The Economic Collapse of America - Forum - Restore America's Mission
2024-03-29T11:13:52Z
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/feed/category/The+Economic+Collapse+of+America
Useful Idiots and the Theater of the Absurd
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/useful-idiots-and-the-theater-of-the-absurd
2016-09-29T12:10:17.000Z
2016-09-29T12:10:17.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p class="paragraph">Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time with a person who would easily qualify as one of Lenin’s <a href="http://www.sunray22b.net/useful_idiots.htm">useful idiots</a>. Here is a man who grabbed the brass ring. Not by government intervention. Not by being one of the bigtime crony capitalists who rig the system that chooses winners and losers. No, he had achieved success and fortune through his own ingenuity and hard work. And for this I have always respected and commended him. </p><p class="paragraph">Why would I call such a hard working successful entrepreneur a useful idiot? Because last night at a friendly meal he went on and on about how to be fair we needed to outlaw the law of supply and demand when it comes to housing, healthcare, and food. He went on and on and on, as he often does about how society should count more than individuals. He paused for a moment to cast damning accusations of heartlessness on real estate developers and the greed which infects others. Then he went on to his standard praise for other countries that take care of their people and aren’t soiled by the deplorable capitalism of America. </p><p class="paragraph">All this from a man who made his fortune by employing others to work in his factory, retired early, has a million dollar estate in an exclusive area of Norther California, an apartment in Italy, and enough money to live comfortably in both places. All this, from a man who benefited from the law of supply and demand in his own industry, a man who went to great lengths to regain the Italian citizenship his grandparents had forsaken so he could take advantage of EU citizenship but doesn’t pay his income tax in Italy to help support its failing social safety net. </p><p class="paragraph">Growing tired of the endless hypocrisy I asked if the law of supply and demand should have been suspended in his industry. No, he didn’t think that would have been right. Comparing that and suspending it for real estate developers was comparing apples to oranges he said not seeing the dichotomy or the conundrum such double think created. </p><p class="paragraph">I then asked if it was fair that the owner of a factory should get to retire early and live a life of leisure while the people who toiled in his factory to make him rich were still working. That was a different issue all together, he asserted. I then asked if we are talking about suspending the law of supply and demand for certain industries just to be fair why fairness wasn’t extended to the rewards people receive from their work. I was just trying to muddy the issue he protested. </p><p class="paragraph">I then asked why is it fair that one person who worked all their life got to retire with a 401K, a pension, and social security while another person only received social security. In the name of fairness shouldn’t we all receive the same thing, I asked. Yes, that would be fair said the man living off much more than social security. </p><p class="paragraph">As of now I haven’t heard that he is going to give up his intercontinental jet-set life style and join the 99% down here in Obama’s economy struggling to navigate the New Normal. I do however believe after actively supporting Bernie and his campaign for an openly declared socialist America he is now supporting Hillary and her stealth campaign for the same thing. </p><p class="paragraph">As a postscript suspending the law of supply and demand is about as possible as suspending the law of gravity. If there are two widgets they are worth this much. If there are 2,000 widgets they are worth that much. A follows B, just as sure as day follows sunrise. I wonder when the useful idiots will start arguing against that. Why should day always follow sunrise? That just isn’t fair to the night. Then again if they elect Hillary “The Nail in our Coffin” Clinton night might just begin to follow sunrise after all. </p><p class="paragraph">Wouldn’t that be fair? </p><p class="paragraph">I wonder if my socialist acquaintance enriched by capitalism has any <a href="http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Vladimir.Lenin.Quote.068C">rope to sell</a>. I think Hillary is asking for donations to buy some. Wait, is that Goldman Sachs on the line?</p><p class="paragraph">Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2016 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens </p><p></p></div>
Obama Boom Builds Obamatowns
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/obama-boom-builds-obamatowns
2016-09-23T12:39:36.000Z
2016-09-23T12:39:36.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-01-11/state-of-obama-s-union-is-booming">According</a> to the megaphones of the Progressive-controlled media the Obama economy is booming. For the investor class it has been a rising tide that lifts all yachts or as it is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-01-11/state-of-obama-s-union-is-booming">expressed</a> in Bloomberg, “When President Barack Obama was elected in November 2008, the U.S. economy was shrinking at a rate unmatched since World War II. In the seven years between then and his final State of the Union address Tuesday night, global investors have enjoyed stellar results from the rapidly expanding Obama economy.” </p><p><a href="http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2016/01/paul-krugman-the-obama-boom.html">According</a> to Paul Krugman in <u>The Obama Boom</u> “The ... Obama economy offers a powerful lesson... From a conservative point of view, Mr. Obama did everything wrong, afflicting the comfortable (slightly) and comforting the afflicted (a lot), and nothing bad happened. We can, it turns out, make our society better after all.” </p><p>And <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/08/01/obama_the_economy_is_booming.html">according</a> to President Obama himself everything is coming up roses, “Companies are investing; consumers are spending and American manufacturing, energy, technology, autos all are booming. And thanks to the decisions that we've made and the resilience of the American people, we've recovered faster and come farther from the recession than almost any other advanced country on earth. So the good news is the economy clearly is getting stronger, things are getting better, engines are revving a little bit louder.” </p><p>A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage, a flat screen in every living room, a cell phone in every hand, and a check in every mail box. Ah yes, haven’t we heard all this for years while anyone who works knows that wages have been stagnant for years. Anyone who does their own shopping knows food prices have gone through the roof. And anyone who has lost their job through the destruction of America’s manufacturing knows that a part time job at the Kwiki Mart doesn’t replace a full time job with benefits. </p><p>The political class, their pet economists, and the fellow-travelers among the media may trumpet that the Obama economy is booming. They may tell us we must all troop like mind numb robots to the polls and make sure Hillary has the opportunity to give us a third term to complete the transformation. They also tell us if the Donald is elected all this magic and wonder will be lost. </p><p>However other voices tell us a different story. </p><p><a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/david-woo-strategist-donald-trump-president/2016/09/12/id/747841/">According</a> to Bank of America Merrill Lynch Head of Global Rates and Currencies Research David Woo, “The U.S. economy would take off in a big way if Trump were elected and Republicans control both legislative houses next year. Against this backdrop, the greenback would strengthen and U.S. Treasury yields would rise.” This is a view shared by Woo and other fixed income veterans as well. </p><p>Looking at the booming Obama economy is like viewing a fever dream through the looking glass. The Technocrat apparatchiks who populate the Obama regime tell us this is the best economy in American History, unprecedented job growth, low unemployment, and no inflation. Those who actually have created jobs, know how the economy works in the real world, and have to cut pay checks every week tell us something different. </p><p>Leonard Riggio the Barnes & Noble Inc. Chairman and founder <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Economy/barnes-noble-retail-environment/2016/09/09/id/747463/">said</a> the bookstore chain is suffering from one of worst retail environments in decades after traffic in stores hit “close to a historic low point.” The retail climate is “terrible,” he said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call Thursday. “Better put, is it is one of the worst I have ever experienced in the 50 years I have been in this industry.” </p><p>The Fed continues to pump money into the system and keep interest rates at historic lows. This stimulus is necessary just to maintain the anemic recovery that has never regained what was lost in the Great Recession. The U.S. Federal Reserve must be careful not to remove its monetary stimulus too quickly because of potential weakness in the labor market and risks of foreign economic downturns, Fed Governor Lael Brainard <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Economy/Federal-Reserve-Lael-Brainard-economy/2016/09/12/id/747848/">said</a> on Monday. </p><p>"Today's New Normal counsels prudence in the removal of policy accommodation," Brainard <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Economy/Federal-Reserve-Lael-Brainard-economy/2016/09/12/id/747848/">said</a> in prepared remarks to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Economy/Federal-Reserve-Lael-Brainard-economy/2016/09/12/id/747848/">said</a> the labor market might be farther from full strength than some economists believe, which means "the case to tighten policy preemptively is less compelling." In other words even the shabby New Normal of the Obama economy is only sustainable if money keeps appearing out of thin air and banks can get infusions of this funny money at 0%. That should be the textbook definition of a political charade. </p><p>The problem with our economy is not that the American people don’t want to work. It isn’t that we are lazy as our president recently <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/07/laos-obama-repeatedly-calls-americans-lazy/">told</a> his friends in communist Laos. It is that the cards dealt by the Central Bank are stacked. The central planners throughout the Obama Regime are ideologues who cannot see reality if it conflicts with their plan to transform America into a democratic people’s republic by the elites of the elites and for the elites. </p><p><a href="http://www.apsec.com/team-stanley.html">According</a> to Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities, “The Federal Reserve has been too glued to theories that haven’t worked to restore robust economic growth since the last recession.” </p><p>“The central bank’s adherence to the idea that unemployment and weak demand can be cured with policies that encourage consumers, businesses and governments to rack up more debt ignores other problems with the economy,” he <a href="http://www.apsec.com/team-stanley.html">says</a>. </p><p>“For the bulk of this expansion, the Fed has operated as if everything that was wrong with the economy was a cyclical shortfall in demand. The trouble is that it has become increasingly evident that this narrative was wrong.” Stanley <a href="http://www.apsec.com/team-stanley.html">continued</a>. </p><p>Following a collapse in a massive U.S. housing bubble in 2007 the Fed responded to the resulting 2008 financial crisis, by <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FF">cutting</a> interest rates to a record low of about zero percent in an attempt to blunt the worst recession in 80 years. The Fed also tried several rounds of quantitative easing, a policy of buying government debt and mortgage securities from banks to help drive down borrowing costs, in other words pumping money into the system. </p><p>While the U.S. bounced back from recession and the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE">unemployment rate</a> fell from a 30-year high of 10 percent, since that time <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPC1">growth</a> in the American economy has never exceeded 3 percent a year for the first time since World War II. In addition, the unemployment rate doesn’t include the over <a href="http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS15000000">90 million</a> able bodied Americans who have decided to quit working and ride the government hammock into the sunset.</p><p>Stanley <a href="http://www.apsec.com/team-stanley.html">says</a> Fed policymakers are too attached to the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, the hugely influential English economist who argued that deficit spending was necessary during recessions to maintain full employment. Keynesian theories make it difficult to distinguish short-term cyclical trends from long-term structural changes in the economy, Stanley says. </p><p><a href="http://www.apsec.com/team-stanley.html">According</a> to Stanley, pointing to a <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=70Yn">continuous fall</a> in U.S. productivity, “Keynesians operate exclusively on the demand side of the economy, and much of what is holding the economy back in recent years has been operating on the supply side. There is also a strong leftward lean in ideology at the Federal Reserve, and it is thus very understandable that they have been very slow to recognize the damage done to growth over the past several years by hikes in marginal tax rates and a stifling regulatory environment.” </p><p>“The Fed’s fixation on <a href="http://inflationdata.com/articles/2008/02/24/what-is-core-inflation-and-why-doesnt-it-include-food-and-energy/">core</a> consumer price inflation also limits its ability to recognize major asset bubbles, such as in tech stocks and home prices,” Stanley <a href="http://www.apsec.com/team-stanley.html">says</a>. The Core inflation rate is only a portion of the true inflation number yet that is all the Progressive media ever report on. The real inflation rate is much higher. For one thing the <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/is-inflation-higher-than-you-think-1.aspx">core rate does not include</a> food or energy, two things everyone needs and two things whose prices have <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/14/pay-the-man-electricity-rates-soar-to-record-levels-as-obama-shutters-coal-plants/">soared</a> under Obama.</p><p>So how is this working out in the real world? Look at your bank balance, your life style, or your hopes for the future of your children. Or look at the rising tide of homelessness. This is a phenomenon that is hardly ever mentioned when a Democrat is in the White House. Today the march of poverty is too great for even the Progressive shills to ignore as Obamatowns begin to <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Most-see-SF-moving-in-wrong-direction-poll-finds-6892152.php">dot</a> the <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-san-diego-homeless-increases-suffering-squalor-2016aug21-htmlstory.html">landscape</a> of a <a href="http://dailyhellas.com/2016/05/31/rate-of-homelessness-soars-in-recent-years-due-to-the-crisis/">once</a> prosperous nation. </p><p><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-12/tent-cities-full-homeless-people-are-booming-cities-all-over-america-poverty-spikes">According</a> to Tyler Durden as posted on the website Zero Hedge, “Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate.<b> </b> According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day. And it isn’t just adults that we are talking about. It has been reported that that the number of homeless children in this country has risen <a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/21-facts-about-the-explosive-growth-of-poverty-in-america-that-will-blow-your-mind">by 60 percent</a> since the last recession, and <a href="http://www.povertyusa.org/">Poverty USA</a> says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in a homeless shelter or in some other form of emergency housing at some point last year. Yes, the stock market may have been experiencing a temporary boom for the last couple of years, but for those on the low end of the economic scale things have just continued to deteriorate.<b>”</b> </p><p>Happy days are here again the progressive puppet masters and their media chorus sings as everyone else sinks into the third world. If the voters are so unenlightened that they don’t want to vote for a total transformation of their homeland import another population who will. If the economy is falling through the floor and prosperity is becoming poverty for the unwashed masses in fly-over country just redefine success and call it the New Normal. Then they live the high life in their gated communities as the rest of us struggle to survive. No wonder <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/12/12/the-d-c-suburbs-dominate-the-list-of-wealthiest-u-s-counties/">five</a> of the ten richest counties in America surround the imperial capital as our servants grow fat and rich on the loot they expropriate from the rest of us.</p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2016 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p> </p></div>
Do Unions Cause Inequality?
