Glen Beck on his show now just called out the FED.
“Helicopter” Ben testified that the FED would NOT monetize the debt.
Today, Glen, with some help, demonstrated that the FED auctioned debt to the “public” and the next month bought that specific debt on the secondary market.
Can you say “shell game”?
I bet the Chinese are really steamed with their 5T$!
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Leave a Comment » | 
GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: economic, economic freedom, Economics | 
Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
guardian.co.uk
28 days that shook the world
How the collapse of Lehman Brothers pushed capitalism to the brink
The Wall Street titan’s bankruptcy triggered a system-wide crisis of confidence in banks across the globe
Andrew Clark in New York
Friday 4 September 2009 12.14 BST
*** begin quote ***
Barclays picked up parts of Lehman from the bankruptcy courts, salvaging about 10,000 of the bank’s 25,000 jobs. But many still question the wisdom of the US government’s decision to stand by and allow a vast investment bank to go bust, given the intertwined nature of Lehman’s trading relationships around the globe. Larry McDonald, a former Lehman vice-president, says the Bush administration could easily have offered the guarantee needed to help Barclays buy Lehman outright: “They put Lehman Brothers to sleep. They executed her. They put a pillow over her face.”
Researching a recently published book on Lehman’s failure, “a colossal failure of common sense”, McDonald interviewed more than 45 Lehman executives. They insisted that they warned both Bush’s treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, and the then chairman of the New York Fed, Timothy Geithner, of the consequences of inaction: “They were begging Geithner and begging Paulson. They were saying to Geithner ‘you’re going to unleash the forces of evil on the global markets – you don’t understand what you’re doing!'”
That is not to say that Lehman can shirk blame for its predicament. With $18bn of core equity on its balance sheet, the bank had taken positions of an astonishing $780bn in mortgages, stocks, bonds, oil, gold, derivatives and other investments. It had leveraged its books by an astonishing factor of 44 and it had opted to take a particularly huge punt on America’s teetering home loans market.
*** end quote ***
This writer hits the 64k$ question, but doesn’t or can’t answer it.
Why does Lehman go under but everyone else gets rescued?
Perhaps the reason is Geithner and Paulson close relationship with Goldman?
Goldman makes out like a bandit in the chaos.
Not hard to leap to a conclusion there.
Bottom line: the taxpayer got screwed.
And, it began a series of actions to compromise “capitalism” and our liberty.
Misquoting Churchill: “the the American Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their worst hour.'”
Will this single event, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Bush administration’s response to it, be the single event that marks the beginning of the end of the American Republic?
Like the The Reichstag Fire, that allowed Hitler to accelerate the banning of the Communist Party, is Bush’s TARP1 the “October surprise” event that allows Obama to come to power and dismantle the American experiment.
Sad to think. Sadder still to think an old injineer see something that the political elite choose to ignore.
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Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Tagged: economic, economic freedom, Economics, LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://blogs.abcnews.com/johnstossel/2009/09/27-billion-for-captain-morgan.html
John Stossel’s Take
Commentary from Co-Anchor of ABC News’ “20/20”
$2.7 Billion for Captain Morgan?
09/02/2009 12:52 PM
*** begin quote ***
40-70 jobs for the bargain price of nearly $3 billion?
*** and ***
Turns out Diageo currently makes rum in Puerto Rico, so jobs there will be lost if the company relocates to the Virgin Islands.
“It’s insulting that the money we give is essentially paying for a foreign corporation to move from one U.S. location to another, while cutting jobs”
*** end quote ***
You can’t make this stuff up. The gooferment should just not take our money in the first place. It delivers NOTHING!
Seriously, the guys at Free Talk Live posed the challenge: “Name one government program that works? Bearing in mind that overpaying is not being a success.” I’ve never heard anyone answer that. Can you?
And, you want them to have MORE programs? AND EVEN something as important as Health Care, Health Insurance, or whatever they are calling it today!
Sheeple.
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Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: economic freedom | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
— Benjamin Franklin?
