POLITICAL: What can the gooferment do for us?

Monday, May 4, 2009

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/mladjenovic042309.html

At The Heart Of America’s Economic Problems
Paul Mladjenovic

*** begin quote ***

   1. Put an immediate freeze on government spending at all levels.

   2. Let failed enterprises (banks, auto companies, etc.) go out of business.

   3. Make it much easier to start a business.

   4. Put severe restrictions on money supply growth.

   5. Cut taxes at the federal, state and local level.

*** end quote ***
If the gooferment wanted to jump start the economy, all they have to do is get out of the way.
Read the entire article for a great set of thoughts about our problems.
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RANT: The problem is NOT poor people crossing the border for a better life.

Monday, May 4, 2009

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/01/severin_suspended_for_comments_about_mexican_immigrants/

Severin suspended for comments about Mexican immigrants
By David Abel
Globe Staff / May 1, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Jay Severin, the fiery right wing talk show host on Boston’s WTKK-FM radio station, was suspended yesterday after calling Mexican immigrants “criminaliens,” “primitives,” “leeches,” and exporters of “women with mustaches and VD,” among other incendiary comments.
*** end quote ***

Interesting.
Jay filled in on a NYC show once upon a time. I thought he was a reasoned voice.
As usual, this one, and many others on the radio, have missed the problem.
The problem is NOT poor people crossing the border for a better life.
(Is that what the Statue of Liberty proclaims? The phrase “huddled masses yearning to be free” comes to mind. Maybe we SHOULD put that proverbial garbage bag over the Lady with the Lamp? We obviously don’t believe in the ethic that she represents. Any more! At one time Americans did. But not now!)
The problem is welfare!
Americans have gotten fat and lazy! On welfare.
Cut out the welfare and you cut out one of the problems. Only folks who want to work hard, assimilate, and make a good life for themselves will come.
We also need to address the psuedo “war on (some) drugs”. If we decriminalize ALL drugs, then the Columbian Drug Gangs and the various gangs — including large segments of the gang euphemistically called “the police” will have to find other productive work. The Pharmacy Department at WalMart will be hiring. Instead of shoot outs over territory and children taking rat poison when they get high, we will focus our attention on curing sick people. If they want to be cured.
Yes, America and Americans have to change. Adapt to the new realities.
Immigrants in the pre-welfare state days had hard lives. But everyone was better off for it.
As Heinlein wrote: “TANSTAFL”!
“There ain’t no such thing as free lunch!”
So let’s stop bitching and get to work solving real problems!
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MONEY: Watch an old quizz show

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Just for an “economics lesson”, watch an old “Let’s Make A Deal” on Game Show Network. Pick any episode. They’re all from the Sixities. Watch for the final prize giveaway. It’s usually a car. Guess the price?

A beautiful Buick LeSabre. Base price 3,000 dollars.

Different dollars!

It makes you laugh!

But, it should make us all cry.

Some store of value.

In 40 years, will people be looking back wistfully about what a dollar could buy!

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MONEY: The dollar is a figment of your imagination

Friday, May 1, 2009

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=59

The Fed and the Golden Fleece
By William Anderson
Published 04/22/09

*** begin quote ***

When I teach my economics classes about money, I pass around a $10 gold coin that is a replica of those that were in circulation around 1913, the year Congress created the Federal Reserve System. The coin is made from one-half of an ounce of gold, dating from the time when the dollar was based upon a standard of $20 an ounce.

If I were to value that coin today, according to current gold prices, it would sell for more than $400, which means that according to this way of measuring the value of money, the dollar is worth about 1/40 of what it was when the Fed came into being. Now, this is not necessarily the best or most accurate measure of the decline of the dollar, but it is good enough for the purposes of this article.

*** end quote ***

Regardless of how you calculate it or the timeframe you use, the dollar is NOT a store of value.

In my book Church (page 113),  “Money is a matter of functions four, a medium, a measure, a standard, a store.”

The dollar, after the 1913 creation of the Fed, was no longer a measure, standard, or store.

