Only Ron Paul's Budget Plan Can Save the Economy | Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

Who says this? Reports ABC News: 

"Talk show host and conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that genuine, big spending cuts are the only things that are going to bring the U.S. economy back into balance. 'But nobody on our side's ever really seriously proposed it, and Ron Paul's going to,' said Limbaugh. 

"Who disagrees with Rush about Paul's bold $1 trillion in cuts? Reports ABC News: 

"Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and Paul's 2012 Republican rival, labeled the plan 'a non-starter. 

"Who else disagrees with Limbaugh and Paul? Reports ABC News: 

"Herman Cain, the latest Republican presidential candidate to see a surge in the polls, hinted that Paul's drastic approach to budget cutting won't work. 'If you listen to his positions on a lot of things, it's always, 'Let's throw out the baby with the bathwater,' Cain told CNN." 

Again, only big and significant cuts are going to turn this economy around. Limbaugh gets it. Gingrich and Cain not only don't get it, they won't even try.Neither will any of the other candidates. 

In the ongoing discussion about Republicans voters' choice for president this election, the media continues to gab about the supposed pros and definite cons of Cain's 9-9-9, Mitt Romney's plan to make big government more Republican, Rick Perry's new budget that changes little to nothing, and Gingrich's continuing lack of any plan yet constant recommendations that we check out his website. 

As Limbaugh has noted, even if unintentionally—real conservatives do not have multiple choices in this election.There's Ron Paul, and then there's the economically bankrupt status quo. Period.

Mitt Romney impresses House GOP at meeting - Jonathan Allen - POLITICO.com

Several dozen House Republicans grilled Mitt Romney on social issues during his visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday, including his position on abortion and gay marriage, according to attendees. 

But the former Massachusetts governor generally earned rave reviews from a set of lawmakers who have yet to make an endorsement in the GOP presidential primary. Romney sought to make a distinction between his experience as an executive in the private sector and his rivals' backgrounds. 

"He hit it out of the ballpark," said Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), who had expressed concern Tuesday about Romney's ability to counter attacks from President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. "He gave a stellar performance."

Romney may impress the Republicans in Congress, but we here at LA4Liberty are unimpressed with both of them...

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BANK OF AMERICA’S DEATH RATTLE « The Burning Platform

Bob Ivry, Hugh Son and Christine Harper have written an article that needs to be read by everyone interested in the financial crisis.  The article (available here) is entitled: BofA Said to Split Regulators Over Moving Merrill Derivatives to Bank Unit.  

The thrust of their story is that Bank of America's holding company, BAC, has directed the transfer of a large number of troubled financial derivatives from its Merrill Lynch subsidiary to the federally insured bank Bank of America (BofA).  The story reports that the Federal Reserve supported the transfer and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) opposed it.  Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism has written an appropriately blistering attack on this outrageous action, which puts the public at substantially increased risk of loss.  

During this crisis, Ken Lewis went on a buying spree designed to allow him to brag that his was not simply bigger, but the biggest.  Bank of America's holding company – BAC – became the acquirer of last resort.  Lewis began his war on BAC's shareholders by ordering an artillery salvo on BAC's own position.  What better way was there to destroy shareholder value than purchasing the most notorious lender in the world – Countrywide.  Countrywide was in the midst of a death spiral.  The FDIC would soon have been forced to pay an acquirer tens of billions of dollars to induce it to take on Countrywide's nearly limitless contingent liabilities and toxic assets. Even an FDIC-assisted acquisition would have been a grave mistake.  Acquiring thousands of Countrywide employees whose primary mission was to make fraudulent and toxic loans was an inelegant form of financial suicide.  It also revealed the negligible value Lewis placed on ethics and reputation.        

But Lewis did not wait to acquire Countrywide with FDIC assistance.  He feared that a rival would acquire it first and win the CEO bragging contest about who had the biggest, baddest bank.  His acquisition of Countrywide destroyed hundreds of billions of dollars of shareholder value and led to massive foreclosure fraud by what were now B of A employees. 

