Ron Paul or No One

By Dan Beaulieu


Twitter

As most Americans go about their daily life they seem to miscalculate the dire situation we face; impending global financial meltdown. It should be well understood by now that in 2007 there were very intelligent economists from the Austrian school that predicted the housing market collapse in vivid detail.  Those same Austrians are predicting a greater collapse in the near future; the collapse of the dollar. Which would be the worst crises, economic or otherwise, the world has ever seen. Remember in 2007 when America laughed at the Austrians predictions? Will we risk making the same mistake again?

In light of this knowledge America has a distinct choice to make, one or the other: 4 more years of Obama and possible global market collapse or just 4 years.

4 More Years of Obama

If the American people vote for Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney it will be 4 more years of Obama. This is not a difficult notion to arrive at. America is upset, voters wanted change in ’08 and they need change now. However, neither of the two candidates offers any real change for America nor do they offer a departure from our current path to collapse. They both advocate big government, large scale militarism and they both cater to large corporations rather than to the people (meaning they can be bought).  They both also have skeletons in their closet which Obama and his $1 Billion can easily exploit.

The independents would not vote for Gingrich or Romney, nor would the democrats… but let me get to the point, nor would the Paulites which are roughly 15% of the republican vote.  This may be frustrating or seem irrational to you. It may anger you to no end… but it doesn’t change the fact at hand. The fact is that 95% of Ron Paul supporters, when asked, say they will not vote for the Republican nominee if Ron Paul does not take the nomination. This alone spells certain doom for the GOP in 2012.

However if the Republican Party chose Ron Paul as the nominee he would win most of the independents, a large percentage of democrats (see ‘blue republicans’), and the GOP. Ron Paul has no skeletons in his closet for Obama to exploit. His voting record is constitutionally pristine and he doesn’t cater to large corporations for money.

Just 4 Years

In just 4 years the Austrian economist Dr. Ron Paul could balance our budget and return us to financial sanity, he could pave the way for the return to prosperity. Not for just us but for the whole world. So I ask America. Why risk financial collapse when the solution lies in this wish 76 year old man?

Can’t we try the Austrian philosophy on monetary policy for just 4 years? Can’t we go back to sound money for just 4 years? Can’t we engage in peaceful trade instead of militarism for just 4 years? Can’t we cut back on government for just 4 years? Can’t we end crony-capitalism for just 4 years? Can’t we hang up our war hammers and our petty reservations for just 4 years so we can get through this mess?

The funny thing is, regardless how you vote, if we don’t fix our financial problem the collapse is inevitable. That means our government shrinks anyway and our militarism and foreign aid ends anyway.

Ron Paul or No One.

For a deeper understanding of Ron Paul and his philosophies please this series.

Understanding Ron Paul

4 More Years of Obama inevitable?

By Dan Beaulieu


Twitter

As most Americans go about their daily life they seem to miscalculate the dire situation we face; impending global financial meltdown. It should be well understood by now that in 2007 there were very intelligent economists from the Austrian school that predicted the housing market collapse in vivid detail.  Those same Austrians are predicting a greater collapse in the near future; the collapse of the dollar. Which would be the worst crises, economic or otherwise, the world has ever seen. Remember in 2007 when America laughed at the Austrians predictions? Will we risk making the same mistake again?

In light of this knowledge America has a distinct choice to make, one or the other: 4 more years of Obama and possible global market collapse or just 4 years.

4 More Years of Obama

If the American people vote for Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney it will be 4 more years of Obama. This is not a difficult notion to arrive at. America is upset, voters wanted change in ’08 and they need change now. However, neither of the two candidates offers any real change for America nor do they offer a departure from our current path to collapse. They both advocate big government, large scale militarism and they both cater to large corporations rather than to the people (meaning they can be bought).  They both also have skeletons in their closet which Obama and his $1 Billion can easily exploit.

The independents would not vote for Gingrich or Romney, nor would the democrats… but let me get to the point, nor would the Paulites which are roughly 15% of the republican vote.  This may be frustrating or seem irrational to you. It may anger you to no end… but it doesn’t change the fact at hand. The fact is that 95% of Ron Paul supporters, when asked, say they will not vote for the Republican nominee if Ron Paul does not take the nomination. This alone spells certain doom for the GOP in 2012.

