While the Fed has recently released an unprecedented amount of information on its activities, there is still much that remains unknown. Predictably, every push towards transparency has been fought tooth and nail. It took disclosure requirements enacted within the Dodd-Frank Act to get the Fed to provide data on its emergency lending facilities. It took lawsuits filed by Bloomberg and Fox News to provide data on discount window lending during the worst parts of the financial crisis. And it will take further concerted action on the part of Congress, the media, and the public to keep up pressure on the Fed to become and remain transparent.
Transparency is not a panacea, however, as a fully transparent organization is still capable of engaging in all sorts of mischief. Ironically, one of the Fed's more egregious recent actions, adopting an explicit inflation target, was hailed by many as another wonderful example of transparency. Yet if you think about what this 2% inflation target actually is, you realize that it is an explicit policy to devalue the dollar and reduce its purchasing power. And it adds up quickly over time. Two percent annual price inflation means that prices rise 22% within a decade, and nearly 50% within two decades.
It is worse than that, however. This explicit 2% target also fails to take into account that whatever measure is used to determine price inflation, be it CPI, core CPI, PCE, etc., will always be chosen with an eye towards underreporting the true rate of inflation and price rises. Pressure will be exerted on those calculating the price indices, so as not to alarm the public when prices begin to accelerate.
Of course, government officials claim that price increases do not affect the average American because they can always substitute hamburger for steak, or have cereal instead of bacon to protect their family budget as prices rise. But the American people don't overlook the fact that their quality of life has suffered because of the Federal Reserve and price inflation. What will they substitute when hamburger and cereal go sky high?
The Federal Reserve continues to keep interest rates low in the hopes of boosting lending and consumption. But keeping interest rates at zero discourages saving. Why stick money in a savings account earning 0.05% if it is guaranteed to lose at least 2% every year? The Federal Reserve created the largest debt bubble the world has ever known with these sorts of policies. The extended zero interest rate policy only eviscerates thrift and savings—the true building blocks of prosperity. Capital will continue to be depleted, infrastructure will fall into disrepair, and the United States will be a mere shadow of its former self.
It is well past time to end the failed monetary policy that encourages this mistaken preference for cheap money now, rather than real wealth in the long run. Transparency and a full audit of the Federal Reserve is a start and something we must continue to pursue. And, if those in power don't have the stomach to bring the Fed out into full daylight, the American people deserve at least the right to conduct their economic transactions in the medium of exchange of their choosing.
Monday
Friday
ECONOMY SQUEEZED AS DEBT ACCELERATES
Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee has pointed out that our per capita government debt is already larger than Greece's. Per person, our government owes over $49,000 compared to $38,937 per Greek citizen. Our debt has just reached 101% of our Gross Domestic Product. Our creditors see this and have quietly slowed down or stopped their lending to us. As a result, the Federal Reserve has been outright monetizing debt as a way to patch things together and keep the economy on life support a little longer. There is rapidly shrinking demand for our debt, and confidence in the dollar is falling. This phenomenon is hidden only by the fact that confidence in all other fiat currencies is falling faster.
None of this seems to really alarm the administration, obviously, as they have just released a budget that accelerates spending and borrowing. The reason the debt and deficits plague the economy, according to this administration, is that the American economy is not taxed enough. Therefore, hidden in the fine print of the budget is a provision that ramps up the corporate dividends tax rate from its current 15% to 39.6%. In addition, certain deductions and exemptions will be phased out; an additional 3.8% Obamacare investment tax surcharge will be tacked on, bringing the effective dividend tax rate to 44.8% in 2013. Keep in mind, this is not just a tax on big business, this is a tax on anyone who depends on dividend income to live - retirees will be hit hard by these changes and dividend yielding stock prices will adjust downward rapidly to reflect their decreased value.
Not only this, but the Obama administration is worsening the uniquely American policy of taxing income of US based companies earned overseas. No other country presumes to tax globally in this manner, so it amounts to a huge penalty for basing a company in the US. Companies have been able to manage this penalty by deferring taxation until it is repatriated or by paying dividends. What will happen to US based businesses with strong international ties if these allowances are abolished as the Obama administration proposes? A massive wave of permanent capital flight will undoubtedly cause the already high levels of unemployment to rise.
Businesses are struggling and failing in this economy. The government ultimately depends on a healthy business climate to provide jobs and a tax base. It is penny wise and pound foolish to add to business tax burden in a misguided attempt to close the colossal gap between our government's revenue and spending. Rather than crippling and absorbing more of our shrinking economy, government needs to be drastically cut - not in 10 years, but immediately.
Those who understand the underpinnings of the dollar and how the Federal Reserve works have known for some time that we are on an unsustainable course, that major chaos is in store if nothing is done quickly to reform things. Politicians pay lip-service to reforms that never materialize or turn out to be at best small and meaningless, or at worst actively harmful. It seems more and more inevitable that because the necessary changes would be too inconvenient for the elites to enact now, we will get them later Greek-style, through collapse and chaos.
None of this seems to really alarm the administration, obviously, as they have just released a budget that accelerates spending and borrowing. The reason the debt and deficits plague the economy, according to this administration, is that the American economy is not taxed enough. Therefore, hidden in the fine print of the budget is a provision that ramps up the corporate dividends tax rate from its current 15% to 39.6%. In addition, certain deductions and exemptions will be phased out; an additional 3.8% Obamacare investment tax surcharge will be tacked on, bringing the effective dividend tax rate to 44.8% in 2013. Keep in mind, this is not just a tax on big business, this is a tax on anyone who depends on dividend income to live - retirees will be hit hard by these changes and dividend yielding stock prices will adjust downward rapidly to reflect their decreased value.
Not only this, but the Obama administration is worsening the uniquely American policy of taxing income of US based companies earned overseas. No other country presumes to tax globally in this manner, so it amounts to a huge penalty for basing a company in the US. Companies have been able to manage this penalty by deferring taxation until it is repatriated or by paying dividends. What will happen to US based businesses with strong international ties if these allowances are abolished as the Obama administration proposes? A massive wave of permanent capital flight will undoubtedly cause the already high levels of unemployment to rise.
Businesses are struggling and failing in this economy. The government ultimately depends on a healthy business climate to provide jobs and a tax base. It is penny wise and pound foolish to add to business tax burden in a misguided attempt to close the colossal gap between our government's revenue and spending. Rather than crippling and absorbing more of our shrinking economy, government needs to be drastically cut - not in 10 years, but immediately.
Those who understand the underpinnings of the dollar and how the Federal Reserve works have known for some time that we are on an unsustainable course, that major chaos is in store if nothing is done quickly to reform things. Politicians pay lip-service to reforms that never materialize or turn out to be at best small and meaningless, or at worst actively harmful. It seems more and more inevitable that because the necessary changes would be too inconvenient for the elites to enact now, we will get them later Greek-style, through collapse and chaos.
WHAT I THINK........ALLEN STEVO
It’s long been understood in U.S. politics that the one who wins an election is the one who has the power to treat Americans like total garbage while enriching his buddies. On the other hand, the one who wins the election could do something entirely different from what presidents for years have done. The one who wins the election could wind up being a guiding figure as we Americans tear down the system that is slowly enslaving us. That’s what we hope for. That’s what we work for. If we work tirelessly and effectively, that’s what we’ll achieve.
I write this not for the folks who are opposed to political participation, but for those who recognize the importance of political participation. Working half-heartedly or ineffectively in these times that so matter is simply not enough, because victory is so close for a candidate who is so threatening to the forces that oppose freedom.
