Open Thread: How do we solve the crisis?

My idea: http://www.dailypaul.com/...

Doc Holladay
Nashville, TN
http://www.myspace.com/do...

Head right on over to http://solari.com and watch Katherine Fitts' DVD on how to create a sustainable economy.

Support localism, invest in your network, your community. Build local social institutions. Withdraw your money from New York and DC.

Don't be a hermit but make sure your money and your time are working for you, not them.

got us where we are today. Restrictions, prohibitions, and phony morality.
There are no excuses for the feds trying to push their morals onto the general population.
How do you resolve that? Follow the constitution. Get the gov off our backs. Live and let live.
Competing currency? How about a hemp based dollar. Gold is worth so much now that I'm not sure how we could possibly survive the deflation of the current FRN if it were suddenly backed by gold.
Hemp is probably the most valuable crop in the world. It is green technology at it's finest. Everything from clothing to ethanol can be made from this fast producing crop. Easy on the environment too.
Too many people want to tell us how to live. Too many people are trying to preserve what we currently have. Too many people in prison for doing things that shouldn't even be illegal. Too many laws for a free country.

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Federal Reserve. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to take this opportunity to respond.

As you may know, on June 15, 2007, Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act (H.R. 2755). This legislation would repeal the Federal Reserve Act by abolishing the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and each Federal Reserve Bank. H.R. 2755 has been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. Currently, there is no related legislation pending in the Senate. Should H.R. 2755, or similar legislation be considered in the Senate, I will be sure to keep your thoughtful comments in mind.

Again, thank you for sharing your views with me. If you have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to let me know. In addition, for more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at http://martinez.senate.go....

Sincerely,

Mel Martinez
United States Senator

The JBS has the tools set up in place. The creater Robert Welch was a genious. Every month there is a meeting and everyone gets together and writes letters to the editors and representatives. The JBS has stopped more unconstitutional laws then you are even aware of, like the Con-con in 87 and the NAFTA superhighway construction. Just by educating people. It is real easy now to contact reps through their website. The JBS has been fighting for the constitution for 50 years. They have never told a false truth like other freedom institutions.

The root of all of our problems in my opinion, is the fed. If the spending congress has no access to fiat currency, they would be forced to stay within financial boundaries. No gold, no bailouts.
I wrote my senator in Florida, Mel Martinez concerning Dr. Pauls bill to end the fed. He actually responded in a favorable reply. I think that there are folks out there who might actually back a bill to end the fed.
A sound currency and ending the fiat monetary system is where we need to concentrate our energy.

The truth shall set us free.
On November 17th, 2008 RawfoodLiberty says:
The vast part of the world population has access to and is "on" to truth . . . . . The truth never sleeps . . . . . it's nudged by radio and satellite. The truth shall set us free. And that's good for everybody, including "them".
"If it's to be, it's up to me." I love you all. - RawfoodLiberty.

We cannot solve this crisis. We need to welcome this recession; after all, it is just the market correcting itself from all the malinvestment. However, we can protect ourselves as individuals. Following the advice of Peter Schiff and opening a portfolio with Euro Pacific Capital would be a great way to preserve your wealth.

Unfortunately, I believe the only way sound economic theory will be recognized by the majority of Americans once again is through the fast approaching financial crisis. The dollar's position as the world reserve currency will make this crisis felt worldwide; and end with the destruction of our currency.

This much, as I understand it, is certain. However, it remains to be seen what will become of popular opinion in the United States after our inflationary depression. Perhaps finally the sheep among us (Napolitano shout out) will become wolves and no longer be misinformed by our looters in Washington.

way to solve the crisis...WE NEED to re-seat all of the original jurisdiction governments, State and National (period). If we continue concentrating our efforts in these small battles, we will not win the war. It's like shooting bb's at a rhinoceros...

http://www.dailypaul.com/...
http://www.dailypaul.com/...
http://teamlaw.net/Govern...