However if the Republican Party chose Ron Paul as the nominee he would win most of the independents, a large percentage of democrats (see ‘blue republicans’), and the GOP. Ron Paul has no skeletons in his closet for Obama to exploit. His voting record is constitutionally pristine and he doesn’t cater to large corporations for money.

Just 4 Years

In just 4 years the Austrian economist Dr. Ron Paul could balance our budget and return us to financial sanity, he could pave the way for the return to prosperity. Not for just us but for the whole world. So I ask America. Why risk financial collapse when the solution lies in this wish 76 year old man?

Can’t we try the Austrian philosophy on monetary policy for just 4 years? Can’t we go back to sound money for just 4 years? Can’t we engage in peaceful trade instead of militarism for just 4 years? Can’t we cut back on government for just 4 years? Can’t we end crony-capitalism for just 4 years? Can’t we hang up our war hammers and our petty reservations for just 4 years so we can get through this mess?

The funny thing is, regardless how you vote, if we don’t fix our financial problem the collapse is inevitable. That means our government shrinks anyway and our militarism and foreign aid ends anyway.


Ron Paul or No One.

For a deeper understanding of Ron Paul and his philosophies please this series.

Understanding Ron Paul

Understanding Ron Paul

By Dan Beaulieu

Twitter

 "I am an imperfect messenger, but the message is perfect"  –  Ron Paul

One thing is certain of Dr. Ron Paul, he is not a sound-bite candidate. That is, he often speaks over the heads of voters which causes a lack of understanding. It is in my personal opinion that Ron Paul cannot be understood in the 30 seconds allocated to him in debates. His ideas must be studied; however, once one does understand Dr. Paul, they often stick around.

For this reason I present to you my series:

Understanding Ron Paul

Understanding Ron Paul How Ron Paul Would Defend Us Elimination of 5 Departments Iran, Nuclear Threats & Propaganda The Patriot Act The Federal Reserve Foreign Aid 9/11 & Blowback Government Spending Social Security, Medicare Business Cycle & Bubbles Corporate Tax   Earmarks Foreign Policy & Israel Immigration "Is Ron Paul Too Extreme?" "Is Ron Paul Racist?" Why The Media HATES Ron Paul Only Man Who Can Beat Obama

Understanding His Opponents Romney: Serial Flip-Flopper Romney: His Love for the Fed Gingrich: The Real Newt Gingrich

Follow @transfer_point

Check back periodically for my planned additions to this resource.

Understanding Ron Paul: Foreign Aid

By Dan Beaulieu

Twitter

 "I am an imperfect messenger, but the message is perfect"  –  Ron Paul

One thing is certain of Dr. Ron Paul, he is not a sound-bite candidate. That is, he often speaks over the heads of voters which causes a lack of understanding. It is in my personal opinion that Ron Paul cannot be understood in the 30 seconds allocated to him in debates. His ideas must be studied; however, once one does understand Dr. Paul, they often stick around.

For this reason I present to you my series:  

Understanding Ron Paul


 
Foreign Aid

$25 billion per year in foreign aid seems like a drop in the bucket to our annual $2.7 trillion dollars national revenue, however, one should put into perspective that our budget is over $3 trillion per year and our national debt is over $15 trillion. A rational person understands that this is simply unsustainable, in its most basic math. However, this is the obvious argument and I don't find it necessary to dwell upon the obvious. I will, however, stay on the argument of economics for the time being as I feel we are missing something that should resonate with American’s and is consistently ignored. That argument is a rudimentary economics lesson written by William Graham Sumner, called the forgotten man.

The Forgotten Man Applied

As we all understand, the $25 billion dollars has to, at some point, come from the productive sector of society; the taxpayers, whom we will call group A. This money is then provided as financial aid to foreign bureaucrats to their benefit alone, we’ll call this party, group B. We, as a species, have a predilection for considering only what we can immediately see in front of us. We can see the charity of group A (albeit a forced charity) and we can see the benefits reaped by group B. However, no one stops to consider that what we cannot see, which is group C; the forgotten man.

Group C is the car manufacturer, the clothing maker, electronics manufacturer, the bread maker, the paper miller, the restaurant owner, the bookseller, the small businessman; the list goes on ad infinitum. Since our government took the money from group A and gave it to group B, group C was never realized.  Essentially we are giving charity to the foreign group B at the loss of what group C would have had to offer. Let me stress the magnitude of productive loss and potential unemployment we suffer due to this forced “charity”.

