My Senators voted against BS Bill - What is actually happening to our United States of AmeriKa?

I am so proud to say that my Mississippi Senators, Cochran and Wicker, voted against the Bull-s--t Bailout Bill!

Just received from Senator Wicker was his explanation for why he did not sign the bill. Anyone with any sense can see that we are so-headed into a Marxist state with the take over/nationalism of financial markets. Please read Marx #5 of the Communist Manifesto in an earlier post.

Thank you Senator's Wicker and Cochran for your rational thought during this historic time in America's history.

Wicker Opposes Financial Bailout Legislation
Wednesday, October 1, 2008

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today issued the following statement after announcing he would not support the financial bailout legislation scheduled for a Senate vote tonight: 

“The proposal being brought to the Senate floor tonight is an improvement from the initial Paulson plan.  But at its core, this is still the same plan that calls on taxpayers to go $700 billion further into debt in an attempt to fix this problem, while doing absolutely nothing to prevent it from happening again.  I have strong philosophical differences with this approach, and I will not vote to support it. 

“I recognize the challenges facing our economy, and agree steps need to be taken to protect the middle class from the credit problems that stemmed from mistakes on Wall Street.  However, it is more important for Congress to do this correctly than to do it quickly.

“The SEC’s announcement that it will ease mark-to-market accounting rules is a positive step, but there are a number of other free-market alternatives that I believe deserved more consideration and attention.  The mortgage insurance program included in this package is one example.  By altering this provision to require that Treasury insure these securities, financial institutions could use their own capital instead of taxpayer dollars to stimulate the stagnant securities market.

“We can also take steps to strengthen our economy and free up capital by empowering investors through a temporary or permanent suspension of the capital gains tax for individuals and corporations.  Additionally, we finally need to get serious about changing our nation’s energy policy.  We’re currently sitting on enormous amounts of domestic oil and natural gas reserves while sending $700 billion – the price tag of this bailout proposal – overseas to purchase oil.  We can keep that money here in the United States by increasing production of our oil and gas reserves, something that will also create tens of thousands of jobs across our country.” 

Some of the crap included in this bill is the section that gives the IRS the ability to give information from individual tax returns to any federal law enforcement agency investigating suspected "terrorist" activity, which can, in turn, share it with local and state police. Intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the National Security Agency can also receive that information.

The information that can be shared includes "a taxpayer's identity, the nature, source, or amount of his income, payments, receipts, deductions, exemptions, credits, assets, liabilities, net worth, tax liability, tax withheld, deficiencies, overassessments, or tax payments, whether the taxpayer's return was, is being, or will be examined or subject to other investigation or processing, or any other data received by, recorded by, prepared by, furnished to, or collected by the Secretary with respect to a return."

Yes, although most of us are not "terrorists", because of the lack of enforcing our immigration laws, we Americans, have to have surveillance on us as well.

Who of you are not seeing what is happening here?

Palin - SHE SCORES!

Don't know about you, but for me, Gov. Sarah Palin SCORED BIG TIME!

She spoke from her heart and although she has been portrayed in a "laughable" light by pundits who ask questions "What do you read?" Specifically name those publications...give me a break, it was Palin who gave Curic a boost in ratings.

PBS gave rave reviews to Palin..."something we've never heard before!" "The Republican's have got to be immensely proud."

She was so "authentic" and did quite well in mentioning "me vs. Washington."

"Her willingness to cut loose Washington...doesn't feel bad about distancing herself from bureaucracy."

Biden seemed coached, but Palin didn't.

"A very high energy debate, something we were not prepared for from Palin."

Kudos Sarah!

"Palin left W way behind in the snow. She was relentless in her debate."

"She surpassed expectations! I think you will hear the voices on the right come full circle in support, vs listening to a tina faye who won't be able to take this to the mattresses."

"She holds a common sense unlike what has been portrayed."

Required Reading - What you need to know about our Washington leadership

You know, if you or I didn't read this, we wouldn't have a reason to get mad as hell at what is happening to our country, within our borders, in the very heart of our nation and to the precious Constitution that protects our rights.

