Key members of Congress were stunned to hear Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson say on Sept. 18 in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that the country was “days away” from a complete financial meltdown—one that could lead to Depression-like runs on banks, widespread violence and ultimately even to a possible declaration of martial law.

It was a vision of Armageddon, but, of course, 10 days later, the House rejected a Wall Street bailout package sent over by Paulson, only to pass one in a more limited form—the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act—a week later that gave Paulson less power and only half the money he wanted. Continue reading →

Ron Paul on MSNBC 01/27/09

“You have to understand how we got into this mess. We got into this mess by spending too much, borrowing too much and inflating too much.

So what is the proposal? Spend more money, borrow more money, print more money…it makes no sense whatsoever.”

The only way fiscal stimulus could “work” is if the flow of real savings (i.e., real funding) is large enough to support (i.e., fund) government activities while still permitting a positive rate of growth in the activities of the private sector. (Note that the overall increase in real economic activity is, in this case, erroneously attributed to the government’s loose fiscal policy.) FULL ARTICLE

This week the House is expected to pass an $825 billion economic stimulus package.  In reality, this bill is just an escalation of a government-created economic mess.   As before, a sense of urgency and impending doom is being used to extract mountains of money from Congress with minimal debate.  So much for change.  This is déjà vu.  We are again being promised that its passage will help employment, help homeowners, help the environment, etc.  These promises are worthless. FULL ARTICLE

Ask yourself: can you consume your way to prosperity? Of course not. So how can a society do so? Greater consumption is the effect not the cause of economic growth, yet this is so contrary to conventional wisdom that you can read newspapers and watch news programs for months without seeing this truth expressed.   FULL ARTICLE

For the past 30 years, an increasingly socialist U.S. Congress has drastically overspent in its errant attempt to ‘help’ everyone. In so doing, it has depleted the wealth of a hugely productive economy by consistently encouraging citizens to consume more than they produce. Today, America’s standard of living is financed largely by depreciation of the U.S. dollar, high taxation and by massive borrowing, from citizens, foreigners and from future generations. FULL ARTICLE