We're living history

History textbook writers are updating the last chapter as we speak, writing about the housing bubble bursting. As you can see by this article, the loss so far has been about $1 trillion. The Yale economist in the article indicates that those losses may triple.

The question is: Will the textbook writers get the root cause correct? It is doubtful, since they get the root cause of the 1929 crash and the ensuing Great Depression wrong. They'll probably blame it on "predatory lending" practices and poor decisions by consumers, which were a factor, but will miss the root cause: unfettered money creation by the Federal Reserve. A dramatic rise in the money supply (artificially created, not a market rise) leads to easy credit. Easy credit leads to malinvestment, since people are intrigued and duped by the easy credit. Once the punch bowl is taken away from this easy credit party (liquidity dries up, since the money printing has to slow down sometime), the contraction begins.

No more doctors in New York

Fox Business ran a story tonight about rising malpractice premiums in New York. Dr. Lisa Eng pays over $200,000 a year, and she's been sued three times (all three cases dismissed and/or not guilty). Dr. Ezriel Kornel pays over $220,000 a year, and receives at least a dozen job offers from other states each week. He stated that every doctor in New York, on average, is sued twice every five years.

The bottom line? Doctors are leaving the litigious state, many are working part time, and others are leaving the profession. Many others will also leave, since the State of New York is seriously considering a $50,000 surcharge on every doctor in the state. Madness. Root cause? Government controls 80 cents of every health care dollar, highly-paid insurance lobbyists with government officials in their pockets, and judges and juries paying out big bucks to people to get those bad, mean doctors who drive Mercedes.

Socialized medicine in Japan

Governments get involved in health care because they care about people (so they say). Bureaucrats always say that a single-payer government system will take care of the sick and elderly, and get those people who need health care the most to the proper care so they can live their lives with dignity. Oh really, then why did 30 Japanese hospitals turn down an 89 year old woman? Read the article here.

Socialized medicine from the Democrats, war and empire from the neocons (Republicans). We only have one logical choice: Ron Paul.

A Joan Olsen bailout?

Seventy three year old Joan Olsen, as you can read in this article, admits she signed a stack of papers she didn't understand. Her payments were $788 a month and are now $847 a month. However, the payment could balloon to over $2,000 a month. Who's fault? She admits it hers (bravo to her), but the broker filled in her income as higher on the application. The district attorney should simply go after the broker, and Joan needs to find a new place to live.

Unfortunately, the government has, and will continue to, dream up bailout plans for people like Ms. Olsen. Why should you and I be forced to pay for someone else's mistakes? And it's not just Ms. Olsen, it's millions more.

Ron Paul is John Doe

In the great 1941 film, Meet John Doe, Gary Cooper is smeared by the rich and powerful elites. Barbara Stanwyck tries to save him, but I won't spoil the ending for you, which now gets me a little choked up. But there's a great scene where John Doe (Gary Cooper) is about to address the audience and the power mongers have the power cut so the microphones go dead. Is the same happening to Ron Paul? Now AOL is trying to smear him regarding some innocent remarks he made regarding Abraham Lincoln, the statist who did not avoid war at all costs, like he should have, and 622,000 soldiers lost their lives. Rent the movie, and let me know if you think Ron Paul is the modern-day John Doe. Here's a short clip before the great scene at the stadium where he's silenced.

Have we arrived at the endgame?

Monetary policy is pretty fascinating, and from what I've been reading all year, we need to revamp it here in the U.S. Good article from a 2005 edition of The Free Market, published by the Mises Institute. What will happen to the dollar in 2008? What about inflation? I'll make a Christmas/New Year's prediction: inflation hits at least 10%, maybe as high as 14%. I'm hanging on to my gold coins, and only buying 1 month CD's.

Government saves the day!

A 10-year old boy collected toys for homeless children, trying to bring some joy into their lives. But of course, the government had to intervene and save the day! God forbid the mother is allowed to pick out the alleged toys with lead in them. No, the government said. Read the article here.