Putting this into a perspective that we all can relate to, let us say that a $1 million a year company employs 75 people, some have more some have less. These 75 people have to care for 75 families, let’s assume families of 3 for this example. So this single $1 million dollar company directly affects 225 people’s lives. Now let’s extrapolate this figure to $25 billion. That’s roughly 1,875,000 workers who take care of a total 5,625,000 family members. Not all of these workers encounter job loss per say, but productivity loss eventually becomes job loss.

Since 1970 we have spent well over a trillion dollars on foreign aid (link). Irrefutably, this money never went to the forgotten man, denying hundreds of thousands of jobs; perhaps entire industries from ever coming into existance.

Immorality of Foreign Aid

Since this document is regarding Ron Paul's views, perhaps its said best in his own words. Please listen to this 8 minute chapter from Ron Paul's audiobook "Liberty Defined" for his personal view on foreign aid.








Back to Understanding Ron Paul Index

Understanding Ron Paul: The Patriot Act

 By Dan Beaulieu
Twitter

"I am an imperfect messenger, but the message is perfect"    

–  Ron Paul

One thing is certain of Dr. Ron Paul, he is not a sound-bite candidate. That is, he often speaks over the heads of voters which causes a lack of understanding. It is in my personal opinion that Ron Paul cannot be understood in the 30 seconds allocated to him in debates. His ideas must be studied; however, once one does understand Dr. Paul, they often stick around.

For this reason I present to you my series: 

Understanding Ron Paul

The Patriot Act

Though most Americans arbitrarily support the Patriot Act in respect to how “9/11 changed our way of life”, few are aware that the Patriot Act was authored long before that date. This negates that notion altogether and confirms that 9/11 was craftily used as a convenient device to instate the legislation.

Upon reading the 1,472* page bill, one can see why the authors made sure it was not available to the eyes of our congressmen before it was voted on. The ill-titled “Patriot” Act represents anything but patriotism, and in fact impedes on virtually all of the amendments in the Bill of Rights. Due to the fact that most Americans are oblivious to the contents of the Patriot Act, I will briefly go over a few bullet points; however I will spare you lengthy detail to abstain the scope of this document.

·         Freedom from unreasonable searches: The government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation. Violates Amendment IV

·         Right to a speedy and public trial: The government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial. Violates Amendment VI

·         Freedom of association: To assist terror investigation, the government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity. Violates Amendment I

·         Right to legal representation: The government may monitor conversations between attorneys and clients in federal prisons and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes. Violates Amendment VI

  -        Freedom of speech: The government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation. Violates Amendment I

·         Right to liberty: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them. US citizens (labeled "unlawful combatants") have been held incommunicado and refused attorneys. Violates Amendment VI

·         The enemy redefined: The patriot act also broadens the definition of "terrorist" to anyone who opposes a federal government program or policy. This gives them probable cause for 70% of Americans conservatively.

By supporting the Patriot Act, the other candidates endorse the idea of exchanging security for our basic freedoms, a model Benjamin Franklin strongly advised against. Americans rational idealizes that if you are guilty of no crimes than you’ve got nothing to hide, so it’s worth it. This just isn’t the case, as the great Thomas Paine once said, “He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”

These wise words resonate today in the case of a 10^th grader wrongfully arrested and held for 2 months without council, due process or visitation from his mother. (video) He was innocent (see comments) but the Patriot Act refused him the right of due process. These trespasses on our civil liberties will only get worse and happen more frequently as time goes by, as is the predictable evolutionary process.

People often try to dismiss these criticisms as libertarian alarmist propaganda, though I combat that ideology with simple logic. Once our Constitutional rights have been taken away from even just one single American, no matter how bad they are, then we have undoubtedly lost our way.  As I outlined in an article I wrote entitled “The American Way Abandoned” (link) I expressed the importance of adhering to our founding fathers principles, which concludes that if we do not, we do so at our own peril.

The absence of legislation like the Patriot Act is what makes America free. When we submit our freedoms in fear - then the terrorist truly have won.

Back to Understanding Ron Paul Index

Follow @transfer_point

*Depending on the source the amount of pages in the patriot act is between 342 and 2,500. Dr. Twight mentioned in an interview that she had read all 1,472 pages. Personally I don't claim to be the expert on every page, however I have read enough to ascertain its completely unconstitutional.

