galtgulch

Ginny, I agree with you regarding this discussion. However the discussion strikes me as being so far from what we ought to be concerned about given what is going on in our country today that it is frustrating to me. Of course I am referring to the direction Obama and company are taking us. I remain hopeful that his attempt to expand the power of government into so many areas of our lives will fall short. Not only because his power grab is unconstitutional but because he and those who think like him do not appear to realize just how wrong their ideas are and how awful their implementation would be for all of us. Of course there would be beneficiaries who might benefit in the short run in some respect but I think we all know that our nation would not prosper but would decline economically with widespread suffering in all spheres if the government attempted to involve itself in health care, education, energy and whatever else. Those who pay taxes these days and whose businesses are regulated with mandates and other forms of coercion are todays victims of government enslavement. We are in a fight for our very lives and for our freedom which are in jeopardy and you guys and gals are talking about how the native Americans were treated hundreds of years ago and how previous generations of African American blacks were enslaved in a manner which makes our complaints about being enslaved because we have to pay taxes pale by comparison. www.campaignforliberty.com 191,900 At least these C4L folks are obviously actively recruiting fellow citizens to the cause. They appear to be more focused in this endeavor while the Objectivists are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic with the exception of those who are active in the C4L movement. gulch

Unfortunately I have no idea what my ancestors were doing for a living before they fled the draft in Russia. I know one of my grandfathers did work as a laborer digging the subway in lower Manhattan. I think Indians were able to pay the same as anyone else to ride the subway. My recollection is that it cost just a nickel when I was a child, then a dime and then a fifteen cent token back in the good old days. I believe this country was wall to wall Indian occupied when the first settlers arrived. I believe Ayn Rand said that they were all tribal with no respect for individual rights or titles to property suggesting it was all right to crowd them off the lands they inhabited. It was a shameful exercise and it is a wonder any of them survived to this day. I expect that Bernanke would just print up a few more notes to buy them off. Sometimes it seems we are close to a collapse at least of our currency with concomitant loss of our liberty. Its a good thing that the antidote is known. gulch

Adam, What you say is true but the Young Americans For Liberty is growing and reaching out to more colleges, universities and high schools. YAL is not the same as C4L whose membership is now 191,850 and growing as well as you all know. I have no idea what this little contingent of YAL enthusiasts hoped to accomplish. They were not prepared to be arrested and had not even thought about getting a permit to demonstrate. Meanwhile on a more constructive front, there are now 282 congressional cosponsors of HR1207, closing in on the magic number of 290 which would make it veto proof. I expect they will continue to recruit congressmen to the cause and will far exceed that number. Now have 20 cosponsors in the Senate of S.604 Also impressive that they are closing in on 200,000 members. Play with that number by seeing how long it would take to double and redouble by each reaching a couple more to the cause and we will be in the millions. We have the ideas on our side and all we need now is enough people willing to stand up to the establishment. www.campaignforliberty.com www.YALiberty.org www.atlassociety.org www.fff.org www.fee.org www.aynrand.org gulch

Antidote: http://www.doctorsonstrike.com/index.html If you scroll down you will find a picture of the cover of Anthem and further down a picture of Atlas holding up the world! I don't know how widespread this effort is but perhaps the populace is getting the idea that enslaving the doctors will not help. gulch

In that same issue, on the last page of the Book Review section, is the bookseller's ad of rare books. Listed there is the 1962 book, Who Is Ayn Rand by Nathaniel Branden described in the ad as Ayn Rand's lover. $2500 Actually priceless! Regarding the article about B B &T's Allison it always annoys me when Objectivism is spelled with a lower case "o." That is a give away that the article will be negative. Objectivism stands on its own regardless of whether Ayn Rand paid homage to the likes of Hume and Kant. Notice the parallel to Howard Roark's disregard for the architects of the past in his architect college. Ad hominem attacks prevail in this article. Ayn Rand ranks high in a survey of those who should not be referred to as philosophers! Ludicrous but intended to dissuade the young from seeing for themselves. Compared to this screed the fact that Ron Paul recommends his readers read Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged even with a disclaimer about his disagreements with her shows him to be one who respects Ayn Rand and the independence of thought of his supporters. The NYT's article refers to Ayn Rand "followers" rather than men and women whose judgment is that her ideas are valid and rational. There is no presentation of Ayn Rand's ideas in the article to speak of, just distortions or the results of critics opinions to counterbalance Allison's support. I do hope that the resurgence of interest in Atlas Shrugged does fuel the endeavor to create a miniseries version of the book by Lionsgate. www.campaignforliberty.com 191,710 HR1207 282 Congressional cosponsors (need 290 for veto proof) S.604 20 Senatorial cosponsors gulch