What's the big deal with lead toys? I played with those my whole life, and nothing happened to me (except for growing that 2nd head, which I cut off long ago).

The boomers are coming! The boomers are coming!

The baby boom generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) has recently started hitting 60. Right now they're hitting 60 at the rate of 10,000 per week. What does that mean for the average 18-year old? Open up your purses and wallets, since the financial shortfall is in the trillions. Another well-thought-out government plan.

Let's bring back freedom of association

In a civilized society, without coercion from the government or anyone else, we all would be free to associate with whomever we want. Unfortunately, that is not the case in America. You see, government legislates morality, just like it says it should - oh no, it's not in here, the Constitution. Oh well, they do it anyway. We're not free to put into our bodies what we want, we aren't allowed (in most of the country) to hire prostitutes, and we're not allowed to refuse entry and/or service to anyone who come to our businesses.

As long as I don't infringe on the life, liberty, and property of another, why shouldn't I be allowed to do what I want? Doesn't anything go, as long as it's peaceful? Here's a great article on freedom of association, which we used to have when America was in better shape.

Good news just in time for Christmas

Don't you just love it when the government wastes your money? They've already wasted billions trying to "rebuild" a country cobbled together by the British after World War I. Now we're wasting billions in another nation-building venture. Read the article here.

That's funny, I don't see foreign wars, nation-building, and intervening in the internal affairs of other nations in my copy of the Constitution. And I don't see anything about being the world's policeman.

Why the war on poverty failed

During this Christmas season, many people help the poor through gifts, hot meals, money, toys, etc. I remembered reading an article on why the government's war on poverty failed, so I searched through my old issues of The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. It's published by the Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org), and it's one of my favorite periodicals. Here's the link to the article, and it's appropriate for those who think the government can end poverty once and for all.

Poor Mr. Gunyon

As you can read in this article, government's at all levels never stop taking. They tax the stuff we buy, our home, our investments, our income - when will it end? The article states how property taxes have doubled in the last seven years. Amazing. As long as we feed the Leviathan with tax dollars, it will continue to grow.

There will be a reckoning, however. By 2030, just a short 22 years, the entire federal budget will be eaten up by Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, and the interest on the deficit. That's it. No money for anything else. I guess we'll still be the "greatest country on earth" then too. I doubt it.

Are they all subprime lepers?

According to some analysts in this article, it seems like banks and other financial institutions are treating each other like subprime lepers. The question is, is it the perfect storm? Real estate and credit bubble popping at the same time, more liquidity (more money printed out of thin air by central banks) not having any effect, and monster firms like Merrill Lynch looking really, really afraid. One analyst in another article from prudentbear.com said that the credit markets are the worst he's seen in 47 years. Are we tipping into the abyss?

Iraq, Afghanistan pass Vietnam in cost

It's amazing how America does not learn lessons. The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. As this article that appeared on antiwar.com indicates, we've now paid $700 billion on Iraq and Afghanistan, more than was spent on Vietnam.

When President Lyndon Johnson poured billions into his "Great Society" and Vietnam at the same time (known as "guns and butter") he broke us. The '70's was a lackluster decade highlighted by stagflation and eventually very high inflation.

Won't we ever learn? 300 million people (4% of the world's population) trying to run the other 6 billion (96%). Who's paying for it? You and me.

Housing bust worst since Great Depression

This article states how bad the bursting of the housing bubble is, and the quote from Jack Malvey at Lehman Brothers sums it all up: “In the end, the story of 2008, 2009 and possibly 2010 will be about the extent and consequences of what promises to be the worst US housing correction since the Great Depression in the 1930s.”

What's so amazing is that the government is trying to fix what they caused while blaming the bubble on "predatory lending." The cause is the massive increase in the money supply since the early 1990's. Excessive money supply by the Federal Reserve leads to easy credit. Easy credit dupes investors into making decisions they would not ordinarily make. The low interest rate and availability is too intriguing and attractive. So easy credit leads to malinvestment. Sure, there are some nefarious types in every industry, but when you're telling that couple they don't qualify for the house and then the Fed drops a pile of money on the table next to you, predictable human behavior kicks in. The mortgage broker or bank lends the money.

