Yearly Archives: 2009
They think reading the bills is a joke
They think reading the bills is a joke
Another Counterfeiting Update
Quote of the Day: “By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.” — John Maynard Keynes Source: “The Economic Consequences Of The Peace”
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Subject: Counterfeiting Update
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In May of last year the U.S. money supply stood at roughly $834 billion. Now, a year later, the Federal Reserve has created an additional $941 billion out of thin air. Pay close attention to those numbers…
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* The amount of new money the Fed has created is roughly $107 billion more than all the money that was in circulation just a year ago
:::* In other words, the U.S. money supply has more than doubled
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Think about what this does to the value of your dollars, to your savings, to your paycheck, to your retirement income? A doubling of the money supply means your money is worth half what it was.
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Of course, your money’s loss of value won’t manifest itself overnight. It will take time for the Fed’s counterfeiting to drive up prices. But those who get the new money first will be able to
We already know the results of one so-called health care reform
Quote of the Day: “Absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority.” — Kentucky Declaration of Rights – Art. I, Sec. 2 also found in the Wyoming Declaration of Rights Art. I, Sec. 7
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Subject: We already know the results of one so-called health care reform
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Some politicians want to mandate that employers provide health insurance for their workers, and/or that individuals must acquire such insurance, much as we’re all required to have car insurance. This is supposed to achieve universal coverage while also reducing costs. But…
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Massachusetts politicians have already run this experiment, with bad results.
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Many Minds vs. Few Minds
Quote of the Day: “This is my long-run forecast in brief: The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations, and most of humanity, will be at or above today’s Western living standards. I also speculate, however, that many people will continue to think and say that the conditions of life are getting worse.” — Julian Simon
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Subject: Many minds vs. few minds
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The 1970s were bad. We had high inflation plus bouts of high interest rates, high unemployment, and high oil prices punctuated by severe gasoline shortages. Major American companies struggled to survive, factories closed, and the industrial north became known as the Rust Belt.
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Major intellectuals talked of limits to growth and a bleak future that might even include an ice age. It was common in those days to think that things could only get worse, but a man named Julian Simon thought otherwise…
You’ll regret it for the rest of your shortened life
Quote of the Day: “The coming debate is not just about the freedom to make one’s own medical decisions. It is about life and death. If we insist on a dynamic and competitive market, health care will be better, cheaper, safer, and more secure. If we go in the direction of new government programs, mandates, and price controls, we will see higher costs, more medical errors, more uncoordinated care, and more lives lost because people with government “insurance” nevertheless couldn’t find a doctor who would treat them.” — Michael F. Cannon, Director of Health-policy Studies at the Cato Institute
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Subject: You’ll regret it for the rest of your shortened life
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Be ready, Congress plans to rush through a complete overhaul of YOUR health care this summer.
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You can bet this so-called reform bill will…
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* Be long, complicated, and packed with special interest favors
:::* Have massive consequences, both intended and unintended
:::* Add hundreds of billions of dollars to our already cancerous national liabilities
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You can also bet that…
Common Sense
Quote of the Day: “Students of American history will recall that the important place where work gets done in the legislative body, almost without exception, is in the committees, more so than on the floor although sometimes more attention is paid to the floor.” – Paul Sarbanes
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Subject: Common sense
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Each year the Iraq-Afghanistan spending bill comes loaded with extras that remind us how much we need the One Subject At A Time Act.
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Because few in Congress will vote against a bill that “supports the troops,” this bill provides an opportunity for legislative abuse . . .
Progress for Downsize DC Army in May
Quote of the Day: “Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Subject: May 2009 Progress Report
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Our goal is to constantly grow larger and stronger in order to…
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* Exert relentless, overwhelming, resistance numbing pressure on Congress
:::* Make our ideas heard by everyone, everywhere, every day
:::* Attract opportunistic politicians who will want to march in front of our Big Parade
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Achieving these goals will Downsize DC. We know of no other way to do the job…
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* You can’t win a political contest if you’re outnumbered
:::* You can’t win an argument if your voice isn’t heard
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So we keep pushing on these essential things in our relentless way. The result in May was more progress…
New ID Dangers
MEDIA NOTICE: Today (Friday), Jim Babka is scheduled to appear on “Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes,” starting at 3:05 PM Eastern. Listening details can be found on the DownsizeDC.org blog.
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Quote of the Day: “I won’t call it Real ID, I’ll call it enhanced or higher security drivers license.” — Robert V. LaPenta, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions, which stands to be a primary beneficiary of any government scheme for a national ID card
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Subject: Tricking Americans Into Real ID
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Jim Harper, at the Cato Institute, alerts us to new dangers on the national ID front.
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The so-called Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and certain politicians, are trying multiple ways to impose a national ID card on us, even though the American people have made it very clear we don’t want it.
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One under-handed scheme started with the passage of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires law abiding U.S. citizens to have either a passport or an enhanced drivers license to cross the Mexican or Canadian borders. An “enhanced drivers license”…
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* Is an initiative of the DHS that has NO Congressional mandate
:::* Will require you to undergo a security interview, pay a fee, and get a new federal ID number (in addition to your Social Security number)
:::* Has an RFID chip that can be read at a distance, up to 30 feet away, even while it’s in your wallet!
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Now things are being rigged to move citizens in the direction of the enhanced drivers license.
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The problem starts with the fact that passports are too expensive. The high price gives people an incentive to
American adulthood, fact or fiction?
Quote of the Day: “When a government controls both the economic power of individuals and the coercive power of the state … this violates a fundamental rule of happy living: Never let the people with all the money and the people with all the guns be the same people.” — P. J. O’Rourke
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Subject: When Will Americans Grow Up?
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Three of the very most important issues of the moment are…
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* The planned re-design of the economy through a “cap and trade” system to limit CO2 emissions
:::* The planned re-design of our health care system by increasing government involvement at all levels
:::* The massive expansion of the money supply by the Fed, which threatens hyper-inflation
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But will the media and the American people be able to maintain an adult focus on any of these issues, or will they instead spend the next few weeks obsessing about the merits and de-merits of one person — President Obama’s new nominee for the Supreme Court.
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Sadly, American adulthood is sometimes more fiction than fact. We predict that the national discussion will now focus on the new Supreme Court nominee and that most of the debate will resemble a high school campaign for class president. It will be driven by adolescent partisan tribal loyalties, and will overlook one overwhelming fact…
Should Congress read the bills or pass pointless resolutions?
Quote of the Day: “If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.” – Will Rogers
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Subject: Should Congress read the bills or pass pointless resolutions?
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In addition to bills that become law, the House and Senate also pass hundreds of resolutions each year. Many of them are statements of appreciation or recognition of people and events. They may seem harmless, but they waste Congress’s time, time that could be spent reading bills that actually matter.
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Moreover, these resolutions are often handled with comic incompetence . . .