President Bush's
Saturday Morning Radio Address
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Another Perspective:
"Liberty Under God"
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| THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Americans from all walks of life are continuing to feel the effects of the financial crisis. In recent weeks, concerns about the availability of credit, the safety of financial assets, and the volatility of the stock market have made many families understandably anxious about their economic future. |
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| The Federal government has taken bold action to stabilize our economy. Earlier this month, my Administration worked with Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that is providing funds to help banks rebuild capital and resume lending. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has temporarily guaranteed most new debt issued by insured banks, which will make it easier for these banks to borrow needed money. And the Federal Reserve is launching a new program to provide support for commercial paper -- a key source of short-term financing for America's businesses and financial institutions. These steps are beginning to show results, but it will take time for their full impact to be felt. |
Administration Urges Patience on Bailout | Cato Institute |
| In coordination with the United States, many other nations have taken similar steps to address turbulence in their domestic markets. This crisis is global in reach -- and addressing it will require further international cooperation. So this week, I consulted with leaders from throughout the world and announced that I would convene an international summit in Washington on November the 15th. |
The United States has taken strong-arm action to ensure that the Dollar is the backbone of international currency. Some have suggested that Saddam Hussein was overthrown because he threatened to refuse to accept the Dollar for oil. A Free Market in currency would have avoided the international scope of the bubbles created by the Federal Reserve. |
| This summit will be the first in a series of meetings aimed at addressing this crisis. The summit will bring together leaders of the G20 nations -- countries that represent both the developed and the developing world. And the summit will also include the heads of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Financial Stability Forum, as well as the Secretary General of the United Nations. |
I think of myself as being fairly well informed on political and economic issues. I have never heard of the "Financial Stability Forum." Have you?
Did you vote for the members of the "Financial Stability Forum?" Have you ever heard the phrase "No Taxation Without Representation"? |
| During this summit, we will discuss the causes of the problems in our financial systems, review the progress being made to address the current crisis, and begin developing principles of reform for regulatory bodies and institutions related to our financial sectors. While the specific solutions pursued by every country may not be the same, agreeing on a common set of principles will be an essential step towards preventing similar crises in the future. |
None of these bodies were created by "We the People" and none of their duties are prescribed in the Constitution. The most important decisions of our day, affecting our lives, our fortunes and our rights, are being decided by utterly unrepresentative global governments. Their policies are going to determine who gets to own a house. They will determine who gets to run their own business. This is all light-years away from the principles of the Constitution, and even further removed from the principles of a Free Market.
What basis is there for believing that these global plutocrats will be able to prevent what they were already unable to prevent?
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| As we focus on responses to our short-term challenges, our nations must also recommit to the fundamentals of long-term economic growth -- free markets, free enterprise, and free trade.
Open market policies have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people around the world escape the grip of poverty. These policies have shown themselves time and time again to be the surest path to creating jobs, increasing commerce, and fostering progress. And this moment of global economic uncertainty would be precisely the wrong time to reject such proven methods for creating prosperity and hope.
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Here's the use of the word "our" again. Only this time, instead of "our nation," Bush speaks of "our nations," plural. How are these nations, as well as the IMF, the World Bank and the "Financial Stability Forum" "ours?" And how do the actions of these unelected Masters of the Universe make us more free, and restore free markets, free enterprise, and free trade? This is such obvious pandering demagoguery.
In what sense have "our nations" (the nations of the g-20) been committed in the past to free markets, free enterprise, and free trade? Why did they end their commitment to the ideals of freedom? Why are they now going to "recommit" to these "fundamentals" of liberty? This is all fraudulent propaganda.
Following immediately after the "free" phrases, the phrase "Open market policies" is deliberately ambiguous and misleading. Open market operations are the actions of the Federal Reserve System in creating new government money through the "monetization of debt" through the purchase of government bonds.
- But beyond this obfuscation, Bush is clearly portraying the bankers as our Saviors. It is important to remember that in the Bible, the word "salvation" most often refers to the conditions which Bush says the bankers are going to create:
- • "escape from the grip of poverty"
- • "jobs"
- • "commerce"
- • "progress"
- • lack of "uncertainty"
- • "prosperity"
- • "hope"
- America was built on a different religion. Not statism, but belief that this kind of cultural salvation comes about through "Liberty Under God," and is a blessing not of the iron fist of the State, but the Invisible Hand of Divine Providence.
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- Statism is idolatry, according to America's Founding Fathers.
- Idolatry of the Grand Scale
If Bush really believed in free markets, free enterprise, and free trade, he would simply abolish the Federal Reserve, end Washington D.C.'s "entangling alliances" with the central banks of the G-20 nations, abolish the IMF, World Bank, and end U.S. participation in international socialism. Instead, Bush is conspiring to create or perpetuate the detailed manipulation of the economies of the world for the benefit of bankers.
This issue is so big, and affects us all so profoundly, that only the mainstream media could miss it, and fail to say anything about it. |
| Despite the ups and downs that our markets have experienced in recent months, the American people have reason for optimism in our Nation's economic future. Throughout our history, we have seen that when Americans are given the freedom to apply their talents and imagination, prosperity and success follow closely behind. For over two centuries, that principle has allowed our economy to overcome every obstacle it has faced. And we can all be confident that it will do so again. |
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| Thank you for listening. |
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New Resources
A complete collection of libertarian resources regarding the Wall St. Bailout are here. Here are some new additions from this past week:
Government Caused This Crisis
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
- Privatized Social Security would create prosperity:
- True investment in the means of production, not fictional "trust fund"
- benefits 3-10 times higher than government benefits
- pass a million dollars or more on to heirs for home or business start-up
From the Blog
Is there a "Crisis?" Really?