What Ron Paul threatens to do is to take the free meal ticket from many men and women who currently depend on government’s corrupt corporate "welfare" in order to live well. There are lots of people who need Ron Paul to lose, because they see that their livelihoods depend on it. Simply sharing links on Facebook and getting into online debates will do little to make Ron Paul president; in fact, the powers that be would love to see Ron Paul’s proponents stay online "where they belong" or just coming outside every once in a while to wave signs. Those actions are entirely ineffective in winning a campaign. Do them and you are just as bad as any neo-con – because you have a chance to effectively fight for liberty, yet you do nothing. Your silence, your comfortable obeisance in your day-to-day life, only strengthens the existing system. You spend your day strengthening that system, just like a neo-con. In fact, I’d say you’re even worse than a neo-con, because a neo-con doesn’t get it. A neo-con isn’t wasting the opportunities to destroy the shackles, because he doesn’t feel the shackles. You who feel those shackles, yet do nothing effective in response to them – you are villains in this story.
The first day this spring when Ron Paul loses an online poll is the day that I know the movement has refocused its attention on something better – winning a race instead of acting like we’ve already won a race. Rejoicing about our strength and our numbers is exactly that – acting like we’ve won a race. We have no reason for gloating, yet so many Ron Paul supporters gloat. We have not won the race.
We can do this. We can win this election. America is ready for us to step up and lead. If we don’t, if we can’t capture the nomination and then the presidency, well, we are losers. We are pathetic. We had the most beautiful possible chance in our hands – a peaceful revolution – and we blew it. I’m 32 years old. I know that in the next 12 months, the people of this age will earn one of two titles that will be applied to us 40 years from now – either we become "the greatest generation" or we become "the ineffective screw-ups that doomed America even though they clearly saw the future." We’ll get other chances, but this will likely be the easiest, most comfortable method of change.
Ben Novak, in a letter written to Ron Paul supporters in April of 2008, pointed out some very important issues – the old media has stopped reliably delivering truthful coverage; the internet exposes that; as the American people aren’t stupid, this situation will eventually lead to great outcry from the American people; Ron Paul is positioned, and has been positioning himself for decades to be exactly where he is at this moment in history, to be a leader capable of correcting the course in America. I’ll let Novak speak for himself:
"I like to think (but do not really know) that this is the way Ron Paul understands the situation. As the old saying goes, ‘Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.’ Well, RP has the idea, and he has the wisdom and the patience to wait till its time has come. So far, he has beautifully positioned himself for when that time comes. He has waged his campaign to take the word out to the people. Only a few heard, but they have seen for themselves how the MSM works. Ron Paul has earned their trust. He is the only one who has come through this campaign more trusted than he entered it. One out of twenty voters already knows and trusts him.
"That means when the wind of truth begins to blow, each one of those one-in-twenty Ron Paul supporters need only bring the facts to nine or ten people to create a majority in the whole country. And when the jolts and shocks of reality hit and break through the web of obfuscation and lies of the MSM, people will be looking for real facts and truth. And Ron Paul supporters will already be armed to give it to them.
"And it may come sooner than expected. All the things Ron Paul said about the economy are coming true in spades – with credit collapses, falling dollars, rising oil prices, and recession (perhaps soon to become "Depression"), and most of all, spreading wars and endless quagmires."
Think about Novak’s observation – 1 in 20 voters trusted Ron Paul in 2008. If those one in twenty each find 9 or 10 friends to bring to the polling place on the morning of the primaries, we win the nomination. Part of the good news is that more than 1 in 20 voters trust Ron Paul today. Maybe it’s 2 in 20 or 3 in 20. We don’t know. There is someone out there who does know. And while our movement is good at fundraising, good at being heard, good at winning straw polls, there’s no room for resting on our laurels right now, because the truth of the matter is ugly. Here comes the most important thing I have to tell you. It’s that defeat is just around the corner, waiting for you and me to sit idle.
The Numbers
The numbers that Ron Paul has today aren’t going to cut it. That’s the fact of the matter. If you are reading this right now, you need to personally deliver 10 votes for Ron Paul on election day. You need to personally bring in 10 voters who otherwise wouldn’t have voted for Ron Paul. If you bring in a minimum of 10 voters and thousands of other Ron Paul supporters bring in a minimum of 10 voters, Ron Paul wins. One vote doesn’t cut it and seven votes won’t cut it. You bring in 10 voters, you motivate the people around you to bring in 10 voters, you make sure those 10 voters show up to vote for Ron Paul on the morning of the primaries and Ron Paul wins this nomination.
You don’t do that and Ron Paul loses. Ron Paul becomes the greatest candidate who never became president.
In 2008, on the Eve of the New Hampshire primary I was talking to Fox News commentator Frank Luntz, the author of "The Contract with America," the man that freedom lovers despise for his Goebbels-ian ways. He bet me $1,000 that he could call Ron Paul’s percentage. He knew Ron Paul wouldn’t see 20%, because Frank Luntz knew the available polling data, and he knew what the good data was saying. He confidently stretched out his hand to me to offer the $1,000 wager. I refused to accept the bet and shake Frank Luntz’s hand, and with his confidence Frank Luntz quieted me down for a few minutes.
I could tell that Frank Luntz didn’t really want to say that to me, because he didn’t want to hurt my feelings with that certainty. I think somewhere in him, he appreciated my devotion to the principles of freedom. In time, I would come to realize that Frank Luntz was right. Ron Paul supporters were out shouting and waving signs; we were the most populous on the streets, the loudest, the most excited, and we definitely had the biggest signs.
However, when it came down to what mattered in an election, we didn’t deliver what was needed for our candidate of choice. We lost because we didn’t deliver. I spent weeks in New Hampshire in 2008 campaigning for Ron Paul. To this day, I don’t know if I brought in even 10 votes for Ron Paul in all of those phone calls I made for him in the Live Free or Die State, all of those hours of hearing what was on the minds of voters and asking for a vote for my candidate. I didn’t personally follow up; I didn’t personally get those voters into the polling place on election day. I wasn’t the one following through, so I have no idea how, or if, that follow-through happened. You see, no matter how many people you "convert" to Ron Paul’s ideas of freedom – something plenty of Ron Paul supporters brag about – if you don’t get them to vote for Ron Paul on election day, you’ve accomplished little toward winning a race.
This year, I’ll bring in many multiples of that. I won’t be talking to strangers; I’ll be talking to my social precinct. I’ll be reaching out to the people around me.
In elections, you don’t get into a fight that you don’t have a big enough stick to win. You get into fights to win. You pick the fights that you have a darn good chance of winning. Ron Paul isn’t travelling the country, sleeping in hotels, getting battered by the media because he doesn’t want to be the president. He’s doing this because he knows he can win. You get out and get those 10 votes, Ron Paul wins. You get 10 Ron Paul supporters around you to go out and get 10 votes each, Ron Paul wins. You get 10 pro-peace voters to register Republican and to vote for Ron Paul, Ron Paul wins.
Victory rests in our hands today. With hard work and focus each one of us can deliver those 10 votes. Will you deliver 10 votes for Ron Paul or will you be one of the others, that segment of Ron Paul supporters that will long deserve the scorn of friends and opponents alike?
I write this not for the folks who are opposed to political participation, but for those who recognize the importance of political participation. Working half-heartedly or ineffectively in these times that so matter is simply not enough, because victory is so close for a candidate who is so threatening to the forces that oppose freedom.
What Ron Paul threatens to do is to take the free meal ticket from many men and women who currently depend on government’s corrupt corporate "welfare" in order to live well. There are lots of people who need Ron Paul to lose, because they see that their livelihoods depend on it. Simply sharing links on Facebook and getting into online debates will do little to make Ron Paul president; in fact, the powers that be would love to see Ron Paul’s proponents stay online "where they belong" or just coming outside every once in a while to wave signs. Those actions are entirely ineffective in winning a campaign. Do them and you are just as bad as any neo-con – because you have a chance to effectively fight for liberty, yet you do nothing. Your silence, your comfortable obeisance in your day-to-day life, only strengthens the existing system. You spend your day strengthening that system, just like a neo-con. In fact, I’d say you’re even worse than a neo-con, because a neo-con doesn’t get it. A neo-con isn’t wasting the opportunities to destroy the shackles, because he doesn’t feel the shackles. You who feel those shackles, yet do nothing effective in response to them – you are villains in this story.
