What the Price of Gold is Telling Us

You know who deserves a second look as President? The guy who wrote this a few years ago:

Though everyone decries inflation, trade imbalances, economic downturns, and federal deficits, few attempt a closer study of our monetary system and how these events are interrelated. Even if it were recognized that a gold standard without monetary inflation would be advantageous, few in Washington would accept the political disadvantages of living with the discipline of gold – since it serves as a check on government size and power. This is a sad commentary on the politics of today. The best analogy to our affinity for government spending, borrowing, and inflating is that of a drug addict who knows if he doesn’t quit he’ll die; yet he can’t quit because of the heavy price required to overcome the dependency. The right choice is very difficult, but remaining addicted to drugs guarantees the death of the patient, while our addiction to deficit spending, debt, and inflation guarantees the collapse of our economy.

Special interest groups, who vigorously compete for federal dollars, want to perpetuate the system rather than admit to a dangerous addiction. Those who champion welfare for the poor, entitlements for the middle class, or war contracts for the military industrial corporations, all agree on the so-called benefits bestowed by the Fed’s power to counterfeit fiat money. Bankers, who benefit from our fractional reserve system, likewise never criticize the Fed, especially since it’s the lender of last resort that bails out financial institutions when crises arise. And it’s true, special interests and bankers do benefit from the Fed, and may well get bailed out – just as we saw with the Long-Term Capital Management fund crisis a few years ago. In the past, companies like Lockheed and Chrysler benefited as well. But what the Fed cannot do is guarantee the market will maintain trust in the worthiness of the dollar. Current policy guarantees that the integrity of the dollar will be undermined. Exactly when this will occur, and the extent of the resulting damage to the financial system, cannot be known for sure – but it is coming. There are plenty of indications already on the horizon.

The whole article is here. And if you've ever wondered or been confused about *why* a monetary system will survive over the long term only if it's asset backed, click on the link, you will find the answer there.

Rep. Jeff Flake on Cuba

UPDATE: I forgot to add the link to Reason where I pilfered this video from. Click there and you can watch Congressman Flake go into more depth on his visit to Cuba (about 15 mins of video, very fascinating) Click here.

I hope his district keeps sending him back to Congress. He's a rising star in the GOP.

Ron Paul Supporter Spotlight

This is a fully animated 3D Ron Paul commercial. It's pretty impressive:



An HQ version is available at the website www.hightidepromo.com

Pilfered from Liberty Maven

Federal Reserve: We should put it on the Green Mile

The reports of the weakening dollar keep coming in:

Antique store owners in lower Manhattan, ticket vendors at India's Taj Mahal and Brazilian business executives heading to China all have one thing in common these days: They don't want U.S. dollars.

The reason people don't want dollars is simple, people don't want what the dollar is offering. The dollar, at one time, used to represent stability, value, and security. Now, based on the unprecedented liquidity injections, interest rate decreases and other market manipulations by Bernanke and company, one can conclude that a full fledged panic is just around the corner because that stability, value, and security is being shredded.

What offends me the most is that peoples life savings are being stolen from them by inflation. The buying power that someone on a fixed income (like the elderly) has is being taken from them through no fault of their own. It was bad enough when 3 percent inflation was deemed "acceptable" (sorry Milton Friedman, you were wrong on this) but now that the inflation rate is pointing towards double digits. Where is the outcry?

Shouldn't I see headlines like: "US Economy Killed by Terrorists and Excessive Government Spending and Inflation, but mostly by Excessive Government Spending and Inflation" over at Ace?

or even a "Dude" by Allahpundit over at Hotair?

What does the White House have to say about the weakening dollar? Oh yeah:



We should be at LEAST as offended about the Federal Reserve as we are about illegals coming into this country.

Good Riddance Elliot Spitzer

One of my favorite columnists William Anderson gives his take:

...for all of the "cleaning up Wall Street" rhetoric that came from Spitzer and his main supporter, the New York Times, his actions were more about shaking down firms and forcing them to pay for legal protection than "saving capitalism from itself." For example, he fingered PayPal while the fledgling company was maneuvering to have an initial public offering (IPO) several years ago.

PayPal was permitting its payment mechanism to be used to pay for online gambling, which then was legal. However, Spitzer told the principals of the company that he would block their IPO and give them trouble unless they paid his office $150,000. Now, had he come in with a fedora and Sicilian accent, people might have understood he was running a protection racket. But, instead, the New York Times insisted he was "protecting the public integrity."

It's amazing to me that he was elected into office with 70 percent of the vote. Buh-bye.

