Young Americans for Liberty – Ole Miss Chapter

In a recent speech, defending his Stimulus package; Barack Obama made a few disparaging remarks, directed at his Republican opposition.  In typical fashion, President Obama did not let the facts interfere with his rhetoric.  He informed his audience that “they should be familiar with the concerns brought about about his package, for they had been hearing them for the past ten years, or longer.”  I have provided a video clip of this speech, and below it a link to a great article that sheds a more accurate light on non-interventionist economic policy, something this nation [Republicans and Democrats alike] is far from familiar with.  The average voting American might believe our new President’s lies, but the facts, certainly in this case completely discredit Barack Obama’s empty rationale.

President Obama would have you believe that the current crisis is the result of under-regulation.  Of course, that is impossible because our economy is already heavily regulated.  Extending his fallacy, President Obama would have you believe that the Republicans can take the blame for the “damage done,” supposedly by the free-market.  As much as the Republican party might like to make this claim of itself, this is not so either.  President Bush did not inheret a free-market economy, nor did he contribute to one:

The Myth of the Laissez-Faire Bush Years

Of course, by now the Stimulus is for all intents and purposes a done deal, or a mistake made, rather.  That does not mean that we cannot learn from it.  The damage is well on its way to being done, but Americans do not have to sit by and watch their condition be worsened by irresponsible legislation.  We are being fed empty arguments for legislation that does not benefit our country; in fact one might make the argument that our condition will worsen because of this foolishness.

As Americans we have to remember that we are not powerless.  This is still technically our country.  If you know controversial legislation is in consideration by the government, contact your representatives.  Inform your friends and neighbors and encourage them to do the same.  The liberty loving members of our nation suffered a significant loss with the passing of the stimulus, for the size of our government grows more and more as their hands reach deeper into our financial and economic affairs.  Now is certainly not the time for complacency.  Now is the time to build an informed voter base that is willing to fight for a truly prosperous country, not a country whose prosperity is a product of a deferral of disaster, if the Stimulus can even achieve that.  Perhaps, President Obama should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence” (Vladmir Putin).

Congress Acts, Happy?

There is nothing more disheartening than a people who are totally dependent on their government. I believe a population totally reliant on Big Brother is the social stage right before bondage. I couldn’t have found a better example of this lack of self-reliance than an article I recently read urging Congress to do something to “fix” our economy. It seems that this has become the phrase of our blind generation.  The government should do something about our problems, right? Never mind what that something is or if it does anything to solve the problem for which it was intended.  As long as the government does something, we will fall in line.

The more I read this article, the more I lost faith. The House’s first vote to kill the bailout bill was considered a failure on their part by the author. I guess we should ignore the fact that many representatives voted against the bill because they received so many phone calls from their constituents against its passage, they were afraid to vote for it. Why is that considered a failure? That sounds like a success in our political system, one that doesn’t happen very often these days. Did the author bother to call their representative and try to sway them one way or the other?

The article went on to argue that these representatives were elected to promote the good of the country, not their personal agendas.  Do you honestly believe the bill passed on October 3rd was passed with the country’s best interest in mind? Taxpayers for Common sense reported tax breaks for wooden arrows designed for use by children at Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, OR, with an estimated cost of $1 million, a $100 million dollar tax break for NASCAR racetracks to write off capital investments and a $478 million dollar tax break for television and production facilities were included in the bailout. I’m sure all of these provisions were in the national interest; I know NASCAR and wooden arrows are vitally important to the economy. Yet we allowed them to pass this unconstitutional bailout to “fix” our economy and how did the stock market react last week; the Dow experienced its worst week ever dropping below 9000. More proof that governments can’t defy economic laws.

The article also showed a complete lack of understanding of what has caused the problem we are currently in. It was stated in the article that this problem has been building since the housing bubble burst. However, the housing bubble collapse was just a symptom of the actual problem that has been building for decades. While we hear it is the greed on Wall Street, nobody ever wants to think it could be the greed of our government. In order to finance unsustainable entitlement programs, attempts to control interest rates, unconstitutional wars, military stationed in 147 countries and loyalties bought from nations such as Israel, our government has borrowed and spent its way into the destruction of our dollar. The constant dumping of money into the financial sector to lower interest rates because a bubble, which the Federal Reserve created, is about to burst has rocketed our country to the brink of economic collapse. Losing your savings because the government didn’t bail out AIG and how far the stock market plunged will be the least of your worries when foreign countries begin refusing to buy US bonds because the dollar becomes too unstable. This transition from buying US bonds to selling them off for euros, gold, or yen will cause US bond prices to drop, in effect, raising interest rates. Mortgage and credit card rates will go through the roof causing home prices to drop even lower, bankrupting homeowners. In response, the Federal Reserve will do what is usually does and print more money to try and curtail the rising interest rates, sending the dollar’s value on a downward spiral. Prices will surge and most cash savings, bank CD’s and dollar denominated bonds will be worthless. No amount of money the government throws at the problem will help, because the dollar will be useless and the middle class will be wiped out. It is called hyperinflation, and it can happen here if these bailouts continue. It happened in Germany in 1923, and people were burning their currency for warmth since inflation had destroyed its value.

Recessions do happen when credit markets freeze up, but entire economies are wiped out when their currency becomes worthless. Please don’t believe the lie that the one who got us in this mess will be able to get us out. Don’t let yourself become dependent on this government.

-Justin Head