Archives January 2008

Summary:
Money is the lifeblood of any economy, and control over a nation’s currency means control over its economic well being. Fed bankers quite literally determine the value of our money, by controlling the supply of dollars and establishing interest rates. Their actions can make you richer or poorer overnight, in terms of the value of your savings and the buying power of your paycheck. So I urge all Americans to educate themselves about monetary policy, and better understand how a small group of unelected individuals at the Federal Reserve and Treasury department wield tremendous power over our lives.
by Ron Paul, Dr. February 19, 2007
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies twice every year before the congressional Financial Services committee, and I look forward to these opportunities to raise questions about monetary policy. I believe monetary policy is critically important yet overlooked in Washington. Money is the lifeblood of any economy, and control over a nation’s currency means control over its economic well being. Fed bankers quite literally determine the value of our money, by controlling the supply of dollars and establishing interest rates. Their actions can make you richer or poorer overnight, in terms of the value of your savings and the buying power of your paycheck. So I urge all Americans to educate themselves about monetary policy, and better understand how a small group of unelected individuals at the Federal Reserve and Treasury department wield tremendous power over our lives.
The following are some excerpted comments from my opening remarks at the hearing with Mr. Bernanke:
Transparency in monetary policy is a goal we should all support. I’ve often wondered why Congress so willingly has given up its prerogative over monetary policy. Astonishingly, Congress in essence has ceded total control over the value of our money to a secretive central bank.
Congress, although not by law, essentially has given up all its oversight responsibility over the Federal Reserve. There are no true audits, and Congress knows nothing of the conversations, plans, and actions taken in concert with other central banks. We get less and less information regarding the money supply each year, especially now that M3 is no longer reported.
The role the Fed plays in the President’s secretive Working Group on Financial Markets goes unnoticed by members of Congress. The Federal Reserve shows no willingness to inform Congress voluntarily about how often the Working Group meets, what actions it takes that affect the financial markets, or why it takes those actions.
But these actions, directed by the Federal Reserve, alter the purchasing power of our money. And that purchasing power is always reduced. The dollar today is worth only four cents compared to the dollar in 1913, when the Federal Reserve started. This has profound consequences for our economy and our political stability. All paper currencies are vulnerable to collapse, and history is replete with examples of great suffering caused by such collapses, especially to a nation’s poor and middle class. This leads to political turmoil.
Government officials consistently claim that inflation is in check at barely 2%, but middle class Americans know that their purchasing power–especially when it comes to housing, energy, medical care, and school tuition– is shrinking much faster than 2% each year.
We look at GDP numbers to reassure ourselves that all is well, yet a growing number of Americans still do not enjoy the higher standard of living that monetary inflation brings to the privileged few. Those few have access to the newly created money first, before its value is diluted.
For example: Before the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, CEO income was about 30 times the average worker’s pay. Today, it’s closer to 500 times. It’s hard to explain this simply by market forces and increases in productivity. One Wall Street firm last year gave out bonuses totaling $16.5 billion. There’s little evidence that this represents free market capitalism.
In 2006 dollars, the minimum wage was $9.50 before the 1971 breakdown of Bretton Woods. Today that dollar is worth $5.15. Congress congratulates itself for raising the minimum wage by mandate, but in reality it has lowered the minimum wage by allowing the Fed to devalue the dollar. We must consider how the growing inequalities created by our monetary system will lead to social discord.
How can a policy of steadily debasing our currency be defended morally, knowing what harm it causes to those who still believe in saving money and assuming responsibility for themselves in their retirement years? Is it any wonder we are a nation of debtors rather than savers?
We need more transparency in how the Federal Reserve carries out monetary policy, and we need it soon.

