Ron Paul on Mad Money

The cognitive dissonance on this video is amazing. I saw Jim Cramer's explosion on the air about the Federal Reserve a while ago, and while I appreciate the fact that both of them oppose the Fed, they probably oppose it for differing reasons. Cramer was upset that Ben Bernanke didn't act quickly enough to save the markets (and therefore bail out Cramer and his stock market, banking, and hedge fund buddies). Ron Paul hates central banking in general, because inflation created by central banking tends to hurt the lower and middle classes, and central banks are an enabler of government deficit spending. Jim Cramer seems to be in it for extracting revenge, as Ben Bernanke isn't "Easy Al" with the "Greenspan Put" on hand (though my prediction was wrong--Ben Bernanke has relented and dropped rates recently). Also amusing is their disparity in arguing their points. Cramer is his typical insane self, hopping in fury, while Ron Paul, the elder statesman, speaks about the matter calmly and rationally.

To be fair to Cramer, he is an entertainer, and people should view him as such: take his antics and advice with a grain of salt. I must give him mad props on having Dr. Paul on his show, and advocating Federal Reserve transparency.

Collation of Ron Paul's answers all the All-American Presidential Forum

This is somewhat old news, but here is a video consisting of all of Ron Paul's answers at the All-American Presidential Forum. In the latter link, You can watch the show in its entirety, as well as see full transcripts. The show was hosted by Tavis Smiley at Morgan State University, a prominent Black college. The debate dealt primarily with minority issues. What was shocking was that the four Republican "front runners" (Giuliani, McCain, Romney, Thompson) decided to snub potential minority voters to squeeze more money out of the 3rd quarter. Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee seemed to have come out the winners in that debate. Tom Tancredo looked absolutely terrified (of the audience perhaps?), and Alan Keyes' theatrics were thoroughly entertaining.

The Longest Ferry Ride Rudy Giuliani Ever Took

The World Student Press Agency reports that Rudy Giuliani took the "longest ferry ride in his life". Apparently he was forced to share the ride back from Mackinac Island (Michigan) with 100 boisterous Ron Paul supporters. From the article:

It was the last ferry back from the island to Mackinac city. Nearly 100 Ron Paul supporters were waiting on the dock when they were surprised to see Mayor Giuliani appear with his bodyguards walking toward the ferryboat. The crowd started cheering Ron Paul’s name and Mayor Giuliani’s smiling face suddenly turned thunderstruck.

. . .

Giuliani was “hiding” beneath the window in the captain’s cabinet, with bodyguards standing around him to block the sight. The crowd kept cheering Ron Paul’s name again and again all the way, for almost 20 minutes, many of them were calling their friends and family to give them the play-by-play.

You can watch some of the footage yourself below:

Ron Paul Speech at Johns Hopkins University

Ron Paul recently spoke at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, on September 11th 2007. "A Traditional Non-Intervention Foreign Policy" was the name of his speech. The speech and discussion period were moderated by Robert Guttman (CPFR director) and Andrew Ward (Financial Times White House correspondent). He spoke of how non-interventionism is not isolationism, how an overly aggressive foreign policy can actually encourage worldwide terrorism, and how the Federal Reserve indirectly plays a part in military misadventures. The countries he focused on were Iraq and Iran, though he did speak of Korea and Vietnam as well. One of the methods of combating terrorism that he brought up was the old school concept of Letters of Mark and Reprisal. Ron Paul faced some tough questions from the audience, but was able to defend his views eloquently. Venues that Allow Dr. Paul more time to speak with fewer interruptions such as Johns Hopkins demonstrate that he is a true statesman who is not reliant on talking points to support his positions. The JHU SAIS should be commended for allowing him to speak, particularly since Ron Paul's positions probably differ from many of the academics there. His full speech is available below:

You can also download this speech for offline listening. You can also view detailed information about this event.

Jim Cramer: Wake Up Bernanke!

