It’s a shame the morally bankrupt Republican party has John McCain to offer the American people, here is a real American who foresaw the mess we’re in now, from the House’s official website:
Congressman Ron Paul
U.S. House of Representatives
July 16, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Free Housing Market Enhancement Act. This legislation restores a free market in housing by repealing special privileges for housing-related government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). These entities are the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie), and the National Home Loan Bank Board (HLBB). According to the Congressional Budget Office, the housing-related GSEs received $13.6 billion worth of indirect federal subsidies in fiscal year 2000 alone.
One of the major government privileges granted these GSEs is a line of credit to the United States Treasury. According to some estimates, the line of credit may be worth over $2 billion. This explicit promise by the Treasury to bail out these GSEs in times of economic difficulty helps them attract investors who are willing to settle for lower yields than they would demand in the absence of the subsidy. Thus, the line of credit distorts the allocation of capital. More importantly, the line of credit is a promise on behalf of the government to engage in a massive unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE debt.
The Free Housing Market Enhancement Act also repeals the explicit grant of legal authority given to the Federal Reserve to purchase the debt of housing-related GSEs. GSEs are the only institutions besides the United States Treasury granted explicit statutory authority to monetize their debt through the Federal Reserve. This provision gives the GSEs a source of liquidity unavailable to their competitors.
Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges of Fannie, Freddie, and HLBB have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.
However, despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government�s interference in the housing market, the government�s policies of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.
Perhaps the Federal Reserve can stave off the day of reckoning by purchasing GSE debt and pumping liquidity into the housing market, but this cannot hold off the inevitable drop in the housing market forever. In fact, postponing the necessary but painful market corrections will only deepen the inevitable fall. The more people invested in the market, the greater the effects across the economy when the bubble bursts.
No less an authority than Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has expressed concern that government subsidies provided to the GSEs make investors underestimate the risk of investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for Congress to act to remove taxpayer support from the housing GSEs before the bubble bursts and taxpayers are once again forced to bail out investors misled by foolish government interference in the market. I therefore hope my colleagues will stand up for American taxpayers and investors by cosponsoring the Free Housing Market Enhancement Act.
If Joe Lieberman (allegedly, an Independent Democrat - whatever that means) can cross the aisle and endorse John McCain, then I for one am hoping that Republican - and staunch defender of the Constitution - Ron Paul will return the favor and endorse Democratic candidate Barack Obama. It’s not that crazy:
Having a Republican win the upcoming presidential election is “secondary” for Paul who is more interested in defending the Constitution, having the country go in what he considers the right direction, having a sound currency, and achieving balanced budgets. Paul parts ways with McCain over McCain’s support for the Iraq war, his approach to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and his willingness to spend federal dollars to support military operations in Iraq.
Instead, Paul favors Sen. Barack Obama because of positions on foreign policy. “But that’s doesn’t mean that’s an endorsement,” Paul quickly added.
Read more. What do you say Dr. Paul?
Yeah, right. From CNN via Daily Kos:
CNN has learned that top staff members of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign were asked to work without pay for the month of January, and perhaps longer, so that campaign resources could be focused on the Florida Republican presidential primary.
Two sources in the campaign, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted the campaign was not in dire financial straits. A third campaign source, however, said “things are starting to get tight” and that “it was more telling than asking” the senior staff to forgo paychecks beginning the first of the year.
Another source disagreed, saying it was a “voluntary” move by senior staff members “so all of our resources could be targeted toward Florida…Our campaign is not living hand to mouth right now…”
The officials did not immediately provide a number of staffers who were subject to the new policy. Nor would campaign officials disclose the amount of money the campaign had in the bank.
This is one more reason why I think Ron Paul just might win the Republican Candidacy sheerly by having money left over. But, let’s not jinx the man.
If you wanted a greater sign that American politics is broken, consider the following:
regardless of who wins the Democratic and Republican conventions, it is very possible that 2008’s Elections will bring out two very viable Independents:
- Ron Paul: sure, he’s a Republican now, but he’s actually a Libertarian and has enough money - $20M raised - to make a run after the Republicans choose whichever pro-war, anti-peace candidate they fancy. According to Haaretz:
The most interesting political question about Paul concerns whether he will run as an independent after he loses the Republican nod. Paul refuses to promise that he won’t, and one can already hear how would frame an independent run: “The investment was made by the supporters,” he notes. They gave the money, they’ll decide what to do with it. In other words, if they demand it, he will have no choice but to go forward.
- Mayor Michael Bloomberg: the man was once a Democrat, then a Republicn, now he’s an Independent. The implication is clear.
All to say, 2008 will be interesting, and America’s future is at stake.
Ron Paul explaining why oil hits $100 - in 2007
Ron Paul against Iraq invasion - in 2002
Dr. Ron Paul is CRAZY. And that’s why he should be the next president of the USA:
“Iraq is not Nazi Germany,” says Congressman Ron Paul to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “and besides, I thought it was Hitler that caused World War II, not the American people, who opposed going in.”
Senator and fellow presidential candidate John McCain confuses “isolationism” and “non-intervention,” says Paul. “I advocate non-intervention: Not getting involved in the internal affairs of other nations, and not pretending a country like Iraq is equivalent to Nazi Germany.”
Continues the Congressman, “Iraq had no Army, no Navy, and no weapons of mass destruction; had nothing to do with 9/11… so the comparison makes no sense.”
Read more.
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