Ron Paul predicts Fannie Mae crash (five years ago!)

The words of the prophet, Ron Paul, in 2003:

“I hope this committee spends some time examining the special privileges provided to GSEs by the federal government. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the housing-related GSEs received $13.6 billion worth of indirect federal subsidies in fiscal year 2000 alone. Today, I will introduce the Free Housing Market Enhancement Act, which removes government subsidies from the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the National Home Loan Bank Board.

One of the major government privileges granted to GSEs is a line of credit with the United States Treasury. According to some estimates, the line of credit may be worth over $2 billion. This explicit promise by the Treasury to bail out GSEs in times of economic difficulty helps the GSEs attract investors who are willing to settle for lower yields than they would demand in the absence of the subsidy. Thus, the line of credit distorts the allocation of capital. More importantly, the line of credit is a promise on behalf of the government to engage in a huge unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE debt.

. . . .

The connection between the GSEs and the government helps isolate the GSE management from market discipline. This isolation from market discipline is the root cause of the recent reports of mismanagement occurring at Fannie and Freddie. After all, if Fannie and Freddie were not underwritten by the federal government, investors would demand Fannie and Freddie provide assurance that they follow accepted management and accounting practices.

Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.” (Read more at blog.freeny.org)

Palin Refuses to Testify

Holy smokes! That was fast.

“It didn’t take long. We’ve already brought you news of the official investigation into Gov. Palin’s firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Steve Branchflower, the lead investigator, began trying to arrange a deposition of the governor days before her veep selection. And despite claiming executive privilege to shield requested emails, up until that point Palin had promised full cooperation with the probe.” (Read more for talkingpointsmemo.com)

Stocks plummet after retail, unemployment data

“NEW YORK – Wall Street dove sharply lower Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrials down over 300 points as retailers and the Labor Department added to the mountain of dismal economic news that has all but dashed investors’ hopes for a late-year recovery.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Cost of war? Iraq alone has long-since surpassed a half-trillion. Total long-term cost (like veterans’ benefits) is usually estimated in the trillions. Trillions with a ‘T’.

Cost of government? One out of seven people in America’s labor force (about 22 million out of 150 million) works directly for the federal government. If tax payers weren’t bilked for 22 million government salaries, we’d have more money to spend on retail stuff.

Arctic Sees Massive Gain in Ice Coverage

Of all the things I post on my blog, none is more reluctantly forgiven by my friends, as when I decline membership in what I perceive as the global warming cult. Environmentalism is important. Pollution and destruction of habitats can’t be overlooked. Sustainability is essential. But I don’t buy the media’s hysteria about global warming. I see too much political power and global governance and taxes and money in the global warming push.

This story will never make it into Television’s echo chamber.

Read more from dailytech.com

Emailed link from a friend:

New Climate Study Indicates Hottest Decade in 1,300 Years

VPs both kiss AIPAC Ass

Sarah Palin Appearances Cancelled; Meets With AIPAC

Biden: Israel will be more protected with Obama

Okay, let’s say there are two countries which border one another, and one keeps getting smaller because its land is being confiscated by the other, should we be talking about the security of the country that’s shrinking or the one that’s growing? Should we be talking about the right to exist of the country that’s expanding at the expense of its neighbor, or about the rights of the one victimized?

Meanwhile: Israeli navy arrests three Palestinian fishermen in Gaza waters

End the Massachusetts Income Tax will be the first ballot question on the November 2008 ballot

Massachusetts residents will be voting to abolish the state income tax and replace it with nothing. Find out more at smallgovernmentact.org.

When I talk small government, particularly with my liberal friends, they often ask “what about the poor,” thinking the poor will suffer without government largess. In fact, the opposite is true. Free markets are responsible for ending famine in Europe. The worst famines occurred in the most government-manipulated economies – USSR, China. Here and now, I can point to low-tax New Hampshire, which has the lowest poverty rate of all states. (Read more at dailypaul.com)

Israel Pushes Ahead with Settlement Expansion

“by Mel Frykberg

JERUSALEM – Israel has published tenders for the construction of 1,761 illegal housing units for Israeli settlers in occupied east Jerusalem alone, according to the Israeli rights group Peace Now.

