the alternate to take your place.
2. There are substantial costs.
a. The registration fee alone is generally $300 or more, and “guests,” if you bring your spouse, cost the same.
b. For security purposes, you will be required to stay in the convention hotel, at a cost of $2-300 per night (5 nights).
c. You will be expected to contribute significantly to the national party and campaign, $1000 is almost the minimum.
3. You are expected to contribute to the “TV image” of the Party by being present, applauding and cheering at the “right” places, etc.
********You should also be aware that, unlike your service as a State or local delegate, your influence on the process is considerably limited. The other primary states will, by convention time, have determined the Presidential nominee. The platform process is divided and the opportunity to participate in even a piece of it is limited. After the convention, the platform is generally ignored. For this reason, the role of National Delegate is generally seen as a “reward” for long and faithful service to the Party, rather than as a “representative” to a deliberative body or a “learning opportunity” for newcomers. *******
If you aceept and believe you can meet these qualifications, please answer all of the following questions, Yes or No:
1. Do you pledge to attend the National Convention, health permitting?
2. Do you have the financial means to do so?
3. Do you pledge to support the Republican Presidential nominee after the convention?
4. Do you pledge to work for the Presidential candidate AND for other Republican candidates during this campaign season?
Please sign, date, and print your name below. At some point in the Agenda, you will be expected to deliver a short (roughly 1 minute) speech regarding your candidacy, upon which the delegates will base their votes.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul has slammed the Federal Reserve for printing money to manipulate interest rates and undermining the salaries of workers and savings of older people.
Paper money from pure fiat central banking, backed by nothing other than government debt - a process that was born after the gold standard was lifted by the United States which has led to rampant inflation since then - is a mystery to most ordinary people.
Secretive System
“Few Americans give much thought to the Federal Reserve System or monetary policy in general,” Ron Paul wrote in his column this week.
“But even as they strive to earn a living, and hopefully save or invest for the future, Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank are working insidiously against them. Day by day, every dollar you have is being devalued.
“The greatest threat facing America today is not terrorism, or foreign economic competition, or illegal immigration.
“The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation.”
Ron Paul is one of the few politicians of the world who understands the intricacies of fiat money. He is on the House Committee on Financial Services.
Deficits
Since the gold standard which was set at 35 dollars an ounce was broken amidst heavy money printing in 1973 leading to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the Federal Reserve has debauched the dollar to around 1,000 dollars an ounce in 2008.
US rate cuts (money printing) to save the domestic financial system from collapse has fired another round of inflation around the world, as the dollar plunged and excess liquidity found a home in commodity speculation, leading to food riots in some poor countries.
The International Monetary Fund said in its World Economic Outlook report this week that the current commodity bubble may also burst as it had in earlier cycles, now that the housing and financial bubbles have collapsed.
“Just today the dollar went down 1.2 percent in one day,” Paul told the Congress on April 12.
“It comes from the fact of deficits. Why does it hurt the dollar? Because we don’t have enough money. People are overtaxed. We can’t borrow anymore because interest rates will go up.
“So we print the money. The more money you print the further the dollar goes down and everything will go up in price.”
Since the August slashing of rate cuts, US inflation measured by an index that has earned Paul’s criticism for understating inflation has almost doubled to over 4 percent by end 2007 from just over 2 percent earlier in the year.
The housing bubble, the collapse of which caused the sub-prime meltdown itself was fired by earlier US loose monetary policy. Scamming the elderly
“The Fed’s inflationary policies hurt older people the most. Older people generally rely on fixed incomes from pensions and Social Security, along with their savings,” Paul wrote.
“Inflation destroys the buying power of their fixed incomes, while low interest rates reduce any income from savings.
“So while Fed policies encourage younger people to over borrow because interest rates are so low, they also punish thrifty older people who saved for retirement.
“The financial press sometimes criticizes Federal Reserve policy, but the validity of the fiat system itself is never challenged.”
Paul is echoing the words of an earlier generation of elected representatives who tried to stop the Federal Reserve bill being passed into law in 1913.
“The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking bill,” Charles Lindberg said of the proposed Fed bill almost a century ago.
“This is the strangest, most dangerous advantage ever placed in the hands of a special privileged class by any Government that ever existed.”
Has Capitalism Failed?- Ron Paul
It is now commonplace and politically correct to blame what is referred to as the excesses of capitalism for the economic problems we face, and especially for the Wall Street fraud that dominates the business news. Politicians are having a field day with demagoguing the issue while, of course, failing to address the fraud and deceit found in the budgetary shenanigans of the federal government — for which they are directly responsible. Instead, it gives the Keynesian crowd that runs the show a chance to attack free markets and ignore the issue of sound money.
