End The Fed

Ron Paul's new book is storming on to the best seller lists in the USA. Grab your copy!

Vote LPUK in Norwich North

A little video presentation I whipped up.

No "bloody nose" for the Tories or Lib Dems?

When the MPs expenses scandal erupted, I fully expected all three "major parties" in British politics (Labour, Conservative and Liberal-Democrat) to get punished at the polling booths. No such luck. The recent Local & Euro elections delivered a "bloody nose" to the governing Labour Party, but left the noses of the equally corrupt opposition intact. I have one question for the British voting public: WTF?

Some thoughts on MPs expenses.

The current corruption scandal to hit parliament is absolutely unprecedented.

While allegations of sleaze, investigations into sleaze and the occasional MP getting fired or even imprisoned are nothing new, the spotlight is usually confined to the party in power.

Now we have a snapshot of parliament as a whole and we find that once journalists start to do a little digging they find that politicians can be as corrupt in opposition as they are in power.

If the expenses system itself is scrapped, if untested political parties - those that have no serving MPs, MEPs or peers - are given serious consideration at election time, then at least some good will emerge from this revolting mess.

British politics will never be the same again.

Smedley Butler Video

In this video, an actor portrays the former US Marine Corps General and speaks from his famous pamphlet "War Is A Racket".

What is Fascism?

Here is an article from mises.org that deals with Mussolini's brand of Fascism. It has great relevance for Europeans and Americans today.

Here are the concluding words of the author:

We cannot count on all good people in America rejecting fascist ideas. To many the pursuit of the hated Red justified the elements of violence in the episode. To others the imperious need of meeting the challenge of labor justified the cudgels. Mussolini was all right as long as he played along with the democratic powers. "I do not deny," said Mr. Churchill as late as December 1940, in a speech in the House, "that he is a very great man. But he became a criminal when he attacked England." Mussolini's crime lay not in all the oppressions he had committed upon his own people, not in his trampling down of liberty in Italy, in attacking Ethiopia or Spain, but in "attacking England." It is precisely in this tolerance of ordinarily decent people for the performances of such a man that the terrible menace of fascism lies for all peoples.

Annnnnd...its GONE.

In this clip from South Park, Stan discovers that something isn't right about the banking system:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/222624/?tab=related

Of course, in real life its the government and not individual savers who keeps hearing the words "Annnnd...its GONE."

Fiat money cannot last forever.

There is way too much defeatism in the ranks of the Liberty Movement. That defeatism stems from a failure to realise that the achievement of some objectives is absolutely assured. The global fiat money system that has existed since 1971 will eventually fail. Its demise may be hastened by astute political activity, but even if everyone on Earth were content to let the status quo continue, it could not. The following article sums it up nicely:

http://goldprice.org/silver-and-gold-prices/2009/03/we-will-see-silver-and-gold-restored-as.html

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

In the year that Richard Nixon removed the last vestiges of the gold standard, Marvin Gaye sang an anti-government diatribe entitled "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDckI2P_DPA

The first verse points out that both the space program and the welfare state require taxpayers to foot the bill:

Rockets, moon shots
Spend it on the have nots
Money, we make it
'fore we see it, you'll take it

The second verse links the inflation tax with the military industrial complex:

Inflation, no chance
To increase finance
Bills pile up, sky high
Send that boy off to die

The third verse complains that life is hard enough without government adding to our troubles:

Hang ups, let downs
Bad breaks, set backs
The natural fact is
Honey, that I can't pay my taxes

The fourth verse warns us how security concerns are used to put us on a totalitarian path:

Crime is increasing
Trigger happy policing
Panic is spreading
God knows where, where we're heading

An Inconvenient Debt.

While I doubt that Glenn Beck is entirely sincere about his conversion to Libertarianism, I like the way that meaningful issues are actually getting air time on the mainstream media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw1hkEor6sM&feature=related

The fact that real issues are being discussed on Fox suggests that Americans have more pressing concerns than celebrity gossip.

BBC article compares Britain to Zimbabwae.

If the video that accompanies this article is anything to go by, I think that "most economists" must be sniffing petrol fumes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7924506.stm

Printing money can be defined as the central bank financing of government debts. This is what happened in both Weimar and Zimbabwe and what the British government will insist it is not doing, although the short-term effect is similar.

According to the Maastricht Treaty, EU member states are not allowed to finance their public deficits by printing money. That is one reason why the Bank of England will buy government bonds from financial institutions, not directly from the government.