As a youth, reading the Count of Monte Cristo, I dreamt of someday finding a pirate’s treasure. (Hard to imagine anyone not dreaming to find that chest, win the lotto, or such.)

Imagine instead of a chest of gold, finding a chest of dollars. When they were put in, they were valuable. Now they’re worth a fraction.

I often remember my now deceased father-in-law carrying a fifty dollar bill in his wallet ever since he was a young man. He always said: “With that, I’m never poor!” Sad to say, that each year, the value that fifty represented was inflated away. Stolen by the govenrment!

Gold is the only defense.

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GOLDBUG: 10K Gold?

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

http://www.garynorth.com/public/4857.cfm

Why Gold Owners Are Targets of the Government
Gary North

*** end quote ***

At some point, the number of investors who figure out that they had better buy gold is going to go from less than 1% of the public to 5%. When that happens, the supply of gold will not increase, and the price of gold will skyrocket. If as many as 10% of the investing public tries to put 10% of their assets in gold, I suspect the price of gold would go to $10,000 an ounce. The gold market is so marginal in the overall commodities market that the attempted 10% of investors to increase their holdings of gold to 10% of their assets would make today’s holders of gold very rich and very happy. I think at some point this is going to happen, but I think it is going to happen in a time of price inflation so bad that the purchasing power of the currencies will decline so fast and so far that the fact that you can get rich in fiat money by selling your gold will not persuade you to sell your gold.

*** end quote ***

Like musical chairs, when the music stops, will you be left with worthless paper?

OH, I forgot, it can’t happen here!

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MONEY: Shills hide that some government debt is unsellable

Sunday, April 26, 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/
ambroseevans_pritchard/5220118/
The-capital-well-is-running-dry-and-some-economies-will-wither.html

The capital well is running dry and some economies will wither

The world is running out of capital. We cannot take it for granted that the global bond markets will prove deep enough to fund the $6 trillion or so needed for the Obama fiscal package, US-European bank bail-outs, and ballooning deficits almost everywhere.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 8:49AM BST 26 Apr 2009

*** begin quote ***

Unless this capital is forthcoming, a clutch of countries will prove unable to roll over their debts at a bearable cost. Those that cannot print money to tide them through, either because they no longer have a national currency (Ireland, Club Med), or because they borrowed abroad (East Europe), run the biggest risk of default.

Traders already whisper that some governments are buying their own debt through proxies at bond auctions to keep up illusions – not to be confused with transparent buying by central banks under quantitative easing. This cannot continue for long.

Commerzbank said every European bond auction is turning into an “event risk”. Britain too finds itself some way down the AAA pecking order as it tries to sell £220bn of Gilts this year to irascible investors, astonished by 5pc deficits into the middle of the next decade.

{Extraneous Deleted}

*** end quote ***

In this long article, the author asserts that not all is good in the “Emerald City”. No need to look behind the curtain.

The FED is buying Treasury debt.

Who is going to finance the American deficits?

And, at what interest rate?

How can shills buying the unsellable help the gangs finance their wasteful ways?

When does this one very big and ugly chicken come home to roost?

Argh!

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MONEY: Deficit spending?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

200904171047.jpg

Speechless!

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RANT: “Plastic pitchforks”? DOn’t think so.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2009/04/astroturf-part-2.html

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Astroturf, Part 2
Hank Kalet

*** begin quote ***

Thomas Frank knows about Republicans and populism.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975925509119297.html

*** end quote ***

MY RESPONSE:

“Plastic pitchforks”?

I don’t think so. Admittedly I don’t know. It too could be another gigantic conspiracy.

But, I think not. For the first time in American history, the current generation in power is seeing — a lower standard of living for the next one, a dumbing down of “graduates”, and a net loss in their savings and earning power.

It makes me mad. It makes them mad. And, it scares the dickens out of everyone.

The political class, instead of providing leadership, has run around like chicken little spending money we don’t have to feather their own nests, reward their friends, and punish their enemies. Once again, the rich and powerful had their losses made good from the public treasury. Little people lost their 401ks and became the butt of late night comedian jokes about 201ks. At least, they noticed.