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/do-unions-cause-inequality
2016-05-13T21:40:05.000Z
2016-05-13T21:40:05.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p class="paragraph">We hear quite a bit about inequality today. This seems to be the mantra in the waning of the Obama Administration with the President <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-income-inequality-the-defining-challenge-of-our-time/">saying</a>, “Income inequality is "the defining challenge of our time.” This is all code for another of President Obama’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoqI5PSRcXM">descriptions</a> of the same policy, the need to, “Spread this wealth around,” or in <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/k/karlmarx136396.html">other words</a> “From each according to his ability to each according to his need.” </p><p class="paragraph">Let’s spread the wealth around and end inequality. One of the President’s and the Democrat Party’s most powerful allies in this long march to the promised land of a worker’s paradise where everyone is truly equal are the unions. </p><p class="paragraph">At one time it was dangerous to belong to a union in the United States. They were considered illegal combinations in restraint of trade even though <a href="http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1/annotation12.html">freedom of association</a> has long been considered a right under the First Amendment to the Constitution. People died organizing and participating in strikes. Names like the <a href="http://www.wvculture.org/history/minewars.html">Matewan Massacre</a>, <a href="http://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/haymarket/the-story-of-the-haymarket-affair.html">the Haymarket Riot</a>, and the <a href="http://www.wvculture.org/history/minewars.html">Battle of Blair Mountain</a> convey the very real image of war that was fought for the right to organize. This was a war that was decisively won by the unions. This war for the allegiance of American labor was not won through the superior organizing techniques of the union bosses. From the major battles of the 1800s and the early 1900s the unions were failing. The workers just didn’t want to join. Then along came <a href="http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/unions/">FDR</a> and his New Deal. He passed <a href="http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/unions/">pro-union legislation</a> and with the patronage and support of the Federal Government unions not only flourished they triumphed. </p><p class="paragraph">According to the Progressives monopolies are terrible. They benefit few and penalize many. Never mind that before Rockefeller established his powerful <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/13/vindicating-standard-oil-100-years-later/">Standard Oil</a> a gallon of kerosene cost 58 cents and after he had gained 90% of the market the price had fallen to 7 cents. Or that under Carnegie’s US Steel, which controlled all steel production, the price of steel dropped. Monopolies in production were universally branded as evil and they were made illegal by the progressives under Teddy Roosevelt “The Trust Buster” as he rigorously enforced the <a href="http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h760.html">Sherman Antitrust Act</a> and saved the people from the exploitation of efficiency and lower prices. </p><p class="paragraph">Monopolies were and are considered universally evil except when it comes to unions. Unions have been allowed to exercise absolute control of entire industries. Just ask yourself, how many auto worker unions are there? How about Electricians, plumbers, carpenters? How many unions compete with the NEA or SEIU? These powerful unions have gained strangleholds over entire sectors of our economy. They exercise coercive authority to allow some to work at their given professions and to deny others the same opportunity. Through their unlimited power to exact unwilling support from anyone in their grasp they gain billions to support the very politicians who pass laws giving them the power to extort the money. Through their government granted authority to become the sole negotiators of everyone’s pay, even those who don’t belong to the union, they effectively come to control the employers to a major extent. </p><p class="paragraph">Using the government awarded monopolistic and coercive power to drive up wages and benefits they drive up operating costs and prices. By artificially driving up the wages of their members so that they can then collect bigger dues they distort the market place and artificially force down the wages of non-union workers. You see unions can force wages above the levels that would be achieved in a free market only by limiting the supply with the threat to withhold labor if their demands aren’t met. </p><p class="paragraph">Workers in the private sector have been rejecting the big union cartels for generations. Their participation rate has fallen from a high of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business/22union.html">35%</a> in the 1950s to its present dismal level of 11.1%. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/union-membership-holds-at-11.1-percent-of-workforce/article/2581712">According</a> to the Washington Examiner, “The job sectors with the highest unionization rates in 2015 were in "protective service occupations," primarily law enforcement, at 36.3 percent and education at 35.5 percent. The lowest rates were for retail sales at 3.3 percent and farming and forestry at 1.9 percent.” </p><p class="paragraph">And even this declining state of unionism is only possible because of the heavy hand of government patronage. Rick Berman, president of the business-backed Center for Union Facts, <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/union-membership-holds-at-11.1-percent-of-workforce/article/2581712">attributed</a> the stability in the numbers to pro-union policies under President Obama. "Union membership is apparently receiving a boost from an activist National Labor Relations Board. By tilting the scales in favor of labor organizers, the board and the sympathetic Obama administration are propping up Big Labor rather than helping the rank-and-file." </p><p class="paragraph">As private sector employees bailed out of unions every time they had a chance, the employees-for-life in the civil service bureaucracy organized to gain an inordinate level of power over the government. In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business/22union.html">2009</a>, for the first time in American history, government employees accounted for <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/business/23labor.html?adxnnl=1&ref=stevengreenhouse&adxnnlx=1295630561-iJn2TNDUX6eIAOwhGgUuzw">more than half the nation’s union membership</a>. </p><p class="paragraph">Even FDR, the patron saint of unions <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/18/the-first-blow-against-public-employees/fdr-warned-us-about-public-sector-unions">warned</a> about the distortions and disruptions of public sector unions. </p><p class="paragraph">In the President’s <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15445">Aug. 16, 1937 correspondence</a> with Luther C. Steward, the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees he <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/aug/13/scott-walker/Did-FDR-oppose-collective-bargaining-for-governmen/">said</a> "meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government." </p><p class="paragraph">He <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/aug/13/scott-walker/Did-FDR-oppose-collective-bargaining-for-governmen/">added</a>, "All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management." </p><p class="paragraph"><a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/aug/13/scott-walker/Did-FDR-oppose-collective-bargaining-for-governmen/">And</a>, "The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations." </p><p class="paragraph">He <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/aug/13/scott-walker/Did-FDR-oppose-collective-bargaining-for-governmen/">continued</a>, "The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters." </p><p class="paragraph">He <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/aug/13/scott-walker/Did-FDR-oppose-collective-bargaining-for-governmen/">concluded</a>, "The pay is fixed by Congress and the workmen are represented by the members of Congress in the fixing of Government pay. In other words, you would not have the representatives of the majority as the sole bargaining agents? Not in the government, because there is no collective contract. It is a very different case. There isn’t any bargaining, in other words, with the government; therefore the question does not arise." </p><p class="paragraph">This is in effect a money laundering scheme. The unions bargain with the politicians who raise the pay of their members which raises the dues collected by the unions who then contribute money to the very politicians who raise their pay. And even in the public sector when given the choice to remain in unions or leave when given the chance as in Wisconsin they are <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/union-membership-in-wisconsin-plummets-in-wake-of-gop-measures-b99660200z1-366857061.html">leaving in droves</a>. </p><p class="paragraph">So how do unions cause inequality? By controlling the labor in major industries they distort the free market by artificially raising the cost of labor over what it should be according to production costs and sales receipts. This in turn contributes to economic <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/misallocation">misallocations</a> of resources and <a href="https://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Malinvestment">malinvestments</a> which sets the stage for the creation of bubbles, booms, and busts. </p><p class="paragraph">In America all people are equal before the law and all should have equality of opportunity. However, it is a fact apparent to anyone who has interacted with anyone else that all people are not equal in talent, motivation, experience, or desires. Therefore inequality as a result of the varying application of these four attributes will always exist. </p><p class="paragraph">Such horror shows as the USSR, Cuba, and Venezuela have tried this through collectivist pipedreams that became the nightmares of their captive people. </p><p class="paragraph">If unions are all about the free association of workers go to Chicago or New York and try to start a competing carpenters union. See how well that goes. I would suggest that you wear a hard hat. </p><p class="paragraph">Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2016 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p><p> </p></div>
Happy Days Are Here Again Again
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/happy-days-are-here-again-again
2016-01-15T14:53:57.000Z
2016-01-15T14:53:57.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p>So long sad times <br /> Go long bad times <br /> We are rid of you at last </p><p>Howdy gay times <br /> Cloudy gray times <br /> You are now a thing of the past </p><p>Happy days are here again <br /> The skies above are clear again <br /> So let's sing a song of cheer again <br /> Happy days are here again </p><p>Can you believe it the Bush recession has been over for more than f<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-fieldhouse/five-years-after-the-grea_b_5530597.html">ive years</a>. According to the <a href="http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000">government figures</a> unemployment is down. As a matter of fact <a href="http://mnprogressiveproject.com/obamas-economic-policies-achieve-full-employment-during-record-61-straight-months-of-private-sector-job-growth/">according</a> to the Progressive Project President Obama has brought America sixty one straight months of booming economic growth and full employment. According to our Progressive leaders this is the <a href="http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2015/1/9/the-roaring-obama-recovery-from-bottom-falling-out-to-full-employment">greatest recovery</a> and the strongest boom in American History. Just look with only billions upon billions of new fiat money each month for sixty one months the <a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/federal-reserve-money-printing-is-the-real-reason-why-the-stock-market-is-soaring">stock market is up</a>, and everything is coming up roses. There is a flat screen on every wall, a smart phone in every hand, and flying cars just can’t be that far away. Why, the economy is doing so good that twenty somethings are <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-04/yellen-s-job-puzzle-why-are-20-somethings-retiring-">retiring</a> to Mom’s basement and living the high life. </p><p>The Bush wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have either been won or soon will be or as the winning slogan said, “GM is alive and Osama Bin Laden is dead.” The Arab Spring has toppled tyrants and the glorious leading from behind of the administration’s foreign policy savants has ricocheted from the faculty lounge to the UN. Doesn’t it just feel like another American Century? </p><p>The Fed keeps pumping and the Big Board keeps jumping. The NSA watches us all without a warrant, and the man who tells us about it is a traitor. Congress has to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/government-oversight/195353-gop-bill-lets-congress-sue-obama-over-failure-to">sue the President</a> in an attempt to get him to enforce laws unless of course he wants to <a href="http://www.galen.org/newsletters/changes-to-obamacare-so-far/">change</a> a law <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424326/obama-unilaterally-rewrites-immigration-law-again-ian-smith">unilaterally</a>. The Court strikes down <a href="https://www.myheritage.org/news/unanimous-supreme-court-rules-against-the-obama-administrations-unconstitutional-power-grab/">unconstitutional</a> move after <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/fifth-circuit-obama-immigration/415077/">unconstitutional</a> move by the adjunct instructor in the Oval Office. Yet he continues to issue <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/whats-the-difference-between-an-executive-order-and-action/">decree</a> after <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/16/obama-presidential-memoranda-executive-orders/20191805/">decree</a> with the force of law. The IRS is used to suppress the votes of Conservatives, its leaders either lying to Congress or pleading the Fifth while Attorney General Holder refused to appoint a special prosecutor just as he refused in Fast and Furious and Benghazi. Of course if you want to require a photo id to vote you’re a racist attempting to suppress the vote while you need a photo ID to get into the DNC. There’s nothing to see here so move along. </p><p>Common Core is poised to take our educational system to higher heights. After more than 100 years of Progressive Education and generations of Federal intrusions into local school boards America now successfully spends more per capita on education than any other country. The self-esteem of our students ranks as the highest in the world even as our grades slide. In other words our students are doing poorly, but they think they are doing well. </p><p>It reminds me of a foreman in a factory who was in one of my management classes. He shared an incident in his shop. A young man was hired as a material handler who wore his pants down around his knees. He constantly had to use one hand to hold up his pants while using the free hand to handle material. When the foreman asked him, “Don’t you think you could get more done if you used both hands?” the young man answered, “No I’m doing all right.” The job may not get done but at least he feels good about what he’s doing. Is this the American Way in the New Normal? </p><p>Russia swallows Crimea, China launches its first aircraft carrier and starts building a second while creating islands out of nothing and claiming the entire South China Sea, the Islamic State declares itself to be the Caliphate some of us were thought crazy to predict. Oh Happy Day! Once again America is respected in the world after that cowboy Bush brought us so low. Reagan said it was once again Morning in America and now we have Mourning in America as the fruit of Progressive policies, and cum bi ya diplomacy leads us from crisis to crisis. Then again we should never let a good crisis go to waste said President Obama’s first Chief of Staff before heading to Chicago to strengthen the gun laws. </p><p>Looking forward there is good news and bad news. The good news is that thanks to that paragon of progressivism, FDR, there are term limits on the presidency. The bad news is our southern sieve and the import-a-voter program brings in thousands of undocumented democrats everyday as Flat Broke Hillary and the transition team waits in the wings with self-proclaimed Native American Elizabeth Warren as an understudy. </p><p>I used to say, “We made it through the Second World War, and we can make it through Bill Clinton.” Then I said, “We made it through the Cold War we can make it through Bush the Younger.” Now I wonder, “If we threw away Iraq and we’re about to throw away Afghanistan, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona how will we survive another year of rule by decree with a Republican Congress that has gone over to the dark side?” </p><p>We may not be in Kansas anymore and we may have followed the white rabbit through the looking glass but at least illegal immigrants can now get <a href="http://dc.suntimes.com/dc-news/7/82/229554/10-states-washington-dc-illegal-immigrants-drivers-licenses">drivers licenses</a> in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont, and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C. These states are estimated to have an illegal immigrant population of 4,120,000 combined. Can anyone say “Motor Voter” or coming to a neighborhood near you soon. How can this ever go wrong with millions of undocumented Democrats and Hillary, or as I like to call her, “The Nail in Our Coffin” and the Predator-in-Chief ready to turn the White House into a Gentleman’s Club. </p><p>Altogether shout it now <br /> There's no one <br /> Who can doubt it now <br /> So let's tell the world about it now <br /> Happy days are here again </p><p>Your cares and troubles are gone <br /> There'll be no more from now on </p><p>Happy days are here again <br /> The skies above are clear again <br /> So, Let's sing a song of cheer again </p><p>Happy times <br /> Happy nights <br /> Happy days <br /> Are here again! Again!! </p><p>Just in case you hadn’t noticed.</p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2016 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p><p> </p></div>
The Man Made Global Warming Hoax Part Deux
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/the-man-made-global-warming-hoax-part-deux
2015-12-11T14:11:56.000Z
2015-12-11T14:11:56.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p>Can you believe it? The world is going to hell in a hand basket and our tone-deaf leaders are worried about man-made global warming. They are so worried that after terrorists turn the streets red with innocent blood more than one hundred of them fly in private jets to ride in long limousines to a summit in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/28/paris-climate-summit-world-leaders-talks-france">Paris</a> vowing to make a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-climate-change-talks-what-the-different-groups-attending-expect-from-these-crucial-meetings-a6753126.html">statement</a> that will <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-paris-climate-change-rebuke/2015/11/24/id/703453/">rebuke</a> the terrorists. The way it looks now these leaders of the blind will be sitting in the middle of a snow storm debating how to slow man-made global warming .0001 degree by destroying modern civilization when the mushroom clouds of the Mullahs are rising over American cities.</p><p>All the Paris Summit is really about is passing a <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/latam-hands-climate-bill-rich-world-summit-050003973.html">worldwide carbon tax</a>. This tax is meant to penalize the West for creating the modern world and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/cop21-african-campaigners-demand-compensation-for-effects-of-global-warming-a6767221.html">transfer the money</a> to 3<sup>rd</sup> world tyrants who loot their own countries and are salivating at the chance to loot ours.</p><p>Many people ascribe misguided but still humanitarian motives to this lunacy. I do not. When people we know are at least smart enough to earn advanced degrees or pour water out of a boot and who can plan well enough to maintain a perpetual grasp on power do such obviously dumb things I cannot ascribe their actions to a lack of either intelligence or foresight. I contend that what we are missing in our analysis is an understanding of the true motives.</p><p>If we can discern those motives we could make sense of what they are doing. If we could for one moment stand where they stand we would see that everything they say and do make sense. </p><p>Just imagine that their guiding light, communism, stands discredited and their social democracy is but a pale imitation on the way to totalitarian control. What is a want-to-be despot to do? Find another cause that can bamboozle the public and allow them to take greater control of everything.</p><p>Then along comes Al Gore the Apostle of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/globalwarming/11395516/The-fiddling-with-temperature-data-is-the-biggest-science-scandal-ever.html">Junk Science</a>. He offers a rationale for the madness. He and a covey of <a href="http://realclimatescience.com/2015/11/record-crushing-fraud-from-noaa-and-nasa-ahead-of-paris/">co-conspirators</a> produce movies and books and hockey-stick graphs to prove the poor polar bears are drowning and the oceans are rising. All built on <a href="http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/11/19/scientists-declare-un-climate-summit-goals-irrational-based-on-nonsense-leading-us-down-a-false-path/">faulty computer models</a> that <a href="http://www.redstate.com/2015/09/21/primer-climate-models/">cannot predict</a> cloud cover or the exact impact of water vapor produced by people who can’t produce a reliable ten day forecast telling us exactly what the weather will be 500 years from now. </p><p>Dress it all up in PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC and the New York Times and it not only appears reasonable it sells. Al Gore alone has made <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/12/al-gores-net-worth-green-energy_n_1961299.html">tens of millions</a> of dollars passing this fiction off as the truth while he buys an <a href="https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/sea-level-rising-gore-buys-multi-million-dollar-oceanfront-mansion">ocean front home</a> to watch for the rising seas, burns tons of fuel in <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2011/06/29/is-al-gore-a-fossil-fuel-industry-mole/">private jets</a> and has <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gore-defends-mansions-power-consumption/">every light</a> on in his mansions.</p><p>All of this is nothing but a naked power grab based on a consensus among government scientists, the desire of Progressives for total power and the inattention of low-information voters. The truth is that global carbon emissions have <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-stall-for-second-year-in-a-row-a6763776.html">stalled</a> for the past two years and <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/04/satellite-data-shows-no-global-warming-for-nearly-19-years/">no</a> global warming has taken place for more than 18 years. None of this was predicted by any of the Global warming hysteria mongers.</p><p>The presumptive Democrat presidential candidate Hillary “It’s My Turn” Clinton as well as many of the major Republican candidates not only buy into all this they vow to do even more than Barack “I’ll Turn out the Lights before I Leave” Obama. He is actively trying to <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/obama-kills-coal-as-promised/">kill the coal industry</a>. He has the <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/feature/will-obama-strangle-the-american-energy-juggernaut-12596">oil industry</a> by the throat. Our president envisions a world where we ride in electric smart cars to our solar powered jobs building wind powered widgets and the cow jumped over the moon.</p><p>Most people aren’t <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/25/the-new-consensus-97-of-americans-arent-worried-about-global-warming/">worried</a> about man-made global warming. They are concerned that some terrorist our <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/07/AR2010100705485.html">anti-colonialist</a> president is making us pay to fly over here will blow them up. Yet millions sit in front of the game dreaming that <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/norman-rockwell-37249">Norman Rockwell</a> has painted their life when in reality it is <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/salvador-dal-40389">Salvador Dali</a>. The public schools we pay for are <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article46795925.html">indoctrinating</a> our own children to worship the <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2012/04/the_religion_of_global_warming.html">religion</a> of man-made global warming.</p><p>Ignore the facts. Pretend man-made global warming is destroying the Earth when in reality there hasn’t been any global warming since before the latest class of high school graduates was born. Now the pied pipers of panic are calling for <a href="https://pjmedia.com/trending/2015/12/2/obamas-organizing-for-action-call-out-the-climate-change-deniers">Deniers</a> to be ostracized and punished. They theorize about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/another-danger-of-climate-change-giant-flying-boulders/2015/11/27/81bdf026-9384-11e5-b5e4-279b4501e8a6_story.html">giant flying boulders</a> and melting ice caps while Antarctica and the rest of the world is actually <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/622043/GLOBAL-WARMING-NASA-Antarctic-COOLING-six-years-Arctic-north-pole-climate-change">cooling</a>. I think it might have something to do with that billion times the size of the earth thermonuclear ball in the sky we call the Sun, which actually has much <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/a-mini-ice-age-is-coming-in-the-next-15-years">more</a> to do with our climate than we do.</p><p>You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time and apparently you can fool enough people for long enough to destroy a modern technological civilization with junk science, cartoonish documentaries, discredited charts and hypocrites in nice suits. Wake up America before we freeze to death in the dark.</p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p></div>
