LilBambi’s Blog – BambisMusings

Ron Paul we cannot afford our Empire anymore (YouTube)

The Quiet Coup — How Bankers Seized America (Mercola.com):

The economic crash has made many unpleasant truths about the United States apparent. One of the most alarming, according to a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the financial industry has effectively captured the U.S. government.

If the IMF’s staff could speak freely to the U.S. government, it would say what it says to every country in such a situation: Recovery will fail unless the financial oligarchy blocking essential reform is broken. And if the U.S. is to avoid a true depression, time is running out.

The article from The Atlantic linked below details how the U.S. financial crisis is shockingly similar to problems more commonly associated with the third world — and the harsh and necessary steps needed to get out of it.

Very interesting video with Bill Moyers and William K. Black linked on the article page and some great commentary by Dr. Mercola as well on this and an article from The Atlantic.

H.R.1207

Title: To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] (introduced 2/26/2009)

As of today at 5PM:

COSPONSORS (84), ALPHABETICAL

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] – 2/26/2009
Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] – 3/19/2009
Rep Alexander, Rodney [LA-5] – 3/10/2009
Rep Bachmann, Michele [MN-6] – 2/26/2009
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] – 4/21/2009
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] – 2/26/2009
Rep Bilbray, Brian P. [CA-50] – 4/21/2009
Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] – 4/21/2009
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] – 3/16/2009
Rep Blunt, Roy [MO-7] – 3/24/2009
Rep Brady, Kevin [TX-8] – 4/22/2009
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] – 2/26/2009
Rep Buchanan, Vern [FL-13] – 3/17/2009
Rep Burgess, Michael C. [TX-26] – 3/19/2009
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] – 2/26/2009
Rep Capito, Shelley Moore [WV-2] – 4/1/2009
Rep Carter, John R. [TX-31] – 3/31/2009
Rep Castle, Michael N. [DE] – 3/17/2009
Rep Chaffetz, Jason [UT-3] – 3/6/2009
Rep Cole, Tom [OK-4] – 4/21/2009
Rep Culberson, John Abney [TX-7] – 3/26/2009
Rep Deal, Nathan [GA-9] – 3/23/2009
Rep DeFazio, Peter A. [OR-4] – 3/9/2009
Rep Doggett, Lloyd [TX-25] – 4/21/2009
Rep Duncan, John J., Jr. [TN-2] – 3/6/2009
Rep Ehlers, Vernon J. [MI-3] – 4/21/2009
Rep Fallin, Mary [OK-5] – 4/2/2009
Rep Fleming, John [LA-4] – 3/18/2009
Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] – 3/10/2009
Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2] – 3/23/2009
Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] – 3/5/2009
Rep Gingrey, Phil [GA-11] – 3/30/2009
Rep Gohmert, Louie [TX-1] – 4/23/2009
Rep Graves, Sam [MO-6] – 4/22/2009
Rep Grayson, Alan [FL-8] – 3/11/2009
Rep Heller, Dean [NV-2] – 3/6/2009
Rep Herger, Wally [CA-2] – 4/21/2009
Rep Inglis, Bob [SC-4] – 4/23/2009
Rep Jenkins, Lynn [KS-2] – 4/23/2009
Rep Johnson, Sam [TX-3] – 4/22/2009
Rep Johnson, Timothy V. [IL-15] – 4/23/2009
Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] – 2/26/2009
Rep Kagen, Steve [WI-8] – 2/26/2009
Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] – 4/23/2009
Rep Kingston, Jack [GA-1] – 3/6/2009
Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] – 4/21/2009
Rep Latham, Tom [IA-4] – 4/21/2009
Rep Lucas, Frank D. [OK-3] – 4/21/2009
Rep Luetkemeyer, Blaine [MO-9] – 4/21/2009
Rep Lummis, Cynthia M. [WY] – 3/19/2009
Rep Manzullo, Donald A. [IL-16] – 4/21/2009
Rep Marchant, Kenny [TX-24] – 3/11/2009
Rep Massa, Eric J. J. [NY-29] – 4/22/2009
Rep McCaul, Michael T. [TX-10] – 4/21/2009
Rep McClintock, Tom [CA-4] – 3/6/2009
Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11] – 3/19/2009
Rep Miller, Jeff [FL-1] – 3/24/2009
Rep Olson, Pete [TX-22] – 4/21/2009
Rep Paulsen, Erik [MN-3] – 3/30/2009
Rep Pence, Mike [IN-6] – 4/21/2009
Rep Peterson, Collin C. [MN-7] – 3/19/2009
Rep Petri, Thomas E. [WI-6] – 3/10/2009
Rep Platts, Todd Russell [PA-19] – 3/19/2009
Rep Poe, Ted [TX-2] – 2/26/2009
Rep Posey, Bill [FL-15] – 2/26/2009
Rep Price, Tom [GA-6] – 3/10/2009
Rep Rehberg, Denny [MT] – 2/26/2009
Rep Roe, David P. [TN-1] – 4/21/2009
Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] – 3/6/2009
Rep Rooney, Thomas J. [FL-16] – 4/22/2009
Rep Sessions, Pete [TX-32] – 3/23/2009
Rep Shimkus, John [IL-19] – 4/22/2009
Rep Smith, Adam [WA-9] – 4/22/2009
Rep Smith, Lamar [TX-21] – 4/2/2009
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] – 3/26/2009
Rep Stearns, Cliff [FL-6] – 3/6/2009
Rep Taylor, Gene [MS-4] – 3/6/2009
Rep Terry, Lee [NE-2] – 3/30/2009
Rep Thompson, Glenn [PA-5] – 4/22/2009
Rep Wamp, Zach [TN-3] – 3/16/2009
Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] – 4/2/2009
Rep Wittman, Robert J. [VA-1] – 4/1/2009
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 2/26/2009
Rep Young, Don [AK] – 3/6/2009

