November 2011

Wes Messamore's picture
By Wesley Messamore at 1:34PM

100 Reasons to End the Fed

fed headline

This is an important resource I've put together to help educate people about the evils of central banking and inflationary monetary policy. Please share this around as much as you can! Here are the first ten reasons to End the Fed:

1. The Federal Reserve System constantly inflates the value of our dollar by printing money out of thin air.

2. Graph: The value of a $1 Federal Reserve Note in 1913 dollars (the year the Fed was created).

3. The Fed even recognizes its inflationary activity. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston says: “When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money.”

4. American economist Irving Fisher said: “Thus, our national circulating medium is now at the mercy of loan transactions of banks, which lend, not money, but promises to supply money they do not possess.”

5. If you or I did what the Fed does when it prints money, we would be found guilty of counterfeiting and locked up for a very long time!

6. The reason you or I would be arrested for counterfeiting is it’s theft! Every bill you create in bad faith, which doesn’t actually represent the creation of real goods and services, real value that has improved life by directing resources to their most productive uses, is a lie and an appropriation of value from the rest of the world, which gives the counterfeiter goods and services in exchange for nothing, because he or she did not actually create anything of value in return.

7. This is true of what the Federal Reserve does: “Neither paper currency nor deposits have value as commodities, intrinsically, a ‘dollar’ bill is just a piece of paper. Deposits are merely book entries.” – Modern Money Mechanics Workbook, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 1975

8. “The Fed creates absolutely nothing. It does not produce a single grain of wheat to feed people, a single drop of oil to power the engines of an industrial economy, nor a single ingot of metal from the ground to build the products and buildings that improve our lives.” -Wesley Messamore

9. This situation, in which you or I would be arrested for doing something the Federal Reserve does every day, is the hallmark of institutionalized theft and a legal system turned on its head. As French economist Frederic Bastiat said in the 19th century: “But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply… See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.”

10. The inflation that results from the Federal Reserve’s massive counterfeiting operation steals from hardworking Americans by diminishing the value of the money they earn.

Read the rest here.

JohnMcKenna's picture
By John McKenna at 2:31PM

How I Became A Libertarian

As it was told to me by my friend Pierce Watson and featured in The Fordham Gazette.

Upon my arrival at Fordham University, I was a donkey-riding, government-loving liberal. I’m a laid back person, and I could never align myself with the uptight old timers of the Republican Party. I thought the answer was government:  welfare, social security, taxes, and regulations sounded right to me. I’m not socially conservative, so overall I was lost. I felt like I had no place in the political arena.

By the will of some higher power, I ended up having Doug for a roommate and he showed me that all of this was terribly wrong. Through Doug, I was introduced to libertarianism. I knew Ron Paul was a libertarian, but I didn’t know much about it aside from that. For years, I had actually been yelling “Vote Ron Paul!” out of the window at people from my car, as an inside joke, but now it was being given meaning.

Libertarianism is freedom. Freedom is the pinnacle of human existence. If I am not affecting anyone else, I am able to do whatever I please. There is no better, more peaceful way to live. The Constitution of the United States was not written by a bunch of outdated fools—their rhetoric is still just as sharp and on point as it was in 1788.


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Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 2:16PM

Not-So-Super Cuts

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Following the failure of the Super Committee to reach an agreement, a total of $1.2 will be cut across the board (well, almost — congressional pensions, for instance will remain untouched) over the next decade.  This “works out to roughly $54.5 billion per year apiece for security functions and nonsecurity functions,” which sounds like a lot at first glance.  But it isn’t actually that much when you consider that we have a national debt of $15 trillion and a 2011 budget approaching $4 trillion with a deficit of nearly $1.5 trillion (yes, that’s more deficit in one year than will be cut in the next ten years combined). 

On an annual basis at current rates, this situation is analogous to borrowing $1,500 to spend $4,000 and then claiming that you’re responsible because you didn’t borrow $1,600 to spend $4,100.

Except in real life, there are 9 more zeros after each of those numbers.

Regardless, even if these “trigger cuts” do seem like a lot, there’s a solid chance they won’t ever happen:  Congress can just repeal the measure requiring them.  I’m guessing that’s a likely outcome — don’t you think?

Originally posted on my blog.

Megan Duffield's picture
By Megan Duffield at 10:22AM

One Day Left to Submit Your Notepad Rant!

So SilverUnderground.com is offering 1 oz. of silver (currently valued at $31/oz.) to the best notepad rant. If you aren't familiar with this form of philosophical tirade, here's a look at the one 'notepad rant' featured on the blog that's hosting this fun contest (perhaps you recognize the ranter...):

Notepad Rant

So here are the contest rules if you haven't had a chance to check them out yet. There's one day left to get your rant sent in to blog@silvercirclemovie.com. Don't forget -- the winner will be the owner of a shiny new piece of silver!

BCestrone's picture
By Brandon Cestrone at 1:12PM

The SRU Young Americans For Liberty Host An Economic Panel Discussion With Over 300 People!

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The Slippery Rock University Young Americans for Liberty dreamt big their first semester as a new chapter and on November 21st, 2011, hosted an economic panel discussion on the topic, “The Free Market vs. Government Intervention.”It was located in the ATS Auditorium on Slippery Rock’s campus. 

