News
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- Written by: Jim Babka
- Category: Selected Blogs
Media Alert: Jim Babka will be on the radio today and Sunday. See the P.S. below the signature.
Quote of the Day: "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Sell not liberty to purchase power." -- Benjamin Franklin
Subject: $61 billion stimulus package failed in the Senate
Lost in the noise of the election was the good news that the Senate rejected a $61 billion stimulus package that the House had passed earlier.
But House Democrats are still pushing for another stimulus package that they will try to pass in a lame duck session. The details are constantly shifting, but this proposal would add another $150 billion to $165 billion to a national debt that has grown by nearly a trillion dollars in the space of about a month.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: Selected Blogs
Now that bailout has become the government’s policy, which bank is next? Well, it won’t be a bank; it will be Ford.
Ford has been saying all along that Chapter 11 is not an option. Of course it isn’t. Ford has been lobbying for government money. The government has already committed itself to bailouts. Why not Ford?
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: Selected Blogs
Does the average American know what the word “liquidity” means? According to the government, it is something that is drying up. It reminds me of that old adage “You don’t miss your water ‘till your well runs dry.” In this case, you don’t miss your credit until your bank tells you to take a hike.
But banks don’t seem to be doing that. Go to any local bank and try to refinance your home. You won’t have a problem. Or try to get a credit line for your business. No problem there either. Or try to qualify for an FHA mortgage. Not much of a problem there either. So where’s the liquidity crunch?
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Candidates and Elections
On November 4th, NJ residents shall have two public questions on the ballot. Public question#1 will make it harder for the state legislature to borrow money using bonds. Public question #2 changes how municipal court judges are appointed.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: Selected Blogs
Most Americans assume that the banking system as we know it has been around since the end of the Revolution. Not so!
We all know of the animosity between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson opposed a national bank on principal. He stated that it was not in the Constitution that there should be a central bank; Hamilton argued that it was implied in the Constitution. George Washington signed the law creating a national bank in order to promote trade and industry. The law expired in 1811 and Congress did not renew it until 1816. Congress attempted to renew the law in 1832 however it was vetoed by Andrew Jackson. Our current banking system was not created until 1914.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Tune in this Friday! From John Stossel:
This Friday (10 p.m. ET), I get the entire "20/20" hour for a special: John Stossel's Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics
There's tremendous excitement about this year's election. People say that their candidate will fix America. Barack Obama inspires idol worship that's usually lavished on rock stars. At the Republican convention, one man told me John McCain was like Superman.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
George Mason University economist and author Russell Roberts, who blogs at the always interesting Cafe Hayek, sat down with reason.tv to talk about the nation's shakey economy and the government's bailout plan. Watch this six-minute interview to learn where the problems came from, why the bailout won't address them, and what sort of hurt we're in for over the next several weeks, months, and years. "The real cost of this," warns Roberts, "is that we have said to people, 'Risk taking is not as risky as it used to be.' That's a mistake. It's a horrible mistake and it will lead to a lower standard of living down the road because investment will be more cavalier and less prudent."
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: Selected Blogs
It seems like the mainstream news is beginning to catch up with us. Today’s column by John Farmer on the front page of the New Jersey Star Ledger is entitled “In Bush’s Bailout, Echoes of Marx.” Looks like the Libertarians are way ahead of the curve once again.
RICHMOND, Va. -- The Bush administration has come full circle -- from Karl Rove to Karl Marx.
With its latest gambit -- a $250 billion federal purchase of major bank stocks coming on the heels of an earlier $700 billion federal rescue package -- President Bush has taken a giant step toward partial nationalization of the nation's financial system to save it from its own excesses.
Who'd have believed it? Socialism with a Republican face!
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- Written by: Peter Hill
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published at Delaware Online. Vist link and leave a comment.
Between the liberals who can’t keep their hands off our wallets and the conservatives who can’t keep their noses out of our bedrooms, American government has made a mockery of the ideals of our founding fathers.
Thomas Jefferson said, “That government governs best that governs least.” He might as well have been from Mars.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
Proposal number five of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.” This is exactly what our central bank, the Federal Reserve, has now done. Anyone who thinks we are still a capitalist country needs a reality check. We haven't been a capitalist country since FDR and the New Deal. It is ironic that Bush and the republican "free marketeers" have dealt the final blow.
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- Written by: Walter M. Luers, Esq.
- Category: Events
We have cancelled today's Town Hall Meeting with Jason Scheurer at the Long Hill Township Public Library. We also thank Jason for appearing Saturday at the Morris County Public Library and spending a great deal of time at the Millington Town Fair in Morris County, which went very well.
The Morris County Libertarian Party will continue planning and holding events in Morris County, and we will announce those events at this website.
I would also like to thank Prof. Howard Kupferman for doing most of the work in organizing these events, and Lou Jasikoff for coordinating between the Morris County Libertarians and the Scheurer campaign.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: Selected Blogs
On September 23, direct infusions of cash into the banking system, according to Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, would be “about failure”, they said in testimony before Congress. Now it is about “success”, according to the same individuals.
How can the markets have confidence when they hear one fairy tale less than three weeks ago and another now? Which is it gentlemen?
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
By ELAINE ROSE Press of Atlantic City Staff Writer
A central New Jersey man has filed suit against 17 Atlantic County towns in an effort to make the workings of municipal governments more open to the public. John Paff, of Somerset, chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, filed his suit Friday, claiming 17 of the 23 municipalities in Atlantic County did not adequately respond to his requests for minutes from closed-session meetings.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: Selected Blogs
The Federal Reserve announced yesterday that it would make over $900 billion available to financial institutions instead of the $150 billion it had said it would make available previously. (This is in addition to the $700 billion pledged to Wall Street for the bailout.) It appears that the Fed has abandoned its fight against inflation and has decided instead to inflate the currency.
There should be little question among those who understand the implications of infusing huge amounts of cash into a failing economic system. Without an increase in GDP, or more goods and services to purchase with all this money, there will be an increasing amount of cash chasing a stagnant amount of things to purchase. This must inevitably lead to higher prices for the average American.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Selected Blogs
Dear Concerned Citizen,
At first, it was but three pages.
Then, it grew to 42.
When it was voted on last night, the bill was the size of a novel.
A 451-page novel they most likely did not read before completing the first of three steps into making it law.
Packed with "sweeteners"–the deceptive name for political bribes—the
bill passed with ease. Sweeteners like more regulations on insurance
companies, setting up a "Wool Trust Fund"…and even relief for the
manufacturers of wooden arrows.
"Other goodies intended to attract the votes of individual members of
Congress include $192 million for the rum producers of Puerto Rico and
Virgin Islands, $128 million for car racing tracks, $33 million for
corporations operating in American Samoa, and $10 million for small
film and television productions," says ABC's Jake Tapper.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
The House narrowly defeated a bill to “rescue” Wall Street today. The question is, what does this mean to the average American?
First of all, congress rejected the concept that the government will be responsible for renegotiating homeowner mortgages that were made by banks which thought they could sell off those loans and take no risk. Investors in such financial instruments that are backed by mortgage payments and other revenue streams, such as credit card receivables, will be wary of taking on such risk in the future. Insurers who promised restitution to these investors will no longer be so certain that these financial instruments are somewhat recession-proof.