Friday, March 27, 2009

Daniel Hannan Takes On The Devalued Prime Minister

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Another Question for Gordon Brown

I found another question on the London Summit 2009 social networking site:

Gordon Brown, The only real cure for a depression is a depression. Why are you focused on rescuing sick banks and industries, ignoring the lessons from the Weimar Republic, the Great Depression, and the Japanese quagmire? Everything you are trying now has been tried before, without success and immeasurable additional harm to boot. If bailouts are to be, then why not bail out the British citizens, who have to bear the consequences of your debasement of the British pound? Also, why not replace all 20 fiat currencies at the forthcoming meeting and substitute them with a gold-based currency?

You may vote for the question by clicking the link below and clicking on the TV like box that says "vote":

http://www.yoosklondonsummit.com/question_share_this/1740/The_only_real_cure_for_a_depression_is_a_depressio.aspx

London Summit 2009

The London Summit has a quasi-social networking site that allows you to propose questions. If the question gets enough votes, your selected politician might answer the question. I posed my question to Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of England.

"Gordon Brown, How will regulating the world's tax havens do one single thing to solve the world's financial crisis? It appears from what I am reading that the financial crisis is the result of the poor regulation ofthe two largest tax havens in the world: New York and London. It seems to me that the Group of Twenty really wants to make small sovereign nations that compete on the basis of tax competition nothing but vassal tax collectors so as to prop up the bloated and dying welfare states of Europe and America."

You may vote for my question by clicking the link below and clicking on the TV like box that says "vote"::

http://www.yoosklondonsummit.com/question_share_this/1736/How_will_regulating_the_worlds_tax_havens_do_one.aspx

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

London Summit

In pledging to clean up the world's financial mess, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain has pledged to go after tax havens and force them to cooperate as vassal tax collectors for Europe's and America's welfare states.

This tax cartel of high-tax nations arrogantly thinks that it is entitled to the capital built up by individuals and families.

It's not.

Capital belongs to the individual. It is the individual that has the right to the fruit of his labor. Not the state.

It is the foolish and stupid financial policies of the two largest nations in the Group of Twenty that have led to the financial catastrophe in the world. The cities of London, New York, and Washington DC are the source of this mess. The tiny tax havens throughout the world such as the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, etc., already have tax information exchange (for cases of probable cause), or tax withholding, agreements with the U.S. and other countries such as the U.K. and France. They apparently are also better regulated than New York, London, and Washington.

Europe and America are reaping the consequences of 95 plus years of central banking, fiat currency, fractional reserve banking, class envy, and coveteousness.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Constitutional Tender Act

Franklin Sanders in his daily commentary (or sometimes daily commentary) reports, "Susan & I took off for Atlanta last night, about 6 hours away on word from a friend with the Constitutional Tender Act www.constitutionaltender.com. Georgia Rep. Bobby Franklin entered the act which requires the state to perform its duty under US Constitution Art. I, Section 10 to make nothing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debt. Today the House Committee on Banks & Banking held a hearing,& the bill's supporters asked me to testify.

Needless to say, the banks will fight it tooth & toenail, because they don't understand it. If they did, they would support it as it offers the only chance for them to survive. Listening to the banking lobbyists specious objections,it dawned on me: Their time is past. A wave of revulsion against fiat money & uncontrolled fractional reserve banking will become a tidal wave as the economic crisis deepens. Within two decades at most, the fiat system will be dead, and with it, banking as we know it today.

The group behind the bill made stunningly adept & forceful presentations. It was an historic occasion, one I have longed to see for over 40 years, a state legislative body seriously listening to the requirements of constitution & common sense. Thank God I was privileged to witness it!
Mark this, and remember: we are witnessing the end of fiat. We will see silver & gold restored as money, & with them, lasting & stable prosperity. But first the old must die."

Monday, March 16, 2009

Freedom Index

Here is The New American's Freedom Index based upon the US Constitution. Find out how closely, or more likely not, your Representatives and Senators are following the US Constitution and preserving liberty and freedom in America. (Hint: There is not a whole lot of good news).

Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Greg Knox Letter

One day last year, Greg Knox came to work and received this email in his inbox:

Dear Employees & Suppliers,

Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis......................As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke
President General Motors North America

So Greg sat down at his computer and started typing out a response to the President of GM. When he was finished, he sent the letter to his mother. Like a good mother, she wanted to share it with others .. and the letter soon became viral on the Internet.

Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Franklin, Ohio

Gentlemen:

In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clark, President of General Motors North America.

Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation, awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream"... Believe me folks, The dream is over!

This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities...this dream where you still think the masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever.

Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's throughout the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not."

You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management...how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass...so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time...for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics...for putting out too many parts on a shift...and for being too productive (We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?)

Do you folks really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years ...we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors." What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit.

I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research, surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money".

"Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems," but despite what people like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day... and the following very important thing would happen...where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up...that is how a free market system works...it does work...if we would only let it work..."

But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government to step in and "save us"...Save us my ass, Hell - we're nationalizing...and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is really happening...But, they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams...yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it...

Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country?... How can that be??? Let's see... Fuel efficient... Listening to customers... Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul...

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent planning... Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy"... Efficient front and back offices... Non union environment...

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh... Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults..

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins. Bad news people - it's coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away." I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the final vote count was tallied..."we really might not do it in a year...or in four..." Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for office.

Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks ... That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000... People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits... That job driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year... We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe...

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home... Let the market correct itself folks - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has...and doesn't live beyond its means...and gets back to basics...and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world...and probably turns back to God.

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news". I hope you take it to heart.

Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005

Thursday, March 05, 2009

The Germans Voted Themselves Into Slavery

On this day in 1933 the National Socialist German Workers Party (popularly known as "Nazis") won a surprising 44% of the vote in German parliamentary elections. Together with the Nationalists that gave it a slender majority in the Reichstag. The rest is history.

Ponder that the Nazis rode to power on the back of inflation & hyperinflation. Hitler's first attempt to seize power, the Putsch in Munich, was staged at the height of the hyperinflation in 1923. That wiped out the savings of most Germans. When the Depression threatened to put every German out of a job, they listened to Hitler's promises & voted for him. The lesson of those times instructs us still today. Economic distress often brings totalitarian politics. America is not immune.