"We dare not forget that we are heirs of that first revolution" -JFK

WE cannot solve this, so WE can only protect ourselves..

at this point in time. It is foolhardy to think otherwise. It is OBVIOUS, or should be by now, that with TOLITARIAN CONTROL of our MEDIA TV for propaganda WHICH WORKS, and with TOTAL control over our politicians (the majority thereof), we have zip power, folks.

The only thing we can do at this point in time is protect ourselves. By that I mean the following:

STOP ALL "unneccesary" PURCHASES---like TV's, keep your car & just fix it if needed, stop buying ANY crap out there

STOP eating out so much---I guess instead of going to fast food, or expensive restaurants, you can cut that easily by 50% or MORE

STOP risking your money in the stock market, or if you do, play with only very small amount of shares

START paying off ALL your debts. Use the "fold down" theory where you concentrate all your extra money on paying 1 debt. When it's paid off, move all your money into paying off the 2nd debt. This means that while you are focusing on paying huge amounts on 1 debt, you pay the "minimum" monthly payment on your other debts.

START buying non-persihable foods for the future, like canned goods or Ramen noodles.

GOOD LUCK to my Ron Paul friends...

Every citizens of the US should apply to become a Bank Holding Company and apply to Henry Paulson for a Treasury bailout.

Why not?

wait till it goes deeper ... so we can resolve it with a creepier solution!

haha April fools will be indeed funny!

The root of the problem is what we call our government is a private foreign corporation (USA) owned by the IMF. The solution is to finish reseating the original jurisdiction government. This is happening whether one wants to believe it or not: http://teamlaw.org/Govern...

Just my two cents......

Begin at the beginning. Follow the paper trail backwards and undue the process of packaging the faulty loans and selling them multiple times. It is not the fault of who eventually ended up with this worthless trash, it is who ORIGINATED the loans.
*Track the original borrowor and lender down. Shouldn't be hard as a foreclosure should be in their names and the original loan officier.

APPLY CONSEQUENCES for FRAUD to the lender and homeowner.

GREED should be punished with fines and jail time to lenders (more than a handful of foreclosures directly attributable to any individual loan officier) sieze their personal assets and access fines multiplied by 10. Why should they personally profit at Americas expense?

Homeowners borrowing the money - original applications should be rechecked and if fraud was present then jail time for fraud should be sought and all credit stripped from indivduals borrowers so they never again have the chance to SPECULATE with other peoples money.

Oversaturation of homes on market. BULLDOZE them. If the population does NOT support the oversupply of homes on the market anyway, then all that we have is the homeowners equity that is being jeopardized who actually in fact paid their mortgages and took their responsibility seriously.

Lending institutions where the bad mortgages originated. Return THEIR worthless paper to them. The buck started and stops here. They had the responsibility to manage and oversee their employees instead of handing out and taking staggering bonuses. Their consequence should be to FAIL. How dare they send their dirty laundry across the financial network of our country, correction....globally without consequence. Any profits made during that period of time should be accessed and repaid to the taxpayer even if we have to garnish their executives compensation to do it.

While I do not think that it will be even a drop in the bucket for returning what funds are missing, I do believe that a task force putting these people in Jail, recovering their stolen assets and bulldozing their white elephants will RESTORE CONFIDENCE in this housing crisis.

We need to punish the right people. The taxpayer is being gutted with this responsibility of rescue as well as having their equity disappear in their homes. The rest of the world is watching that toilet flush with no one seeming to know what course of action to take.

THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD ACT WITH FAIRNESS/FIRMNESS IF THEY WANT OTHER COUNTRIES TO INVEST IN US AND FOLLOW OUR LEAD OUT OF THE TOILET.

JMHO

1. Individuals and household debt is partly to blame for the crisis.

Only in rare cases. Part of the credit cycle is ever rising prices for necessities. Most peole are unable to avoid paying higher and higher prices for house and cars - the biggest contributors to personal debt. This is a function of FED INFLATION. Most individuals are simply making a rational decision to use credit offered them by the fraudulent banking system to survive. In the credit cycle, debt is forced onto people in many ways.