Understanding Ron Paul: Business Cycle & Bubbles

 By Dan Beaulieu
Twitter

"I am an imperfect messenger, but the message is perfect"    

–  Ron Paul

One thing is certain of Dr. Ron Paul, he is not a sound-bite candidate. That is, he often speaks over the heads of voters which causes a lack of understanding. It is in my personal opinion that Ron Paul cannot be understood in the 30 seconds allocated to him in debates. His ideas must be studied; however, once one does understand Dr. Paul, they often stick around.

For this reason I present to you my series: 

Understanding Ron Paul


The Business Cycle & Bubbles

(Image from: http://www.harpercollege.edu/)

The business cycle, first realized by Ludwig Von Mises in the 1920’s and later developed by Freidrich A. Hayek, is a phenomenon that happens through Keynesian intervention of the markets. In a business cycle you have a boom or period of economic euphoria and a bust, period of economic agony. The business cycle is propelled by the central bank’s (Federal Reserve) manipulating or “propping” the market through low interest rates which forms bubbles. It should be noted that in a true free market economy the business cycle would simply not exist, that is, there would be no cyclical boom or bust (depression).

Bubbles form when the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates below the natural levels of a market, it influences expansion of investments well beyond sustainable levels. This manipulation distorts the signals that business uses to assess risk and these distortions then lead businesses to believe that consumers have the savings to back up their investments. However, artificially low (below market) interest rates don’t generate new wealth to make good on investments. So when the bubble pops these fallacies are realized in lost investments, this is called correction.

Regardless of government interference the powerful true market is always at work and like gravity, the true market pulls the cycle back towards the median in a sensation we call correction. This correction inhibits business cycle bubbles from perpetual expansion and further attempts at avoiding correction through stimulus or quantitative easing only prolongs the agony, the correction must always occur.

This is precisely how the housing market collapsed in 2008 and Ron Paul’s understanding of the business cycle, through Austrian studies, is what allowed him to foresee the disaster several years before it occurred (you can watch his predictions here: 1983, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007).

For a deeper understanding on why we must change our monetary policy please listen to this audio from one of Ron Paul's mentors, Murray Rothbard, titled "Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure".

Back to Understanding Ron Paul Index

Follow @transfer_point

Understanding Ron Paul: Government Spending Vs. Private Spending

By Dan Beaulieu

Twitter

 "I am an imperfect messenger, but the message is perfect"  –  Ron Paul

One thing is certain of Dr. Ron Paul, he is not a sound-bite candidate. That is, he often speaks over the heads of voters which causes a lack of understanding. It is in my personal opinion that Ron Paul cannot be understood in the 30 seconds allocated to him in debates. His ideas must be studied; however, once one does understand Dr. Paul, they often stick around.

For this reason I present to you my series:  

Understanding Ron Paul



Government Spending

We hear about government spending daily, we hear it from radio hosts, TV pundits, from President Obama and we hear it countless times in the GOP debates. However, the government must spend some money, so what is good spending and what is bad spending? I honestly don’t believe that any other political figure understands this better than Ron Paul.

Essentially, when our government spends money, say, to create a jobs for instance. They go about it differently than the private sector would. As the private sector creates a job purely out of demand, the government creates a job simply to create work. This is counterproductive and actually creates job-loss in the private sector. To understand this notion thoroughly I offer a short chapter from a book written by Henry Hazlitt titled “Economics in One Lesson”.

 

(more chapters on youtube)

As Mr. Hazlitt illustrates, government cannot create a job without first taking one from the private sector. This simple notion can be easily proven through elementary mathematics, the government cannot magically create jobs. If the government takes money, for any purpose whether it be for foreign aid & war or be it research & development it is always at the peril of the tax payer and private sector jobs.

To reiterate, when the government takes money from the taxpayers pocket, it results in less money that can be spent as a consumer in the private sector. If your buying power is diminished then fewer products are sold and there is less demand for production. When production falls, layoffs ensue shortly after. Unemployment rises.

Ron Paul would decrease this by doing away with 5 extremely wasteful bureaucracies. Departments that when scrutinized are obvious failures and ultimately job destroyers.

Back to Understanding Ron Paul Index

Follow @transfer_point