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Leave a Comment » | Quotes | Tagged: economic freedom, Quotes | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/fink1.1.1.html
IN gOD WE TRUST
by Gabriel Fink
*** begin quote ***
The merits of placing references to deity on currency is another debate. What should not be debatable to any of the three Abrahamic religions, is placing the name of God on something that is worthless, has no value, represents debt, usury, and facilitates war. The only type of currency that the phrase “In God We Trust” could be placed upon without taking the Holy name of the Lord in vain, is gold or silver coinage. After all, God indeed himself created these materials of intrinsic value, a feat the anointed Fed chairman can only feign doing in spite of his lofty seat in the marble temple in DC.
*** end quote ***
Without a question, the American motto should be:
In GOLD, we trust!
Clearly anything less is fraud.
And, let’s just go with ounces. No need for the word “dollars” anywhere.
It’s even OK with me if we want to be international friendly!
KILOGRAMS of gold!
See ounces have flavors; even grams do to.
We need a crystal clear measure.
A stone. (The old New England measure for potatoes!)
Heck we can call it a nano-STONE.
Let’s just be honest in our vocabulary. And our money!
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Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY, MONEY | Tagged: economic freedom, LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
*** begin quote ***
Trust the government
Human Events
by Newt Gingrich
“How much is one additional year of your life worth? Or one more year of life for your father or your wife? For your child? In Great Britain, the government has settled on a number: $45,000. That’s how much a government commission with the Orwellian acronym NICE has decided British government-run health care will pay for one additional year of life for a British subject. Think it could never happen here? Then you need to pay closer attention to what Washington is planning for your health care.” (08/12/09)
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33100
*** end quote ***
Probably all that I have?
How dare the gooferment intrude! Whose decision is it anyway?
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Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107221
Is ‘death panels’ charge over the top?
Posted: August 18, 2009
Thomas Sowell
*** begin quote ***
As for a “death panel,” no politician would ever use that phrase when trying to get a piece of legislation passed. “End of life” care under the “guidance” of “some independent group” sounds so much nicer – and these are the terms President Obama used in an interview with the New York Times back on April 14.
He said, “The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out there.” He added: “It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. That is why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance.”
But when you select people like Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel to give “independent” guidance, you have already chosen a policy through your choice of advisers, who simply provide political cover. The net result can be exactly the same as if those providing that guidance were openly called “death panels.”
*** end quote ***
The gooferment has no business in health care, health insurance (other than to prevent fraud), or anything like it.
The FDA should be shut down. People, in consultation with their doctors, should decide the efficacy and safety of drugs.
We got into this mess because of Medicare. Unfortunately, time for that to go. We should be spending our energies on how to unwind that mess.
It all comes down to the definition of insurance. What is the purpose of wealth at end of life.
Insurance is not for routine maintenance (i.e., you don’t insure your car’s oil changes) and for predictable stuff (i.e., the car reaches the end of its useful life). Insurance is for the unpredictable catastrophes. People, all subject to the same random risk, band together to minimize the impact. That’s why insurers talk about “pools”. If I have a pool of ten people who all share the same risk (e.g., a meteor will strike ONE car this year), then the premium is 10% of the car’s cost plus administration. Very smart actuaries figure it all out. And, it seemed to work fine for decades. Think Lloyds of London. But, now the gooferment says “insurance has to pay for hair replacement”. What if I don’t want to insure that risk. Too bad; you’re screwed. Live in NJ; can’t buy NY insurance. Can’t buy multi-year insurance. No 20 year level premium term insurance in health care. Argh!
And, when I come to the end of my life, and I begin to spend my wealth in my declining years, who’s business is it anyway. What did I save it for? If not to extend or make my life comfortable?
Let’s send the gooferment back to the drawing board. They should stick to figuring out how to honor the camel. Wasn’t it a horse designed by a congress critter committee?