Socialism is the Problem Capitalism is the Solution
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/socialism-is-the-problem-capitalism-is-the-solution
2015-12-04T15:26:59.000Z
2015-12-04T15:26:59.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div>In the long and dismal History of human bondage an unbroken chain of command economies and tyrants has kept their boot on the neck of humanity.Then came the American experiment, the spirit of 76, the miracle at Philadelphia, and for brief moment in the hours of human bondage the flame of freedom flickered and then blazed, lighting the way to a new age: the Age of Liberty. Unfettered by central planning and tyranny the ingenuity and enterprise of man brought forth in two short centuries more innovation and accomplishment than the previous eons of slavery.Then the shackles were re-forged by the Progressives who want the power to dictate the lives of others for goals they say are for the betterment of others but which are in reality merely tools they use to gain power. Through manipulation of the media and control of education the Progressives gained the tacit approval of the general population. Most people were too busy working and living their lives to keep their attention on the wider society. The prosperity freedom had created bred generations of people who began to take it for granted. Today after years of bread and circus cycles of neglect we have a mass of citizens who follow like sheep to the slaughter or lemmings to the cliff anywhere the Progressive puppet masters portray as the next free entitlement.Founded upon a limited government, today we have an imperial president who rules by decree as we pretend that the Constitution is still in force. We live in a dysfunctional oligarchy that is masquerading as a functional republic. We flounder and lurch from one crisis to the next on the world stage because we are divorced from our principles and hypnotized into believing we actually still stand for freedom when we actually are a front for multi-national corporations and international banks. A giant hobbled by pygmies unable to understand that by discarding our heritage of personal liberty, individual freedom, and economic opportunity we have made ourselves no different from every other plunder empire that has fallen from Rome to Britain.We have descended into mediocrity by adopting the same over regulated, ”from everyone according to the ability to everyone according to their need” pathology that doomed the commissars with their five-year plans, their gulags, and iron curtains. Whenever this rob from the rich to give to the poor looting of producers to support non-producers runs into trouble, which is whenever they run out of other people’s money, they blame Capitalism: the goose that lays the golden eggs. In a classic bait and switch the Progressive collectivists offer freedom and deliver regulations. They offer prosperity and deliver stagnation, inflation, and economic ruin. Our rob Peter to pay Paul pied pipers blame capitalism when in reality Socialism is the problem and Capitalism is the solution.This progressive slide into the dustbin of History will only be reversed by applying the opposing force of freedom. This must include freedom of action, freedom of association, of speech, thought, and the freedom to excel.If we outlaw failure with a security net of social programs we ensure that some will turn it into a hammock. When we open the borders and welcome the world should we really watch in disbelief as the programs our elected masters have implemented turn the greatest nation the world has ever known into a third world hellhole saluting the stars and stripes and repeating like a robot, “We’re number one!”Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</div>
How Many Nails Does it Take to Seal a Coffin
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/how-many-nails-does-it-take-to-seal-a-coffin
2015-11-13T14:26:25.000Z
2015-11-13T14:26:25.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p>How many lopsided trade deals does it take to teach a nation they are being sold down the river? Apparently it takes one more than we have.</p><p>After months of secrecy President Obama has the chutzpa to throw the thing online and <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-asks-people-to-read-tpp-deal-themselves/article/2575999">challenge</a> people to read it. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-asks-people-to-read-tpp-deal-themselves/article/2575999">Saying</a> "Along with the text of the agreement, we've posted detailed materials to help explain it. It's an unprecedented degree of transparency — and it's the right thing to do."</p><p>Sounds great doesn’t it? How open. How accessible. Give it a quick read and let’s get on with the job of selling out our heritage for a bowl for oatmeal.</p><p>The next time you have a few moments free between jobs why not give it a go. It is only 5,544 pages containing 2,056,560 words which <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/06/obamas-convoluted-tpp-agreement-is-three-times-as-long-as-the-king-james-bible-list/#ixzz3rBs9ub9i">is</a> according to the Daily Caller:</p><ul><li>3.18x longer than the King James Bible</li><li>5.77x longer than the Affordable Care Act</li><li>1.63x longer than the entire Harry Potter series</li><li>3.73x longer than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy</li><li>1.06x longer than the entire Game of Thrones series</li><li>4.33x longer than the entire works of Shakespeare</li><li>2.65x longer than the New Oxford American Dictionary 3rd Edition</li></ul><p>Just take a little break from trying to make ends meet while you compete with workers around the world making ten dollars a day and make a decision about whether we should take another bite of the free trade apple. Of course no matter what you decide the twin headed party of power in Chicago on the Potomac is going to shove this give away of American jobs and prosperity down your throat.</p><p>TPP is an agreement between the United States and 11 other countries – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. China is not a party to this treaty.</p><p>According to <a href="http://www.citizen.org/TPP">Public Citizen</a>:</p><p><a href="http://www.citizen.org/documents/tpp-nafta-on-steroids-infographic.png">The TPP would expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "trade" pact model</a> that has spurred <a href="http://citizen.org/documents/prosperity-undermined.pdf">massive U.S. trade deficits and job loss, downward pressure on wages, unprecedented levels of inequality and new floods of agricultural imports</a>. The TPP not only replicates, but expands NAFTA's special protections for firms that offshore U.S. jobs. And U.S. TPP negotiators literally used the 2011 <a href="http://citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3595">Korea FTA</a> – under which exports have fallen and trade deficits have surged – as the template for the TPP.</p><p>In one fell swoop, this secretive deal could:</p><table align="left" border="0" width="266"><tbody><tr><td><ul><li><a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=6475"><b>offshore American jobs and increase income inequality</b></a><b>,</b></li><li><a href="http://www.citizen.org/tpp-public-health"><b>jack up the cost of medicines</b></a><b>,</b></li><li><a href="http://www.eff.org/issues/tpp"><b>sneak in SOPA-like threats to Internet freedom</b></a><b>,</b></li><li><a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=5411"><b>empower corporations to attack our environmental and health safeguards</b></a><b>,</b></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" width="278"><tbody><tr><td><ul><li><a href="http://www.citizen.org/tpp-food-safety-facts"><b>expose the U.S. to unsafe food and products</b></a><b>,</b></li><li><a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=6474"><b>roll back Wall Street reforms</b></a><b>,</b></li><li><a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=5414"><b>ban Buy American policies needed to create green jobs</b></a><b>,</b></li><li><b>and</b> <a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=6587"><b>undermine human rights</b></a><b>.</b></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>Although it is called a "free trade" agreement, the TPP is not mainly about trade. Of TPP's 29 draft chapters, only five deal with traditional trade issues. One chapter would provide incentives to offshore jobs to low-wage countries. Many would impose limits on government policies that we rely on in our daily lives for safe food, a clean environment, and more. Our domestic federal, state and local policies would be required to comply with TPP rules.</p><p>So if the stagnant or falling wages of the last few decades have left you feeling as if you haven’t given enough hold on because the DC Leviathan is about to ask for more.</p><p>I would now make a plea for everyone to call their senators and congressman but does anyone believe that would make a difference. This is just another milestone on the road to the 3<sup>rd</sup> world by those who seek to fundamentally transform America. Then along comes Hillary, the nail in our coffin.</p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p><p> </p></div>
Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/rearranging-the-deck-chairs-on-the-titanic
2015-10-23T18:46:20.000Z
2015-10-23T18:46:20.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p class="paragraph">Last week I offered five simple solutions that could turn this ship around. </p><p class="paragraph">First, jettison the Empire to save the Republic </p><p class="paragraph">Second, declare our energy independence. </p><p class="paragraph">Third, end the de facto amnesty. </p><p class="paragraph">Fourth, end the centrally planned welfare state. </p><p class="paragraph">Fifth, grow the economy instead of the bureaucracy to bring back prosperity, opportunity, and hope. </p><p class="paragraph">Does anyone realistically think the two headed leviathan in Washington will implement any of them? No matter who is elected the bureaucracy will maintain full speed ahead into the iceberg of collapse. In other words these fixes may be easy to propose however they are impossible to implement given the current toxic climate in Chicago on the Potomac. </p><p class="paragraph">Look at the Planned Parenthood scandal for an example of how degraded our society has become. Secretly produced <a href="http://datab.us/Search/Popular%2BVideos%2B-%2BPlanned%2BParenthood%2Band%2BFetus%2BPlayListIDPLFPpSJJXqIenBs9Ok_uH7_QbexyWq2eP1">videos</a> clearly show Planned Parenthood leaders laughing and joking about harvesting the organs of babies and selling them for profit. The supporters of Planned Parenthood respond by saying that the videos are heavily <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/28/us/abortion-planned-parenthood-videos.html?_r=0">edited</a>. Then we learn they were <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/no-the-planned-parenthood-videos-have-not-been-deceptively-edited/">edited</a> to take out things like taking trips to the bathroom and ordering food and that <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2015/09/29/forensic-analysis-planned-parenthood-videos-are-authentic/">forensic experts</a> overwhelmingly find them <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/29/second-report-confirms-planned-parenthood-sting-videos-are-honest/">authentic</a>. The advocates of abortion on demand do not dispute what is said they dispute the manner in which the information was <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/top-planned-parenthood-official-calls-videos-illegal/article/2570608">obtained</a>. </p><p class="paragraph">Progressives will <a href="http://www.allenbwest.com/2014/10/liberal-lunacy-animal-rights-group-seeks-personhood-chimpanzees/">argue</a> for the <a href="http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1064628/pg4">personhood</a> of chimpanzees because their DNA is a 99% match to human. Yet they deny the personhood of <a href="https://prolifeacrossamerica.org/baby-developmental-facts/?gclid=CP2m1c7D0cgCFRApaQodWxYBEQ">babies in the womb</a> that are a 100% match. These types of dichotomies and absurdities among our ruling class remind one that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. </p><p class="paragraph">Look at the current presidential demolition derby. </p><p class="paragraph">The Republicans clearly favor people who are not traditional Republicans. After looking over their establishment, mainline Republicans and the rank and file members of the Party are asking isn’t there someone else? I believe if Someone Else was on the Ballot in the coming primaries they could well win. As it is, since they must choose from people actually on the ballot after dismissing him as a reality star the betting is beginning to move towards a Trump <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/10/20/media-establishment-finally-admits-trump-could-win-this-thing/">win</a>. Mr. Trump is a big man with big ideas, unfortunately most of these will need big government to accomplish and the hope for a return to limited government recedes a little further from the realm of possibility with big government advocates on both sides. </p><p class="paragraph">On the Democrat side we are witnessing the Clinton restoration and America is heading for a <a href="http://rickwells.us/archives/10720">sequel</a> to the Golden Nineties when character didn’t matter and White House interns were fair game. Hillary, after her original courageous testimony concerning Benghazi <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny3bOmey-BE">summed</a> it up in “At this point what does it matter?” continues doing her <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/06/04/morris-hillary-stonewalled-on-taxes-to-avoid-insider-trading-prosecution/">Whitewater stonewalling</a> routine to the applause of her devotees. </p><p class="paragraph">The <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%205">handwriting is on the wall</a> and we may have truly reached the tipping point where whoever wins the Democrat primaries wins the election. <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2013/nov/10/george-will/george-will-paints-dire-electoral-picture-gop-says/">Eighteen States</a> have voted Democrat in six consecutive elections with 242 electoral votes. University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2013/nov/10/george-will/george-will-paints-dire-electoral-picture-gop-says/">said</a> the hurdle for Republicans doesn't look any better if you count the underlying votes by citizens, not just the electoral results. "Democrats have also won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential contests," Sabato said. "The demographic shifts heading to mid-century are all pro-Democratic." </p><p class="paragraph">Add to this that the illegal migration invaders are being <a href="http://www.alan.com/2014/07/14/allen-west-obama-secretly-dispersing-illegal-immigrants-in-red-states-to-turn-them-blue/">dispersed</a> to red states combined with <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-03-29/news/9503290250_1_motor-voter-national-voter-registration-act-voter-fraud">court</a> <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-03-29/news/9503290250_1_motor-voter-national-voter-registration-act-voter-fraud">ordered</a> <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/09/a-primer-on-motor-voter-corrupted-voter-rolls-and-the-justice-departments-selective-failure-to-enforce-federal-mandates">motor-voter</a> status and what is coming is a tsunami of undocumented democrats to turn the red states blue. We are nearing a mirror image of Chicago where the Republicans often <a href="http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/393401/election-2015-results-mayoral-ward-ward-breakdown">don’t even bother</a> to run a candidate for mayor because they have a hard time finding sacrificial lambs. </p><p class="paragraph">They have <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/english/Political/26325.htm">elections in China</a>. Everyone eighteen years or older can vote. They get the chance to choose between a communist and another communist. This adds up to an <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/14/china-congress-president/1987659/">election in name only</a> or a distinction without a difference. </p><p class="paragraph">In America today we get to choose between one of two members of the twin headed party of power. Whoever wins the government grows and more power is concentrated in Washington. Clinton, Bush, Trump, or Sanders whoever wins the bureaucracy continues to wield extra-constitutional power and the Founders dream of a limited government grows dimmer. </p><p class="paragraph">Seeing what is happening to our American heritage is like waking up one day and realizing that eventually all of your prized possessions and all of your memories will end up in a land fill. </p><p class="paragraph">This all reminds me that a pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist. </p><p class="paragraph">Sounds depressing doesn’t it? In the world we have little hope for change. We are on an express to national suicide and the fix is in. This is why I have written my latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1633912302?keywords=political%20action%20owens&qid=1445438334&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1"><i>Political Action Follows Political Philosophy</i></a>. This book was written because I believe once liberty is extinguished it may be generations before the light of freedom will again burn bright. I wrote this book to be a seed for future generations so they will know what happened to the American experiment and provide the philosophical foundations for the rebirth of limited government, personal freedom, and economic opportunity. </p><p class="paragraph">Because, the vast majority of human action reflects the thoughts, beliefs, and feelings of the actor. There have always been and there will always be those whose actions are erratic or divorced from reality. The actions of this small minority are best ascribed to pathology not philosophy. For the rest of us, we think therefore we are. What we think about today we act upon tomorrow. </p><p class="paragraph">The Dispatches from the History of the Future contained in this book convey the basic political philosophy which I believe will one day re-inspire our nation to stride upon the stage of History with another round of liberating political action. </p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p></div>
Why Empires Fall
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/why-empires-fall
2015-07-24T13:26:01.000Z