We would deserve what we got, and that is why our country is crumbling. We have sat on our duffs and allowed these crooks to steal our way of life away from us. It reminds me of the comedic refrain...'when the shit hits the fan, bend over and kiss your ass goodbye'. That time is nearing and I'm no chicken little.

Wake Up ... before its too late.

On the path that we are headed now, our future seems uncertain, our rights eroded, stolen, or most likely changed into a socialistic/communistic state.

Let freedom ring. Call your Congressmen and let your voice be heard! Let them know what you want and need!


EXCLUSIVE - From the Washington Times

Pelosi uses nearly $100,000 in PAC funds to pay husband's rent, utilities and accounting fees.

http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/01/pelosis-pac-pays-bills-for-spouses-firm/

WEB EXCLUSIVE: From Commentary Magazine - The whole story of Obama's Leftism. If you want to see the pieces put together from beginning to end of Obama's rise, including information from his own mouth, this must be read. It's long and detailed, BUT IT MUST BE READ!

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/printarticle.cfm/special-preview-br--obama-s-leftism-12961

Bailout Reeks of Karl Marx's communist manifesto

In his Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, Karl Marx proposed 10 measures to be implemented after the proletariat takes power, with the aim of centralizing all instruments of production in the hands of the state. Proposal Number Five was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

If he were to rise from the dead today, Marx might be delighted to discover that most economists and financial commentators, including many who claim to favor the free market, agree with him.

Indeed, analysts at the Heritage and Cato Institute, and commentators in The Wall Street Journal, have made declarations in favor of the massive “injection of liquidities” engineered by central banks in recent months, the government takeover of giant financial institutions, as well as the still stalled US $700-billion bailout package.Some of the same voices were calling for similar interventions following the burst of the dot-com bubble in 2001.

“Whatever happened to the modern followers of my free-market opponents?” Marx would likely wonder.

At first glance, anyone who understands economics can see that there is something wrong with this picture. The taxes that will need to be levied to finance this package may keep some firms alive, but they will siphon off capital, kill jobs and make businesses less productive elsewhere. Increasing the money supply is no different. It is an invisible tax that redistributes resources to debtors and those who made unwise investments.

So why throw this sound free-market analysis overboard as soon as there is some downturn in the markets?

The rationale for intervening always seems to center on the fear of reliving the Great Depression. If we let too many institutions fail because of insolvency, we are being told, there is a risk of a general collapse of financial markets, with the subsequent drying up of credit and the catastrophic effects this would have on all sectors of production. This opinion, shared by Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson and most of the right-wing political and financial establishments, is based on Milton Friedman’s thesis that the Fed aggravated the Depression by not pumping enough money into the financial system following the market crash of 1929.

It sounds libertarian enough. The misguided policies of the Fed, a government creature, and bad government regulation are held responsible for the crisis. The need to respond to this emergency and keep markets running overrides concerns about taxing and inflating the money supply. This is supposed to contrast with the left-wing Keynesian approach, whose solutions are strangely very similar despite a different view of the causes.

But there is another approach that doesn’t compromise with free-market principles and coherently explains why we constantly get into these bubble situations followed by a crash. It is centered on Marx’s Proposal Number Five: government control of capital.

For decades, Austrian School economists have warned against the dire consequences of having a central banking system based on fiat money, money that is not grounded on any commodity like gold and can easily be manipulated. In addition to its obvious disadvantages (price inflation, debasement of the currency, etc.), easy credit and artificially low interest rates send wrong signals to investors and exacerbate business cycles.

Not only is the central bank constantly creating money out of thin air, but the fractional reserve system allows financial institutions to increase credit many times over. When money creation is sustained, a financial bubble begins to feed on itself, higher prices allowing the owners of inflated titles to spend and borrow more, leading to more credit creation and to even higher prices.