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Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics, Gooferment, Health Care | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.parojo.com/news/content/DR_DOOLITTLE_CLOSED_08-09-09_ITFAOKI_v45.39864d3.html
Pet store shut over sales-tax nonpayment
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, August 9, 2009
By Alex Kuffner
Journal Staff Writer
*** begin quote ***
He went to the Division of Taxation in Providence on July 30 to deliver a check for $4,500 — all the money he had on hand. He asked if he could keep the pet shop on Newport Avenue open long enough to liquidate by selling off the animals. The tax representative said no.
The next day, he returned to file tax forms that were overdue. A representative told him that if he paid another $10,000, he would be allowed to reopen. He said he didn’t have the money. He asked what would happen if he defied the order and was told he could be fined and imprisoned. He left the office in tears, escorted out by a supervisor.
*** end quote ***
Make no mistake about it, the gooferment is a criminal gang. Heartless and money hungry. And, dont stand in their way.
In a perverse sort of a way, they are doing the fellow a favor forcing him out of business. A money losing business.
But, force leads to force.
In this case, it’s wasy to see the guns of government.
Aren’t you ashamed at what is done in your name?
I am.
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Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Corporate Tax, economic freedom, Economics, Gooferment, Tax Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Don’t give in to the state
Dallas Libertarian Examiner
by Garry Reed
*** begin quote ***
“Libertarians who fight for marijuana rights should never compromise on rights. They should never meekly beg to be legalized and taxed and regulated. They should never give in to the state. It’s the state, after all, who’s in the wrong, so make the state give in to you. That means demanding your rights as free and sovereign individuals, long and loud and persistently. And when the state finally comes around, offering to compromise its position by legalizing and taxing and regulating medical marijuana, take it. But never take it as an end, only as a step. Then keep demanding your freedom, long and loud and persistently.” (08/02/09)
*** end quote ***
The gooferment has no role in drugs. Other than to screw things up. Non-violent drug “offenders” should be pardoned.
Let’s shut down the FDA. All they do is slow stuff down on its way to market. Killing sick people in the process. And, making everything more expensive.
Argh!
And think of all the youngsters hurt or killed by impure “illegal” drugs. If they are going to take drugs, and I hope they don’t, let’s make sure they have pure “safe” ones. I think WalMart can put all the drug dealers out of business. Remember the gang wars of Prohibition? Coke and Pepsi. Bud and Miller. No shooting. Just competition.
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2 Comments | LIBERTY, Ranting | Tagged: Drug, Drug War, economic freedom, LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi113.html
Obstructing and Manipulating
by Bill Sardi
*** begin quote ***
Bernanke Caught Swapping Currencies
On the same day Barofsky was briefing Congress on his 250-page report, a film clip on YouTube showed Congressman Alan Grayson grilling the Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke, who admitted to swapping $500 billion of US funds to central bankers in Europe in one day (this represents 25% of what the US collects in taxes in an entire year), in what appears to have been an attempt to alter the value of the US dollar and to influence the price of oil and the value of stocks.
*** end quote ***
What that means is that, to the Average Joe , the markets are being manipulated.
What that means is that eventually one big ugly chicken is going to come home to roost.
What that means is that sooner or later the truth will come out.
We wuz robbed.
And the elite did it.
So recognize the thieves in DC and vote them ALL out.
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Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: economic freedom, FRAUD | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://knappster.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-economy-of-scale-stupid.html
Friday, July 03, 2009
It’s the economy (of scale), stupid!
*** begin quote ***
Wal-Mart is playing this masterfully: Cutting the legs from beneath its existing competitors, aborting its would-be competitors in the womb … and getting cookies and milk for “corporate social responsibility” in the process!
Nothing new under the sun, of course — from anti-trust to utilities to you name it, “big business” has always been the moving force behind the “progressive” initiatives supposedly intended to bring it to its knees. Big Government and Big Business are symbiotes.
*** end quote ***
Another form of “regulatory capture”?