And don’t forget employment. We’ve gone from the 50’s America where it was possible for a high school student to earn a living wage on one salary to now, where to wage earners is barely enough to pay the taxes and stay solvent. Never mind live comfortably.

Astroturf?

I don’t think so.

And, it flows back into huge gooferments that suck up money like a vacuum cleaner. With bureaucrats that whine about 5 and 10% annual raises, lifetime health care, and artificially fattened pensions for their “lifetime” of “service”.

I think the “tea parties” are the undercurrent of political unrest that will make VietNam look like a walk in the park.

imho, but then I’m just one of those extremist vet that Nepaolitano and our version of the SS — Homeland Security — is watching out for. Got news for them, they could see a problem until it bites US in the A double Q!

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RANT: Too many drones; not enough workers

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/representation_without_taxatio.html

April 10, 2009
Representation without Taxation
By Alan Aronoff

*** begin quote ***

When beneficiaries of government policy do not sufficiently overlap the payers of those benefits, we have a governing system of representation without taxation. This type of system is not sustainable long term, but history suggests it may persist for some time under the pretext of ‘economic justice’ unless soundly rejected by the American people.

*** end quote ***

That’s the result of “progressive” taxation aka “soak the rich”.

The only fair tax is to make it voluntary. If the gooferment provides a service, then it should “tin cup” for donations.

At the very least, if EVERYONE had to pay a 1% tariff on imported goods. That would be “fair”.

As I proposed in page 616 of my book “CHURCH 10●19●62” (http://www.itstartedinchurch.com), a simple modest tariff collection mechanism would require little enforcement:

“Because the Government didn’t want to have a lot of checkers, the value is declared at the border. The tariff is two MILs per 10 ounces of value. The importer declares the value and pays the tariff. To ensure honesty, under estimation triggers a 100% penalty. So because the rate is so low and the penalty so high, importers typically add a zero to the end of the value number. For example, a truck valued of one thousand ounces would be assessed a tax of two ounces. So an importer, to be sure of compliance, would call it ten thousand ounces and pay a tax of twenty ounces. Not very fair, but very easy to administrate.”

We have reached the point where the “takers” outnumber the “producers”. We’ll we now see the diminished incentives lead to decreased productivity. Eventually it winds up that we look like a Communist country where the underground economy and “just getting by” becomes the national ethic.

Where are the pitchfork and torches?

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MONEY: Health care a la WalMart

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/026345.html

April 15, 2009
Thank Goodness for Wal-Mart
Posted by Lew Rockwell at April 15, 2009 12:35 PM

*** begin quote ***

I kept my COBRA going, but at $538/month, it became unsustainable. I let it lapse four months ago. Last month, I couldn’t refill my high-blood pressure medications and I took my last thyroid pill on Saturday. I didn’t know what I was to do. Kaiser wouldn’t even let me PAY for my medications as I wasn’t a member now.

I remembered Wal-Mart had these walk-in clinics. In desperation and fearing the worst, I went on Easter Sunday. The clinic was spotless, the doctor was a retired UCD Medical Center Professor who just wanted to keep his hand in and see patients, there wasn’t any wait, the cost was only $59, and my prescriptions were only $9 each for a 100 days supply. Total with Wal-Mart: $86. With my Kaiser, I would have paid a $25 copay for the doctor visit and three $25 copays for each medication. Total with Kaiser: $100, but AFTER I paid $538/month to remain a member. Before Wal-Mart, my blood pressure was 123/186, today it is back down to 84/124.

*** end quote ***

Great lesson to the “universal health care” advocates!

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MONEY: “pension plans” an idea that’s time has passed

Sunday, April 12, 2009

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/jcpl_denies_full_pension_to_fo.html

JCP&L denies full pension to former employee’s widow
by Karin Price Mueller/The Star-Ledger
Monday April 06, 2009, 9:00 PM

*** begin quote ***

How much is 17 hours of your life worth? It’s a question widow Brenda Slutter has been wrestling with for years.

