Monthly Archives: August 2011
Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion From Fed
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley (MS), got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress.
“These are all whopping numbers,” said Robert Litan, a former Justice Department official who in the 1990s served on a commission probing the causes of the savings and loan crisis. “You’re talking about the aristocracy of American finance going down the tubes without the federal money.”
(View the Bloomberg interactive graphic to chart the Fed’s financial bailout.)
Foreign Borrowers
It wasn’t just American finance. Almost half of the Fed’s top 30 borrowers, measured by peak balances, were European firms. They included Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, which took $84.5 billion, the most of any non-U.S. lender, and Zurich-based UBS AG (UBSN), which got $77.2 billion. Germany’s Hypo Real Estate Holding AG borrowed $28.7 billion, an average of $21 million for each of its 1,366 employees. 
(Read more from bloomberg.com)
Wow! Pretty much all of modern American libertarianism in a 1-hour rant:
. . . at least from an activist point of view.
Imagining a Private Law Society
Ron Paul was right! 1998-2002 predictions
Walter Block vs Stefan Molyneux vs Ron Paul!
Very thoughtful, comprehensive Ron Paul interview
Partial Fed Audit reveals $16 Trillion in secret loans — largely to foreign institutions
And the media is silent.
In case you missed it, on July 21st 2011 the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a 266 page partial audit of the Federal Reserve (FED).
Here is the punch line: The Federal Reserve secretly kept the Phony-Fiat-Money-System afloat by “lending” out $16 Trillion Dollars to various corporations and banks, many of which were foreign, non-U.S. entities like The Bank of Scotland, UBS (Switzerland), Deutche Bank (Germany) and Societe Generale SA (France) between December 1, 2007 through July 21, 2010 (read this as: Created-Out-Of-Thin-Air and had refused to tell us). The details are on page 133 which you can read here.
How big is $16 Trillion Dollars? Well, to get a basic idea please review this excellent presentation. Here are some other ways to try to get your head around this astounding number:
The entire U.S. GDP is $14.8 Trillion Dollars. That is what everybody: you, me, everybody, including all Government spent in 2010.
The entire U.S. Debt over the past 200 years is $14.5 Trillion Dollars. It used to take time to dig a whole this deep….no more! (Read more from lewrockwell.com)
S&P suffers paypack after downgrading U.S. debt
Apparently, it isn’t so fun to get downgraded. Earlier this month, Standard and Poor’s downgraded the U.S., which caused a domino effect and pushed down the ratings of bonds issued by other entities implicitly guaranteed by the U.S like some municipalities. The retaliation appears to have begun.
This week, we’re learning that some of those local governments are dropping the agency from the group it pays to rate its debt. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department is reportedly investigating S&P for its mortgage bond rating mistakes. (Read more from theatlantic.com)
Superhero Paul Krugman Saves World from Imaginary Alien Invasion!
Canadian Medicare as a Model for the United States | Ronald Hamowy
History of Canada’s national healthcare
Doctor protests accompanied Canada’s first imposition of government control in Saskatchewan, and the initial nationalization in 1962. The socialists overcame the protests by buying off doctors who, in protest, had closed their offices for 23 days.
The eugenecists who promoted it.
Thomas Douglas, who nationalized Canada’s healthcare, advocated moral and psycological screenings for marriage and sterilization for unfit individuals. There was a sterilization statute in Saskatchewan in the 1930s.
Canadian system remains overwhelmingly popular.
Since it is illegal to use prices to reduce demand. The only available system for rationing is queue-ing. Median wait time between referral by general practioner to treatment in 2010 was 18.2 weeks. It varied by specialty and province.
The longest was for orthopedic surgery was 36.7 weeks.
In New Brunswick, the worst offender, median was 24.6 weeks.
The Supreme Court of Canada acknowledged the wait for knee replacements is often over a year, and that many patients die on waiting lists for cardiac care.
Physicians get paid according to how many patients they see. As a result, is common to double and triple book.
The average wait times for human access to
ultra sound — 31 days
ct scan — 30 days
mri — 69 days
pet scans — completely unavailable
The average wait times for animal access to
ct scans — a few hours
mri — a few hours
In 2008, Forbes magazine: there were more MRIs in Pittsburg than in Canada.
Despite this, there was opposition to a group of doctors attempting to set up private MRI clinics because they didn’t want anybody “jumping the queue.”
After the first private MRI clinic opened in 1993, Prime Minister Jean Chretien vowed to end funding to any province which allowed such private clinics to continue existing. Thomas Douglas’s CCF and the union of public employees led the opposition.
More seriously ill patients have a harder time finding an acute care hospital bed in Canada than moderately ill patients because of perverted incentives which put emphasis on cost.
To control costs, government attempts to restrict the number of Canadian doctors contributing to the doctor shortage.
Despite this, their system remains popular. Substantial propaganda contributes to this.
British Mum Proud of Pregnant Daughter
My visits to the 2007 and 2011 Ames Straw Polls
Voting often feels like begging. You only get to decide which bully will take your lunch money. The best approach may be to turn your back on the whole thing and at least deny them the respect they presume to have. You can’t keep your money, but by ignoring them, you can keep your self-esteem.