2015-07-24T13:26:01.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p>Although the generalization is usually applied to republics, according to Sir John Glubb, a British author and lecturer, most empires don’t last longer than 250 years.<br /> <br /> The Nation Dates of Rise & Fall Duration in Years<br /> Assyria 859 – 612 B.C. 247<br /> Persia 538 - 330 B.C. 208<br /> (Cyrus and his descendants) <br /> Greece 331 – 100 B.C 231<br /> (Alexander and his successors)<br /> Roman Republic 260 0 27 B.C 233<br /> Roman Empire 27 B.C – A.D. 180 180<br /> Arab Empire A.D 634 – 880 246<br /> Mameluke Empire 1250 – 1570 267<br /> Ottoman Empire 1320 – 1570 250<br /> Spain 1500 – 1750 250<br /> Romanov Russia 1682 – 1916 234<br /> Britain 1700 – 1950 250<br /> <br /> Or as Sir John said in summation: <br /> As numerous points of interest have arisen in the course of this essay, I close with a brief summary, to refresh the reader’s mind. <br /> (a) We do not learn from history because<br /> our studies are brief and prejudiced.<br /> (b) In a surprising manner, 250 years<br /> emerges as the average length of national<br /> greatness.<br /> (c) This average has not varied for 3,000 years. <br /> Does it represent ten generations?<br /> (d) The stages of the rise and fall of great<br /> nations seem to be:<br /> The Age of Pioneers (outburst)<br /> The Age of Conquests<br /> The Age of Commerce<br /> The Age of Affluence<br /> The Age of Intellect<br /> The Age of Decadence.<br /> (e) Decadence is marked by:<br /> Defensiveness<br /> Pessimism<br /> Materialism<br /> Frivolity<br /> An influx of foreigners<br /> The Welfare State<br /> A weakening of religion.<br /> (f) Decadence is due to:<br /> Too long a period of wealth and power<br /> Selfishness<br /> Love of money<br /> The loss of a sense of duty. (Sir John Glubb)<br /> <br /> Does any of this sound familiar? In other words all empires rise and all empires fall. It is the luck of the draw or the happenstance of birth that situates us as spectators of the fall. <br /> <br /> I know from experience as the Author of The Constitution Failed that if you question the viability of the American experiment even the most humble participant in that experiment becomes indignant. As I have been asked repeatedly, “How can you say, the Constitution failed don't you mean, we failed the Constitution?" This always elicits my response, “Is that a distinction without a difference?” <br /> <br /> Since the declared and understood purpose to the writing and ratification of the Constitution was to create and sustain a limited government and since We the People now face an unlimited government I maintain we must face the painful reality that the Constitution has failed. With that failure the experiment in individual liberty, personal freedom, and economic opportunity is hurtling towards a destination with destiny as we become like all the other nations of the earth: a command economy with a permanent political class.<br /> <br /> When did we start our slide from a limited government to a centrally-planned Leviathan masquerading as a utopian paradise? <br /> The experiment jumped the tracks under the second president. John Adams signed the Alien and sedition Act and then used that act to arrest anyone who disagreed with him. This was not the beginning of our present slide into totalitarianism. <br /> <br /> Abraham Lincoln waged total war against eleven States that sought to secede when the right to secede was not withheld from the states and the right to wage war against the States was not afforded to the Federal Government by the Constitution. He did however allow West Virginia to secede from Virginia without the approval of the Virginia government which is explicitly contrary to the Constitution. This was not the beginning of our present slide into totalitarianism. <br /> <br /> In the midst of the banking crisis of 1932-33 FDR told America, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” He should have told us that we had him and his Progressive agenda to fear, at least as far as the fundamental nature of the American Experiment was concerned.<br /> <br /> Despite the fact that by 1932 the recovery from the crash of 1929 was well under way as evidenced by freight loadings that rose 20 percent, industrial production 21 percent, construction contract awards gained 30 percent, unemployment dropped by nearly one million, wholesale prices rebounded by 20 percent, and the battered stock market was up by 40 percent. David Stockman goes so far as to say, “the Hoover recovery would be celebrated in the history books even today if it had not been interrupted in the winter of 1932-1933 by a faux banking crisis which was entirely the doing of President-elect Roosevelt and the loose-talking economic statist at the core of his transition team.”<br /> <br /> At that time the banking crisis, as it was loudly and universally called, had Americans fearing that the economy was about to collapse. This has been called the failure of capitalism. However as David Stockman points out, <br /> <br /> The truth of the so-called banking crisis is that the artificial economic boom of 1914-1929 had generated a drastic proliferation of banks in the farm country and in the booming new industrial centers like Chicago, Detroit, Youngtown and Toledo, along with vast amounts of poorly underwritten debt on real estate and businesses.<br /> <br /> When the bubble burst in 1929, the financial system experienced the time-honored capitalist cure — a sweeping liquidation of bad debts and under-capitalized banks. Not only was this an unavoidable and healthy purge of economic rot, but also reflected the fact that the legions of banks which failed were flat-out insolvent and should have been closed.<br /> <br /> How great was this meltdown? How many people lost everything in the bank failures? Was this a massive slide into a financial morass? As David Stockman summed it up, “Indeed, a single startling statistic puts paid to the whole New Deal mythology that FDR rescued the banking system after a veritable heart attack: to wit, losses at failed US banks during the entire 12-year period ending in 1932 amounted to only 2-3 percent of deposits. There never was a sweeping contagion of failure in the banking system.”<br /> <br /> Foreshadowing President Obama’s first Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before,” FDR used this crisis to forever change the very structure of American government.<br /> <br /> FDR didn’t introduce his sweeping changes in the dead of night. He campaigned on them. He said he would bring in a New Deal for all Americans and he did. As his first inaugural speech ended he laid his cards on the table, “It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed (sic) action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.”<br /> <br /> In these two sentences the new president announced that if he deemed it necessary to upend the balance of powers he would do so. He then threatened to do whatever he thought necessary in the 1933 version of President Obama’s “We can’t wait” proclamation. Instead of saying “I have a pen and I have a phone,” FDR said, “But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” <br /> <br /> Congress did not fight. They did not stand on their prerogatives as a co-equal branch. Instead they knuckled under and in 100 days created an alphabet soup of federal agencies to control everything from soup to nuts. America began its dramatic descent from freedom and liberty to servitude and regulation. With FDR’s imagery of a war against an emergency America found itself at war with a recession which had already ended successfully turning it into the Great <br /> Depression which wouldn’t end for eight more years.<br /> <br /> Since that time we have declared war on poverty. Fifty years and several trillion dollars later and we have just as much poverty as before. We have declared war on drugs and hundreds of thousands of incarcerations and trillions of dollars later and the drug problem is worse than before. We have of course also been in either a hot or a cold war since 1941 and hundreds of thousands of lives and many trillions of dollars later we have less security than we had before.<br /> <br /> All of this has led to an erosion of our individual liberty, personal freedom, and economic opportunity. The balance of power has all but dissolved as Congress ceded its power to the executive and the bureaucracy while nine Supreme Justices make all the final decisions. <br /> <br /> The Constitution was written to set the foundations for how our nation should be ruled. The First Article of the Constitution established the Legislature and most of the document deals with the Legislature, obviously the most important part of our national government. The part that is closest to the people. Today that body has transferred its power and we are faced with an imperial presidency and a Supreme Court that has decreed itself to be the source and the summit of legitimacy.<br /> <br /> John Locke, the inspiration of much that became our Constitution said in his Second Treatise of Civil Government, “The Legislative cannot transfer the Power of Making Laws to any other hands. For it being but a delegated Power from the People, they, who have it, cannot pass it over to others.”<br /> <br /> Yet this is what has happened and this is why we are no longer forging ahead at the vanguard of humanity. We are instead rapidly becoming the source of raw materials and a market place for the goods of others: a colony in all but name. Or as the saying goes, the borrower is slave to the lender.<br /> <br /> Everywhere I go and everyone I speak with knows America is losing its edge, sliding down a Progressive rat hole into an over-regulated shabby future in the dustbin of History. At the same time everywhere I go and everyone I speak to says, “At least it won’t happen in my day but I feel sorry for the generations coming after me.” <br /> <br /> Why do empires fall? Because they think they won’t.<br /> <br /> Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens<br /></p></div>
We Are A Conquered Nation
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/we-are-a-conquered-nation
2015-06-05T18:37:39.000Z
2015-06-05T18:37:39.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p class="paragraph">It’s time to take the gloves off. For decades I have been writing that the Progressives who have ruled our nation since 1988 have been using every tactic at their disposal to transform America from the indispensable nation to a disposable dystopia. I have railed against the open border mass immigration importation of Democrat voters that has swamped our culture and warped our electoral process. </p><p class="paragraph">I have long believed we have passed the tipping point and the reason I keep on is so that when my grandchildren turn to their children living in a third world hell hole that was once the richest most powerful nation on earth they can say, “At least your Great Grandfather tried to let people know what was coming.” For this reason I have written the History of the Future. For this reason I ran a quixotic campaign for the Virginia State Senate in a gerrymandered district that was drawn for and belonged to a man famous for attending less than fifty percent of the Senate’s meetings and sleeping through much of those. I won every vote that was not his by birth and lost by two to one. However in that campaign I was free to say the things politicians can never say. </p><p class="paragraph">I told people that it was time for the States to stand up and bring federalism back from the brink of extinction. That it was time to demand real money instead of fiat currency that destined to bring us to financial ruin. I told them that it was time to declare English the official language for education, ballots, and government forms. I called for a ten year moratorium on all immigration so that those who were already here legally could be assimilated. I called for a vigorous enforcement of the laws against hiring illegals with massive fines for anyone who violated them. Coupling this lack of work with a denial of all government benefits so that our illegal population would self deport and go home. I called for the imposition of a 10% tariff on imported manufactured goods so that the native industries could be protected and the income could fund tax cuts for Americans. </p><p class="paragraph">That was my platform. It was well received and well supported outside the areas of the district where public support was not the major industry. It went down to a rousing defeat. </p><p class="paragraph">Over the years anyone who has read this column knows that I have called the two government parties two sides of the same coin and two heads on the same bird of prey. I have pointed out that no matter which party is in power we end up with a bigger federal government, more laws, more taxes and more undocumented democrats. Signaling that we have passed the tipping point in 2012 we re-elected the biggest spending president in American History in the midst of a recession he has successfully turned into the New Normal whose actual platform was a bigger federal government, more laws, more taxes, and more undocumented democrats. The handwriting isn’t on the wall, because there is no wall, because the executive branch has refused to build it even though the legislative branch mandated it and funded it. The handwriting is in columns like this and in the works of Pat Buchanan, Anne Coulter, Mark Steyn, and the words of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and countless other watchmen on the walls. </p><p class="paragraph">However, even though Americans have and are listening. Conservative radio talk is ubiquitous; Fox has buried CNN and MSNBC. Coulter, Styen, Levin, and many others write multiple best sellers. The documentaries of Dinesh D'Souza break box office records. Yet the political class continues to be re-elected to rule exactly in the opposite direction. </p><p class="paragraph">Socialism is dying everywhere in the world except in America. Our progressive conquerors use the agencies of the imperial executive branch to harass, tax, prosecute, and spy. We are watched, regulated and held back at every step. They have used free trade to export our manufacturing base changing us from the arsenal of democracy into the marketplace for a communist dictatorship. Crony capitalists walk away with billions, billions more disappear in federal rounding errors, and banks are bailed out as the Creature from Jekyll Island inflates bubble after bubble. </p><p class="paragraph">It isn’t time to roll over and go back to sleep. People woke up in 2010 when the Tea Party was born. I was there at the birth. I went to the rallies. I spoke at the meetings. I attended the conventions and supported the candidates that swept the House in 2010. What happened? Those brave new world conservatives that had just turned out Nancy Pelosi went to Washington, voted to make John Boehner the Speaker of the House, renewed the Patriot Act, and then passed continuing resolution after continuing resolution to keep the money rolling and the government growing. </p><p class="paragraph">Knowing what was coming I wrote and published <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Constitution-Failed-PH-D-Robert-Owens/dp/1609579615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433333864&sr=8-1&keywords=the+constitution+failed+owens"><i>The Constitution Failed</i></a> in October of 2010, which is a book many people still reject merely because of the title. They erroneously think I am saying the document itself is a failure or that it was flawed from the beginning when what I am really saying is the execution of it has failed. The thumbnail sketch being, “If the Constitution was written for the express purpose of giving us a limited government and we now have an unlimited government it has failed.” </p><p class="paragraph">I am not saying that it didn’t bring us the most freedom and the greatest opportunities any people in the History of the world have ever had. It did. I am not saying that it didn’t allow America to rise from 13 struggling states on the edge of the world to the greatest nation History has ever known. It did. What I am saying is that if our founding document guarantees us a limited government, individual freedom, and economic opportunity, and we are now laboring in the Progressives New Normal as the NSA watches our every move and listens to our every conversation something is very wrong here. </p><p class="paragraph">Everywhere I go and everyone I speak to seems to know intuitively how to solve our problems. Seal the border, cut off the free meals, and the illegal immigration problem will solve itself. Stop immigration long enough for the millions of legal immigrants to become culturally American. We all came from somewhere else, and after a generation, or at most two, we are all Americans because the old melting pot was allowed to work instead of the Progressive smelting pot that is Balkanizing America. Everyone can see we need to protect our industry and do everything we can to foster its resurgence. Everyone knows we need more domestic energy not less, less regulation not more, and that the healthcare system was healthier and more affordable before the Affordable Care Act. </p><p class="paragraph">Everyone everywhere can see these things, or at least a vast majority of native born Americans can. Yet does anyone honestly believe that the perpetually re-elected or their carbon copy replacements are going to shut down the nomenclature in OZ, the casino in New York, or the giveaway to China? Everyone everywhere can see we are on a crash course to nowhere on the express to the dustbin of History. The best people can say is it will last long enough for them to continue living the high life. </p><p class="paragraph">This is not the case. I began this plea by saying it’s time to take the gloves off and it is. The economy is heading for the biggest crash we have ever known. Our foreign policy or lack thereof is leading us to international humiliation. The immigration invasion is leading us to the third world. </p><p class="paragraph">Believing that once a people lose their freedom there is no way to restore it by internal means without a complete collapse of the ruling superstructure as happened in the Soviet Union I am soon bringing out a new book, <i>Political Action Follows Political Philosophy</i>. While every author hopes his books will sell, this is a book I plant as seed for our descendants. It is a distillation of the Enlightenment political theory upon which our freedoms and our Constitution were founded as expressed against the background of the events which led to their demise: The <a href="http://www.drrobertowens.com">History of the Future</a>. </p><p class="paragraph">As I close today I pray for the freedom of all, and I counsel: keep the peace, keep the faith, we shall overcome. </p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p></div>
I’m Standing With Pat
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/i-m-standing-with-pat
2015-05-22T13:38:43.000Z
2015-05-22T13:38:43.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p class="paragraph">I am proud to say I have been a viewer, reader, and supporter of Pat Buchanan for decades. I have watched all the different shows that he has either participated in or founded. His career as a commentator has stretched from the 1970’s with his radio program the Buchanan – Braden Program and his commentaries for NBC. His work in television has helped shape a whole industry of imitators. He founded Crossfire on CNN and was a founding member of the McLaughlin Group. He was also a founding member of the Capital Gang on PBS. </p><p class="paragraph">As a journalist he started at 23 as the youngest editorial writer on a major newspaper in America: The St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He then became the first full-time staffer on Richard Nixon’s legendary comeback campaign in 1966. He traveled with the future President in the campaigns of 1966 and 1968, served as special assistant through the final days of Watergate, and stayed on in the Ford White House until 1974. He returned to the White House in the 1980’s as Communications Director for Ronald Reagan. </p><p class="paragraph">In his White House years, Mr. Buchanan wrote foreign policy speeches, and attended four summits, including Mr. Nixon’s historic opening to China in 1972, and Ronald Reagan’s Reykjavik summit in1986 with Mikhail Gorbachev. </p><p class="paragraph">In 1992 Pat made a heroic run for the presidency against President George H. W. Bush, seriously challenging Bush, and winning 38 percent of the votes in the New Hampshire primary garnering more than three million total votes in the primaries. His speech, the Culture War speech, at the Republican Convention still stirs the hearts of Americans. </p><p class="paragraph">In 1996 he ran for the presidency again. His opponents were Senator Bob Dole, Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander, and publisher Steve Forbes. Pat defeated Senator Bob Dole in the New Hampshire primary, he won three other states (Alaska, Missouri, and Louisiana), and finished only slightly behind Dole in the Iowa caucus. He eventually bowed out of the race when it became apparent that Dole, the establishment candidate was going to win the nomination. </p><p class="paragraph">In 2000 Pat ran for President as the candidate of the Reform Party, which had been founded by Ross Perot in the 1990’s. He lost this bid receiving 449,895 votes, 0.4% of the popular vote. </p><p class="paragraph">Pat has written ten books, including six straight New York Times best sellers <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Not-Empire-Reclaiming-Americas/dp/0895261596/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432164505&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Republic%2C+Not+an+Empire">A Republic, Not an Empire</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Death-West-Populations-Immigrant-Civilization/dp/0312302592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432164536&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Death+of+the+West">The Death of the West</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Right-Went-Wrong-Neoconservatives/dp/0312341164/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432164571&sr=8-1&keywords=Where+the+Right+Went+Wrong">Where the Right Went Wrong</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/State-Emergency-Invasion-Conquest-America/dp/0312374364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432164666&sr=8-1&keywords=State+of+Emergency+buchanan">State of Emergency</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Day-Reckoning-Ideology-Tearing-America/dp/0312376960/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432164829&sr=8-1&keywords=Day+of+Reckoning+buchanan">Day of Reckoning</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Hitler-Unnecessary-War-Britain/dp/0307405168/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432164860&sr=8-1&keywords=Churchill%2C+Hitler+and+The+Unnecessary+War">Churchill, Hitler and The Unnecessary War</a>. All of which I have read and highly recommend. His newest book is <i>The Greatest Comeback</i>. </p><p class="paragraph">He is the founder of <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/">The American Conservative</a> the flagship magazine for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism_and_paleoconservatism">paleoconservative</a> thought and his editorials are found all over the web. </p><p class="paragraph">In other words Pat Buchanan, in my estimation, is a national treasure and the Godfather of the Paleoconservative. As I said, I am proud to identify as a follower of Pat Buchanan, his politics, and his thoughts. </p><p class="paragraph">In its effort to mobilize support for the latest round of Free Trade giveaways that bastion of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism_and_paleoconservatism">Neocon</a> Globalization, the Wall Street Journal has tried to use Pat Buchanan as a whipping boy. They have tried to lay the blame for their own pet policies at the door of the one man who more than anyone else has tried to warn us about the very consequences that are dragging us from the first world to the third. </p><p class="paragraph">In an editorial dated May 10<sup>th</sup> 2015 the Journal said: </p><p class="paragraph">Here we go again. In the 1990s Pat Buchanan launched a civil war within the Republican Party on a platform targeting immigration and trade. Some claimed Pitchfork Pat was the future of the GOP, though in the end he mainly contributed to its presidential defeats. </p><p class="paragraph">In the waning days of the Obama Presidency the GOP’s Buchanan wing is making a comeback, and in ways that are revealing about its ultimate agenda. The leader of this movement in Congress is Jeff Sessions, who has long railed against illegal immigration but since becoming chairman of the Senate’s subcommittee on immigration has taken a more public stance against legal immigration. </p><p class="paragraph">Now he’s opposing the bipartisan effort to pass trade promotion authority and in the process showing that his objections aren’t only about the law or immigrants. They’re rooted in the same hostility to markets and globalization that animates the slow-growth Democratic left. </p><p class="paragraph">This is like the man who convinced you to sell your house for a bag of magic beans blaming the man who told you a house is worth more than beans for you ending up with a bag of beans. </p><p class="paragraph">Pat warned us about NAFTA, GATT and MFN for China. He told us these things would lead to the gutting of American manufacturing. The Wall Street Journal and the Amen Choir over at the Chamber of Commerce cheered them on. What has been the result? Between 2000 and 2010, 55,000 U.S. factories closed and 5 million to 6 million manufacturing jobs disappeared along with the middle class lives they used to provide. </p><p class="paragraph">Since these Free Trade boondoggles have been shoved down our throats we have consistently run multibillion dollar trade deficits with China. Last year’s deficit was $325 billion, or twice China’s defense budget. It is all this money draining from our economy to China’s that allows them to build a world-class military that is poised to challenge America for supremacy in Asia. </p><p class="paragraph">The Journal accuses Pat of being anti-growth. However as Pat points out, “as trade surpluses add to a nation’s GDP, trade deficits subtract from it. Does the Journal think our $11 trillion in trade deficits since 1992 represents a pro-growth policy?” </p><p class="paragraph">Back in 1992 when there were 3 or 4 million illegals in America. Pat campaigned to secure the borders. That didn’t happen and now there are 11, 12, who knows how many million illegals and more pouring in every day. Is this good for America or is it bad? The Journal and the open borders crowd call Pat a xenophobe. I call him a patriot. </p><p class="paragraph">Pat has also called for a moratorium on immigration as we had from 1924-1965 so that those who are here can be assimilated and become Americanized. I believe that one reason America is great, one reason why we have developed the most vibrant and lively society in the History of the world is because we have subsumed the best people from everywhere. All of us except the Native Americans are immigrants. We have come from every country on the globe. And together we have morphed into one people. We used to brag about the great melting pot of American society. This is what Pat is urging we once again use to incubate our newer arrivals as they become us. Instead the Journal and the other hyphenated American cheerleaders urge us to become a smelting pot leading to what Teddy Roosevelt <a href="http://www.truthorfiction.com/roosevelt-immigration/">called</a>, a “polyglot boarding-house” </p><p class="paragraph">Now that 100% of the job growth since 2000 has <a href="http://cis.org/all-employment-growth-since-2000-went-to-immigrants">gone to immigrants</a>. Now that illegals feel secure enough to emerge from the shadows and hold public demonstrations <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/28/illegal-immigrants-protest-outside-white-house-with-little-fear-repercussions/">outside the White House</a> as well as in the middle of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/10/immigration/">major cities</a>. Now that schools are forced to teach in dozens sometimes hundreds of <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2013/1021/Los-Angeles-schools-plan-for-non-English-speakers-Segregation-or-solution">different languages</a>. Now that more than <a href="http://www.citylab.com/politics/2013/08/geography-americas-many-languages/6438/">60.6 million or 20.8 or 1/5</a> of American households do not speak English in their homes. Now that this is the reality we all face who was right about the open borders? Pat who wanted us to take a break and assimilate our new arrivals or those who wanted the cheap labor and the support of undocumented voters? </p><p class="paragraph">What about our rapidly deteriorating foreign policy? Pat supported the attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan but counseled a quick withdrawal once its objectives had been met. He opposed the invasion of Iraq pointing out that this country had not attacked us and did not pose a threat to our vital interests. The Neocon leadership still has us nation building in Afghanistan, and Iraq has become the quagmire Pat predicted. </p><p class="paragraph">If we had been following Pat’s advice on trade, immigration, and foreign policy we would be safer, richer, and more secure. </p><p class="paragraph">If the Neocons are going to use Pat Buchanan as a whipping boy they should know there are those who see him for what he really is: a visionary, a leader, a patriot, and a great American. So when it comes to the current debate over who lost America I’m standing where I have for decades. I’m standing with Pat. </p><p> Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p></div>