Her husband, Ron Slutter, worked for Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) for nearly 36 years. He died of cancer at age 58. Knowing his death was imminent, Ron made arrangements to retire, a move that would allow his wife to receive the largest possible company pension benefit after his death. He was told by JCP&L, his widow said, that his official retirement date had to be on the first of the month — but died 17 hours and 40 minutes before the paperwork was finalized.

Thanks to a tangle of bureaucratic rigidity, legal fine print and the timing of her husband’s death, Brenda, 59, receives only half the pension benefit her husband meant for her to receive.

“If January only had 30 days, he would have made it,” Brenda said.

*** and ***

Bamboozled contacted JCP&L to talk about the case, but the company wouldn’t discuss any particulars.

“We respect the privacy of all of our employees and do not publicly discuss or disclose any personal information,” said Ronald Morano, spokesman for First Energy, the parent company of JCP&L. “We work diligently to ensure that our employees and their families understand their benefits and the options available to them.”

*** and ***

Brenda Slutter isn’t surprised by the company’s response, and she’s not giving up her fight.

“This is not how you reward someone for doing an excellent service for your company,” she said. “I guess First Energy needs half of my husband’s pension more than I do.”

*** end quote ***

# – # – #

Argh! May I suggest that the various state and federal agencies be prompted to audit the JCP&L and it’s pension plan? Tell me that retirement dates haven’t been adjusted for the executives.

This brings me to why do we have pension plans at all. People should be paid out for their full worth and allowed to make their own arrangements.

It’s a shame to see anyone get screwed.

Pensions and “benefits” came about as a result of the gooferment’s wage and price controls of WW2. Does anyone think we still need the distortion?

Gooferment is the root of all evil.

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MONEY: Obama’s “Bailout Bonds”

Friday, April 10, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/bailout-bonds.html

Bailout Bonds?
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

*** begin quote ***

The Obama administration is cajoling investment companies to create bailout bonds. These would be similar to the bonds that wartime presidents created to find sucker-investors for their wars. Americans were browbeaten into buying them as a patriotic duty. So too those who say “yes, we can” to the bailouts will be asked to do their patriotic duty, and buy the debt of loser companies.

It’s all part of the war on depression, which is destined to be as successful as the war on drugs. But, hey, if it is a good investment, why not buy bailout bonds? Well, there’s a problem. The bonds represent credit extended to companies and projects that are proven market failures. Creating these bonds is a way of institutionalizing the principle of buying low and selling lower.

*** end quote ***

# – # – #

An even MORE important point is who’s going to buy ANY of the US Gooferment debt?

When the pundits say ONE or TWO Trillion Dollar Deficit, (that means they haven’t or can’t tax it to zero), there are really only TWO choices: INFLATION to monetize the debt (A fancy way to say “we’re going to screw everyone who hold dollars”; that’s why the Chinese with their 5T$ are upset. Inflation is a tax on every dollar that currently exists. How many do you have?) —-OR—- BORROW it. (The Treasury issue notes and bonds, basically IOUs, to folk who think they might get their money back with interest.

Who’s going to buy 2T$ worth of debt?

Not the unemployed. Not the “scared money”. Not the Chinese. Not the retirees who have taken a 50% haircut in the market. Not those with 401ks and IRA that have taken the same haircut or worse.

Who else has savings to loan Uncle Sam?

Watch for the interest rates to rise. See bond buyers KNOW their biggest risk is inflation. For those of us who lived thru the Carter Stagflation, we remember the Treasury couldn’t sell 15% tbills because price inflation was running 20%. History WILL repeat itself.

Gold and silver. Gold and silver.

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MONEY: Leaving the American Dollar

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5072484/Russia-backs-return-to-Gold-Standard-to-solve-financial-crisis.html

Russia backs return to Gold Standard to solve financial crisis

# – # – #

Anything that moves the world off the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency is going to hurt us. The Chinese alone are holding 5T$. What do they do? Obama’s deficits are 2T$ in 2009 alone. Who’s going to buy that debt?

As always, it’s posterity who is going to be left holding the bag.

