It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Albert Einstein
Latest Posted Alternate Blog Comment
Responding to: "Conservatives and Libertarians need a plan. a vision, something positive Americans can relate to and believe in. Ideas sell. Simple continuing negativity and obstructions with the goal of returning to 1776 won't fly in the present 21st century."
We do have a positive vision--the dynamism of an unfettered private sector, liberated from the failed morally hazardous "progressive" policies and Ponzi scheme, incompetently managed government entitlements. We believe in virtuous individuals and voluntary associations vs. grossly incompetent, unqualified President and his fellow partisan demagogues whose only philosophy is to bribe voters in their next election.
Pro Liberty Thought of the Day
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| Courtesy of the Libertarian Republic via Laissez-Faire Capitalism on FB |
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| Al Gore sucking the spirit from former wife Tipper via The Telegraph |
"The only phrase that describes it is political terrorism,” Gore said at the launch of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Effective Public Management in Washington. “Why does partisanship have anything to do with such a despicable and dishonorable threat to the integrity of the United States of America?"The public debt has more than doubled under the Obama Presidency; apparently Obama's failure to show leadership and negotiate under a divided government isn't relevant in hypocritical Gore's appallingly partisan analysis; the GOP wants changes to a hugely unpopular partisan healthcare law, which is a textbook case example of administrative incompetence, violations of the rule of law, unintended consequences and ruled in part (Medicaid extortion of the states) unconstitutional. That Gore tried to reverse his 2000 election loss by trying to mine enough votes from disqualified ballots in Democratic-controlled election areas in Florida has any moral standing to charge "partisanship" and "despicable and dishonorable" borders on incredulous. Obama is the only political hack refusing to negotiate, as if this is an admirable quality in a national leader under divided government; throwing a temper tantrum because you don't control both chambers of Congress is hardly virtuous. Gore thinks that opposition leaders aren't entitled to object to bad public policy; he is in Obama's 57th state, the State of Denial.
Gore said that the effort among some Republicans in the House and Senate to demand that Congress defund Obamacare in order to approve funding for the government “cannot be allowed.” “And now you want to threaten to not only shut down our government but to blow up the world economy unless we go back and undo what we did according to the processes of this democracy?” Gore asked. “How dare you?”How dare they what--represent their constituencies whom overwhelmingly opposed ObamaCare? Isn't that supposed to happen in this democratic republic? This country has repealed bad laws before--Prohibition and the luxury yacht tax immediately come to mind. The fact that Al Gore is an economic illiterate engaging in exaggerated hyperbole is apparent from his over-the-top rhetoric. The Democrats did not run in 2008 on that odious piece of corrupt Senate dealing making that failed to draw a single GOP vote--unprecedented for a major entitlement; in fact, almost no Democrat voting for that pile of legislative excrement even read it. Never mind that Obama is threatening to veto a GOP compromise measure calling for a one-year deferral on an individual mandate--which Obama himself opposed in 2008, after Obama unlawfully allowed a one-year deferral for businesses.
I think Gore also referenced the SCOTUS decision--first of all, a split 5-4 vote is hardly a judicial mandate (vs., e.g., the 7-2 finding that Gore's election appeal violated equal protection). Moreover, the case was decided by an idiosyncratic opinion of the Chief Justice whom accepted it on the grounds that the mandate penalty was a reasonable extension of the Congress' taxing authority. He may have opened up Pandora's box of Big Nanny politicians assigning penalties for an infinite number of non-events.
Obama Will Negotiate With Putin--But Not Speaker Boehner
Obama will NOT Stop Spending the Money of Younger Generations
or Deploying Another Ponzi Scheme Healthcare Entitlement
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| Courtesy of Drudge Report |
I think Gary North has fought the good fight against this wolf in sheep's clothing. (My favorite historian Tom Woods has also addressed this issue here.) The Greenbackers are trying to leverage libertarian-conservative unhappiness with crony bank policies like "too big to fail" and the Fed, often portrayed as a cartel of private banks with crony government privileges.. However, you discover that they don't really believe in limited government and the concept of free banking; they regard private banks charging interest on loans as intrinsically evil and don't oppose centralized banking--so long as it's in the public sector. Today they propose "solutions" like canceling out debt held by the Federal Reserve (side note: one reason the Fed holds bonds is a check on inflation: selling bonds soaks up excessive money supply). They see sound money policies like a gold/commodity standard as serving the moneyed interests and want to turn the tables on lenders. The government printing presses essentially debase/devalue existing loans (if not forgive them directly) and are instruments of inflation, as experienced by the States/colonies and the Continental Congress. The fact that the Constitution specifically adopted a bimetallic standard versus a paper/fiat currency was no accident.
It really wasn't until the Civil War that we saw fiat money being used. Banks did issue notes which could be converted to specie (gold/silver coins) on demand. A key concern for banks was maintaining a sufficient reserve of coins to back their notes. As the Civil War approached/progressives, commerce slacked which made banks receptive to bidding to service government bonds. Import duties and other federal revenues worsened which exacerbated war/government funding. There was also an incident involving a British vessel that worsened relations between London and Washington, throwing another element involving bank willingness to underwrite the government loans. There was also a lag issue between coinage used to process the loan and when the coinage was returned to the bank through government expenditures to vendors, soldiers, etc.: would processing the loan dangerously lower their coinage reserve to meet customer demands for conversion? It's clear that Salmon Chase, a Lincoln rival for the 1860 GOP nomination and his Secretary of the Treasury, did not really like the idea of issuing paper money not backed by currency: "the greatest care will .... be requisite to prevent the degradation of such issues into an irredeemable paper currency, than which no more certainly fatal expedient for impoverishing the masses and discrediting the government of any country can well be devised." "Impoverishing the masses" is not that subtle a reference to inflation. It's clear Chase and Lincoln basically held their noses during the issuance of Greenbacks but had a higher priority in funding the war. In fact, Lincoln made it clear in an 1863 message to Congress that he was concerned about another round of Greenbacks being authorized.
Over the coming decade or so after the end of the war, the US returned to a backed currency, but the taste for irredeemable paper currency, the cheaper silver vs. gold currency, etc., resurfaced in populist parties, as e.g., farmers wanted higher crop prices or to pay off their loans with cheaper currency.
As I mentioned, Gary North, who the Greenbackers accuse of being a tool of the moneyed interests, has tracked and refuted them for decades; among other things, they try to portray Lincoln as a kindred spirit. I think I've seen one of their websites where they also claim an endorsement from Milton Friedman. But the bottom line is that true Tea Partiers should question centralization of banking in the noncompetitive public sector and the demonizing of banking; not all banks need or seek crony privileges.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy and the Libertarian Republic |
The Supremes, "You Keep Me Hanging On"