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Leave a Comment » | NATIONAL | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics, facism, FED, Foreign Exchange, FRAUD, Inflation, Moral Hazard, Morality | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://blogs.abcnews.com/johnstossel/2009/07/your-handout-to-agribusiness.html
Your Handout to Agri-Business
07/09/2009 10:31 AM
John Stossel
*** begin quote ***
The Atlantic’s James Gibney has this suggestion:
Every product whose ingredients benefit from a subsidy should include the following language on the label:
“This product has been subsidized by the U.S. government at taxpayer expense. For more information, please visit usda.gov.”
And every product that benefits from tariff protection should have the following language on the label:
“This product is protected from foreign competition by U.S. import tariffs. Its price is higher as a result. For more information, please visit usitc.gov.”
*** end quote ***
I LOVE it!
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Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: economic, economic freedom, Economics | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE56660K20090707
USDA to oversee school snack food: Senate ag chair
Tue Jul 7, 2009 2:30pm EDT
*** begin quote ***
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Agriculture Department would be given the power to regulate all food sold in schools — including vending machine snacks — when Congress renews child nutrition programs, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee said on Tuesday.
Chairman Tom Harkin said he hopes the committee will start work on legislation to reauthorize school lunch programs in October or November, with a goal to conclude the work by the end of the year.
*** end quote ***
*** begin quote ***
The U.S. Agriculture Department would be given the power to regulate all food sold in schools — including vending machine snacks
*** end quote ***
Please tell me that this is a mistake. Where in the Constitution do you find the authority to do this? And, even more importantly, why would you want ot do it? Makes zero sense. So we are going to pay federal bureaucrats to tell state bureaucrats to tell county bureaucrats to tell township bureaucrats to tell school bureaucrats what can go in a vending machine! Are you out of your mind? I think that you can make a case that the USDA should be closed down. Adding to it’s “mission” is absurd.
P.S.: I have a relative that votes in Iowa and I’m copying him on this note.
# – # – #
I suggest that we all do the same thing.
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Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: economic freedom, freedom, Gooferment, Health | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=38821&t=1&c=62&cg=4&mset=
Gold is ultimate store of value for a discredited dollar, says Peter Schiff
Author: BI-ME staff
Source: BI-ME
Published: Fri July 10, 2009 4:12 pm
*** begin quote ***
INTERNATIONAL. Renowned Wall Street financial forecaster and economist Peter Schiff, the president of investment firm Euro Pacific Capital and author of ‘Bull Moves in Bear Markets’ said gold prices are poised for a “spectacular” and prolonged rally as the recession deepens and investors finally become disillusioned with the US dollar.
Schiff, who warned of the October 2008 stock market crash and accompanying recession as far back as 2006, has predicted a gold price of US$2,000, and rising as high as US$5,000 as inflation takes hold.
Speaking at a recent interview with Business News Wire, Schiff suggests that the looming prospect of a hyper-inflationary environment in the US will severely debase the US Dollar over the next few years.
“The global investment community will realise that gold represents the ultimate “store of value” as a safe haven replacement for a discredited dollar,” Schiff said.
*** and ***
“The only solution to the economic problems that we have today is a return to sound money… The world is ultimately going to have to move away from the ‘Dollar Standard’ and back their currencies with something real. I think gold is the best thing to use. Gold has been money for 5,000 years,” he said.
“One of the reasons that gold isn’t stronger is because of this temporary strength of the dollar. This is keeping the gold market in check. And the dollar is getting some of the safe haven money that should be going into gold,” Schiff added.
“At some point that will stop. The people who are buying dollars will realize that there’s no safety in dollars. Because the central banks are going to try to pay for the economic bailouts and stimuli by looting the world’s savings and by printing money and debasing it.”
“So, if you want to escape that, you hold gold, which is something that the government cannot debase,” he concludes.
*** end quote ***
Music to a Gold Bug’s ears.
The implication of 5k$ gold is that inflation as measured in dollars is 400%. That translates to a gallon of gas is $16, a package of hot dogs is $10, and a six pack of cheap beer is $20! Makes Frau’s social security check and my pension a lot lot smaller!
On the positive side, it makes it much easier to pay off the 11T$ “national debt”. But, how do you think the Chinese will feel holding 5T$ of diminished purchasing power? Not too happy!