<<<"Peter Orvetti was an early political blogger in the United States, running his Orvetti.com political news report from 1997 through 2002. He is a past editorial writer for the Cato Institute, served as Deputy Director of Communications for the Libertarian Party in the lead-up to the 2000 party convention, and has published commentaries in several major newspapers. What's the Establishment Got to Hide? By Peter Orvetti Published 07/27/09 Printer-friendly version In a puzzling editorial in Friday’s edition, the Washington Post blasted the Federal Reserve Transparency Act as "an unserious answer to a serious question." The Post, which tends to be predictably liberal and quite bland in its editorial pronouncements, used unusually harsh language, calling the bill "wrongheaded in the extreme." The Post fears the legislation "would destroy financial markets' faith in the Fed and, by extension, the value of the U.S. dollar, just as surely as a political ‘audit’ of the Supreme Court's deliberations would undercut public faith in the justice system." That’s rather like saying Postal Service letter carriers should drive around in tanks, because the Army does and they both consist of uniformed government employees. The Fed and the Supreme Court both have big marble buildings in downtown Washington, but that’s about all they have in common. The bill, H.R. 1207 in the House and, under the name the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, S. 604 in the Senate, would simply amend Title 31 of the U.S. Code to remove restrictions on how the Government Accountability Office can audit the Fed. The GAO would be able to examine the Fed’s discount window operations, funding facilities, open market operations, and agreements with foreign banks and governments, and would be required to tell Congress what it discovers by the end of 2010. That’s it. It would not shut down the Fed, or fire the Fed’s Board of Governors, or overrule the Fed’s decisions. The current legislation would just let us know what is going on in that big marble building. Strangely, this is what has the Post all in a dither. While the newspaper has rightly called for transparency and open government on many other matters, it believes the Fed should be exempt. Within the same editorial, the Post says the Fed has recently "expanded its role in the U.S. economy to an unprecedented extent," and that current law provides "no clear mechanism to hold the Fed accountable." The Post’s editorial board seems to see no contradiction in lamenting the lack of accountability while simultaneously trashing a basic attempt to merely gain information about possible misdoings. A dollar today is worth less than one-twentieth what it was worth on the day the Federal Reserve was created 96 years ago. Yet over all that time, the unelected Fed has never had to face the full scrutiny of our elected representatives that other powerful agencies must. Even our intelligence agencies must report to Congress -- but not the Fed, which has helped rack up an $11 trillion national debt, and an additional $13 trillion in dubious loans and bailouts. The Fed will not say where that money is going. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has refused to tell Congress, and why should he? There is no means to compel him, and no way to find out what he’s been doing. The Federal Reserve Transparency Act would change that. As Rep. Ron Paul said in introducing the bill in February, "Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has always operated in the shadows, without sufficient scrutiny or oversight of its operations. While the conventional excuse is that this is intended to reduce the Fed’s susceptibility to political pressures, the reality is that the Fed acts as a foil for the government. Whenever you question the Fed about the strength of the dollar, they will refer you to the Treasury, and vice versa. The Federal Reserve has, on the one hand, many of the privileges of government agencies, while retaining benefits of private organizations, such as being insulated from Freedom of Information Act requests." Thankfully -- and somewhat surprisingly -- a majority of the House is tired of this century-long status quo. The Federal Reserve Transparency Act has 276 cosponsors -- 177 Republicans and 99 Democrats. So far in the Senate, the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, introduced by independent Sen. Bernard Sanders in March, has 17 cosponsors. While 14 are Republicans, including 2008 presidential nominee John McCain, two of the three Democrats, Russell Feingold and Tom Harkin, are along with Sanders among the most liberal members of the upper chamber. The Post seems to think a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. These members of Congress know that a little sunshine is a powerful thing. This legislation is a first step toward reclaiming America’s economic freedom. Copyright © 2009 Peter Orvetti">>> www.campaignforliberty.com 27 Jul 187,903, 187,997, 188,048

<<<" The Fed Under Fire: The Federal Reserve Is The Black Hole In American Democracy (Phenomenal 8-Minute Short Film) The subject is HR 1207 and the Federal Reserve. This is not some conspiracy-laden, doubtful screed. There is not a word of hyperbole. William Greider adds a fresh face and a nice touch to the debate, considering he wrote the original Fed Bible, 'Secrets Of The Temple.' Set aside 8 minutes and then send it to someone else. We have absolutely no shot at victory without greater awareness. Watch. ">>> Sorry I still don't know how to put the video here.

My favorite quote by Theodore Roosevelt: "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." www.campaignforliberty.com 26Jul 187,752, 187,820, 187,856; 27 Jul 187,901; 30 Jul 189,955 HR 1207 Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 Congressional cosponsors 276 Senatorial cosponsors 19 (S.604)

Doctor Garamoni, I have taken the liberty to copy and paste your posts above where they might be seen by activist members of the Campaign For Liberty whose membership is 186,998 at the moment.(187.250) Also posted it on the Daily Paul site where Ron Paul supporters visit. I would encourage you to visit www.DownsizeDC.org and contact them to see if they would add your campaign to their list of Campaigns which facilitate emailing both Congressmen and Senators. www.campaignforliberty.com www.YALiberty.com Thank you for doing this. Wm R. Cohen, M.D. aka galtgulch, gulch

Et al, I hope that Charlize Theron, who is physically well endowed for the Dagny Taggart role, is willing to take on this venture. Does anyone know if she has ever read the book and whether she has any understanding of Objectivism? Of course, knowing me as you all do, you can appreciate that I would naturally think that perhaps the efforts of Ron Paul supporters might be brought to bear, if there is a way for them to do so, to help make this miniseries happen. After all their hero, Ron Paul, has recommended Atlas Shrugged in his best seller, The Revolution: A Manifesto. Question is what to advise the 186,907 of them to do? They have been quite successful in persuading their Congressmen and Senators to cosponsor HR1207 and S604. Does Lionsgate have to start all over again with a new screenwriter? The last one was going to make it a two hour movie. Does anyone here know enough about such things as miniseries to hazard an opinion as to the feasibility of an Atlas Shrugged miniseries? As we all know the book is divided into three major book sections each of which has ten chapters. Thus thirty chapters to squeeze into say twelve segments. Would they break into pleasing episodes? Would the storyline be maintained as well as the suspense and tension? Or twelve one hundred page episodes. One would include Galt's Speech entirely! My wife and I drove up to see the Night of January 16th when it played in downtown Manhattan. We enjoyed it. Afterwards we had an opportunity to speak with and question a couple of people who were on the jury. They made their decision based on the evidence as I recall, saying there was not enough evidence to prove guilt. Rand had suggested that the decision and verdict would be the result of the sense of life of the jurists! Anyway today was a good day for me as I "beat" a speeding ticket despite the fact that I confessed that I had no idea how fast I was going when I was clocked by the State Police on an interstate. 85 in a 65 plus I had left my drivers license in my wife's car. I had the audacity to ask if I could just be fined for the failure to have the license and could be given a warning on the moving violation so I could avoid the surcharge on my insurance which would harm my wife rather than me. Did the trick. I hope we can look forward to an Atlas Shrugged miniseries after all and hope it really happens this time. Its almost tempting to say that they should go ahead with it quickly before the stimulus money finds its way out of bank vaults into circulation and drives all the prices skywards. gulch