The first day this spring when Ron Paul loses an online poll is the day that I know the movement has refocused its attention on something better – winning a race instead of acting like we’ve already won a race. Rejoicing about our strength and our numbers is exactly that – acting like we’ve won a race. We have no reason for gloating, yet so many Ron Paul supporters gloat. We have not won the race.
We can do this. We can win this election. America is ready for us to step up and lead. If we don’t, if we can’t capture the nomination and then the presidency, well, we are losers. We are pathetic. We had the most beautiful possible chance in our hands – a peaceful revolution – and we blew it. I’m 32 years old. I know that in the next 12 months, the people of this age will earn one of two titles that will be applied to us 40 years from now – either we become "the greatest generation" or we become "the ineffective screw-ups that doomed America even though they clearly saw the future." We’ll get other chances, but this will likely be the easiest, most comfortable method of change.
Ben Novak, in a letter written to Ron Paul supporters in April of 2008, pointed out some very important issues – the old media has stopped reliably delivering truthful coverage; the internet exposes that; as the American people aren’t stupid, this situation will eventually lead to great outcry from the American people; Ron Paul is positioned, and has been positioning himself for decades to be exactly where he is at this moment in history, to be a leader capable of correcting the course in America. I’ll let Novak speak for himself:
"I like to think (but do not really know) that this is the way Ron Paul understands the situation. As the old saying goes, ‘Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.’ Well, RP has the idea, and he has the wisdom and the patience to wait till its time has come. So far, he has beautifully positioned himself for when that time comes. He has waged his campaign to take the word out to the people. Only a few heard, but they have seen for themselves how the MSM works. Ron Paul has earned their trust. He is the only one who has come through this campaign more trusted than he entered it. One out of twenty voters already knows and trusts him.
"That means when the wind of truth begins to blow, each one of those one-in-twenty Ron Paul supporters need only bring the facts to nine or ten people to create a majority in the whole country. And when the jolts and shocks of reality hit and break through the web of obfuscation and lies of the MSM, people will be looking for real facts and truth. And Ron Paul supporters will already be armed to give it to them.
"And it may come sooner than expected. All the things Ron Paul said about the economy are coming true in spades – with credit collapses, falling dollars, rising oil prices, and recession (perhaps soon to become "Depression"), and most of all, spreading wars and endless quagmires."
Think about Novak’s observation – 1 in 20 voters trusted Ron Paul in 2008. If those one in twenty each find 9 or 10 friends to bring to the polling place on the morning of the primaries, we win the nomination. Part of the good news is that more than 1 in 20 voters trust Ron Paul today. Maybe it’s 2 in 20 or 3 in 20. We don’t know. There is someone out there who does know. And while our movement is good at fundraising, good at being heard, good at winning straw polls, there’s no room for resting on our laurels right now, because the truth of the matter is ugly. Here comes the most important thing I have to tell you. It’s that defeat is just around the corner, waiting for you and me to sit idle.
The Numbers
The numbers that Ron Paul has today aren’t going to cut it. That’s the fact of the matter. If you are reading this right now, you need to personally deliver 10 votes for Ron Paul on election day. You need to personally bring in 10 voters who otherwise wouldn’t have voted for Ron Paul. If you bring in a minimum of 10 voters and thousands of other Ron Paul supporters bring in a minimum of 10 voters, Ron Paul wins. One vote doesn’t cut it and seven votes won’t cut it. You bring in 10 voters, you motivate the people around you to bring in 10 voters, you make sure those 10 voters show up to vote for Ron Paul on the morning of the primaries and Ron Paul wins this nomination.
You don’t do that and Ron Paul loses. Ron Paul becomes the greatest candidate who never became president.
In 2008, on the Eve of the New Hampshire primary I was talking to Fox News commentator Frank Luntz, the author of "The Contract with America," the man that freedom lovers despise for his Goebbels-ian ways. He bet me $1,000 that he could call Ron Paul’s percentage. He knew Ron Paul wouldn’t see 20%, because Frank Luntz knew the available polling data, and he knew what the good data was saying. He confidently stretched out his hand to me to offer the $1,000 wager. I refused to accept the bet and shake Frank Luntz’s hand, and with his confidence Frank Luntz quieted me down for a few minutes.
I could tell that Frank Luntz didn’t really want to say that to me, because he didn’t want to hurt my feelings with that certainty. I think somewhere in him, he appreciated my devotion to the principles of freedom. In time, I would come to realize that Frank Luntz was right. Ron Paul supporters were out shouting and waving signs; we were the most populous on the streets, the loudest, the most excited, and we definitely had the biggest signs.
However, when it came down to what mattered in an election, we didn’t deliver what was needed for our candidate of choice. We lost because we didn’t deliver. I spent weeks in New Hampshire in 2008 campaigning for Ron Paul. To this day, I don’t know if I brought in even 10 votes for Ron Paul in all of those phone calls I made for him in the Live Free or Die State, all of those hours of hearing what was on the minds of voters and asking for a vote for my candidate. I didn’t personally follow up; I didn’t personally get those voters into the polling place on election day. I wasn’t the one following through, so I have no idea how, or if, that follow-through happened. You see, no matter how many people you "convert" to Ron Paul’s ideas of freedom – something plenty of Ron Paul supporters brag about – if you don’t get them to vote for Ron Paul on election day, you’ve accomplished little toward winning a race.
This year, I’ll bring in many multiples of that. I won’t be talking to strangers; I’ll be talking to my social precinct. I’ll be reaching out to the people around me.
In elections, you don’t get into a fight that you don’t have a big enough stick to win. You get into fights to win. You pick the fights that you have a darn good chance of winning. Ron Paul isn’t travelling the country, sleeping in hotels, getting battered by the media because he doesn’t want to be the president. He’s doing this because he knows he can win. You get out and get those 10 votes, Ron Paul wins. You get 10 Ron Paul supporters around you to go out and get 10 votes each, Ron Paul wins. You get 10 pro-peace voters to register Republican and to vote for Ron Paul, Ron Paul wins.
Victory rests in our hands today. With hard work and focus each one of us can deliver those 10 votes. Will you deliver 10 votes for Ron Paul or will you be one of the others, that segment of Ron Paul supporters that will long deserve the scorn of friends and opponents alike?
WHAT I THINK........CHARLES GOYETTE
With wins in Michigan and Arizona, Willard Mitt Romney, the establishment candidate, appears to be back in the driver’s seat in the race to the Republican presidential nomination. Meanwhile, Ron Paul continues to add to his delegate count.
Establishment Republicans are a breed unto themselves. If you go to their long-term planning meetings, if you listen to them talk about their Party’s future, it’s like listening to well-known lyrics of familiar tunes. It’s all about broadening the base, getting more young people involved, becoming relevant, how to capture enthusiasm, more young people, using the internet, reaching out to young people, figuring out how to fundraise in the digital age, getting more young people.
Now, along comes Ron Paul, who offers them exactly what they want: young people, enthusiasm, an unbeatable social media campaign, devoted volunteers, better demographics, new fundraising success, a campaign worthy of the digital age, relevance, money, excitement, and (did I mention?) young people.
It’s exactly what they have wished for. Exactly what they need. And they turn their back on it.
What do Republicans actually do? They like to give their nomination to the candidate who they think deserves it. Principles and ideals are off the table. The Party’s future that they worry about is forgotten. Because all they really want to do is give the nomination to the candidate whose turn it is.
Look at Bush the Elder. The Reagan Republicans never liked him. In fact, I knew a delegate to the Republican convention that nominated Reagan in 1980 who typified that view. She even refused to vote for Bush to be on the ticket. Even though he was Reagan’s pick. But after Reagan, it was Bush’s "turn." He got the nomination.
Bob Dole had been Senate minority and majority leader for 10 years. He had been Gerald Ford’s running mate in 1976. It didn’t matter that he had no vision to stir the people like Ron Paul does. All Dole could do was talk about process; dry, boring tales about the times he invoked cloture. Thrilling. But in 1996, it was his turn. He got the nomination.