The expansion plans come despite promises by the Israeli government at last year’s peace summit at Annapolis, Maryland (in the US) to freeze all settlement growth.

‘Once again this government has shown that its words and commitments are meaningless, and they have no intention of keeping to their word,’ says Peace Now.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed repeatedly that settlement construction or expansion in the West Bank is contrary to international law and Israel’s commitments under the ‘road map’ peace process.

The road map was a series of peace-building measures proposed by US President George W. Bush in 2002 and subsequently developed by the diplomatic Quartet of the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States.

Ban Ki-moon further urged Israel to freeze all settlement activity and to dismantle outposts erected since March of 2001.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, normally a diehard supporter of Israel, also expressed her concern about the settlement building during her last visit to Israel several months ago.” (Read more from antiwar.com)

. . . but that doesn’t stop our government from giving tax breaks to organizations funding the settlements. (See Below)

AIPAC: The UN is irrelevant! Fire Ban Ki-Moon!

US tax breaks help Jewish settlers in West Bank

A better word for settlers is colonists.

“JERUSALEM, Aug 25 (Reuters) – The United States says Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank threaten any peace between Israel and the Palestinians — yet it also encourages Americans to help support settlers by offering tax breaks on donations.

. . . .

Pro-settler groups say they are entitled to the tax breaks because their work is ‘humanitarian’, not political, and reject any comparison to Palestinian charities, some of which face U.S. sanctions over suspected links to Islamist groups like Hamas.

The full extent of tax-exempt U.S. funding for settlements is unclear because so many groups are involved and their spending practices are not always transparent. But a review by Reuters of U.S. tax records found 13 tax-exempt organisations openly linked to settlements that have raised more than $35 million in the last five years alone.

. . . .

In one example, when settlers took over a new building in the flashpoint city of Hebron last year, a tax-exempt New York organisation sprang into action to solicit funds for renovations to accommodate more families.

The Hebron Fund, which raises an average of $1.5 million a year to support Jewish settlers in the city, and other groups said they were as entitled to tax exemptions as other charities.

‘Are you saying you can get a charitable deduction for helping starving people in New York City but you can’t get a charitable deduction for helping starving people in Judea and Samaria,’ said Sondra Oster Baras, president of Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, using an Israeli term for the West Bank. ‘That’s an argument that doesn’t make sense.’

. . . .

Ian Lustick, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, played down the chances the tax breaks will be rolled back. ‘It’s a political hot potato,’ Lustick said, citing the clout of U.S. pro-Israel groups to block any change.”

(Read more from alertnet.org)

SEE ALSO:

–Occupation by Another Name: Meron Benvenisti in an excellent article mentions the “success of the propaganda campaign known as ‘negotiations with the Palestinians,’ which convinces many that the status quo is temporary.”

Biden Means Business As Usual

“This earned [Biden] the approbation of John McCain, who, on April 11, 1999, declared to Tim Russert on Meet the Press: ‘We need Joe Biden for secretary of state.’ An astounded Russert asked: ‘Is that an offer by President McCain?’ McCain replied: ‘Absolutely!’

McCain wasn’t joking, and his comments underscore the essential unity of Washington’s bipartisan foreign policy consensus, which is firmly anchored in an interventionist outlook, a militarist mindset that assumes unlimited American power and a position of unchallenged preeminence. Yet reality – economic reality – is setting in, and even the most stalwart advocates of America’s role as the world’s policeman are losing their pretensions. Not, however, Sen. Biden, whose most recent noteworthy contribution to the Iraq war debate was a proposal to divide Iraq into three separate quasi-independent nations, one for each of the three main ethnic-religious factions. The problem is, he didn’t bother consulting with the Iraqis before floating this idea, and the Iraqis were apoplectic.

Obama’s claim that he’s the harbinger of a new politics is, unfortunately, belied by his choice of a running mate. A truly new politics, one that goes beyond the red-state/blue-state dichotomy that polarizes our politics between two false choices, would have at least seriously considered Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, who has all but endorsed Obama and seemed to be in the running at some point.” Read more from antiwar.com