Where is Rep Bobby Scott (D-VA) ??

Related Bills: S.604

Title: A bill to amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] (introduced 3/16/2009)

Sen. Sanders needs some sponsors!

I remember reading about Joe Louis, the boxing champ from Detroit back in the 30s and 40s.

And what I remember reading most was that he had a heart as big as all outdoors, and the IRS basically destroyed his life.

If you are not familiar with Joe Louis’ story, you might want to read the DetNews.com article.

…Joe Louis died on April 12, 1981. He was 66.

Ronald Reagan waived the eligibility rules for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, and Louis was buried there with full military honors on April 21, 1981.

The whole country mourned his passing. President Reagan praised his instinctive patriotism and extraordinary accomplishments.

Thomas Sowell praised his dignity, his gentlemanliness, sportsmanship and humor, the ‘unbought grace of life’ that was his gift.

“He was our Sampson; he was our David. With toughness he destroyed our enemy, with kindness he soothed our wounds and revived our psyche.” — Jesse Jackson

“Joe never lost his common touch, his love of Detroit. He stood for everything that was good about Detroit.” — Coleman Young

“Our loss is Heaven’s gain; he was a great fighter, and a great champion in and out of the ring. He was symbolic to all people, young and old, black and white.”– Jersey Joe Walcott

With the deficit and spending and bailouts, BONUS CHECKS FOR THE BANKING CARTELS out of our taxes, etc… who’s next in line to be destroyed?

Don’t think it will be the banks and corporations that mishandled things, but are supposedly ‘too big to fail’ ….. no, I think one will need to look MUCH closer to home.

The Big Takeover by Matt Taibbi over at RollingStone.com

The global economic crisis isn’t about money – it’s about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

Thanks Mudhead for letting me know about this article at RollingStone!

It’s over — we’re officially, royally f**ked. no empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country’s heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.

Much, much more in Matt Taibbi’s great 8 page article at RollingStone. Must Read.

And they wonder why many Citizens are so fed up and so angry about what they are doing?

This has been the largest transfer of wealth, actually it’s not wealth per se, it’s people’s livelihood’s and retirement’s into the hands of irresponsible government, banking cartels and corporations in the world’s known history.

They should all be ashamed but they are not. They are laughing all the way to the bank.

If you are very, very quiet, you can almost hear them laughing and patting themselves on the back at their own ability to scheme, use our own government against ‘We The People”, as well as their good fortune that the government was that gullible … while the rest of us are forced by our, errr, their paid ‘representatives’ in the government to quietly just bend over…

Why, oh, why didn’t the government heed the warnings of the likes of Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, and so many others more responsible then they?

The Austrians Were Right by Ron Paul

Before the U.S. House of Representatives, November 20, 2008

Madame Speaker, many Americans are hoping the new administration will solve the economic problems we face. That’s not likely to happen, because the economic advisors to the new President have no more understanding of how to get us out of this mess than previous administrations and Congresses understood how the crisis was brought about in the first place.