So once again we hear the chant: “Capitalism has failed; we need more government controls over the entire financial market.” No one asks why the billions that have been spent and thousands of pages of regulations that have been written since the last major attack on capitalism in the 1930s didn’t prevent the fraud and deception of Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossings. That failure surely couldn’t have come from a dearth of regulations.
What is distinctively absent is any mention that all financial bubbles are saturated with excesses in hype, speculation, debt, greed, fraud, gross errors in investment judgment, carelessness on the part of analysts and investors, huge paper profits, conviction that a new era economy has arrived and, above all else, pie-in-the-sky expectations.
When the bubble is inflating, there are no complaints. When it bursts, the blame game begins. This is especially true in the age of victimization, and is done on a grand scale. It quickly becomes a philosophic, partisan, class, generational, and even a racial issue. While avoiding the real cause, all the finger pointing makes it difficult to resolve the crisis and further undermines the principles upon which freedom and prosperity rest.
Nixon was right — once — when he declared “We’re all Keynesians now.” All of Washington is in sync in declaring that too much capitalism has brought us to where we are today. The only decision now before the central planners in Washington is whose special interests will continue to benefit from the coming pretense at reform. The various special interests will be lobbying heavily like the Wall Street investors, the corporations, the military-industrial complex, the banks, the workers, the unions, the farmers, the politicians, and everybody else.
“The only decision now before the central planners in Washington is whose special interests will continue to benefit from the coming pretense at reform.”
But what is not discussed is the actual cause and perpetration of the excesses now unraveling at a frantic pace. This same response occurred in the 1930s in the United States as our policy makers responded to the very similar excesses that developed and collapsed in 1929. Because of the failure to understand the problem then, the depression was prolonged. These mistakes allowed our current problems to develop to a much greater degree. Consider the failure to come to grips with the cause of the 1980s bubble, as Japan’s economy continues to linger at no-growth and recession level, with their stock market at approximately one-fourth of its peak 13 years ago. If we’re not careful — and so far we’ve not been — we will make the same errors that will prevent the correction needed before economic growth can be resumed.
In the 1930s, it was quite popular to condemn the greed of capitalism, the gold standard, lack of regulation, and a lack government insurance on bank deposits for the disaster. Businessmen became the scapegoat. Changes were made as a result, and the welfare/warfare state was institutionalized. Easy credit became the holy grail of monetary policy, especially under Alan Greenspan, “the ultimate Maestro.” Today, despite the presumed protection from these government programs built into the system, we find ourselves in a bigger mess than ever before. The bubble is bigger, the boom lasted longer, and the gold price has been deliberately undermined as an economic signal. Monetary inflation continues at a rate never seen before in a frantic effort to prop up stock prices and continue the housing bubble, while avoiding the consequences that inevitably come from easy credit. This is all done because we are unwilling to acknowledge that current policy is only setting the stage for a huge drop in the value of the dollar. Everyone fears it, but no one wants to deal with it.
Ignorance, as well as disapproval for the natural restraints placed on market excesses that capitalism and sound markets impose, cause our present leaders to reject capitalism and blame it for all the problems we face. If this fallacy is not corrected and capitalism is even further undermined, the prosperity that the free market generates will be destroyed.
Corruption and fraud in the accounting practices of many companies are coming to light. There are those who would have us believe this is an integral part of free-market capitalism. If we did have free-market capitalism, there would be no guarantees that some fraud wouldn’t occur. When it did, it would then be dealt with by local law-enforcement authority and not by the politicians in Congress, who had their chance to “prevent” such problems but chose instead to politicize the issue, while using the opportunity to promote more useless Keynesian regulations.
Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had capitalism. A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments. Add to this centralized federal mismanagement of farming, education, medicine, insurance, banking and welfare. This is not capitalism!
To condemn free-market capitalism because of anything going on today makes no sense. There is no evidence that capitalism exists today. We are deeply involved in an interventionist-planned economy that allows major benefits to accrue to the politically connected of both political parties. One may condemn the fraud and the current system, but it must be called by its proper names — Keynesian inflationism, interventionism, and corporatism.
What is not discussed is that the current crop of bankruptcies reveals that the blatant distortions and lies emanating from years of speculative orgy were predictable.
First, Congress should be investigating the federal government’s fraud and deception in accounting, especially in reporting future obligations such as Social Security, and how the monetary system destroys wealth. Those problems are bigger than anything in the corporate world and are the responsibility of Congress. Besides, it’s the standard set by the government and the monetary system it operates that are major contributing causes to all that’s wrong on Wall Street today. Where fraud does exist, it’s a state rather than a federal matter, and state authorities can enforce these laws without any help from Congress.
Second, we do know why financial bubbles occur, and we know from history that they are routinely associated with speculation, excessive debt, wild promises, greed, lying, and cheating. These problems were described by quite a few observers as the problems were developing throughout the 1990s, but the warnings were ignored for one reason. Everybody was making a killing and no one cared, and those who were reminded of history were reassured by the Fed chairman that “this time” a new economic era had arrived and not to worry. Productivity increases, it was said, could explain it all.
