“Bailout, after bailout, after bailout!” “It’s nationalization!”

This is a speech Ron Paul gave on the House floor before the bailout vote. It’s a bit dated, but his words should be heeded.

H/T Sarber2020

I’m so happy I wasn’t the only one who noticed the way the Dow shot up after George Bush’s speech praising capitalism. Larry Kudlow noticed, too.

Here’s one of several great passages from Bush: “At its most basic level, capitalism offers people the freedom to choose where they work and what they do … the dignity that comes with profiting from their talent and hard work. … The free-market system also provides the incentives that lead to prosperity - the incentive to work, to innovate, to save and invest wisely, and to create jobs for others.”

In other words, free-market capitalism is the best path to prosperity.

Where has this George Bush been hiding? Maybe the Republicans should have had him out giving speeches like this one before the election. Heck, it couldn’t have hurt. It may even have helped to stabilize the markets. Read the rest of this entry »

John McCain gave another speech today on the economy. He appeared with Mitt Romney, Michael Steele and Meg Whitman. Here’s the transcript. Read the rest of this entry »

John McCain gave a great speech today in Ohio. He made the case that it’s redistrubution of wealth vs. wealth creation. Here’s the transcript. Read the rest of this entry »

Barack Obama gave a speech this morning in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It was more of the same old populist, socialist rhetoric we’ve come to expect from the Pope of Hope.  And as expected, he blamed everything on Republicans and conservative philosophy.

This financial crisis is a direct result of the greed and irresponsibility that has dominated Washington and Wall Street for years.

But it is the greed of people such as his buddies Frank Raines, Chris Dodd and Jamie Gorelick.

It is the result of speculators who gamed the system, regulators who looked the other way, and lobbyists who bought their way into our government.

Again, those gaming the system were Franklin Raines, and company. The regulators who looked the other way were Barney Frank, Maxine Waters and Chris Dodd. The lobbyists who bought their way into government gave more money to Chris Dodd and Barack Obama than any other lawmakers.

It’s the result of an economic philosophy that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else; a philosophy that views even the most common-sense regulations as unwise and unnecessary.

The capitalist philosophy has brought about more prosperity on this earth than any other. If the government stopped interfering in the capitalist system we wouldn’t be in this mess.

And this crisis is the final verdict on this failed philosophy — a philosophy that we cannot afford to continue.

He’s right, we were failed by a philosophy and we cannot allow that philosophy to continue. However, that philosophy is the philosophy in which government controls business. A philosophy that believes an oxy-moron such as “government sponsored enterprise” would be a successful enterprise is a philosphy that should be discarded.

Enterprise:

1. An undertaking, especially one of some scope, complication, and risk.
2. A business organization.
3. Industrious, systematic activity, especially when directed toward profit: Private enterprise is basic to capitalism.

At the heart of the current financial crisis sit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie make loans that are backed by you and me. Where is the entrepreneur in tihs enterprise? Does not an entrepreneur assume the risk of his enterprise? In a GSE there is no risk to anybody but the taxpayer.

Apparently, the Democrats didn’t think Fannie was bad enough for American taxpayers or our economy, so Jimmy Carter signed the Community Reinvestment Act which required banks to make loans to people who aren’t credit worthy. That wasn’t bad enough so under Bill Clinton CRA’s were put on steroids.

Republicans and conservatives warned for years that this was a bad deal. They called for more regulation and the Democrats blocked them at every turn. Which brings us to where we are today.

As usual, Barack Obama is barking up the wrong philosophical tree.

Floor speech transcript, Sept. 29th: 

The speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from Michigan is recognized for three minutes.