What can us little folk do? Buy bullion gold coins, take delivery, and “bury” them at home as part of your “savings”. It’s the only investment option that gets you off the fiat currencies. Read about the pre-WW2 German inflation and the news reports out of Zimbabwe. It’s coming, the only question is when. Obama’s socialism and spending is going to make us all poorer, very quickly.

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POLITICIAL: BIG GOVERNMENT can’t solve problems

Sunday, April 5, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french111.html

The Lies are Sacred, Blessed by Government
by Doug French

*** begin quote ***

The real trouble, as professor Cleveland points out, is that the vast majority of people have accepted big government as the solver of all problems, thus Obama’s overwhelming election victory. Education is what is needed to fix this problem. It won’t happen overnight, but if more young people read sound, well-written books like professor Cleveland’s, the nation will ultimately return to its roots.

*** end quote ***

As Regan said, “Government isn’t the solution; it’s the problem”.

How right he was.

Unfortunately, the sheep people won’t understand that,

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INTERESTING: Deficits matter!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhtTfK6Vuz8&feature=player_embedded

Worst Case: The Day The Dollar Falls Part 1/6

A 2005 Dutch film about TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) caused by a financial panic. All caused by big US deficits.

Interesting?

Maybe the fellow just had the year and President wrong.

Now we have Trillion Dollar Deficits for forever.

Scary!

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MONEY: The creature from Jekyll Island – the Fed!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan108.html

Should We Kill the Fed?
by Patrick J. Buchanan

*** begin quote ***

Should not this creature from Jekyll Island, for all its manifold crimes and sins against the republic, also be summarily put to death?

*** end quote ***

The Federal Reserve Bank!

It’s neither ‘federal” since not even the US Congress can get its books audited.

It “reserves” nothing; it merely manipulates and prints.

And, it’s not a “bank”.

So what is it?

What is the creature from Jekyll Island?

(The name comes from the location of a secret collusion between bankers where the arrangement was hammered out.)

It’s a price fixing cartel a la OPEC for “american” banks.

As PJB alludes, Andrew Jackson must be rolling over in his grave, he killed one of it’s predecessors the “United States Bank”.

Of course, I agree that if we had commodity money, we would NOT have the artificial booms and busts that come with manipulating interest rates. Interest rates are the key indicator to business as to what projects are worth doing and what are not. AND, without a fiat currency, (where the Fed prints all the Congress can spend), the Congress would be restrained in its spending. AND, our poor and those on fixed income wouldn’t have to pay the brunt of the “inflation tax”.

Before leaving the Gold Standard in 1913 and before the FED embarked on manipulating us for the benefit of the rich and their banks, America was in decades of stable slightly declining prices. Money was a stable store of value.

(“Money is a matter of functions four, a medium, a measure, a standard, a store.” p116 in my novel “CHURCH 10●19●62”)

How does one plan in post WW1 Germany, Argentina in the 80’s, Zimbabwe today, or the USA in the next decade? Runaway inflation of the money supply and high interest rates are going to hurt everyone.

I have only heard one real objection and one minor objection to the Gold Standard.

Bob Brinker (bobbrinker dot com) had the minor objection that there would no ability for the government to supply stimulus to the economy with monetary policy. That’s is the problem, Bob; the politicians want inflation so they can spend to buy votes, reward their friends, and punish their enemies.

More substantially, Brinker objected to giving Congress the power to value money. He feared runaway inflation as the the COngress, as did the French Kings, inflate uncontrollably. That we agree on. Congress is like drunken sailors. Except their ship is always in.

Returning to the Gold Standard, where a dollar is defined as some amount of gold and / or silver, will impose discipline on the world.

How do we get there?

Let people be free to use whatever they want for money. The King, the government, the criminals in DC should just repeal the mandatory tender laws that force everyone to accept the dollar. The marketplace will quickly adjust.

And, Americans can get back to work.

