The Dollar, The Crash, and the FTAA

[kalian]

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/wallenwein/2004/0421.html

Can all of this be happening by design?

A vibrant and powerful middle class is what has built this country and kept it free. As long as we had property, and property rights were considered sacrosanct, we could live and prosper, and this country had a voting base that wasn't all that dependent on federal handouts.

People would never give up their property rights voluntarily, directly. But if we can be sucked by Fed interest rate policy into no longer saving money (because stock market gains are so much higher than returns on CDs and savings bonds), and instead into throwing all of our retirement hopes and dreams at the stock market (that can be engineered into a catastrophic collapse in the blink of an eye), then we can all become "good little sheep." Then we can be made to march right up to be fleeced and then slaughtered and meat-packed for later consumption by our handlers. (Sorry for being so blunt).

That slaughtering pen has a name. It's called the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas).

...more...

:wow: Finally! Somebody that has the balls to call it as it is. :wow:

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Well:

:eyes:

[jhewitt]

2. free market press

I'm fascinated by all of the recent references on this forum to economic articles written by free market advocates. It seems rather dishonest to quote them, as many of you are happy to join their chorus when they bash a Republican regime, while ignoring all of the other articles written which criticize Democratic leadership for the very same reasons. Free market economists (aka "Libertarians" for those who love politics) have had "the balls to call it as it is" since long before W took office.

Alex Wallenwein is clearly being critical of the FTAA because it is yet another tool of government used to serve the short-term interest of the state, at the long-term expense of its citizens. The perpetual use of tools like the FTAA over the last 100 years has led to a dramatic increase in the size of government, and the gradual erosion of our actual freedom.

In short, it disappoints me that Wallenwein's wise economic advise could be twisted to advocate such an opposite agenda. If you're really interested in learning about how an unregulated economy would benefit you and your children, start here: http://www.mises.org

[rapier]

3. notes

The case of politics making strange bedfellows or the enemy of my enemy is my friend can explain the adoption of arguements used by Libertarian or Austrian School economists by some as a means to bash Bush does not mean that those arguements are owned by such ideologs.

'Free Market' is now a term of art, or propoganda, usually attached to ideologies or erstwhile ideologies and having more emotional meaning as opposed to logical meaning.

Let's drop the free and just use markets. Markets are inherently a liberal idea. Classical Liberalism perhaps but not divorced from modern liberalism.

My musings here deal mainly with monetary and credit market issues. On these issues I often take cause with the Austrians but that does not mean I adhere to any ideology. I am a violent opponent of ANY ideology.

[mhr]

6. Wrong - Regulation Is Needed To Keep The Playing Field Level

An unregulated economy would devolve to nothing more than the large eating the small.

In other words a return to the days of Laissez Faire capitalism.

That would hardly be a good recipe for fostering and nurturing a strong middle class.

But then, isn't this what is already happening at the hands of Bush.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[jhewitt]

5. don't forget

Bad things also happen when a few people in government know something the rest of the citizens don't know. You seem to trust those who have achieved power through political means more than those have achieved power through providing a beneficial product or service. If you want to punish the producers of this country so much, I hope you are prepared to do without them.