The same excessive money supply growth led to the dot.com bubble bursting in 2000. Now more government intervention will lead to messing up the mortgage market even further.

War hawk radio

War hawk radio is afraid of Ron Paul. As much as I despise the collectivism and statism of Hillary and her pals on the left, it's hard to stomach the right and its warmongering.

700 AM radio in Houston is among the worst. Pat Gray and Ed Hendlee are shills for the neocon war party, and they can't stop bashing Ron Paul. They must look at his website and see the $18 million he's collected this quarter and they're aghast. So they bash and smear, bash and smear. When I called in this morning ready to tell the truth and dispute their lies, they let me get a sentence or two in and then hung up on me. They've also declined my offer to come into studio and discuss the war, Dr. Paul, and other issues.

These guys see no connection whatsoever: if you occupy countries, if you intervene in the foreign affairs of other nations, if you nation-build, depose heads of state, and so on, people resent it. Every semester my students from around the globe tell me how much we are disliked. It's a travesty when a great man like Ron Paul, the champion of the Constitution, is attacked because he wants to save American lives and fix our monetary policy.

Health care vs. health insurance?

Almost nothing tugs at the heart strings as quickly as health care for poor little kids. But, as usual, the issue must be examined more closely. Here's an article that appeared on mises.org that begins to sift through the rhetoric.

Don't forget that family, friends, community, church, and charity took care of the needy for centuries. In fact, there was little to no government involvement in medicine for the first 358 years of this country! These institutions can still do the job: we have less than 5% of the world's population, yet we give 85% of the world's charity.

No more meat

Write your rep and two senators in Congress today. A short paragraph will do. Tell them you want government out of the food business. Tell them to abolish the Department of Agriculture.

As you can read in this article, next year the price of food is going to go up substantially, as will gas at the pump. Food's so expensive now one woman in the article said that she and her family had to give up meat. Maybe her or her husband could work part-time at McDonald's so they can bring a few burgers home for the kids - they need protein.

A semi-fascist state

America is a semi-fascist state. According to Webster's Dictionary, fascism is "a system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic enterprise under centralized governmental control, belligerent nationalism, racism, and militarism."

The first part, rigid one-party dictatorship, is not so far off from how the political parties are aligned now. Their common theme: tax and spend, grow the empire. Yesterday, on C-Span, I watched how they passed a 3,565 page, 34 pound budget of over $500 billion. The only difference between the Democrats and Republicans is how much they'll spend. But the bottom line is, they both will spend like drunken sailors. So we have a rigid two-party dictatorship.

Forcible suppression of opposition. Interesting. The police have killed over 200 people the last five years with tasers. Comply or we will taser you. No opposition, or you will be tasered. And any opposition to the forcible removal of your private property (your money) and you will go to prison.

Private enterprise under centralized governmental control. We've got that. The commerce clause has now grown to encapsulate almost any type of economic activity. Try to open a business and see how many permits, licenses, and other government permission you need.

Racism. Maybe not in government per se, but definitely in the private lives of citizens.

Belligerent nationalism and militarism. Need I address this? We have 739 military bases around the world. We depose heads of state, install heads of state, tell some nations they need democracy, others they need capitalism.

So the bottom line is, a few more acts like the Military Commissions Act and the Real ID Act and we'll move from a semi-fascist state to a full-blown fascist state.

Become a saver now

It's time to become a great saver and develop a diversified portfolio. 401k's, IRA's, money market accounts, gold coins, real estate, collectible cars, etc. Forego those assets that depreciate and may be completely worthless. Why?

As you can see by this article, the U.S. government has promised a lot more than it can deliver. The country has a seriously underfunded retirement system, and it's in the red by the trillions. Another great government plan.

