http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_yjImzwuIU
Ron Paul (CNN American Morning, 10/17/2008) discusses how The Federal Reserve and US Treasury Department are slamming the throttle to the stops as the USEconomy breaks itself apart upon the iceberg of fiat currency and governmental price regulation.
From Salon.com, here is a breakdown of Ron Paul's interivew with some of the references filled in:
Friday, Oct. 17, 2008 08:50 PDT
Ron Paul in 2012?
Ron Paul appeared on CNN's "American Morning" on Friday, pushing the same apocalyptic message he served up during the Republican primaries, with one difference. His prediction of doom makes a heck of a lot more sense now than it did then.
"This system that we've had since 1971 is nonviable," he said, "and it's coming to an end."
That's what this whole story is about, the end of a monetary system that we've had since 1971. And something has to give. You just can't create more money out of thin air and propping up everybody.
It's an immoral system. You're asking the poor people to bail out the rich. You're asking the innocent people to bail out the guilty. You're asking people to just totally defy the Constitution because there's no place in the Constitution that says that we can do these things.
And, besides, economically, it's a disaster. This is going to cause a great deal of harm. It's like a drug addict taking a strong fix, and he feels better for a day or two. But believe me, we're going to kill the patient. And the patient here is the dollar system and our entire world economy.
1971 was the year in which Richard Nixon abandoned the gold standard codified in the 1946 Bretton Woods agreement, thereby launching the modern era of freely floating national currencies.
From Ron Paul's point of view, government economic policy ever since has been a futile attempt to avoid economic downturns by, in essence, pumping more "fiat" currency into the monetary system. The piper has come calling, says Paul, and current efforts to increase liquidity and bail out the banking system will only make things worse.
So if things do get even worse, was Ron Paul suggesting that he's ready for another run at the gold ring in 2012?
But right now there's a fight going on in this country. Our numbers are growing. We're not the majority, but our numbers are growing. And as this situation deteriorates, more people are going to say, "Hey, maybe it's right. Maybe limited government and freedom works. Maybe freedom is popular, and maybe freedom really works." And this idea that we have to depend on government for all these programs is an illusion.
Ron Paul isn't the only person thinking about the failure of the Bretton Woods system. There's been a bit of a buzz coming out of Europe this week by politicians calling for a Bretton Woods II -- a globally coordinated approach to regulating the 21st century global economy.
"Perhaps what we need is to go back to the first Bretton Woods, to go back to discipline," European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Tuesday, after giving a speech at the Economic Club of New York. "It's absolutely clear that financial markets need discipline: macroeconomic discipline, monetary discipline, market discipline."
European leaders are calling for an international summit meeting, to be held perhaps as early as November. Bloomberg News reports that among the possibilities being considered are "more international supervision for cross-border banks, a global 'early warning' system for crises, a revamp of the International Monetary Fund, tougher regulations on hedge funds, new rules for credit rating companies, limits on executive pay and punishments for excessive risk-taking."
Or as U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in Friday's Washington Post:
This week, European leaders came together to propose the guiding principles that we believe should underpin this new Bretton Woods: transparency, sound banking, responsibility, integrity and global governance. We agreed that urgent decisions implementing these principles should be made to root out the irresponsible and often undisclosed lending at the heart of our problems. To do this, we need cross-border supervision of financial institutions; shared global standards for accounting and regulation; a more responsible approach to executive remuneration that rewards hard work, effort and enterprise but not irresponsible risk-taking; and the renewal of our international institutions to make them effective early-warning systems for the world economy.
I don't think "global governance" is exactly what Ron Paul has in mind. But my guess is that something along these lines is going to get hashed out later this year or next -- and whoever is elected president of the United States is going to play a very large role in determining the contours of the new global regulatory system.
And if doesn't work? Well then, Ron Paul, or someone like him, will probably get a chance to pursue a different approach.
― Andrew Leonard
Friday, October 17, 2008
Let's let a Founding Father chime in on today's Economic Crisis, shall we?
From Thomas Jefferson's 1837 farewell address
"The distress and sufferings inflicted on the people by the bank are some of the fruits of that system of policy which is continually striving to enlarge the authority of the Federal Government beyond the limits fixed by the Constitution. The powers enumerated in that instrument do not confer on Congress the right to establish such a corporation as the Bank of the United States, and the evil consequences which followed may warn us of the danger of departing from the true rule of construction and of permitting temporary circumstances or the hope of better promoting the public welfare to influence in any degree our decisions upon the extent of the authority of the General Government. Let us abide by the Constitution as it is written, or amend it in the constitutional mode if it is found to be defective...."
"The paper-money system and its natural associations--monopoly and exclusive privileges--have already struck their roots too deep in the soil, and it will require all your efforts to check its further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants. It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions. In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority is ultimately responsible."
"But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support. So many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that you must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy. My humble efforts have not been spared during my administration of the Government to restore the constitutional currency of gold and silver, and something, I trust, has been done toward the accomplishment of this most desirable object; but enough yet remains to require all your energy and perseverance. The power, however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and will be applied if you determine upon it."
There are two main courses of action to take. First, we must educate ourselves so that we can not only articulate sound economics, but also adequately combat the pro-fiat arguments. Second, we must spread the word. I'm talking to you.
"The distress and sufferings inflicted on the people by the bank are some of the fruits of that system of policy which is continually striving to enlarge the authority of the Federal Government beyond the limits fixed by the Constitution. The powers enumerated in that instrument do not confer on Congress the right to establish such a corporation as the Bank of the United States, and the evil consequences which followed may warn us of the danger of departing from the true rule of construction and of permitting temporary circumstances or the hope of better promoting the public welfare to influence in any degree our decisions upon the extent of the authority of the General Government. Let us abide by the Constitution as it is written, or amend it in the constitutional mode if it is found to be defective...."
"The paper-money system and its natural associations--monopoly and exclusive privileges--have already struck their roots too deep in the soil, and it will require all your efforts to check its further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants. It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions. In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority is ultimately responsible."
"But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support. So many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that you must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy. My humble efforts have not been spared during my administration of the Government to restore the constitutional currency of gold and silver, and something, I trust, has been done toward the accomplishment of this most desirable object; but enough yet remains to require all your energy and perseverance. The power, however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and will be applied if you determine upon it."
There are two main courses of action to take. First, we must educate ourselves so that we can not only articulate sound economics, but also adequately combat the pro-fiat arguments. Second, we must spread the word. I'm talking to you.
Hmmmm
Springtime for Hitler and Germany! --The Producers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920s_German_inflation
Any of this shit seem familiar yet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920s_German_inflation
Any of this shit seem familiar yet?
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sounds like Govmint to me
"Society is, always has been and always will be, a structure for the exploitation and oppression of the majority through systems of political force dictated by an élite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a willful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the very majority whom the system oppresses."
---Richard K. Morgan
---Richard K. Morgan
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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