No other country had ever codified the structures and processes of their governing institutions to such an extent in one single document. Many people focus on the Bill of Rights when speaking about the Constitution, but the first four Articles are just as important. They synthesized political ideas that were developed over hundreds of years by some of the most insightful thinkers, such as separation of federal powers, checks and balances, vertical division of powers (federalism), an independent judiciary and, of course, representative democracy. The latter emphasizes the notion that any policies enacted by the federal government must be authorized by the people, through their elected representatives who are held accountable to constituents every few years. So what's the state of our Constitutional democracy today? Simple, it doesn't exist. International corruption surveys typically rank the U.S. higher (less corrupt) than most other countries, but this simply proves how bad these surveys are at capturing the essence of real, hardcore corruption. We could write stacks of books on the prevalence of money in politics and the swarms of lobbyists who descend on Washington every single week, and many people have, but it's simpler to just focus on the most egregious example of corruption. The most powerful, influential economic policy-making institution in the country, the Federal Reserve ("Fed"), is an unelected body that is completely unaccountable to the people. Well, let's back up and start with the fact that this institution's very existence is most likely unconstitutional. Here's why: Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states that Congress has the power to "coin money" and "regulate the value thereof". The Supreme Court has long held that Congress can delegate its legislative powers to Executive agencies as long as it provides an "intelligible principle" to guide the agencies' acti

The true history of the tea party movement: The very first tea party  was held by Congressman Ron Paul (R - Texas) supporters December 16, 2007 for calling attention to a "money bomb." People dumped boxes labeled "taxes, war, big government" into the Boston harbor. Similar events took place around the country. A more organized protest happened on July 12, 2008 when 10,000 Ron Paul supporters descended upon DC at the West Side of Capitol Hill for a "Revolution March". The main theme of the March and Rally was Dr. Ron Paul's message of Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom through adherence to the Constitution. The Keynote Speaker and Guest of Honor was Dr. Paul himself. Later both of these were known as the resurgence of the American "tea party" or the "re-teaparty". In February of 2009, a CNBC financial talking head named Rick Santelli burst forth with his famous rant in reaction to the mortgage crash. The traders on the floor of the CME Group joined him in expressing their outrage over the notion they may have to pay their neighbor's mortgage, particularly if they bought far more house than they could actually afford. "President Obama, are you listening?" he shouted into the camera to the amused interviewers. He then said he would even start organizing a tea party to happen in July at Lake Michigan because what we are doing now was making our founding fathers "roll over in their graves". Later, many "912″ groups formed after an idea proposed by Glenn Beck. And thus, we are a happy conglomeration of all of these elements. Because by now, Americans were beginning to realize that neither party was serving their interests and our country was going down the tubes fast. And thus, the movement was born. Conservatives, some who'd never been politically active before, took to the streets. Progressives and leftists at first thought it was just a tiny minority, but then the numbers grew. It became apparent that this was no small phenomenon a

The printing presses have been smoking, working night and day, printing money like there is not tomorrow.  Meanwhile, the USA government is spending money and creating debt like there really will not be a tomorrow.  This article is reprinted from Bloomberg Financial News.  It's a shocker.  Turns out that as the dollar falls, there is no where to hide.  Other nations are too heavily invested in non yeilding treasury notes to save themselves.  We're looking at hyperinflation.  The kind that will bring down the world and probably usher in a Wrold War III.  

Economists and pundits may disagree on why the gold standard delivered such superior results compared to the recurrent crises, instability and overall inferior economic performance delivered by the current system. But the data are clear: A gold-based system delivers higher employment and more price stability. The time has come to begin the serious work of building a 21st-century gold standard for the benefit of American workers, investors and businesses.