According to some actuaries, the average American will, in 2024, be paying 40% of their income to Social Security alone. That's because all 78 million baby boomers will be 60 and over in 16 years. Currently, as I write this, they are turning 60 at the rate of 10,000 per week. So in 16 short years, there will be a ratio of 2:1, or two workers for every retired person. When they enacted this cranky scheme in 1935, the ratio was 42:1. Oops.

If history is any guide, this may lead to war. FDR pushed us into WWII because he couldn't find a way out of the Great Depression. War is a great way, politicians think, to get the citizens' minds off their financial woes. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. But the time to get ready is now, so you can handle any challenge that comes your way.

Interesting reads about Roosevelt, by the way, are The Roosevelt Myth, The New Dealer's War, Roosevelt's Secret War, and FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression.

The People's Republic of California

There's a few high-tax states I could never live in, especially New York, Taxachusetts, and The People's Republic of California. As evidenced by this article, this is what happens when you create a nanny state that tries to do everything for everyone. Tax and spend, tax and spend. This eventually equals to meltdown. California is staring at a $14 billion dollar shortfall! When the revolution eventually comes, expect it to start in Cali.

Disco's not back, but inflation is

A woman wrote a letter to the editor and it appeared in today's Houston Chronicle. She's confused because helicopter Ben Bernanke, Larry Kudlow, and others are telling her everything's fine and that inflation is under control.

But she said she went to the grocery store, and now a 10 lb. bag of potatoes is $3.78, not the $2.48 she was paying. And that small loaf of bread she was paying 58 cents for is now $1.18. Finally, she's upset that Doritos are now $3.17 instead of the $2.50 she was paying.

Come now, dear, the government measures "core" inflation. It takes out food and gas prices. Once they do that, inflation is under control! So don't worry, just vote for another Republicrat who doesn't get it and won't do anything about it. Or vote for Ron Paul, he understands what you're going through and he understands economics.

Duffy's dialed in

My good friend of 19 years and principal at Bearing Asset Management, Kevin Duffy, writes this great article about the rah-rah guys who want the credit creation party to never end. Guys like Kevin and Peter Schiff get it while punch bowl crowders like Larry Kudlow do not.

The bottom line is: are you prepared? Are you doing research to find out how to protect yourself? Remember, a month before the stock market collapse in 1929 government officials and big-wig financial types were saying everything looked rosy for the forseeable future. They were wrong - really wrong. From 1998 through 2000, I urged my co-workers at a large investment firm I worked for (we had over $200 billion under management at the time) to find out what moves to make to protect themselves. They gave me that pat herd-mentality answer: "it's different this time." Whenever I hear that, I turn and walk away as quickly as I can.

Get dialed in like Kevin Duffy and make the proper financial moves. That nasty '70's term - stagflation - is coming back with a vengeance.

Sir, No Sir!

Check out this amazing article that appeared on antiwar.com today. Not one of our "men" in Washington have to go through this. Thousands and thousands of young men being scarred for life. For what? Reminds me of that great documentary about Vietnam, Sir, No Sir!, that depicted how much the soldiers were against that immoral war. Time to do some soul-searching, empire lovers.

The chickens are coming home to roost

There are a few sayings that have been around awhile, and the longer they're around, the more important they become. You know, like "you reap what you sow." Or, "there will be a reckoning." And don't forget: "you made your bed, now lie in it." Lastly, though, my all time favorite is the following, which means the same as the others above: "the chickens are coming home to roost."

Where am I going with these antiquated sayings? Federal Reserve policy, of course. When the Fed and other central banks around the world simply print money out of thin air, eventually the chickens come home to roost. This means you can't repeal the fundamental laws of economics and not expect bad things to happen. What is happening? A worldwide credit implosion. See the headlines the other day about the giant Swiss bank UBS? They're writing down another $10 billion in losses! That's on top of the billions they've already lost. And check this article out. The Arab world, the one the U.S. government is making out to be the most evil people on the planet, is now buying stakes in major banks around the world, including U.S. banks. Makes you feel safe, doesn't it?