Dear Ron Paul, Supporters and Friends,
As you know, defending the Constitution and standing up for what is right has been a very difficult project for anyone trying to do this in the past 100 years or so. This is one reason I am so grateful to Dr. Paul and his consistent and fearless support for the Constitution, honest money and the American way of life.
In 1982 my parents and I joined the “Constitutional Patriots”, a group in Sacramento that wanted to follow the Constitution and restore our country to honest money. Two years later the government attacked the leaders and active members and drove the “Patriots” out of business or underground and into submission.
Since then the government stole all my parent’s (our) property, my dad’s retirement pension, thereby leaving us with nothing, and in a position to challenge and expose the global elite and their “new world oder”, albeit without any “money”.
Ten years ago I picked Power Politics for the web-page name, because of the legal definition of politics. Politics means the proper administration of the law. Simple definition with some complex understandings behind it. In 2000, we opened up the Equity Center with the mission statement of “educating, reporting, and promoting due process.” For the past 7 years, we have been showing people how the constitution works, how to work it, and how the executive powers, lawyers, judges, and cops, all twist the legal words to take advantage of those uneducated in… “power politics”, or how to use the system to your advantage.
When my son came into the office with his friend saying that they wanted to promote “honest money”, honestly, I was blown away. Are you saying that you are for Constitutional money? Seriously? I thought that I was one of a very few people who actually knew what honest money was…. and that’s been for about the last 25 years. Now these guys come in talking honest money and the Constitution like it’s a no brainer. What?
“You heard of Ron Paul?” My son asks. Yes, as a matter of fact, back in the early 90’s some of the members of the Constitutional Patriots, who wrote the book “Pied Pipers of Babylon”, had a letter writing series back and forth with Dr. Paul. “Well he’s running for president and he’s got all kinds of grass roots support!”, they told me with enthusiasm.
Since that day, I have felt vindicated for all the Constitutional arguments and calls for honest money. As Dr. Paul’s message becomes more main stream, more people will be interested in learning about the Constitution and how it works… and how to work it!
What makes me very excited, and my heart soar like an eagle, is that I understand what Dr. Paul means when he says those words. The Constitution means the supreme law of the land! Honest money means an economic relationship that is fair, just and based upon standards that do not fluctuate! This knowledge can set you free!
Zeke Layman
www.powerpolitics.com

Four-pronged approach will strengthen the economy by reforming taxes, cutting spending, improving monetary policy and eliminating burdensome regulations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2008
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA -Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has unveiled a comprehensive economic revitalization package. The four-pronged plan is designed to stem the current economic slide and address the unsound governmental policies that are harming Americans’ pocketbooks.
“Real economic reform must address the underlying reasons for the current economic malaise,” said Ron Paul. “This plan is more than just a band-aid for our economy; it fundamentally reforms four areas where government policies are damaging our national economy. When enacted, my plan will provide both short-term stimulus, and lay the groundwork for long-term prosperity.”
The comprehensive economic revitalization plan is available online at: http://www.RonPaul2008.com/Prosperity.
The four areas that the plan covers are:
1. Tax Reform: Reduce the tax burden and eliminate taxes that punish investment and savings, including job-killing corporate taxes.
2. Spending Reform: Eliminate wasteful spending. Reduce overseas commitments. Freeze all non-defense, non-entitlement spending at current levels.
3. Monetary Policy Reform: Expand openness with the Federal Reserve and require the Fed to televise its meetings. Return value to our money.
4. Regulatory Reform: Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley regulations that push companies to seek capital outside of US markets. Stop restricting community banks from fostering local economic growth.
Congressman Paul has written or co-sponsored numerous bills to enact the policies in his plan. In Congress, he has been a champion of lower taxes and limited government.
Congressman Paul is the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology. In Congress, Dr. Paul has never voted for a tax increase or for an unbalanced budget.

“The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented.” -Major L.B.Angus
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” -President Thomas Jefferson
“The youth who can solve the money question will do more for the world than all the professional soldiers of history.”- Henry Ford Sr.
“All the perplexities, confusion and distress (Ed. note – crime, poverty, substance abuse, family disintegration, government immorality and dishonesty, etc.) in America arise, not from defects in the Constitution or confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.” This is because nearly every part of our lives revolves around money in some way. If we clear up the money problem, all sorts of seemingly unrelated problems will simply vanish! -President John Adams
“Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.” -John Quincy Adams
“None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe that they are free” -Johann von Goethe
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.” -Voltaire
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” -Thomas Jefferson
“Give me control over a nation’s currency and I care not who make its laws.” -Baron M.A. Rothschild (1744-1812)
“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” – Benjamin Franklin