As prices get distorted, mal-investments, or investments that should not have been made under normal market conditions, accumulate. Despite this, financial institutions have an incentive to join this frenzy of irresponsible lending, or else they will lose market shares to competitors. With “liquidities” in overabundance, more and more risky decisions are made to increase yields and leveraging reaches dangerous levels.

During that manic phase, everybody seems to believe that the boom will go on. Only the Austrians warn that it cannot last forever, as Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises did before the 1929 crash, and as their followers have done for the past several years.

Now, what should be done when that pyramidal scheme starts crashing to the floor, because of a series of cascading failures or concern from the central bank that inflation is getting out of control? It’s obvious that credit will shrink, because everyone will want to get out of risky businesses, to call back loans and to put their money in safe places. Mal-investments have to be liquidated; prices have to come down to realistic levels; and resources stuck in unproductive uses have to be freed and moved to sectors that have real demand. Only then will capital again become available for productive investments.

Friedmanites, who have no conception of mal-investments and never raise any issue with the boom, also cannot understand why it inevitably leads to a crash.
They only see the drying up of credit and blame the Fed for not injecting massive enough amounts of liquidity's to prevent it.

But central banks and governments cannot transform unprofitable investments into profitable ones. They cannot force institutions to increase lending when they are so exposed. This is why calls for throwing more money at the problem are so totally misguided. Injections of liquidities started more than a year ago and have had no effect in preventing the situation from getting worse. Such measures can only delay the market correction and turn what should be a quick recession into a prolonged one.

Friedman — who, contrary to popular perception, was not a foe of monetary inflation, but simply wanted to keep it under better control in normal circumstances — was wrong about the Fed not intervening during the Depression. It tried repeatedly to inflate but credit still went down for various reasons. This is a key difference in interpretation between the Austrian and Chicago schools.

As Friedrich Hayek wrote in 1932, “Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the mal-adjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion. ... To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about ...”

The confusion of Chicago school economics on monetary issues is so profound as to lead its adherents today to support the largest government grab of private capital in world history. By adding their voices to those on the left, these confused free-marketeers are not helping to “save capitalism”, but contributing to its destruction.

Hopefully, we will see a better "deal" come our way, but I doubt it. That's just my cynicism coming out and right now, I am in full cynical mode.

The Bailout As Proposed

http://assets.sunlightfoundation.com/pdf/eesa2008.pdf

Here is the 110 page document that spells out the initial bill that will be submitted.

At least they stripped ACORN from the language. If you don't know what ACORN is ... well it is a community organization that helps/uses the poor to gain monies from our government.

The Bubble has burst folks, and now we are going to have to pay for it ... one way or another!

Our banking system is bailing out those who profited from the little man ... those who profited from their own excessive greed ... those who put at risk our way of life.

Do you really know how this bandaid is going to work ... Robert Shiller, an Economist at Yale, said this morning on ABC, "It's not!"

Last week in history - Under Siege

I don't know about anyone else, with what all has taken place last week, I believe we are in deep dooo dooo! Spoken in an interview this morning, a young man declares, "We are now a socialist state."

If not now, we are certainly headed that way. Wall Street, the street where dreams were once made, is under siege by Washington. New York's Mayor Bloomburg is sending out warnings to his constituents. "Times are going to get bad. The free-wheeling, big-spending, money flowing, wheeler-dealers will soon be tightening their belts." He states that multi-million dollar apartments will soon be up for sale. Things will be tough as he cut 1.5 billion from his city's budget.

Had regulations been put in place, as Bush wanted early on in his first four years, we may not have been in the place we are today.

Announced this morning, Wachovia may be the next to fail.

Last week, Bank of America became the largest bank. What is coming is any one's guess. Our future generations will be paying for the errors of today, that is, if they are still living a life of freedom.

Our Constitution is unraveling as I speak. It's very words are being nullified as our congress has lost its way. Recently spoken by McCain, "We went to Washington to change it, instead, we were changed." Power does corrupt as evidenced by all those caught up in corruption and now serving time in prison...or soon to be headed there.

