Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk on the Bailout

Too bad the other news sources will not print some of the alternative options to this bailout, good article.

My second attempt at this posting... It is interesting how this author has the courage to actually report! I have been so amazed at the NY rages (and many others) that cause the news and the election based on the influence of the few power families (Morgan s, Rockefeller s, and the like). It is clear that this path to indebtedness will only lead to more power into the hands of the few and the American people more indebted/enslaved than ever. This is the point anyway if the truth should ever be told. I have come to these conclusions with out even the notion of who Ron Paul is. Now that I have discovered him, I am a big supporter in only the last week. We clearly need to go back and re-read our history to see this is the very reason our founding fathers decided to separate from the English/Central Bank. Now it is taking over in the form of the Federal Reserve. We should all take heed if we want to stay a free nation. In this case freedom means freedom form the central banks plan of indebtedness. Ken

I believe we are in this negative financial position. However, I believe the timing of dealing with it was politically inspired. I'm not knowledgeable enough to give an answer, but I believe Dr Ron Paul speaks with knowledge and I basically agree with him. The people specifically responsible for oversight should be removed from their positions. This includes Senate Leaders and House Leaders starting with Barney Frank and moving up. The business leaders that carried at and near the top of these financial institutions should be removed and if a crime was committed they should be prosecuted.

It is interesting how this author has the courage to actually report! I have been so amazed at the NY rages (and many others) that cause the news and the election based on the influence of the few power families (Morgan s, Rockefeller s, and the like). It is clear that this path to indebtedness will only lead to more power into the hands of the few and the American people more indebted/enslaved than ever. This is the point anyway if the truth should ever be told. I have come to these conclusions with out even the notion of who Ron Paul is. Now that I have discovered him, I am a big supporter in only the last week. We clearly need to go back and re-read our history to see this is the very reason our founding fathers decided to separate from the English/Central Bank. Now it is taking over in the form of the Federal Reserve. We should all take heed if we want to stay a free nation. In this case freedom means freedom form the central banks plan of indebtedness.

I agree with Ron Paul. I feel that an economic depression the likes our country has never seen has been set into motion with the government's idiotic action taken on Friday. This will make our money more worthless and therefore prices on everything from gasoline, food, medicine, and services will hyperinflate. It won't matter if you have a job or not because you will not be able to afford anything if you did. These idiots have sealed our fate except they don't realize that they are standing on the deck of the Titanic with us all and they too will go under.

I agree. Repub's and dem's are both dirty with this issue. Ask yourself this... Why is it that Obama and McCain are both avoiding the most important issue of the day? Even the moderator of the first debate kept saying "but you two are not answering the question." Fire them all

Thanks for recognizing Dr. Paul on this subject. I sure wish he'd received due attention a lot sooner -- it's a pretty sad situation when you consider that this whole mess could have been avoided if we just employed the right ideas.

Elizabeth, Thank you for this thoughtful column. Dr. Paul is my hero. In my opinion, he's a living legend, next to the late Barry Goldwater. It is a sad description of our society when, although Dr. Paul has been right all along, he has been mocked as an extreme alarmist. Now his warning of a monetary crisis came true. He offered solutions all along and was laughed at. I did not ignore him. And I'm glad I did not have faith in this administration or the Clinton administration. Outside my retirement funds, I invested very conservtively and contrarian (treasuries, savings bonds, AAA municipal bonds, and precious metals) while renting instead of owning a home. The Congress and executive branches fanned the flames of this fire. I posted in your next recent blog that this $700 or $850 billion bailout that is needless is taking up precious resources that should be used to prepare for a surprise attack by Iran or North Korea - a salvo of missiles perhaps. Or terrorist attacks. I'm by no means religious but I cannot help by saying God help the few remainder of us who are responsible savers.

~sigh~ sure has the ring of one who crying out in the wilderness....very prophetic I'm afraid.

Buddy can you spare a dime?

CNN example of media reporting: "One business owner stated, I hope the U.S. House passes this "Bailout" 'cause this will allow my bank to offer the necessary credit I need to make this week's payroll for my employees working in my profitable company." Oh...really? How can this business be running excellent with profit if the owner has to borrow to make payroll??? LOL...payroll is standard business operating procedure you shouldn't be operating a business if you have to go on credit to make payroll every payday. WOW... No wonder Americans are in a financial jam!!

Ron Paul appears to be the only voice of reason in government. If only he had been the GOP nominee...