<<<"Healthcare Is a Good, Not a Right By Ron Paul Published 07/21/09 Political philosopher Richard Weaver famously and correctly stated that ideas have consequences. Take for example ideas about rights versus goods. Natural law states that people have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A good is something you work for and earn. It might be a need, like food, but more “goods” seem to be becoming “rights” in our culture, and this has troubling consequences. It might seem harmless enough to decide that people have a right to things like education, employment, housing or healthcare. But if we look a little further into the consequences, we can see that the workings of the community and economy are thrown wildly off balance when people accept those ideas. First of all, other people must pay for things like healthcare. Those people have bills to pay and families to support, just as you do. If there is a “right” to healthcare, you must force the providers of those goods, or others, to serve you. Obviously, if healthcare providers were suddenly considered outright slaves to healthcare consumers, our medical schools would quickly empty. As the government continues to convince us that healthcare is a right instead of a good, it also very generously agrees to step in as middle man. Politicians can be very good at making it sound as if healthcare will be free for everybody. Nothing could be further from the truth. The administration doesn’t want you to think too much about how hospitals will be funded, or how you will somehow get something for nothing in the healthcare arena. We are asked to just trust the politicians. Somehow it will all work out. Universal Healthcare never quite works out the way the people are led to believe before implementing it. Citizens in countries with nationalized healthcare never would have accepted this system had they known upfront about the rationing of care and the long lines. As bureaucrats take over medicine, costs go up and quality goes down because doctors spend more and more of their time on paperwork and less time helping patients. As costs skyrocket, as they always do when inefficient bureaucrats take the reins, government will need to confiscate more and more money from an already foundering economy to somehow pay the bills. As we have seen many times, the more money and power that government has, the more power it will abuse. The frightening aspect of all this is that cutting costs, which they will inevitably do, could very well mean denying vital services. And since participation will be mandatory, no legal alternatives will be available. The government will be paying the bills, forcing doctors and hospitals to dance more and more to the government’s tune. Having to subject our health to this bureaucratic insanity and mismanagement is possibly the biggest danger we face. The great irony is that in turning the good of healthcare into a right, your life and liberty are put in jeopardy. Instead of further removing healthcare from the market, we should return to a true free market in healthcare, one that empowers individuals, not bureaucrats, with control of healthcare dollars. My bill HR 1495 the Comprehensive Healthcare Reform Act provides tax credits and medical savings accounts designed to do just that. ">>>

