Even Ron Paul is pulling his punches.
What we need is a politician who forcefully speaks the truth to power.
Forcefully.
Ron Paul should have eaten Bernanke for lunch. He didn't. He just whined, and whined, without asking hard-hitting questions.
Here's what I would have had to say, for starters:
"You, sir, have failed America. You have let inflation roar, you've bailed out your banker buddies at the expense of the taxpayer and the American worker, and you are corrupt. It is my goal to see you out of a job, and to disband your shadowy organization. My first question is, how laughable do you find the current government's inflation data, and are you also in favor of hiding the truth on the inflation data, because the truth would make the entitlement mess even worse?"
Here's RP. This could have been better. What would you have asked Bernanke if given the chance?
July 16, 2008
Ron Paul has a few things to say to Ben Bernanke. Too bad he forgot to ask hard questions.
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Seriously. Ron Paul needs to start blasting these criminals the way he started to fight back toward the end of his campaign. We don't have time for polite niceties and navel gazing and lectures on Mise's free market theory. Even if he is right.
It's time to take these muthaf*ckas down before they destroy the country!!!
How's that "contained" thing working out for you Ben?
Poor Ron,
I think the campaign pushed him over the edge into terminal old age.
He waited too long to present his knowledge and by doing so, missed his chance.
Trouble is, who's going to take up the torch?
so ben...boxers or briefs?
Ron Paul? What about Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning?
Leave it to us country bumpkins get to this $h!t straight!
He had Bernanke squirming like Clay Aiken waiting for his Prius to get out of the shop.
That was incredibly lame, Ron. Oh well, this country is toast, just one big fat grilled snapper turtle.
I STARTED AN HP NAKED SHORT-SELLER ARREST WATCH BLOG...
THE SEC SHOULD BE LOCKING PEOPLE UP REAL SOON...
IN FACT, I'M HEARING THEY'RE GONNA PUTTHE CASEY SERIN CASE ON HOLD TO GET THIS DONE ASAP...
SUCKS TO BE YOU GUYS...
YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE HARMED FREDDIE AND FANNIE...
THEY'RE MY FRIENDS...
DODD TOO!!!
Well, even though Mr. Paul's statements are addressing the problem where it needs to be addressed, he's speaking to the wrong audience really.
These people are so indifferent, just look at the "dead-pan" expressions on the guy behind and to the lower-left of him.
I'd like to see their faces when more of their "inner-circle" buddies start getting hit, and it will happen.
This financial problem we're in now doesn't descriminate based on education or living location, it's working it's way up the income ladder.
Too nice a guy to rub in the, "I told you sos"
Ron dropped the ball on this one. Here's a reasonable solution to this mess:
" Rather than bailing out bankrupt banks and sending them on their merry way, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) needs to take a close look at the banks’ books and put any banks found to be insolvent into receivership. The FDIC (unlike the Federal Reserve) is actually a federal agency, and it has the option of taking a bank’s stock in return for bailing it out, effectively nationalizing it. This is done in Europe with bankrupt banks, and it was done in the United States with Continental Illinois, the country’s fourth largest bank, when it went bankrupt in the 1990s.
A system of truly “national” banks could issue “the full faith and credit of the United States” for public purposes, including funding infrastructure, sustainable energy development and health care.13 Publicly-issued credit could also be used to relieve the subprime crisis. Local governments could use it to buy up mortgages in default, compensating the MBS investors and freeing the real estate for public disposal. The properties could then be rented back to their occupants at reasonable rates, leaving people in their homes without the windfall of acquiring a house without paying for it. A program of lease-purchase might also be instituted. The proceeds would be applied toward repaying the credit advanced to buy the mortgages, balancing the money supply and preventing inflation.
Local and Private Solutions
While we are waiting for the federal government to act, there are also private and local possibilities for relieving the subprime crisis. Chris Cook is a British strategic market consultant and the former Compliance Director for the International Petroleum Exchange. He recommends getting all the parties to settle by forming a pool constituted as an LLC (limited liability company), in a partnership framework that brings together occupiers and financiers as co-owners under a neutral custodian. The original owners would pay an affordable rental, and the resulting pool of rentals would be “unitized” (divided into unit interests, similar to a REIT or real estate investment trust). Among other advantages over the usual mortgage-backed security, there would be no loans at interest, since the property would be owned outright by the LLC. Eliminating interest substantially reduces costs. The former owners would be able to occupy the property at an affordable rental, with the option to buy an equity stake in it. For the banks, the advantage would be that they would be able to find investors again, since the risk would have been taken out of the investment by insuring full occupancy at affordable rates; and for the investors, the advantage would be a secure investment with a dependable return".
Found it at- http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/bracing-storm.php
I think he he did well, what the people need is information. He was putting out his case to the public, if he was asking questions that the general public couldn't understand nothing will change.
What would you have asked Bernanke if given the chance?
"Excuse me Mr. Bernanke, asphinctersayswhat?"
"Mr. Bernanke, when are you going to be completing the first EVER audit of the Federal Reserve?"
I would have just punched him in the face
I must admit that after listening to Lindsey Williams, I was especially impressed by his theory that the IMF and world bank siphoned off oil revenue to pay off third world debt. If Ron Paul knows about this, I haven't heard him talk about it but he has said that the government brings in enough money without income taxes.... and assume they have more ways to get money than we know.
Funny how all you Ron Paul loving conspiracy theorists buy the line, "Americans have a no savings."
Yet every story about Indymac features people who had more than $100,000 in savings.