Except for a rare few, Members of Congress are unaware of Austrian Free Market economics. For the last 80 years, the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of our government have been totally influenced by Keynesian economics. If they had had any understanding of the Austrian economic explanation of the business cycle, they would have never permitted the dangerous bubbles that always lead to painful corrections.

Today, a major economic crisis is unfolding. New government programs are started daily, and future plans are being made for even more. All are based on the belief that we’re in this mess because free-market capitalism and sound money failed. The obsession is with more spending, bailouts of bad investments, more debt, and further dollar debasement. Many are saying we need an international answer to our problems with the establishment of a world central bank and a single fiat reserve currency. These suggestions are merely more of the same policies that created our mess and are doomed to fail.

At least 90% of the cause for the financial crisis can be laid at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve. It is the manipulation of credit, the money supply, and interest rates that caused the various bubbles to form. Congress added fuel to the fire by various programs and institutions like the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FDIC, and HUD mandates, which were all backed up by aggressive court rulings.

The Fed has now doled out close to $2 trillion in subsidized loans to troubled banks and other financial institutions. The Federal Reserve and Treasury constantly brag about the need for “transparency” and “oversight,” but it’s all just talk – they want none of it. They want secrecy while the privileged are rescued at the expense of the middle class.

It is unimaginable that Congress could be so derelict in its duty. It does nothing but condone the arrogance of the Fed in its refusal to tell us where the $2 trillion has gone. All Members of Congress and all Americans should be outraged that conditions could deteriorate to this degree. It’s no wonder that a large and growing number of Americans are now demanding an end to the Fed.

Ron Paul has much more to say in the article, and the answer … If only they’d listen….

And the answer is NOT continuing to pump more and more water into a bucket that is riddled with holes!

EDIT: added the info below:

We must remember that governments do not produce anything. Their only resources come from producers in the economy through such means as inflation and taxation. The government has an obligation to be good stewards of these resources. In bailing out failing companies, they are confiscating money from productive members of the economy and giving it to failing ones. By sustaining companies with obsolete or unsustainable business models, the government prevents their resources from being liquidated and made available to other companies that can put them to better, more productive use. An essential element of a healthy free market, is that both success and failure must be permitted to happen when they are earned. But instead with a bailout, the rewards are reversed – the proceeds from successful entities are given to failing ones. How this is supposed to be good for our economy is beyond me.

Much more in Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk article “The Bailout Surge.”

The Face of the Next Generation

It’s all that’s needed to be said. Very well said.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from banks, and restored to the people.”
–Thomas Jefferson

EndTheFed

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has a great thought on this. Check out his video from October 2, 2008:

Sen. Sanders Statement on Bailout Amendment — 10/02/2008 (has both video and audio link)

Of course “Madam President” of the Senate, Nancy Pelosi and the Senate as a whole did NOT include Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested addition to the Bailout Amendment, and the Representatives of the House didn’t add it in either, however maybe the new President, along with the Senators and Representative in the next Congress could certainly be instrumental in seeing that the Bailout Amendment (H.R.1424) is amended to reflect the need for those who were responsible for the “need” for a bailout be responsible for payment of the bailout amounts.

And I am not talking about just the bailouts that will result from H.R. 1424 either — which are still astronomical. I am talking about the entire set of bailouts that have occurred to try to stem the hemorrhaging of our economy from their irresponsible abuse of money created from thin air and the abuse of power their position in the economic stability of the country demanded of them. With great power comes great responsibility. They failed. And the entire country present and future shouldn’t pay for that.

Why? Because their greed created this problem. They can’t afford it? And we can?

CEO Compensation (Forbes) While the top CEOs’ compensation in corporations is staggering, it’s nothing compared to Wall Street Highest Earners (and by the Numbers!!!), Forbes 400 or Richest men in America and Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Executives Made $3 Billion Before Crisis.”

These numbers are staggering and so off balance with the rest of society’s salaries! Even Steve Job’s salary looks puny compared to the Wall Street High Earners by the Numbers. Is it any wonder the country’s economy is top heavy and bottom 50 percent make next to nothing by comparison?

Yeah, I think collectively they could handle it much better than the rest of us could, don’t you think?

The masters of the world care not for you and for me. They care only for control and amassing wealth….at our expense.

Andrew Jackson quotes:
The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government … are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.

Andrew Jackson quotes:
Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves.