Genesis of the "NO" Logo

In history there have been two basic forms of social organization: collectivism and individualism. In the 20th and 21st century, collective variations have included socialism, fascism, Nazism, and communism. Under collectivism, a ruling class of “intellectuals”, bureaucrats, politicians and/or social planners decides what people want or what is “good” for society and then uses the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax and redistribute wealth in an attempt to achieve their desired objectives. Individualism is a political and social philosophy that emphasizes individual liberty, belief in the primary importance of the individual and in the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence and responsibility. It embraces opposition to controls over the individual when exercised by the state. The Preamble to our Constitution makes it plain that all power rests originally with the people, as individuals.
The “O” within the circle represents collectivism in its various forms. The “N” represents an emphatic repudiation of collectivism. The red, white and blue circles encompassing the “NO” are emblematic of our Republic. It is the responsibility of the individuals in an engaged and enlightened republic to limit the influence of the government, especially one that attempts to wield power outside the boundaries delineated by the Constitution.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Liberal Psychoses

Good piece by Victor David Hanson

Monday, August 29, 2011

Should I buy Gold and/or Silver?

From the Gold Money Foundation

Jim Sinclair interviewed by James Turk - conversation about gold

Eric Sprott interviewed by James Turk - conversation about silver

Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Endless Vacation


Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Hypocrite in Chief

These words may come back to bite the president. In this clip, Obama calls President Bush "unpatriotic" for adding to the national debt. Obama has added almost as much to the national debt in 3 years as Bush did in eight! That's "really unpatriotic". When President George W. Bush took office, our national debt was $5.768 Trillion. By the time Bush left office, it had nearly doubled, to $10.626 trillion. Bush's record on deficit spending was awful. During his presidency, the national debt rose by an average of $607 billion per year. How does that compare to Obama? During Obama's presidency to date, the national debt has risen by an average of $1.723 trillion per year. That amounts to a jaw-dropping $1.116 trillion more, per year, than under Bush.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Markets react to S&P Downgrade

most recent video blog from Peter Schiff

Friday, August 19, 2011

The Poisoned Fruit of Social Democracy

It is difficult not to notice that most of the financial, economic and societal problems making headlines in the world today are centered in Europe and the United States. The reality is that the "West" has finally reached the point of saturation wherein its economies and societies can no longer afford to guarantee a certainstandard of living for the citizens of these countries in exchange for votes.

These nations have two factors in common: 1) they are all either confirmed to be or determined (as in the case of the United States) to become socialist democracies; and 2) they have evolved into overwhelmingly consumption-based societies, greatly diminishing their goods-producing sector (which generates the real wealth of a nation), thus eroding their job-creation ability as well as the nation's wealth and tax base. Yet the governments of all these countries continue to deficit spend, over-tax (chasing wealth and job-creation off-shore) and borrow in an effort to meet the expectations of the people.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/the_poisoned_fruit_of_social_democracy.html

Liberal Logic


In a bid to stem taxpayer losses for bad loans guaranteed by federal housing agencies Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed that borrowers be required to make a 5% down payment in order to qualify.

His proposal was rejected 57-42 on a party-line vote because, as Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn) explained, "Passage of such a requirement would restrict home ownership to only those who can afford it."


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Obama's Paradoxes

When Barack Obama won the election in 2008, he was quite right that the old system needed fixing. America’s debt, its poorly educated youth, its imbalances in trade, its counterproductive tax system, its out-of-control annual spending, its culture of entitlement and subsidies, all in perfect-storm fashion were starting to coalesce and weaken America from within and the perception of America abroad. The statesmanlike thing to do — in the manner of a once-naïve Harry Truman, who woke up to the threat of Soviet-inspired global Communism, or of a Bill Clinton, who finally addressed some of the contradictions of the welfare state and deficit spending — would have been to overhaul the tax system, recalibrate Social Security and Medicare, cut spending, lecture the citizenry on personal responsibility, and address the therapeutic curriculum in our failing schools. With a 70 percent approval rating and supermajorities in both houses of Congress, Obama could have done almost anything throughout 2009.

Instead, he chose the path of Jimmy Carter and the pre-1995 Bill Clinton — even more redistributive state programs, more stifling regulations, more petulant talk about “them,” more class warfare, more debt, and more failed big government.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/274706/obama-s-paradoxes-victor-davis-hanson

Monday, August 15, 2011

(Un)Happy Birthday, Fiat Money

Forty years ago today, on the morning of Sunday, August 15, 1971, the US president, Richard Nixon, declared the inconvertibility of the dollar into gold.[1] The 20,000 tons of the yellow metal deposited in Fort Knox in 1944 had decreased substantially due to the high military costs of the Vietnam War. The United States — the leading global economic power — could not honor its financial commitments. This meant the end of a historical and monetary rule that, from the dawn of civilization, had made money a general medium of exchange and also a store of value. It began a new era of historical abnormality — that of fiat currency and central-bank monopoly, where the ability to provide credit and financing becomes as boundless as the production of legally enforced paper printed by the issuing bank.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Obama's Vision and The Constitution

It is hard to say just what Obama's vision of America is or whether he has a vision at all. More often than not, his is a negative vision. From his perspective, America is wrong in so many ways that it stands in need of radical change. At the heart of this negative vision is Obama's idea that America is not a "just" nation. Obama believes that fairness demands redistribution of wealth to the point that every citizen of the United States is entitled to a middle-class standard of living as a matter of right.