Here is one of the many insightful articles by Prof. Fekete http://www.professorfekete.com/articles.asp <<<" FIAT MONEY IN DEATH THROES Antal E. Fekete San Francisco School of Economics E-mail: aefekete@hotmail.com "Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin. The Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take away that power, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear — as they ought to in order to make this a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let them continue to create deposits.” Sir Joshua Stamp (1880-1941), one time governor of the Bank of England, in his Commencement Address at the University of Texas in 1927. Reportedly he was the second wealthiest individual in Britain. Make no mistake about it: in this credit collapse we are witnessing the death throes of irredeemable currency. In vain have governments and their client banks tried, for hundreds of years, to graft this repulsive and degenerate bastard on the living organism of society. The result was always the same: the healthy organism rejected the unnatural implant in its own good time. The present episode is no different from earlier ones except, perhaps, in the degree of the conceitedness of the perpetrators, and in their contempt for the native intelligence of man. When on August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon defaulted on the gold obligations of the United States and declared the irredeemable dollar the “ultimate” means of payments and liquidator of debt, he was relying on the expert advice of Chicago economist Milton Friedman. Five years later the world’s oldest central bank, the Swedish Riksbank would bestow upon Friedman the prize it established in memory of Alfred Nobel. The reward would be in recognition of the brilliance of Friedman’s idea that if a central bank robs the people piecemeal (read: it dilutes the currency at a fixed rate of, say, 3 percent per annum) then the victims would not cry “we wuz robbed!” They would never notice the robbery. In all previous episodes shame and disgrace were part and parcel of the government’s default on its promises to pay. Not so in 1971. In this latest experiment with irredeemable currency there was a new feature: far from being a disgrace, the default was presented as a scientific breakthrough; conquering “monetary superstition” epitomized by gold; a triumph of progress. Sycophant governments and central banks overseas that were victimized by it and had to swallow unprecedented losses due to the devaluation of the dollar were not even allowed to say “ouch!” They were forced to celebrate their own undoing and hail the advent of the New Age of synthetic credit, irredeemable currencies and irredeemable debts. The regime of the irredeemable dollar was put to the test soon enough. In 1979 the genie escaped from the bottle. The price of oil, silver, and gold were quoted at twenty times that prior to 1971; in the case of sugar the rate of increase was more like forty times. Interest rates were quoted in double digits well past the teens. There was panic across the land and the globe. Hoarding of goods became a way of life. Everybody was expecting the worst. It was at this time that the notion of “targeting inflation” was invented. Previously the claims of central bank power were rather modest. Central banks were supposed to target short- term interest rates. Later they graduated to targeting the money supply. Now they were claiming supernatural powers of micromanaging price increases. It was apparently working, and the genie was put back in the bottle. 2 In the intervening three decades policymakers and mainstream economists became ever more confident that in inflation-targeting they have found the holy grail of irredeemable currency. Professor Frederic Mishkin of Columbia University, a former governor of the Federal Reserve, published the gospel of inflation targeting with the title Monetary Policy Strategy in 2007. In his book he calls inflation targeting “an information-inclusive strategy for the conduct of monetary policy.” Martin Wolf, the chief economic columnist of the Financial Times of London explains: inflation targeting makes allowance for all relevant variables — exchange rates, stock prices, housing prices and long-term bond prices — via their impact on activity and prospective inflation. This, then, is the new modified holy grail. Cast your net wide enough to catch all that you want to control. If you do it boldly, you will make people believe that the government can control everything it wants to control. It is amazing how much can be accomplished by piling prestidigitation upon prestidigitation. Ironically, disaster struck just at the time when the prophets of inflation-targeting became cocky beyond any measure of modesty. They actually had a whole debate going on in American journals, but also English ones. Ben Bernanke, who in the meantime was made the chairman of the Federal Reserve, contributed the keynote address and the title to the debate: “The Great Moderation”. Their description, up to and including the beginning of 2007 of what was happening in the macro economy, was a reduction in the volatility in the trade cycle: more consistent growth, less bouts of inflation, more stability. The London Times published a jubilant piece as recently as early 2007 with the title “The Great Moderation” which began with the line: “History will marvel at the stability of our era.” It was not meant to be a joke. It was meant to be believed. Complacency about the almighty nature of monetary policy reached its peak. They celebrated the success of inflation targeting just when it started to unravel. Policymakers, central bankers, and their lackeys in academia and journalism, felt inordinately proud of themselves. They thought they held the whole world in their hands. The celebration and self-congratulation was premature. Bernanke & Co. did not know that they were about to be humbled by the markets. Blinded by the glare of their own glory, none of them foresaw the coming disaster. Martin Wolf in his column on May 7 talks about “this unforeseen crisis” as an unmitigated disaster for monetary policy. It leaves fiat money with just one last chance to put its act together and save its hide. He says: “The holy grail turned out to be a mirage. If fiat money is not made to work better than it has, who knows what our children might decide to do in desperation. They might even decide to bring back and embrace gold”. Oh horror of horrors! Wolf still considers the gold standard an absurdity. It’s kind of strange. It is not the regime of irredeemable currency, whereby governments are supposed to create wealth by sprinkling some ink on little scraps of paper, that is considered an absurdity. Of course, Mr. Wolf has the right of wanting to be pilfered and plundered. But he has no right to advocate that the rest of us be cheated through this crudest form of plunder forever and ever. He is also mistaken when he assumes that Bernanke & Co. still has one more chance. The chance they just blew was the last. We are witnessing the closing of the regime of irredeemable currency and irredeemable debt. We may not know how long its death throes will take, but there will be no other chance. Financial journalists and mainstream economists, in their blind stupor acting as cheerleaders for the disastrous monetary policy of the government and the insane credit policy of the banks, have exhausted and destroyed their own credibility for once and all. * * * 3 Martin Wolf, like most of his colleagues, is a victim of brainwashing inspired by Keynes that has been going on to discredit the gold standard for some 75 years, but which got a new lift after Friedman inspired Nixon to default. Yet here are the facts about the gold dollar that should be made available to the world through the opening of the Mint to gold, as demanded by the U.S. Constitution. The gold standard is an indispensable prerequisite of freedom. Without it individuals are helpless in facing the constant and ongoing encroachment of their property rights by the government and the banks. The right to demand gold in exchange for bank notes and bank deposits far transcends the mere exchange of one form of money for another. It is the only way to check the unlimited power of the government manifested by the unlimited creation of bank deposits. The combination of governmental power and the power of the banks to create deposits is especially dangerous for the freedom of the individual, because of the double standard involved. The government exempts banks from the effects of contract law in exchange for the banks’ special treatment accorded to government debt. Gold hoarding is not a blemish on the gold standard; it is its main excellence. When a sufficient number of individuals are disturbed by the encroachment of this combination of powers, or disapprove the monetary policy of the government and the credit policy of the banks, they are not helpless under a gold standard. They can withdraw gold from the banking system, thereby putting the government and the banks on notice that unless they mend their ways, and stop their adventures in debt creation, they will find themselves insolvent and out of power. The gold standard gives people the upper hand. It is no accident that all dictatorships set out by limiting the people’s access to gold. It makes no difference whether they march under the banner of national or international socialism. All totalitarian regimes inflict irredeemable currency on the people as an instrument of servitude and bondage. Martin Wolf should know this. The ideal of limited government is meaningless unless reinforced by a gold standard denying to the government the power of issuing unlimited amounts of currency. There is no other way of doing this than making the promises of the government redeemable in something other than more promises of the same kind. Once the government makes the currency irredeemable, it puts itself in the position to curtail the rights and freedoms of the people as it sees fit. Constitutional government is effectively overthrown. Once the government usurps the public purse, its power becomes uncontrollable. Budget debate in Parliament or in Congress becomes an annual farce. Nothing stands in the way of unscrupulous politicians to undermine constitutional government. The purchasing power of the currency is constantly undermined year in, year out. The banks are freed from constraints on them exercised by the people under the gold standard. Pandora’s box of corruption is opened and its contents contaminate the nation’s economic, political, and social system. Governments which employ irredeemable currency grab unconditional control over foreign trade, exchange rates, foreign investments and travel, even the amount of currency an individual can take in or out of the country. The more powerful governments will buy the allegiance of the less powerful. Out of this feudalistic web of allegiances financed by irredeemable currency come various adventures in fomenting and waging wars in far-away lands, spilling the blood of the young people of the nation for causes alien to them. Under a gold standard prolonged budget deficits and prolonged unfavorable balance of payments cannot occur. There are forces limiting persistent losses of gold which tend to correct the underlying distortion. By contrast, under the regime of irredeemable currency economic distortions can persist indefinitely. They ultimately become destructive. This is so because government bureaucrats cannot possibly provide the same level of wisdom that a people free to act in their own interest can. 4 As problems in foreign trade mount, governments will find ever more excuses for ever more controls. There is no end to the expansion of government power over the individual until the nation regains the benefits of a gold standard, requiring that the government retire to its proper role of umpire and relinquish its role as dominant partner and dictator. A government can take total control of the people either by the use of military force, or by the use of irredeemable currency. The former is readily understood, while the latter is a subtle national drug that is not generally recognized as such. Rather, it is readily embraced by its victims. For these and similar reasons irredeemable currency is the favorite device of modern governments that want to bring people under total control. Indeed, it enables the government to succeed in controlling the masses while, at the same time, earning their approval and even their enthusiastic support. Irredeemable currency must be seen as the habit-forming drug that the government uses to intoxicate people. Under this intoxication people will want more and more national spending, more and more government control, and more and more debt. This intoxication obscures the sad end that arrives when the merry-go-round is coming to a jerky halt, when credit is exhausted or withdrawn, and the kitty is found empty. The nation is facing a most serious economic disaster followed by prolonged economic pain. Unfortunately government economists, university professors, and financial journalists have taken their share of the fun and they failed miserably in their duty to forewarn people of the coming disaster. It is useless to expect a mass movement on behalf of a sound currency. The daily experiences of people provide them with a warped outlook. They confirm in their minds the alleged virtues and benefits of an infinitely inflatable currency. People lack sufficient understanding of monetary science to see that no currency can be made infinitely inflatable without inviting disaster. Like a drug addict, people exposed to irredeemable currency do not regard it as a dangerous and undermining narcotic agent. Even the loss of purchasing power does not disturb them to any great extent. Their response is to demand more money, and they take pride in the fact that the government listens sympathetically to their demand. They welcome the soaring stock indexes and real estate prices, and put great stores on them. Heavy taxes and burgeoning debt are not regarded with anxiety. A frequent and common agitation is for ever more government spending. * * * If we are to be saved from the ultimate evil consequences of the regime of irredeemable currency, needed action must come from the leadership of the opposition party when it is its turn to take over government. The new President and his Secretary of the Treasury, or the new Prime Minister and his Secretary of the Exchequer must be statesmen. They must act as informed and tough monetary surgeons, men who can and will persuade Congress or Parliament to reinstate redeemable currency. Once that step is taken, the people should experience a breath of fresh air. Government would once more be subordinated to the Constitution, bringing greater freedom to the people. Optimism should be wide-spread, because the currency of the people would once more had integrity. Business should prosper, domestic and foreign trade expand. Imbalances in foreign trade should rectify themselves. Gold should start to circulate and flow in from abroad. The control of the public purse would be returned to the people where it belongs if human freedom is to be preserved and responsible government is to be obtained. But as the last presidential election in the United States has shown, the needed leadership is lacking. The party of the opposition is just as much in thrall to the same toxic ideology as the governing party. The last change of guards took place in the middle of a financial and economic crisis involving the destruction of quantities of wealth unprecedented in all history, with more destruction coming. Yet when the new president appointed officials at the Treasury, confirmed others at the Federal Reserve, and named economic advisors, they turned out to be the same men who were responsible for the credit collapse in the first place. Not only do these officials continue the dangerous course of the previous administration; they increase the stakes by several orders of magnitude in announcing more government spending, more government debt, and more fiat money creation. The situation is no better in the United Kingdom, another important country expecting a change of guards, which could take the initiative to put a peaceful end to the regime of irredeemable currency now in its death throes. Rather than initiating a national debate on the failure of the financial system which was supposed to end bank runs, deflations and depressions, serial bankruptcies and unemployment, and on the return to sound money and sound book-keeping, H.M. Loyal Opposition is plotting a course how to cure the collapse of bad debt with the injection of more bad debt. What this means is that there is no hope for change through peaceful means. When change finally comes, it will be through violence. When the economic pain inflicted on the people reaches unbearable heights, anarchy and chaos will ensue. This is precisely what the great monetary tradition of the English-speaking countries, in ruling out irredeemable currency and mandating a metallic monetary standard, was designed to prevent. June 10, 2009. Acknowledgement The author has drawn heavily on Walter E. Spahr’s article in the quarterly Modern Age, Summer, 1960, under the title “The Significance of the Gold Standard”, see also www.professorfekete.com, April 17. ">>> www.campaignforliberty.com 20 Jul 10PM 184,910; 21 Jul 3AM 185,189 gulch

Adam, I refuse to join the AMA although I am a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society where I put in my two cents as a Delegate in the MMS House of Delegates. Several years ago it became evident that there is a leftist Marxist contingent within the MMS who have been advocating for a Single Payer System, read socialism, and that their representation within the MMS far exceeded the fifteen percent of the outstanding members of the MMS who endorse that horror. The MMS never endorsed SPS rather stood in favor of our mixed whatever you may call it system. I am not an AARP member either. I am a member of the AAPS, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is pro free market in medicine and everything else. www.campaignforliberty.com 20 JUL 10PM 184,853 gulch

Chris et al, I just read a couple of articles which touch deeply on the question you raise which I have been struggling to understand as well. Oddly enough the articles are entitled: "When Atlas Shrugged" part One and part Two I will here post the entire list of articles written by Professor Antal E. Fekete with the hint that the articles in question are dated 2006-8-24 and 2006-10-07 to help you find them. http://www.professorfekete.com/articles.asp I dare not attempt to summarize. This is not my field and I am hard pressed to grasp the reality Professor Fekete presents. It apparently has to do with the derivatives market in both Bonds and Gold Futures. The fact that there is no operative gold standard and the government is dealing in irredeemable paper currency has everything to do with the motivation of the government, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury to manipulate these markets. Consequently there are dangers which could cause the entire derivatives market to collapse. As I understand it there are many more futures markets contracts to sell than there is gold available from the mining companies to deliver. If there were a gold standard this situation could not exist and the contracts would be balanced with actual gold to be delivered. As I understand it that is why it is safer to take possession of gold bullion or coins rather that to hold stock in mining companies, ETFs in gold, or other paper gold. IF all hell were to break loose and the trillions of dollars worth of derivatives were to collapse in the gold and the bond markets which are linked one would find that there is no gold to be delivered because there would be more contracts to be filled for delivery than there is gold being produced by the mining companies. Unless I misunderstand altogether. I doubt many people are aware of this situation as Professor Antal E. Fekete is not exactly a household name. He seems to claim that he confronted a major gold mining company and received no explanation regarding the discrepancy he claims exists. I hope this helps. I have yet to read the dozens and dozens of articles on the list. Fekete is clearly an advocate of a gold standard and the free market. He is savvy enough to have found errors in Mises Human Action and M. Friedman and is worth heeding. Kudlow pointed out on his show this evening that a great deal of the newly created funds are sitting in bank vaults and are not in circulation yet. Inflation will only manifest when enough of the new paper is in the market. www.campaignforliberty.com 20 Jul 10 PM 184,853 gulch

