• Never have voted for the Wall Street Bailout Plan
• Repeal it.

Congress recently passed legislation which will take more than $2,000 from every man, woman and child in America and give it to Wall Street investors who made bad investments. The plan might be called "The Paulson Plan," after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former CEO of a major Wall Street investment firm, who will undoubtedly return to Wall Street in January, 2009, to great fanfare and gratitude.

Should America be as grateful to Secretary Paulson as his Wall Street friends are?

We are told we should be. We are not supposed to speak of the plan as a "bailout" plan, but rather a "rescue" plan, not for "Wall Street," but for "Main Street."

The bailout plan is fraudulent, unethical, unconstitutional and will bring judgment on America from "the Supreme Judge of the World."

• Unconstitutional:
  The President has forgotten the limits placed on his authority by the Constitution. He does not have the Constitutional authority to spend a trillion dollars bailing out irresponsible investors.
  The Legislature has forgotten that all spending bills are to originate in the House of Representatives, not the Senate, and not the President's Cabinet.
  Is it Constitutional? No: Cato Institute
• Abomination:
  The central problem in this "crisis" is a system of "false weights and measures." Mortgage loans do not originate in the deposits of savers. Americans aren't saving any more, they're spending everything they earn. Mortgage loans consist of money which is created out of thin air. Banks create "counterfeit" money to lend. This is called  "fiat money." The Bible calls it an "abomination."
• Fraudulent:
  If the government were not fraudulently debasing the currency, creating new money to be loaned out at interest, the debt-pyramid would never have been created in the first place. There would have been no sale of mortgage-backed securities. There would have been no "crisis." There would have been no need for a "bailout." We should abolish the Federal Reserve.
• Judgment:
  Although the government claims to be on the side of the poor, earnestly desiring the poor to have "the benefits of home ownership," in reality the government is on the side of the banks. If the government really wanted to be Mother Teresa, it could have printed up the money and given it directly to the poor. Instead, it gives the counterfeit money to banks, who lend the money to the poor at interest. Loaning money to the poor at interest has always been considered morally repugnant in Western (Christian) Civilization. (More on "usury.") A bank can suck a quarter of a million dollars in interest out of your family's estate for a $100,000 mortgage.

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Government Regulation Caused This Crisis Not an "Unregulated" Free Market Anatomy of a Breakdown: Concerted government policy helped trigger the financial meltdown—and will almost certainly extend it. - Reason Magazine Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending | New York Times, September 30, 1999, describing efforts by Democrats in the Clinton Administration to create the current crisis. Barney Frank's fingerprints are all over the financial fiasco | Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe The Corporate State Fails | "According to popular myth, the current financial turmoil is the result of Bush administration deregulation. One problem with that theory: there was no deregulation. The last banking deregulation, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill, was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1999. Oops." "Let’s hear no more about Republicans’ loving limited government." The Corporate State Wins Government Failure | To hear the media pundits and presidential candidates tell it, you’d think Adam Smith has been president for the last eight years and, with a Congress full of free-market advocates, had enacted an agenda of full-blown laissez-faire. But believe it or not, the problems in the financial and housing industries are not a market failure. They are a government failure. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Freddie Mac: A Mercantilist Enterprise, by Paul Cleveland, March 14, 2005 Fannie Mae: Another New Deal Monstrosity, by Karen De Coster, July 2, 2007 How Fannie and Freddie Made Me a Grumpy Economist, by Christopher Westley, July 21, 2008 Who Made the Fannie and Freddie Threat? By Frank Shostak, March 5, 2004 Are Fannie and Freddie Too Big to Fail? By Frank Shostak, September 17, 2008 Fannie Mae Distorts Markets, by Robert Blumen, June 17, 2002 Community Reinvestment Act The CRA Scam and its Defenders, by Thomas DiLorenzo, April 30, 2008 Regulatory Sneak Attack, by Thomas DiLorenzo, September 16, 1999 The Housing Bubble The Housing Bubble in Four Easy Steps, by Mark Thornton, September 27, 2008 The Real Cost of a Full Bailout, by Don Rich, August 22, 2008 The Subprime Mortgage "Crisis" Will Fix Itself, by Steve Berger, May 30, 2007 Did the Fed Cause the Housing Bubble? By Robert Murphy, April 14, 2008 The Mortgage Market Mess, by Christopher Westley, May 17, 2007 Housing Bubble: Myth or Reality? By Frank Shostak, March 4, 2003 Who Predicted This? The Financial Apocalyptics are Back, Robert Blumen, July 25, 2007 Sowing the Seeds of the Next Crisis, Thorsten Polleit, April 25, 2006 Credit Crisis: Precursor of Great Inflation, by Thorsten Polleit, February 7, 2008 Mr. Bailout, by Anton Mueller, September 30, 2004 America's Unsustainable Boom, by Stefan Karlsson, November 8, 2004 Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash? By Mark Thornton, July 14, 2003

The "crisis" began when the federal government began requiring lenders to make loans to people who were bad credit risks, but were also members of politically-favored demographic groups: "minorities," the "poor"; the "disenfranchised," etc. Banks don't like making loans to people who are statistically at risk of not paying the loan back. So politicians, to gain the votes of the "disadvantaged," put regulatory pressure on lenders to lend to uncreditworthy borrowers.

This was an environment of regulation, not de-regulation. It was more socialist than "laissez-faire." (see links in box at right)

Government is supposed to operate only for the benefit of the "general welfare." This is clearly an example of the government acting to benefit special interests. First for "the poor," and now, with the bailout, for Wall Street.

We are told that if this special interest group (Wall Street bankers) are not bailed out, that "credit will seize up" and nobody will be able to continue living in debt.

This would be a bad thing?

Government, operating as a benefactor of lenders, rather than for the "general welfare," has been stacking the deck for decades against Main Street and in favor of Wall Street. The government encourages living in debt, to the benefit of the bankers. Example: the government makes mortgage debt interest (Wall Street profit) tax-deductible. Don't you wish the goods and services you sell were likewise deductible? Would that make your business more profitable?

Not all of Wall Street was involved in the mortgage pyramid. Those firms that were should go out of business, and those that weren't will be only too happy to pick up the legitimate banking services that were provided by the now-bankrupt firms.

Actually,

• The drying up of credit is a myth, as Robert Higgs explains: Credit Is Flowing, Sky Is Not Falling, Don’t Panic.
• On The Media: Transcript of "Rescue Mission" (September 26, 2008)
• Sheldon Richman asks, Is This What It's All About? He quotes business reporter Ali Velshi of CNN, talking about the alleged credit drought on Tuesday when he stopped and said (roughly), "When I say 'dried up,' I don't mean there's no money. But you'd better have good collateral and good credit."
  In other words, a trillion dollar bailout is designed to prevent a resurgence of responsible lending.
• Bernanke's Hype - Forbes.com

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Below are resources related to the bailout from the following sources:

• Kevin Craig's Platform
• Kevin Craig's Campaign Blog
• Other Liberty-Oriented Sources
• The Mises Institute "Bailout Reader"
• Books to Distribute
• The Ozarks Virtual Town Hall

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Kevin Craig's Platform "Vine & Fig Tree" - the original American Dream - work, profit, save, invest, enjoy - not "easy to borrow," perpetual debt. Pursuit of Happiness, not right to happiness - risk-takers must take personal responsibility. "Free Enterprise" means profit and loss. Allowing irresponsible businesses to fail is good. Econonomic Theory for the American Free Enterprise System My Message to Leaders The Doctrine of "Enumerated Powers" - Government only has those powers delegated to it by "We the People" in the pages of the Constitution. Bailing out Wall Street was not one of those powers. Government causes bankruptcy. Government causes inflation. Government caused "The Great Depression" Government bails out special interests, does not promote the "general welfare." Why do people need to get a loan? Government takes more than half of everything you earn, leaving you with less than you need. The average family now pays more in taxes than it spends for housing, clothing, and food combined. Thinking Biblically about the Banking Crisis How Much Red Ink in a TRILLION Dollar Bailout? Interest Rates Should be Higher From the Mises.org "Bailout Reader" Short Selling The SEC Short Sells Us Down the River Short-Sale Restrictions Are an Exercise in Naked Power, by Robert Murphy, August 11, 2008 The Social Function of Futures Markets, by Robert Murphy, November 29, 2006 Don't Sell Short Selling Short, by Gary Galles, April 6, 2007 The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle The Idiocy of Wall Street, by Don Rich, September 24, 2008 The Fed is Culpable, by Hans F. Sennholz, November 11, 2002 Skyscrapers and Business Cycles, by Mark Thornton, August 23, 2008 Economic Outlook 2008: Darkening Clouds, Dominick Armentano, January 2, 2008 Business Cycle Primer, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. February 8, 2001 Economics Depressions: Their Cause and Cure, by Murray Rothbard