2. The Gold Standard

This was a creation of the bankers. It is a bankers scheme. Government should have no involvement in the definition of money. The US mint was established to provide free coinage to encourage commerce. Money should be anything you and your counterparty agree upon. What we want is an end to all types of counterfeiting. This includes all fraudulent promises to pay including notes, bills, stock certificates, shares, futures contracts, derivatives, etc. For example - a short seller of stock or gold futures should have the ability to deliver or pay up if he loses - no bank, CFTC, SEC, FED or TREASURY market rigging and rules changes. The market can define money just fine without government legal tender laws and other definitions. Money can be gold, silver platinum, salt, fertilizer, corn, oil .... whatever.

3. Just stop printing money and let the economy correct itself.

This leaves all the chips in the hands of the bankers. They will own everything. One ethical solution to the crisis would be the printing of enough money to make up for the purchasing power stolen from the people and distribute it to the people is was stolen from. This would simultaneously repay victims, bring the dollar to fair value and extinguish debt. A solution that encourages the hoarders of fiat money will perpetuate the system. Be wary of Wall Street people preaching austerity - they are only interested in preserving the purchasing power of their fiat based bonds and preserving the FED.

4. Unbridled capitalism always fails.

Unbridled capitalism has NEVER failed.

thgolding
Causes: Deficit spending, trade deficit, derivatives. These go hand in hand.
A federal deficit facilitates a trade deficit. If you increase currency you can buy more than you produce. If you have free trade with countries who have fixed exchange rates that are low they can sell at a lower cost than those with higher exchange rates. Basically wages are a function of exchange rates. Those with lower exchange rates have lower wages as a result. Trade deficits will cause industry to go bankrupt or force them to move to countries with lower wages. Credit default swaps are insurance against the downside. If you can't pay your mortgage or credit card or your automobile the CDS will pay the securitised debts. If we have an itsy bitsy recession causing defaults it could cause deflation of inflated housing which would cause more defaults snowballing into a real crisis, especially if the credit default swaps were backed up by hot air. The total outstanding derivatives is said to be about $1 quadrillion. That is where we are now.
How to get out of this mess? If we were to stop everything we are doing wrong in its tracks, everything would stop dead in its tracks. This is what I think should be done. First we should pass a law that in order for an import to be a deductible expense for the importer it would have to be paid in the currency of the exporter. This would force the countries whose currencies are not freely traded to sell their currency on the open market and the value of their currencies would increase until it reached or sea sawed around the equilibrium level. At this point we would begin to re-industrialize. In the mean time we will have to increase deficit spending to prevent delirium tremens of the financial system, even if this means bailing out the crooks who got us in this mess because their failure would cause the failure of many innocents. They do not have a liquidity crisis. They are bankrupt so the government's investing in them is the correct procedure. Also with fractional bank a dollar in is 10 out. As we can see even though we are printing money as fast as possible we have deflation. So for a short time we can get away with it. We cannot have insurance (derivatives) that are backed up by nothing any more than you would make a contract with the destitute for your life insurance. If we allow anyone to sell insurance it is utter madness. There has to be some requirements for capital. And it has to be enough for the worst imaginable crisis and not based on historical trends of the good times. At the same time we need to make a one payer medical system and switch the insurance policies paid by GM and other companies that have grandfathered policies, to this system. This would help them stay alive as the company would not have to continue to pay the high premiums they are paying. If we bailout the auto industry it would also be necessary to neuter the present contracts with UAW and pay market based wages. This means paying $17 or $18 and hour rather than $33 or $35. Their pension plans are bankrupt so that is another problem to take care of. The value of a currency is backed up by industry, farming, and mining. Gold has little intrinsic value. We spend fortunes digging it up out of the ground and refining it and then we bury it again in vaults guarded by very sophisticated security systems. Utter madness. Gold only has its value because we harbor ancient and primitive superstitions. It was first used because it did not rust. It was practical. Could we base currency on a metal with prices that fluctuated as much as 50% in six months? No. The value of a currency is based on production. At the moment the dollar is overvalued. The Yuan is undervalued. If this is not fixed our industry will continue to be decimated until everything comes to a standstill and then those with the money will come and buy the pieces and we will be their surfs.