Light One Candle
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/light-one-candle
2015-03-20T21:46:48.000Z
2015-03-20T21:46:48.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p class="ecxmsonormal">Over the years I have used these articles to chronicle America’s slide from a nation based on limited government, personal liberty and economic opportunity to one based on an all-powerful central government, an apathetic public bought off with entitlements, and a regulated economy in free-fall to stagnation if not contraction.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">The professional politicians, their casino capitalist cronies and the media/academic alliance that justifies and promotes their seizure of power have triumphed. The America we have known, the one we grew up in has been replaced by Saul Alinsky’s America and no matter how many times we click our heels and say, “I want to go home” you just can’t get there from here.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">The political “game” is rigged. The two headed Progressive machine will not be defeated at the rigged ballot box. They have gerrymandered the districts and stacked the deck. And if that won’t work the import-a-voter campaign is designed to make sure of a permanent statist majority. The media which shapes reality for the majority of those Americans who are not enthralled by reality shows and sports either won’t mention anyone who isn’t part of the ruling apparatus or casts them as buffoons or lunatics wearing tinfoil hats. Unless they bow the knee to the causes and beliefs of the Progressive juggernaut’s PC pantheon successful people are shown and perceived as greedy graspers out to steal the food from orphans and widows.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">In the midst of darkness the best any individual can do is generate all the light they can for in the dark of night even one single candle is bright. There are more than enough pundits available to comment upon the growth of totalitarianism in the Land of the Free and the home of the Brave I want to take this opportunity to speak about the need for us to be the light that leads the way.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">Historically there have been numerous experiences and transitions that have been called the Second American Revolution. The current triumph of the Progressive Party of Power more closely resembles a counter-revolution. Take the <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html">Declaration of Independence</a> and substitute President Obama for “He” in the list of particulars and anyone can gauge where we stand in the transition from limited government to tyranny. </p><p class="ecxmsonormal">When we recall that not only did this our founding document <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html">say</a>, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” it also <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html">says</a>, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">Which leads us directly <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html">to</a>, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect (sic) their Safety and Happiness.”</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">Philosophically this train of logic leads us to the same unmistakable conclusion so many reached in 1860 - 61. Knowing the result of that and looking at the now much greater power of the central government we are faced with a conundrum. How do liberty loving patriots stand for what this nation has always stood for, limited government, personal liberty and economic opportunity- in the face of 24/7 surveillance, cradle-to-grave social engineering and a military/industrial complex fueled by endless wars for peace? Are we whistling in the dark? Are we trying to convince ourselves that the fat can be pulled out of the fire?</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">I believe in American exceptionalism. I believe in the ability of our can-do nation to confront and overcome the challenges that the world throws in front of us.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">When the world was owned by kings and crushed by empires we rose up, threw off the monarchy and established a new thing upon the earth, a republic operating on democratic principles. When our former colonial masters tried to keep us as a source of raw materials without the manufacturing base to change our continued economic dependence into the freedom of action we craved we erected tariff walls to protect our infant industries and we let a thousand ideas bloom. When foreign powers infringed upon us we made war to defend our rights returning to the peaceful pursuit of our national goals as soon as the fighting stopped.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">In a record time we rose from a struggling hodgepodge of varied interests and cultures into the greatest industrial, political and military power this world has ever known. An American century looked like it was going to become a two-for and then after achieving a landmark unity after being attacked on 9-11 we stumbled.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">A pre-emptive war shattered our unity resulting in the election of Hope and Change. Empty rhetoric filled with the promise to fundamentally change America. Fast forward 7 years and we are almost there a new America for new Americans. An America where the government can listen to and record everything a citizen says without a warrant and the person who tells us about it is a traitor. An America where the government’s bureaucracy can take over the internet using regulations carrying the weight of law since the elected legislature has surrendered their delegated power. An America where the so-called opposition party wins two off year elections in a row by historic margins and then acts like it lost as an imperial president rules by decree.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">This is the darkness that is descending upon us an unlimited government, 360º personal surveillance, and economic regulation strangulation. So where is the light? Where is the one candle we can light?</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">The truth is we really can’t light it because if we could someone else could blow it out. The only light that will dispel the darkness and lead the way is the only light that cannot be dimmed, the light of Jesus Christ.</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">Jesus <a href="http://biblehub.com/john/8-12.htm">said</a>, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." An old song <a href="http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/t030.html">spoke</a> about that light, “This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine” admonishing us, “Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine” and warning against allowing evil to extinguish what Jesus gave us, “Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine”</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">A modern song <a href="https://www.castingcrowns.com/music/lyrics/thrive">expresses</a> this truth in a contemporary way.” Just to know You and to make You known we lift Your name on high shine like the sun, make darkness run and hide.”</p><p class="ecxmsonormal">So that’s it In a world filled with evil as we watch our precious birthright being stifled by central planning bean counters and their Progressive statist masters we must allow Jesus to shine through us so that in this gathering evening one candle can shine.</p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p></div>
Huge Hoax Holds Humanity Hostage
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/huge-hoax-holds-humanity-hostage
2015-02-13T22:32:13.000Z
2015-02-13T22:32:13.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p>Wow! The Man-made Global Warming Hoax is a Hoax. Who saw this coming except anyone investing five minutes examining the scientific evidence from both sides? Or anyone remembering this is the <a href="http://www.john-daly.com/schneidr.htm">same</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttLBqB0qDko">crowd</a> of <a href="http://www.climatedepot.com/a/3213/Dont-Miss-it-Climate-Depots-Factsheet-on-1970s-Coming-Ice-Age-Claims">alarmists</a> who warned of a <a href="http://sweetness-light.com/archive/newsweeks-1975-article-about-the-coming-ice-age">new ice age</a> in the 1970s. Let’s see, they wouldn’t buy the Brooklyn Bridge but they’re willing to mortgage the farm for the Golden Gate. Now people are beginning to say that the Global Warming Hoax is the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/globalwarming/11395516/The-fiddling-with-temperature-data-is-the-biggest-science-scandal-ever.html">biggest scientific scandal ever</a>.</p><p>When you challenge someone’s religion be prepared for a spirited reaction. Those who realized Man-made Global Warming was a hoax have long recognized this is a faith-based movement. They also realized the agenda of the hipper-than-thou high priests of this movement has always been something other than a cool world. Science is advanced by hypothesis, experimentation, and analysis not by consensus. <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consensus">Consensus</a> is a political term, a political concept and a clue that the Man-made Global Warming agenda is a political agenda. The only credible science these scam artists are using is Political Science.</p><p>Al Gore, the world’s self-proclaimed leading Man-made Global Warming expert and lobbyist and by sheer coincidence one of the world’s largest Green Entrepreneurs has garnered a Nobel Peace Prize, an Oscar and millions of dollars by scaring the wits out of people who believe the cherry-picked data he and others present as evidence. As a college professor I would be shocked if any freshman submitted a paper with the flimsy sources of his transparently <a href="http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/goreerrors.html">fictitious</a> movie. The unattributed scenes from the Hollywood movie <i>Day After Tomorrow</i> presented as unattributed evidence would’ve earned him an “F” for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnvJDwv3Z-w">plagiarism</a>.</p><p>Calling the Man-made Global Warming crusade a hoax isn’t fair to hoaxes. This is and always has been a scam perpetrated by the evil upon the naïve. It isn’t about the environment it’s about power. Have you ever noticed how the apostles of Man-made Global Warming use private jets and limos going to paved-over acres of paved-over rain-forest to hold self-promoting conferences? These are hypocrites masquerading as humanitarians holding humanity hostage with a huge hoax.</p><p>Notwithstanding beheadings, burning people alive and conquering a large swath of the Mideast our President at a meeting with his Global Warming co-religionists boldly <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140923-obama-calls-climate-crisis-worse-than-terrorist-threat.ece">says</a> that “There’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate.” Then he <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obama-state-of-the-union-2015-full-text?utm_content=buffer06015&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">doubled down</a> in his State of the Union talking points, “That’s why, over the past six years, we’ve done more than ever before to combat climate change, from the way we produce energy, to the way we use it. That’s why we’ve set aside more public lands and waters than any administration in history. And that’s why I will not let this Congress endanger the health of our children by turning back the clock on our efforts.”</p><p>The <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100018556/climategate-its-all-unravelling-now/">recent</a> and on-going <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/11/24/john-lott-climate-change-emails-copenhagen/">revelation</a>s of <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/24/the_fix_is_in_99280.html">collusion</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m11d20-ClimateGate--Climate-centers-server-hacked-revealing-documents-and-emails">deception</a> and <a href="http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/17183">fraud</a> between government-funded scientists, research universities, bureaucrats, green corporations, the Media and the Man-made Global Warming Illuminati should open the eyes of even the willfully blind. Remember, when you challenge someone’s religion you should expect a spirited reaction. There’s no disappointment in that regard. Now that the curtain has been pulled away and everyone can see <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/grifter">grifters</a> are manipulating levers behind the great and munificent High Priest Gore all the stops have been pulled out. </p><p>The Man-made Global Warming Lobby presses day and night to ensnare the United States in an international treaty in which the <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/thale/lord-monckton-on-the-copenhagen-treaty">West confesses guilt</a> for causing Man-made Global Warming as unrealistically as the <a href="http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/versailles.htm">Treaty of Versailles</a> forced the Germans to accept 100% of the blame for World War I. The <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/thale/lord-monckton-on-the-copenhagen-treaty">Copenhagen</a> monstrosity also imposes <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2088729">wealth-transfer</a> payments upon the U. S. potentially as destructive as the <a href="http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1369.html">reparations</a> demanded of a defeated Germany by the victorious Allies. </p><p>After the fall of Communism in America vast numbers of uninformed voters, the easily frightened and the purely partisan proved sufficient to rescue radical Liberalism from its well-deserved place in the dustbin of history. Using the cover of an unpopular war and the ineptness of co-opted politicians pretending to be conservatives the radical liberals won an <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/30/franken-declared-winner-minnesota-senate-election-giving-dems-filibuster-proof/">unstoppable majority</a> in Congress and the White House. Now they’re advancing a legislative agenda aimed at <a href="http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/prin/txt/comsysf/cs5.html">central-planning</a> while preparing to surrender our sovereignty through international treaties.</p><p>The fact that Man-made Global Warming has been exposed as the greatest swindle ever attempted will not phase the <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/IDEOLOGUE">ideologues</a> and <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/statist">statists</a> who’ve gained a stranglehold on power in America. They’re going to force an economy killing <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/07/02/cap-n-trade-the-ultimate-pork-fest/">Cap-N-Trade</a> boondoggle and the <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/10/03/the-copenhagen-treaty-draft-wealth-transfer-defined-now-with-dignity-penalty/">Copenhagen</a> Capitulation down our throats before the voters get a chance to speak as loudly as the <a href="http://www.the912project.com/">Tea</a> <a href="http://www.teapartypatriots.org/">Party</a> <a href="http://www.teapartyexpress.org/">Patriots</a> and the honest scientists have spoken already. Before <a href="http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Preamble"><i>We the People</i></a> get an opportunity in 2016 to right the ship of state this collection of <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/demagogues">demagogues</a> are attempting to seal our fate.</p><p>Hordes of voters awaken from a media-induced trance and realize the change they can believe in was really bait-and-switch. In the hearts of many buyer’s remorse replaces the mesmerizing effects of a manufactured messiah than rising up in their righteous indignation they elect him again.</p><p>The euphoria of “GM is alive and Osama Bin Laden is dead” wore off quickly and by 2014 the GOP rolled up the biggest majorities they’ve had since the 1940s. </p><p>Knowing they have all the power needed to accomplish their goal of downsizing America and seeing a voter’s revolt on the horizon the statists push forward the hoax of Man-made Global Warming. They have several generations of Americans brainwashed into believing the sky is falling. Talk to anyone under 25 and tell me you don’t feel like Chicken Little is in the room. It’s all they’ve ever heard even if there hasn’t been any global warming since before they started school. Tell them anything different and you will be accused of be a Climate Denier which is now as bad a s wearing a hood and burning a cross. If the government Global warming pied pipers have their way they may yet turn this science fiction into the reality of a <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509597,00.html">Man-caused Disaster</a>.</p><p>I’m not saying the climate doesn’t change. After two days of raking leaves I can truthfully testify that it does about every three months. The planet tilts, wobbles and moves in its orbit and there’s a thermonuclear ball of heat and light out there called the Sun which I believe has more to do with global warming and cooling than anything man has ever or will ever do. Once the hokum is out of the hoax if the shamans of the First Church of Man-Made Global Warming can change the climate I’ll take 72-76º, rain at night and sunny all day. </p><p>Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p></div>
Don’t Tell Someone Else
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/don-t-tell-someone-else
2015-02-08T00:25:55.000Z
2015-02-08T00:25:55.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p>I’m thinking about changing my economic strategy. My parents were raised in the Roosevelt Depression and they taught me to work hard, save money, and pay for what I wanted. I was a deficit hawk when being a deficit hawk wasn’t cool’ Now that it isn’t even an option why should I stay at the party when there’s no one left to dance with? <br />In our new Omerica I think I’ll join the winning side and try spending more than I make every day for the rest of my life and see how that works out. If I can just manage to get to where I owe so much that I’m too big to fail I can start really living large on federal handouts, excuse me bailouts, excuse me stimulus. Won’t that be sweet? I’ll hold seminars on “How to Borrow Your Way to Wealth,” or “If You’ll Take a Check I’ll Take Two Please.” What a great racket, excuse me scheme, excuse me program. And technically it’s not a shell game if you don’t use shells.<br /><br />According to a USA Today study back in 2009 at the beginning of the present Imperial Presidency American taxpayers assumed an additional $55,000 per household for federal spending and promises in the just the last 12 months of the Bush Debacle. That represents a 12% increase in the deficient just in George II’s final year in office and the media tells us he’s a conservative. Of course he’s the kind of conservative who can also use modern double-speak. I think this one should be above the door to his multi-million dollar presidential library down in Dallas, “"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.” This spending spree raised the per household federal debt to $546,668 which is four times the average personal debt for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards combined. Instead of “Don’t Tread on ME” perhaps we should have flags that proclaim, “Send Me the Stuff And Send the Bill to Someone Else”<br /><br />Don’t tell Someone Else but this means our runaway government assumed a staggering $6.8 trillion in new obligations during the government created crash of 2008 alone. Then along came Obama. His explosion of excess when added to the creatively hidden realities of the federal entitlement programs brings poor old Someone Else’s debt load (including unfunded liabilities) to the incomprehensible total of $187 trillion. <br /><br />Some might say, “Wait a minute! This guy is way over board! Our national debt is only $18 trillion.” I wish I could convince myself it was only $18 trillion that would help me sleep at night. However, government books are so over-cooked they make Enron and WorldCom look as honest as the day is long. The real number doesn’t just cover what we’ve borrowed so far but what we’ve promised to pay in the future minus what we might conceivably raise to offset future borrowing. When you lump that all together you end up with the $187 trillion or some other such ridiculous number. <br /><br />At least we can tell Someone Else that all this national shopaholicism isn’t being wasted buying $7,000 toilet seats and $800 hammers its buying things we really need. Remember the stimulus, the one that ended the Great Recession? It paid for such needed items as: $97 million for a program that was already cancelled at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In the interests of national defense our government decided to replace old nuclear warheads with new ones. <br />The rocket-scientists in the planning department said they needed two new buildings to produce the necessary plutonium components. Then the program was cancelled. <br /><br />Never fear government is here and when has the lack of common sense ever gotten in the way of a good boondoggle? Along came our earmark-free stimulus and the $97 Million enters stage-left. Now that the money was there of course we had to spend it otherwise who would get stimulated. So the construction continued for buildings that were no longer needed. At least all these shovel-ready jobs have the economy purring along like a well-oiled machine even if they weren’t as shovel-ready as our Dear Leader thought.<br /><br />Remember the GM Bailout? Now there was a deal that just couldn’t lose. It inspired the following joke.<br /><br />A man walks into a bank to open a checking account the teller says, “I have good news and bad news.” The man asks, “What’s the good news?” The teller says, “When you open an account with us you can have either a new toaster or 1000 shares of GM stock.” “What’s the bad news?” “We’re all out of toasters.” No one would buy GM stock which is why it fell to the 1$ range and our Glorious Leader decided to spend money that was authorized under TARP to buy up toxic assets to instead buy GM. So out comes Uncle Sugar’s checkbook and out goes billions of Someone Else’s money to buy the majority share in a company that was estimated to turn a profit when? <br /><br />How could this ever fail? It turned out after all the celebrations of success that Someone Else lost $11.2 billion on that deal. And how is the resurrected auto giant? In 2014 GM recalled more cars than they made and while they are closing plants in America they are building them overseas.<br /><br />What dolts we were working and saving when all you have to do is want something, charge it to Someone Else and shazam you get the stuff and Someone Else gets the bill. That Someone Else sure is a generous person aren’t they? There’s only one problem with this perpetual-motion money machine. When you look in the mirror Someone Else is looking back. <br /><br />Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens<br /><br /><br /></p></div>