John McCain was said to be a war hero. After losing the nomination to Bush the Younger in 2000 and despite standing for a lot of things that Republicans said they opposed, after Bush’s eight-year romp, it was McCain’s turn. He got the nomination.
Which brings us back to Romney. Like George W. Bush, Romney’s father had been a figure in Republican politics, remembered today only for the help he gave the Party’s old guard Rockefeller establishment in trying to stop Goldwater from getting the nomination in 1964. Mitt Romney himself has been a governor, and, more importantly, ran a close second to John McCain in 2008.
So it’s his turn.
That’s the other thing about the way the Republican’s choose their nominees. They have to be establishment figures. That helps them decide whose turn it is. So, true to form, the Arizona and Michigan primaries went to Romney. He’s an establishment guy. And it’s his turn.
Still the Internet is filled with pictures of Romney addressing people in a mostly empty stadium, gymnasiums with nobody seated beyond the first couple of rows, and campaign rallies that would even make the Maytag repairman feel abandoned.
At the same time, Ron Paul is packing them to the rafters, overflowing rallies with hundreds turned away, cheering crowds of thousands, shoulder-to-shoulder, elbow-to-elbow supporters, wild in their enthusiasm for Ron Paul and his message of freedom, peace, and prosperity.
As he does better and better with the people, out comes the establishment, sharpening its long knives. Here’s the New York Times’ recent judgment: "Ron Paul long ago disqualified himself for the presidency by peddling claptrap proposals like abolishing the Federal Reserve, returning to the gold standard, cutting a third of the federal budget and all foreign aid and opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
We’ve been down this road before. The establishment likes its central bank-Wall Street axis running the Republican Party. It prefers its candidates be big government, big spending blue bloods of the Rockefeller wing of the party: George Bush, the elder son of Wall Street’s Prescott Bush and the man who made possible the bumbling, big-spending W. Bush years that ended in financial panic; John McCain, who sounded like a confused beauty pageant contestant when Ron Paul asked him a simple question about economic policy; and the flip-flopping, easily molded Mitt Romney, who fits the mold of an establishment Republican candidate.
Still, Ron Paul continues to get more delegates. My friend Michael Shedlock of Mish’s Global Economic Analysis has done a good job crunching the numbers and concludes that the odds of a brokered convention – one in which Romney doesn’t have enough delegates to cinch the nomination on the first ballot – is better than 50%. See his numbers here.
It’s enough to make next week’s Super Tuesday interesting. And by the time the convention rolls around this summer, maybe the Republicans will have figured out what a Rasmussen poll reported yesterday – that Ron Paul beat Obama in a head-to-head matchup, and outperformed all the other Republicans against the president.
Wow! All the things the Republicans want: Youth, energy, enthusiasm, grassroots support and fundraising. And did I mention young people?
All that and a victory, too!
Establishment Republicans are a breed unto themselves. If you go to their long-term planning meetings, if you listen to them talk about their Party’s future, it’s like listening to well-known lyrics of familiar tunes. It’s all about broadening the base, getting more young people involved, becoming relevant, how to capture enthusiasm, more young people, using the internet, reaching out to young people, figuring out how to fundraise in the digital age, getting more young people.
Now, along comes Ron Paul, who offers them exactly what they want: young people, enthusiasm, an unbeatable social media campaign, devoted volunteers, better demographics, new fundraising success, a campaign worthy of the digital age, relevance, money, excitement, and (did I mention?) young people.
It’s exactly what they have wished for. Exactly what they need. And they turn their back on it.
What do Republicans actually do? They like to give their nomination to the candidate who they think deserves it. Principles and ideals are off the table. The Party’s future that they worry about is forgotten. Because all they really want to do is give the nomination to the candidate whose turn it is.
Look at Bush the Elder. The Reagan Republicans never liked him. In fact, I knew a delegate to the Republican convention that nominated Reagan in 1980 who typified that view. She even refused to vote for Bush to be on the ticket. Even though he was Reagan’s pick. But after Reagan, it was Bush’s "turn." He got the nomination.
Bob Dole had been Senate minority and majority leader for 10 years. He had been Gerald Ford’s running mate in 1976. It didn’t matter that he had no vision to stir the people like Ron Paul does. All Dole could do was talk about process; dry, boring tales about the times he invoked cloture. Thrilling. But in 1996, it was his turn. He got the nomination.
John McCain was said to be a war hero. After losing the nomination to Bush the Younger in 2000 and despite standing for a lot of things that Republicans said they opposed, after Bush’s eight-year romp, it was McCain’s turn. He got the nomination.
Which brings us back to Romney. Like George W. Bush, Romney’s father had been a figure in Republican politics, remembered today only for the help he gave the Party’s old guard Rockefeller establishment in trying to stop Goldwater from getting the nomination in 1964. Mitt Romney himself has been a governor, and, more importantly, ran a close second to John McCain in 2008.
So it’s his turn.
That’s the other thing about the way the Republican’s choose their nominees. They have to be establishment figures. That helps them decide whose turn it is. So, true to form, the Arizona and Michigan primaries went to Romney. He’s an establishment guy. And it’s his turn.
Still the Internet is filled with pictures of Romney addressing people in a mostly empty stadium, gymnasiums with nobody seated beyond the first couple of rows, and campaign rallies that would even make the Maytag repairman feel abandoned.
At the same time, Ron Paul is packing them to the rafters, overflowing rallies with hundreds turned away, cheering crowds of thousands, shoulder-to-shoulder, elbow-to-elbow supporters, wild in their enthusiasm for Ron Paul and his message of freedom, peace, and prosperity.
As he does better and better with the people, out comes the establishment, sharpening its long knives. Here’s the New York Times’ recent judgment: "Ron Paul long ago disqualified himself for the presidency by peddling claptrap proposals like abolishing the Federal Reserve, returning to the gold standard, cutting a third of the federal budget and all foreign aid and opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
We’ve been down this road before. The establishment likes its central bank-Wall Street axis running the Republican Party. It prefers its candidates be big government, big spending blue bloods of the Rockefeller wing of the party: George Bush, the elder son of Wall Street’s Prescott Bush and the man who made possible the bumbling, big-spending W. Bush years that ended in financial panic; John McCain, who sounded like a confused beauty pageant contestant when Ron Paul asked him a simple question about economic policy; and the flip-flopping, easily molded Mitt Romney, who fits the mold of an establishment Republican candidate.
Still, Ron Paul continues to get more delegates. My friend Michael Shedlock of Mish’s Global Economic Analysis has done a good job crunching the numbers and concludes that the odds of a brokered convention – one in which Romney doesn’t have enough delegates to cinch the nomination on the first ballot – is better than 50%. See his numbers here.
It’s enough to make next week’s Super Tuesday interesting. And by the time the convention rolls around this summer, maybe the Republicans will have figured out what a Rasmussen poll reported yesterday – that Ron Paul beat Obama in a head-to-head matchup, and outperformed all the other Republicans against the president.
Wow! All the things the Republicans want: Youth, energy, enthusiasm, grassroots support and fundraising. And did I mention young people?
All that and a victory, too!
MONETARY POLICY IS DESTROYING THIS COUNTRY
Before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Hearing on 'Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy,' 2/29/2012
Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing on monetary policy and the state of the economy. I believe that now, more than ever, the American people want to hold the Federal Reserve accountable for its loose monetary policy and want full transparency of the Fed's actions.
While the Fed has certainly released an unprecedented amount of information on its activities, there is still much that remains unknown. And every move towards transparency has been fought against tooth and nail by the Fed. It took disclosure requirements enacted within the Dodd-Frank Act to get the Fed to provide data on the its emergency lending facilities. It took lawsuits filed by Bloomberg and Fox News to provide data on discount window lending during the worst parts of the financial crisis. And it will take further concerted action on the part of Congress, the media, and the public to keep up pressure on the Fed to remain transparent.