Sounds like some of you still want government to solve the problem if you believe that your not representing Ron Pauls ideas at ALL..

Government "IS" the problem remember.

Why do we have to solve the problem? The market can and will correct it self if we just give it the tools its crying for. Austrian Economics deserves to be studied and tested.

Ron has some brilliant ideas.

Abolish the Fed, Sound money, Free markets, Smallest government as practically possible. The rest of his ideas are "Fantastic" what else do we need to know? This solution is sound.

Ron Paul presented this problem to us and gave us an good solution.

.

Are we not listening?

1. We need to understand fully the causes of the current situation. The Fed, though clearly a guilty party, is not the sole cause of our problems. The average American household has $8,000 in credit card debt (not to mention everything else). The national debt clock in New York City ran out of numbers. Our economy has been on steroids for so long, the crash was inevitable. Congress needs to investigate, and make public, ALL contributing factors to the situation. (*Recommended reading* "Running on Empty" by Pete Peterson)

2. WE NEED TO EDUCATE THE MASSES!!! The Federal Department of Education, since its not going anywhere soon, should mandate that all high school seniors be taught about credit and debt and how to effectively manage their personal finances. If people don't understand how to manage their own finaces, its no wonder they choose legislators that can't effectively manage government finances.

3. One of the legitimate functions of government is responsible regulation. If you want to sell cars, they have to have seatbelts. If you want to sell financial products, you should have full disclosure with your client. Transparency is where regulation has been lacking, and that's what regualators must address, as well as simply discarding many absurd things such as the Community Reinvestment Act. In my mind, reforming regulation presupposes reducing regulation.

4. Unemployment is only going to rise. To offset this, now is the time for the government to invest in infrastructure. Bridges are falling down, and our roads and airports are generally of poor quality. This will create jobs. Given the current fiscal situation, this should be paid for by reducing or eliminating spending on foreign countries, and increasing the tax on gasoline (aka a free market incentive to create cleaner cars). It wont cure the disease, but it can ease the symptoms.

5. The government has to begin living within its means. That simple.
No balanced budget = no re-election.

Dan from Minnesota

These three ideas have taken our culture from what it was meant to be, and all three of these ideas were very closely tied to the origins of propaganda (now called public relations). Due to their close ties to propaganda, marketing, and public relations I have been studying those techniques. If you want to do the same Century of the Self series is a great place to start. The best way to overcome the ploys that are used to keep 75% of the population under thumb is to understand them, and than spreading the information. If we are to have a successful movement we will need people who understand Public Relations, and can fight back against the powers that be. The other possible solution would be installing a culture of Self-Reliance back into our culture. Thoreau's methods were I think the wisest.
http://video.google.com/v...
http://eserver.org/thorea...

On the note of barter currencies, a book that would be well worth checking into would be Survival Bartering by Duncan Long. The following links may also be useful.
http://www.amazon.com/Sur...
http://www.backyardmetalc...
http://www.coinflation.co...
http://www.newciv.org/ncn...

so can we please move on from this thread?

would suggest anything less than the currency and markets are controlled by a group that has been in power for more than a century.

The media is fully controlled and has been since the 20's and earlier.

Why?

You are going to insist that the media is not controlled? You are going to debate this point? You have researched media ownership now and over the last 100 years and are going to support the conclusion that the media is free? Good luck, brother.

For the rest of us who understand media control I ask you why?