Read the rest of Professor Andersons column here and check out his archives here. I originally started reading his stuff from the Duke Lacrosse Case but his columns on the abuses and often criminal (as well as nonsensical) activities of the feds in the name of "justice" are what made me a fan. This is a good one about Martha Stewart and here is a different perspective on fighting terrorism.

The Fed Makes it Rain

The more I listen to the chorus of this vid by Fat Joe and Lil Wayne the more I think of what Bernanke and the Fed are doing with our dollar.



Gary North has an analysis of the recent action by the Fed and the other Central Banks:

Here is the FED's official description. The first two paragraphs are clear. They are a warning call.

Since the coordinated actions taken in December 2007, the G-10 central banks have continued to work together closely and to consult regularly on liquidity pressures in funding markets. Pressures in some of these markets have recently increased again. We all continue to work together and will take appropriate steps to address those liquidity pressures.

To that end, today the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are announcing specific measures.

This is an international credit crisis. Make no mistake about this. No single central bank can deal with it successfully.

Read the rest here, and remember, if we even introduced legalized competition of gold and silver as legal tender, those who aren't rich and ridiculously handsome like me will have a better shot at preserving their wealth instead of having it eaten away by inflation. F#$@ the Federal Reserve.

Daily Show: Marines in Berkeley

Pretty funny:



Pilfered from Hotair

The Dollar and Oil

From Reason Mag:

Let's start with geopolitical uncertainties. Last year, oil consumers watched warily as unrest in Nigeria's oil fields, the possibility of war between the U.S. and Iran, and the antics of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez threatened to disrupt oil supplies. That analysis may have once made sense, but most of those tensions have abated in recent months. Nevertheless, it remains true that most of the world's oil is produced in volatile regions and by erratic governments, so the price of crude must still include some kind of political risk premium.

What effect does the falling dollar have on the price of crude? Most oil price contracts are denominated in dollars. The dollar has fallen in value by more than 30 percent against a Federal Reserve index of major currencies since 2002. This means that the price of imports, including oil, have gone up. To some extent, the chief of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Chakib Khelil was correct when he said earlier this week, "What's happening in the oil market is due to the mismanagement of the U.S. economy." Continuing U.S. trade and fiscal deficits along with lower interest rates are stoking inflationary fears.

So one of the reasons that oil prices are so high is that the dollar just doesn't buy what it used to. So what does the White House, purveyors of economic stimulus packages and unprecedented government spending have to say about that:



I will say that Dana Perino is smokin'.

Pilfered from Crooks and Liars

Does Admiral Fallon Stepping Down Open the Door for War with Iran?

Justin Raimondo thinks so:

One can hardly imagine a clearer indication that the White House has made the decision to go to war with Iran . It's just a matter of when and how the administration can provoke an incident.

That's why U.S. warships are patrolling the Lebanese coast; and why our warships are playing hide-and-go-seek with Iranian gunboats in the Gulf. It's the reason the Israel lobby has been beating the tom-toms for war, and the reason the anti-Fallon, Petraeus, has been so vocal about the Iranian roots of our Iraqi problem. With Fallon out of the way, the road to war – a regional conflagration that will make the invasion of Iraq seem like a holiday picnic – is cleared. Get ready for World War III.

Read the whole thing here.

An Eclectic Linkorama

Reason Mag has a couple of entries in their Hit and Run blog that caught my eye:

Democrats Pick Pork over Police Accountability - You know how everyone knows that the "War on Drugs" is a waste of money? You don't? Then click here.

Show us Your Money - From 2003 - The Patriot Act lets the government spy on your finances, but does it catch terrorists? It looks like it helps catch governors spending money on hookers.

From Lew Rockwell -

Cop Ratings Website Infuriates Police - Think of it as customer feedback

Fed Nationalizes Some Banks - Fascism isn't always jackboots and "Sieg Hiel!" to the Fuhrer.

La Shawn Barber - It's been awhile since I've visited her site but it looks like she has changed her focus away from politics. Amy Winehouse makes an appearance on her blog. Take a minute to listen to her cover of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"

From The Crossed Pond - Will the Fed Be Left Holding the Kitchen Sink? Of course not, the taxpayers will.

Also from TCP - Regarding Adm Fallon (current and soon to be former Centcom Commander), Adam asks:

At times like this, the poor choice of McCain’s “Bomb Iran” joke is highlighted. Also, does Bush just plan to keep appointing senior military commanders until one agrees with him?

Jury Nullification

Radley Balko over at Reason mag posted a blurb about jury nullification based on the statements of Ed Burns and Company (creators of the show "The Wire") from Time Magazine:

If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will — to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty — no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.