This article is also quite alarming. The Federal National Mortgage Association, nicknamed Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association, nicknamed Freddie Mac, are hurting big time. The bottom line is that U.S. government monetary policy, which also caused the stock market crashes in 1929 and 2000, is at it again and the chickens are coming home to roost.

Time to purchase the two most important books of your life: The Case Against the Fed and What Has Government Done to Our Money? Both books are by Murray Rothbard and they're available at mises.org. Then you'll know what's going on and you'll see through the liars at the Fed.

Immoral empire lets down vets

All empires are immoral and show little respect for human life. In this article, we read how the army discharges brain injured vets without truly helping them and ensuring all their benefits are in place. Thousands of injured vets will be walking the streets of America, and many are already becoming homeless. Thanks, W.

I want the peaceful republic back. The republic of Jefferson, Washington, Franklin and friends. I reject what we've got now and the men responsible for it: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and friends. This set of thugs doesn't have one one thousandth the moral fiber and character of the Founding Fathers.

Empire Tax or just plain tax?

Two professors, one from Harvard and one from Columbia University, have calculated the total cost of Afghanistan and Iraq thus far: $2 trillion. Hmm, where does that money come from? Oh yeah, taxes. So, what's my choice next November if Ron Paul doesn't get the Republican nomination? The empire tax, $2 trillion and growing, or the increase in taxes from the Democrats' socialized medicine scheme. Seems like we lose either way.

I noticed all those smiling faces this weekend when the big "O," Oprah Winfrey, was campaigning for the other big "O," Barack Obama. They cheered when Oprah talked about a real change in America. Amazing, a talk show host duped her whole life! Who would believe it? The question is: How many of those faces will be smiling in 20 years? Either 20 years of socialized medicine, which will produce shortages, long lines, higher taxes, lower quality, and rationing, or a larger empire with more boogeymen and hobgoblins to fight. It's over. It's gone. As Karen Kwiatowski (see her label below) said: The republic is dead. Stone cold dead.

Don't forget my neocon friends: there is a war tax.

Severe problems

The mortgage mess and the credit liquidity mess (mother of all bubbles) will be causing some severe pain in 2008 and 2009, and probably even after that. Thanks to lewrockwell.com for linking to Mr. Greenberg's blog where he has a mortgage expert, Mark Hanson, discuss the subprime and prime mortgage meltdown. Read the informative article and then go out and get a lockbox to hoard some gold, euros, yen, and maybe a few American dollars.

Democrats cave in again

Democrats said they would end the war and bring the troops home. They lied. As you can see in this article, they have caved in once again and provided more money for the war. They also want a subprime mortgage bailout, using your money and my money. There's no difference between the liberals and neocons. They're all clueless, and they all want to spend our money and run our lives. God help us if Ron Paul doesn't win.

Clueless government at it again

Just imagine the uproar in Washington, D.C. if a private company lost so much of our money or private property. Yet when the government does it, what are we going to do? Lawsuit? I think not. Just another amazing waste of taxpayer dollars. Read the short article here.

Congress begins assault on the internet

Congress has just started its assault on the internet. Twenty years from now, you probably won't recognize the world wide web because it will be so regulated and restricted.

In the name of protecting children, this act, rushed through the House of Representatives the other day, places many businesses in jeopardy if they don't comply. Read the article here.

The other act, supposedly in the name of discovering "home grown" terrorism, also assaults our use of the internet to communicate. Read Ron Paul's article here.

Time to write your two state senators to ask them to oppose the first act mentioned above. If our freedom on the net is severely restricted, we're cooked. I'd hate to be able to access only government websites, wouldn't you?

Policeman, interloper, intervener, invader, occupier

Your son or daughter, or maybe your nieces and nephews, are having a blast right now. They know nothing of war or terrorism - their lives are amazingly innocent.

What a rude awakening awaits them. They will inherit the American empire that has a presence in 130 out of the 170 countries on the planet. By 2030, just 22 years from now, the entire federal budget will be eaten up by health care, social security, and defense. Oh yes, carve out some for the interest on the deficit. That's it. No money for roads, bridges, schools, NASA, the environment, food stamps, and so on. No money for the thousands upon thousands of programs that exist today.