It is clear that media control is seated in an overall plan. It like the other points we cover is part of a design. It is not that complicated. People tend to believe what they are shown. The media is in charge of showing us things. The TV is a control tool. This is why you know Lindsey Lohan's arrest record and have no idea what the Warner Act is. No one has an answer to this point other than this is a part if the design.

The Warner Act is ignored for a reason. Serial killers are covered for a reason. There is no rational argument that can be brought against this conclusion. There is intent.

The bankers have controlled economies and political systems through money for centuries. Suggesting anything else is merely telling the world you have not done any research. It is as plain as day.

The founders tried to address financial control, but, could only delay it. The constitution can be subverted and it has been from the first day.

You have to be kidding me. Obama's senior adviser is Brzezinski. He is one of the leading trilateralists of the world. Have you read the background of his chief of staff? Good God, this man is horrifying and has principal access to our president.

These men control our systems. Suggesting that we can "fix" the system implies we have the power to do so through democratic means. This is incorrect thinking.

The way to fix the system is by each one of us telling the truth to everyone who will listen. Exposing the men behind this crime is all that has to be done.

It has begun in Europe. There are cracks forming in the EU and these cracks will grow. It is suggested that people can be fooled forever. It is suggested that people are sheep.

This is also incorrect and I call your attention to the next 8 years of world history to support my conclusion.

"They" will fail and are in the process of doing that as we speak.

Over confidence is their great weakness and it will be their downfall.

Our supporters have asked me to post. For those who are not aware of it, our page "If I Were President..." prescribes how to solve the monetary crisis in a day:

http://perfecteconomy.com...

If you don't know what "mathematically perfected economy" is, visit our Synopsis:

http://perfecteconomy.com...

To reiterate: Every president since and including Gerald Ford has been presented a proposition of mathematically perfected economy. In 1979 I published a mathematic proof a) that any economy based on interest-bearing debt ultimately terminates itself under insoluble debt; and b) that there is one and one only integral solution to 1) inflation and deflation (both circulatory and price), 2) systemic manipulation of the cost or value of money or property, and 3) inherent, irreversible, terminal multiplication of debt by interest. The latter solution is since referred to as "mathematically perfected economy."

In 1983 I provided the Reagan Administration computer models capable of calculating the maximum possible lifespan of any purported economy subject to interest. The strength of those models, together with their corresponding proofs and documentation are probably the reason David Stockman ultimately resigned; and they projected not only that Reagan would triple the previous federal debt, that the inherent, irreversible multiplication of private and public debt would engender a potentially world-wide monetary failure (but certain failure in the United States) at approximately 2010 AD.

Many of you continue to advocate a return to the gold standard, or complain of "money created out of thin air." We must understand and express our problem in more definitive terms, if we are to communicate and solve it. In 1979, my work proved the gold standard cannot save us; and you'll find a number of pages on our present web site preserve those disproofs for you. You will also find pages invalidating every class of attempt to disprove mathematically perfected economy. A popular such page is:

http://perfecteconomy.com...

As you will see, there are many others; and if you will spend a while to get your brain around the simple concept of mathematically perfected economy, you'll probably agree no one in their right mind would think it's possible to disprove there is a singular solution to inflation/deflation, and multiplication of debt by interest. Systemic manipulation of the cost or value of money or property is solved only by the combination of the two.

So long as we ourselves splinter, our cause is hopeless. Unite, or fail.

If you really want to conquer this simple problem, we're going to have to unite over solution. There *is* only one. So let's quit defeating the revolution by insisting on an impossible return to the gold standard, which cannot arrest multiplication of debt by interest, or sustain industry far exceeding the supply of monetary gold in the world. NO ONE has even proposed a reasonable PLAN for returning to the gold standard.

We have pages dedicated to that issue, and even exceeding the constitutionality question:

http://perfecteconomy.com...