I once again put that feeling aside to support the one politician who doesn’t seem to want my lunch money: Ron Paul.
In 2007, Ron Paul supporters were fewer, younger and louder.
Perhaps the older, calmer and more numerous supporters are a sign of the main-streaming of the liberty message. In 2007, Ron Paul’s area was relegated to an obscure corner of the straw poll:
This corner wasn’t even occupied on Saturday:
If I understand correctly, the campaigns bid for spots. In 2007, Mitt “the plastic man” Romney had the central area:
This year, it was Paul:
In the surrounding area, Santorum and Ron Paul seemed to dominate signage, with the edge going to Ron Paul.
In 2007, now-forgotten Senator Brownback had an impressive presence in the front area between the event and the parking lot:
I had the feeling his campaign was in trouble though, because his goons wouldn’t let me or my girlfriend into his tent to eat some of his barbeque. First they said I needed to vote. So I voted (for Ron Paul), and returned to show them my stained thumb:
Then they didn’t let me in because they didn’t believe I was a Brownback supported. I honestly don’t know how they concluded that. I wasn’t wearing any liberty paraphernalia. Perhaps my appearance and good manners were insufficiently pro-war and pro-Patriot Act.
So we went to eat some of the plastic man’s food. Grey burgers on white bread, if I remember correctly. The free food helps me feel better implicitly endorsing these sociopaths through my participation.
This year, I ate three free snow cones from the large wind-energy tent:
Here’s how it works. (This an important lesson for anyone entering politics.) You go up to them, point to what you want and say “give me this, please.”
As a mere participant at the straw poll, you’re relegated to snow cones, burgers, a pro-wind power battery-operated fan, pens, barbeque, pepsi’s, tote bags, buttons and bumper stickers. But I imagine as you claw your way up the political ladder, all America becomes your point and take buffet, and as our wars progress, much of the rest of the world too.
Energy people had a big and scary presence.
Somewhere they found people to wear “I’m an energy voter t-shirt”:
One of the speakers, an industry consortium rep. spoke about reducing regulation and creating jobs. I suspect he speaks to Republicans about reducing regulations (except for regulations which eliminate competitions) and to Democrats about subsidizing energy alternatives.
To show your obvious enthusiasm for wind energy, you were allowed to go sign a giant wind turbine blade.
There are many such turbines in Iowa and neighboring Illinois. You can see them driving on 80. They look as still and beautiful as if they were painted onto the horizon.
Here’s what I magic markered as a show of my appreciation for this important subsidy:
I entered the main arena to listen to a few speeches:
An excellent and logical video explained that Iowa is first in the nation for several reasons:
– Iowans ask tough questions and can’t be fooled by slick ads
– Iowans volunteer their time
– Iowa is voted #1 by young professionals
– Iowa is #1 in wind energy
– Iowa is #1 in corn, soy and other crops
– Iowa is #1 in medical care . . . “without the federal government’s help,” they added.
Then I listened to Rick Santorum. (Have you ever tried Googling his name?) He had just exhaustively toured the state and wanted to make sure all Iowans got a chance to meet him and sit down “in their living rooms and libraries,” because listening to people is what’s missing from politics.
How sensible!
He talked about his “little engine that could campaign.” What an outsider!
And talked about how the media has been reluctant to give his campaign the coverage it deserves. Don’t you HATE when the media ignores a candidate! It’s obvious to me that Santorum is an honest politician who the elites don’t want you to know about.
He said the “United States is in jeopardy of losing its freedom because of one man and one bill. Obama-care.”
Instantly, I felt relief from my concern about unsustainable wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, militarism toward Iran, TSA groping, the Patriot Act, domestic spying, fiat money, fractional reserve banking, bailouts and nationalization of major industries. phew!
Santorum also said he wanted people to look him in the eye and kick his shins like they were tires, which sounded exceedingly sensible to me.
I also listened to Tim “T-Paw” Pawlenty’s speech which was occasionally interrupted by chants of “T-Paw,” from his genuine and grassroots supporters.
When he said that Valley Forge wasn’t easy, settling the West wasn’t easy, World War II wasn’t easy, going to the moon wasn’t easy, but it’s not about easy, I felt dizzy with patriotic fervor, and might have pulled my pants down and opened my wallet right then and there if friends had not physically restrained me.
He spoke about maintaining the peace by maintaining our strength, and I tingled all over with the extacy of America’s greatness. I stumbled from the auditorium in search of a military contractor who’d accept as a donation what little remained in my wallet after purchasing my $10 bus ticket.
But after getting another free snow cone, I lost momentum and decided instead to walk around and enjoy the spectacle:
Michelle Bachmann was so important and presidential, that a whole bunch of official looking people ran behind her golf cart as she waved to confused and indifferent attendees. The flashes of many cameras with long lenses quickly had their effect, though. The confused because curious. The curious gathered, and the crowd became an attraction in itself.
This is another important lesson for the many aspiring politicians who read my blog.