The Bank believes this form of QE is different because they are "printing money" as part of monetary policy - to prevent deflation. They are not printing money to help the government finance its deficit. Also, unlike Zimbabwe, this is a temporary policy: the Bank expects to sell the government bonds back into the market when the economy recovers.

You can't re-inflate the bubble.

They'll try. No doubt about that, but this time, it won't work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsQ7BByIBxM

This is not "just another downturn". This is the collapse of the post-bretton woods system.

Let's not forget that "War Is A Racket".

As awful as the bailout and stimulus packages are, let's not forget about the other monstrosity inflicted on us by big government and special interests:

www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf

Let's use USMC Major General Smedley Butler's pamphlet to keep up the political pressure on all fronts.

Let's focus on the real issues.

Let me ask you a couple of really dumb questions:

1. Did Obama have dual nationality at Birth?
2. Was Obama born in Kenya?

I am amazed that many alleged Ron Paul supporters have become distracted from the fight against the Federal Reserve, fiat money, deficit spending and the military-industrial complex to focus on stupid Ad Hominem attacks.

If Obama was declared a non-citizen, what then? Would invalidating his presidency move America forward?

Isn't Obama's actual program bad enough?

We've lent £185 bn to banks

God help us.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2009/02/weve_lent_185bn_to_banks.html

If you cut through all the waffle, it seems that the government is paying large sums of money for worthless assets. Surely they can't be doing this for my benefit, or yours? No, I rather think that this intervention is on behalf of our real rulers, the banks.

The Writing Is On The Wall.

Even Rupert Murdoch's Fox Network can read it now.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nHPSmslIOfc

You are not dreaming. The Main Stream Media talking heads just discussed the possibility of going back on the Gold Standard.

The biggest bubble in the history of the world.

The title of this post might sound like hyperbole, but it isn't. In 1971 America ceased to exchange Federal Reserve Notes for gold to foreign governments at the rate of $35 per troy ounce. The world of total fiat money was born. In the following podcast, Ron Paul explains why this era is drawing to a close.

www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2009-01-27_093_the_biggest_bubble_in_the_history_of_the_world.mp3

Why more inflation won't work.

In the following speech, Ron Paul explains why the Fed's strategy of expanding the money supply will not solve the bust.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-k2H9ddtI

The west has become addicted to debt financed spending. Like all Junkies, our governments need to come off the drug and hit "rock bottom".

Calling all British Ron Paul supporters

Hi, it's Matt again!

I am pleased that soundmoneyman has taken this blog out of mothballs and got it going again.

However, I know for a blog to be successful, it needs regular updated comment and news, thus I am making this blog a platform for all lovers of freedom, or supporters of Ron Paul.

If you would like to post here from time to time, let me know and I will add you to the authors list.

Cheers


Matt

£200bn to save banks from bad debt.

If the UK government is bailing out the banks...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/4274083/200bn-to-save-banks-from-bad-debt.html

...who is going to bail out the UK government?

Hands off the Isle of Man!

Seems that Brown and Obama are angry with the Isle of Man for its legal tax haven status.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=axJDLSVx5h34&refer=home

For as long as punitive taxes exist, people will seek to avoid them.

The bond bubble is an accident waiting to happen.

About as candid an article as one is likely to get from the Mainstream Media.

http://gata.org/node/7085

Trading in gold soars by 60%

Hardly surprising if you are Ron Paul supporter...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/4227086/Trading-in-gold-soars-by-60pc.html

...but potentially shocking for anyone who isn't.

Shipping Rates Hit Zero

The Telegraph has picked up on the fact that, before long, British supermarket shelves won't be full of consumer goods from China.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4229198/Shipping-rates-hit-zero-as-trade-sinks.html

It had to happen sooner or later. Looks like sooner.

Alot has happened to me since Matt's last post.

I discovered Ron Paul, became a libertarian, joined the LPUK and heard the words "credit crunch" enter the language to such an extent that advertisers now use the phrase to suggest that a particular product is suitable for the thrifty or the cash strapped.

Now I'm guest blogging for Matt Davies. While Ron Paul did not secure the 2008 Republican nomination for President of the United States, there is more demand than ever for his message, both in the United States and the world at large. No country has escaped this crisis. It is often claimed that the sky is falling in because individuals and institutions can no longer borrow as much as they did previously.

Since when did borrowing become the source of prosperity? Government has grown to monstrous proportions and the British public were not aware of it. Now that the bills are coming due, our awareness is developing.