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INTERESTING: Obama’s White House play book

Thursday, April 2, 2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123862834153780427.html

* OPINION
The President Is ‘Keeping Score’
Chicago politics has moved into the White House.
By KARL ROVE

*** begin quote ***

Alinsky’s 1971 book, “Rules for Radicals,” is a favorite of the Obamas. Michele Obama quoted it at the Democratic Convention. One Alinsky tactic is to “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” That’s what the White House did in targeting Rush Limbaugh, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer. (The president’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, went so far as to lash all three from the White House press podium.) It may also explain Mr. Obama’s comments to Mr. DeFazio.

*** end quote ***

It’s the same old tired politics as usual. The Big Government D’s took over from the Big Government R’s and are spending our posterity into servitude. And, they don’t realize it.

But we old farts should and resist.

Guess that will put me on an enemies list somewhere.

I hate all the politicians.

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INTERESTING: Counterfeit aka fiat money messes up all calculations

Thursday, April 2, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/shostak7.html

Would Cleansing Banks’ Balance Sheets Kick-start the US Economy?
by Frank Shostak

*** begin quote ***

Again, note that what makes the lending possible here is not money but the saved consumer goods. Money just serves here as a facilitator. Or we can say that the act of lending here is about the transfer of final consumer goods from lender to a borrower with the help of money.

The essence of credit will not be altered by the introduction of banks. Instead of lending money directly, John could now engage in lending through the intermediary. (John transfers his money to the bank. The bank lends the money to a borrower.)

Real savings determines the size of credit. What people really want is real stuff, i.e., real savings and not money as such. Hence, as long as banks facilitate credit that is fully backed by real savings, they should be seen as the agents in the transmission of wealth.

*** end quote ***

(Disclaimer: I’m an injineer that got D’s in economics.)

This little morality play about savings misses three factors that I think are significant.

The theft of money by inflation. It in effect “steals” from every dollar holder and acts as a hidden tax.

The interest rate controlled by the central bank “taxes” savings both when the rate is too high and too low.

The baker and all who consume bread are forced to “save” by virtue of these taxes.

When money is debased, all economic calculations are done with a “broken calculator”.

IMHO!

As I said I’m just a dumb old injineer!

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GOLDBUG: What is a dollar?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/murphy/murphy152.html

Defend the Gold Standard
by Bob Murphy

*** begin quote ***

I don’t trust central bankers to stick to a gold standard; that’s why I think the government should get out of the money industry altogether. Suppose we were starting in an initial state of pure laissez-faire in money and banking, and someone said, “Hey I know! Let’s give this Princeton professor – what was your name, sir, was it Ben? – a printing press, but be very stern that he can’t overdo it and allow the gold price to rise more than 1 percent from the day he starts. Does that sound like a good idea?” In response, I would obviously say, “No, that seems rather risky. I think we should stick to the current system, where the market determines how much new money is brought into the economy through gold production.”

*** end quote ***

We fall prey to these bozo bureaucrats when we let them mess with the money supply.

If we tie the value of a dollar to gold, then the Fed can’t just manufacture dollars out of thin air. And, congress critters can’t spend what they don’t take it.

It restores honesty to finances. It disciplines them into husbandry. It forces them to live with in OUR means.

After all in fiat currency, what is a dollar?

A toilet paper alternative?

Argh!

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INTERESTING: NCAA graduation rates. Embarrassing!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/news?slug=ap-ncaa-graduation&prov=ap&type=lgns

14 women’s tourney teams have perfect grad rates

By The Associated Press 4 hours, 38 minutes ago

*** begin quote ***

Fourteen women’s basketball teams in the NCAA tournament have perfect graduation rates.

*** end quote ***

NCAA could clean this up in a heartbeat. And, level the playing field. Tie graduation to the scholarships you can give out. One of your team doesn’t graduate or isn’t on schedule, that’s one less scholarship you can give out. Sounds fair to me! Guess coaches will have to focus on selecting players who can make the grade and coaching them in more than basketball. I know that MC focuses on graduation. There has to be some small tolerance for personal decisions, emergencies, and such. Maybe they get 1 free pass or such an allowance. But clearly if your player can’t graduate, can’t read, and has been totally exploited, then they need some protection.