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Leave a Comment » | GOLDBUG | Tagged: economic freedom, Honest money, Inflation | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D998DVD80&show_article=1
As retailers cut back cities confront ‘ghostboxes’
Jul 5 01:15 PM US/Eastern
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
*** begin quote ***
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Hundreds of anxious shoppers watched as city officials used power saws to cut 2-by-4s during Home Depot Inc.’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for its 102,700-square-foot building center in Bismarck. Less than three years later, the home improvement retailer shuttered the underperforming store, leaving a big orange empty eyesore on the outskirts of town.
*** end quote ***
Interesting how the town bureaucrats treat the coomonwealth as their own little business. As if they had any investment in it. The taxpayers do; not them.
For those, that hate WalMart and the other big box stores, seems the way to keep them out is to have a “rip it out if you close” law.
Love it.
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Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090704/D997DI2G1.html
Venezuela assumes control of Spanish-owned bank
Jul 4, 12:22 AM (ET)
By FABIOLA SANCHEZ
*** begin quote ***
(AP) Venezuela’s Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez Araque, left, shakes hands with former president of…
*** begin quote ***
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – President Hugo Chavez’s government assumed control of Venezuela’s third-largest bank on Friday – making the state the largest player in the nation’s banking system.
*** end quote ***
And this is different than what Bush43 / Obama44 did?
Chavez = bad communist dictator!
Bush43 / Obama44 = “good guys”.
Why because they are “ours”?
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: Bailouts, BUSH43, economic freedom, Obama | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
*** begin quote ***
A federal judge approved the sale of G.M.’s assets to a new government-run company, removing a major hurdle to the auto maker’s plan to exit bankruptcy.
http://online.wsj.com#mod=djemalertNEWS
*** end quote ***
As a GM bondholder getting screwed, why would I expect justice from the government’s court? THe government seized my propoerty violating the rule of law. And, the government’s court approved the government’s plan in violation of the government’s law.
Tyranny!
But not a surprise.
Who protects the serfs from the “King”?
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Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: Bailouts, economic freedom, FRAUD, Obama | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl/abolish-cash.html
To Fight Deflation, Abolish Cash
Could Japan Make Reality of ‘Science Fiction’?
by Leo Lewis
*** begin quote ***
With recovery elusive, a population doddering into old age and perhaps a decade of deflation in prospect, Japan may start mulling the most radical monetary policy of all – the abolition of cash.
Unorthodox, untried and, said one Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist, “in the realms of economic science fiction”, the recommendation has nevertheless begun floating around Tokyo’s corridors of power and economists have described Japan as particularly suitable as a testing ground.
The search for more outré economic policies continues, despite the recent surge in the Nikkei 225 index. The market may be reflecting soaring Chinese investment, rising consumer confidence and other cheerful data but economists see few long-term beacons of hope for Japan.
*** end quote ***
There’s no doubt that the gooferment would love to eliminate cash.
It could really track and control the People then.
How can we think that we are “independent”?
The gooferment manipulates us into thinking we’re in charge. Just try and change anything. They don’t even follow their own rules!
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Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: economic freedom, Gooferment, Inflation | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2009/06/22/truth-power-james-howard-kunstler-snake-eating-its-own-tail
TRUTH TO POWER: JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER–A SNAKE EATING ITS OWN TAIL
Submitted by Carolyn Baker on Mon, 06/22/2009 – 5:54pm.
*** begin quote ***
The current mass delusion that will go down in history as the “green shoots fugue” can’t possibly bring the credit freak show back because the credit — i.e. money borrowed from the American future — was swindled away. Something like $14 trillion worth of nominal dollars is being sucked into a cosmic vortex never to be seen again. It was last seen in the spectral forms of so many collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, so-called structured investment vehicles and other now-obvious frauds. That giant sucking sound we hear means the process is still underway, and the “money” disappearing into yawning oblivion will out-pace any effort orchestrated by the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury to replace it with new “money” (or credit). Therefore there is no chance between heaven and hell that the pre-2008 suburban homesteading and shopping fiesta can ever come back. The American polity is tapped out in all sectors, personal, corporate, and public.