10/22/10 Hong Kong, China - Austerity be damned, at this rate Mr. Bernanke will go down in the history books as one of the greatest money creators ever to have walked this planet! Never mind sky-high deficits and a crushing debt overhang, at its most recent FOMC meeting, the Federal Reserve all but guaranteed another round of quantitative easing. The truth is that the US is insolvent and its policymakers will stop at nothing in order to avoid sovereign default. So, it should come as no surprise that at its latest meeting, the Federal Reserve downplayed the risk of inflation, thereby setting the stage for another round of money creation.

Dear WSJ Moderator,

I tried to post a comment to the community forum for the article, "Currency Chaos; Where do we go from here?" My comments were rejected with the error message, "The language you used does not comply with community standards. Please re-enter."

I read through my post, as well as the community rules for posting, and i can't find anything objectionable or contrary to the rules for posting? What gives?

Would you please be so kind as to explain to me the problem with my language?

Thanks for the consideration,

~ge~

Comment:

The world is on the Gold standard. Always has been. The difference is that some people know this, and others don't. Politicians, bankers and world traders prey on those who don't know this. Signing on to a dollar denominated contractual obligation or interest rate is reckless playing the predators game. The idea of a fixed-exchange between the dollar and euro is okay. But the idea of fixing either the dollar or the euro to Gold is nonsense. Sorry Mr. Mundell, Milton was right. Fiat currencies must float against the value of Gold; just as commodities, services and goods must also float against Gold.

Gold is a way of thinking. It's also the viewpoint that changes everything, even though the opportunity for this Gold view comes to us courtesy of advancing Web technologies and the connective power of pocket devices capable of universal access and exchange. Having the Internet in your pocket is the power to think in terms of Gold instead of dollars. Or any other fiat currency for that matter.

Many will ask, "Why now?" Others will ask, "Why gold?"

Well, Gold is elemental and about as constant in value as anything mankind has ever known. Sure, a gold rush here and there can set off a frenzied bubble of effort. But when has the supply of gold ever diminished the demand? Besides, how would you measure that except through the use of other precious metals, vital commodities or volatile currencies. My guess is that the value of Gold would be stable beyond even the most advanced algorithms precisely because the alchemy of uncertainty that pervades the value of everything else exceeds that of Gold.

But why now?

The problem i think has always been that of real time information and a transparent marketplace where the value of any currency, commodity or trade exchange unit can be evaluated against Gold - in real time. I suggest that today the electronic mechanisms, networking and devices are in place to use Gold as a real-time currency, but most people choose to live in the past. Or they are in on some predatory obfuscation scam based on insider undervaluing or over valuing fiat currencies. The worst case being the skewering of unwitting contractual obligations that fail to delineate exchanges in Gold.

If we know the price of Gold at any given moment, why would anyone sign a futures contract based on dollars or the euro? Or any fiat currency for that matter? Why not sign the contract based on Gold, but agree to exchange in dollars per micro-ounce? We peg contractual interest rates to LiBOR, so why not peg to GoldPrice or Kitco? In the advanced electronic "all digital all the time" world we live in, this is easy. Any iPhone or Android could do it using a simple app that can convert a scanned or typed in fiat-amount (name the currency) to the real time fiat-exchange rate of Gold. Want to check your bank account or equity holdings? Simply convert any fiat currency to the price of Gold in that currency, and you know exactly where you stand in this world. Want to buy merchandise or contract for a service, or agree to provide a contractual service? Price it in Gold and the currencies will take care of themselves. The trick is in an easy to use app that has access to real-time Gold prices, and can express amount in easy to handle Gold denominations. For example, 1 florian = 1/100 th of an ounce of Gold. 1 tam = 1/1000 of an ounce of Gold.

Take this one step further. Imagine there are at least seven Gold-Bank and Reserves (GBR's) now operating on the Isle of Man. These "banks" hold real gold reserves to back member accounts. The reserves might be in a Canadian vault, or they might represent a future obligation and claim, but the members of the Gold Reserve are the owners of record. Let's imagine that a new member signs up for an account with $1 Million in fiat-dollars. The conversion to Gold is made for that new account @ the current "real-time" value of $1368.26 per oz. From this point on, it doesn't matter what currency is used for trades, exchanges and withdrawals. There are 1368.26 million ounces of Gold on account. Our conversion apps take care of the details.