The first step is to shut down the empire. As you can see in this article by Jacob Hornberger, president of the Future of Freedom Foundation, the U.S. is the world's policeman, interloper, intervener, invader, and occupier. If any other nation did what we did, we wouldn't let them rest until we shut them down. Let's not search the world for monsters to destroy. No military force can reach us, it's impossible. Let's just allow Americans to trade with the world. Nothing promotes friendliness among nations as much as free trade.

Don't search for an excuse 20 years from now when your son or daughter asks why everything is in such bad shape. Let them know you understand and have been fighting for freedom all these years.

Ron Paul supporters head to New Hampshire

As you can read in this Yahoo article, Ron Paul supporters are coming from all over the country and heading to the cold of New Hampshire to campaign for the champion of the Constitution. The only anti-war, true free market lover of freedom, Paul will do well in New Hampshire. If not, the people there better change their license plate.

Government can't get refrigeration right

The government is inefficient in many ways, and also very wasteful. It's not their money they're wasting, so what's the big deal (to them)? In this amazing article, they can't even refrigerate vaccines correctly. Don't bother with the vaccines anyway. Your research will lead you to the fact that we're trading relatively mild childhood diseases for autoimmune diseases (like multitple sclerosis) later in life.

Huckabee no conservative

Here's what looks like a great website that exposes Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. But somehow, CNN said he was ahead right now in the polls in Iowa. Either they're not paying attention, or they've just accepted his rhetoric about being a small government, no tax kind of guy.

Social Security a massive ripoff

Charlotte Twight's book, Dependent on D.C.: The Rise of Federal Control Over The Lives of Ordinary Americans, is important because it opens the eyes of readers. For instance, she writes about economist Martin Feldstein's calclulations on Social Security, which we all suspect won't allow any of us to retire with dignity. According to his calculations, "through private investment a worker could obtain the return historically achieved under Social Security for only 21% of the tax price he pays under the current system, 'allowing the 12-percent Social Security tax rate to be replaced by a 2.5% contribution.' In his judgment, 'the remaining 9.5% excess mandatory contribution is a real tax for which the individual gets nothing in return.'"

Ever wonder what the government does with the rest of the money in the fund? Oh, that's right, there is no fund. Any excess would go to: empire?

Politicians and pundits alike

The garbage spewing forth from politicians and political pundits never ceases to amaze me. They all live in a dream world, and they love to lie. Not little lies, but the BIG lies. Dennis Kucinich, the little Democrat who wants to be president, said yesterday that he will make America "carbon free and nuclear free." Wow. What will we use for fuel, Dennis? Since we'll be carbon free, Dennis, there's no more cars or factories, right? Well crafted.

Hillary was also bloviating, saying: "I will let them stay in business." She was referring to the health insurance companies. How nice of her, or any politician, to LET a company stay in business. She also said she would "make Medicare more efficient." How so? It's been around for 42 years, and it keeps getting more inefficient. She's got some magic wand to wave at it, I guess.

Ann Coulter, the cowardly neocon author and pundit, said: "I just want to disarm them and demoralize them." She was referring to our enemies in the Middle East. Wait, wait, no, no I don't see it here in the Constitution. Sorry Ann, can't do it. No mention of empire in the Constitution. No mention of disarming or demoralizing other nations.

And of course, we can't leave out Bill O'Reilly, also a cowardly neocon war hawk who wants the U.S. to run the globe and have you and me pay for it. He told a guest who disagreed with him that what the man said "doesn't diminish the threat that all of us face." What threat Bill? Some army, navy, or air force reaching American shores? Impossible. Can't happen. Respond below and tell me what nation can reach us. Sorry, try again.

My advice: read the sane people at lewrockwell.com and antiwar.com. Forget the mainstream politicians and pundits. They love fear, and they want to rule us.