IDIOTS
What this blogs hero letting you down after all the money you begged your readers to send to him because he was going to fix it all and now he is just another empty suit who was instructed to be very careful here with his questioning of Big Ben the markets are watching and if he was ever elected President the same would hold true because at the end of the day there is no difference as Obama is finding out and he to if elected will be put into a room and told what they can't tell him now about this nosense troop withdrawal he thinks will work, sorry but we will get fooled again (1976)
Ron Paul should have asked him: "Mr B., if we have to bail out your banker friends every 20 years, why shouldn't they be regulated like public utilities?"
I hope some of you EN Casey haterz can make it to tonight's talkcast, boyeee (7:00 PM Eastern July 16)
Casey's Greatest Hits II
Keith,
He can't ask those questions, just think of the answers he'll get. "We beleive inflation is calculated correctly, our data is extreemly transparent, we publish the finding on a monthly basis"
That won't get Ron anywhere, Paulson, Bernake, they don't care. They hate answering those questions, it's a necessary evil for them so they can print more money.
Until the population wises up, nothing will change.
What more do you want Ron Paul to say? At this point he must feel as though he's shouting in a windstorm. Throughout his campaign the American people and our government had plenty of chances to hear his message, and only a select few listened. At this point, why should he shout himself hoarse?
America, and bloated, ignorant, corrupt Americanos, are simply getting what they deserve. Nobody, not Ron Paul, nor Obama, can save America from itself. This nation does not deserve true leadership, and Ron Paul must be some kind of selfless masochist to stay in Washington laying the voice of reason on deaf ears.
A toast, to the collapse of an empire that deserves to fail.
RP has been a bit of a rambler for the past year.
Bunning did well yesterday - his statement was right up HP's alley, and Paulson almost died from a stutter attack when the questioning got heavy.
(Seriously, HTF did he become head of GS???)
But it still looks as if there's no American democrat who understands what's going on AND has the respect of elected reps.
Bernanke to Paul:
Congressman, I suggest that you the Secretary of Labor. The inflation data sets are a product of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Federal Reserve relies on the integrity of these numbers and of course we are interested in the best data which are available.
Funny how all you Ron Paul loving conspiracy theorists buy the line, "Americans have a no savings."
Yet every story about Indymac features people who had more than $100,000 in savings.
Savings rate is NET savings rate.
People who are saving are outweighted by people who take on more debt!
Debt is not wealth or savings.
"Does the hemp chafe your neck?"
Keith, he knows he can't blast him since 99.9% of the people in the room are from special interest groups that want to give more power to the Fed, not reduce it. I think he has reverted to a strategy of pinning the blame on Greenspan and the Federal Reserve System itself. He is playing the role of good cop trying to get Bernanke to admit that the system is flawed and its really not Bernanke's fault. Until significantly more Congressman stand behind Paul, we get more of the same or worse. You need 200 Jim Bunnings. I would say the odds of things changing with the Fed are about the same as Angelo Mozillo being arrested, no offense. The club is too exclusive and they make the rules. The only way things will change is with total economic collapse and angry violent mobs destroying the country. As things stand today, GWK's comments at 8:27 PM are a lot closer to the truth than we would like to admit.
conspiracy theorists buy the line, "Americans have a no savings."
yeah, progressives like to say that to push up wages. I talked to a teacher who thought she was poor and she'll collect $4000 a month during retirement. so that's one million over 21 years and she still works! on top of that she has oil rights and rents out farmland. it's amazing how financially unsecure folks are.
After I heard Jim Bunning's tongue-lashing of Bernanke, it occurred to me that Ron Paul is too polite in these hearings.
Not only is he too polite, sometimes he doesn't phrase things in ways most people understand. Like how many people understand "Austrian economics" ?
That's why he's called Pass The Buck (From a Helicopter) Bernanke.
International value of the dollar? Treasury's problem.
Reliable price measures? Bureau of Labor. M3 Reporting? Do it yourself.
Hey Bernanke - This bar of gold is worth more than your entire lifetime contributions to this planet.
My question: "Will the IMF audit of our financial system reaffirm Cheney's statement that 'deficits don't matter' and, if not, will Third World status have an adverse effect on our nation's AAA credit rating?"
Take it easy on Ron Paul. He was the lone voice in the wilderness for over a year on these issues. Maybe he doesn't have to prove his point anymore, now that other Senators have picked up the ball and are running with it.
If I were Ron Paul I would have looked Ben right in the eye and said, " TOLD YA SO!"
Keith,
Directing problems with the system at Ron Paul is the most misguided thing I've seen you do.
The problem with Ron Paul is he goes into a lecture instead of asking
questions . Ron Paul band stands ,and some other Senators and Congresspeople also do that .
I would of said to Paulson when he asked for a "blank check ".
Mr. Paulson , I wouldn't give you 50 cents unless you prove to me that it's needed and its a benefit to innocent parties ,and not some special interest group . Your request for unlimited funds tells me that you really have no creative answers other than throwing taxpayers funds at the problem of faulty lending losses . Since we politicians have to answer to the public for what we spend ,I see no reason that you shouldn't answer to and justify what you spend.
I would of also said to Mr. Paulson .
It's rare that a person would come before Congress or the Senate and with a straight face ask for unlimited funds with the trust me I know what I'm doing attitude .This approach might of worked with Wall Street ,but it doesn't work when you are using public money .
"Even Ron Paul is pulling his punches."
Of course he is. What did you expect? He's just another lying two faced Republican, err, Libertarian.
Ron Paul was interviewed years ago and has said he has deliberately chosen not to attack anyone personally. He said it's because von Mises, who was ignored and dismissed throughout his career, also chose the route of not making his attacks personal, and he decided to model his hero. I'm sure RP has heard the criticism that he is not angry or slashing enough, but I'm telling you now, he's not going to change - someone else will have to pick the Peter Finch approach. Any volunteers?
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