Updates from the Blog The Bailout Reader Lessons for Legislators The Danger is Defeat, Not Destruction Protecting the Poor and America's 401(k)s Enslaving Blacks Ron Paul’s Joint Economic Committee Statement How Much is a Trillion? New Nigerian Scam? Government is the Problem Thinking Biblically about the Banking Crisis A Government Bailout Analogy Interlocking Lies Biden: Patriotic to Pay More Taxes Who's to Blame? "We have made lies our refuge." The View from Down Unduh Income Inequality: What's the Problem? No Taxation Without Representation The End of the American Empire Government Debt -- mofb #3 Usury It would probably be depressing to compare the average university economics curriculum (and the understanding the average university economics student has of the current "bailout" crisis) with the following worthwhile links: The Bailout Reader - A Collection of papers from the Mises Institute. Notablog: A Crisis of Political Economy - Another "reader" by Chris Sciabarra, a Visiting Scholar at New York University - a complete course in economics relating to the current "crisis," if you follow the links. Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - New York Times, September 30, 1999, describing efforts by Democrats in the Clinton Administration to create the current crisis. Barney Frank's fingerprints are all over the financial fiasco - Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection Barney Frank is a homosexual. One of his "lovers" was a Fannie Mae executive. (Could this be an argument for homosexual "marriage?" After all, if they were officially, legally "married," there might have been some "conflict of interest" issues. But there are undoubtedly a large number of similar conflicts with heterosexuals in and out of Congress who are not "married" to each other.) The Corporate State Fails "According to popular myth, the current financial turmoil is the result of Bush administration deregulation. One problem with that theory: there was no deregulation. The last banking deregulation, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill, was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1999. Oops." "Let’s hear no more about Republicans’ loving limited government." Government Failure To hear the media pundits and presidential candidates tell it, you’d think Adam Smith has been president for the last eight years and, with a Congress full of free-market advocates, had enacted an agenda of full-blown laissez-faire. But believe it or not, the problems in the financial and housing industries are not a market failure. They are a government failure. Photo of House Bailout Leader.

"Liberty Under God" No amnesty for Wall Street Is the bailout needed? Many economists say 'no' | McClatchy Washington Bureau | 09/25/2008 Former Kissinger Policy Planner, CFR Member Calls For New Global Monetary Authority Ron Paul Called the Housing Collapse in July, 2002. He Said That the Fannie and Freddie Would Be the Cause. The Mystery of Banking - Joseph T. Salerno - Mises Institute Bush the Socialist Destroyer - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. - Mises Institute A Bailout for All Our Bad Decisions? - Mark Sanford - washingtonpost.com Dispossession by Decree Bailing Out Statism Government Failure Does Wall Street Have a Death Wish? Comrade Bernanke Does it Again Peter Schiff The Moral Hazard Dilemma Risk-takers should not be bailed out when they lose The Fed’s AIG Loan/Takeover: Another New Deal Legacy Putting Lipstick on an AIG by Lila Rajiva Bailout-Mania Government Takeovers: Another Weapon, and a Truly Fearsome One Ron Paul Against the Bailout Bailout Truth: Inflationary Crony Capitalism by Bill Butler Lipstick on a Bailout by Ron Paul Inflationary Finance What's Behind the Financial Market Crisis? by Antony Mueller, September 18, 2008 Our Financial House of Cards, by George Reisman, March 25, 2008 Will Central Bankers Become Central Planners? by Robert Blumen, July 31, 2008 Inflation is a Policy that Cannot Last, by Thorsten Polleit, March 14, 2008 The Widening Safety Net, by Christopher Mayer, March 19, 2004 The Fed's New Tricks Are Creating Disaster, Frank Shostak, March 18, 2008 The Fed's War on the Middle Class, by Mark Thornton, June 4, 2008. Austrian Economics and Financial Markets conference at The Venetian Hotel Resort Casino, Las Vegas, 02-18-2005 Books to Distribute The Theory of Money and Credit, by Ludwig von Mises America's Great Depression, by Murray Rothbard The Mystery of Banking, by Murray Rothbard Prices and Production, by F.A. Hayek Causes of the Economic Crisis, by Ludwig von Mises Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays, by Ludwig von Mises, et al. Understanding the Dollar Crisis, by Percy Greaves The Case Against the Fed, by Murray Rothbard Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles, by Jesus Huerta de Soto History of American Currency, by William Graham Sumner Banking and the Business Cycle, by C.A. Phillips Fiat Money Inflation in France, by Andrew Dickson White

The links above were compiled during the week of October 5. Here are some new updates:

next: Campaign Finance, Corruption and the Oath of Office