But now we know that’s just not so. Speculative bubbles and all that we’ve been witnessing are a consequence of huge amounts of easy credit, created out of thin air by the Federal Reserve. We’ve had essentially no savings, which is one of the most significant driving forces in capitalism. The illusion created by low interest rates perpetuates the bubble and all the bad stuff that goes along with it. And that’s not a fault of capitalism. We are dealing with a system of inflationism and interventionism that always produces a bubble economy that must end badly.
So far the assessment made by the administration, Congress, and the Fed bodes badly for our economic future. All they offer is more of the same, which can’t possibly help. All it will do is drive us closer to national bankruptcy, a sharply lower dollar, and a lower standard of living for most Americans, as well as less freedom for everyone.
This is a bad scenario that need not happen. But preserving our system is impossible if the critics are allowed to blame capitalism and sound monetary policy is rejected. More spending, more debt, more easy credit, more distortion of interest rates, more regulations on everything, and more foreign meddling will soon force us into the very uncomfortable position of deciding the fate of our entire political system.
If we were to choose freedom and capitalism, we would restore our dollar to a commodity or a gold standard. Federal spending would be reduced, income taxes would be lowered, and no taxes would be levied upon savings, dividends, and capital gains. Regulations would be reduced, special-interest subsidies would be stopped, and no protectionist measures would be permitted. Our foreign policy would change, and we would bring our troops home.
We cannot depend on government to restore trust to the markets; only trustworthy people can do that. Actually, the lack of trust in Wall Street executives is healthy because it is deserved and prompts caution. The same lack of trust in politicians, the budgetary process, and the monetary system would serve as a healthy incentive for the reform in government we need.
Markets regulate better than governments can. Depending on government regulations to protect us significantly contributes to the bubble mentality.
These moves would produce the climate for releasing the creative energy necessary to simply serve consumers, which is what capitalism is all about. The system that inevitably breeds the corporate-government cronyism that created our current ongoing disaster would end.
Capitalism didn’t give us this crisis of confidence now existing in the corporate world. The lack of free markets and sound money did. Congress does have a role to play, but it’s not proactive. Congress’s job is to get out of the way.-Ron Paul
Ralph Nader, the consumer activist and independent presidential candidate, seems to think that the report of the commission assigned to investigate the events of 9-11 should not be the last word.
“There are unanswered questions in the 9-11 investigation, and they should be answered,” Nader said at a recent address at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. “How do you go from plausibility to evidence? You have a more independent inquiry.”
On the morning of September 11, 2001, airliners collided with each of the twin towers of New York City�s World Trade Center, after which they and a third nearby office building mysteriously collapsed. Other incidents on the same day at the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania were also attributed to aircraft collisions. �All were pitched by the government as the result of a terrorist conspiracy, although it is widely believed that the government may have played a direct role in orchestrating the events.
After public cries for an investigation, President George Bush and Congress deputized the 9-11 Commission, which issued its report in 2004. While the report was praised by some, critics contended that it was not much more than a government whitewash.
On another topic, Nader had kind words to say for presidential candidate, Ron Paul.
“Ron Paul is very good on foreign policy,” he said. “He’s a refreshing voice.”
Nader also praised Paul for his outspoken opposition to the aggressive U.S. stance against Iran and the so-called �war-on-drugs.�
Paul is vying with John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination.
Nader’s remarks were made on April 4, and aired on C-SPAN today.
Ron Paul campaigned in Pennsylvania this week, for the second week in a row. He spoke to enthusiastic crowds at both Gettysburgh College and Penn State University. He said he would continue to campaign as long as he had supporters, and the crowds at the two colleges showed that he still numerous and enhusiastic supporters in Pennsylvania.
There was plenty of entusiasm in Gettysburgh as Paul told his supporters that the Pennsylvania primary is important, even if his momination seems out of reach. His campaign has combined the message of economic freedom which was long a message of conervative Republicans with the message of personal freedom, which has been most identified with the Democrats.
“If we have a free sociey one day” Paul told the crowd, “it will be up to you”. Paul has been doing his part and his supporters indicated they are prepared to do theirs in the primary and to continue their support for the Freedom movement beyond this year’s election. (www.mcall.com) .
From the afternoon rally at Gettysburgh College, Representative Paul went to an even larger gathering at Penn State University. The scheduled rally had attracted so much support before yesterday that it was moved from a hall with a capacity of 700 to the inramural gym with a capacity of 1500. (www.collegian.psu.edu) Here Paul stressed both sides of the libertarian message and got a response from the crowd indicating that for his supporters, as well as for Representative Paul, the campaign will go on