Totally agree with Dr. Paul. Paul and Kucinich were the the best candidates, McCain and Obama are not for change, they're both lots of lipstick on 2 fat pigs. Here is what Kucinich wrote about the bailout: "Here is a very quick explanation of the $700 billion bailout within the context of the mechanics of our monetary and banking system: The taxpayers loan money to the banks. But the taxpayers do not have the money. So we have to borrow it from the banks to give it back to the banks. But the banks do not have the money to loan to the government. So they create it into existence (through a mechanism called fractional reserve) and then loan it to us, at interest, so we can then give it back to them. Confused?" What a robbery!!!

Thank you for giving Congressman Paul a fair shake. I have noticed him becoming a much more frequent guest on many news and financial television programs in the last few weeks as this financial crisis comes to a head. Thanks again for shining some light on this man whose knowledge of economics may be unsurpassed by any member of Congress. Todd E. Lyons Moxee, WA (4th CD/15th LD)

Dr. Paul asks the right questions. I worry that American citizens, including myself, have become so insulated from the consequences of bad financial decisions that we are no longer capable of growing as a free, democratic society. It's time to clean up our country's deficit and debt; and that means cutting federal programs and raising taxes for the next war. It's time for our political leadership to face the consequences of their decisions. Although I'm registered Independent, I tend to vote Republican because I don't trust big government. But it's very hard these days to find fiscal discipline in any of our candidates or elected officials. What ever happened to good leadership?

We sould have listened to Rep. Ron Paul 10 years ago. We should have listened to him 5 years ago. We should have listened to him last we and we should have listened to him yesterday. It is all over but the crying now. We will live to regret abandoning the last semblance of the free-market. Welcome to the U.S.S.A.

Zero comments? This article was posted nearly 24 hours ago, and there are NO COMMENTS?? Ron Paul has been the only honest voice in this presidential campaign. What is wrong with Americans? In general, we always have and continue to fall for the crap that we are fed by the crooks in charge. An honest person speaks, and he is ridiculed and kicked to the side. Instead we trust those most undeserving of our trust to lead us over the cliff into oblivion. The American Empire is about to crumble. Our grandchildren will inhabit a third-world country. We can tell them stories by the fireside about what a great nation we once were. Although there probably won't be any firewood to be had. We will be bundled up in every garment that we own, just like the poor folks in other has-been countries. Maybe they will be happier than we were with affluence. Who knows.

He's right. I love America, but it's over zealous attitude towards being the only financial and military superpower will be it's undoing. G-R-E-E-D.

Sadly, we have not learned from the past. Americans are still encouraged to spend, spend, spend, even when it comes to going deep into debt. Americans who have tried to work hard, live thrifty lifestyles, and save money have been punished by low interest rates. Now, we will all be punished with accelerating inflation. I have heard it said that 22 cents of every GDP dollar is debt. In the past month the FED has given us another 1.4 trillion of debt, and there is no end in sight. Two quotes from Thomas Jefferson: "...the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." and "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Ron Paul is the only politician who has the backbone to stand up and say NO MORE. Abolish the Fed now!! We are headed for a worldwide depression. The Fed has all the money now they want control of the people.

I do appreciate your writing this article on Ron Paul. It was nicely said. However, I have so much anger for the mainstream media that I even get angry now. Oh sure, it is easy to jump on the bandwagon when you don't have to do a thing but look around and see a crisis, but a ton of us learned early on that Ron Paul's economic explanations HAD to be true. We knew this because they just make common sense. But, no, the media had to hold to Keynesian economics this whole time because they refused to educate themselves about the fed, inflation, government interference etc. So now what do we have? We have an election coming up in the most important time in our world, and we could have had one man who could save us. Not any more. McBama will send us into more debt, more wars, and we will starve. I can barely buy food anymore as it is, instead needing to hit "dollar" menus around town. And you monkeys at the media just did it to us again with the THEFT bill. You pushed and pushed and terrified people into mass panic and crashed the markets in a week. Well, the President helped - a lot. Yes, it is appreciated that you have finally come to your senses. But it is too late for us. The country is going down. Do you know what my stock adviser suggested as "buys" for this week? Guns, water, canned food, toilet paper, coleman lanterns, etc. etc. The list is very very long. (I am not joking). Welcome to Armageddon where hindsight is 20/20.

One of the few men who had it right, Dr. Paul was systematically smeared by the banking propaganda machine. This is the same banking machine which effectively owns our 1 party government and just siphoned $700B (more like $2T when all is said and done) out of the pockets of the American taxpayer. Wake up now America before you are forced to wake up and don't recognize the country anymore.