Transparency is not a panacea, however, as a fully transparent organization is still capable of engaging in all sorts of mischief, as the Federal Reserve does on a regular basis. Ironically, one of the Fed's more egregious recent actions, adopting an explicit inflation target, was hailed by many as another wonderful example of transparency. Yet if you think about what this supposed 2% inflation target actually is, you realize that it is an explicit policy to devalue the dollar and reduce its purchasing power. Two percent annual price inflation means that prices rise 22% within a decade, and nearly 50% within two decades.
Indeed, if you look at the performance of the consumer price index (CPI) under Chairman Bernanke's tenure, prices have risen at a rate of 2.25% per year. Many, perhaps even most, economists would consider this a modest rise, an example of sober, cautious monetary policy. Some economists of Paul Krugman's persuasion might even argue that this is too tight a monetary policy. However, 2.25% is not too far off from the Fed's new 2% target.
Now look at the performance of the US economy since February 1, 2006, the date Chairman Bernanke took the mantle from Alan Greenspan. Trillions of dollars have been wasted on bailouts, stimulus packages, and other feckless spending. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and have lost hope of ever regaining employment. The national debt has risen to more than 100% of GDP, as the federal government continues to rack up trillion-dollar deficits, aided and abetted by the Fed's policies of quantitative easing and zero percent interest rates. And we are supposed to believe that a 2% inflation rate, similar to what has prevailed during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, is the cure for what ails this economy.
This explicit 2% target also fails to take into account that whatever measure is used to determine price inflation, be it CPI, core CPI, PCE, etc., will always be chosen with an eye towards underreporting the true rate of inflation and price rises. Pressure will be exerted on those calculating the price indices, so as not to alarm the public when prices begin to accelerate. One need only look at what is taking place in Argentina today, where the government publishes an official CPI figure that is often less than half that reported by private sources.
A similar situation exists in this country, where economists calculating CPI according to the original basket of goods have determined that price inflation has increased 9.5% per year since 2006, rather than the 2.25% reported by the government. Even the government's own data reports price rises of nearly 7% per year since 2006 on such consumer goods as gasoline and eggs. Bread, rice, and ground beef have increased by nearly 6% per year, while bacon and potatoes have increased nearly 5% per year. This means that in a little over half a decade, prices on staple consumer goods have increased 30-50%, all while wages have stagnated and millions of Americans find themselves out of work and without a paycheck. Of course, government officials claim that price increases do not affect the average American because they can always buy hamburger instead of steak, or have cereal instead of bacon. But the American people can see how they are suffering because of the Federal Reserve. The government’s claims that the official statistics show no reason to be concerned about inflation is Marxist – as in Groucho, who famously said: "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"
The Federal Reserve continues to keep interest rates low in the hopes of boosting lending and consumption. But keeping interest rates at zero discourages saving, particularly as the rate of price inflation continues to rise. Why stick money in a savings account earning 0.05% if it is guaranteed to lose at least 2% of its value every year? And this is a guarantee, as the Fed has promised a 2% rate of increase in price inflation, while also guaranteeing a zero percent federal funds rate through 2014. Retirees living on fixed incomes, dependent on savings, or on interest income from investments will see their savings drawn down as they are forced to consume principal. Young people, hard hit by the recession and struggling to find jobs, will fail to see the virtue of thrift. Saving or investing is an exercise in futility, as parking money in the bank or in CDs will guarantee a loss, while investing in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds will net at best paltry gains, and at worst massive losses in this continuing weak economy.
The longer the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates low and discourages savings and investment, the more societal attitudes will change from being future oriented to present oriented. The Federal Reserve and its policies already served to stimulate and prioritize consumption over saving, creating the largest debt bubble the world has ever known. The extended zero interest rate policy only serves to promote more consumption and debt now, eviscerating thrift and savings – the true building blocks of prosperity. This present-oriented mindset has become pervasive especially among politicians, putting the government in dismal financial shape as Congressmen and Presidents over the years have taken to heart Louis XV's famous saying: "Après moi, le déluge." If the American people follow the same path in their own lives, this country will be ruined. Capital will be depleted, infrastructure will fall into disrepair, and the United States will be a mere shadow of its former self. It is well past time to end the failed monetary policy that encourages this mistaken preference for cheap money now.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing on monetary policy and the state of the economy. I believe that now, more than ever, the American people want to hold the Federal Reserve accountable for its loose monetary policy and want full transparency of the Fed's actions.
While the Fed has certainly released an unprecedented amount of information on its activities, there is still much that remains unknown. And every move towards transparency has been fought against tooth and nail by the Fed. It took disclosure requirements enacted within the Dodd-Frank Act to get the Fed to provide data on the its emergency lending facilities. It took lawsuits filed by Bloomberg and Fox News to provide data on discount window lending during the worst parts of the financial crisis. And it will take further concerted action on the part of Congress, the media, and the public to keep up pressure on the Fed to remain transparent.
Transparency is not a panacea, however, as a fully transparent organization is still capable of engaging in all sorts of mischief, as the Federal Reserve does on a regular basis. Ironically, one of the Fed's more egregious recent actions, adopting an explicit inflation target, was hailed by many as another wonderful example of transparency. Yet if you think about what this supposed 2% inflation target actually is, you realize that it is an explicit policy to devalue the dollar and reduce its purchasing power. Two percent annual price inflation means that prices rise 22% within a decade, and nearly 50% within two decades.
Indeed, if you look at the performance of the consumer price index (CPI) under Chairman Bernanke's tenure, prices have risen at a rate of 2.25% per year. Many, perhaps even most, economists would consider this a modest rise, an example of sober, cautious monetary policy. Some economists of Paul Krugman's persuasion might even argue that this is too tight a monetary policy. However, 2.25% is not too far off from the Fed's new 2% target.
Now look at the performance of the US economy since February 1, 2006, the date Chairman Bernanke took the mantle from Alan Greenspan. Trillions of dollars have been wasted on bailouts, stimulus packages, and other feckless spending. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and have lost hope of ever regaining employment. The national debt has risen to more than 100% of GDP, as the federal government continues to rack up trillion-dollar deficits, aided and abetted by the Fed's policies of quantitative easing and zero percent interest rates. And we are supposed to believe that a 2% inflation rate, similar to what has prevailed during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, is the cure for what ails this economy.
This explicit 2% target also fails to take into account that whatever measure is used to determine price inflation, be it CPI, core CPI, PCE, etc., will always be chosen with an eye towards underreporting the true rate of inflation and price rises. Pressure will be exerted on those calculating the price indices, so as not to alarm the public when prices begin to accelerate. One need only look at what is taking place in Argentina today, where the government publishes an official CPI figure that is often less than half that reported by private sources.
A similar situation exists in this country, where economists calculating CPI according to the original basket of goods have determined that price inflation has increased 9.5% per year since 2006, rather than the 2.25% reported by the government. Even the government's own data reports price rises of nearly 7% per year since 2006 on such consumer goods as gasoline and eggs. Bread, rice, and ground beef have increased by nearly 6% per year, while bacon and potatoes have increased nearly 5% per year. This means that in a little over half a decade, prices on staple consumer goods have increased 30-50%, all while wages have stagnated and millions of Americans find themselves out of work and without a paycheck. Of course, government officials claim that price increases do not affect the average American because they can always buy hamburger instead of steak, or have cereal instead of bacon. But the American people can see how they are suffering because of the Federal Reserve. The government’s claims that the official statistics show no reason to be concerned about inflation is Marxist – as in Groucho, who famously said: "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"
The Federal Reserve continues to keep interest rates low in the hopes of boosting lending and consumption. But keeping interest rates at zero discourages saving, particularly as the rate of price inflation continues to rise. Why stick money in a savings account earning 0.05% if it is guaranteed to lose at least 2% of its value every year? And this is a guarantee, as the Fed has promised a 2% rate of increase in price inflation, while also guaranteeing a zero percent federal funds rate through 2014. Retirees living on fixed incomes, dependent on savings, or on interest income from investments will see their savings drawn down as they are forced to consume principal. Young people, hard hit by the recession and struggling to find jobs, will fail to see the virtue of thrift. Saving or investing is an exercise in futility, as parking money in the bank or in CDs will guarantee a loss, while investing in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds will net at best paltry gains, and at worst massive losses in this continuing weak economy.