Why Social Security Hurts Society and Isn’t Secure
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/why-social-security-hurts-society-and-isn-t-secure
2014-12-12T14:38:43.000Z
2014-12-12T14:38:43.000Z
Dr. Robert Owens
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/DrRobertOwens
<div><p class="paragraph">The concept of a social safety net is well accepted throughout the Western World. The idea that some provision should be made for those who through no fault of their own are unable to provide for themselves first appeared as a state policy in Germany in the 19<sup>th</sup> century as the Iron Chancellor, Bismarck, sought to coopt the popular appeal of socialism and strengthen the newly founded German Imperial state. The idea struck a chord in the hearts of most people in Europe and in the hearts of its descendants around the world. </p><p class="paragraph">In days gone by the family, the parish church and the local community had filled this need. However, with the growth of cities and the near total separation of these urban populations from the land, it became necessary for the wider community to accept this responsibility. </p><p class="paragraph">It was inevitable that since some sort of agency or bureau was needed to supervise the distribution of such aid this public apparatus would follow the trajectory of all bureaucracy: growth. Mission creep would inevitably set in as the bureaucrats would seek to build their kingdom. Services would increase so that the servicers would increase and one layer would insulate another. From providing the bare necessities to those who through no fault of their own could not do so we have reached a stage where the modern ideal of fairness intersects and we have the self-selected indigent demanding a living wage for doing nothing. </p><p class="paragraph">This amounts to those who make provision for themselves being forced to make provision for those who don’t. This must necessarily be so because the only way such a system to exist for any length of time is for it to become compulsory upon all to contribute for the benefit of some. This then brings into play the economic truth that whatever you subsidize you get more of and viola the welfare rolls keep growing as the benefits keep increasing. </p><p class="paragraph">One of the tricks used to sell this scam to an unwitting nation was the use of the word insurance. Everyone was familiar with the concept of insurance: pay a premium and expect coverage if the event insured against occurs. The government called it Social Security Insurance and it seemed so reasonable. The problem is the money has always gone directly into the general fund. Therefore it was spent today with no provision for tomorrow. Combine that with yearly deficit spending and the inevitable growth of the national debt and the money coming in has no relationship to the money going out. </p><p class="paragraph">It is a Ponzi scheme pure and simple and it always has been. FDR and his Brain Trust social engineers knew that from the start. The problem with a Ponzi scheme is that eventually the music stops and there are never enough chairs. The most successful Ponzi scheme we know of was with Bernie Madof. It eventually came crashing down, and it was a pittance compared to the tenuous superstructure we have built up with Social Security. </p><p class="paragraph">In 2013 Social Security ran a <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/08/social-security-trustees-report-unfunded-liability-increased-11-trillion-and-projected-insolvency-in-2033">$71 billion deficit</a>. This means there have been four years of consecutive cash-flow deficits, which means that the inflow is less than the outflow. According to the 2014 annual report from the programs’ trustees, the combined 75-year unfunded obligation of the Social Security and Disability Insurance Trust Funds (referred to collectively as the OASDI Trust Fund) is <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/08/social-security-trustees-report-unfunded-liability-increased-11-trillion-and-projected-insolvency-in-2033">$13.4 trillion</a>. That is a $1.1 trillion increase from last year’s unfunded obligation of $12.3 trillion, and this is without calculating the tens of millions more who will <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/fight-brewing-over-social-security-and-medicare-for-illegal-immigrants/article/2556750">enter the system</a> under President Obama’s amnesty decree. </p><p class="paragraph">Does anyone really believe we are ever going to make that whole? Are we ever going to take enough out of other portions of our budget to fund these obligations? If we don’t eventually someone will have to pay the piper. If it isn’t us it will be our children or their children on and on until it crashes against the reality that the cupboard is bare. </p><p class="paragraph">This so-called insurance meant from the beginning not merely compulsory insurance it also meant compulsory membership in a unitary system controlled and enforced by the state. The main reason such a centralized system is widely accepted as necessary was the administration convenience and the economy of scale that alone could make provision for everyone at once. This is nothing except a government monopoly. Not a closed monopoly where no one can compete against the 800 pound gorilla, but an open monopoly where everyone is forced to participate even if they make provisions for themselves and never take recourse to the guaranteed payout. </p><p class="paragraph">Even though competition is possible the accepted principle that all sheltered monopolies become inefficient over time applies here. Just because the pyramid hasn’t collapsed yet does not mean that Social security earns the praise it garners as a successful program. As the saying which typifies government inefficiency goes, it still equates to having the DMV run your retirement plan. </p><p class="paragraph">How has a system that was sold to the American public as a means to relieve the abject poverty of a few morphed into a tool for wealth distribution? How has the once vigilant American public been convinced in not only the efficiency but the necessity of a program which is little more than a new way of packaging the discarded aims of Socialism? It was done incrementally. </p><p class="paragraph">It reminds me of the story about the two pastors who meant at a conference. Pastor A was approached by Pastor B who had once been the pastor at A’s current church, but he had been thrown out because he tried to move the piano from the right side of the platform to the left. </p><p class="paragraph">Pastor B: Hi, I heard you have moved the piano from the right side of the platform to the left side and that the people love you there. When I tried it they threw me out faster than the Holy Spirit can say Jesus. How did you do it? </p><p class="paragraph">Pastor A: One inch every six months. </p><p class="paragraph">What won’t be accepted today will be accepted ten years from now if we move there slowly. This is classic Alinsky, and is straight out of his <i>Rules for Radicals</i>. </p><p class="paragraph">Whereas the people of the West fought for fifty years to resist the smothering embrace of Communism we have allowed ourselves to accept it by degrees under other names until what we have is in many ways indistinguishable from what they tried to make us accept. The practice of the welfare state’s attempt to bring about a just distribution for everyone who has reached a certain age by distributing incomes in such proportions and amounts as it sees fit is merely another method under a new name of achieving Marx’s long promised goal, “From each according to his ability to each according to their need.” </p><p class="paragraph">It is of paramount importance that we understand the difference in a situation where a society decides to prevent the utter destitution of a few and a situation in which the state assumes the right to determine the just portion everyone must pay and the just portion everyone receives with state sponsored coercion to back it all up. Individual freedom, personal liberty, and economic opportunity are profoundly threatened when the state is given the exclusive power to provide certain services. </p><p class="paragraph">This system was designed in the 1930s. It has been tweaked and massaged several times since then however it is in essence a 1930s construct. Whenever someone suggests finding a new way to provide for any or all of the needs now associated with the Social Security System we are greeted with visions of heartless robber barons throwing grandma off a cliff. However it is eminently reasonable that when the best available solution based on the best available knowledge is frozen in place it becomes the most efficient way to prevent any new knowledge ever being applied to the problem. </p><p class="paragraph">When our desire to provide out of the public treasury for those in need is combined with a system for compelling everyone to make provision against being in need we have in effect created a third system. This is a system under which people in certain circumstances such as old age or disability are provided for without consideration of whether or not they are able to take care of themselves or not. Under this system everyone is provided with the standard of which the government has deiced they should have. With no means testing we have the specter of people who make $100,000 per year receiving pensions forcefully taken from contributions from people who make $15,000 per year. </p><p class="paragraph">With the current average life span and the caps on the amount of income eligible for taxation almost everyone who lives long enough to collect collects more than they ever pay in. How is that supposed to work? </p><p class="paragraph">Since most people want to earn what they receive and do not want a hand-out the reality of the SS Ponzi scheme has been wrapped in enough insurance type language to fill a phone book. This has become an effort through concealment to persuade the public to accept what is in reality an income redistribution plan. This was instituted and has evolved from an acceptable half-measure designed to induce hard-working people to accept what they haven’t earned and yet think it is fair, because they have paid in. No matter that they routinely receive far more than they ever pay in. </p><p class="paragraph">One last aspect of this corrupt bargain that transfers the wealth from future generations to the present is that the SS administration uses some of the funds gained through compulsory deductions to employ publicity agencies to convince the majority of payees that the system needs to constantly expand. Some of the money is also spent to lobby Congress for this constant expansion. This amounts to nothing less than a group of self-interested executives allowed public funds to agitate for a larger organization to administer which means even bigger budgets for publicity and lobbying. It is a self-perpetuating pyramid scheme that uses the money of the victims to gain authority over ever larger portions of the victim’s income and lives. </p><p class="paragraph">This superstructure has been built over generations by the elected representatives of the people and the bureaucrats they employ. However, I believe it is doubtful if Americans would have turned their backs on the work ethic which made us great and embraced spreading the wealth around as a tool for social engineering. If they had fully known where they were headed and what the end result would be: a centrally planned collectivist entitlement machine hurtling towards a fiscal cliff, they would have rebelled. </p><p class="paragraph">When we add this all up we find that the scales are now weighted against individual liberty, personal freedom, and economic opportunity. In the end after every deduction and every benefit Social Security hurts society and it isn’t secure. </p><p> Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ <a href="http://drrobertowens.com">http://drrobertowens.com</a> © 2014 Contact Dr. Owens <a href="mailto:drrobertowens@hotmail.com">drrobertowens@hotmail.com</a> Follow <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161?ref=sgm#!/pages/Dr-Robert-Owens/144620956161">Dr. Robert Owens</a> on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens</p><p></p></div>
We can see the past repeating itself!
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/we-can-see-the-past-repeating-itself
2012-12-09T23:08:06.000Z
2012-12-09T23:08:06.000Z
Dave Wallace
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/RestoreAmericasMission
<div>Gerald Rudolph Ford succeeded President Nixon and the following Congress displayed a callous disregard, an arrogance to the appointed new president Gerald Ford. Their overwhelming power in the House and Senate allowed such behavior.
38th President of the United States
In office
August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977
Vice President None (1974)
Nelson Rockefeller (1974-1977)
Preceded by Richard Nixon
President Carter In office
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
94th United States Congress
United States Capitol (2002)
Duration: January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1977
Senate President: Nelson Rockefeller
Senate Pres. pro tem: James Eastland
House Speaker: Carl Albert
Members: 100 Senators
435 Representatives
5 Non-voting members
Senate Majority: Democratic Party
House Majority: Democratic Party
Senate
Party standings on the opening day of the 94th Congress
60 Democratic Senators
1 Independent Senator, caucusing with Democrats
37 Republican Senators
1 Conservative Senator, caucusing with Republicans
Vacant: 1 seat
Membership changed with two resignations and a disputed election.
Party
(Shading indicates majority caucus)
Total
Democratic Independent Republican Conservative Vacant
End of previous Congress 57 1 40 1 100 0
Begin 60 1 37 1 99 1
End 61 100 0
Final voting share 62% 38%
Beginning of the next Congress 60 0 39 0 98 2
House of Representatives
Democratic: 291 (majority)
Republican: 144
Total: 435
As you see the democrats had a more than 2-1 house majority!
94th Congress (1975-1977)
Senate had a filibuster Proof Majority.
Majority Party: Democrat (61 seats)
Minority Party: Republican (37 seats)
Other Parties: 1 Conservative; 1 Independent
Total Seats: 100
Note: Results of the New Hampshire election were contested and the seat remained vacant until August 8, 1975, when Norris Cotton (R) was appointed to fill the seat until a special election could be held. John Durkin (D) won that special election and was sworn in on September 18, 1975. The statistics noted here reflect the Senate’s party division following Durkin’s election.Revenue. Expenses
1977 RC 355,559 Combined
EC 409,218 Deficit/SurplusC-53,659
ROnB. 278,741 OnBudget
EOnB 328,675 DEFOnB -49,933
ROffB 76,817
EOffB 80,543 DefOffB -3,726
1975. RC 279,090
EC 332,332 Deficit/SurplusC.-53,242 ROnB. 216,633
EOnB 270,780
DEFOnB -54,148
ROffB 62,458
EOffB 61,552 DefOffB. 906
You can see here the 1975-'77
Dem congress lost a chance to balance budget!
The control of presidency was lost! The spending skyrocketed!
While expenditures of '75 were exceeded by '77 Revenue! Fiscal responsibility is absent by the Democrat party! The year 1976 was the year the similar trick was played as in 2009! That year we shifted the budget year! And with amended budget period they jacked up spending gratuitously. It is time we see the light. We must role back spending to 2009 levels. The budget was increased on a vertical graph line in 76-77 and then again using similar methods but in plain view between 2008-2009!
We must live up to the expectations of our founding Fathers and to our Children, our Legacy! It is time to the right thing!</div>
National Taxpayer Union... Fiscal cliff.
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/national-taxpayer-union-fiscal-cliff
2012-12-07T19:47:51.000Z
2012-12-07T19:47:51.000Z
Dave Wallace
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/RestoreAmericasMission
<div>If you are unable to view the message below, click here to view this message on our website.
Vol. 3 Issue 29 December 7, 2012
BillTally Update: Net Legislative Spending Cuts
Last week's edition of the Taxpayer's Tab featured a data snapshot of the number of bills with estimates to either increase or decrease spending. We found that for each bill to cut spending introduced in Congress, there were between four and five bills that would increase outlays. This week, while our political leaders debate possible solutions to the so-called "fiscal cliff," it seems fitting to take a closer look at the savings bills Members have set forth.
The debate thus far has largely concerned the impending tax hikes. News coverage has generally excluded discussion of the nation's long-term, spending-fueled debt problem. The Obama Administration's position, as stated by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, is that the country cannot afford not to raise taxes. But even if the Republicans cede to the President's demand for tax hikes on certain filers, the spending problem would remain. The White House's July 2012 Mid-Session Review of the federal budget -- which includes estimates of President's tax hike proposal -- projects that annual deficits will average $606 billion per year from FY 2014 through FY 2022. The solution to the budget problem requires spending reform, and there are a number of ready proposals that have been drafted in the House and Senate. Preliminary data from NTUF's BillTally analysis of legislation identifies over $900 billion in annual savings that has been introduced in Congress.
Congressional Savings Agendas
(in Billions of Dollars)
Chamber Total Savings Bills Non-Overlapping Savings Bills Annualized Savings
(Over 5 Years) Annualized Savings From Spending Caps/Unobligated Rescissions Annualized Savings From Specific Cuts
House 199 123 ($735.22) ($438.11) ($297.11)
Senate 105 79 ($811.01) ($98.55) ($712.46)
Total 304 154 ($921.65) ($486.80) ($434.85)
Source: NTUF BillTally System
Note: Data is preliminary. The House data includes 185 bills whose net impact would be to reduce spending, plus 14 additional savings proposals included as partial offsets in bills that would, in net, increase annual spending. Senate data includes 102 net savings bills and three additional proposals included as partial offsets in bills that would, in net, increase annual spending.
As the table above shows, as of December 5, NTUF has researched and obtained cost estimates for 304 proposals introduced in Congress that would reduce spending: 199 in the House and 105 in the Senate. This House figure includes 185 bills that would lead to a net reduction in outlays and an additional fourteen savings provisions that were included as partial offsets in legislation that would otherwise lead to annual budgetary increases. Senators introduced 102 net cutting bills, plus an additional three proposals included as partial offsets in spending bills.
The cost items of certain bills were split up to account for sections that include large immediate spending increases and separate budget reductions that are spread over a longer period of time. For example, H.R. 3630, Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, included an extension of unemployment benefits and an update to the Medicare physician payment rate that would increase outlays at an annual rate of $12.4 billion, with most of the cost front-loaded in the first two years. The bill included spending reductions such as ending nutrition benefits for millionaires and an increase in certain mortgage fees and premiums (scored as offsetting receipts by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)) that would reduce outlays at an annualized rate of $5.8 billion per year.
These 304 proposals were examined closely to identify overlapping measures, i.e., bills that are either identical or would achieve similar ends by similar means. Bills that are overlapping are marked in the BillTally accounting system so that separate proposals that are the same are not double-counted. For example, if a Representative or Senator is a sponsor of several different bills that would each reduce the salaries of Members of Congress, only the largest savings would be counted toward that Member's net spending agenda.
NTUF was able to identify 123 unique spending reductions in the House that, if passed into law, would reduce annual outlays by $735.2 billion. Among the 105 Senate savings proposals, 79 were non-overlapping. If these bills were enacted, spending could be cut by upwards of $811.0 billion annually.
The full menu of cuts range from 98 proposals to cut spending by less than $100 million to 18 that would cut spending by $100 billion or more. Generally, the larger savings proposals would implement across-the-board cuts in spending. For example the largest savings bill in the House, H.R. 4060, the Freeze Government Spending Act of 2012, introduced by Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), would cap spending and lead to an annual savings of $433.3 billion. In the Senate, though, the largest cut bill, S. 162, the Cut Federal Spending Act introduced by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), includes targeted agency and program cuts that exceeded the savings included in across-the-board spending caps that were introduced in the Senate. Based on the figures in the text and other budget data, the bill would reduce outlays by $411.1 billion.
The remaining 202 unique House and Senate savings proposals were then examined to weed out overlapping proposals between the two Chambers. NTUF has identified 154 non-overlapping cuts that, if enacted, could reduce spending by upwards of $921.7 billion per year.
The full list of bills and proposals to reduce spending is available here. All data is preliminary and subject to revision as new information becomes available. And, as noted, we are continuing to wrap up our research on legislation for a final report on the 112th Congress early in the New Year.
If any of our readers on Capitol Hill or elsewhere are aware of any additional spending reductions in legislation that are not yet included on the list, please let us know at ntuf@ntu.org.
Photo Credit: Federal Budget Challenge
Support NTUF
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation is able to produce timely reports and analysis for policymakers and taxpayers with the help and support of foundations, small businesses, and Americans -- like you -- who wish to stay informed of their government's spending.
With donations from Tab subscribers and members, NTUF will be able to continue to inform taxpayers about entitlement reform, the federal budget, and proposed legislation.
Please consider making a tax-deductable contribution to NTUF.
The Wildcard
The Bill: H.R. 1513/S. 810, Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act of 2011
Annualized Cost: $11 million ($56 million over five years)
Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act to prohibit invasive research on great apes and to permanently retire apes under federal control to wildlife sanctuaries. Invasive research means administering substances or procedures that may be physically or psychologically harmful or deadly for test subjects. Currently, the National Institutes of Health has approximately 440 chimpanzees available for testing.
