WE DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN - NO, NO!!!
The recent weeks events leading up to the market meltdown and the subsequent "bailout" mania truly hasn't reduced my faith in our government's leaders to do the right thing. That's only because I had no faith in these idiots abilities to begin with.
Where I am beginning to lose faith is in the ability of the American public to see through these guys and hold them accountable.
We hear so much that this is a failure of greedy CEO's, a failure of the market, too little regulation, too little oversight. It's not that at all. The financial services industry is one of the more heavily regulated industries in the country.
It's a failure of brought on by government manipulation and intervention to achieve social goals that brought the housing market and the credit markets to the edge of a cliff.
So we have to listen to the anti-capitalist drivel from leftist idiots who were party to the problems produced and directed by their ilk, underwritten by Fannie and Freddie, without once hearing them hold up the mirror to themselves and admit that they and their failed policies are part of the problem. AMAZING.
REPRESENTATIVE BARNEY FRANK (D-MA)
I'M NOT SURE IF YOU SHOULD WATCH YOUR WALLET OR WATCH YOUR ASS WHEN THIS GUY IS TALKING - EITHER WAY IT SEEMS YOU'RE GOING TO GET SCREWED, RIGHT?
I would trust my fate to the greediest of greedy Wall Street CEO's before I would trust it to this guy and his merry band of thieves and liars.
THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE:
We've heard a lot lately about how McCain is poison because his voting record is the same as Bush 90% of the time. If this tidbit is obtained from the Congressional Quarterly study, as I believe it is, then the only positions it seems that CQ can grade link the President to are positions in which President Bush has a clear and well-defined position on. This leaves only issues that are fairly well established and non-controversial. A small sample to start with and a non-representative sample to make a true evaluation on. It would be like me telling you what type of season Ryan Howard had after only seeing 10 game per season and cherry-picking one statistic.
CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY VOTING STUDY:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/cq-assets/cqmultimedia/flash/votestudy/index.html
The greater question becomes, OK 90%. Is that a high, middle or low number relatively speaking? On the surface we don't know if we just accept the 90% figure at face value. If someone tells me a baseball pitcher throw 90 MPH, on it's surface that's useful information, but does it tell me if the pitcher throws FAST. Faster than me yes, but don't I have to know if we're discussing a professional pitcher, a collegiate pitcher or a high school pitcher, so I could make a determination by comparison to his peers, whither said pitcher was VERY FAST, AVERAGE FAST or BELOW AVERAGE FAST? Of course. If we're talking professional-DUDE IS AVERAGE. Collegiate- DUDE IS ABOVE AVERAGE. HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER- THE GUYS A SUPERSTAR.
The candidates and their campaign manager count on a lazy electorate that accepts what they are told at face value without asking questions or doing the necessary homework to come up with real answers.
THE MCCAIN COMPARISON:
Compared to other Republican Senators it seems like it's a rather low grade. This 90% figure actually ranks McCain 25 out of 49 Republican Senators. That would make him a C student if we were grading him as a rubber-stamping, lap-dog, brown-nosed, clone of Bush. In terms of voting along party lines, McCain votes with his Republican brethren 81% of the time, ranking him 44th of 49 Republican Senators. Maybe a D- if you're grading him as a partisan, but perhaps a solid A, if you were looking for an independent, non-partisan (a maverick?).
If you look at a certain Senator from Illinois you come up with some interesting data as well. You find a Senator who votes with the President 40% of the time which is at the low end of the spectrum (high end as far as opposing President Bush's positions). By comparison we see Pelosi at 20%, Clinton and Ted Kennedy at 49%, Biden at 52% and Harry Reid at 53%. In terms of party unity, Obama agrees with his party 96% of the time, same as Clinton. Pelosi is at 98%. Ted Kennedy at 97%. Biden and Reid at 93%.
Birch Bayh comes in at 57% with the President and 81% voting with the party, making him the prototypical "McCain Democrat". No wonder he's not on the ticket.
So when we hear Obama brush off the charge that he's a liberal because he's voting against Bush's policies, that's not the case. It's more because he's in lock-step with the Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi ultra-liberal wing of the party.
DNC CHAIRMAN - HOWARD DEAN
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER - HARRY REID
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE - NANCY PELOSI
I'm not sure who scares me more.
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So we are where we are. On the brink of financial Armageddon we're told, by the people who drove us to this point, for the most part. And they come to us, the American people and say, "Don't worry folks, we have the answer this time."
And it seems like when I see things like the earmark to a special interest group like Acorn--for 20% of the funds from profits from the nationalization of the toxic debt--if any profit materializes from such purchases and sales--why do I feel like the Lucy-Charlie Brown animation shown above is an apt analogy to the situation. We the people are Charlie Brown and our fearless leaders are Lucy.
This is a "hair of the dog that bit you" solution. Never mind they are using taxpayer funds to favor a special interest group that whose mantra, whose raison d'etre, is what got us into this mess in the first place i.e: the gross proliferation of mortgages to low-income people who couldn't afford to pay them using lower standards to approve them (liar loans, no doc, no money down, etc.) and new investment vehicles to hide the resulting damage which were promoted and sanctified by Fannie and Freddie. And we had no less an authority than the patron saint of easy credit, Alan Greenspan, continually bless the process. So everybody felt good about it, very few people saw the warning signs and kicked a fuss about it. And when they did, as McCain and Bush did years ago, they were dismissed as being unconcerned about low-income families or worse, painted as being racially motivated (by Barney Frank).
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The real heroes recently have been Ron Paul, shown here questioning Bernanke, and the House Republicans, who were willing to stand in front of this moving freight train and say NO!! HELL, NO!!