The longer the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates low and discourages savings and investment, the more societal attitudes will change from being future oriented to present oriented. The Federal Reserve and its policies already served to stimulate and prioritize consumption over saving, creating the largest debt bubble the world has ever known. The extended zero interest rate policy only serves to promote more consumption and debt now, eviscerating thrift and savings – the true building blocks of prosperity. This present-oriented mindset has become pervasive especially among politicians, putting the government in dismal financial shape as Congressmen and Presidents over the years have taken to heart Louis XV's famous saying: "Après moi, le déluge." If the American people follow the same path in their own lives, this country will be ruined. Capital will be depleted, infrastructure will fall into disrepair, and the United States will be a mere shadow of its former self. It is well past time to end the failed monetary policy that encourages this mistaken preference for cheap money now.
Tuesday
WHAT I THINK........RON HOLLAND
"See this room? Two-thirds of us laid off when Ron Paul is president." ~ A hot microphone picked up a reporter attacking Ron Paul before a Pentagon briefing began
We are currently in the middle of the long war of the Internet Reformation although the press will never mention this. Effectively there has been an ongoing war between the non-controlled alternative media and the establishment media starting with LewRockwell.com back in 1999.
Since then many quality alternative media websites have been added to the competition while the elite media’s credibility, reach and ability to manipulate debate and public opinion has been declining. The Internet Reformation is slowly winning and this has been most clearly shown to date with the 2012 Ron Paul Campaign.
The GOP Neocon puppet masters are terrified especially when Republican crowds at televised debates cheer the Ron Paul non-interventionist foreign policy remarks because this threatens their control over US foreign policy in what was formerly their secure home turf. Try as they might the media has not been able to destroy the Ron Paul Campaign.
Is The Great Establishment Media Purge Beginning?
"They can't be afraid of me…I’m not going to be President of the United States. They are afraid of the ideas we express because they're afraid of the people." ~ Pat Buchanan
Back in the old Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin created the "Great Purge" of political repression and persecution during 1936 to 1938. Stalin was paranoid and very fearful of individuals he considered enemies of the people and counter-revolutionary because these dissenters threatened his dictatorial control and authority over the nation.
It appears the mainstream media elites in the US may also worry about their future ability to control public opinion and elections in America. In the last week we have seen MSNBC on the left purge Pat Buchanan from the network and Fox News on the right eliminate Judge Andrew Napolitano and Freedom Watch for expressing opinions and views that threaten the political institutions, control and goals of the power elite. The first question asked must be why now rather than later as after all both men have expressed their anti-establishment views for years without repercussions?
I believe the answer is the growing power of alternative media and the successful educational effort of the Ron Paul Campaign both of which use the internet to get their freedom message out. The establishment media primarily exists to defend the establishment and the growing readership of alternative news and opinion sites are making their job increasingly difficult. When you add in the growing numbers of Paul campaign supporters that appear to now be effectively immune to the power elite propaganda, the media elites have a real problem.
Today’s Media Establishment Is An Anachronism & Relic of the Past
The job of the press was to manipulate and control public opinion as well as voting blocks during the heyday of print media, radio and recently even cable news. The elites bought and controlled most media outlets, developed and promoted a controlled political opposition on the left and the right that allowed them to set the parameters for discussion and debate. America has effectively been a one party state for 100 years with power elites controlling the major political parties using the American style democracy both as their cover and to convey legitimacy on their behind the scenes manipulation.
The real battle today is not the ongoing GOP presidential primary but rather the media elites against the Ron Paul Campaign and the alternative internet based media where growing numbers of Americans are getting news and forming their opinions.
If you watch the run of the mill campaigns by all of the GOP presidential candidates except for Ron Paul and listen to the rhetoric it is the same old story and false paradigm waged every four years for almost 100 years. Our legitimate government and rule by the people was actually overthrown in 1913 by banking interests who created the Federal Reserve and the graduated income tax.
Ron Paul Has Brilliantly Turned the Tables On the Political Establishment
His campaign is using the closed two-party control structure and their media gatekeepers previously utilized to control public opinion and elections against them. For example the state presidential primary and caucus system, televised debates and related campaign news coverage formerly was a GOP establishment monopoly. Today thanks to the Internet, it has become the Trojan horse used by Paul’s campaign and liberty supporters to get inside the closed walls of the GOP to educate millions of Americans about freedom and free-market ideas.
The establishment news media has been powerless to stop this infiltration so the real battle in 2012, isn’t the visible political campaign but rather the hidden impotence of the media elites to protect the establishment control. This is why the media so hates and fears Ron Paul. His campaign is the new road map for how pro-liberty candidates and forces together with the alternative media can and will eventually defeat the power elites main protectors and gatekeepers, which is the media establishment.
The Wednesday night GOP Presidential debate could well be the last in this campaign cycle. In fact, it could be the last GOP presidential debate in your lifetime if future freedom candidates follow the Ron Paul model of turning a major campaign into an educational effort against the GOP establishment.
The existing closed political system will not survive another GOP presidential nomination campaign in which the truths and views of a major candidate like Ron Paul
are repeated in numerous debates night after night to a voting public armed with Google search and the alternative media. Traditional campaigns and managed elections with predetermined outcomes are over as the media establishment can no longer control the debate, limit information flow and defend the political establishment.
This 2012 GOP presidential nomination campaign ritual that actually began in early 2011 is coming to a close. Historically presidential campaigns and the pre-approved chosen ones battle in the arena of democracy and candidate finally chosen by the false holy sacrament of democracy through a controlled electoral process is designed to convey a measure of legitimacy on those who rule over us and nothing more. It is pure entertainment just like the old Roman circuses, coliseum diversions and free bread during the latter-days of the Roman Empire to calm the public while their empire fell and their wealth and liberties were destroyed.
Contrary to the lies from rightwing radio, leftwing experts and most political party hacks and leaders most elections are fraudulent and a waste of time for voters. I suggest you research campaign promises from Wilson and Roosevelt on keeping us out of war to modern-day presidents like Bush II, Obama etc. and you’ll see their campaign promises are literally never kept. Yet after each election, the press almost never mentions this fact of modern-day political life. It is an inside establishment joke and the job of the establishment press is to protect, defend and advance the interests of the establishment.
Voting & Campaigns Have Been An Exercise In Futility Since 1913
What has passed, as majority rule is nothing more than a deception forced on manipulated voters, fraud filled voting, caucuses and primaries and run by insider party elites. This deception has worked historically because the media establishment has always controlled, commented on and manufactured public opinion so the power elite candidates backed financially by big banks, Wall Street and a few extremely wealthy families could maintain the false illusion of government by the people.
Yes the front men and political parties will change places from time to time so we the people can direct our support or disgust in the following elections but policies change little and the real power elite and special interests who determine foreign and domestic polices, bailout their banking friends continue as before.
This is just an every four year ritual and false deception designed to convince the citizens that they somehow govern themselves and their nation. The truth about representative democracy is this form of government at a national level when compared to decentralized confederation government and or direct democracy is the easiest way for elites to fool voters. This allows politicians to act and legislate always in their best interests rather than for the good of the nation or the people.
The 2012 Election Really Is Different
This is not because the defeat of Barack Obama or the election of a Romney, Santorum or Gingrich will change the direction of the nation. The banks will still get bailed out, the federal budget will not be balanced and our national debt will continue to grow. Also the neocons will still determine foreign policy and the Federal Reserve will continue to create money out of nothing for a few special interests and industries.
I believe the 2012 presidential election will be the final death rattle for the American political, financial and media establishment and their ability to control the voting public or the news and opinions used to create public opinion. This is what really makes the 2012 election different.
The growth in alternative media readership as well as independent political and economic thought from the Ron Paul Campaign educational effort have almost reached the tipping point thus making the past public control function of the media establishment a lost cause. Adding up the alternative media readership numbers and Paul’s GOP vote percentages primarily from younger voters spells disaster for the establishment.