Embarrassing! Or worse.

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MONEY: Live debt free

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88524

People demanded change and it’s coming

Posted: February 10, 2009 8:41 pm Eastern

*** begin quote ***

The time of politicians listening to the will of the people has long passed. They are no longer our servants, they are our masters. Masters who demand we continue down the same road that has failed us for years.

What are we going to do about it?

As for me, I have decided to take hold of my future by preparing for very uncertain times. I live debt free. I live within my means. I don’t have the biggest house in town. But I sleep well and know that when they screw things up even worse than they already have, I can pay my bills because I don’t invest in their nonsense. I own land, gold, cash and a very small amount of stock.

I suggest you do the same.

I fully intend to expose and vote against everyone who voted for this foolish bill. Any member of Congress who voted for this bill should never be re-elected. They have blatantly disregarded the cries of the constituents who gave them their jobs. They may have ignored us once without a consequence but not twice.

Shame on whom this time?

*** and ***

Craig R. Smith is president and CEO of Swiss America Trading Corporation, an investment firm specializing in U.S. gold and silver coins. An expert in tangible assets, he is an author, commentator and frequent radio and television guest because he instantly engages audiences with his common-sense analysis of economic trends.

*** end quote ***

Seems like a good plan to me.

It goes hand in hand with my first element of my “Success for your generation” that is “(1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt;”

Maybe Dave Ramsey IS right!

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INTERESTING: Companies can move!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/03/welcome_to_the_new_houston_tx.html

March 17, 2009
Welcome to the new Houston, TX … Zug, Switzerland
Larrey Anderson and Otis Glazebrook

*** begin quote ***

Where does U.S. oil money go when Obama promises to punish the oil companies for excess profits? Reuters’ Sam Cage knows:

*** end quote ***

What these socialists forget is that companies can site where ever they want. So guess what? Bye bye USA!

It’s the corporate version of a “tax revolt”. They don’t stand and fight. They run.

Unfortunately, it’s harder for real people. If I was a wee lad, I’d be off to NH with the Free State Project. http://www.freestateproject.org/ Before your “roots” harden you into the ground.

Churchill’s words echo hollow here in NJ, when do we fight? When it’s hopeless!

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MONEY: Where are we going to be in 20 years?

Monday, March 16, 2009

http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5565&Itemid=48

The Money Meltdown: A Conversation with Thomas Woods Jr. by Brian Saint-Paul 3/11/09

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Q: We’ve had bailouts and stimulus packages, and possibly more of both in the near future. If you were to look into a crystal ball, where are we going to be in 20 years? Where is all of this heading? Will we reach a point of total economic collapse? Or will we wind up as the newest Euro-style state?

It seems to me that the best-case scenario is a kind of European third-way stagnation: high unemployment, anemic growth (if any), and a whole bunch of people scratching their heads and wondering why this is happening. That could be our fate.

Of course, it could be worse. It may turn into something like what Japan endured in the 1990s and beyond — though at least Japan had some domestic savings as a cushion. Or there could well be a complete collapse of the system, with the dollar destroyed. This is all conditional, because it depends in large part on what the government does. Its cure is almost sure to be worse than the disease.

I’d love to think that if a collapse came, people would say, “Obviously, intervention doesn’t work, so let’s try what the Austrians have been suggesting.” But I think instead a demagogue would rise up to say — as usual — that the problem is not enough government involvement, and that he’s going to rescue us.

That’s the most likely outcome.

*** and ***

Thomas E. Woods Jr. is senior fellow in American history at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is the author of nine books, including two New York Times bestsellers: The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and the just-released Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, as well as the award-winning The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. Visit his new Web site.