The key here is that conversion information is in real time, the market for Gold is transparent, and the mechanism for accounting in Gold is trusted.

Take this defacto Gold standard and reserve system one step further. Hook PayPal into our seven Gold reserve banks on the Isle of Man. Provide a micro ounce language for Gold using known units like guilders, florians, lius and tams. Then turn the populace loose on the Web with iphone and android apps that speak Gold and can make real time electronic exchanges in the purchase of goods and services based on the convergence of QR scanning, PayPal exchange, and a GPS-Open ID with QR Biometric Chop identity authentication.

We're not there yet, but the gap between vision and reality is closing fast. The important thing to note is that money is trust. And nothing is more trustworthy than Gold. It's inflation proof. It's deflation proof. It's immune to currency fluctuations, but pity the fool who pegs their currency to it. It's politically untouchable. And, Gold is money if we "individually" decide to make it so. There is no need to consult with governments, nations, international banking consortia, or even those we trade and exchange with. Gold is money the moment you decide to think in terms of Gold. Fiat currency is simply how you choose to speak to others. Real time conversion/evaluation information and Gold Web apps make your Gold think practical.

Commodities, goods and services will always fluctuate. But if they are measured in Gold instead of other commodities or fiat currencies, the real value of contracts and exchanges can not be obscured, rigged or played. This only problem with Gold has been that of universal access to real time trading information, a transparent and trusted marketplace, and the lack of digital units, digital accounting mechanisms and digital-to-real reserves. Otherwise Gold is inevitable.

I wonder how much Gold the US Treasury and Federal Reserve has on hand? Today, at this very moment, it would take $1367.08 USA to purchase a 1 oz. Gold Reserve Note (100 florians) from an Isle of Man Gold-Bank. That's a bottom line i'll take into the voting booth next month.

An individual or corporation might deal with the world in dollars. But if they measure everything in terms of Gold, for sure, they won't get fooled again.

~ge~

Gold, gold-reserve, gold-currency, robert-mundell, milton-friedman

Mr. Mundell has a knack for boiling things down to simple terms. He grew up on a four-acre farm in Ontario, went on to earn a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and would ultimately challenge the renowned Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago during the late 1960s. Both economists were strong proponents of free markets, but Mr. Mundell disagreed with Mr. Friedman's advocacy of floating exchange rates. The sound of a buzzer indicates lunch has arrived. Mr. Mundell suggests that we continue our discussion at the table and politely invites his assistant Ivy Ng, who has been taking careful notes, to join us. "We've been talking about the possibility of global monetary reform," I continue, deciding to switch gears. "Let's talk a bit about domestic monetary policy. What do you think the Federal Reserve should be doing right now?" It's a seamless transition for Mr. Mundell. "The Fed is making a big mistake by ignoring movements in the price of the dollar, movements in the price of gold, in favor of inflation-targeting, which is a bad idea. The Fed has always had the wrong view about the dollar exchange rate; they think the exchange rate doesn't matter. They don't say that publicly, but that is their view." "Well," I counter, not particularly savoring the role of devil's advocate, "I suppose Fed officials would argue that their mandate is to try to achieve stable prices and maximum levels of employment." Mr. Mundell looks annoyed. "Well, it's stupid. It's just stupid." He tries to walk it back somewhat. "I don't mean Fed officials are stupid; it's just this idea they have that exchange-rate effects will eventually be taken into account through the inflation-targeting approach. In the long run, it's not incorrect-it takes about a year. But why ignore the instant barometer that something is happening? The exchange rate is the immediate reaction to pending inflation. Look what happened a couple weeks ago: The Fed started to say, we've got to pr