It looks like Ron Paul isn't the only one who's choosing to stand up to the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke. Jim Cramer goes ballistic on the air, demanding that Ben Bernanke "Wake up" to the carnage happening in the economy, and lower interest rates. Cramer cites the collapse of the stock market, and the millions of people soon to be facing foreclosure due to tightening credit:

I hate to disappoint Jim Cramer, but I highly doubt the Fed Chairman is going to lower rates. This is because there is one major concern that trumps all for the Federal Reserve: protect the currency at all costs. Ben Bernanke doesn't care for the troubles of condo flippers and day traders. Nay, even if it meant bankrupting every businessman and homeowner, the dollar must be preserved. You see, if we drop rates at this critical juncture, every single foreign government that is holding our debt, as denominated in dollars, will dump dollars so fast the what happened to the Weimar Republic will look like a picnic. Ben Bernanke will do two things: raise rates to keep people buying up our debt, then perform a massive helicopter drop.

Why the recent stock market high wasn't that high to begin with

The pollyannas rejoiced recently when the Dow Jones Industrial Average at last broke 14000 on July 19th 2007. "See!" they thought to themselves, "The economy is doing great! Who are these fools who constantly warn about doom and gloom?". These are also the same permabulls who tend to believe every statistic the government publishes. Here I will show that this new "high" was never high to begin with, and any profits made by tracking the DJI are more akin to a statement issued by the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland fame:

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Here I will compare the two previous peaks, the aforementioned from this month (14000), and the peak of the internet bubble: on Jan 14th 2000, the Dow Jones reached 11,723. The reasons why I compare peaks, and don't measure from trough to peak are because of hindsight bias and because I want to compare apples to apples (peak to peak, trough to trough).

I'm not going to use inflation to measure the change in the stock market in real terms, as it would involved a longer discussion about what the "true" inflation is. Instead I will compare the purchasing power of the dollar compared to other currencies. The currencies I have chosen roughly correspond to the G8. I chose gold and silver as traditional currencies and stores of value.

Data from Onanda.com	2000/1/14	2007/7/19	purchasing power drop
British Pound	0.60750	0.48770	19.7%
Canadian Dollar	1.45080	1.04360	28.1%
Euro	0.97530	0.72470	25.7%
Gold	0.0035210	0.0014870	57.8%
Japanese Yen	106.150	121.9560	-14.9%
Russian Ruble	28.670	25.44230	11.3%
Silver	0.19610	0.075990	61.2%

The change in the purchasing power of the dollar compared to other currencies is absolutely astounding. The only currency that the dollar has actually increased its purchasing power against is the Yen, but this is mostly due to the fact that the Japanese have been pusruing a Zero Interest Rate Policy for many years now. For those not familiar with it, basically the Japanese have been "running the printing presses" like crazy to stop deflation, but it hasn't been working quite the way they expected (see Carry Trade).

Get ready for the big surprise: the peak-to-peak increase in the stock market was only 19.4%! As an intellectual exercise, if you had bought Euros or Pounds and put them in a regular savings account, and not invested in anything you would have made more money. If, like presidential candidate Ron Paul, you had put all your money into Gold and gold mining stocks, you would be making out like a bandit.

This is why I'm voting for Ron Paul for this presidential election. The Federal Reserve has been devaluing the currency so much, it's no wonder that the stock market seems to be shooting through the roof! Ron Paul will tame the federal reserve at the very least, and eliminate it entirely if he can.

International support for Ron Paul

It seems as if the message of liberty, peace, and prosperity is loved not only in the United States, but throughout the world. People in other countries have spontaneously picked up the message of Ron Paul. Witnesseth:

• Ron Paul France (France, in French)

• Bavaria for Ron Paul (Germany, in German)
  This group celebrated the Fourth of July, when the local branch of the American Embassy would not.

• Belgians for Ron Paul (Belgium, in Flemish)
• Ron Paul Brazil (Brazil, in Portuguese)

And then there is, of course, The Austrian School of Economics (English) who is behind Ron Paul.