THE FED – GET RID OF IT
Should we abolish the Fed? The Federal Reserve Bank, or "The Fed" as it is commonly known, is the central bank of the United States. It was created by Congress in 1913 as the direct result of the Panic of 1907 (recessions or depressions were previously called panics, and they tended to be short lived and self-correcting). The United States had been without a central bank since the closure of the Second Bank of the United States in 1836 by Andrew Jackson. A major goal of the Fed was to stop bank panics which had occurred with some regularity from the Founding of the American Republic. The Fed also was charged with maintaining a stable price level and full employment. When considering whether the Fed should be kept, or at least kept in its present form, it is always useful to look at the data. Specifically, what happened in the 94 years prior to 1914 (when the Fed became operational), and what happened in the 94 years since 1914?
CAREFREE IN ARIZONA
Scottsdale is the classy upscale suburb of Phoenix. And on the edge of Scottsdale, right next to the Tonto National Forest in the shadow of Pinnacle Peak, lies a resort community with the marvelous name of Carefree. Carefree, Arizona. Doesn't that sound like the perfect place to escape from all the insanity and gloom pervading our country, an oasis for rational conservatives to join together for their winter rendezvous? Well, that's where the TTP Winter Rendezvous will be: at the Carefree Resort & Villas, January 23-25. It's a beautiful and serene place where you can luxuriate and relax, sharing companionship with your fellow TTPers, raising a glass with the toast: NMP is NOP. Not-My-President is Not Our Problem. At least for the weekend.
WILL OBAMA TELL OUR SOLDIERS AFRICA IS WORTH DYING FOR?
The recent drop in oil and other commodity prices makes it almost a certainty that some unstable commodity-exporting nations will reach a crisis stage in the next few months. The only question is, which countries are likely to erupt first? The Middle East is always a safe bet for an explosion, but there is a very good chance the next eruption will be in Africa, with the most likely location being Congo, followed by Sudan. In Latin America, Argentina is headed for another debt default and financial meltdown, and Venezuela continues to rapidly deteriorate. And there is Russia, which is likely to react poorly as its once booming economy goes into to a sharp recession. But -- pressures will mount on the United States to become involved, particularly in Africa, as mass killings begin again.
THE WORD THAT CAN SAVE AMERICA
On election day, November 4th, the Dow was above 9,000. It is now headed below 7,000. Do you think this would be happening if John McCain had won instead? For all his plentiful and infuriating faults, McCain promised to slash capital gains taxes, allow full expensing for capital expenditures of business, expedite offshore oil and gas drilling, be friendly to critical energy providers like coal, be unfriendly to anti-business government regulators - in short, in many crucial ways, be the pro-capitalist opposite of his anti-capitalist opponent. There is simply no way the markets would be falling off a cliff and into a depression abyss had McCain won. That they are now means markets are pricing in the anti-capitalist catastrophe Zero (aka NMP) will inflict on the US economy. There is a word that could prevent this. It is a word that terrifies the Democrats and their friends in the media and academia more than any other. You can use any other word against them and they could care less. When McCain condemned Zero and his economic plan in the waning days of the campaign as "socialist," all he got was smirks and shrugs in return. But use this word, and back it up with real history, real facts, real examples, and real explanations, and they freak out in rage, fear, and panic. They run from it like the Devil does from the Cross. It's the word that can save America. The word is...
HOW YOU CAN HELP STOP GLOBAL WARMING
We'll get to what you can do in a moment, but first we're going to talk about bear fat. From time immemorial, the Apache Indians in what is now Arizona have had a fool-proof way of determining if the coming winter would be cold or mild. Sometime around October or so, they go into the mountains and shoot a bear. They stopped using arrows to do this a long time ago. Skinning out the bear, they examine its fat layer under the skin. If it's thin and less viscous, the winter will be mild; the thicker and more viscous, the colder the winter will be. The Apaches on bear hunts over the past few weeks report the latter. Ask ranchers out West, and they'll tell you that the coats of coyotes, ground squirrels, horses, cows, and any other critter with fur or a hide that lives outdoors are thicker this fall. You'd be wise to pay attention to the Apaches and the ranchers, to the bears and coyotes, in preparing for this winter, rather than Algore and the glowarmers, or you are going to freeze your tush off.
PIRATES AND PUSSIES
The first thing to do regarding these ridiculous Somali pirates running around the Indian Ocean in these tiny outboard motorized skiffs hijacking $100 million tankers is read Civilizational Confidence, written two years ago (December 2006). It tells the story of how George Washington for the entire eight years of his presidency paid ransom and extortion money to the Barbary Pirates along the north coast of Africa. Then how finally Thomas Jefferson as president sent the Marines "to the shores of Tripoli" and took care of the problem. It also explains what is "the key fundamental issue of our day, the outcome of which will determine our future: civilizational confidence." And that the collapse of civilizational confidence is suicidal masochism. So we have reached the bottom of that masochistic barrel, with pirates in the ocean and pussies in the White House. Note the latter reference is also plural, for it's hard to imagine how the future president could be more of a pussy than the one we have now.
FRUGALITY AND SAFETY IN A POST-RATIONAL AMERICA
Frugality is in vogue and is going to be a necessity for a lot of folks these days. If you are using Windows, MacOSX, or Linux, save yourself a bundle of cash and download the free OpenOffice suite. It can open Microsoft office documents, and documents created by OpenOffice can be opened by Microsoft Office. As you well know Microsoft Office does not come cheap, even in upgrade forms. This free suite will save you hundreds of dollars, in a time when dollars are becoming harder to come by. OpenOffice can be downloaded for free here: OpenOffice Safety is a concern for all of us in this troubled world and online, one has to be cautious. One way to add to your protection is...
MADAM SECRETARY?
Mr. Obama is considering appointing Sen. Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State. Henry Kissinger, who was Richard Nixon's Secretary of State, thinks this would be a good idea. Marty Peretz, editor in chief of the influential liberal magazine The New Republic, thinks it would be a bad idea. My attitude is, since Mr. Obama is most unlikely to pick the candidate I prefer -- former UN Ambassador John Bolton -- why not Hillary? Especially in comparison to the announced alternatives.
THE EVIL OF THE FEAR OF THE EVIL EYE
The November 4th election is being hailed as "transformational." It certainly has been personally transformational for me. Grocery shopping at the local Giant supermarket is a very different experience now. As I look at all the people scrutinizing the fruits and vegetables, telling the butcher what cut of meat they want, or walking down the aisles pushing their carts with a list in their hand, they all look so normal, just like before last week. Yet I know that a majority of them are either suicidally insane, too stupid to know what they've done to themselves, or crypto-fascists. Before last week, they were all my fellow Americans. Now I don't really know who or what they are. They, together with 60-odd million others, have decided to lurch America radically and thoughtlessly to the left. Collectively, they are a cold-shower demonstration of the self-destructive evil of the fear of the evil eye.