Remember The Constitution?

[♦ nivek ♦]

Remember that antique old parchment, not taught in SKuLLeZ no mo'?

 

LewRockwell.com

 

Remember the Constitution?

by Don Cooper

 

 

I’m having a hard time swallowing much more of the ridiculous television programming regarding our current economic crisis and the government’s fiasco of a stimulus.

 

If I have to hear one more economist or executive editor of some financial rag or former Wall Street insider address the merits of the government’s stimulus using double talk, armchair economics, half truths and massaged statistics I’m going shoot my cat.

 

They all babble about how it will create jobs, unlock the credit markets and stimulate investment. Horse-hockey.

 

I don’t understand how these self-proclaimed financial insiders can go on television with a straight face and lay out this crap.

 

No financial measures or calculated metrics are needed to analyze the situation. Any such numbers would favor the party presenting them anyway and thereby be biased by association.

 

Here’s the problem so even those mental midgets on CNN can understand it: there is nothing the government can do with our money to legally stimulate the economy except let us keep it! Here’s why:

 

Firstly, there’s a seemingly irrelevant, historical document sitting in the National Archives in Washington called the constitution. It’s the document that Ron Paul referred to many times during the Republican primary debates that usually evoked a condescending chuckle from the likes of McCain, Romney, Giuliani, Huckabee and the other Manchurian candidates.

 

Nowhere in that document does there exist clear constitutional authority for the federal government to tax the people and redistribute those monies to the markets of their choice.

 

Secondly, the whole charade is a wash: if Uncle Sam takes money from me in the form of taxes, or debt or inflation that I was going to spend on having my lawn cut, and gives it to you so you can have your car washed then there are no new jobs created. The young man I would have hired to cut my lawn loses the job, and the one that washes your car gains one. Zero-sum game.

 

Thirdly, there is nothing that the government can do on my behalf with my money that I can’t do better. Anyone who has ever worked for a large corporation or a state or the federal government will attest to the blatant inefficiencies associated with it. It’s just not logistically possible for the government to act as a central planner for our economy. To think they know what, who, where, when, how much to invest so as to better our lives. Besides, hasn’t that been tried before and failed miserably? Wasn’t that Communism?

 

Fourthly, the insertion of the government in-between businesses and consumers creates the opportunity for businesses to lobby (bribe) the middleman and get special interest treatment. Lobbying directly to the consumer without the government is called marketing. The benefit to the consumer is a quality product. Lobbying with the government in the middle is called special interest pandering and the benefit to the government is cold hard cash in hand and there is no benefit to the consumer. Only corruption and higher prices.

 

A firsthand example: a former colleague of mine who was recently laid off told me today that he has been fortunate enough to find a new job in this troubled economy but for significantly less money and he still has to incur significant relocation costs, and his family will not be joining him immediately so he’ll have to support two households for the time being.

 

He called his bank, Bank of America, to try and negotiate a lower interest rate on his credit cards in hopes of some short-term relief. He explained that given the current economic climate that given the decision to pay the rent or his BOA credit cards that naturally he would pay the rent and therefore would appreciate BOA working with him to find a solution that benefited both him and BOA.

 

Unfortunately, according to Reuters, BOA received $25 billion from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in October 2008 and again on January 16th, 2009 the U.S. government gave BOA a $20 billion bailout and a guarantee for almost $100 billion of potential losses on toxic assets. These bailouts made Bank of America the biggest recipient of taxpayer money next to Citigroup.

 

Later in the day my colleague tried to use one of his BOA credit cards and it was declined. He called the bank only to find out that his credit card accounts, which had been in good standing for 2.5 years, had been closed!

 

After calling the bank and speaking to a "credit specialist" he was told that his credit worthiness had been re-evaluated and found to be a higher risk then previously thought.

 

More horse-hockey.

 

What incentive does a bank like BOA, which has received almost $150 billion from the U.S. government, have to negotiate with Joe Blow over $10,000 in debt? None!

 

The government intervention, as usual, gives institutions such as BOA incentives to make bad business decisions. Would you or I do differently with that kind of safety net from the U.S. government?

 

February 26, 2009

 

Don Cooper [send him mail] is an economist living and working in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

Copyright © 2009 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

 

 

Links referenced within this article

 

Don Cooper

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/mailto:don@qaoss.com

according to Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idU...eedName=topNews

send him mail

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/mailto:don@qaoss.com

 

 

Find this article at:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/cooper5.html

 

 

Copyright � 2007 LewRockwell.com

[Kyle]

I can do nothing but shake my head at the state of our country. Sad. Thanks for the post, nivek

[NaturalSelection]

Evidently Mr. Cooper forgot the Constitution in that article. Here's some things from the Constitution Section 8 that I doubt he, you and I know I, couldn't possibly do.

 

Section 8 - Powers of Congress

 

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

 

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

 

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

 

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

 

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

 

To provide and maintain a Navy;

 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

 

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

 

 

 

 

Now if you read that closely you can see that it is Congress who is suppose to coin money.....not the Federal Reserve (which isn't even federal; it's privately owned).