This article appears on the Campaign For Liberty site <<<"Campaign for Liberty Statement of Health Care Reform Principles Posted by Matt Hawes on 07/20/09 Last updated 07/20/09 Campaign for Liberty agrees that America's health care system needs serious reform. We applaud the sentiment shared across the political spectrum that action must be taken and believe that our nation stands at an important crossroads. Since the inception of managed care in the 1970s, excessive regulation and corporatism have damaged the patient-doctor relationship and driven up consumer costs. The problems we see today are the result of a collusion between big government and big business, not of market failure, and it is critical that instead of moving toward even more government and less freedom, America enact the right reforms to empower consumers and doctors. Campaign for Liberty will support health care reform solutions that: • Give Americans control over their health care by giving them control over their health care dollar via tax credits and deductions similar to those outlined in Congressman Ron Paul's Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act (HR 1495). • Protect privacy rights by allowing patients and physicians to opt-out of any government-mandated or funded system of electronic health care records, and repeal the federal law creating an "unique patient identifier" by adopting the policies contained in Congressman Ron Paul's Protect Patients and Physicians Privacy Act (HR 2630). • Empower doctors by softening antitrust law restrictions on health care professionals when they negotiate with insurers and medical providers. Our current system gives drug companies and cooperate interests all the power. Campaign for Liberty will oppose any health care reform bill that: • Raises taxes on any American. • Forces Americans to purchase a government-approved health insurance plan, imposes fines or tax increases on individuals for failure to purchase health insurance, or conditions the receipt of any government benefit on the purchase or maintenance of health insurance. Instead, Congress should protect Americans from mandatory health insurance by adopting policies like those contained in Congressman Ron Paul's Coercion is Not Health Care Act (HR 2629). • Establishes a government-run or taxpayer-financed health insurance system. Creation of a "public health insurance option" is a first step toward the complete nationalization of health care. Government-managed and financed health care will inevitability result in lower standards, waiting lines, and rationed care.">>> www.campaignforliberty.com 20 Jul 9 PM 184,800

Just FYI it turns out that the very first Executive Order signed by President Obama is one which gave him first option to refuse to release any of his personal papers. I found that little gem and traced it back to this site: http://freedomedium.com/2009/07/obama-signs-executive-order-barring-release-of-his-birth-certificate/ I have not had the time to explore the site other than to notice an ad there for Atlas Shrugged. www.campaignforliberty.com 184,387 ; 20 Jul 184,500 HR 1207 cosponsors 271 S.604 13 gulch

Et al, He did his journalist job thing exceedingly well. I expected something more from the better minds whom I grew up listening to on the radio and the TV. Rather disappointing until the day a soft spoken fellow told me that Existence exists and that there are no contradictions in the universe. He let me borrow a weatherbeaten paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged. I wonder if Walter Cronkite ever read it. If it had had the effect on him that it had on me I think he would have found some way to report on it! www.campaignforliberty.com 18 Jul 4PM 183,982, 7PM 184,008 gulch

here is the link to a video regarding the justification to audit the Federal Reserve System. There is a way to embed this video but I do not know how to do it. www.campaignforliberty.com 15 Jul 6AM 182,449 gulch

Et al, It is curious to me that none of the posts on this thread have anything to do with the substance of the initial post. Given that we all are aware, are we not, that the legal tender laws compel each of us to be willing to accept Federal Reserve Notes as payment of debts, is it not so that these notes are worthless paper because they are irredeemable? They will be even more worth less because additional trillions of them are being fed into circulation by the Fed and the Treasury through their devious check kiting scheme. The way they do it is purposely obscure to the man in the street. Not one person in several thousand has the slightest understanding of the way additional currency is created and finds its way into circulation thus reducing the purchasing power of each dollar any of us hold in our wallets, bank accounts or money market funds. The Federal Reserve came into existence in 1913 and we have Murray Rothbard to thank for his revealing The Case Against The Fed which traces the efforts of the bankers who agitated for it for many years. Who experiences any shock at the reality that although the purpose of the Fed was to stabilize the value of the dollar, that the purchasing power has diminished by over 95% since 1913? We are now on the verge of the collapse of the dollar which would cause a world wide depression which would dwarf the Great Depression of the thirtees. Is that true? I am not an economist but try to understand and hope that if so there might be a way to avoid it or at least to protect oneself and one's assets if it is true. I think we all know about the role of gold and silver and their role as stores of value and as mediums of exchange. We all know about the hyperinflations which have occurred and still do to this day. It is not too hard to imagine it happening again here soon. Imagine if Obama, Bernanke and Geithner continue to engage in their stimulus packages in ever increasing amounts. Tens of trillions of Federal Reserve Notes given directly to small businesses instead of to just banks. Prices suddenly skyrocket for everything and you find that all the money you have saved will only carry you for a couple of weeks or less. Is this what Obama envisions so that everyone is reduced to poverty? I have found that Professor Antal Fekete offers articles which are helpful in understanding what is happening. http://www.professorfekete.com/ I don't understand the motivation of those who "heckle" or find fault with my posts and focus on their fault finding rather than with any discussion of the articles I think might be worth discussing here. www.campaignforliberty.com 12 Jul 181,869, 13 Jul 181,933; 19 Jul 184,340 gulch

