Audit the Fed?

Yesterday, the House of Representatives, in a largely bi-partisan vote, passed HR 459.  This bill, championed by TX Representative Ron Paul for the better part of the last decade asks the non-partisan GAO to conduct an audit of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

Why is this needed?  The Federal Reserve, despite it's official sounding name and enormous power to shape the economy and the value of our currency, operates on its own.  It is not a government agency.  It is answerable to no government authority, and it's records are entirely shielded from review by any government authority.  The FOIA does not apply.  Congressional subpoenas for information can be ignored and even poor performing Fed Chairman get renominated to their posts every 4 years until they decide to retire.

Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland spoke out against the bill, saying this bill was unnecessary and would lead to political interference in the Fed's mission.  This is somehow bad.  Let's apply that logic to other areas.  Should Congress be allowed to operate in secret?  Ban cameras from the halls, hide lawmaking behind closed doors?  What would Mr. Hoyer's reaction be to this?  He would probably be fine with it if his party were in power, but as the minority party in the House right now, he would probably object.  Secrecy would allow the Republicans to greater flex their majority powers.  Shedding light on the proceedings has some diluting effect to this (not much, but some).

Should the White House be shielded from public scrutiny in its execution of duties?  Again, depends on who you ask and who is currently in power.  Republicans argued for more autonomy for Bush when he was in office and now scream for more transparency now that Obama is in office.  The Democrats did the same thing in reverse, attempting to shield the Justice Department from Congressional Subpoenas that they would have insisted the Bush Administration comply with.

The point is that the WE, the PEOPLE are served best by knowing what it is the people who rule us are doing.  We don't always make the best electoral decisions, but that is because we frequently have less knowledge than we need to make the best decisions and quite frankly, too many of us treat elections like we treat our favorite sports teams.  If you're a Yankee fan, you'll cheer for Derek Jeter until he gets traded to the Red Sox and then you'll cheer against him.  The people and the process don't matter nearly as much as the uniform that they wear.  If suddenly Republicans started calling for higher taxes and Democrats started calling for smaller government, there are too many people who wouldn't change their voting habits at all because they're D fans or R fans.  They just like the mascot better or whatever.

Back to this Bill.  It is heading for the Senate.  Harry Reid, the quirky (that's a nice way of saying he's an imbecile) Senate Majority Leader has vowed that this bill will never come up for a vote in the Senate.  It doesn't matter than almost half of the Democrats in the House voted to pass this bill.  Harry says the Bill will die and therefore, it will probably die.  Why?  Because there are some things, Harry says, that we should not be allowed to know about the inner workings of our economy.  We can't politicize the decisions of our economic policy-makers.

What arrogance?  Just because some people are content to keep their heads down and ignore the problems in our political and economic system does not mean that we should not be given the opportunity to see who is driving the bus and more importantly, if there is a cliff ahead of us.  There is nothing about government that government has a right to keep secret from the People it is supposed to be representative of.  You may argue that intelligence agencies need secrets and that military needs secrets and you may be right that THEY need those things, but the needs of the People outweigh the needs of Government.  The Fed may NEED to be insulated from Politics, but if they are steering us toward a cliff, we would never know it.  No person, agency, or body with the power that they possess should be able to operate under a cloud of secrecy.  No just a cloud of secrecy in their decisions, but an absolute shield from having those decisions and the present ramifications reviewed.

Do you realize that no one in our government knows how much money has been lent to banks in this country and around the world by the Federal Reserve?  Not only does our government not know, they are not allowed to know.  More importantly, WE are not allowed to know.  How can we have a democracy when we cannot know what it is we are deciding about? If you want to keep your head in the sand, fine, but let me make that decision as you have.  Give me the option of knowing what is going on around me.

If you are so moved, please contact your Senators and ask them to support your right to know what is going on.  Knowledge is good.  Ignorance is bad.  Senator Reid, if you wish to stay ignorant that is fine by me.  Apparently you have been able to enact legislation without ever having read the bills you pass, but for the sake of those of us who want to know what is going on, get the hell out of the way.

Educating Barack

Speaking mostly to a group of people who have lived the President's words, Mr. obama laid out his view of the world.  He said:

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.  (Applause.)

     If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.     The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.  I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service.  That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

There is a lot of truth in this statement.  Let's break it down from the top.

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back.

This is both true and false.  A lot of wealthy people do agree with Mr. Obama.  They donate a LOT of money to his Presidential Campaign.  The second part is a half truth and an intentionally misleading statement wrapped together.  I'm sure that many people who donate to Mr. Obama DO want to give something back, but that is not their basis for agreeing with him nor is it the reason they give him money.  The misleading part is that he implies that ONLY THOSE WHO AGREE WITH HIM "want to give something back."  

They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.

Of course not.  Most of us have families and mentors and friends to whom we could never repay the debt we owe.  But to claim that the mere existence of a society creates a debt to said society is ridiculous.  The best thing any of us can do for society is to do well for ourselves.

I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

If you are successful and smart, it's okay to feel pride in your success and to credit yourself.  Yes, there are smart people all around you, there are hard working people all around you, but do not let that take anything from what you accomplish.   Your success is your own.  The mere existence of others does nothing to lessen what you have done.

 If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.