The sad part is those guys will be targeted when they go up for re-election for daring to have the guts to stand up for the taxpayers and against the special interest.
A LONE VOICE OF SANITY AMONG THE MADNESS - RON PAUL
It seems to be the height of political hypocrisy to have these Dems, who have spent the better part of the last few years venting their spleens railing against Bush now working side by side with his administrations crash-test dummy Hank Paulson in this endeavor. That alone should tell you there's something wrong with this process. I understand the phrase "Politics makes strange bedfellows", but this is clearly beyond the pale.
“Removing governmental power to manipulate money removes the temptation for government to spend, print and cheat. Sound money ensures that our government’s spending priorities would be brought into sharp focus and reduced to only what we can afford.
The Federal Reserve has lately been auctioning off large amounts of treasury bills as a way to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our crushing entitlement burden. The resulting devaluation of the dollar is quickly eroding our image as a good trading partner in the world. As a consequence, there is more talk of economic isolation and war.
The vicious cycle of spending, fighting and inflating is not what Americans want. Sound money curbs the government’s ability to engage in these shenanigans and reduces the wars we fight to only truly defensive ones, for which Americans are more than willing to stand and fight.” Congressman Ron Paul, August 30, 2008
“No generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence” Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789
We're really straying far off-course from these wise words from one of our nations founders.
A return to the discipline of the gold standard would provide some needed stability, but don't hold you breath waiting for that. MONEY IS POWER and a fiat currency means power to those who control it. Why would politicians ever want to give up the
power of the printing press?
The gold standard would control the massive debt we have accumulated and mitigate inflation. Growth of GDP might be slowed due to less speculation, but that seems like a reasonable trade-off nowadays, doesn't it? If these guys really cared about people who gather around their kitchen table trying to figure out how to pay their bills and plan for college, this would be the best step forward in that attaining that goals. Next on the list would be a complete overhaul of the income-tax system, which would require the same government officials to give up another lever of the power they have over people's lives. Which, of course, they totally mismanage.
Why do we not hear either of the candidates talking about issues like this? And wonder now, why were they so quick to dismiss the candidacy of Ron Paul? Because they don't want you considering these options for obvious reasons.
We haven't even discussed looming disasters, again brought to you by government, like the Social Security crisis and the coming inflationary cycle that will result from this massive injection of money to prop up the system.
STAY TUNED FOLKS, JUST DON'T EXPECT THE ANSWERS FROM YOUR FEARLESS LEADERS.
If there is one thing that is painfully obvious from the weeks events, they are truly clueless. And they don't want the light of day to shine on the process. That's why they were upset with McCain coming back to inject himself into the process. Because with him would come more scrutiny from the media.
Nothing could be more demoralizing to the nation's moral than to watch these idiots at work.
Congressman Ron Paul before the Joint Economic Committee, September 24, 2008
“Mr. Chairman, I believe that our economy faces a bleak future, particularly if the latest $700 billion bailout plan ends up passing. We risk committing the same errors that prolonged the misery of the Great Depression, namely keeping prices from falling. Instead of allowing overvalued financial assets to take a hit and trade on the market at a more realistic value, the government seeks to purchase overvalued or worthless assets and hold them in the unrealistic hope that at some point in the next few decades, someone might be willing to purchase them.”
“Do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of a country we shall be.”
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I remember seeing this essay about the gang of 545 a while back, during some other crisis of leadership we were going through, and it seems more true now than ever before.
We should think long and hard about these people we elect and ask them serious questions about what happened and what they were doing about it and why? And find out if their record supports the answer given.
I think the best thing that could come out of this election and the next couple after, is not necessarily who wins the White House. One of the two major party candidates is going to win. That may be part of the problem, but we can deal with that four years down the road. It would be for candidates for the House and Senate across the nation to feel the sting of defeat--to be thrown out of office--TO BE FIRED!!!!
If any of the "middle-class", an acceptable euphemism for the "little people" these guys say they are so concerned about, performed as miserably in their jobs, that would be the expected and acceptable response from the boss.
AND WE ARE SUPPOSEDLY THE BOSS OF THE GOVERNMENT, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
IF THESE FOLKS DO NOT WANT TO SERVE THE PEOPLE, THEY NEED TO FIND A NEW JOB.
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The Truth About the Gang of 545
by Charlie Reese
545 People
“Politicians are the only people in the world who
create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and
the Republicans are against deficits, we have
deficits?
Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are
against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation
and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The
president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to
vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives
does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal
Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president
and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out
of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally
and individually responsible for the domestic problems
that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board
because that problem was created by the Congress.
In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to
provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but
private central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for
a sound reason. They have no legal authority.
They have no ability to coerce a senator, a
congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking
thing.
I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million
dollars in cash. The politician has the power to
accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist
promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to
determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy
convincing you that what they did is not their fault.
They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being
is an excessive amount of gall.
No normal human being would have the gall of a
Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for
creating deficits.
The president can only propose a budget.
He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the
land, gives sole responsibility to the House of
Representatives for originating and approving
appropriations and taxes.
Who is the speaker of the House?
She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can
approve any budget they want.
If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his
veto if they agree to
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300
million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted
-- by present facts - of incompetence and
irresponsibility.
I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not
traceable directly to those 545 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people
exercise the power of the federal government, then it
must follow that what exists is what they want to
exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it
unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it
in the red.
If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want
them in IRAQ
If they do not receive social security but are on an
elite retirement plan not available to the people,
it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to
bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can
abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can
reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to
regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief
that there exists disembodied mystical forces like
'the economy,' 'inflation' or 'politics' that prevent
them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by
the people who are their bosses - provided the voters
have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up
their mess!”
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