Jury nullification is American dissent, as old and as heralded as the 1735 trial of John Peter Zenger, who was acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, and absent a government capable of repairing injustices, it is legitimate protest. If some few episodes of a television entertainment have caused others to reflect on the war zones we have created in our cities and the human beings stranded there, we ask that those people might also consider their conscience. And when the lawyers or the judge or your fellow jurors seek explanation, think for a moment on Bubbles or Bodie or Wallace. And remember that the lives being held in the balance aren't fictional.

This set off a 300 comment discussion over at Patterico's Pontifications. It's a good back and forth that I would recommend reading. Patterico is a prosecutor in LA county, so take his perspective with a grain of salt.

I'm of the opinion that a jury has a duty to judge the law as well as the facts precisely for the reasons that the creators of "The Wire" give. Lawmakers create stupid laws all the time and one of the reasons that we have 1 in 100 Americans in jail now is because we have a criminal justice system that has moved away from letting juries decide the merits of the law and only judge the facts presented in a case.

Montana is Awesome Part II

Throw this brief interview of Democratic governor Brian Schweitzer on the Real ID along with Montana's stance on the 2nd Amendment on that growing pile of evidence that Montana is the awesomest state in the Union. The "Live Free or Die" state of New Hampshire has nothing on Montana.

Not really having to do with Montana but with the liabilities of the Real ID, Kerry Howley at Reason mag says one group of citizens who is extra vulnerable:

Organizations such as the National Network to End Domestic Violence contend that stores of half-guarded data would empower stalkers, violent exes, and obsessive abusers hunting for information. Abuse survivors are living repudiations of the assumption that only criminals need seek the comforts of anonymity.

Read the whole thing here

Secession Fever: Catch It! (Follow Up)

As a follow up to my post on the Lakotah Indians withdrawing from its treaties with the United States (which you can see here) I emailed the tribe with some follow up questions and received a response from Phyllis Young (aka Mni yuha Najin Win) one of four signatories on their "Declaration of Independence" which you can see here.

The following is part of Young's response to me on how they got to the point of withdrawing:

Lakotah chiefs and treaty councils made the Declaration of Continuing Independence in l974. This was a conference of over 5,000 people and 98 tribal nations held in Lakotah country. There were two objectives: one, to seek recognition and support from the United Nations. The International Indian Treaty Council was recognized as an NGO(non-governmental organization) in l977. At that time, the first International Conference on Indian Peoples and their Lands was held at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. After thirty three years, the United Nations adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with l43 countries supporting it and four opposing, including the United States. The US does not recognize collective rights, which is, of course, Indian tribes.

With the culmination of this Declaration at the United Nations, Lakotah set out to fulfill the second mandate of l974: to address the United States Department of State on the Treaty Relationship and the negotiation of the treaties. The United States unilaterally abolished treaty making in l87l on an Appropriations Rider because they did not want to continue payments to Lakotah. But the provisions of the treaties are continuing rights.

My own opinion is that, based on Article l3 of the l868 Treaty, our us citizenship has been nullified due to the taking of our land. This provision provided each family with a tract of land and with that land came the citizenship of the United States. Our own Lakotah citizenship was retained as well and so we have dual citizenship. When that land was forcefully taken from us, the citizenship went with it.

Of course, the big question that hasn't yet been answered, and which a quick google search failed to yield any results for, is how exactly are the Feds going to react to all of this.

There are a number of factors that come into play here. I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that a number of Montana public officials have gone on record saying that secession from the United States would be on the table if the Supreme Court decided that the 2nd Amendment referred to "collective" rights and not individual rights. If Montana were to secede, would the United States recognize Montana as a sovereign country? If so, how can the Lakotah NOT be recognized as sovereign as well? If anything, their argument is at least as compelling as the one Montana has.

That's a lot of if's and in my opinion, the bridges to be crossed seem a long way off. But, it's a fascinating story to me and I'll be watching closely for a couple of reasons. First, the self determination angle (how can we preach democracy and self-determination abroad when we can't even practice it here). Second, one of the questions that I asked in my email was this: Do you (the Republic of Lakotah) plan on establishing a currency? And do you plan on having it asset backed (say with gold)? Phyllis Young wrote back two short answers: "Yes" and "yes". Given my long term financial prognosis of the United States, trying to find a currency that doesn't lose its value at 10 percent per year is something that makes me sit up and take notice.