Philip, I think that many people, investors and institutions around the world still consider the dollar to be a haven and flock into the dollar in response to crisis keeping its value up and leading to a fall in precious metals. Given the Feds agenda as well as Obama's policies we are witnessing a flood of paper currency and we have yet to experience its manifestation in prices of goods and loss of purchasing power of the dollar. Perhaps that is because although the money supply has already doubled much of the new paper is sitting in banks rather than finding its way out into circulation. That is one reason why the recent call for additional stimulus is foolish and wrongheaded. It may take many months or even years for the newly created dollars to find their way into the market place. Once they do the additional currency will drive down the purchasing power of the dollar as demand drives up prices. Then gold and silver will adjust perhaps at a much higher level. gulch

Mr. Keer, I am sorry if I misled you. You see, the capital letters were in the original which I left as they were when I put it in quotes and posted it here. Your comment suggests to me that you did not bother to go to the original which would have resolved the confusion. I did post the link to the original for you. I am troubled that you and certain other posters here keep posting irrelevant nonsense rather than commenting on the item I posted here for viewers to see. Please try to adhere to the atmosphere which Michael and Kat want to maintain on their website. gulch

<<<"REMOBILIZE GOLD TO SAVE THE WORLD ECONOMY! An open letter to Paul Volcker, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, 1979-1987; Chairman of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board Antal E. Fekete San Francisco School of Economics E-mail: aefekete@hotmail.com Dear Paul: In 35 years our paths have crossed for the second time. In 1974/75 you and I were Visiting Fellows at Princeton University. Now, in 2009, both you and I are attending the Santa Colomba Conference on the present debt crisis at the invitation of Bob Mundell. In 1975 you conducted a seminar on the international monetary system and invited me to contribute a paper on gold which I did. Those were halcyon days by comparison. The United States, after the turbulence of 1971, successfully consolidated the international position of the dollar and could confidently lift the 42-year old ban on the ownership and trading in gold. On December 31, 1974, trading of gold futures contracts started in New York and Chicago. It showed a robust contango at full carrying charge, that is to say, the gold basis (the spread between the futures and the cash price) was at its peak. It indicated that monetary gold was available in great abundance to meet any demand for any reason. It showed that the gold futures markets could serve as the fulcrum in seeking out the equilibrium between the supply of and demand for gold. They could act as a safety valve, releasing occasional pressures that, in the absence of paper gold, may be a threat to the monetary system. It looked as if the gold problem has been solved for once and all. But as I feared, and as the intervening 35 years have proved, rather than moving towards equilibrium we have been constantly moving ever farther away from it, as measured by the gold basis. The secular vanishing of the gold basis is a most ominous danger signal. It indicates that monetary gold is increasingly unavailable, and in case of a crisis it can no longer be relied upon to come to the rescue. Basis started out at 100 percent of the prevailing interest rate, but has been steadily eroding all the way to zero percent today. Permanent gold backwardation (negative gold basis) is staring us in the face. The gold basis is trying to tell you something. It heralds the greatest monetary crisis of all times. It warns about the possible collapse of the international monetary and payments system. Let me explain. Gold is the only ultimate extinguisher of debt. Other extinguishers do, of course, exist but they are not ultimate in that they have a counterpart in the liability column of the balance sheet of someone else. Gold has no such liability attached to it. Gold is where the buck stops. It is this property that makes gold unique as a financial asset. Historically, gold discharged its function as the ultimate extinguisher of debt through the gold clauses written into the bonds of the U.S. government before 1933. Gold could also discharge this function, albeit rather imperfectly, under the gold exchange standard of 1934 with gold redeemability limited to foreign holders. Still more imperfect was the system of fluctuating gold prices introduced in 1971, thanks to the availability of paper gold. Imperfect as though these stratagems were, they served as a pacifier to the bond market. But as the threat of permanent backwardation indicates, all offers to put monetary gold at the disposal of the international monetary system could be abruptly withdrawn. In that event there would be no ultimate extinguisher of debt. The world is totally unprepared for such a momentuous development. I ask you: are there contingency plans in the U.S. Treasury and in the Federal Reserve what to do if backwardation makes monetary gold unavailable for the indirect retirement of debt? The message to debt holders would be: suave qui peut. There would be a rush to the exit doors and people would trample one another to death in trying to get out. The debt crisis of 2008 was a dress rehearsal. It gave the world a foretaste. This crisis is a gold crisis. It is a crisis indicating the threat of a shortage of the ultimate extinguisher of debt, without which our runaway debt tower is doomed. When it topples, it will bury the world economy under the rubble, as the Twin Towers buried the people working inside in 2001. All kinds of ad hoc explanations have been offered for the debt crisis. But the real explanation is that under the threat of gold backwardation creditors are scrambling for liquidity. There will be no recovery unless provision is made for the orderly retirement of debt through a mechanism using gold as the ultimate extinguisher. The alternative is a Great Depression worse than that of the 1930’s. To understand this we have only to contemplate the shock to the world if it was revealed that the debt of the U.S. government was in fact irredeemable. The Emperor is naked. As long as bonds carry a gold clause, or the bond market is supported by the trading of paper gold, bonds are deemed redeemable. But once permanent backwardation makes gold unavailable, debt becomes irredeemable in the eyes of the bondholders. Paying U.S. bonds at maturity in F.R. notes does not establish redeemability. The latter is just evidence of debt secured by the former as collateral revealing that bonds are not really redeemable at all. An interest-bearing bond is replaced by a non-interest-bearing bond, that is, by an inferior instrument. All you do is shuffle various forms of irredeemable debt. When the world wakes up to this prestidigitation, the international monetary system will not be able to survive the shock-waves. The chaos that will engulf the world is appalling. The solution is relatively simple. The world’s monetary gold should be remobilized. This can be accomplished by opening the U.S. Mint to the free and unlimited coinage of gold. There should be no attempt to fix, cap, or otherwise control the dollar price of gold. The gold coins of the United States ought to be made available to bondholders in order to provide for an orderly retirement of debt, if that is what the bondholders want. When they become convinced that this avenue is open to them through the unlimited availability of gold coins of the realm, the scrambling for liquidity will peter out and stability return. If other great nations wanted to join opening their Mints to the free and unlimited coinage of gold, so much the better. It should not be beyond the power and the wit of the U.S. government to rein in this crisis and make a decisive move in the direction of full recovery through opening the U.S. Mint to gold, as demanded by the Constitution. Gold is a great world resource. It would be foolish if, for parochial or ideological reasons, we failed to enlist it in the cause of economic development — even in the absence of a great crisis. But given the present crisis situation, remobilization of gold is imperative. Yours very sincerely, Antal E. Fekete Santa Colomba, July 10, 2009.">>> At the bottom of this post is the link to the org from which I received the letter above. You will find a link to Essential Reading under Articles and Information which is worth a look as it includes a link to Francisco's speech on Money from Atlas, with a picture of Ayn Rand. <<<"Money by Ayn Rand [from Atlas Shrugged]. "Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave its owners a counterfeit pile of paper... (Extract from Atlas Shrugged). Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. It was Rand's fourth, longest and last novel and she considered it to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing. On page 387 of the original novel, one of the novel's heroes, Francisco d'Anconia talks about money (and gold).">>> There is also an invitation to a conference in Canberra, Australia in November 2 to 5 at which Prof Fekete will speak on The world financial crisis and the vanishing gold basis (listed under events) www.goldstandardinstitute.com