If those miners had been trapped a half-mile down like this 25 years ago anywhere on earth, they would be dead. What happened over the past 25 years that meant the difference between life and death for those men? Short answer: the Center Rock drill bit. This is the miracle bit that drilled down to the trapped miners. Center Rock Inc. is a private company in Berlin, Pa. It has 74 employees. The drill's rig came from Schramm Inc. in West Chester, Pa. Seeing the disaster, Center Rock's president, Brandon Fisher, called the Chileans to offer his drill. Chile accepted. The miners are alive. Longer answer: The Center Rock drill, heretofore not featured on websites like Engadget or Gizmodo, is in fact a piece of tough technology developed by a small company in it for the money, for profit. That's why they innovated down-the-hole hammer drilling. If they make money, they can do more innovation. This profit = innovation dynamic was everywhere at that Chilean mine. The high-strength cable winding around the big wheel atop that simple rig is from Germany. Japan supplied the super-flexible, fiber-optic communications cable that linked the miners to the world above.

Well written comparison of Roosevelt's Great Depression and Obama's Great Recession; and how the same policies and attitudes produced the same results of prolonged economic misery.  Good charts comparing USA Obama misery to the rest of the world. excerpt: This may not be your grandfather's Great Depression, but many aspects of today's situation would remind him of the 1930s. If the recession that officially ended a year ago feels uncomfortably surreal to you yet familiar to him, it's probably because the recovery went missing. During the average recovery since World War II, gross domestic product (GDP) surpassed the pre-recession high five quarters after the recession began. It has never taken longer than seven quarters. Yet today, after 11 quarters, GDP is still below what it was in the fourth quarter of 2007. The economy is growing at only about a third of the rate of previous postwar recoveries from major recessions. FDR rode the tide of history while President Obama strives mightily against it. The progressive vision that resonated in the 1930s foundered on the hard experience of the 20th century, and it has no broad appeal in the 21st. The recovery from the Great Depression did not occur until World War II was underway, but it appears, as of today, that voters will bring the latest experiment in American collectivism to an end on Nov. 2. A real economic recovery won't be far behind.

ACORN corruption in colussion with Obama campaign.  Anita Moncrief, former ACORN executive blows the whistle on illegal ACORN voter registration and the ties to Obama.  Recall that Obama was an ACORN instructor, teaching ACORN operatives in Saul Alinsky organizing, anarchy and disruption.

The End by Michael Lewis Nov 11 2008 The era that defined Wall Street is finally, officially over. Michael Lewis, who chronicled its excess in Liar's Poker, returns to his old haunt to figure out what went wrong.

Bang!  Right between the eyes... excerpt:  Memo to the ruling class media: We are not ignorant or stupid. We've not forgotten Jeremiah Wright. It's not that we don't "know" what faith Obama subscribes to -- it's more that we don't believe him. Or you. Sorry. Not buying. Besides, sometimes we just like to tweak you with our poll answers -- and use any poll as an excuse to "vote against Obama" in any way, shape, or form. *** Frankly, it has been equal parts comedy and insult to watch the ruling-class media haplessly wrestle with the reality that millions of Americans believe Obama to be a Muslim. They are so clueless. As if we needed any more proof -- this is simply another positive dose that the ruling-class media and the country are divided by a huge gulf of philosophy, reality, and experiences. And they are just beside themselves that a country that was concerned that Obama's (Christian?) pastor is a crazy nut in the spring and summer of 2008 can totally forget about all that in the summer of 2010 and call Obama a Muslim. They so miss the point. We have forgotten none of that. If fact, apparently, now more Americans are deciding to look into all of this and process it in light of Obama's actions.

