While we all should try and maintain our sense of respect and professionalism during a time of crisis, I need to say it at least once: Ron Paul told you so. So many laughed at him during the debates (literally) when he warned that this would happen.
But it’s not just that Ron Paul, the man, is right – Paul studies libertarian, Austrian free-market economics, the adherents of which have predicted every major bust period in the past century. Economics is not the knowledge of complicated sets of mathematic formulas and equations – but an understanding of logic and human action. It is not about pragmatism, “common sense” or making accounting changes to meet challenges – but a philosophy of reason which explains everything from the growth of government to the disputes of children over toys. Even Jesus dying on the cross can be explained by economic logic. A failure to understand this fundamental truth is going to lead to fear, panic and vast quantities of destruction.
I have been ridiculed here, and in other place because free-market capitalism is really just this funny idea that never works in real life, and should be abandoned in favor of market “stabilization” measures such as price controls, anti-trust regulations, legislated morality or mercantilism. As if capitalism is just a “textbook thing” or an unworkable theory which never leaves the pages. But capitalism is in the textbook in the same way that gravity is – you might not agree with it, or believe it, but it is there and you can be aware that it is all around you as the natural order. Trying to fight it will always be a losing battle because you are fighting a force like gravity – but refusing to acknowledge the omnipresence of the natural economic order will result in a harder fall as ignorant explanations remove one father from it.
I encourage everyone to go back and watch the GOP debates with Ron Paul. Watch how he says that the economy is going to falter, how our credit rating with our debtors (China) is falling, how the Fed will inflate deliberately, how our military will be called home because of a lack of funds, how Fannie and Freddie will fail, how the housing market will fail. But Paul does not merely outline and accurately predict the problems, he knows the solutions – not because he’s a god (although to those deceived by economic ignorance, it may seem like strange magic) but because he’s read a few books on the subject. I would recommend everyone read this one to start.
So, the weekly links on the economy read like Ron Paul’s debate answers in 2007 and speeches from as early as 2003:
The Empire Strikes Out – The US Economic Crisis
China Rumoured to Cease Lending to US
Ron Paul confronts Ben Bernake
Ron Paul’s CNN front page article
The U.S. has slipped markedly in economic freedom since the year 2000:
Economic freedom around the world remains on the rise but it has declined notably in the U.S. since the year 2000, according to an authoritative study released today by the Cato Institute and Canada’s Fraser Institute.
In 2000 the U.S. was the second-freest economy listed in Economic Freedom of the World, an annual report written by James Gwartney from Florida State University and Robert Lawson from Auburn University. This year the U.S. has fallen to 8th place, behind Hong Kong (ranked in first place), Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Chile, and Canada.
More significant than the U.S.’s drop in the rankings is its fall in the freedom ratings: on a scale of 0-10, the U.S. fell from 8.55 in 2000 to 8.04, according to the Economic Freedom of the World Report: 2008 Annual Report. Only five countries have experienced a greater decline over the same time period: Zimbabwe, Argentina, Niger, Venezuela, and Guyana.
Army to begin patrolling American cities in October
In Foreign Lands
Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq:
Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.
“By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left,” geography professor John Agnew of the University of California Los Angeles, who led the study, said in a statement.
“Essentially, our interpretation is that violence has declined in Baghdad because of intercommunal violence that reached a climax as the surge was beginning,” said Agnew, who studies ethnic conflict.
“Our findings suggest that the surge has had no observable effect, except insofar as it has helped to provide a seal of approval for a process of ethno-sectarian neighborhood homogenization that is now largely achieved,” Agnew’s team wrote in their report.
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That thing about the armies patrolling American cities in October is no joke. In fact, there have been preparations for this sort of thing for years. It’s all been caught on film. Many of them were exercises involving civilians in hypothetical martial law scenarios. Sometimes abandoned buildings are bombed, and sometimes the training involves foreign armies or local police forces. The military has literally gone into towns and recruited the citizenry to partake in these exercises where they are confronted with armed military personnel who give them orders they must follow, etc. Sometimes the people are asked to collectively dissent in order to train the military how to deal with insurrection. Much of the strategic planning for this was started during the Reagan administration with Rex-84, the classified Continuity of Government program. This is really what FEMA does; they are not a relief organization. They have would-be internment camps set up at various places throughout the U.S. Even Congress is forbidden to know what this is all about.
If Ron Paul was right about this complex problem matbe he is right about Barney Frank also. Wher is Barney’s boy lover at today? Still with Fannie Mae? or is it Freddy Mac? or maybe Indymac?
I would have loved for Ron Paul to have been the republican candidate. I am going to do a write in vote for Ron Paul. That being said, I must say that I agree with Ron Paul on almost all issues except one big one. Like many libertarians he fails to recognize the difference between oversight and regulation. Certainly the crisis of today wasn’t brought on by excessive oversight. Repealing Glass Stengle, forbidding regulators from setting up any kind of rules for derivative trading, (both courtesy of phil gramm who will almost certainly the major player in McCains economic team. that’s scary), and a total failure by the SEC to enforce the rules or examine financial reporting are some of the leading causes of today’s crisis.
I am a huge believer in capitalism and free markets. That would be OPEN and free markets, not the kind of backroom insiders game that has been played for the last decade. Making corporations and government do accurate, open, honest accounting would NOT hinder anyone that wasn’t looking to make dishonest money anyway.
Why hasn’t anyone been indicted yet?
Colin, thank you for this.
Ron Paul is right, and has been for decades. I just watched a Neil Cavuto show where he called Dr. Paul a “genius,” and said, “You did warn us about all this so my hat is off to you.”
While everyone else was mocking and jeering the “crazy old man from Texas,” all his predictions were coming true. Americans should be ashamed of themselves for being so willfully ignorant. Now, it’s too late. One way or another, an unconstitutional and devastating blow will be dealt to our children’s futures.
“Consequence Management Response Force”