Congressman Ron Paul and the Finance Committee Hearing, 4/02/08: A Capitalist Wolf Amongst the Communist Jackals

A while ago, under the influence of some Sri Lankan industrial-grade English Breakfast tea, Silverwolf heard himself make the spontaneous, but rather unfunny, witticism, “Mortgage delinquency is a pain in the arrears.”

Perhaps his sense of humor had been soured by watching that farce, conducted on Tuesday, by several joint congressional committees, as they questioned Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, on the recent Bear Stearns bail-out, for never had he heard such a huge quantity of horsedung slung around a congressional hearing room as on that occasion, as the Collectivists of the Financial-Industrial complex, led by Chairman Charles “Chuck” Schumer, tried to justify their giveaway of the American publics tax dollars to the banking industry.

There was very little of substance to listen to in that two-plus hours of hot fiscal halitosis, save for Congressman  Ron Paul’s eloquent statement and relevent questioning of nervous Ben, Senator Bunning’s forthright statement that the whole thing was just plain Communism, and Representative Hinchey’s observations on how the inflation was devastating working-class people. But it was illuminating as an insight into how pervasive collectivist thinking has become in the halls of Congress.

Firstly, it was stated, de rigeur, by virtually all the Quislings, except Paul and Bunning, that the bail-out was absolutely necessary. All these pathetics joined in in praising this legalized theft of the American taxpayer, to benefit a small clique of very wealthy bankers, who chose to take risks which normal FDIC-insured institutions wouldn’t touch. Somehow, a vast financial empire, as vast as America, was going to all come down if a few thousand people didn’t get bailed out — and why? Because, nervous Ben told us, the markets were so fragile, the system was under great stress.  Yet only a little while earlier, nervous Ben was telling us how the American financial system is so strong, has great resilience, how our exports are booming etc.  Sen. Bunning really jumped on him on this point, in the follow up meeting the Banking Committee held the next day, in which the Collectivists carefully stroked the three incompetents, Bernanke, Cox, and Geithner, who, after 100 years of central banking, still are “learning”, “reforming”, “rethinking” and “reformulating”. The usual load of cobblers.

As Murray Rothbard pointed out, bank failures, and bank runs, are a sign of banking strength, and will tend to keep the banks honest. People will keep their money in the banks that their due diligence has shown to be sound; they will collapse shyster banks, even though Charles “Chuck” Schumer, would like to keep those banks in business with his Federal Deposit Insurance, another huge claim on the coming unborn generations of Americans. But what does he care? Schumer wants to make sure that home prices don’t come down to a level where the working poor could afford them, which is exactly what would happen if the housing bubble were to be allowed to deflate, as it always has in free-markets, which gives the frugal and the patient a chance to gain assets which the inflationists have priced out of their range. Schumer wants to stop that process, perhaps because so many of his friends and contacts in the wealthy New York community have a vested interest in keeping the inflated valuations on their property right where they are now. Schumer, Kennedy, and the other Democratic miscreants on the committee want to make sure the poor don’t have a chance to buy a home, and with the coming bail-out, they may succeed in their wish. Notice that Schumer rattled off that the bill they were proposing included $200 million for counciling of 500,000 homeowners in foreclosure. Well, what does that work out to? It’s $400 for each counciling action. Considering a minimum-wage worker, who has no shot at a house, had to work roughly 50 hours to gross the amount that Schumer is willing to throw at one counciling session, it’s sobering to remember that Schumer, Kennedy, and the other inflationist thieves, are always braying about how they are for the little guy.  And the litany of economic woes that Kennedy rattled off — these were all woes that were directly attributable to the inflationist policies that Kennedy has worked so tirelessly for, for so many years, since they help to keep the poor in their place, and permit Kennedy’s elitist cronies to prosper at the expense of the middle-class inflated-wage slaves. What putrid hypocrites!

The other great boondoggle, that the Commies were falling all over each other to approve, was the granting of broad, new powers to the Treasury Czar. In fact, Schumer and Sununu engaged in the disingenuous tactic of saying that the other party didn’t favor strong enough measures for the the Dollar-Czar. Seems like there was too much freedom in this market which, supposedly, the finest financial minds had had 70 years to fix into a failsafe mechanism.( And, hell, why don’t they just dispense with the preliminaries and give us a Treasury Czar who will write out a 5-Year Plan, like old Papa Joe Stalin used to advise?) But on Wednesday, the three fools, Bernanke, Cox, and Geithner, admitted over and over that they had got it all wrong. How could a major investment bank, that the Fed had said was OK, go down so fast if your capital requirements were sound? Cox admitted that the Fed officials are worthless, though he put it as “oh, we were so surprised at the rapid failure of Bear, and we’re working to make sure it never happens again” — funny, these bureaucrats are always “working”, but they always get it wrong —, while Bernanke admitted that basically, the Fed never really knows if any bank might fail, because capital is so fluid nowadays. Bernanke also admitted to Schumer,— who is anxious to bail out his speculator friends, in the name of helping the poor duped homeowners, who signed a legal document, but, evidently, never thought about it too seriously— that there is no way to distinguish between the property speculators, and the genuinely distressed homeowners. You can be sure Charles “Chuck” Schumer, will bail them all out with your tax money, and with an inflation of your savings, so that you pay the bill by paying more at the grocery store, as the government prints vast quantities of paper dollars, swelling the money supply. In fact, Schumer’s basic gripe was “You give welfare to the rich, why not give it to the homeowner.” But where does Schumer think all this welfare comes from? Does he think money is a reflection of value, sweat, labor, or is it just a digit, that one man must create with labor, and another can acquire by a vote of Schumer, Kennedy, Sununu, Brownback, and the other looters on the committee. (And Brownback even complemented Bernanke on his destruction of the dollar, by saying that exports from his state were booming. Guess on a Senator’s pay, you don’t have to sweat inflation too much, do you? Mr. Brownback.) Congressman Ron Paul is absolutely right when he says that the current inflation is due to the Fed printing massive amounts of money. Evidently, the American public would rather be poorer than richer. They have certainly voted that way so far in this election season.

When Capitalist Wolf Ron Paul questioned nervous Ben, Ben said that they were trying to get the interest rate right, that they were still learning, and perhaps, with more experience they will learn to set the interest rate at the correct level.

Ron Paul suggested that maybe we should leave that determination to the free-market. And after those few seconds of truth, the shower of horsedung recommenced.

Ron Paul is the champion of the working man, the saver, the small investor, the small businessman, and the artisan. He is the moral enemy of the inflationist thieves who are destroying the purchasing power of your money. You can vote for yourself, or against yourself. The choice is yours.

Congressman Ron Paul: A Capitalist wolf Amongst the Communist jackals.

You said it, Silverwolf!

Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! — Silverwolf.

 

 

 

Tags: Add new tag, Ben Bernanke, Ron Paul, Sen. Bunning, Sen. Kennedy, Sen. Schumer, Sen. Sununu, the Fed, the Finance Committee