Technicality or Fatal Flaw? To foreclose on real property, the plaintiff must be able to produce a promissory note or assignment establishing title. Early cases focused on MERS' inability to produce such a note, but most courts continued to consider the note a mere technicality and ignored it. Landmark newer opinions, however, stress that this defect is not just a procedural. but a substantive failure, one that is fatal to the plaintiff's case. The latest of these decisions came down in California on May 20, 2010, in a bankruptcy case called In re Walker, Case no. 10-21656-E-11. The court held that MERS could not foreclose because it was a mere nominee and that as a result plaintiff Citibank could not collect on its claim. The judge opined: "Since no evidence of MERS' ownership of the underlying note has been offered and other courts have concluded that MERS does not own the underlying notes, this court is convinced that MERS had no interest it could transfer to Citibank. Since MERS did not own the underlying note, it could not transfer the beneficial interest of the Deed of Trust to another. Any attempt to transfer the beneficial interest of a trust deed without ownership of the underlying note is void under California law."

Americans, the Constitution of the United States of America doesn't belong to us anymore. We have let our guard down one too many times with regard to our constitutional responsibilities, rights, and liberties, and now elected politicians control the document. Because of a lack of vigilance and perhaps of laziness on our part, our representatives and our government constrain and dominate us using legislative powers obtained from interpretations, penumbrae, and self-serving close calls for scant (and vaguely defined) words in our Constitution. It took a long time for Congress and the government to amass these powers that they have taken from us, and they certainly won't relinquish them as easily as we gave them up. But with unflinching purpose, we must begin to take the Constitution back, as well as reimpose limits on congressional powers, for the sake of future Americans. The start of flagrant congressional abuse of the Constitution may be traced to the late 19th century1, when lawmakers found they could exploit the previously "silent" commerce clause. As Americans are highly dependent upon commerce, a government that can control all aspects of commerce is a very powerful government indeed. However, any powers that the Congress derives regarding commerce activities arise from Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution: "[Congress has the power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes[.]" This clause was considered silent because lawmakers couldn't figure out a straight-faced way to exploit this narrowly-defined power: The actual wording gives Congress power to regulate commerce among the states, but not between individual citizens. So by conflating a generous reinterpretation with commerce-related laws, the Congress gave itself the authority to regulate individual citizens.

Excellent interview. excerpt:  if you were the President of the United States today, do you think that there are any practical steps that you could take immediately to fix the economy, and what would they be? JR: Oh, sure. I would abolish the Federal Reserve. I would cut taxes. I would cut spending in a draconian manner. A very draconian manner. The idea that you can solve a problem of too much debt and too much consumption, with more debt and more consumption, defies comprehension. I can't believe that grown-ups would say words like that out-loud. But that's what they seem to think - I don't know if they really believe it's going to work, but they just don't know what else to do, and you know they're all doing... for the next elections, so they're making things worse. There are plenty of ways to solve the problem. You let the people who go bankrupt go bankrupt. You let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go bankrupt, go out of business. You let AIG go out of business. You stop bailing everybody out. The Japanese tried it our way in the early 90s; they refused to let anybody go bankrupt, and they still talk about the 1990s as "the lost decade." Now they're talking about this decade as the second lost decade. Japanese stock market today is 75% below where it was in 1990. That is not a typo. It is down 75% in 20 years. Can you imagine if the New York Stock Exchange, or if the DOW Jones to use a better example, were at 4000? I don't think people would be very happy. Well, that's the equivalent of the situation in Japan right now. It didn't work in Japan; it's not going to work in the US. It's going to lead to more problems. People say, "Oh, our poor grandchildren! Look at all this debt!" No, no, no, it's not our poor grandchildren; it's us! This is a current problem! This is a problem, even our parents, if they're still alive, forget our grandchildren; our parents are going to be suffering, and our grandparents if they're still alive! This is a current disaster for all of us