The event was organized to educate students and the community on the lesser-known Austrian School of economics and to answer tough questions on tuition and healthcare costs, inflation, bailouts, stimulus programs, the Federal Reserve, the 2008 financial crises, and taxes.  

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Click below to watch the entire economic panel discussion!

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aheram's picture
By Jayel Aheram at 1:12PM

Statist Worship of Military Veterans by the Occupy Movement

Occupy Military

The Occupy Wall Street movement opens itself up to the possibility that in their statist worship of the military that one of their celebrated veterans might not be whom they claim to be. And indeed, it has happened with the military record of an occupier in question in Buffalo, N.Y.:

The claims of a dedicated member of the Occupy Buffalo movement that he saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan are not supported by Army records.

Christopher M. Simmance has told several media outlets, including The Buffalo News, that he served as many as three tours of duty in those war zones and that he was severely injured in Afghanistan.

Service records obtained from the Army, however, show he was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., for three years and he left the active-duty Army in January 2001 -- before the 9/11 terror attacks.

I understand the incentive for the occupiers and the veterans among them to broadcast current or former military affiliation. Whether occupiers would like it or not, America has a strong love affair with its military stretches that all the way back to its very beginnings when it chose as its first president a military general. Somehow, the fact that the "1 percent" of us that served in the military took up arms for the benefit of the state apparatus and its interests is noteworthy to the general public.

Why else, for example, would Ron Paul supporters boast about the good doctor's popularity with active-duty personnel? Why else did Sgt. Shamar Thomas's rant go viral? What else made Sgt. Scott Olsen's injuries at the hands of the Oakland Police Department more offensive than Brandon Watts' equally horrific injuries?

But really -- and I say this as a veteran myself -- why are we treating veterans differently?


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aheram's picture
By Jayel Aheram at 12:32PM

What is War without Limbless Children?

Cluster bomb child victim.Britain unites with smaller countries to block the United States' bid to legalize civilian-maiming cluster bombs:

A coalition of countries including Britain on Friday defeated an attempt by the US, Russia, China and Israel to get an international agreement approving the continued use of cluster bombs. The weapons, which have been used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon scatter “bomblets” over a wide area, maiming and killing civilians, notably children, long after they have been dropped and are banned under a 2008 convention which was adopted by the UK and in more than 100 countries.

I am glad the White House is sending diplomats to defeat this existential threat to the United States. But war is brutal, right?

The unexploded bomblets have the appearance of yellow drink containers and are attractive, often picked up by children who mistake them for toys. However, the consequences are lethal, often resulting in maiming or even fatalities.

What is a war without limbless children anyway?

How effective are these munitions? “98 percent of victims of cluster bombs over the past three decades have been civilians, a third of them children.”

Eric Sharp. ETF's picture
By Eric Sharp at 11:02AM

Occupy Mordor or Destroy the Ring?

There has been mixed responses to Occupy Wall Street by libertarians. Some see the movement as a positive, while others see them as little more than lazy hipsters.

But libertarians must be sensitive why people feel the way they do about issues.

The occupiers point out a legitimate concern that "the 1%" control vastly more power and wealth than "the 99%," and corporations have accumulated more power and privilege than is healthy for an open society. Some other concerns and demands are absurd, but the heart of the matter is on track.

The contention is why has this happened?
While many on the left are quick to blame a nebulous thing called "greed," or lack of regulation, the matter is more complicated than that.

This calls for a Lord of the Rings metaphor.


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Adam Weinberg's picture
By Adam Weinberg at 2:01PM

Northern California YALers Visualize the Debt

15 trillion

Last Spring, Young Americans for Liberty chapters across the nation made headlines for putting our national debt crisis in perspective with "Visualize the Debt," a national activism event where students constructed large displays depicting the overwhelming and ever-increasing number which is our government debt.

Unfortunately, Visualize the Debt is one of those events that has never become less relevant in our generation. The debt continues to grow at $4 billion a day. Congress put a band-aid over the issue when they raised the debt cieling in August to $15.2 trillion, but the band-aid has nearly been peeled off. 

In the past week, the national debt crossed the $15 trillion mark - exceeding the entirety of our Gross National Product. That is, if we were all taxed at 100% and still willingly got up in the morning to go to work, we still couldn't pay this thing off over the course of a year.


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Wes Messamore's picture
By Wesley Messamore at 11:41AM

The Super Committee Failed Because Neither Side Is Willing To Give Up Washington's Empire

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As the so-called super committee announced its inability to come up with a plan for deficit reduction by its Nov 23rd deadline, the sheer magnitude of dysfunction on Capitol Hill was perhaps best summarized by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said:

Both sides of the aisle, both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue – they cannot even come up with something that would not have even solved the problem.

 That’s a key point to remember, that the 12-member super committee was simply tasked with finding $1.2 trillion to cut out of the federal budget over the next ten years. $1.2 trillion in cuts might not even balance the budget next year alone. With that in mind, Mayor Bloomberg’s criticism– which so aptly and pithily captures the absurdity of the deficit debacle that it could just as easily have been a Jon Stewart line– rings absolutely true. Congress cannot even come up with something that would not have even solved the problem. Can there be any wonder that its approval ratings remain so low?


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