Author Archives: "Archives"

Quote of the Day: “Ideas and images in men’s minds are the invisible powers that govern them.”
::: — Hans Sennholz
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:::Subject: Great news on the “Enumerated Powers Act”
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:::The “Enumerated Powers Act” (H.R. 1359) would compel Congress to identify their Constitutional authority for every law they pass. It wouldn’t stop them from passing bad laws, but it sure would highlight the fact that most of what they do has no Constitutional authority at all.
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:::We pretty much know what they would do. They would have to invoke the so-called “general welfare clause,” which is really just the preamble to the Constitution, or the “commerce clause,” which was really intended to foster free trade between the states. It would become very embarrassing very quickly, and we could pound them about it constantly.
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:::When we last reported to you the “Enumerated Powers Act” had 47 co-sponsors in the House. Well, now it has 52. But there’s even better news . . .
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On today’s Downsize DC Conference Call (2-hour radio show), which starts at 3:06 PM Eastern (2:06 PM Central, 1:06 PM Mountain, and 12:06 PM Pacific) I’ll be joined by another candidate for Congress who pledges to sponsor (or co-sponsor, as the case may require) Downsize DC Agenda items. . .
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:::* The Read the Bills Act
:::* The One Subject at a Time Act
:::* The Write the Laws Act
:::* The Enumerated Powers Act
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:::His name is David Krikorian and he’s running in the 2nd district in Ohio. What’s special about David?
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The New York Times reports today . . .

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“Catfish farmers across the South, unable to cope with the soaring cost of corn and soybean feed, are draining their ponds…. Corn and soybeans have nearly tripled in price in the last two years, for many reasons: harvest shortfalls, increasing demand by the Asian middle class, government mandates for corn to produce ethanol and, most recently, the flooding in the Midwest.”

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:::Quote of the Day: “My policy has been, and will continue to be, while I have the honor to remain in the administration of the government, to be upon friendly terms with, but independent of, all the nations of the earth. To share in the broils of none. To fulfil our own engagements. To supply the wants, and be carriers for them all: Being thoroughly convinced that it is our policy and interest to do so.”
:::– George Washington, from a letter to Gouverneur Morris
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:::Subject: A Congressman changes his mind on Iran resolution
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:::House Concurrent Resolution 362 and Senate Resolution 580 both urge President Bush to blockade Iran. President Bush could also view these resolutions as a green-light to attack. Either a blockade or an attack would remove Iranian oil from the world market, and potentially close the straights of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s oil supply flows.
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:::The loss of any oil from the Persian Gulf would send oil prices soaring and potentially plunge the entire world into an economic depression.
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:::Your life and your future, are hanging by a thread. Congress could

It says something about the world we live in that the best news and analysis is constantly provided by comedians, such as “The Daily Show” and “The Onion.” Here’s “The Onion” hitting the nail on the head . . .

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“A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.

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“What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future,” said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. “We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution.”…

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Quote of the Day: “Politicians never accuse you of “greed” for wanting other people’s money — only for wanting to keep your own money.” – Joseph Sobran
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:::Subject: Falling health care prices
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:::Overall, health care prices continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation, but there are exceptions. The cost of some procedures and drugs is falling, both in terms of time and money.
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:::What happened? Did Congress pass a law or create a new program? No. Congress had nothing to do with it. Instead, it happened because of . . .

When the Federal Reserve creates new money and/or expands credit, where does this new purchasing power go first? Doesn’t it look like it’s been sloshing from one investment sector to another?

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First the money and credit sloshed into the stock market, which boomed, and then there was a bust. Then it sloshed into the housing sector, which boomed, followed by a bust. Now it seems to be sloshing into commodities.

Billionaire Peter G. Peterson is going to spend one of his billions promoting the idea that the federal government needs to take serious steps to address the unfunded liabilities problem for Social Security and Medicare. Mr. Peterson says, “You can buy a lot of airtime with $1 billion. People are going to hear from us.”

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Mr. Peterson is doing what we want to do. He’s going to make this issue visible to everyone, everywhere, every day. Even better, he’s going to do it on one of the major issues Downsize DC has been pushing.

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Meanwhile, another billionaire, Ross Perot, is back in action working on the same issue as Mr. Peterson. He has a new website full of his famous deficit charts: PerotCharts.com

Quote of the Day: “The bigger they are the harder they fall.”
:::– conventional wisdom
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:::Subject: How things get too big to fail, and what to do about it
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:::When the politicians created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac they claimed that these institutions would provide stability to the housing market. But neither the housing market nor Fannie and Freddie are stable. Instead, Fannie and Freddie have brought us fear, risk, and uncertainty to the tune of $5.3 trillion.
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:::Only the monopoly we call the federal government has the power to create a $5.3 TRILLION risk.
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:::In a true free market the business of secondary mortgages would’ve been handled by hundreds or thousands of competing entities. It would’ve been very unlikely that all these firms would have made the same mistakes at the same time. But our government created a situation where::::::

Quote of the Day:
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:::”The new DownsizeDC.org website is ready to launch.”
:::- Robert O’Gwynn, Programmer
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:::Subject: A New Website for Our Anniversary
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:::We have a special surprise today. And it seems fitting to do something special today because . . .
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:::Yesterday, July 14, 2008, was the fourth anniversary of the launch of DownsizeDC.org’s Electronic Lobbyist System. During those four years Americans have sent more than 1,214,000 messages, primarily to Congress, through our website. 
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:::* We started with only 11,800 subscribers to the Downsizer-Dispatch. In those early days, a good month meant 4,000 Messages-to-Congress sent.
:::* Today, we have 23,400 members of our Downsize DC Army, and these members are much more intense — we sent more than 70,000 Messages-to-Congress in June alone.
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:::That amazes us. Our little website was built to test an idea; that educating Congress could be a recruitment tool for building an Army so large that Congress could not ignore it.
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:::Within months of launching we realized the limitations of our little site. We had built a Yugo to run a Grand Prix race. Our supporters wanted us to do various things. We wanted to do yet more. But our “little site that would” just couldn’t.
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:::I’m pleased to announce that those limits are gone. Last night, on our anniversary, we launched a brand new website at DownsizeDC.org. I want to encourage you to check it out.