- Whaddya Know, Economists? - Reason Magazine
- The drying up of credit is a myth, as Robert Higgs explains: Credit Is Flowing, Sky Is Not Falling, Don’t Panic.
- Credit for the uncreditworthy should be allowed to dry up. The flood of such credit was created by the government to gain votes.
- 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, "credit worthy."
In other words, a trillion dollar bailout is designed to prevent a resurgence of responsible lending.
- Bernanke's Hype - Forbes.com
Additional "Liberty Under God" Resources
See our 2008 Bailout page for more resources.
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, listed below.
- 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.
What Would America's Founding Fathers Do?
The men who threw tea into the Boston Harbor over a tax of 3 pence per pound would not be happy with a tax ten times greater on every gallon of gas. Those who took up muskets over a total tax burden of less than 3% would not be happy with the fact that the federal government now takes more than half of everything you earn.
Today it is illegal for public school teachers to teach their students that the Declaration of Independence is really true (and not just an outdated historical document). The federal government is clearly at war with everything the Founding Fathers stood for.
America's greatest Americans would abolish today's federal government.
Muskets are Not an Option
There are two reasons why we should not take up arms to pull off the violent overthrow of the federal government, even if America's Founders would surely do so. First, the feds have nukes. Second, violent revolution is unChristian and unBiblical. We must beat our swords into plowshares and use persuasion to abolish tyranny. This is time for a revolution of ideas.
Revolution Won't Come in a Day
John Adams once wrote that the American Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis began legal challenges to the Writs of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American independence," Adams wrote, "was then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15 years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence (1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and
then six years before the Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20 years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."
The Internet Can Speed up the Revolution
Here are ways you can help.
Support This Campaign
Send emails. Find out how this free tool can change everything.
Revenge:
Vote Against Every Politician Who Voted for the Bailout, No Matter What
Communicating with Government and Media
- Contact Congress -- this is from the JBS website, powered by "CapWiz," from Capitol Advantage. Lots of organizations use capwiz. If you don't want to go through the JBS, search for capwiz on Google and find another organization that uses it.
Notice that you can also contact media through this webpage.
- Action E-List
Sign up for the JBS Action E-List and be notified when you can make a critical difference on important issues.
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Make Congress Read Their Bills Before Voting
Make Congress read every word of every bill they create before they vote on it.
Urge your Representative and your Senators to sponsor DownsizeDC.org's “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA). |
TWIC - A Backdoor Real ID Card
Real ID is dying. But the Department of Homeland Security has a new plan to subject every American to a national ID card anyway. They plan to pick off one occupational field at a time, starting with the maritime industry. One man is fighting back. Meet him, and help stop this backdoor Real ID plan.
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Stop the Killer Horse Hormones
The FDA "outlawed" the use of Estriol, an estrogen medication that's bio-identical to human estrogen. Doctors must now prescribe animal-derived estrogen instead. Are bio-identical hormones dangerous, while animal-derived hormones are safe? No. The practice of medicine is moving to chemically identical to human hormones and away from animal hormones. Learn why the FDA decided to endanger women's health in this way, and take action. |
End Asset Forfeiture
If the government suspects you used your house or car in a crime, they can take it and sell it at auction. They don't even have to prove your guilt. They call this practice civil asset forfeiture, but it's really theft. It violates the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 14th Amendments. It also encourages law enforcement to put profits before justice. Tell Congress to end civil asset forfeiture.
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Support an Iraq Referendum
Americans keep debating when, how, or if to leave Iraq. Maybe we should ask the Iraqi people what they want. After all, it's their country. Tell Congress to request that the Iraqi government hold a public referendum on the U.S. occupation. Learn more »
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"Cap and Trade" is not the way
The politicians seem to be unifying around "cap and trade" as a way to cut CO2 emissions. If they take this step it may be the largest increase in the size, scope, and intrusiveness of government since the creation of Medicare. Worse still, it may not even achieve its purpose. Please tell Congress to oppose "cap and trade." Learn more »
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Iraq Waste
Big government prospers through failure. Each new failure is used to justify more spending and new powers. Wasteful spending in Iraq is the latest example. One way to change this is to hold government accountable. A new bill in Congress seeks to provide some of the needed accountability. Please support it. Learn more »
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Stop the War for Terror
U.S. policy has inflamed the Middle East. It has made terrorism more likely rather than less. We seem to be fighting a war for terror, rather than on terror. This policy must stop. The place to start stopping is with Iran. We must not attack Iran. War with Iran would devastate our economy, disrupt world oil supplies, and recruit more terrorists. Click here to stop this war before it starts.
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The Democrat Party Radio Address:
The The Democratic Radio Address was a campaign commercial delivered by Michele Obama, wife of the Democrat Party Presidential nominee. She recounted her childhood dreams of helping people get registered to vote. She claimed that Obama represents dramatic change from the present.
Click here for a replay of this edition of the Ozarks Virtual Town Hall
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