People here keep crying for "honest money." What is honest money, but the one prescription for cycling currency/circulation so as maintains a constant 1:1 ratio between the remaining value of existent/represented wealth, and the circulation?

There is one and one only form of what you want in "honest money" therefore, and that one form of currency is mathematically perfected economy.

Regards,

mike montagne -- founder of PEOPLE For Mathematically Perfected Economy, and author of mathematically perfected economy (1979)

http://www.perfecteconomy...

Only Congress can "End The Fed"

"End The Fed Fax Bomb!"

For all of the patriots who cannot make one of the many "End The Fed" Rally's...

Support the passage of Representative Ron Paul's legislation which would repeal the Federal Reserve Act, H.R. 2755.

Kill The Snake!

November 22nd, 2008.

Media Contact Locater: http://www3.capwiz.com/y/...

House Of Representatives Locators:
- https://writerep.house.go...
- http://www3.capwiz.com/y/...

Just How Corrupt Is This Entire Country?

Here Is The Answer: http://video.google.com/v...

Who Governs the Governless?

In March 2007 I wrote a column about the coming economic collapse. It's longish (~7,400 words) and includes extensive detail, including links and quotations to support my thesis. Below are some snippets from the column, including comments on the only possible long-term cure for our present disaster.

Destruction by Paradigm: How the United States wrecked the world’s most robust economy and impoverished its own people

http://www.strike-the-roo...

My title for this essay – "Destruction by Paradigm" – is meant to highlight that the overall mental framework most Americans now use to understand government (and society generally) has kept Americans from objecting to the destruction of their own liberties and prosperity. The faulty paradigm so widely used actually leads Americans to call for more of the same policies and programs that have brought this country to the brink of disaster.

Paradigms are tools – frameworks – for understanding broad phenomena (e.g., the paradigm of science versus that of superstition) – and a paradigm can be more accurate or less so. A paradigm that excuses tyranny, that praises coercive centralized control and the people exercising that control, that makes the coercion of forcible government appear decent and normal and even positive, and which asserts that compassion can be expressed by coercively-funded government programs – such a paradigm is nothing less than a weapon against the great mass of people, wielded by the power elite.

[snip]

Love and freedom literally require each other, and high levels of both are required for a health society. Love provides the anti-corrosive and lubricant for the market and for a free society generally; freedom protects human rights, emotional health, and life itself – a police state is never conducive to love and compassion, nor safe for the lives of its subjects. For more on the topic of love and freedom, see my archive (linked at the end of this column) or my website at http://www.paradise-parad... .

Early America was an amazing, unprecedented attempt at a free society – at a New World worthy of the name – but it nonetheless fell short. A nation which allows human slavery and which is slowly committing genocide against the original native inhabitants is neither free nor compassionate. The flaws and shortcomings of early American society and government (specifically, too much emotional damage and too much coercive power) have grown into the destructive Frankenstein we have today.

That Frankenstein is about to fall. This will be a disaster, yet it is also a great opportunity. How are we to respond?

There can be no quick fix; no magic cure for the political and economic dilemma Americans have gotten themselves into, but there IS a solution. It is imperative that more people hear and begin to understand that solution, else they will encourage the further destruction of their nation by the Two Great Evils (as I have called them previously) of government coercion and widespread emotional damage. For an extreme and horrifying example, study the rise to power of the National Socialists in Germany during the 1930s.

The solution – the only real and permanent solution – is to widely spread the understanding that love and freedom are the two most important fundamentals in life; that these fundamentals are connected to and dependent upon each other; and that any system which denies either love or freedom is simply evil.

Belief systems guide behavior, and only a paradigm that clearly and whole-heartedly embraces the duality of love and freedom will guide people to the healthier, saner, more free and compassionate world that every new human life is born expecting and needing. Such a world may also be the only world compatible with a human future. Twenty-first century technology is advancing at a dramatic, non-linear rate, and will hugely empower either health or sickness; either freedom or tyranny. This may be our last chance to get things right.