 Like I said earlier.  Plenty of people probably helped you along the way.  Most of you had parents who worked hard to raise you right, fed you, clothed you, housed you.  I only know a few people who self-educated, and they all had a basis of education.  But do not believe that that was free.  My parents paid property taxes that paid for public education in two states.  They also paid for private school tuition, because the education provided by the government was sub-par.  Since then, it's only gotten worse.  Did teachers teach me, yes.  They were compensated for their labors.  Did someone build roads and bridges?  Yes.  And I have more than paid for my use of the same via taxes on gasoline and fuel.

If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

You want to take credit for my business?  Go to hell.  You didn't sweat over this.  You didn't cram for these tests.  All you have done is make my job harder.  Somebody made this happen?  (doing breathing exercises, bringing down my blood pressure)  With all due respect (not much), please do not comment on what it takes to create a business until AFTER you have done so.  Put your own blood, sweat, and tears into making something and then tell me that I should give the credit to another.

Yes, government researchers did invent the internet, a technology that languished for several decades of moderate usage until it was opened up for private use and development.  Only then did it become the communications and technological marvel that is such an intrinsic part of so many of our lives.

 The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.  I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service.  That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

The first part of the first sentence is spot on!!!  The rest is drivel.  Yes, cooperation and partnerships help everyone.  No, I'm not very good at fighting fires.  (At least, I don't think I would be.  I've never actually tried though.)  There are people out there who ARE good at fighting fires...and a lot of them are volunteers.  Aside from that, these services could very easily be provided by the private sector.  Someone told me earlier today that such essential government services such as Teaching, Firefighting and Policing couldn't be provided by the "scraps" that individuals would be willing to pay them.  I can't imagine why not.  These are things that add value to your lives.  Now, perhaps we would get a better deal if we got to negotiate those purchases on our own.  The way things are currently run, the government sets it's own price for the services it insists you buy (even if you intend to purchase those same services from a private source).  Could you imagine if Wal-Mart tried that with it's customers?  They'd get run out of business. Of course, they don't have the power to coerce you to buy anything from them.  That one is reserved to the Government.

This little stump speech, like the one given by Elizabeth Warren (D candidate for Senate in MA and 1/32nd Cherokee Professor of Law at Harvard) may sound good to some people.  They contain a little bit of common sense truth.  People helped you along the way.  The dangerous part is the implication that they make on top of this nugget of fact.  That this help requires some payback that only they can name.


Don't fall for it.

Terrorism

The government that rules our nation considers me and those like me a terrorist.  According to a study paid for by the Department of Homeland Security and conducted by the University of Maryland from 2003 to 2008, apparently the most dangerous groups of terrorists in the U.S. are conservatives and libertarians who "revere liberty" more than government.  I am doubly a terrorist by this study in that I am "inherently suspicious of the federal government."

This actually makes me wonder what the definition of terrorism is to these assholes.  If it's resistance to government oppression, then count me in.  If it's inciting violence against the populace as a means of striking fear into said population in order to enact radical political change, well, as John Lennon once said "don't you know that you can count me out."  And guess what.  You can count out the vast majority of people who agree with me.

All studies like this do is alienate an already disillusioned population.  It seeks to marginalize a group who want nothing more than the ability to make their own decisions about how their life proceeds, instead of merely acquiescing to the will of an uneducated majority.

Am I a terrorist?  Absolutely not.  Will I defend my family's lives and liberty with lethal force.  You bet your ass I will.

Happy Independence Day

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle tehm, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created from the same building blocks of life, that we are each endowed by our Creator with unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, our Present; Liberty, our future; Property, our past; and a right to Pursue (but not to achieve) our life's goals. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while eviles are sufferable than to righ themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. - Suchhas been the patient sufferance of these United States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present Executive and Legislative Branches is a history of repeated injuries, usurpations, and subjugations, all having in direct object the establishment of absolute Tyranny over the People of these United States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

They have refused to abide by laws that We, the People must abide.

They have ignored the restraints on power established at the Founding of this nation.

They have consigned the fortunes of the People of these States to a conglomerate of the wealthiest, assigning the power to print money to the only ones who can benefit from an increase in the money supply.

They have replaced the right of property with an entitlement to the property of others.

They have removed the protections of Justice from the People of these States, granting unto themselves the Supreme authority to dispose of the liberty of any individual without the review of the judiciary or any other non-partisan agency including the assassination and permanent detention of citizens of this Nation.

They have bequeathed unto a sole decision maker the absolute authority to commit troops to fullscale combat in foreign nations by executive decree, thus compelling resources and human lives be spent with no counterweight to this authority.

They have encouraged the dissolution of the family unit, providing economic incentives for the poorest among us to remain poor and for the unwed mothers to remain unwed.

They have established a multitude of new Departments, Bureaus, and Agencies sending out swarms of Agents and Bureaucrats to harass our People and eat out their substance.

They have made the Military independent of Civil Authority and subjected local militias to Centralized control.

They have combined with others to subject us to foreign jurisdiction and authority outside of the scope of our Constitution.

They have limited our trade with willing partners.

They impose Taxes upon us without consent.

For depriving us of, in some cases, the benefit of Trial by Jury;

For transporting us overseas to be tried for pretended offenses;

For abriding our rights to the land we have homesteaded;

For suspending the authority of our State and Local governments subservient to the Authority of the Central Government in violation of the Constitution.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered by more laws favoring old monetary interests. A Government, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to govern a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Federal brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislations to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our Founding. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voices of liberty and justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind,
Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the People of the United States of America, spread throughout this land, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these United States, solemnly publish and declare..........