Thanks for publishing Dr. Paul's reasoned thoughts. Ten trillion dollars of debt is approximately $30,000 for every person in the country. Using leverage is fun when the returns are positive but disastrous when they are negative, unless one has the necessary bankroll. You wonder what they are teaching in schools these days. I take exception to his comment that 'the problem is not HOW the government spends...'. It may be correct in terms of the current problem, but on an ongoing basis it matters whether money is spent in a productive or a counter productive manner. Our government, unbridled for decades, is like an addicted 500 pound gorilla on steriods seeking its next 'fix'.

I have known of Ron Paul and his warnings for years, if only more americans had listened. I'm afraid it's too late now, wish I was more of an optimist but one only has to look around to see how bad the mess is. Was this path were on an accident or by design?

This following would have been a much better solution for a bailout... The legal mechanism already exists for such bailouts... It's available to every business either large or small in this country that finds itself in financial trouble. Everyone in the business world, govt and financial community especially, knows of it... What is it ??? It's called "Chapter 11 Reorganization" - part of the bankruptcy laws already in existence in this country and proven to work. When the company goes into receivership and the Govt (supposedly we the people) opt to lend it money, then by law, the Govt (read:us the taxpayers) are first in line to be paid back before any consideration is given to other creditors or stockholders. Upon filing for bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court will appoint a "Receiver" to manage the legal and financial affairs of the business. The receiver has the full power to appoint and contract any consultants he deems necessary upon approval by the bankruptcy judge. Furthermore, all existing contracts are put on hold, subject to payment, renegotiation or cancellation as the receiver and Judge deems necessary to again make the company viable. Any payments made to companies or individuals one year prior to the bankruptcy filing can be canceled without notice, and the Receiver can demand payment and return of the funds forthwith... (such as "golden parachutes" when execs and boards grab as much as possible, knowing full well their ship is going down) In cases of where the total amount of debt exposure is not known, the bankruptcy court has the right to limit or cancel outright further funding at any time, if it's then deemed not economically feasbible to save it. This places the creditors of the bankrupt firms in a position, where they then soon realize they could LOSE EVERYTHING if the reorganization fails. With that sickening prospect looming over their heads, it's truly amazing how "creative" and flexible they will soon become. These banks and financial institutions (even those that make up the Fed itself) are for profit corporations like any other corporation... By virtue of the fact they went bust, it's a clear indication they could not manage their own business or financial affairs..... Kind of ironic,their being some of the worlds leading financial institutions. If anyone should have known better, it should have been them. It would have been much more prudent to force them to declare bankruptcy and file for protection under Chapter 11 Reorganization. As it is now, these corporations will receive 700 Billion in taxpayer money with effectively little or no strings attached... What will they do with the $ ???? Who knows..... Take it and run, knowing full well what's coming ??? - that's the most likely scenario..... They get to keep all the solid performing financial instruments, while the taxpayer picks up all the toxic paper, with little chance of that EVER being paid back despite promises by our leaders that the taxpayers will see a handsome profit by the time the dust settles... Even that aside, the taxpayers will now be the very last ones in line in the payback pecking order... This was a very bad deal for not only the taxpayers, but also for our country as a whole.... So why weren't these firms treated like any others in accordance with our existing bankruptcy laws and awarded this sweetheart deal of all time in a panicked rush ??? You be the judge.... But u­nless one lives under a log or just fell off the turnip truck, you most likely already know the answer..... We are taking one heck of a risk if this policy fails and ends up crippling Main St by propping up bad debt with effectively a mountain of more bad debt.... It will postpone the inevitable until after the elections, but then watch out... This policy is going to hurt Main St - that's pretty much a given.... The danger is that if Main St goes, there won't be anything left worth saving..... The analogy is that if our economy is our aircraft, employment our fuel and manufacturing our engines, then I figure it's damaged to the point of not being able to maintain altitude... Without sufficient power and 3 of our 4 engines out (they fell off somewhere over China and the Pacific Rim), we're going down with no airport within gliding distance.... All we can hope for now is to aim for some soft pine trees trying to avoid the large boulders and pray for just a survivable crash. If skillfully executed by an experienced professional flight crew, most of us should be able to stagger away from the smoldering wreckage and then begin work on building a new aircraft so we may again " slip the surly bonds of earth and dance the skies on laughter-silvered wings".... Maybe the next time we'll have the common sense not to let our politicians and the likes of the Wall St crowd start selling off and trashing key pieces of our aircraft while we're aboard and still in flight... What really scares the stuffing out of me, is that our flight crew that consists of the Senate, Congress, the Fed, Wall St and our President are manning the flight controls..... They all have parachutes... (even some Golden ones I hear)... Us passengers riding in coach, don't. That should instill some real confidence ! Just my take on it....