Here is the link to the interview with Dr. Richard Ebeling on the Daily Bell site: http://www.thedailybell.com/index.asp?fl= <<<"Latest Daily Bell Issue 345 • Sunday, July 12, 2009 "If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations." - Andrew Jackson Dr. Richard Ebeling explains free-market economics, why betting against the dollar is a good idea and why holding gold may be an even better one The Daily Bell The editors of The Daily Bell are pleased to present this special guest interview conducted by Scott Smith with famed free-market economist Dr. Richard Ebeling. Introduction: Dr. Richard Ebeling is a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and has been a visiting professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (2008-2009). He also served as the president of the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington, NY (2003-2008), and has been the Ludwig von Mises Professor Economics at Hillsdale College, in Hillsdale, Michigan (1988-2003). He is the author of Austrian Economics and the Political Economy of Freedom (Elgar, 2003), and is also the editor of the Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises (Liberty Fund), based on the "lost papers" of Ludwig von Mises, which he recovered from a formerly secret KGB archive in Moscow, Russia. In the early 1990s, he consulted on market reform and privatization with the emerging new democratic government in Lithuania when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and witnessed the violent, attempted Soviet crackdown on the Lithuanian freedom movement in January 1991. He also was with Russian defenders of freedom in Moscow during the failed hard-line coup in August 1991. His new book, Political Economy, Public Policy, and Monetary Economics: Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian Tradition, will be published in 2009 by Routledge. He is also writing an intellectual biography of Ludwig von Mises that will appear before the end of 2010. Dr. Ebeling earned his PhD in economics from Middlesex University in London, England.">>> I am hesitant to copy and paste copyrighted stuff such as this interview but you have the intro and the title and the link above. www.campaignforliberty.com 12 July 7PM 181,143

Update 12 July HR 1207 cosponsors 260 from www.thomas.gov S.604 8 cosponsors www.campaignforliberty.com 180,874 thus an increment of 22K in one month as growth rate accelerates as well. Will we ever reach one million? No doubt! Will we ever reach 10 Million more than likely! Will we ever reach 50 million? It will be easier to do as our numbers grow. WIll we ever reach 100million? Once the young people coming up through the schools realize what we are up to and read the books. Yes! www.campaignforliberty.com 12 Jul 4PM 181,038 When I tell people that the politicians take an oath to uphold the Constitution and then ignore it, they agree. Then I tell them that the campaignforliberty is going to change that and is growing rapidly. gulch

Darrell, You are probably familiar with the damage to ALCOA Aluminum Co in the 1945 antitrust case which is mentioned in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. ALCOA anticipated increased demand for aluminum for the world war they saw coming. ALCOA increased its plant capacity to meet the demand they foresaw and helped the US "win." An antitrust suit was brought against them by companies who could not compete in the marketplace. In the final verdict the judge pointed out that because of ALCOA's productive ability it discouraged potential competitors from entering the market and ALCOA was penalized with treble damages to the tune of $145M. I think that meets your criteria of significant damage. There is a resurgence of interest in pressing antitrust suits under Obama. Dominick Armentano has written about the realities of the antitrust laws and Ayn Rand devoted the first issue of The Objectivist Newsletter to the antitrust phenomenon. In essence any business is vulnerable as the antitrust regulations will be violated if the business charges the same price or either a higher or a lower price for its product. Armentano has written The Myths of Antitrust and other books and essays which are enlightening on the subject. One cannot know in advance whether a particular business action will be in violation until after a judge rules. Truly non-objective laws at every level. Closer to home I know of the case of the dozen Obstetricians in the Springfield area of MA who decided to exercise their contractual right to withdraw from Blue Cross. Their crime was that they had a meeting where the issue was discussed and then Blue Cross got the letters of resignation over the following few weeks. Blue Cross ran to the Attorney General of MA and complained and the antitrust suit was initiated on the grounds of collusion or the like. Never mind that the right to assemble is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights or that each operated on his own to withdraw in a manner spelled out in their individual contracts. I believe that the suit was ultimately dropped but it must have been traumatic to have such a lawsuit brought against them and costly to hire lawyers to defend. Did I mention that if one offers a defense that the damages are tripled? www.campaignforliberty.com 12 Jul 6 AM 180,846 gulch