An Historic Day

Today is Ludwig von Mises' birthday, the economist who predicted the Great Depression - caused not by an outdated gold standard as many historians claim, but by a federal reserve system.

Today the monstrous bailout of investment banks was defeated. But on Saturday, Congress voted for a 25 billion dollar package for auto manufacturers. Don't let your republican Congressman claim that he's a free market economy guy if he voted for that nonsense.

Governer of Missouri to Obama: You're a slimeball

Apparently, the hope-inspiring Obama has been making threats against those who write "falsehoods" about him. This has upset the governor.

"St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign."

What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.tion about the election."

...

“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society.”

Fascism

Chalcedon Foundation's Blog has a great definition of fascism taken from around 1944. It's quite clear that this bailout takes us to a clearly fascist state from the once-great Republic it was envisioned to be.

Look Ma! I'm a published author! (Sort of ) :)

Well, I did contribute a chapter to Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas but Amazon has only two authors listed. A bunch of us contributed and I haven't received my copy yet. That was a much faster release than I anticipated.

Update: Just got back from a trip to the mailbox and there were the two copies the publisher promised me. It's beautiful. All of the contributors are credited. Here's hoping that this one is sent to the top of the NY Times list. :)

Liberty's Last Hurrah

I see the bailout fight as our last stand.

Groveling for Dollars

Paulson got on his knees yesterday to beg Pelosi to wave the magic wand on the bailout plan. Today, Bush makes a short little speech to reporters to once again threaten us with global catastrophe if we don't support the power grab they've proposed.

Let me tell you something. They're panicking and they're trying to cover something up. You do not ask for unprecedented power like this to "save" the American people from financial catastrophe. What really needs to happen, rather than cow-towing to these threats, is an independent investigator should immediately start looking into Paulson's finances. The former Goldman-Sachs executive is up to his eyeballs in something sinister. Put this in perspective. The 700 billion they're asking is almost as much as the entire annual military budget of the U.S. They are facing personal losses. Not everyone was stupid enough to invest in mortgage-backed securities. They're trying to save their own bacon, not yours.

Funniest line ever.....

"The Market is not functioning properly....."

Yes, Mr. President. It is not "functioning properly" because you have decided to meddle in it.

Monsters Incorporated

A new article over at Nolan Chart. The bailout is just another Reichstag Fire.

Earth to Barak

Obama says that the bailout will delay spending programs.

Newsflash you moron, a 700 Billion dollar bailout, benefiting Wall Street bigwigs is a spending program.

So are perpetual wars, welfare programs, social security, corporate welfare blah blah blah. Do people really believe that Obama or McCain represent change?

Who said this?

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all.

The Republican Party....

Thanks to The_Expatriate over at the-boondocks.org for this. Priceless. Why do I not stumble across these on my own? :)

It really is Robbery.

You won't hear this on the mainstream media channels. Apart from the fact that the government doesn't actually have any cash that it doesn't either print out of thin air or extract from your wallet - so you are in effect on the hook for the recent bailouts - the AIG bailout in particular gave the investment banks carte blanche to raid your portfolio.

"This is so important a topic, that it deserves top billing!!! Hidden inside the AIG bailout funding package, surely hastily cobbled together, but carefully enough to include a totally corrupt clause, was a handy dandy clause that permits raids. The conglomerate financial firms are permitted at this point to use private individual brokerage account funds to relieve their own liquidity pressures. This represents unauthorized loans of your stock account assets. So next, if the conglomerate fails, your stock account is part of the bankruptcy process. Finally the corrupt USGovt and corrupt Wall Street houses are desperate enough to put into policy, stated by the US Federal Reserve, outlining the authorized raid of your money."

[emphasis added]

Get out while you can.

Freedom's Fodder

A case where I was just handed some lyrics from the ether....

Freedom's Fodder

Gather round you plebes and listen to me sing
All hail the cogs inside our war machine,
In foreign lands they keep you warm and safe
In your good name they kill, bomb and strafe

All hail the King, Won't you kiss his ring?
"Oh you poor thing, I see you've lost your...thing".

Hear the thunder, see the lightning
Behold we bring shock and awe
We seek your praise, sons and daughters
To the glory goes freedom's fodder

What are riches to you in light of these graves
Give your good cheer and spy this flag that waves
Let go your pain let me comfort you
To those who lost a child we honor you
For those who object we have something too

All hail the King, Won't you kiss this ring?
"Just give me that and let freedom ring".

Hear the thunder, see the lightning
Behold we bring shock and awe
We seek your praise, your sons and daughters
to the glory goes freedom's fodder

The Collapse of America in 3 minutes

Barney Frank and the "Free Market"

So, Barney Frank wants to create an entirely new Federal Agency that would buy up worthless securities, and then sell them for pennies on the dollar (if it can find any buyers at all). The inflation that this would cause is mind-boggling. It is essentially the proposal of a direct tax levied against the plebes (you and me) to prop up these banks. The banks would essentially get out from under the worthless paper at some negotiated price that allows them to dump the "assets" without suffering any real losses. But the NY Times reporter who wrote this piece doesn't even ask the question of who is going to buy the worthless securities from the government? Even at 10c on the dollar, who would want them? This is a blatant rip-off of the taxpayer but nobody dares call it that.

"The question is, and it's just a question, is, 'Are we at the point where the private market has made so many bad decisions and is so depressed that it can't get out from under?' " said Mr. Frank, who is planning to hold a hearing next week to explore whether Congress should create an agency to help the markets dispose of hard-to-sell assets.

I guess by qualifying this as "just a question" he can avoid scrutiny.......

More victims of the credit blood bath

Washington Mutual S&L

Ron Paul - 2003

Ron Paul - introducing a bill to eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003

Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.

New Column at Nolan Chart

The Libertarian Party Should Clone Success

[Ron Paul's] success is due to his principled actions and his willingness to accept the responsibility to educate his constituents about libertarian principles in both word and deed. They do not deviate from the NAP. Not even a little bit. The electorate, being much smarter and educable than most people ever give them credit, responded. Many of Ron Paul's most vocal and dedicated volunteers were in fact Libertarian Party members. And the results were and are stunning. During this past GOP primary season, Ron Paul gained more votes than the past two Libertarian presidential candidates received in the past two national elections - combined.

Wayne Allen Root

A radical 100% pure Libertarian cannot get elected.

Gee....W.A.R., how did Ron Paul get elected?

Research

I am studying the LP's demise lately with regards to the party's co-option by a small minority of pro-war "libertarians". Thomas L. Knapp, a pundit whom I used to respect, had this to say back in 2003, before the Iraq war had begun:

I know that I will not endorse, donate to, vote for or otherwise support any candidate proposing to run for public office on the LP ticket, or for any party office, who comes out in support of this war.

I know that to the extent that I am able, I will work to get anti-war candidates to contest the primaries of any pro-war candidates who run for public office on the LP ticket, and anti-war candidates to run for party office against candidates who identify themselves as pro-war.

While Knapp came out against RP - he was promoting Steve Kubby and was concerned that RP would deflect money from his candidate - he is absolutely dead on here. The pro-war "libertarians" are the worst of the worst in politics.

Trustworthy Banks? Is there such a thing?

"Investors will now retreat to the trustworthy banks, though that's not a phrase that trips off the tongue easily nowadays."

Ack! Barr?

I couldn't help but add a conspiratorial twist to this whole Bob Barr implosion.