Given this context, only the Fed, and BAC, could favor the derivatives deal  

Lewis and his successor, Brian Moynihan, have destroyed nearly one-half trillion dollars in BAC shareholder value.  (See my prior post on the "Divine Right of Bank Profits…")  BAC continues to deteriorate and the credit rating agencies have been downgrading it because of its bad assets, particularly its derivatives.  BAC's answer is to "transfer" the bad derivatives to the insured bank – transforming (ala Ireland) a private debt into a public debt.  Banking regulators have known for well over a century about the acute dangers of conflicts of interest.  Two related conflicts have generated special rules designed to protect the bank and the insurance fund.  One restricts transactions with senior insiders and the other restricts transactions with affiliates.  The scam is always the same when it comes to abusive deals with affiliates – they transfer bad (or overpriced) assets or liabilities to the insured institution.  

As S&L regulators, we recurrently faced this problem.  For example, Ford Motor Company attempted to structure an affiliate transaction that was harmful to the insured S&L (First Nationwide).  The bank, because of federal deposit insurance, typically has a higher credit rating than its affiliate corporations. BAC's request to transfer the problem derivatives to B of A was a no brainer – unfortunately, it was apparently addressed to officials at the Fed who meet that description.  Any competent regulator would have said: "No, Hell NO!"  Indeed, any competent regulator would have developed two related, acute concerns immediately upon receiving the request.  

First, the holding company's controlling managers are a severe problem because they are seeking to exploit the insured institution.  Second, the senior managers of B of A acceded to the transfer, apparently without protest, even though the transfer poses a severe threat to B of A's survival.  Their failure to act to prevent the transfer contravenes both their fiduciary duties of loyalty and care and should lead to their resignations. Now here's the really bad news.  First, this transfer is a superb "natural experiment" that tests one of the most important questions central to the health of our financial system.  Does the Fed represent and vigorously protect the interests of the people or the systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs) – the largest 20 banks?  We have run a real world test.  The sad fact is that very few Americans will be surprised that the Fed represented the interests of the SDIs even though they were directly contrary to the interests of the nation.  The Fed's constant demands for (and celebration of) "independence" from democratic government, combined with slavish dependence on and service to the CEOs of the SDIs has gone beyond scandal to the point of farce.  I suggest organized "laugh ins" whenever Fed spokespersons prate about their "independence." 

Second, I would bet large amounts of money that I do not have that neither B of A's CEO nor the Fed even thought about whether the transfer was consistent with the CEO's fiduciary duties to B of A (v. BAC).   

Third, reread the Bloomberg column and wrap your mind around the size of Merrill Lynch's derivatives positions.  Next, consider that Merrill is only one, shrinking player in derivatives.  

Finally, reread Yves' column in Naked Capitalism where she explains (correctly) that many derivatives cannot be used safely.  Add to that my point about how they can be used to create a "sure thing" of record fictional profits, record compensation, and catastrophic losses.  This is particularly true about credit default swaps (CDS) because of the grotesque accounting treatment that typically involves no allowances for future losses. (FASB:  you must fix this urgently or you will allow a "perfect crime.").  It is insane that we did not pass a one sentence law repealing the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000.  Between the SDIs, the massive, sometimes inherently unsafe and largely opaque financial derivatives, the appointment, retention, and promotion of failed anti-regulators, and the continuing ability of elite control frauds to loot with impunity we are inviting recurrent, intensifying crises.  I'll close with a suggestion and request to reporters.  Please find out who within the Fed approved this deal and the exact composition of the assets and liabilities that were transferred.

Ohio GOP Straw Poll Gives Ron Paul A Majority

Republicans who participated in a straw poll conducted in Columbus Saturday gave a majority of support to Ron Paul, known for libertarian party leanings. The event requires participants to pay $25 to participate giving Ohio Republicans a chance to have their voices heard in the early stage of the presidential primary nominating process.
Those who attended got to hear messages from all campaigns and then voted for their preference.
The results from the 428 participants are as follows:
Ron Paul 53.50%
Herman Cain 25.47%
Mitt Romney 8.88%
Newt Gingrich 5.37%
Rick Perry 2.80%
Jon Huntsman 2.10%
Rick Santorum .93%
Michele Bachmann .47%
Write-In .47%
Franklin County Republican Executive Committee Chair Doug Preisse said "It looks as though the presidential race will be all about Ohio, probably Central Ohio in particular."