If the proposal is enacted, apes would be sent to reserves where they would be cared for for the rest of their lives. These locations would be prohibited from conducting their own animal research, transferring the chimps elsewhere for the purposes of invasive research, using animals for entertainment purposes, and allowing animals to breed. To assist sanctuaries with the increased care costs, the Act would establish a fund to supplement some of the expenses for facilities now in operation as well as to build new habitats for the chimpanzees.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), H.R. 1513 and S. 810 would result in a net cost increase to the federal government of $56 million over five years. CBO estimated the costs of the following actions:
Housing Facilities: CBO could identify only one facility that meets minimum care requirements and that sanctuary would not be able to accept all of the apes. The federal government would need to build a new habitat or expand the one already in operation, which would cost at least $29 million.
Transportation: The apes would have to be brought to the sanctuaries, resulting in approximately $500,000 in spending.
Care: Assuming that the apes would decrease in population over time but that care costs would rise with inflation, CBO estimates $26 million would be required to be spent. However, this amount could change because the cost of care is not easily determined.
CBO does not foresee any significant changes in the costs of medical research once chimpanzees are prohibited from use as research subjects. It is unclear whether or not alternative methods and models of testing would result in a savings. Writing in The Hill, Congressman Bartlett reported that alternatives exist that are cheaper and more reliant than testing on primates but offered no savings figures.
To learn more or discuss this bill visit WashingtonWatch.com.
About NTUF
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation is a research and educational organization dedicated solely to helping citizens of all generations understand how tax policies, spending programs, and regulations at all levels affect them now and in the future. Through NTUF's timely information, analysis, and commentary, we're empowering citizens to actively engage in the fiscal policy debate and hold public officials accountable every day.
NTUF is a 501(c)(3) research and education organization.</div>
Nitrous Oxide study
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/nitrous-oxide-study
2012-11-27T19:48:30.000Z
2012-11-27T19:48:30.000Z
Dave Wallace
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/RestoreAmericasMission
<div><h1> </h1>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h1>Bacteria Gobbles Greenhouse Gas</h1>
<dl id="contributing-details" class="clear clearfix">
<dd class="photo"><a href="/contributors/tim-wall/"></a></dd>
<dd class="information"><span>Analysis by</span> <a href="/contributors/tim-wall/">Tim Wall</a> Tue Nov 27, 2012 07:53 AM ET <br /><a href="#commentsDiv">(<span id="comment-count-a">0</span>) Comments</a> | <a href="#commentsDiv">Leave a Comment</a></dd>
<dd class="share-block"><dl id="social-media-block" class="clear clearfix">
<dd id="print"><a title="Print" href="?print=true"><span>Print</span></a></dd>
<dd id="email"><a title="Email"><span>Email</span></a></dd>
</dl>
<div id="email-overlay-social-media-block"></div>
<div id="email-overlay-container"><div id="email-overlay"><div class="email-fieldset"></div>
</div>
</div>
</dd>
</dl>
<div id="pre-share-tools-container" class="clear clearfix"><div class="facebook-like-container"><div class="fb-recommend-page"><span style="width:300px;height:28px;"></span></div>
</div>
<div class="share-toolbar-container"><div class="twitter-share"><span class="twitter-share-button"></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="article-body"><div id="body-copy"><p><a class="asset-img-link" href="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef017ee5ab1993970d-pi"><img style="border:1px solid #000000;margin-right:auto;margin-left:auto;display:block;" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bf67c53ef017ee5ab1993970d image-full" title="Farm_tractor_cultivating_soil_-_geograph.org.uk_-_229084" border="0" alt="Farm_tractor_cultivating_soil_-_geograph.org.uk_-_229084" src="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef017ee5ab1993970d-800wi" /></a> Nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O), commonly known as laughing gas, traps heat in the atmosphere 300 times more effectively than carbon dioxide and destroys the ozone layer, making the gas no laughing matter when it escapes into the environment, primarily from farming.</p>
<p><a style="float:right;" class="asset-img-link" href="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef017d3e363c2c970c-pi"><img style="margin:0px 0px 5px 5px;border:1px solid #000000;" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bf67c53ef017d3e363c2c970c" title="N2O tank" border="0" alt="N2O tank" src="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef017d3e363c2c970c-800wi" /></a>Certain bacteria, known as denitrifiers, inhale nitrous oxide and render the gas harmless when they exhale nitrogen. However, more nitrous was disappearing from the environment than could be accounted for by these bacteria. While greenhouse gases disappearing mysteriously may sound like the type of problem scientists want to have, it also made it difficult to accurately model the long term effects of artificially elevated nitrous oxide levels on the Earth.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://news.discovery.com/earth/stinkiest-places-on-earth-120517.html">PHOTOS: The Stinkiest Places on Earth</a></strong></p>
<p>A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found the microbial magicians responsible for the the atmospheric enigma. By analyzing the genomes of a wide range of microbes, a team led by Frank Loeffler of the University of Tennessee – Knoxville found the genetic codes for versions of the enzymes used by denitrifiers to break down nitrous, were common to many soil microorganisms.</p>
<p>"Before we did this study, there was an inconsistency in nitrous oxide emission predictions based on the known processes contributing to nitrous oxide consumption, suggesting the existence of an unaccounted nitrous oxide sink," said Loeffler in a press release. "The new findings potentially reconcile this discrepancy."</p>
<p>For billions of years, nitrous oxide was produced mostly by bacterial and fungal decomposition of plant material. Once human farmers started plowing the soil, growing nitrogen fixing crops such as beans and adding nitrogen-rich fertilizers, the production of nitrous oxide increased as the soil organisms were giving a smorgasbord of nitrogen compounds to feast upon, according to the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/nitrousoxide/sources.html">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a>. Internal combustion engines are another major human source of nitrous oxide, Loeffler's research will help atmospheric scientists understand what happens to the gas.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://news.discovery.com/earth/organic-farming-increases-soil-quality-121017.html">ANALYSIS: Organic Farming Increases Soil Quality</a></strong></p>
<p>"This will allow us to better describe and predict the consequences of human activities on ozone layer destruction and global warming," said Loeffler. "Our results imply that the analysis of the typical denitrifier populations provides an incomplete picture and is insufficient to account for or accurately predict the true nitrous oxide emissions."</p>
<p><em>IMAGES:</em></p>
<p><em>Farm tractor cultivating soil. (Will Lovell, Wikimedia Commons)</em></p>
<em>Medical grade nitrous oxide tanks (William Rafti, Wikimedia Commons)</em></div>
</div></div>
An evaluation of the Housing Crisis Peter Coy in Business Week, 2008
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/an-evaluation-of-the-housing-crisis-peter-coy-in-business-week-20
2012-11-27T06:30:21.000Z
2012-11-27T06:30:21.000Z
Dave Wallace
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/RestoreAmericasMission
<div><h1>Bill Clinton's drive to increase homeownership went way too far</h1>
<p class="postedBy">Please Review this Article, which is widely ridiculed by the left, as it accurately explains the true causes of the housing/financial crisis.The origins of the crisis go back to the 1990's, with new housing policies implemented over the period 1995-2000. The Left says there is no way something like that could have helped cause the Housing crisis that came to a head in 2007-8. But we can understand this is a crisis that had an accrued Asset Value in the Trillions, of Homes, their Mortgages, and the securities that were created to support them, so the banks could create additional mortgages, and the financial instruments which were created to back them, so they could be sold as assets on national-international capital markets. These assets were held by banks,both Traditional Savings and Loans, as well as Commercial Banking Institutions, and Investment Banking Institutions and by the investors who bought them, being backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.</p>
<p class="postedBy">We all know at the end of a small babbling brook lies a deep and massive Reservoir. This is exactly the analogous circumstance of the Housing Crisis. It takes a little while to fill the Lake with Water, so it goes, it also takes a little while to fill the coffers of Banks, and investment houses with loans and the offsetting Assets, which then collapse under the stress of a massive number of defaults.</p>
<p class="postedBy">Those defaults occurred in a time when banks were only allowed to value their assets to Market going rate value. This method was the only one available as the Sarbanes-Oxley Bill precluded all else, including the marking the value, or assessing the value to the performance of the overall asset pool. It is time to realize this assessment stated below is more, rather than less, of the problem that created the Housing Bubble Collapse, and the ensuing the Banking Collapse.</p>
<p class="postedBy">This is part of series of Articles which we will run here to explain what has yet to be explained in a comprehensive way so we can dispel all the lies regarding, "It was Bush's Fault."</p>
<p class="postedBy">And as to the ridicule of the left, They want to keep, unblemished, the record of their Golden boy, President Bill Clinton and the entire Democratic Party. And we know that if President Bush was not the fall guy we would have not seen the immediate debacle in the election of President Obama, the first or second time.</p>
<p class="postedBy"></p>
<p class="postedBy">Posted by: Peter Coy on February 27, 2008</p>
<p>Add President Clinton to the long list of people who deserve a share of the blame for the housing bubble and bust. A recently re-exposed document shows that his administration went to ridiculous lengths to increase the national homeownership rate. It promoted paper-thin downpayments and pushed for ways to get lenders to give mortgage loans to first-time buyers with shaky financing and incomes. It’s clear now that the erosion of lending standards pushed prices up by increasing demand, and later led to waves of defaults by people who never should have bought a home in the first place.</p>
<p>President Bush continued the practices because they dovetailed with his Ownership Society goals, and of course Congress was strongly behind the push. But Clinton and his administration must shoulder some of the blame.</p>
<p>In writing this blog entry, I’m following the lead of Joseph R. Mason, who is a finance professor at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and a consultant at Criterion Economics. <a href="http://www.criterioneconomics.com/docs/20080226%20Market%20Commentary.pdf">Here is a link</a> to a piece that he wrote on Feb. 26.</p>
<p>The Clinton-era document that Mason cites—“The National Homeownership Strategy: Partners in the American Dream”—was hiding in plain sight</p>
<p>on the website of the Department of Housing & Urban Development until last year, when according to Mason it was removed (probably because the housing bust made it seem embarrassing to the department). Mason credits Joshua Rosner of Graham Fisher & Co. with saving a copy of it before it was expunged.</p>
<p>The National Homeownership Strategy began in 1994 when Clinton directed HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros to come up with a plan, and Cisneros convened what HUD called a "historic meeting" of private and public housing-industry organizations in August 1994. The group eventually produced a plan, of which Mason sent me a PDF of Chapter 4, the one that argues for creative measures to promote homeownership.</p>
<p>The very worst idea in the plan, which fortunately never gained approval, was to let first-time homebuyers freely tap their IRA and 401(k) retirement-savings plans with no penalty to scrounge up a downpayment. That, HUD estimated, would have "benefited" 600,000 families in the first five years.</p>
<p>Plenty of other ideas in the plan did become reality, though. Knowing what we know now about the housing bust, the earnest language in the document seems faintly ridiculous. Here's an excerpt. Read it closely and you can see the seeds of disaster being planted:</p>
<blockquote><p>For many potential homebuyers, the lack of cash available to accumulate the required downpayment and closing costs is the major impediment to purchasing a home. Other households do not have sufficient available income to to make the monthly payments on mortgages financed at market interest rates for standard loan terms. Financing strategies, fueled by the creativity and resources of the private and public sectors, should address both of these financial barriers to homeownership.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Note the praise for "creativity." That kind of creativity in stretching boundaries we could use less of. Mason puts it well: "It strikes me as reckless to promote home sales to individuals in such constrained financial predicaments."</p>
<div id="trackback"><a></a></div>
<h1> </h1>
<h1>TrackBack URL for this entry: <a href="http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/">http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/</a><br /> 9456.1387713364</h1></div>
Peter Ferrara speaks to the moment of the Fiscal cliff!
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/peter-ferrara-speaks-to-the-moment-of-the-fiscal-cliff
2012-11-23T19:26:41.000Z
2012-11-23T19:26:41.000Z
Dave Wallace
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/RestoreAmericasMission
<div><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/11/22/for-the-republicans-theres-an-opportunity-at-the-fiscal-cliff/">http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/11/22/for-the-republicans-theres-an-opportunity-at-the-fiscal-cliff/</a>
For The Republicans There's An Opportunity At The Fiscal Cliff
The fiscal cliff will not be a new topic to regular readers of this column. I have been writing about it for almost two years, including with publication of my short book in the Encounter Broadside series, Obama and the Crash of 2013.
What is new is the recognition that only free market Republicans can save our economy from hurtling downward off that cliff, if they get aggressive now about promoting their correct economic principles to the public, and transform crisis into opportunity. If they would at least aggressively explain their policies to the public, even if Obama resists and pushes the economy off the cliff for now, they can gain working veto proof majorities in the midterms to rescue the American Dream before it is too late.
The foundation of the fiscal cliff is the increase in the top tax rates of virtually every major federal tax already scheduled in current law to become effective on January 1. That is when the tax increases of Obamacare become effective, and when the Bush tax cuts expire, which President Obama refuses to renew for the nation’s job creators, investors, and successful small businesses. Add in the explosive new regulatory burdens President Obama has scheduled for his second term, and the seeds for renewed inflation and recession the Fed has already planted, and we have in Obamanomics the perfect prescription for renewed recession next year, as I discussed in this column just two weeks ago.
The Washington Establishment is confusing the issue with their outdated, discredited, Keynesian economics holding that the sequestration spending cuts also going into effect next year as part of the 2011 debt limit deal are contractionary as well. But government spending per se does not promote economic growth and prosperity. Double entry bookkeeping reveals that such spending must be financed in some way. Whether that financing comes through higher taxes, higher federal borrowing, or the Fed printing dollars and causing inflation, it all involves a drain in some way of resources that would be more efficiently and productively used in the private sector, guided by market incentives and competition.
Plus there is a further drag on the economy depending on which of the financing means are used. Higher tax rates involve counterproductive disincentives for production, borrowing implies future tax increases and interest costs, and inflation further discourages saving, investment, and production. Higher government spending is consequently a drag on the economy, and cutting that spending is a boost to growth and prosperity.
Thus we are entertained by the spectacle of our national leaders and pundits telling us both that we must reduce deficits and balance the budget, but that such deficits are essential to economic recovery and growth, and the spending cuts necessary for such balance are at the same time contractionary. That reflects the fundamental confusion of Keynesian economics, holding that the foundation of economic growth and prosperity is adequate demand for goods and services, rather than increased production of goods and services. That is based on Tinker Bell economics that we can just spend our way to riches and prosperity, rather then recognition of the reality that we can only consume what we produce.
Demand in a free market economy can never be inadequate for economic growth and prosperity. If demand for a particular good or service is inadequate, then the price of that good or service will fall until demand equals supply. Keynesian prescriptions of higher taxes, deficits, or inflation to finance higher spending are consequently always themselves contractionary, and so never work.
Compounding the fiscal cliff threatening renewed recession in the short term is the even bigger issue of the long term fiscal and sovereign debt crisis, threatening long term stagnation and decline. CBO projects that on our current course, under current policies, federal debt held by the public would rocket to 140% of GDP by 2030, 220% by 2040, and 320% by 2050, on its way to over 700% by 2080. But the markets stopped lending to Greece soon after its national debt climbed over 100% of GDP, creating the country’s sovereign debt crisis.
This is the real reason we must balance the budget, and bring down federal debt as a percent of GDP. But history shows that the biggest influence on federal deficits and debt is not taxes or even spending but economic growth. When President George H.W. Bush agreed to raise taxes as part of the 1990 budget deal, the higher taxes pushed the economy into recession, and the federal deficit increased from $221 billion in 1990, to $269 billion in 1991, to $290 billion in 1992, when voters booted him out for violating the no new taxes pledge that got him elected.
President Obama and America will suffer the same result if Obama has his way and increases tax rates for virtually every major federal tax on January 1. The tax rate increases will cause renewed recession, and result in less rather than more federal revenues.
The traditional Washington establishment approach to balancing the budget is to negotiate an agreement on a package of spending cuts and tax increases, which is what President Obama thinks he is doing now. But that approach never works, and has no prayer of ever working.
That is because the tax increases are permanently adopted into law. But the spending cuts are never fully adopted, or if they are they are soon swept away in the next liberal budget. The federal experience with that goes back at least to 1982, when Congressional Democrats promised President Reagan $3 in spending cuts for every dollar in tax increases. Reagan went to his grave still waiting for those spending cuts. It didn’t work for his successor either, as recounted above. In 1993, President Clinton tried again with a Democrat Congress voting through a tax increase as part of another budget deal. By 1995, the new Republican Congress, elected to replace the tax increasing Democrat Congress, was greeted with a Clinton budget projecting continued $200 billion deficits indefinitely into the future.
The only way to balance the budget is with tax rate cuts, promoting booming economic growth, and restrained spending growth, enabling surging revenues from the growth to zoom past the spending. That is what former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Clinton did in the 1990s, cutting capital gains tax rates by nearly 30%, while restraining spending to produce record surpluses for four years.
This history reflects the more basic budget math that eludes most static thinking commentators, especially the pie chart lady Ruth Marcus at the Washington Post. (Pie charts of the budget reflect the most static thinking). Policymakers always budget to spend the tax revenues they think their tax policies will raise. But their static analysis never accounts for the negative incentive effects of the tax increases, and the resulting drag on the economy. So less revenues are produced by the tax increases than they expect, and have budgeted for, and the deficit reappears. In contrast, the revenues resulting from tax cuts are always underestimated by the establishment’s static analysis. But the budget is set to spend the revenues expected. When more revenues result, the consequence is budget surpluses. Besides the federal history recounted above, the same experience is shown repeatedly at the state level.
For all of these reasons, Republicans should hold fast to their position that additional, new revenues can and should be obtained only through the economic growth, and closed loopholes, resulting from tax reform, with pro-growth tax rate reductions rather than counterproductive rate increases. Countering all the phony, posturing, election season claims about their tax reform plans not adding up, Congressional Republicans should move quickly to draft, introduce and score their tax reform plans. The House Republican majority should require dynamic scoring for those reforms. They should demonstrate the workability and public appeal of these reforms, rather than sinking in the swamp of phony claims arising from bad faith negotiations.
