|
After tens of billions have been shoveled into the black hole of Ukraine, known as the most corrupt country in Europe, Beltway conservative groups are belatedly waking up to the dollar hemorrhage. With a new $14 billion dollar giveaway on the table, groups such as Heritage Action and Center for Renewing America are screaming "enough!" Also today: one astrophysicist shocks the world.
US Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) said on Face the Nation yesterday that the Jan 6th protesters were insurrectionists who attacked "our democracy" just like the 9/11 attackers 21 years ago. Will the families of the 9/11 victims have something to say about this? Also today: Trump allies continue to be rounded up as Biden's DoJ declares war on half the country. But, never fear, The Biden Administration has decided to change hundreds of "racist" names of places around the country.
By Ron Paul
A Swiss billboard is making the rounds on social media depicting a young woman on the telephone. The caption reads, "Does the neighbor heat the apartment to over 19 degrees (66F)? Please inform us." While the Swiss government has dismissed the poster as a fake, the penalties Swiss citizens face for daring to warm their homes are very real. According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, those who violate the 66 degree heating limit could face as many as three years in prison! Prison time for heating your home? In the “free” world? How is it possible in 2022, when Switzerland and the rest of the political west have achieved the greatest economic success in history, that the European continent faces a winter like something out of the dark ages? Sanctions. While long promoted – often by those opposed to war – as a less destructive alternative to war, sanctions are in reality acts of war. And as we know with interventionism and war, the result is often unintended consequences and even blowback. European sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year will likely go down in history as a prime example of how sanctions can result in unintended consequences. While seeking to punish Russia by cutting off gas and oil imports, European Union politicians forgot that Europe is completely dependent on Russian energy supplies and that the only people to suffer if those imports are shut down are the Europeans themselves. The Russians simply pivoted to the south and east and found plenty of new buyers in China, India, and elsewhere. In fact, Russia’s state-run Gazprom energy company has reported that its profits have increased by 100 percent in the first half of this year. Russia is getting rich while Europeans are facing a freezing winter and economic collapse. All because of the false belief that sanctions are a cost-free way to force other countries to do what you want them to do. What happens when the people see dumb government policies making energy bills skyrocket as the economy grounds to a halt? They become desperate and take to the streets in protest. This weekend thousands of Austrians took to the streets in a “Freedom Rally” to demand an end to sanctions and the opening of Nord Stream II, the gas pipeline on the verge of opening earlier this year. Last week an estimated 100,000 Czechs took to the streets of Prague to protest NATO and EU policy. In France, the “Yellow Vests” are back in the streets protesting the destruction of their economy in the name of “defeating” Russia in Ukraine. In Germany, Serbia, and elsewhere, protests are gearing up. Even the Washington Post was forced to admit that sanctions on Russia are not having the intended effect. In an article yesterday, the paper worries that sanctions are inflicting “collateral damage in Russia and beyond, potentially even hurting the very countries that impose them. Some even worried that the sanctions intended to deter and weaken Putin could end up emboldening and strengthening him.” This is all predictable. Sanctions kill. Sometimes they kill innocents in the country targeted for destruction and sometimes they kill innocents in the country imposing them. The solution, as always, is non-intervention. No sanctions, no "color revolutions," no meddling. It's really that simple.
In a world drowning in debt, the monetary system itself is on borrowed time. When the moment for reform arrives, gold will play a role once again. The era of money being a whim of counterfeiting central banks is drawing to a close.
The policy of harming and isolating Russia has backfired hard on Europe. This should provide a learning opportunity for Americans. In an interconnected world, it's never good policy to bite the hand that feeds you. Americans should keep this in mind when considering policy towards countries like China. Trade is superior to sanctions.
By Ron Paul
The Federal Reserve was no doubt troubled by July’s decline in the US unemployment rate to 4.5 percent and increase in job openings to 11.2 million. This is because the Fed’s strategy for reducing the historic price inflation now plaguing the economy — caused by the Fed’s unprecedented low or zero interest rate policies — is to increase unemployment in order to decrease consumer spending. In his speech to the annual monetary policy conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his commitment to increasing unemployment, or, as he puts it, “softening the labor markets.” Powell is correct that reducing price inflation is urgent. He is also correct that doing so will increase unemployment and slow economic growth. The Fed’s efforts to bring down inflation by increasing interest rates will also make it harder for average Americans to obtain home mortgages, purchase a car, or even pay their utility bills. Those hardest hit by the Fed’s “softening of labor markets” are also the primary victims of the Fed-created price inflation. This demonstrates the insanity and cruelty of the fiat money system, which enriches the elites while improvising the masses. Well-connected members of the financial elite and crony capitalists benefit from the Federal Reserve’s money creation, as they are the first recipients of the new money. This enables them to increase their purchasing power before the new money has caused general price inflation. By the time the money creation has impacted the middle and working classes, the economy is racked with widespread price inflation. Therefore, a nominal gain in wages is not enough to compensate for the real price increase. So average Americans suffer from both Fed-created inflation and the Fed’s attempts to rein in that inflation. It is amazing that more individuals do not question the idea that inflation, recessions, unemployment, and booms and busts are necessary features of a sound monetary system. Even many otherwise staunch defenders of free markets maintain a child-like faith in central banking. Some conservatives support “reforming” the Fed by making it follow a “rules-based” monetary policy. These conservatives do not understand that the problem is the existence of a central bank with the power to manipulate the currency. Many progressives recognize the damage the Fed does to average Americans when it increases interest rates. However, their "solution” is a cure worse than the disease: make the Fed maintain low interest rates (and thus high inflation) in perpetuity—or until the continued devaluation of the currency via inflation causes a dollar crisis, leading to a major economic calamity. The main victims of this crisis will, of course, be the very Americans progressives claim to care about. The Federal Reserve’s failure to fulfill its dual mandate of producing stable prices and full employment, combined with the damage it inflicts on the American people, make the best case for changing our monetary policy. A stable currency, safe from manipulation by politicians or central bankers, would provide the basis for long term prosperity that benefits everyone, not just the crony capitalists and the power-hungry politicians. The first steps in this transition are to finally pass audit the Fed legislation and continue the efforts to pass state laws recognizing precious metals as legal tender.
Another form of tech tyranny was recently on display in Colorado, as 22,000 households lost control of their "smart" thermostats to their power company. The ability to change the temperature in your own house was taken away! Corporatism, driven by an authoritarian "green" ideology, continues to do damage to our liberties.
When the Fed counterfeits dollars, creating an artificial economic boom, a recession is inevitable and unavoidable. Recessions are a return to economic reality; the antidote for The Fed's poison. While recessions are unavoidable, depressions can be avoided. Depressions occur when the government interferes and tries to prevent a return to economic reality. Government implements "policies" that are meant to "help," but only end up extending the economic misery into a depression.
The U.S. military is having a hard time finding new recruits. With a string of failed wars that should've never happened, along with illogical vaccine mandates and "wokeness," is it really a surprise?
|
Archives
September 2022
 
 
 
 
|
RSS Feed