Here is the official site for the new Republic of Lakotah

Megan Fox is Hot

You know what takes my mind off of war, the falling dollar, our impending economic collapse, and our loss of civil liberties? Megan Fox in a bikini. Thank you Megan Fox.

More pics (rated PG13) of Megan over at Gorillamask

Cracked: 7 Insane Conspiracies That Actually Happened

Here's #7:

In 1933, group of wealthy businessmen that allegedly included the heads of Chase Bank, GM, Goodyear, Standard Oil, the DuPont family and Senator Prescott Bush tried to recruit Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler to lead a military coup against President FDR and install a fascist dictatorship in the United States. And yes, we're 6talking about the same Prescott Bush who fathered one US President and grandfathered another one.

Read the rest of this conspiracy and the other 6 plots here.

Major General Smedley Butler is an interesting character. This is what wikipedia has about him:

During his 34 years of Marine Corps service, Butler was awarded numerous medals for heroism including the Marine Corps Brevet Medal (the highest Marine medal at its time for officers), and subsequently the Medal of Honor twice. Notably, he is one of only 19 people to be twice awarded the Medal of Honor, and one of only three to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor for two different actions.

Major General Butler also has the distinction of being one of the first to recognize our military industrial complex. His short book "War is a Racket" lays it all out there (using examples primarily from WWI) and is still relevant today.

Take our own case. Until 1898 we didn't own a bit of territory outside the mainland of North America. At that time our national debt was a little more than $1,000,000,000. Then we became "internationally minded." We forgot, or shunted aside, the advice of the Father of our country. We forgot George Washington's warning about "entangling alliances." We went to war. We acquired outside territory. At the end of the World War period, as a direct result of our fiddling in international affairs, our national debt had jumped to over $25,000,000,000. Our total favorable trade balance during the twenty-five-year period was about $24,000,000,000. Therefore, on a purely bookkeeping basis, we ran a little behind year for year, and that foreign trade might well have been ours without the wars.

It would have been far cheaper (not to say safer) for the average American who pays the bills to stay out of foreign entanglements. For a very few this racket, like bootlegging and other underworld rackets, brings fancy profits, but the cost of operations is always transferred to the people -- who do not profit.

Read the whole thing here.

Incumbent defeats challenger 70%-30%

No big deal, the challenger in an election always has a disadvantage. But based on the coverage of certain conservative news outlets, one would have thought that once the votes were counted the race for Ron Paul's congressional seat would have been much closer than the final tally. How could the Pajamas Media Right be so wrong? Remember this:

While pursuing his thus far quixotic quest for the presidency, Congressman Paul has fallen behind by over ten points in the polls (43-32) in the fight for the Republican nomination in the Texas 14th to challenger Chris Peden, according to internal polls from both campaigns, which Pajamas Media was told were quite similar.

Reason magazine offers this:

The part about Peden's poll was true—sort of. According to Peden's political director Onzelo Markum, the campaign ran one automated poll in the district. It was not a blind test. People who picked up their phones were told that incumbent Ron Paul didn't support the war on terror, while councilman Chris Peden did. Only when given that informed choice did voters claim to support Peden.

Click here for the rest of the story.

The problem that the GOP faces now is that Dr. Paul has promised to continue his presidential campaign as long as the money and support keeps coming in. While it's easy to dismiss a candidate who hasn't broken single digits in any of the primaries so far, time and money are on his side. His position on the economy and limited government and most everything else are winners across the board for most GOP voters. He's also on the right side as far as Iraq is concerned with the general population.

John McCain still has issues with the hardcore conservatives (like me) and his FEC issues, while being dismissed by his campaign, are not going to go away in a general election. In fact, the Dems have (and should) position themselves to keep campaign finance on the front burner "Look, McCain can't even follow McCain-Feingold!". Of course, irony of ironies would be if Hillary is the nominee.

Antitrust: The Case for Repeal

Professor Dominic Armentano makes the case that all antitrust laws are BS (from the introduction):

Since antitrust regulation (at least the Sherman Act) was allegedly designed to prohibit business activity harmfulto consumers’ interests, much of antitrust policy as practiced, appears terribly misguided and might be termed a“paradox.”

The alleged paradox can be explained in several ways. One approach is to challenge the “public interest” origins of antitrust policy. If the laws were originally meant to protect less efficient business organizations from competition rather than to promote the interests of consumers, then there is no paradox. From that perspective, antitrust regulation is just another historical example of protectionist rent-seeking legislation, the overall effect of which is to lessen economic efficiency.

The subject of monopolies and antitrust legislation interests me because what we've been taught in government schools has really been one side of the argument. The simplified version of which is companies are bad, government is good. What Professor Armentano basically argues is that government can and often does more harm than good.