Quote of the Day - Monday, October 24th, 2011

"It is not true that the legislator has an absolute power over our persons and our property, since they pre-exist him, and his task is to surround them with guarantees.  It is not true that the function of the law is to regulate our consciences, our ideas, our wills, our education, our opinions, our work, our trade, our talents, our recreation.  Its function is to prevent the rights of one person from interfering with rights of another in any of these matters."

— Frederick Bastiat

Reid signals government jobs must take priority over private-sector jobs - The Hill's Floor Action

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday indicated Congress needs to worry about government jobs more than private-sector jobs, and that this is why Senate Democrats are pushing a bill aimed at shoring up teachers and first-responders. 

"It's very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine; it's the public-sector jobs where we've lost huge numbers, and that's what this legislation is all about," Reid said on the Senate floor.

Beltway Earnings Make U.S. Capital Richer Than Silicon Valley - Bloomberg

Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation's greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show. 

The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, with the typical household in the Washington metro area earning $84,523 last year. The national median income for 2010 was $50,046. 

The figures demonstrate how the nation's political and financial classes are prospering as the economy struggles with unemployment above 9 percent and thousands of Americans protest in the streets against income disparity, said Kevin Zeese, director of Prosperity Agenda, a Baltimore-based advocacy group trying to narrow the divide between rich and poor. 

"There's a gap that's isolating Washington from the reality of the rest of the country," Zeese said. "They just get more and more out of touch."

Who's Who in the World of Super PACs? - OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets

Three years ago during the 2008 presidential election, if a political committee wanted to run advertisements telling viewers which candidate to vote for, they would have to collect hundreds of donations of $5,000 or less. Today, a political committee has the power to make one phone call and get an unlimited amount of money from a corporation, union or individual.  

Take for example the $2 million donation made on May 27 by DreamWorks Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Katzenberg to the liberal super PAC Priorities USA Action. Or the $1 million donation made on March 31 by the mysterious corporation F8 LLC in Utah to a Mitt Romney-supporting super PAC called Restore Our Future.  

Such large-dollar donations to independent political committees occurred during the 2010 midterm elections, but with the presidential campaign season in full swing expect this giving to ramp up to a whole new level.Voters will be familiar with the names of many of these news groups by the end of the 2012 election, as they spend millions of dollars on mailings, television and radio advertisements.  

These so-called "super PACs" are political committees that raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals. Unlike traditional PACs, they cannot donate this money directly to candidates. Instead, they may only spend their money on independent expenditures. They may not coordinate with any candidate, and they must disclose their donors. 

Super PACs came into existence in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 ruling inCitizens United v. Federal Election Commission. (You can read more on Citizens United here.) 

BTW, what are "independent expenditures"?

Herman Cain: One More Bankster Front Man : The Hidden 9

Ron Paul Ads

THE PLAN


CONSISTENT


LIFE
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Ron Paul proposes $1T in specific budget cuts - Dan Hirschhorn - POLITICO.com

Ron Paul’s opinions about cutting the budget are well-known, but on Monday, he got specific: The Texas congressman laid out a budget blueprint for deep and far-reaching cuts to federal spending, including the elimination of five Cabinet-level departments and the drawdown of American troops fighting overseas.
There’s even a symbolic readjustment of the president’s salary to put it in line with the average American salary.