What a shot in the arm the Nevada caucuses were, where we took the silver as #2, beating McCain, Huckabee, Thompson, and — of course — Giuliani. We also got four more delegates. In South Carolina, we beat Rudy again. A big thank you to all our wonderful donors, volunteers, and voters. So many people worked so hard to spread our message of liberty, honest money, peace, and free-market prosperity. I owe you all my deepest gratitude. So do our fellow citizens. So do all future Americans. Most of the mainstream media continue to pretend that we do not exist. Yet soon the race will be down to four candidates-Romney, McCain, Huckabee, and me, and there is no stopping us, as Tim Russert grudgingly pointed out the other night. Thanks to you, we are in this all the way through a brokered convention.
Nevada, by the way, is known as the Silver State for a reason-its great mining industry produced the precious metal for the beautiful silver dollars minted at the fabled Carson City mint. These constitutional coins, include .775 ounces of silver, in accord with the Coinage Act of 1792. Today these coins, worth $1 in my father’s day, have about $14 in silver. That is, the dollar is worth 1/14th of what it was, thanks to the counterfeiting Federal Reserve.
The Fed has again taken our country into a terrible crisis. Who else is talking about honest money that cannot be printed up at will by DC bureaucrats? My opponents in both parties are all some variety of print-and-spend Keynesians. Only we are telling the truth, about who is to blame for this recession, and how we can build real prosperity with sound money, no IRS, no deficit, and strict obedience to the Constitution. And, of course, no hyper-expensive, hyper-dangerous empire all around the globe.
When I met with some great ladies in Charleston, all of whom wore beautiful hats, I talked about the young people flocking to our banner. “Don’t forget the young at heart,” said one. Darn right! A youthful outlook, work ethic, and optimism characterizes all of us. Frederic Bastiat predicted many years ago that liberty would be saved by the young. He might have added the young at heart as well, and how right he was!
I continue to be astounded not only by all our revolutionaries, but by our fellow travelers. Democrats and even the workers for my Republican opponents come up to me to talk about our ideas. They are fascinated, and want to learn more. Reaching so many people doesn’t necessarily mean a victory in the next primary, but it counts for the real changes we want in our country, now and for our children and grandchildren.
Of course, I am mainly paying attention to the next primary! We are working hard in Florida, in Louisiana for the caucuses, and then for Super Tuesday in more than 20 states. Meanwhile, the whole world is watching how we do today in fundraising, on a day dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King, the great champion of non-violence at home, peace abroad, and civil disobedience against tyrannical government.
Please make your most generous donation at
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/. We can’t let this movement be stopped, nor slowed. I promise you that I will continue to pour all my heart and mind and strength into the battle. I know you will too. Let’s work together for all we love, and all we hope for: freedom! Surely, it is worth all our efforts.
Sincerely,
Ron

If you haven’t already heard, the 21st of this month is the next big fundraising day www.FreeAtLast2008.com and march www.RonPaulMarch.com scheduled for Ron Paul in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King.
On January 10th Ron Paul was on CNN’s “Wolf Blitzer” responding to the allegations of him being a “racist” that just happen to come out right before the New Hampshire primary… Here’s the video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=u39z38xjraw
As you can see, Ron Paul is not only fully aware of this next event on Martin Luther King Day, he is counting on us! Help us break all records!
Please forward far and wide! History is being written.
In Liberty,
Caleb Bailey
www.RonPaulSupport.com

Dear Friends,
I want to invite each of you to go to [www.powerpolitics.tv](http://www.powerpolitics.tv/) by pushing the “live” button in the top right corner of the site.
This should take you to my streaming video which will show me in the office, or not, and enable you to chat or call me on skype and enter into the “show”. You can remain anonymous if you choose. Sign up at www.ustream.tv to ask questions and actively participate in the discussion.
The Ron Paul Revolution is well on it’s way. I would like to encourage each one of you, especially those who “want to have nothing to do with politics”, to google Ron Paul and find out just how big the fires of freedom and liberty are becoming around the world. As one of the movies from the 70’s or 80’s said, “the revolution will not be televised”. They didn’t say, “but it will be ALL OVER the internet”, because there was no internet at the time.
The way things are shaping up for 2008 shows that this will be a banner year that will have major implications for all of us and a year of unprecedented activity for Power Politics.
http://www.powerpolitics.tv

Petition:
We, the undersigned, call on Congressman Ron Paul and Junior Senator Barack Obama,
in the interests of fair play and truth at the ballot boxes, to request a hand
recount of ALL votes cast in the 2008 New Hampshire Primary.
Click the link below to sign the Petition.
http://www.gopetition.com/online/16251/sign.html