Liberty Maven

D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day:
“Congress seems to want to cure every ill known to man except unconstitutional government and high taxes.” - Charley Reese

Subject: Downsizers vs. Upsizers

The media tells us that the Presidential campaign is bitter and nasty. They tell us the partisanship in Congress is poisonous.

But the real poison is that Washington isn’t partisan enough. If it actually was partisan, our work at DownsizeDC.org would be a whole lot easier.

To illustrate, here are the roll call votes for eleven pieces of legislation that have defined the Bush Era of big, unlimited, unchecked government, the “Upsize DC Agenda:” …

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day:
“It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it”.
– George Carlin

Subject: Spying on Children

On Monday we made the case that had we passed the “Read the Bills Act” and the “One Subject at a Time Act” back in the 90s, the Big Bailout could not have passed last Friday.

If there had been a huge army of DC Downsizers back then, able to achieve universal visibility, and relentless, overwhelming pressure, the government laws, regulations, and programs that have led to the housing bubble and bust could also have been averted.

What was true then, remains true now. The seeds of future disasters are being sown even now, because this is what government does. It creates a crisis, and then exploits the resulting hysteria to gain new powers with which to create even larger disasters. But the cure for this disease also remains the same — the big army, Operation Everywhere, and passage of “Read the Bills” and “One Subject at a Time.”

Here’s the latest reason to pass “Read the Bills” . . .

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day:

“There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action.”
– Bertrand Russell

Subject: What the bailout means for our future

The first House vote, in which the Big Bailout failed, showed the power of overwhelming pressure. The second House vote, in which the Big Bailout passed, showed the weakness of waiting to apply such pressure at the last minute.

Human psychology is such that we always want to wait to the last moment, when a deadline looms, to take action. We must overcome this aspect of our psychology if we are to prevail. If we do not, then we will always lose.

It really is that simple.

Things would be vastly different if the same pressure applied to Congress on the Big Bailout had been exerted much earlier to end the government policies that caused the housing bubble.

Had the pressure citizens brought to bear on the Big Bailout been applied earlier, and for a long period of time, to . . .

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day:

“True, governments can reduce the rate of interest in the short run. They can issue additional paper money. They can open the way to credit expansion by the banks. They can thus create an artificial boom and the appearance of prosperity. But such a boom is bound to collapse soon or late.”
– Ludwig von Mises (HT: Matt Kibbe)

Subject: Responsible people get the shaft

Do you pay your mortgage and other bills on time? Did you buy a house during the boom? If so, you’re about to get the shaft. You’re house is probably worth less than you paid for it, and it will take a lot of payments to get yourself back in the black.

You’re the person paying the cost for the government-caused housing bubble, and no one is going to bail you out.

All the people who made mistakes, all the people who were irresponsible, will be rewarded for their irresponsibility, in one way or another. But . . .

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Today’s Dispatch is about the continuing bailout saga. What else could it be about? We’re Downsize DC and this is the single-largest, fell-swoop increase in the federal government ever seriously considered. It’s a dramatic — scary! — expansion and concentration of power. We’ll get back to how scary in a moment.

But first, let’s address a pervasive mood out there. We might lose. Might. But it became evident to me throughout the day last Thursday (9/23) that public sentiment was running so strong against this that we could actually defeat this bill.

So when the news arrived on Monday (9/27) that the House voted down the bill by just a 12 vote swing, and the rest of the world was “shocked,” “stunned,” and “surprised,” frankly, I wasn’t any of those things. Pleased, yes. Mildly surprised? Sure. But the Downsize DC concept is about massive, overwhelming pressure. And it worked!

Well, today the institutional media on Wall Street and Capitol Hill is pretending that the House vote is going to go their way. They’re practically running an infomercial for the bailout bill.

Further, as I pointed out yesterday . . .

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quotes of the Day:
“As you may have heard, the U.S. is putting together a constitution for Iraq. Why don’t we just give them ours? Think about it — it was written by very smart people, it’s served us well for over two hundred years, and besides, we’re not using it anymore.” - Jay Leno

“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” - Ronald Reagan

“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.” - Ronald Reagan

Subject: The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same.