That tax reform should begin with Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed individual tax reform including a 10% rate for families earning less than $100,000 a year, and 25% for those earning more. Corporate tax reform should be based at most on a global average 25% corporate rate, with revenue neutral loophole closing, also scored dynamically. That should include territoriality, and tax amnesty for repatriation of the trillions of legally offshore corporate funds.
As explained above, necessary spending cuts are not contractionary as under Keynesian mythology, but expansionary, reducing the drain of resources from the private sector, and the future tax increases implied by world record shattering deficits and national debt. But the arbitrary sequestration threatening in particular our national defenses is not the best means of such spending restraint.
Spending cuts should be based on the results of intensive, House oversight hearings, and past OMB and GAO evaluations, with ineffective or counterproductive programs slashed or abolished or consolidated with other, continuing programs. The Department of Education can be sent back to the states with continued federal education assistance provided through block grants, consistent with the primary state role in education. The Department of Energy can be consolidated with the Defense Department
Entitlement reforms should be based on extending the enormously successful, bipartisan, 1996 AFDC block grant reforms to all federal, means tested, welfare programs, including Medicaid and food stamps. Given the past bipartisan success of such reform, and the resulting gains for the poor, public support for such reform can lead to its enactment this term. Model bills can also be introduced for Social Security and Medicare reforms to demonstrate the workability and appeal of those as well, though those cannot be enacted soon. That is necessary to set the groundwork for upcoming elections.
Reversing the fiscal cliff also requires reversing Obama’s exploding regulatory burdens, in particular the restrictions on increasing production of proven energy sources. That includes reversing Obama’s global warming fantasies, which are based on daydreams of expanded government power, rather than on real climate science. Abundant supplies of low cost energy rather than restricted supplies of high cost energy would replace another, effective, crippling tax increase with an effective pro-growth tax cut. The economy, particularly manufacturing, is especially sensitive to energy prices. The House should pass the REINS Act requiring Congressional approval for all major regulations, and other bills reversing regulatory excesses, again to frame the issues for 2014 and 2016.
The final ingredient for a long overdue, economic recovery boom is replacing the Fed’s arbitrary, discretionary monetary policies with a mandatory price rule, guiding monetary policy based on market prices for gold, silver, oil and other precious commodities.
If President Obama does turn out to be as ideologically rigid as many believe him to be, these necessary policies can be adopted by bipartisan, veto proof, Congressional majorities after the next mid-terms.
see photosAFP
Click for full photo gallery: A Guide To Understanding The Fiscal Cliff</div>
The National Homeownership Strategy The Beginning of Over Regulation and Easy Finance.
https://restoreamericasmission.com/forum/topics/the-national-homeownership-strategy-the-beginning-of-over-regulat
2012-11-18T01:01:51.000Z
2012-11-18T01:01:51.000Z
Dave Wallace
https://restoreamericasmission.com/members/RestoreAmericasMission
<div><p align="left">Here is The National Homeownership Strategy by President Clinton</p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<p align="left">The National Homeownership Strategy:</p>
<p align="left">Partners in the American Dream</p>
<p align="left">U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development</p>
<p align="left">MAY 1995</p>
<p align="left">The White House Washington May 2, 1995</p>
<p align="left">Message from the President</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">Our nation's greatest promise has always been the chance to build a better</p>
<p align="left">life. For millions of America's working families throughout our history,</p>
<p align="left">owning a home has come to symbolize the realization of the American</p>
<p align="left">Dream. Yet sadly, in the 1980s, it became much harder for many young</p>
<p align="left">families to buy their first home, and our national homeownership rate</p>
<p align="left">declined for the first time in forty-six years. Our Administration is</p>
<p align="left">determined to reverse this trend, and we are committed to ensuring that</p>
<p align="left">working families can once again discover the joys of owning a home.</p>
<p align="left">This past year, I directed HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros to work with</p>
<p align="left">leaders in the housing industry, with nonprofit organizations, and with</p>
<p align="left">leaders at every level of government to develop a plan to boost</p>
<p align="left">homeownership in America to an all-time high by the end of this century.</p>
<p align="left">The National Homeownership Strategy: Partners in the American Dream</p>
<p align="left">outlines a substantive, detailed plan to reach this goal. This report</p>
<p align="left">identifies specific actions that the federal government, its partners in state</p>
<p align="left">and local government, the private, nonprofit community, and private</p>
<p align="left">industry will take to lower barriers that prevent American families from</p>
<p align="left">becoming homeowners. Working together, we can add as many as eight</p>
<p align="left">million new families to America's homeownership rolls by the year 2000.</p>
<p align="left">Expanding homeownership will strengthen our nation's families and</p>
<p align="left">communities, strengthen our economy, and expand this country's great</p>
<p align="left">middle class. Rekindling the dream of homeownership for America's</p>
<p align="left">working families can prepare our nation to embrace the rich possibilities of</p>
<p align="left">the twenty-first century.</p>
<p align="left">Bill Clinton</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">2</p>
<p align="left">Foreword</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">I am honored to present The National Homeownership Strategy for the</p>
<p align="left">consideration of the American people. The strategy was prepared in</p>
<p align="left">response to a request from President Clinton. On Nov. 5, 1994, the</p>
<p align="left">President called for a national effort to lift America's homeownership rate to</p>
<p align="left">an all-time high by the end of the century. He directed me to develop a</p>
<p align="left">National Homeownership Strategy to reach this goal and to form a national</p>
<p align="left">partnership of the private, public, and community sectors to carry out the</p>
<p align="left">strategy.</p>
<p align="left">Homeownership is the American dream, but the dream has been fading</p>
<p align="left">since 1980, when the national homeownership rate slipped into decline</p>
<p align="left">after 46 years of steady growth. Although the homeownership rate has</p>
<p align="left">risen over the past 2 years, it is still well below its historic peak. Reviving</p>
<p align="left">the trend toward greater homeownership is vital to our Nation's families,</p>
<p align="left">communities, and economic prosperity.</p>
<p align="left">The goal of this strategy is ambitious: to generate up to 8 million additional</p>
<p align="left">homeowners from 1995 through the year 2000. The strategy recommends</p>
<p align="left">a series of concerted actions to help middle-income and low- income</p>
<p align="left">families, racial and ethnic minorities, families with children, and young</p>
<p align="left">adults overcome current barriers to homeownership. These actions will be</p>
<p align="left">undertaken by private industry, national nonprofit organizations, nonprofit</p>
<p align="left">community groups, and Federal, State, and local governments working in</p>
<p align="left">cooperation at the national, State, and local levels.</p>
<p align="left">Working as partners in this way, we can translate strategy into</p>
<p align="left">achievement, making the dream of homeownership a reality for millions of</p>
<p align="left">hard-working people and building a better future for all Americans.</p>
<p align="left">Henry G. Cisneros Secretary of Housing and Urban Development</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">3</p>
<p align="left">The National Homeownership Strategy:</p>
<p align="left">Partners in the American Dream</p>
<p align="left">Table of Contents</p>
<p align="left">Message from the President</p>
<p align="left">Foreword</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 1: The National Homeownership Strategy</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">Purpose</p>
<p align="left">Why Homeownership?</p>
<p align="left">Background</p>
<p align="left">Strategy Themes</p>
<p align="left">Shared Approaches</p>
<p align="left">National Homeownership Goals</p>
<p align="left">Next Steps</p>
<p align="left">Summary of the National Homeownership Strategy Content</p>
<p align="left">National Homeownership Strategy: List of Proposed Actions</p>
<p align="left">Production</p>
<p align="left">Financing</p>
<p align="left">Building Communities</p>
<p align="left">Opening Markets</p>
<p align="left">Homeownership Education and Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Raising Awareness</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 2: Partnership Structure</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">4</p>
<p align="left">Partnership Agreements</p>
<p align="left">National Partners in Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Local Partnerships</p>
<p align="left">The National Homeownership Strategy: Partners in the American Dream</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 3: Production</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">Overview Key Principles Strategies Reduce Regulatory Barriers to</p>
<p align="left">Affordable Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Action 1: Assessing Regulatory Impacts on Affordable Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Action 2: Modernizing Planning, Zoning, and Subdivision Laws</p>
<p align="left">Action 3: Education and Technical Assistance for Regulatory Reform</p>
<p align="left">Action 4: Consensus Building and Mediation Techniques for Affordable</p>
<p align="left">Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Action 5: Statewide Standards for Impact Fees</p>
<p align="left">Action 6: Models of Regulatory Flexibility and Development Controls</p>
<p align="left">Action 7: Expanded Research on Regulatory Reform</p>
<p align="left">Action 8: Building Code Reform Expand the Supply of Starter Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 9: Education and Outreach for Higher Density Home Construction</p>
<p align="left">Action 10: Fast-Track Administrative Review Procedures for Starter</p>
<p align="left">Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 11: Removing Barriers to Mortgage Financing for Starter Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 12: Stock Plans and Guidance Materials for Starter Homes</p>
<p align="left">Eliminate Barriers to Cost-Effective Home Rehabilitation</p>
<p align="left">Action 13: Flexible Regulations to Accommodate Home Rehabilitation</p>
<p align="left">5</p>
<p align="left">Action 14: Home Rehabilitation Research</p>
<p align="left">Action 15: Technical Evaluation and Guidance Materials for Energy</p>
<p align="left">Conservation Stimulate Technological Innovation in Homebuilding</p>
<p align="left">Action 16: Affordable Home Technology Program Assistance for</p>
<p align="left">Innovative Technologies</p>
<p align="left">Action 17: Information, Training, and Technical Assistance for Innovative</p>
<p align="left">Technologies</p>
<p align="left">Action 18: Affordable Home Design and Construction Awards</p>
<p align="left">Action 19: Stock Plans for Building Affordable Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 20: Enhanced Homebuilding Product Evaluation</p>
<p align="left">Action 21: HUD Technical Evaluations of Homebuilding Products</p>
<p align="left">Action 22: Research on Technological Innovation for Affordable Homes</p>
<p align="left">Eliminate Regulatory and Financing Barriers to the Availability of</p>
<p align="left">Manufactured Housing</p>
<p align="left">Action 23: Regulatory Review of Manufactured Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 24: State Participation in Manufactured Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 25: Cooperative Research for Manufactured Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 26: Manufactured Home Industry Initiatives</p>
<p align="left">Action 27: Zoning and Land Development Reform for Manufactured</p>
<p align="left">Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 28: Access to Financing for Manufactured Homes</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 4: Financing</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">Overview Key Principles Strategies Cut Transaction Costs</p>
<p align="left">Action 29: Alternative Approaches to Homebuying Transactions</p>
<p align="left">Action 30: Technological Improvements in Mortgage Financing</p>
<p align="left">6</p>
<p align="left">Action 31: Lender Processing Time Reductions</p>
<p align="left">Action 32: Standardize Homebuying Settlement Procedures</p>
<p align="left">Action 33: Bulk Purchase of Homebuying Settlement Services</p>
<p align="left">Action 34: Local Government Development Fees and Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Trust Funds Reduce Downpayment and Mortgage Costs</p>
<p align="left">Action 35: Home Mortgage Loan-to-Value Flexibility</p>
<p align="left">Action 36: Subsidies to Reduce Downpayment and Mortgage Costs</p>
<p align="left">Action 37: IRAs and 401(k)s for Homeownership Downpayments</p>
<p align="left">Action 38: Savings Plans for Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Action 39: Mortgage Options and Homebuyer Education</p>
<p align="left">Action 40: Home Mortgage Foreclosure Requirements Increase</p>
<p align="left">Availability of Financing</p>
<p align="left">Action 41: Home Purchase and Rehabilitation Financing With FHA</p>
<p align="left">203(k)</p>
<p align="left">Action 42: Conventional Financing for Home Purchase and Rehabilitation</p>
<p align="left">Action 43: Home Rehabilitation Financing</p>
<p align="left">Action 44: Flexible Mortgage Underwriting Criteria</p>
<p align="left">Action 45: Public-Private Leveraging for Affordable Home Financing</p>
<p align="left">Action 46: Reinventing FHA Single-Family Home Mortgage Insurance</p>
<p align="left">Action 47: Native American Home Financing Needs</p>
<p align="left">Action 48: Small Rental Properties to Support Affordable</p>
<p align="left">Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Action 49: Continuation of the Mortgage Revenue Bond Program and</p>
<p align="left">Mortgage Credit Certificates</p>
<p align="left">7</p>
<p align="left">Action 50: Energy Efficiency and Home Mortgage Underwriting</p>
<p align="left">Action 51: Cooperative Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 5: Building Communities</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">Overview Key Principles Strategies Build Local Capacity.</p>
<p align="left">Action 52: Homeownership Education and Technical Assistance for</p>
<p align="left">Communities</p>
<p align="left">Action 53: Spotlight on Successful Local Partnerships Expand</p>
<p align="left">Homeownership Opportunities in Areas of Employment</p>
<p align="left">Action 54: Employer-Assisted Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Action 55: Location-Efficient Home Mortgages Revitalize Distressed and</p>
<p align="left">Declining Urban Neighborhoods</p>
<p align="left">Action 56: Comprehensive Community Revitalization</p>
<p align="left">Action 57: Homeownership Zones</p>
<p align="left">Action 58: Federal and State Resources for Affordable Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Action 59: Promoting Mixed-Income Neighborhoods</p>
<p align="left">Action 60: Redeveloping Vacant Properties Increase Opportunities for</p>
<p align="left">Homeownership in Rural Areas</p>
<p align="left">Action 61: Mortgage Credit for Rural Areas</p>
<p align="left">Action 62: Rural Home Financing Demonstration Program</p>
<p align="left">Action 63: Expanding Rural Home Financing</p>
<p align="left">Action 64: Homeownership Capacity Building in Rural Areas</p>
<p align="left">Action 65: Rehabilitating Rural Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 66: Homeownership Opportunities for Native Americans</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 6: Opening Markets</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">8</p>
<p align="left">Overview Key Principles Strategies Promote Fair Housing</p>
<p align="left">Action 67: The President's Fair Housing Council</p>
<p align="left">Action 68: Voluntary Fair Housing Self-Enforcement and Affirmative</p>
<p align="left">Marketing by Homeownership Industry Organizations</p>
<p align="left">Action 69: Metropolitan Regional Fair Housing Initiatives Promote Fair</p>
<p align="left">Lending and Insurance</p>
<p align="left">Action 70: Voluntary Self-Enforcement and Affirmative Marketing by</p>
<p align="left">Mortgage Lending and Homeowners Insurance Industry</p>
<p align="left">Organizations</p>
<p align="left">Action 71: Access to Home Mortgage Lending Data</p>
<p align="left">Action 72: Research on Fair Lending and Insurance Issues Increase</p>
<p align="left">Diversity in the Homeownership Delivery System</p>
<p align="left">Action 73: Market Review of Underserved Groups and Communities</p>
<p align="left">Action 74: Workplace Diversity in Hiring and Promotion</p>
<p align="left">Action 75: Research on the Homeownership Impacts of Diversity</p>
<p align="left">Action 76: Mentoring Minority-Owned Homeownership Businesses</p>
<p align="left">Increase Outreach to Underserved Groups</p>
<p align="left">Action 77: Marketing Homeownership Products and Programs in Foreign</p>
<p align="left">Languages</p>
<p align="left">Action 78: Tailoring Home Design and Construction to Diverse</p>
<p align="left">Populations</p>
<p align="left">Action 79: Homeownership Models That Work</p>
<p align="left">Action 80: "One-Stop" Home Financing Catalogue</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 7: Homeownership Education and Counseling</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">Overview Key Principles Strategies Improve the Quality, Consistency,</p>
<p align="left">and Effectiveness of Homeownership Education and Counseling Efforts</p>
<p align="left">9</p>
<p align="left">Action 81: National Institute for Homeownership Education and</p>
<p align="left">Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Action 82: Federal Efforts to Build Local Homeownership Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Capacity</p>
<p align="left">Action 83: Research on Homeownership Education and Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Action 84: Clearinghouse for Homeownership Education and Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Action 85: Curriculum Development for Homeownership Education and</p>
<p align="left">Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Action 86: Training and Accreditation for Homeownership Education and</p>
<p align="left">Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Action 87: Cultural Sensitivity and Diversity in Homeownership Education</p>
<p align="left">and Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Action 88: Education on Alternative Forms of Homeownership Develop a</p>
<p align="left">Steady Stream of Funding For Homeownership Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Providers</p>
<p align="left">Action 89: Task Force on Long-Term Funding of Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Action 90: Nonprofit Business Planning for Homeownership Counseling</p>
<p align="left">Organizations</p>
<p align="left">Action 91: HUD Allocation of Counseling Funds Enhance Coordination of</p>
<p align="left">Local Efforts</p>
<p align="left">Action 92: Showcasing Successful Collaborative Homeownership</p>
<p align="left">Counseling Programs</p>
<p align="left">Action 93: Local Homeownership Counseling Roundtables</p>
<p align="left">Chapter 8: Raising Awareness</p>
<p></p>
<p align="left">Overview Key Principles Strategies Increase Homeownership Awareness</p>
<p align="left">Through Public Outreach</p>
<p align="left">10</p>
<p align="left">Action 94: Publicizing Homeownership Opportunities and Achievements</p>
<p align="left">Action 95: Homeownership Site Visits</p>
<p align="left">Action 96: Successful Transitions to Homeownership Expand</p>
<p align="left">Homeownership Opportunities Through Education Initiatives</p>
<p align="left">Action 97: Homeownership Educational Centers and Special Events</p>
<p align="left">Action 98: Educating Homebuyers and Homeowners Through</p>
<p align="left">Technology and the Media</p>
<p align="left">Action 99: Homebuyer Access to Government-Owned Homes</p>
<p align="left">Action 100: Research Networks and Information Clearinghouses on</p>
<p>Homeownership Data</p></div>