 

Seems to me that if we're to get out of this financial mess that private industry and politicians who shirked their duties that we the people elect them to carry out (by deregulation, deregulation, deregulation) then they should first abolish the federal reserve....I won't hold my breath on that one though.

 

 

If you want to read the Constitution in full then you can go to this link: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

 

You'll see that there is a lot of good that the government can do....and is suppose to do on behalf of "we the people".

[MathGeek]

I've never taken a basic economics course, but I do know that government intervention in ANYTHING is almost always a bad thing. Vietnam was a military failure. The War on Drugs was and is a law enforcement failure. The War on Poverty is a policy failure that ensured generations of welfare recipients AFTER THE FACT.

 

The less government, the better.

[NaturalSelection]

I've never taken a basic economics course, but I do know that government intervention in ANYTHING is almost always a bad thing. Vietnam was a military failure. The War on Drugs was and is a law enforcement failure. The War on Poverty is a policy failure that ensured generations of welfare recipients AFTER THE FACT.

 

The less government, the better.

 

 

I think "government intervention in ANYTHING is almost always a bad thing"....is one of those sayings that has been put out there so often that people believe it is true even when is isn't. Sure, bad government and bad decisions can do bad things; however, without our government which is suppose to be for the people and by the people we'd have no framework in which to do good things too. Without our government we'd quickly revert back to what our founders were attempting to escape in Europe where there was no middle class at all...just a wealthy ruling class, a powerful church and a bunch of surfs who basically had no rights, no power, and no recourse. You and I would be the serfs at the mercy of a wealthy few who have all the money, all the power and who would make all the rules to keep you and me under their thumbs.

 

Start paying close attention to the policial party in this country that consistently repeats this mantra.....THEY want to govern and when they do they always promote polices that benefit the wealthy, they use "gawd and the church" to get the non-wealthy on board, and they "mock" people who do stand up and demand their civil rights and equal protection under the law.

 

All government officials makes mistakes but many try and have accomplished great things for the middle class and minorities in our country. Others have become drunk with power and used that power against "the people". -- I totally agree with you about that "war on drugs" (benefited people building prisons; hurt common people who might like to smoke weed; cost a lot of money and lives) the "war on poverty" (didn't work, was designed to help a few people in appalachia but has been abused) and Vietnam (people at the top of the food chain made a lot of money off of that war, Nixon prolonged it to get elected which cost an additional 20,000 soldiers their lives; it accomplished nothing for us).

 

The main think I think we have to do is to pay close attention to politicians actions, what they actually do, and frankly, when we can....try to figure out their motivation. Is it to make money for a few or are they really trying to implement policies that will help us citizens out here.

[MathGeek]

The main think I think we have to do is to pay close attention to politicians actions, what they actually do, and frankly, when we can....try to figure out their motivation. Is it to make money for a few or are they really trying to implement policies that will help us citizens out here.

 

That is good advice. Every politician has an agenda, but I think our government needs to gutted from the inside out and we can use the carcass to build a new foundation. The main candidates who stood for fiscal responsibility and returning to the basics of limited government intervention have been routinely kicked from the table in every recent election. The main reason why is because the big dogs keep screaming that these fiscally-conservative, socially-liberal is because they want to gut the organization that millions of people rely on. It's come to the point that the majority of the population relies too heavily on the federal system for assistance instead of the kindness of their neighbors and the churches they attend. I am a hypocrite in this regard because my pension is funded at the state level. There should be limited economic protections and this bailout is just another example in a long-line of failed government policies that tried to jump start the economy. Handing money out through tax cuts is only slightly better because the many Americans have no fiscal responsibility whatsoever or those with fiscal responsibility will hoard it or pay off their creditors. I think taking a literalist approach to the Constitution when it comes to economics might be a good place to start for once.

[NaturalSelection]

Well, the republicans were definitely "gutted" in this last election.....that's why we're starting to hear the rumblings again of "overthrowing the government...government is bad"...if they don't get to run the show and steal any money that's left they'd rather see the whole damn thing come tumbling down. I'm sure they're really disappointed that they didn't get to "privatize" social security and steal that too.

 

But realistically, government tanking, would be awful. It'd be total chaos, look at what happened when the Roman empire failed.

 

The "church" definitely would love to see this happen because they see themselves as filling that vaccum....even though they've played a big part in bringing this country to ruin via the GOP.

 

 

As far as the bailout goes, WTH, the country was broke last October. I've been thinking nothing will bring it back financially but you never know....the government definitely has the responsibility to try....and the people did elect this new administration....so we'll just have to see if they're able to pull it off. Franklin Roosevelt kept my great-grandparents from starving to death and TVA was established then which has served the South East well all these years (keeping it from washing into the gulf) but of course all you hear from the right wingers is how awful Roosevelt was.

 

Damn, I got on my own rant and had to shorten this. LOL.

[Guest QuidEstCaritas?]

Natural Selection, I agree with you mostly. Right on bro. Very good points.