The bailout fight is not over, and the time for action is right now! Since the bankers lost by just a 12 vote swing in the House on Monday, the Congressional leadership has regrouped. In their desperation they’ve decided to violate both the Constitution and ALL the principles of the current Downsize DC Agenda.

The Senate is set to begin debate and VOTE TONIGHT, after the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah is over. Rosh Hashanah is the Hebrew New Year, but, as the quotes above indicate, there’s nothing “new” about the games being played on Capitol Hill.

Author G. Edward Griffin wrote about our central banking system, “The name of the game is bailout.” He went on to explain . . .

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day:

“Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.”
– Alexander Pope

Subject: Messages to Congress running as high as 300 to 1 against the bailout

First the Republicans were for it (the Big Bailout), and then they were against it. What happened?

What happened is YOU, and others like you, pounding on Congress to NOT pass the Big Bailout.

There were constant reports on CNBC yesterday, and in other places, that calls and messages to Congress were running roughly 300 to 1 against the Big Bailout.  This is what made the Republicans reverse course.

Your messages and calls to Congress do make a difference!

But pressure from powerful special interests also has an impact, so we must maintain OUR pressure.

It would also help to provide Congress with an alternative plan that is better than the Big Bailout. Fortunately, we can do that. All Congress has to do is remove the mark-to-market accounting rule, and replace it with a “discounted cash flow” accounting rule. Doing so would . . .

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day:
“At this point, Congress is being asked to support an uncertain entity, costing an uncertain amount of dollars, for an uncertain duration – a decision that will have implications for generations to come and requires absolute certainty.”
– Congressman Jeb Hensarling, TX, and Chair of the House Republican Study Committee

Subject: This would be simpler than a bailout

A few simple words in an arcane regulation may be a major cause of the current financial “crisis.” Removing this regulation would be simpler and cheaper than the proposed bailout.

Financial Accounting Standard 157 is a regulation imposed on businesses by the quasi-private Financial Accounting Standards Board (FAS). This rule is also incorporated into the regulations of the IRS and is further enforced by the SEC and the FDIC. FAS 157 requires businesses to mark down assets to the lowest price for which similar assets have been sold in the market.

The jargon term for this regulation is “mark-to-market.” Mark-to-market forces good securities to be valued at the same price as bad securities.

It’s important to understand that a security may be sold at a low price for many reasons. The firm selling the security may simply need to generate cash, and be willing to take a loss for that purpose. A security may also be sold for a low price because one or more of the mortgages behind that security is in arrears or default. But once a security is sold for a low price, something startling happens . . .

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Subject: Downsize DC commits suicide

We’ve heard the Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chairman make their case for a $700 billion bailout of the financial markets. We’re not persuaded. Quite the contrary. We reject their predictions of dire consequences if their plan doesn’t pass. We’re so convinced of this that we’re willing to stake our continued existence on it.

If the economy goes into a deep slump because they didn’t pass their bailout plan then charitable contributions will be among the first things cut from family budgets. If we’re wrong then we’ll be among the many institutions to fail. But we don’t believe we’re wrong. And we don’t believe we’ll fail.

In 2003 dire warnings about “weapons of mass destruction” were used to justify an unnecessary war in Iraq. We bucked the tide of public hysteria and dared to claim that there were NO “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq.

We were right, and popular opinion, driven by political fear mongering, was wrong. Now we’re being told that our economy is threatened by “financial weapons of mass destruction,” and we’ll once again buck the hysterical trend by predicting that . . .

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“Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.”

“…this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.”

“The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use ‘the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,’ 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.”

So, then, what is an unruly crowd?  Is it anything at all akin to the peaceful, park-loving protesters and bystanders who were spontaneously surrounded by SWAT Police in full riot gear and arrested on Labor Day in St. Paul, Minnesota?

Folks, this concerns me.  In fact, quite frankly, this makes me want to go run and find a cave.

Let’s look at the big picture:

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