Fwd: Ron Paul Campaign Tops Others in Q3 Active-Military Donations

Subject: Ron Paul Campaign Tops Others in Q3 Active-Military Donations

Date: October 18, 2011 8:14:28 PM EDT

Outraises all other Republican candidates combined, outraises Obama

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – The Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign raised more campaign donations from active military than all other presidential candidates—Republican or Democrat—including having raised more funds from this segment than all other GOP competitors combined, and more than incumbent President Barack Obama.
Dr. Paul, an Air Force veteran, raised more than $75,000 from active military in the third quarter.  This comes after Dr. Paul out-raised all GOP candidates – including all GOPers combined, and President Obama singularly – in the second quarter of this year.  Dr. Paul also outraised his GOP competitors in a head-to-head comparison during his 2008 run for the presidency.
This determination was arrived at using an independent campaign analysis of FEC filing data focusing on contributors who listed their occupation and employer when contributing.
"Ron Paul is the only candidate with a plan to end the growing number of unconstitutional undeclared wars, having an unclear connection to U.S. national security, end costly overseas nation-building that pays no friendship dividends, and stop subsidizing global security.  Instead Dr. Paul will bring our troops home, secure our borders and lead the nation in practicing a traditional Republican noninterventionist foreign policy," said Ron Paul 2012 Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton.
"Let me also submit that Dr. Paul out-raising all candidates in military donations demonstrates that his 'Plan to Restore America' might sit well among voters who are active-military or veterans," continued Mr. Benton.
To view the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign's latest veterans-themed ad, click here.  To view its latest foreign policy-themed ad, click here.

###

Read more…

Ron Paul Media Blackout Confirmed - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

After months of observations that the mainstream media was ignoring the libertarian standard-bearer, a new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism shows just that: the Texas Congressman, who has consistently polled in the high single digits -- Real Clear Politics's aggregate poll currently has him at 8 percent -- has received the least overall coverage of any candidate. From May 2 to October 9, Paul appeared as the "primary newsmaker in only 2% of all election stories."

Not a Single Christian Church Left in Afghanistan, Says State Department | CNSnews.com

(CNSNews.com) -- There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.
This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime.
In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country.
The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last month and covers the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, also states that “there were no Christian schools in the country.”

CNN - Opinion: GOP must address Occupy Wall Street

Opinion: GOP must address Occupy Wall Street
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/18/opinion/gergen-gop-debate-occupy-wall-street/index.html?iphoneemail

COMPARING THE CANDIDATES ON TARP

CAIN/PAUL COMPARISON ON THE HOUSING BUBBLE

'Life' Political Ad

al-Awlaki and Richard Jewell | Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

In an op-ed in New York Daily News, Ron Paul writes:

"As President, I would not hesitate to use decisive force to repel any imminent threat. National defense is a primary function of Congress and the commander-in-chief, and, as chief executive, I would carry out my duties as outlined in the Constitution and in accordance with the rule of law. 
President Obama apparently believes he is not bound by the Constitution or the rule of law. When it was reported that Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by U.S. drone strikes in Yemen last week, certainly no one felt remorse for his fate…We have to take the fight against terrorism very seriously. In 2001, I supported the authority to capture and kill the thugs responsible for 9/11. In our efforts we must, however, work hard to preserve and respect our great American constitutional principles.Awlaki was a U.S. citizen. Under our Constitution, American citizens, even those living abroad, must be charged with a crime before being sentenced. As President, I would have arrested Awlaki, brought him to the U.S., tried him and pushed for the stiffest punishment allowed by law. Treason has historically been judged to be the worst of crimes, deserving of the harshest sentencing. But what I would not do as President is what Obama has done and continues to do in spectacular fashion: circumvent the rule of law.

When Ron Paul warns of the dangerous precedent set by allowing the President of the United States to automatically revoke citizens' rights and ignore due process, it is not out of concern for actual terrorists of al-Awlaki's ilk—but presumed "terrorists" like Jewell.
What kind of new powers will American presidents imagine themselves having in the decades to come, using the assassination of al-Awlaki as their legal precedent? If Jewel had been a terror suspect post-9/11, living in Pakistan or Yemen instead of the state of Georgia, would his suspect status still have been handled through our legal system? Or would it have been rendered too complex and impractical to address?
Ron Paul and anyone else who continue to ask these important questions in recent days are not being unreasonable. Far from it.
"After 88 days of intense scrutiny by the FBI and the international media, Richard Jewell was formally cleared by the Justice Department Saturday as a suspect in the July 27 Centennial Olympic Park bombing which killed one woman and injured more than a hundred.While Jewell breathes a sigh of relief and exclaims a hardy I-told-you-so, the circus that surrounded nearly three months of his life should serve as a cautionary tale to those government-information leakers and the overactive media which threw out Jewell's constitutionally guaranteed presumption of innocence in favor of a quick solution to a national problem.

DOWNPLAYING RON PAUL’S VALUES VOTERS VICTORY

An interesting collage of headlines showcasing how the mainstream media is spinning or downplaying Ron Paul’s Values Voters Summit straw poll victory on Saturday.