Training Wheels and Tough Love

Stock futures signal partial rebound after sell-off; Street awaits next move on Capitol Hill -- chicagotribune.com

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 200, or 1.91 percent, to 10,674 after falling more than 777 points, or 6.98 percent, Monday. It was the blue chips' largest point drop and 17th largest percentage drop.

The market is trying to correct the value of the dollar because the fed won't. We need to pressure our leaders to pull excess dollars out of circulation and get interest rates rising again. Just like Dad teaching us to ride a bike, the training wheels need to come off and he needs to let go. When we fall, it's ok, as long as we get back up and try again. We learn nothing if he won't let go.

On a related note, I wrote the following comment on "A Little Creative License" yesterday:

It seems to me it's quite a bit like tough love. I would imagine as a leader (government or otherwise) it is hard to watch the economy in rough patches and not act to "fix" it.
Herbert Hoover is a perfect example. He knew that nonintervention was the best policy. But as things failed to recover and he watched his approval rating plummet he was pressured to act. Since recovery can take longer than we might like, things did not turn around before the next election. His opponents seized upon his apparent "failure" claiming he did too little too late. As we know, despite (or because of, I would say) FDR's "New Deal" policies, things got much worse.
If only Hoover had the courage of his convictions (and also been re-elected) we might never have heard the term Great Depression.

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"three good reasons why Congress should reject this legislation"

Ron Paul’s House floor remarks on the bailout

Thanks Alison for pointing me to this information. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the plan was a mistake but I was not sure why.

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Put the "Mad Money" Man to the Test

On the “Today” show this morning, Jim Cramer (“Mad Money”) told Ann Curry he believes the proposed bailout is a good deal for taxpayers and that he wishes there was a way he could invest directly with his own money because of the potential upside return and the safeguards in place for protection.
This makes me wonder…why can’t he? Why are you and I going to be forced to contribute to this plan involuntarily when there are Jim Cramers out there who would be willing to fund it?
There are only two reasons I can think of. The first is ignorance. Perhaps Washington thinks $700 billion can only be raised by the federal government. It certainly sounds like a gargantuan sum. Let’s put it in context though. In simplest terms it works out to a little more than $2,000 per citizen. That’s more than I think we can ask of the average Joe. But fortunately Forbes just released their annual report on the 400 richest people in America. The combined wealth of this 0.00013% of our population is $1.57 trillion – more than twice the amount of the bailout. Now I am not asking them to shoulder the cost alone, but merely illustrating that they could. We have not even talked about the 5% of Americans making more than $250,000 per year, according to Senator Obama. Five percent by the way is roughly 15 million people. The cost of this bailout divided evenly among them would be just under $50,000. You’re probably sick of my math and we’ve only discussed private citizens so far. I won’t get into the dollars available in the corporate world. Hopefully we can agree that if Congress wanted to fund this bailout privately they could.
This leaves the other reason: corruption. If Washington can keep spending your money however it wants it maintains control over you. Politicians get to keep their power. If they fund this bailout privately they have to admit that the free market works. They will have a hard time justifying their bloated salaries and repeated attempts to pass more legislation when the Congressional Record is already far longer than anyone can read.
Anyway I got slightly off topic. My point is this: most of us are too far removed or don’t have enough of the facts available to really have a good opinion of what needs to be done (or not, as the case may be.) We will have to hope that through all of the arguing and butting heads between the idiots we are overpaying to look out for us that the truth will come out. And if the bailout is necessary we should go to our Congressmen and Senators and demand that they recover at least a significant portion of our money by issuing securities to the private sector. Let’s make the option available. I for one am more than happy to let Jim Cramer shoulder “my” portion of the payout.

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Don't you hate it when people forward emails? Almost as bad as throwing away $85 billion, right?

Sept. 17, 2008

Dear Concerned Libertarian,

Did that Miami Herald headline grab your attention? It did to me. So what does the White House think about our economy? Good question. Here is [their] answer today from Press Secretary Dana Perino:

"I recognize that this issue of 'strength' (of the economy) has come into the 2008 election," she said. "I'm not going to try to get involved in it." (AP 09/17/08)

She followed this up with, "While no one would have liked to have ended up in this situation, you have a government that is willing to lead" - well, only if you call an $85 billion bailout of a major US Corporation and not getting involved leading.

Oh wait, there's more; here is what she says next: "I understand that people want to hear from the president during this time." Well of course they do, but then again, he doesn't want to get involved!

I don't know about you -- but I am fuming at this Government -- and apparently so are the markets (which closed down another 450 points for the day).

First, on Sunday, they said no more bailouts. Then, (no surprise) they do exactly what they said they would not be doing. Spent $85 billion of YOUR MONEY on AIG.

ONLY Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party have been screaming from the mountaintops the past few weeks, "No bailouts!"

All the others have simply been agreeing with what the Fed's been doing:

McCain says it's necessary to "protect millions of Americans" and wants to set up a "commission" on the financial crisis. Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin says it's "understandable."

Obama? Well, he wants more regulation! He is calling for "a new, 21st century regulatory framework" to solve this mess! And, Biden? Well, he's in the dark I guess: "The truth is, I don't know what the bailout is yet...haven't had a brief on it."

Mr. Biden, it's $85 billion of money the Fed has no right to spend!

What has Bob Barr and the LP been saying: "No one voted to pour taxpayer funds into Wall Street. And no one voted for the government to take over an insurance company. If the Federal Reserve can spend as much money as it desires to bail out any company that it desires, is there anything that it cannot do with taxpayer funds?”

If you are upset as I am and you want real change, then I urge you to vote Libertarian November 4. Please help us SEND A MESSAGE to Washington by donating today at https://www.lp.org/contribute.

Every dollar will help get our message out and will be greatly appreciated.

In Liberty,



Robert S. Kraus
Acting Executive Director
Libertarian Party

Killing Trees

Lately I have been killing trees. Way too many to count. Maples, actually. I never realized that a tree could be a "weed" until we bought a house. Craziness...

I need to borrow a video camera for a few days. Anyone?

Plzthxbai!

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