Notice the two words largely absent from whatever public discussion exists around these matters — “swindle” and “fraud.” The reason they’re missing is because if they happened to enter the conversation, something would have to be done about them, namely investigations and prosecutions. The president is the person in the best position to set the terms of this public discussion, and by avoiding these two words he’s blowing the chance to begin the process of correcting the tragic course we’re on.
These swindles and frauds range from malfeasance at the highest levels to indecency in the lowliest cubicles — i.e. the collusion of a revolving cast of cabinet-level officials with Wall Street executives to loot the US Treasury, the probable criminal dereliction at the mid-level of agencies like the Federal Reserve’s oversight office and the SEC, to certain and outright street grifting in the traffic of securities known to be worthless at their creation. The current fiction that the public seems to be swallowing (for the moment) is along the lines of the old “mistakes were made” locution, which is an easy way to avoid holding individuals responsible for misdeeds.
*** end quote ***
At least this fellow has the honesty to call it for what it is … fraud!
A fraud on the Sheeple and the future generations.
How do we avoid this fiscal disaster?
Hard choices. Very hard choices.
On a national level, we have to begin to reestablish our moral compass.
Pay as we go. Not this “barbara streisand” that they use in Congress. But real pay as we go.
First thing that has to happen is we have to have honest money. No more FED funny fiat paper. We’re all adults. We know the situation is bad; we just have no idea how bad.
Audit the FED; strip the monopoly of its power. Redefine and dollar as some amount of gold.
(If I had to guess, FDR paid 20$ per ounce and immediately redefined it as $32. That was in the Thirties. We know that from 1970 to 2000, the dollar lost 97% of its purchasing power. Let’s guess the dollar was inflated let’s peg the dollar to gold. Let’s say the Treasure will exchange 1500 dollars for an ounce of gold and an ounce of gold will buy 500 dollars. No one will be lining up at that window to transact. But we will have fixed the number of dollars.)
(An easier idea is to repeal the legal tender laws and see what happens.)
Second, we need to “Save Social Security”. Hire that guy form Cato who did it in Chile and do something similar here. (Yup, some rich old folks may well get screwed. Sorry about that. It was a wlefare program anyway.)
Third, we need to FIX medicare, medicaid, and all the socialized medical programs (e.g., VA).
Forth, we need to prune government. (Bye bye Amtrak, post office, Education Department, and the countless bureaucrats.)
It will be painful, But what choice do we have?
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Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics, Gooferment, Obama, Tax Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
June 16, 2009
Are Gold American Eagles Worth What Congress Has Said They Are Worth? Or: The IRS v. Robert Kahre
*** begin quote ***
[Editor’s note: I am not a tax protester. Until researching the issue that is subject to this blog post, I thought all of the arguments raised by the tax protester crowd were frivolous. On this issue, I am not so confident.]
Take a look at this gold coin. It’s a Gold American Eagle. Look at the image on the right. Do you see what the coin says on the bottom half, underneath the nesting baby eagle?Gold American Eagle 50 Dollars
It says $50, right?
Indeed, it is (as I will explain below) $50. It’s worth as much as an Ulysses S. Grant. Well, if you believe it’s really only worth $50, send all of your Gold Eagles to me. I will sell them on eBay for about $1,000 each.
And now you can see the problem of Robert Kahre. Mr. Kahre is facing federal prison because he claimed that Gold Eagles are worth what Congress has said that Gold Eagles are worth.
Is Mr. Kahre’s position frivolous? I don’t think so. Please indulge me.
*** end quote ***
I blogged about this one.
*** begin quote ***
https://reinkefaceslife.com/2008/02/26/goldbug-why-buy-and-hold-gold/
(4) There are some interesting nuances in holding American Gold Eagle, which are produced by the gooferment (i.e., the Treasury Department’s Mint), and are asserted to be dominated in dollars. The one ounce gold American Eagle is stamped 50 “dollars”. AND, it is really worth ~940 “dollars” in Federal Reserve Notes. (There’s a recent tax case where the employer declared his employees earnings in “dollars” as represented on the Eagles he gave them. Everyone paid less taxes.)