Wall Street Journal
09/26/2008

Mean Street: The Bailout - You Can Never Be Too Cynical

he absurdist drama “The Bailout,” now playing under the Capitol Rotunda, is perversely reassuring. It has reinforced my long-held belief that you can never be too cynical about Wall Street or Washington.

Is anyone capable of rising above his narrow self-interest? By the end of the weekend, we will know for sure. Either there will be a bailout plan or there won’t.

Certainly, there is no excusing Wall Street’s failings in this mess. But at least Wall Street grasps the severity of the crisis and has embraced a possible, albeit self-serving, solution.

Washington, meanwhile, engages in an elaborate circus of political brinksmanship in which the nation’s economic survival is a campaign plaything.

A fan of politics may argue that all the hearings, closed-door sessions and news conferences is the stuff of democracy, where a compromise satisfies no one but serves the public interest. That is a version of reality best left to a grade-school textbook.

How can you explain the recent House Republican proposal for an entirely different bailout structure? This proposal has zero chance of being adopted. Zero. It serves only a political and not a practical function.

Or Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid’s insinuation this morning that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson were focused on serving Wall Street’s interests and not the public’s?

Bernanke and Paulson are the only two people in this process with nothing but the public interest at heart. But they are Republicans and so must be demonized.

Of course, politicians of all stripes claim they act on behalf of Main Street. And that Main Street hates the bill. But what do you expect?

The media and politicians have convinced Main Street that it is the victim in this drama. Those evil Wall Street bankers. The theft of $700 billion from good people and giving it to bad people.

That is a nice simple interpretation like an old Hollywood film or a trashy paperback. It is wrong, but it’s black and white. Understandable.

Not like Bernanke. He is complex. At committee hearings, the beleaguered bearded professor actually tried to explain how the financial system works. Big mistake. That isn’t good for sound bites.

Both he and Paulson gave the politicians and Main Street too much credit. They have behaved too calmly, and too rationally for the nation to get the message.

Bernanke and Paulson should have made outrageous promises at the hearings and argued there is no way this will cost the taxpayer $700 billion, that the taxpayer will in fact make money. That works much better on the American psyche. America loves buying lottery tickets. Think of the bailout as a lottery ticket with much better odds.

Perhaps the greater failure by Bernanke, Paulson and President Bush was a reluctance to scare the hell out of people. A leader shows gravitas and concern, not panic. But, perhaps, a little panic wouldn’t hurt. Because you get the sense that Main Street is so busy being angry, that it isn’t sufficiently frightened. The public still doesn’t connect their lives to the crisis. But it should.

Because no bailout bill means that:

By the close of the stock market on Monday, the value of Main Street’s IRAs, 401Ks and pension plans will be worth a lot less than on Friday. How much? Hard to say, but a loss of 20% isn’t crazy.

By week’s end, there is a good chance that a raft of large banks will be taken over by federal regulators.

Within two weeks, as the banks hoard cash, the credit lines on most of Main Street’s credit cards will be reduced, foreclosure proceedings accelerated and car-leasing programs suspended.

Within a month, Main Street won’t be able to buy a home, a car or a tractor unless paid for in cash. As the credit markets shutdown, the mortgage, auto and small-business loan markets will nearly disappear. And the economy will grind to a near halt.

Far fetched? Not at all. It is the absence of credit–not too much of it–that causes great economic depressions.

The credit markets even today are essentially frozen, waiting for a resolution of the bill.

I am not holding my breath waiting for Main Street to come around and support the bill. And I certainly don’t expect Congress and the two presidential candidates to quickly put away their swords.

No, that would be the right thing to do. They will take the nation to the brink this weekend. And then–and only then–will they do the right thing.

This shouldn’t just make you cynical. This should make you question everything about the kind of government we have.

Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride...especially depending on who runs the White House the next four years...and personally, I would rather have my honorable maverick father run this country versus the young, community organizing socialist, who wants to rule the world!

Early Economic Stabilization Act - "It's ALIVE!", said Dr. Frankenstein.