Mr. (Thaddeus) Mccotter: Thank you. I rise today not to change anyone’s mind but to express to my constituents my reasons for opposing this bill. There will always be time and pretext enough for people to compromise their principles and put forward poor public policy that may in the short run be popular but in the long run will be detrimental to the long-term interests of the American people. We learn this through history. In the 1832 Bank Panic, Andrew Jackson had the question of whether he would remove the Bank of the United States’ charter. The people in the bank did not like that. They threatened the prosperity of the American people and in the middle of the panic Andrew Jackson looked at these bankers and said: “There are no necessary evils in government. The treasury to you, gentlemen, is closed.” This was an act of courage on the part of President Jackson because he understood what was at stake was not merely an ephemeral prosperity or a panic caused by the very people with their hand out. Andrew jackson understood this was about majoritarian rule. It was about the faith in the people’s representative institutions and those who inhabit the seats in which they are entrusted. Today we are in a global financial bank panic. It is the first of our global economy. We are seeing a leveraged bailout of the United States treasury. And in the end these interests that want your money are threatening your prosperity. And the choice you face is this. You will lose potentially, for prosperity for a short period of time, at the expense of your long-term liberty. Once the federal government has got you to take that risk and pass it onto you as a quote-unquote moral hazard, they will be in the marketplace and as the free market is diminished your freedom itself is diminished. And as your Congress does not stand up to these and put forward a better plan that truly protects the taxpayers and truly has the long-term interests of the United States at heart, you will be in jeopardy of losing both your prosperity and your liberty. The choice is stark and it was put forward in the book by Doestoevsky. In the Brothers Karamazov the Grand Inquisitor came to Jesus and he said if you wish to subject the people, give them miracle, mystery and authority; but above all give them bread. And it has always been the temptation in a crisis especially to sacrifice liberty for short-term promises of prosperity. And it was no mistake during that during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution the slogan was “Peace, land, and bread.” Today you are being asked to choose between bread and freedom. I suggest that the people on Main Street have said they prefer their freedom, and I am with them. I yield back.

Barack Obama had a speech prepared to celebrate the passage of the bill to bail out Wall Street. No doubt, he was ready to take credit for saving the United States from another Great Depression. He was so confident he didn’t even bother to convince those 95 democrats who voted against the bill. Now there’s some leadership for ya!

When he heard the news of the bill going down in flames, he had to postpone his speech by 40 minutes to scrape together a new speech. Why he needed 40 minutes to spew his tired old garbage is a mystery.

While he declined to cast blame on any one person for the crisis, Obama ripped McCain’s previous support for the de-regulation he says contributed to the collapse on Wall Street. “He’s fought against common-sense regulations for decades, he’s called for less regulation twenty times just this year, and he said in a recent interview that he thought de-regulation has actually helped grow our economy,” Obama said. “Senator McCain, what economy are you talking about?”

“I read the other day that Senator McCain likes to gamble. He likes to roll those dice,” he continued. “One thing I know is this - we can’t afford to gamble on four more years of the same disastrous economic policies we’ve had for the last eight. Read full story.

But according to Obama, this is not the time for partisan politics.

In case anyone is wondering which party stood in the way of stricter regulation of Fannie and Freddie, perhaps this video will help. While Obama blames John McCain’s policies for causing the current financial crisis, he fails to recall John McCain’s efforts in 2006 to pass the Federal Housing Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. The status of that bill is “dead”.

“Don’t be diverted by the ground noise and the static!” Good advice given by John McCain this evening.

John McCain told Americans he intends to earn our trust. He sent a warning to Washington do-nothings that “change is coming” and he can’t wait to introduce them to Sarah Palin.

He touched on many issues…lower taxes, free markets, school choice, drilling for oil, building nuclear power plants and getting rid of judges who legislate from the bench. He told us he will stand on the side of the American people and fight for our future.

When it comes to foreign policy, McCain will lead with confidence, wisdom and resolve.

He told the moving story of his POW ordeal and the men who saved his life. He told us of the lessons he learned and his love of country. He said he will fight for America as long as he draws breath.

“Stand up and fight! We are Americans! We never quit! We make history!”

My only question is, who let the Donkeys in?

I’m so fortunate to have missed Joe Biden’s “Reclaim America” speech. He’s very long-winded you know. I printed the speech and it was 4 pages long. Good grief, does he ever shut up?

It was basically more of the same drivel we hear all the time. “The American dream is slipping away.” “The future keeps slipping further and further and further away.” “Tax cuts for the rich.” Blah blah blah. It’s like a broken record.

Biden said we should vote for Barack in November because we don’t need four more years of George Bush. He must be confused, maybe he didn’t get the memo about term limits. He also said our dreams are being denied by politicians. What dreams is he referring to? The dream of lower taxes? How about the dream of producing our own domestic oil?

For someone so long-winded it’s odd that he forgot to mention that the price of gas, groceries and heat all went up after the Democrats took control of Congress on the platform of “change”. I’m not sure we can survive four more years of that kind of change.

I did agree with Senator Biden when he said you can learn a lot of things about a man when you hear him speak. So by all means, Senator Windbag, keep on talking.