* end quote *

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INTERESTING: The time-honored and unchanging free-market principles needed

Sunday, March 15, 2009

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTkzMzllNmE3MDM3NDhmMjcxZjA5MTE0OTk5NDJkODQ=

NRO BLOG ROW – THE CORNER – Wednesday, March 11, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Accordingly, conservatism will return to prominence when it uses time-honored and unchanging free-market principles to address new problems, and when it finds advocates who both are adept at communication with non-traditional audiences (e.g., why it is in the interest of African-Americans to be skeptical of abortion on demand, why Hispanic small-business people need to be wary of intrusive regulations, why Asian-Americans should fear affirmative-action-driven de facto racial quotas at the University of California, why talented teachers should not have to join bureaucratic, ossified unions, why today’s young people should not have to pay off Obama’s annual $1.7 trillion deficits, etc.) and believe in their message’s resonance, without trimming[?] for the applause of the moment.

*** end quote ***

As “conservatism” seeks to return us to the “classical liberalism” of the First American Revolution, a little L libertarian like myself can agree that it’s a good first step.

Unfortunately, for as smart as I feel the DOWGs were, and they were far smarter than I, and more courageous as well, I don’t think we can rewind the clock.

We have to take those “classically liberal” principles and move forward applying them to today’s problems.

Just as the King was rightly opposed as tyrannical, so to must we oppose the new “king” — the overpower all-encompassing gooferment.

Empowering the individual to make their own choices and bear the consequences of bad choices.

So, we have to have miniscule government. Close to the people. With it’s only mission being to protect the rights of individuals.

Argh!

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MONEY: Zero debt is best

Saturday, March 14, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff7.html  

March 14, 2009
Credit Card Cancer
by Peter Schiff
Peter Schiff is president of Euro Pacific Capital and author

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Lastly, savings can always be relied upon whereas credit is ephemeral. Remarks this week from the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao should serve notice to all Americans that the day will soon come when the Chinese stop lending us their umbrellas. When that happens, the average American will be soaked to the bone.

*** end quote ***

One does NOT have to have a crystal ball to see the future.

The Chinese will stop buying Treasury debt. Interest rates to will go thru the roof. And, the economy will slow further.

The only defense is to have ZERO bad debt. That is nothing but a fixed rate mortgage that is well below 15% of your annual income.

Maybe Dave Ramsey is right. ZERO debt is best?

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BIGOTRY – RACIAL: “buy only from black-owned businesses”

Friday, March 13, 2009

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/03/buying_black.html

March 10, 2009
‘Buying black’
David Paulin

Fascinating piece here about a black Chicago couple living in an upper-class white suburb who are going out of their way to “buy black.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-buying-black-09-mar09,0,5889126.story

Oak Park couple travel far and wide to buy only from black-owned businesses
Ebony Experiment encourages other African-Americans to do the same
By Ted Gregory | Tribune reporter
March 9, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Maggie Anderson drives 14 miles to buy groceries, which might seem curious given that she lives in bustling Oak Park. She and her husband, John, patronize gas stations in Rockford and Phoenix, Ill. They travel 18 miles to a health food store in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood for vitamins, supplements and personal care products.

The reason? They want to solve what they call “the crisis in the black community.” They want to, as they say, “buy black.”

The Andersons, African-Americans who rose from humble means, are attempting to spend their money for one year exclusively with black-owned businesses and are encouraging other African-Americans to do the same. It is part experiment, part social activism campaign.

*** end quote ***

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Well, if a “white” (What does that label mean?) did that, they’d call it racism.

And, it’s inefficient. 14 miles times 2 / 20 miles per gallon times 2 bucks per gallon means that they are paying a $2 dollar “black tax” on every grocery order. That two bucks could by something they could use. (A can of tuna for when prices soar in the coming inflation! Int heir children’s college fund

And, harmful. When they decide to discard this experiment, the business will be hurt. They will have had a years experience making more and when it stops, they will be confused and worse off. Heaven help them, if the decided to “expand” or otherwise count on this “new business”.

Now even a stopped clock is right twice a day. And, the beauty of America is that you can do that “pursuit of happiness” stuff however you want. But, don’t go into the media seeking sainthood.

DIdn’t Martin Luther King WANT to patronize those white-only lunch counters? I’m sure it wasn’t for the food. It was the principle.

Nope, racism is wrong. For the principle it violates. “All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”

Among these is the right to be a fool!

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