*** end quote ***
This is an interesting quirk that can be exploited.
Of course, at your own risk.
Sigh, what is a dollar anyway!
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Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: economic freedom, GOLD, Gooferment, Inflation, Moral Hazard, Tax Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/california-bailout-reckless-or-inevitable/
June 21, 2009, 9:13 pm
California Bailout, Impossible or Inevitable?
By The Editors
*** begin quote ***
The Obama administration has told California not to expect a federal bailout. So how should the state deal with its $24.3 billion shortfall? Can it save itself? Or is it likely that the taxpayers of Iowa and Utah will end up picking up the tab of the state that represents an eighth of the nation’s economy? We asked Ron Paul and others for their views on what has to happen next.
*** end quote ***
Don’t Reward Exorbitance
Ron Paul, a United States representative from Texas and a medical doctor, is the founder of Campaign for Liberty. He ran for president in 2008 and is the author of “The Revolution: A Manifesto” and “End the Fed.”
*** begin quote ***
Californians know they are overtaxed
*** and ***
Instead of seeking federal aid, California should cut spending, rethink some of its unsustainable public pension programs, tame down the expensive and failed drug war, and repeal regulations that discourage economic growth. According to a 2008 piece by The Independent Institute’s William Shughart, the state owns more than 20,000 buildings and 6.7 million acres of land, a portion of which is “surplus” property that could be sold to private owners.
*** end quote ***
Sounds like advice that New Jersey could use as well!
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Leave a Comment » | NEW JERSEY | Tagged: Bailouts, economic freedom, Economics, Tax Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Lloyds Bank hit by Obama tax purge
Banking group drops American customers in UK ahead of costly proposals to stamp out tax evasion
By Louise Armitstead
Published: 9:39PM BST 13 Jun 2009
*** begin quote ***
This week American private client account-holders at Lloyds’s received letters informing them of an “important change in policy regarding clients who are resident, domiciled or linked to the United States by property or asset holdings”. They were told the bank had “no choice” but to “cease acting as your investment manager.”
*** end quote ***
Funny, here comes the unintended consequences!
It will be just the first.
More forms, more intrusive checking, more audits.
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: economic freedom | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=279
April 1993
Volume 11, Number 4
A Four-Step Health-Care Solution
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
*** begin quote ***
It’s true that the U.S. health care system is a mess, but this demonstrates not market but government failure. To cure the problem requires not different or more government regulations and bureaucracies, as self-serving politicians want us to believe, but the elimination of all existing government controls.
*** end quote ***
Summary:
1. Eliminate all licensing requirements
2. Eliminate all government restrictions on pharmaceutical products and medical devices
3. Deregulate the health insurance industry
4. Eliminate all subsidies to the sick or unhealthy
Permit me to add a fifth!
5. Make the tax code neutral with respect to benefits. Emerging form the WW2 wage and price controls, the gooferment has distorted the “playing field”. “Benefits” are deductible to the corporation and not to the individual. That has set up the situation where an individual’s health insurance is tied to their job. No job; no insurance.
How much better would things be if it was like life insurance or automobile insurance. I can buy 20 year term life cheap and no one cares who my employer is. I am required by the gooferment to have auto insurance (an absurd concept), but it’s not tied to my employment.
This seems to be an easy one.
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Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics, Gooferment, Health Care | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://lewrockwell.com/orig10/hansen1.html
Will Radically Different Banking Plans Work?
Not until we abolish legal tender laws
by Betsy Hansen
*** begin quote ***
Because the fiat money system is both the strength and weakness of America’s tyrants. It bleeds the people’s wealth and labor, but it also threatens to collapse under its own weight – or whenever the scales fall off the people’s eyes. With its green engravings of famous Americans, electrons whirling around in bank computers, and loans created out of thin air, it is one vast confidence game.
