Rally for the Republic: Live in Minneapolis, MN 4 comments
A break from disability blogging today.
Ron Paul, his supporters, and like-minded individuals have gathered in Minneapolis today amidst the Republican National Convention to “rally” behind the idea of a free America. The Rally for the Republic has come at a crucial point in United States history. Many voters I know are students who are going to be voting for the first time. And they don’t know who to vote for. One candidate promises change, but proposes policies that furthers federal government control. The other candidate promises to not raise taxes, but plans to keep investing in an American empire all over the world, including a possible conflict with Iran.
Today, 10,000 people came together in Minneapolis to say “enough.” Those who could not be there, are with them in spirit… and watched the live video at Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty.
I was one of them.
As of only a few days ago, I knew not for which candidate I would vote. Today I am proud to say that my vote will not likely go to John McCain or Barack Obama. I have not yet decided whether I will vote for the Libertarian Party candidate or the Constitution Party candidate. Or who knows, I may write-in Ron Paul. But whoever it is will share my beliefs about the economy. I fear we are headed for a depression as bad or worse than the Great one.
Ron Paul has addressed problems with our economy (e.g. inflation). He has plans to cut federal spending by not letting the federal government overstep its boundaries, set forth in the Constitution. The government’s involvement in healthcare has helped to drive up medical costs while putting more red tape between doctors and their patients.
I’m tired of beurocracies. I’m tired of government waste.
I want an America that doesn’t rely on the government to fulfill all its wants and needs. Power should lie with the people.
4 Responses to 'Rally for the Republic: Live in Minneapolis, MN'
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I’m not sure why this isn’t on Knights. Actually, we only decided today what we were going to do with it.
—What do you think about government support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
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I don’t know what the best course for FM^2 are. On one hand, I don’t want to have to pay for other peoples mistakes. But on the other hand, FM^2 hold a majority of the personal debt in this country, and if they default or go bankrupt, it will send the recovering economy in a death spiral.
Here’s what I do know. There are 3 components of the interest rate: Real Cost of money (where the Treasury note is), Inflation Premium (part of the interest rate that is added in anticipation of inflation going up), and Risk Component (what’s the likely hood of not getting paid back). High risk = High interest rate.
Lenders eventually began downgrading the Risk part of the equation. People began coming in and saying - we can only afford a $150K house, the bank says… we can get you into a $250K house using an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage - what they don’t tell you is they rarely adjust down). ARM % = low at the beginning. They get the house they can’t afford, the bank gets a high risk loan. Everyone is happy…? What the bank will do is get a bunch of these together and then sell them on the securities market.
As a group, the buyer doesn’t know the particulars of the loan, he just sees the final tally of what he gets. The problem with this is that eventually, the ARM will go from 4.5% to 14% and the buyers can’t afford the $1,400 a month mortgage, the new lender forecloses and is left with a house on a flooded market. (because everyone else is defaulting on their loans too)
Both the lender and borrower is to blame. That’s why everyone was so concerned about the Real estate ‘bubble’ a couple of years ago. It was driven because of the low interest rates, easy ARM availability, various natural disasters, and generally bad banking decisions.
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forgot the tuesday / thursday update the blog schedule already?
wait… why this not on knights?
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Now that I am a economic expert (afterall, I read the Wall Street Journal now), you can rest assured that the economy is picking up.
Ron Paul has some good points, but some of them are a little on the Chicken Little side.
Let me give you a summary: Oil prices shot up partly because the War, 9/11, oil speculators, and a string of nasty hurricanes. This brought the American dollar down in value, bringing domestic goods up in price. Because the American dollar was so low, the American exports began picking up = GDP+++. Now that exports are up, the American dollar is stabilizing (equalizing to the euro), bringing the price of oil down and eventually domestic goods.
It’s not near as bad as under Carter (double digit inflation). Right now inflation is at about 5%. Compared to other countries, we are doing pretty good (India as we speak is at about 15% inflation). You gotta remember - it’s a global economy nowadays.
/$.02