Incredibly elegant writing! excerpt: A broken link with the public, and a war in Afghanistan he neither embraces and sells to his party nor abandons-this is a time of puzzlement for President Obama. His fall from political grace has been as swift as his rise a handful of years ago. He had been hot political property in 2006 and, of course, in 2008. But now he will campaign for his party's 2010 candidates from afar, holding fund raisers but not hitting the campaign trail in most of the contested races. Those mass rallies of Obama frenzy are surely of the past. The vaunted Obama economic stimulus, at $862 billion, has failed. The "progressives" want to double down, and were they to have their way, would have pushed for a bigger stimulus still. But the American people are in open rebellion against an economic strategy of public debt, higher taxes and unending deficits. We're not all Keynesians, it turns out. The panic that propelled Mr. Obama to the presidency has waned. There is deep concern, to be sure. But the Obama strategy has lost the consent of the governed. Mr. Obama could protest that his swift and sudden fall from grace is no fault of his. He had been a blank slate, and the devotees had projected onto him their hopes and dreams. His victory had not been the triumph of policies he had enunciated in great detail. He had never run anything in his entire life. He had a scant public record, but oddly this worked to his advantage. If he was going to begin the world anew, it was better that he knew little about the machinery of government.

So, what's the government doing about the economy?  The Fed has set interest rates at near 0% for more than a year and a half.  The economy is not taking off.  According to a recent article from financial writer Jim Willie, who has a PhD in Statistics, "Never in US history has a recession struck after several extended months of emergency ultra-low interest rates. This will be the first such occurrence. The policy response from the USFed must therefore be limited. They cannot reduce the official interest rate, unless below 0% (which did happen briefly in Japan). The nation stands on the doorstep of hyper-inflation.  The only available tool within the USFed tool bag is Printing Pre$$ activity, pure monetization of both USTreasurys and USAgency Mortgage Bonds."  (For the complete Willie article click here.)   

Free enterprise does everything better. Why? Because if private companies don't do things efficiently, they lose money and die. Unlike government, they cannot compel payment through the power to tax. Even when a private company operates a public facility under contract to government, it must perform. If it doesn't, it will be "fired"-its contract won't be renewed. Government is never fired. Contracting out to private enterprise isn't the same thing as letting fully competitive free markets operate, but it still works better than government.

As the hostilities between the current government and the Tea Party movement have become increasingly rancorous, the division of American society into two cultures holding thoroughly incompatible worldviews has become obvious. In fact, the two forces are clearly on an unavoidable collision course. Although many people may understandably be most interested in knowing which side will prevail, I think an equally important and troubling question is precisely by what means the matter will be resolved. Will reason prevail and the people in power either have their agenda confirmed or step aside gracefully? Or will there be intransigence, increasing conflict, and even violence? I do not believe that the answer to that question is by any means obvious. In his excellent American Spectator article on "America's Ruling Class and the Perils of Revolution," Angelo Codevilla calls these two antagonistic and irreconcilable groups the ruling class and the country party. Although I agree with Codevilla's outline of the two groups, I prefer to characterize them as the progressive aristocracy and the productive class. In fact, I think that it's vitally important for those in the productive class to understand that what Codevilla calls the ruling party is an aristocracy, albeit a corrupt one. Differences in nomenclature notwithstanding, Codevilla's article is particularly useful in its lengthy descriptions of the two parties to the conflict, for they are more than just political movements and are in fact separate cultures. The culture of the progressive aristocracy is devoted to statism, whereas the productive class tends to hold classical liberal values.

Then numbers are staggering: excerpt: Well, if there is such a thing as the hypothetical "rational economic man," then this "sell everything!" scenario is exactly what will happen because taxes of all kinds, including the all-important income taxes and capital gains taxes, are going to all go up by - hold onto your hats! - almost a third or more next year! Right now, the marginal income tax rates are 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33% and 35%, which is the range of six different tax rates for the few people that make enough money to actually pay any federal income taxes, which seems like such a quaint anachronism these days because more people receive money from the government than people who pay the government, which explains why the budget deficit this year - alone! - is $1.4 trillion or so, and when including the inevitable supplemental appropriations throughout the year, will surely be near staggering $2 trillion, bringing total federal government spending to almost $5 trillion, whereas all the business and personal income taxes collected for the whole year is less than $1.5 trillion!