*** end quote ***
The Federal Reserve Bank (which is none of those things) allows the congress critters, the Administration, politicians, bureaucrats, and their ilk to raise taxes without explicitly raising taxes.
The sheeple can’t even tell what they are paying in taxes. Inflation erodes their “savings” such that the gooferment can steal all their earnings in a given year. Even the worst tyrant of dictator of old used to have to leave the serfs enough to eat from year to year. And, the sheeple don’t even know they are being robbed.a
Imagine the uproar if a President said: “Sorry we have to take everything you earned this year for the good of everyone.” There would be riots in the streets. But the FED can inflate away. Since 1970, inflation has reduced the value of a dollar 97%!
Sheeple, how stupid can you be?
Independence Day? Don’t make me laff!
We’re not independent as long as the FED exists. Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson, were right.
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Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/a_real_free_market_health_care_1.html
A Real Free Market Health Care Solution
By Frank S. Rosenbloom, M.D.
*** begin quote ***
Solution:
* 1. Don’t pass any of the Democrat health care plans. Savings of at least $3 trillion over the next five years.
* 2. Immediately do away with Medicare, Medicaid, and The Center for Medicare and Medicaid services. No other major industrialized nation has a separate system for the elderly, disabled and the poor. Scrap the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation. Savings of nearly $1 trillion in federal tax dollars yearly, $1 trillion in savings for states and billions in savings by dissolving the tyrannical Joint Commission.
* 3. People should be responsible for purchasing their own health care, not the government or the employer, making health insurance completely portable. Scrap Hillary Clinton’s HIPAA act at a savings of billions yearly. Let’s make it HIPAA-posthumous.
* 4. A Health Insurance Company must offer a good basic low-cost health care plan with expanded health savings accounts. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.
* 5. No health exclusions for three years. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.
* 6. Health plans should promote healthy practices and preventive health. Taxpayer cost zero.
* 7. For the poor, government should subsidize the premiums, not be involved in paying providers. Taxpayer costs by my estimate around $600 billion per year.
* 8. Retired people of lower means should be helped as above but should not have a separate insurance plan run by the government. Sorry, Medicare is dead. Promises were broken, but we are mature people and we need to get over it. Let’s not let it happen again! Taxpayer cost around $300 billion per year.
* 9. End tax penalties for individuals purchasing individual health insurance. Taxpayer cost zero dollars as these penalties are merely punitive, designed to make people dependent.
* 10. The health insurance companies in each state should have the option of creating a risk pool from some of their premium funds. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.
* 11. Laws should be changed to allow for private health co-ops to be formed as an option for those so inclined. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.
* 12. Patients should be free to change insurance plans at least twice yearly and since their insurance would not be controlled by their employer or the government no permission is needed from them. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.
* 13. There should be no legal right for insurance plans to dismiss competent and qualified contracted physicians for “no cause”, when that no cause is really due to the physician acting as a patient advocate.
* 14. Tort reform with penalties for frivolous lawsuits and the loser paying some of the costs.
Well, there you have it. The savings for taxpayers over three years: Nearly $5 trillion. Not requiring bills hundreds of pages long: Priceless! A few short regulations and we have a viable health care system for the future covering over 99% of the population, devoid of the treachery of Medicare and without dependence on the federal government. It’s very simple, very sensible, and so easy even a government official can understand it. It’s even short enough for Congress members to read fully, though some may require several days. Oh, yes, Mr. Obama, I want our $600 billion back.
*** end quote ***
Wow! What great ideas. Zero chance to kill Medicare. But, great ideas.
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Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: economic freedom, INNOVATION | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
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FJohn Reinke
Consultant at Technology Legacies LLC
Advisor, Computer Governance Committee at Manhattan College
Editor / Publisher at Jasper Jottings
Greater New York City Area
JJ Positraction JJ Endnotes Downsize DC
Philosophy of Liberty
I have NOT received any gagged governmental information requests
Reinke Faces Life 
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