They may hold back the freedom forces for one more national election but in four more years of Obama or GOP establishment leadership I forecast the flood gates of political and economic change will burst open and the liberty revolution will advance on Washington, Wall Street and the central bank cartel.
The outcome of the 2012 election is difficult to forecast but it is clear eventually the media establishment will lose the war! Not withstanding the results of the 2012 election and how many free-market commentators are repressed, banned, blacklisted or fired, the media elites will lose because of the internet.
Even if those who rule over us use a false flag operation like in the past to create a war or national emergency to control the internet, curtail opposition viewpoints and end our liberties and access to alternative views and news – this will only work for a very short time.
The internet has become a necessity for business and commerce and today’s global market means real history and the truth about financial manipulation, central banking cartels, free market solutions and political controls will get through their restraints and continue to challenge the establishment propaganda outlets.
They cannot kill the Internet without destroying the American economy in a very competitive world. The US is the most important economic host to these power elite parasites as they benefit from both confiscating our wealth and enslaving our children as cannon fodder for their wars.
The truth about our history, political system and our own enslavement has been best shown by Judge Andrew Napolitano in his questions every American should demand answers to in his recent editorial What If Democracy Is Bunk?
The search for answers to his 33 questions about American style democracy may well set the stage for the restoration of legitimate government and a free society in the United States. He has given us the questions to ask and all we need to do is to research, discover and publicize the answers.
Yes the establishment will counter-attack and use any means to remain in power and control but their days are numbered. Like Goebbels and the Berlin propaganda in early 1945, they can still issue proclamations, enact decrees and frighten the citizens but soon a large enough percentage of the electorate will know the truth. The emperor has no clothes and the rulers as well as the power elites hiding behind the scenes are frightened.
In 2013, the United States will have been occupied, ruled and looted by an elite that claimed to know what was best for them, the nation and the American people. They weren’t evil like the Nazis or violent like the Stalin and the communists but in the end they destroyed our liberties and have looted most of our property and wealth. Personally I think one hundred years is long enough. What do you think?
When a plurality of Americans can understand Judge Napolitano’s 33 questions and the answers, then the game is up and the truth just might yet set us free.
We are currently in the middle of the long war of the Internet Reformation although the press will never mention this. Effectively there has been an ongoing war between the non-controlled alternative media and the establishment media starting with LewRockwell.com back in 1999.
Since then many quality alternative media websites have been added to the competition while the elite media’s credibility, reach and ability to manipulate debate and public opinion has been declining. The Internet Reformation is slowly winning and this has been most clearly shown to date with the 2012 Ron Paul Campaign.
The GOP Neocon puppet masters are terrified especially when Republican crowds at televised debates cheer the Ron Paul non-interventionist foreign policy remarks because this threatens their control over US foreign policy in what was formerly their secure home turf. Try as they might the media has not been able to destroy the Ron Paul Campaign.
Is The Great Establishment Media Purge Beginning?
"They can't be afraid of me…I’m not going to be President of the United States. They are afraid of the ideas we express because they're afraid of the people." ~ Pat Buchanan
Back in the old Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin created the "Great Purge" of political repression and persecution during 1936 to 1938. Stalin was paranoid and very fearful of individuals he considered enemies of the people and counter-revolutionary because these dissenters threatened his dictatorial control and authority over the nation.
It appears the mainstream media elites in the US may also worry about their future ability to control public opinion and elections in America. In the last week we have seen MSNBC on the left purge Pat Buchanan from the network and Fox News on the right eliminate Judge Andrew Napolitano and Freedom Watch for expressing opinions and views that threaten the political institutions, control and goals of the power elite. The first question asked must be why now rather than later as after all both men have expressed their anti-establishment views for years without repercussions?
I believe the answer is the growing power of alternative media and the successful educational effort of the Ron Paul Campaign both of which use the internet to get their freedom message out. The establishment media primarily exists to defend the establishment and the growing readership of alternative news and opinion sites are making their job increasingly difficult. When you add in the growing numbers of Paul campaign supporters that appear to now be effectively immune to the power elite propaganda, the media elites have a real problem.
Today’s Media Establishment Is An Anachronism & Relic of the Past
The job of the press was to manipulate and control public opinion as well as voting blocks during the heyday of print media, radio and recently even cable news. The elites bought and controlled most media outlets, developed and promoted a controlled political opposition on the left and the right that allowed them to set the parameters for discussion and debate. America has effectively been a one party state for 100 years with power elites controlling the major political parties using the American style democracy both as their cover and to convey legitimacy on their behind the scenes manipulation.
The real battle today is not the ongoing GOP presidential primary but rather the media elites against the Ron Paul Campaign and the alternative internet based media where growing numbers of Americans are getting news and forming their opinions.
If you watch the run of the mill campaigns by all of the GOP presidential candidates except for Ron Paul and listen to the rhetoric it is the same old story and false paradigm waged every four years for almost 100 years. Our legitimate government and rule by the people was actually overthrown in 1913 by banking interests who created the Federal Reserve and the graduated income tax.
Ron Paul Has Brilliantly Turned the Tables On the Political Establishment
His campaign is using the closed two-party control structure and their media gatekeepers previously utilized to control public opinion and elections against them. For example the state presidential primary and caucus system, televised debates and related campaign news coverage formerly was a GOP establishment monopoly. Today thanks to the Internet, it has become the Trojan horse used by Paul’s campaign and liberty supporters to get inside the closed walls of the GOP to educate millions of Americans about freedom and free-market ideas.
The establishment news media has been powerless to stop this infiltration so the real battle in 2012, isn’t the visible political campaign but rather the hidden impotence of the media elites to protect the establishment control. This is why the media so hates and fears Ron Paul. His campaign is the new road map for how pro-liberty candidates and forces together with the alternative media can and will eventually defeat the power elites main protectors and gatekeepers, which is the media establishment.
The Wednesday night GOP Presidential debate could well be the last in this campaign cycle. In fact, it could be the last GOP presidential debate in your lifetime if future freedom candidates follow the Ron Paul model of turning a major campaign into an educational effort against the GOP establishment.
The existing closed political system will not survive another GOP presidential nomination campaign in which the truths and views of a major candidate like Ron Paul
are repeated in numerous debates night after night to a voting public armed with Google search and the alternative media. Traditional campaigns and managed elections with predetermined outcomes are over as the media establishment can no longer control the debate, limit information flow and defend the political establishment.
This 2012 GOP presidential nomination campaign ritual that actually began in early 2011 is coming to a close. Historically presidential campaigns and the pre-approved chosen ones battle in the arena of democracy and candidate finally chosen by the false holy sacrament of democracy through a controlled electoral process is designed to convey a measure of legitimacy on those who rule over us and nothing more. It is pure entertainment just like the old Roman circuses, coliseum diversions and free bread during the latter-days of the Roman Empire to calm the public while their empire fell and their wealth and liberties were destroyed.
Contrary to the lies from rightwing radio, leftwing experts and most political party hacks and leaders most elections are fraudulent and a waste of time for voters. I suggest you research campaign promises from Wilson and Roosevelt on keeping us out of war to modern-day presidents like Bush II, Obama etc. and you’ll see their campaign promises are literally never kept. Yet after each election, the press almost never mentions this fact of modern-day political life. It is an inside establishment joke and the job of the establishment press is to protect, defend and advance the interests of the establishment.
Voting & Campaigns Have Been An Exercise In Futility Since 1913
What has passed, as majority rule is nothing more than a deception forced on manipulated voters, fraud filled voting, caucuses and primaries and run by insider party elites. This deception has worked historically because the media establishment has always controlled, commented on and manufactured public opinion so the power elite candidates backed financially by big banks, Wall Street and a few extremely wealthy families could maintain the false illusion of government by the people.
Yes the front men and political parties will change places from time to time so we the people can direct our support or disgust in the following elections but policies change little and the real power elite and special interests who determine foreign and domestic polices, bailout their banking friends continue as before.
