Jun 13, 2009
Japan Secretly Attempt to Shed US Debt
From Japan Today:
Two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian daily said Wednesday. The Japanese consulate general in Milan confirmed that the detention had taken place and said it was trying to confirm with Italian authorities whether the two were indeed Japanese nationals and their identities.
Jun 11, 2009
Republicans Propose Socialist Alternative to Socialist Healthcare
Judd Gregg and the Republicans have an alternative to Obama's welfare socialist big government healthcare schemes. The Republican's answer ... more socialism of course!
In the very same op-ed entitled "health reform possible without growing government" written by Senator Gregg, he also states:
"For those who may not be able to afford this [healthcare] plan, you will have assistance getting coverage."
How is this not big government? Is Gregg stupid or does he just think we are? Another disturbing statement in the op-ed includes Gregg's statement that "every American will be required to purchase meaningful health insurance." Ah, so not only is this plan promising to provide healthcare for everyone for less money just like Obama's plan but the Republican plan forces everyone to buy health insurance just like Obama's plan!
Gregg goes on to taught his ideas on how to cut costs through preventive medicine. No need to worry about the fact that several studies (and common sense) suggest that preventive medicine and electronic medical records do not save money.
It would be really fantastic if the Republicans would begin to support free markets and liberty in practice rather than just in rhetoric. This plan by Gregg is truly insulting to anyone with a brain.
Fascist America
How are some individuals (mostly from the left) so outraged when libertarians classify this economy/country as technically fascist? The government is currently running a large number of companies and industries either outright or indirectly. To name just a few - the postal service, Amtrak, GM, the coinage of money, the majority of the banking sector (indirectly through the Fed), the court system, national defense, scientific research, education, healthcare, most utility companies, and I'm sure I could go on and on. In addition, and just in case you do not get enough government in your daily life, Obama has given us a plethora of "Czars" to obey. Here is a list of a few:
Energy Czar: Carol Browner
Urban Czar: Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
Infotech Czar: Vivek Kundra
Faith-based Czar: Joshua DuBois
Health reform Czar Nancy-Ann DeParle
New TARP Czar Herb Allison
Stimulus accountability Czar Earl Devaney
Non-proliferation Czar Gary Samore
Terrorism Czar John Brennan
Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske
Guantanamo closure Czar Daniel Fried.
Jun 10, 2009
96.9% of Voters Don't Support Deeds for Governor!
The Mises blog has an interesting post on the results from yesterday's Democratic primary for Virginia governor. While the headlines in the papers reported that Deeds won in a "landslide", the truth is that 96.9% of Virginia voters chose not to vote for him. For some of us, there is a reason we do not vote. It is not due to apathy but due to the fact that we do not give our consent to be ruled by our overlords.
Ron Paul Interview with Montel Williams
Yet one more liberal who is supportive of our ideas. Montel Williams and Ron Paul discuss our country's progression toward fascism.
HR 1207 Discussed on CNBC This Morning
Jim Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, expressed his support for an audit of the Federal Reserve this morning on CNBC. The question was posed to him by liberal blogger Arianna Huffington when she mentioned the bill and its 207 cosponsors!
Once again, the libertarian support comes from the left. Grant stated that he believes the Fed will be shut down once it is audited.
"If the Fed examiners were set upon the Fed's own documents—unlabeled documents—to pass judgment on the Fed's capacity to survive the difficulties it faces in credit, it would shut this institution down. The Fed is undercapitalized in a way that Citicorp is undercapitalized."
Though he did not seem to express the desire to abolish the Fed, many of Grant's statements seemed to be based in Austrians economics. You can tell he has read Hayek:
"Interest rates are the traffic signals in a market economy, and everything's green. ... You have to wonder whether these interest rates are the right clearing rate or rather they are the imposition of a central bank."
You can read more about the interview here.
All Eyes on Peter Schiff
Schiff appeared on the Daily Show last night for an entertaining interview with liberal comedian John Stewart. I think this is additional proof to the wide appeal of the libertarian movement that liberals like Stewart and others can embrace (or at least act friendly toward) the message of freedom that Schiff and Ron Paul espouse.
In a particularly interesting part of the conversation, Schiff indicates a possible run for Senate against Chris Dodd.
Stewart: Are you running for office? something?
Schiff: Well I am considering potentially running for Senate in my home state of Connecticut.
Stewart: The nutmeg state! Well, you’d be be up against Dodd. Are you going against Dodd?
Schiff: That’d be the most attractive part about running.
Stewart: To go up against Dodd?
Schiff: To send him home. He’s been living in the Senate his whole life. He thinks he’s in the House of Lords.
Stewart: Listen he’s got a a very nice house. I happen to know he got a good deal on his mortgage as well.
Schiff: I think the guy who gave him that deal was just indicted.
The idea of Schiff running for Senate has a lot of people talking, which includes reports from Reuters, a widely read Connecticut political blog, lewrockwell.com, and of course his grassroots central supporters. As reported in the Reuters article, Peter is meeting with the Republican party to determine whether they would support someone of his political persuasion - they would really be shooting themselves in the foot if they do not. All in all my guess is that the odds are greater than 50% that Schiff ends up running. Even if he cannot win, the debates with Dodd would be loads of entertainment.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Peter Schiff | ||||
| ||||
Jun 8, 2009
Peter Schiff on CNBC - 06/08/2009
He debates some ignorant Keynesian professor who tries to tell Peter that his economic views are bad for the country. Listen carefully at the end where he tries to make the case that stimulus and easy monetary policy are what gives us economic prosperity. This is pure nonsense as Peter points out.
UPDATE: Thanks to David Kramer over at LewRockwell.com who informs us of the origins of the Peterson Institute. The inane positions taken by Schiff's opponent in the video should not be surprising given this background.
Jun 7, 2009
FED to Print Money to Hire Former Enron Lobbyist
The government is going to tax you (directly or through inflation) so they can pay for a propaganda machine in order to keep Congress from trying to figure out what exactly it is that the Federal Reserve has been doing with our money. I guess lobbyists are only bad if they originate from industry. If they come from government, then this is only "public relations management." More on this story is reported by Bloomberg:
The Federal Reserve intends to hire a veteran lobbyist as it seeks to counter skepticism in Congress about the central bank’s growing power over the U.S. financial system, people familiar with the matter said.No doubt, this is intended to shut down HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Bill of 2009. As Lew Rockwell says, the banksters are getting scared of Ron Paul.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