This year, there was no fair tax Ferris wheel:
There also seemed to be far fewer buses than in 2007:
which may or may not have anything to do with non-participation of Mitt Romney, widely rumored to have bused in Iowans from all over the United States in 2007.
I’d heard the results would be announced at 4:30. Then I heard they’d be announced at 5, then 5:30. At almost six o’clock, they were read. I watched C-SPAN which was broadcast on televisions outside.
They announced that over 16,000 people participated, and the winner was . . . . . Michelle Bachman!
Then they showed the number of votes received by Santorum, then Cain, then Mitt Romney, then Newt, then Huntsman, then McCotter. I didn’t know how may Paul received, but it obviously wasn’t important.
Then they showed the number of voted received by Gittering, then Pawlenty, then they went down the list of important, viable candidates again: Santorum, Cain, Romney, Huntsman, McCotter . . . .
Arithmetic told me that Michelle Bachman and that Ron Paul guy must have split about 10,000 votes between them. It was only back at the bus that I discovered they had almost tied, and only after I returned to the loving embrace of my neighbor’s wifi network that I gained more perspective:
– How Michele Bachmann Bought the Ames Straw Poll
– Ron Paul got ‘shafted’ by the media: Politico’s Roger Simons
– Jon Stewart exposes media censorship of Ron Paul
From the 2008 campaign:
– Censoring Ron Paul – Why the rEVOLution will not be televised
Texas RLC Sends Out Warning on Rick Perry
Texas Governor Rick Perry may be the flavor of the day for a lot of Republicans, but Texas Republicans who are familiar with his record are a lot less enthusiastic about his presidential run. “Perry has a unique talent for finding new ways to raise taxes and loves to use taxpayer money to subsidize his business cronies,” says Secretary Dave Nalle of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas. “His supposed belief in limited government and states rights conveniently disappears whenever it conflicts with the demands of the special interests and corporate cronies who he serves.”
. . . .
1. Business Slush Funds: Perry made heavy use of business incentive “slush funds” which used taxpayer dollars to subsidize selected businesses, many of them run by his major campaign contributors. Just two of these funds, the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Growth fund, spent over $700 million to subsidize businesses to move to Texas or expand operations in Texas, with little evidence that these handouts of taxpayer money produced job or revenue growth anywhere near sufficient to justify the expense. In fact, many of these businesses eventually downsized or relocated long before they had earned the money Perry gave them, or even went bankrupt with $25 million fund dollars like Countrywide Financial. source
2. Toll Roads and Land Seizures Perry has never met a toll road project he wasn’t willing to seize huge amounts of private land for and then give the exclusive management contracts to foreign corporations. Perry’s time in office has set records for eminent domain land seizures – over a million acres have been seized. His toll road projects have confiscated family farms and torn communities apart. Toll roads have been used as a massive off-the-books tax program, taking money from Texas drivers and feeding it to foreign financial interests and management groups which lobbied the governor for special deals which produce much higher tolls and higher profits than are typical in other states. source
3. Forced Vaccinations: In 2007 Perry issued an executive order which would have forcibly vaccinated every girl in Texas entering the sixth grade with Merck’s Gardasil vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus. This massive violation of the privacy rights of Texas teenagers and their parents would have come at a cost of $360 in taxpayer money per shot. It would have been a huge windfall for Merck, which had paid Perry’s former Chief of Staff $250,000 to lobby the governor and legislature to promote the forced vaccination program. source
4. The Job-Killing Franchise Tax: Knowing that it would be impossible to pass an income tax against popular opposition in Texas, Perry promoted the idea of a special business tax called the “Franchise Tax” which taxes businesses at different arbitrary rates set by the government. This tax expands business taxes to types of businesses which are not taxed in most states and in many cases taxes small businesses more than large corporations they compete with. For example it taxes small car repair shops at double the rate it taxes large dealerships for car repairs. It’s a small business and job killer. source
5. Scuttled the Anti-TSA Bill When Rep. David Simpson led the Texas legislature towards passage of an enormously popular bill (HB1938) to hold the TSA accountable for intrusive searches of airline passengers, Perry played a key role in making sure that the bill was not passed. When the TSA and the Justice Department began pressuring him, although Perry had promised to submit the bill to the special legislative session, he delayed submitting the bill until it was so late in the session that it was virtually impossible to hold the constitutionally mandated votes necessary for passage. That way he could score points with the public for submitting the popular bill while at the same time making sure that it wouldn’t pass. It’s a classic example of Perry’s insincere pandering.
(Read more from rlc.org)
How Michele Bachmann Bought the Ames Straw Poll
Headlines on FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, and all over the web should have been “Randy Travis Wins Ames Straw Poll Edging out Ron Paul” instead of headlines which touted Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s victory.
Bachmann spent upwards of $1 million, paid for over 6000 tickets, paid for Grammy Award winning, country musician Randy Travis to show up, and bussed in Randy Travis fans in order to secure 152 more votes than Congressman Ron Paul. Michele Bachmann’s camp handed out flyers, which stated that in order to see the entertainment, you had to vote for her first. Here is an image of the flyer that was around Ames, (Read more from unelected.org)