You can read his book for free in PDF form here

For a video discussion on this topic with Dr. Armentano and newly re-elected Congressman Dr. Ron Paul click here

The Onion Movie

Apparently this is going straight to DVD, but Mountain Dew spokesman Steven Seagal makes an appearance. Mark my words, someday he's going to make it to the big screen!:




Pilfered from Film Drunk

Secession Fever! Catch it!

Montana is making noise about it because of their stance on the 2nd Amendment. Vermont has always had a secession streak as well. But the Lakotah Indians went ahead and announced their withdrawal from all treaties with the United States back in December. Now I don't know if it's technically secession, but what they are doing is declaring their independence. So go with it.

The big question, of course, is how is Washington DC going to react? We haven't had to deal with a secession question since the Civil War, and we all know how that turned out. But how can our country support the independence of say, Kosovo, and not support the withdrawal and independence of the Indians here?

My imagination does go wild with the possibilities of the restoration of a country in the middle of the United States that doesn't have to deal with the bureaucracy and burden of dealing with a heavy-handed federal government (they've already said there wouldn't be an income tax). What if they create and develop a sound, asset-backed currency that wasn't controlled by a central bank? Investment by companies and individuals would pour into their country. If they developed strict secrecy and privacy laws for their banks, they could be like Liechtenstein but here in North America. That in itself would bring untold prosperity to the indians. Just by banks respecting privacy rights for its customers (which is something we don't have here).

Anyway, here's Russell Means talking about it:

National Security and the Falling Dollar

UPDATE: Dr. Ron Paul responds to the WSJ:

"I was delighted to read in Judy Shelton's op-ed, "Security and the Falling Dollar" (Feb. 15), that at long last the security implications of the dollar's collapse have made their way into the mainstream media. The dollar's strength (or lack thereof) has been of paramount concern to me, and the subject of many of my statements over the past several years. Decades of manipulation by the Federal Reserve have benefited the government and certain politically-connected firms, while gradually destroying the purchasing power of middle-class Americans. Despite numerous warnings in the past, it is only now at a point of acute crisis that Washington insiders are beginning to awaken to the reality of the end of dollar hegemony.

"While I desire reform of our current monetary system, my own proposals have not been as all-encompassing as Ms. Shelton's suggestion to return to a Bretton Woods-style system. Her recommendation, though, that gold backing should make up a component of a future monetary system, is one that we would all do well to heed. My own legislative proposals focus around eliminating the taxes and laws that dissuade individuals and institutions from using gold as currency or as a backing for currency. By allowing market processes to determine the issuance of currency, we can allow individuals to decide for themselves what currency they wish to use. This would lead to a gradual reintroduction of sound money and avoid the market shocks that occur when monetary decisions are mandated by government fiat."

Since today ended up with the DOW down 300, the price of gold reaching another record high, and other indicators pointing to an economy sputtering into a recession (at one time we used to call it a depression) it's good to see that the MSM is finally catching on to the threat that a falling dollar represents to our national security.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Quote:

Every year, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is briefed by the chief of U.S. intelligence on potential threats to the nation. The list is sobering, but usually predictable and typically includes global terrorism, nuclear proliferation and regional conflicts. But this year, there was a surprising potential foe: the falling dollar. In his report to Congress last week, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell went beyond the conventional world of spycraft. Mr. McConnell specifically acknowledged "concerns about the financial capabilities of Russia, China, and OPEC countries and the potential use of their market access to exert financial leverage to achieve political ends." He noted, in particular, the impact a weak dollar can have on national security: "As the dollar has weakened this year, some oil producers -- such as Syria, Iran, and Libya -- have asked to be paid in currencies other than the dollar while others -- such as Kuwait -- are delinking their currency pegs to the dollar."

This is something that the douchebags in DC haven't been talking about even though the subprime mortgage crisis has been one of the biggest red flags for the past 9 months on the economic and financial health of our country.

Also, don't people see the link that our trillion dollar foreign policy and the 65 trillion dollar future liabilities in Medicare and social security has to our economic and fiscal problems? Our "War on Terror" and our empire around the world has bankrupted us in the short term, and the enormity of our welfare state ensures that the pain is going to last in the long term as well.

The funny thing is that the only options that McCain, Clinton, and Obama offer is more of the same. Obama, to his credit, at least says he wants to get out of Iraq sooner rather than later, but we should also be out of Korea and Europe and Japan as well. But Obama, like the other two, are big government guys.

I have the answer to what ails us: Secession! Who's with me?