This is just an every four year ritual and false deception designed to convince the citizens that they somehow govern themselves and their nation. The truth about representative democracy is this form of government at a national level when compared to decentralized confederation government and or direct democracy is the easiest way for elites to fool voters. This allows politicians to act and legislate always in their best interests rather than for the good of the nation or the people.
The 2012 Election Really Is Different
This is not because the defeat of Barack Obama or the election of a Romney, Santorum or Gingrich will change the direction of the nation. The banks will still get bailed out, the federal budget will not be balanced and our national debt will continue to grow. Also the neocons will still determine foreign policy and the Federal Reserve will continue to create money out of nothing for a few special interests and industries.
I believe the 2012 presidential election will be the final death rattle for the American political, financial and media establishment and their ability to control the voting public or the news and opinions used to create public opinion. This is what really makes the 2012 election different.
The growth in alternative media readership as well as independent political and economic thought from the Ron Paul Campaign educational effort have almost reached the tipping point thus making the past public control function of the media establishment a lost cause. Adding up the alternative media readership numbers and Paul’s GOP vote percentages primarily from younger voters spells disaster for the establishment.
They may hold back the freedom forces for one more national election but in four more years of Obama or GOP establishment leadership I forecast the flood gates of political and economic change will burst open and the liberty revolution will advance on Washington, Wall Street and the central bank cartel.
The outcome of the 2012 election is difficult to forecast but it is clear eventually the media establishment will lose the war! Not withstanding the results of the 2012 election and how many free-market commentators are repressed, banned, blacklisted or fired, the media elites will lose because of the internet.
Even if those who rule over us use a false flag operation like in the past to create a war or national emergency to control the internet, curtail opposition viewpoints and end our liberties and access to alternative views and news – this will only work for a very short time.
The internet has become a necessity for business and commerce and today’s global market means real history and the truth about financial manipulation, central banking cartels, free market solutions and political controls will get through their restraints and continue to challenge the establishment propaganda outlets.
They cannot kill the Internet without destroying the American economy in a very competitive world. The US is the most important economic host to these power elite parasites as they benefit from both confiscating our wealth and enslaving our children as cannon fodder for their wars.
The truth about our history, political system and our own enslavement has been best shown by Judge Andrew Napolitano in his questions every American should demand answers to in his recent editorial What If Democracy Is Bunk?
The search for answers to his 33 questions about American style democracy may well set the stage for the restoration of legitimate government and a free society in the United States. He has given us the questions to ask and all we need to do is to research, discover and publicize the answers.
Yes the establishment will counter-attack and use any means to remain in power and control but their days are numbered. Like Goebbels and the Berlin propaganda in early 1945, they can still issue proclamations, enact decrees and frighten the citizens but soon a large enough percentage of the electorate will know the truth. The emperor has no clothes and the rulers as well as the power elites hiding behind the scenes are frightened.
In 2013, the United States will have been occupied, ruled and looted by an elite that claimed to know what was best for them, the nation and the American people. They weren’t evil like the Nazis or violent like the Stalin and the communists but in the end they destroyed our liberties and have looted most of our property and wealth. Personally I think one hundred years is long enough. What do you think?
When a plurality of Americans can understand Judge Napolitano’s 33 questions and the answers, then the game is up and the truth just might yet set us free.
Monday
WHAT I THINK........JAMES OSTROWSKI
Note: Ron Paul won the straw poll with 30 votes. Santorum had 25, Romney – 21 and Gingrich – 18.
Opening Statement. I want to thank the Amherst Republican Party for hosting this event and inviting me to participate and present Ron Paul’s views on the issues. I am proud to support Dr. Paul who is the only candidate to visit this area during the campaign. In August, he took time off from a family reunion to speak to 700 people who came to see him on just three days notice.
Before we get into the issues, I want to urge you to put aside the media propaganda and consider supporting Dr. Ron Paul. Contrary to what the media says, he can win the nomination and he can beat Obama. Ron is only 8 delegates behind the current frontrunner Rick Santorum. The other two candidates are fading. And not only can Ron beat Obama, he’s the only one who can unite the broad coalition necessary to do so.
Ron polls particularly well among young people, independents, working class people and people in the Northeast. He is strong where Obama is strong. Obama’s people won’t say so but they are terrified of Ron Paul. In the Rasmussen poll, Ron Paul holds Obama to just 44%, his lowest number against any Republican candidate. Finally, Ron Paul is the only Republican who will not face a serious libertarian third party challenge.
So, not only has Ron Paul been right for a long time about the interrelated key issues facing the nation: war and peace, the economy, spending, taxes and inflation, but he is the best chance, really the only chance we have to make Barack Obama the next resident of the United States.
Closing Statement. The American nation is in a state of great crisis. It’s the crisis of liberalism, the notion that government force could create a Great Society. Liberalism failed and it’s bankrupt and continuing on the current path will lead to disaster.
Of the five remaining men who could be the next president, Ron Paul is the only one promising to take a different path, the path of limited government and individual liberty. All of the others have been part of the problem we need to solve. Regardless of what they call themselves – watch the hands not the mouth – they have all supported big government policies and still do. At the end of the day, they trust government to solve our problems. Ron Paul knows that the government has created most of our problems and he will trust you and your liberty to solve them. Only Ron Paul has proposed any real spending cuts. Ron Paul’s commitment to cut one trillion and five federal departments is a good start.
Let me ask the young people here today. Do you want Democratic and Republican politicians like Obama and Santorum to make you pay for the mistakes of the past by piling up more federal debt? And to their parents and grandparents – do you really want to bequeath to your children and grandchildren a bankrupt, depressed and declining nation?
Big government causes problems and divides people. Only Ron Paul’s platform of liberty can solve these problems and bring our three generations together and guarantee a bright future for America.
Opening Statement. I want to thank the Amherst Republican Party for hosting this event and inviting me to participate and present Ron Paul’s views on the issues. I am proud to support Dr. Paul who is the only candidate to visit this area during the campaign. In August, he took time off from a family reunion to speak to 700 people who came to see him on just three days notice.
Before we get into the issues, I want to urge you to put aside the media propaganda and consider supporting Dr. Ron Paul. Contrary to what the media says, he can win the nomination and he can beat Obama. Ron is only 8 delegates behind the current frontrunner Rick Santorum. The other two candidates are fading. And not only can Ron beat Obama, he’s the only one who can unite the broad coalition necessary to do so.
Ron polls particularly well among young people, independents, working class people and people in the Northeast. He is strong where Obama is strong. Obama’s people won’t say so but they are terrified of Ron Paul. In the Rasmussen poll, Ron Paul holds Obama to just 44%, his lowest number against any Republican candidate. Finally, Ron Paul is the only Republican who will not face a serious libertarian third party challenge.
So, not only has Ron Paul been right for a long time about the interrelated key issues facing the nation: war and peace, the economy, spending, taxes and inflation, but he is the best chance, really the only chance we have to make Barack Obama the next resident of the United States.
Closing Statement. The American nation is in a state of great crisis. It’s the crisis of liberalism, the notion that government force could create a Great Society. Liberalism failed and it’s bankrupt and continuing on the current path will lead to disaster.
Of the five remaining men who could be the next president, Ron Paul is the only one promising to take a different path, the path of limited government and individual liberty. All of the others have been part of the problem we need to solve. Regardless of what they call themselves – watch the hands not the mouth – they have all supported big government policies and still do. At the end of the day, they trust government to solve our problems. Ron Paul knows that the government has created most of our problems and he will trust you and your liberty to solve them. Only Ron Paul has proposed any real spending cuts. Ron Paul’s commitment to cut one trillion and five federal departments is a good start.
Let me ask the young people here today. Do you want Democratic and Republican politicians like Obama and Santorum to make you pay for the mistakes of the past by piling up more federal debt? And to their parents and grandparents – do you really want to bequeath to your children and grandchildren a bankrupt, depressed and declining nation?
Big government causes problems and divides people. Only Ron Paul’s platform of liberty can solve these problems and bring our three generations together and guarantee a bright future for America.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
