$700 Billion Bailout Baloney

Thursday, September 26, 2008 (Copy of an email from www.campaigforliberty.com We recommend you join immediately!)

Dear C4L [Campaign for Liberty]  Member,

Yesterday [9-26-08] Ron Paul sent out a letter warning of the dangers of the Paulson and Bernanke bailout plan and asking you to contact your representatives and senators.  A vote on this bill could literally come at any moment, and it is crucial that you immediately express your opinion to Congress.

The picture painted by the supporters of the bailout is dire.  President Bush reinforced this notion in his address to the nation last night and again urged Congress to act immediately.

Remember what happened the last time the executive branch warned of horrible consequences and rushed legislation through Congress?  We got the Patriot Act, which to this day threatens our civil liberties on an unprecedented scale.

We do know that our economy is in for a rough ride.  These bad mortgage-related assets will have to be cleared out and the market will have to reset.  The only question is how that will happen.

The easy way out is to continue the same practices that got us to this point.  We can put $700 billion, for starters, in the hands of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (a former CEO of Goldman Sachs) and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and let them spend the money on whatever they wish.

This option will only delay the economic downturn, which will only be worsened.

Or, we can take this opportunity to end the federal government's interference in the marketplace, truly embrace free market capitalism, and return to a sound monetary system.  

The Federal Reserve's practices of easy credit and monetary inflation have crashed our economy, and now they're asking us to trust them to fix it.

When you call Congress to express your outrage at the bailout, tell them you want real solutions.

It is time for Congress to:

1.) End the Bailouts - Congress must revoke the Federal Reserve's authority to bail out failed businesses at your expense.

2.) Cut Taxes and Curb Regulation - If we really want to stimulate businesses and revive the market, we need to cut corporate and capital gains taxes, spurring investors to come back to the market and making it easier to attract new workers and clients.  It is also time to end failed legislation like Sarbanes-Oxley, which has crippled capital markets, diminished our competitiveness, and greatly harmed small businesses.   

3.) Reduce Spending - We must freeze all non-entitlement spending by the federal government at current levels and eliminate wasteful spending both domestically and in our trillion-dollar overseas budget.  Our debt has to come down, and it won't until we start living within our means.

4.) Reform the Monetary System - If we are to have long-term economic progress, we must end the system of printing money out of thin air. The current laws limiting the circulation of gold and silver-backed currency must be overturned.  We can no longer base our money on the empty promises of bureaucrats that it is sound.  
 
The federal government is trying to scare us into accepting more tyranny.  Don't stand for it.

PRAYER FOR AMERICA

A  Pastor with GUTS!!

Thought you might enjoy this interesting
Prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems Prayer still upsets some
People. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open The new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual  generalities, but this is what they heard: 

-----
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek your direction and Guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. 

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed
Our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it
The lottery. 

We have rewarded laziness and called it
Welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called  it
Choice. 

We have shot abortionists and called  it
Justifiable. 

We have neglected to discipline our
Children and called it building self esteem..

We have abused power and called it 
Politics. 

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions
And called it ambition. 

We have polluted the air with profanity and
Pornography and called it freedom of expression. 

We have ridiculed the time-honored values
Of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. 

Search  us, Oh, God, and know our hearts
Today;  cleanse us from every sin and set us free. 
Amen! 
-----
  
The response was immediate. A number of
Legislators walked out during the prayer in
Protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian
Church,  where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than
5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls
Responding negatively. The church is now receiving
International requests for copies of this prayer
From India , Africa and Korea .

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on
His radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,'and
Received a larger response to this program than any  
Other he has ever aired. 


With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep
Over our nation and wholeheartedly become our
Desire so that we again can be called 'one nation
Under God.' 

If possible, please pass this prayer on to
Your friends. 'If you don't stand for something,
You  will fall for everything.'

Love & God Bless  
------

 The Text of this video with 6 enumerated black and white answers I have marked: 
Cures for Our Economic Disease

by Ron Paul

I have recently had several opportunities on various news programs to discuss the economy and what is wrong with the so-called economic stimulus package. I have said over and over what we shouldn’t be doing, and now I’d like to explain what we should be doing.

But to improve the situation, you must first have a solid grasp of how we got here. Government policies and central planning created the housing bubble, now going bust. About a decade ago the government made expanded homeownership and affordable housing a public goal. Through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the secondary mortgage market the government incentivized creative, low down-payment, more widely available mortgage products, and discouraged the market-proven lending standards of the past. The Federal Reserve kept interest rates artificially low, which added more fuel to this fire. Many related sectors temporarily flourished because of this, and many people got into homes they otherwise could not have afforded. The increased demand for housing sent prices soaring until in many markets housing became even more unaffordable, necessitating even more creative mortgages, and impossibly leveraging homeowners. Many risky investment vehicles such as mortgage-backed securities, derivatives, credit default swaps grew out of this unsustainable situation. As the foreclosures began, the house of cards started to tumble. Too many people have confused the symptoms and the pain of the bust with the problematic policies that caused the bubble, which is really what needs to be treated.

First of all, just as the best cure for a hangover is not to drink so much, the best cure for a recession is a recession. It is time to sober up and return to free market sanity, risk and reward, supply and demand, without political intervention. Politicians are good at catering to the needs of special interests, but very bad at determining what needs to take place in the market. Government should stick to punishing fraud and enforcing contracts. When they use the tax code, bureaucratic departments and their manipulative rules and regulations to dictate social and economic behavior, we end up with distortions and malinvestments. Bailing out banks, continuing failed Fed policies and strapping the taxpayer with toxic debt will worsen the pain, and punish the innocent.

If Congress really wanted to do something helpful, it would 1 cut taxes. Ideally, we would 2 repeal the income tax altogether and get the IRS off the economy’s back, which would be a huge boon. We should also 3 cut spending. 4 Cut every unconstitutional department and program, every wasteful governmental encroachment on the people’s liberty and money, starting with our massive overseas empire. The cost of our empire is bringing us to our knees, just as the Soviets’ empire did to them. Congress should also 5 abolish the Federal Reserve and take back its responsibilities to 6 ensure sound money, safe from the manipulations of powerful banking interests.

These things would constitute real change, real economic stimulus. The plans being bandied about Washington are just more of the same. As long as no one seriously considers the cure, we are unfortunately destined to prolong the disease.

Read the Republic Magazine Issues for much more details of many more subjects!