Highway bill revives the Export-Import Bank after only five months

"A measure extending the bank through 2019 was included in a massive transportation bill that cleared the House and Senate Thursday and is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama. The small federal agency makes and guarantees loans to help foreign customers buy U.S. exports. Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say it's necessary for U.S. competitiveness, since most overseas competitors rely on similar government help. But conservatives decry the bank as corporate welfare and government interference in the free market. A rarely used procedure in the House forced a floor vote on the bank over the objections of top GOP leaders." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHighway bill revives the Export-Import Bank after only five months

Democrats Work To Block Regulations, After Flood Of Campaign Cash

"The Obama administration’s efforts to rein in Wall Street face opposition from members of the president’s own party. Since 2011, after Dodd-Frank became law, Democrats have raised over $330 million from the financial industry, and their party’s presumptive incoming Senate leader, New York's Chuck Schumer, is considered a close ally of the financial sector. As the year-end legislative wrangling intensifies, here are the other Democrats who have been Wall Street’s key allies in fighting the Obama administration. They have all raised big money from the financial industry." Continue reading

Continue ReadingDemocrats Work To Block Regulations, After Flood Of Campaign Cash

Obama renewing call to reauthorize Export-Import Bank

"President Barack Obama is ramping up pressure on Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. The obscure federal agency's charter expired last month after lawmakers refused to reauthorize it. The bank underwrites loans to foreign companies purchasing American products, but conservatives call it corporate welfare. Obama on Wednesday plans to meet at the White House with owners of small- and medium-size businesses that have benefited from the bank. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has floated the possibility of attaching the bank's reauthorization to a six-year highway and transit bill." Continue reading

Continue ReadingObama renewing call to reauthorize Export-Import Bank

The Logical Conclusion of the Modern, Monetary Argument

"One of the most terrible things about the globalization of finance, money and industry is that it homogenizes booms and busts. There is literally nowhere to go. As economic centralization continues, these cycles will only worsen. These days in the West – and certainly in Washington – Republicans are sure they can mandate a technocratic interest-rate rule that will restrain the Fed from doing inordinate damage to the economy. Ironically, Democrats argue for more flexibility and less government interference regarding money. This would be admirable from a free-market standpoint except that they are arguing on behalf of a MONOPOLY facility. As usual, both parties get it wrong." Continue reading

Continue ReadingThe Logical Conclusion of the Modern, Monetary Argument

Gerald Celente on Marijuana Legalization and OccupyPeace

"We're initiating a project called OccupyPeace.us. And it's based on three words: No foreign entanglements. Those are the three words spoken by the Founding Fathers of this country. We want to rebuild America and the way we want to do it is we're working to build an OccupyPeace movement based on no foreign entanglements and we're working to push the United States more in line with a direct democracy like Switzerland. You want to go to war? Let the people vote. You want a defense budget? Let the people vote on it. You want to bail out the banks? Let the people vote. If we can bank online we can vote online. It could be more open than any other system in the world." Continue reading

Continue ReadingGerald Celente on Marijuana Legalization and OccupyPeace

Ron Paul on the Evolution of Freedom in the 21st Century

"Fewer people depend on regular TV and you see more programs being deleted from TV. So the Internet is the wave of the future and that's one of the reasons the freedom movement is growing, because it's not dependent on the establishment. When I got interested in these ideas in the '50s and '60s it was very, very difficult to get any information but today it's so easy and it spreads like a wildfire. It is worldwide. I've said it so many times – this is not a Republican deal. If the ideas are correct they will be pervasive. Interventionist foreign policy and Keynesian economics was endorsed by the Republicans and Democrats; they just argued over who got to be the managers." Continue reading

Continue ReadingRon Paul on the Evolution of Freedom in the 21st Century

Obama ‘Hope’ poster artist says drones have killed hope

"The artist who created the iconic 'Hope' posters during President Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign says he’d choose a different caption now. A camera crew from TMZ asked Shepard Fairey if he’d use the same word underneath his portrait of then-Sen. Obama, given his track record as president. The 43-year-old Fairey paused for a moment as he and a companion got into a waiting vehicle. 'I’d put a few different ones,' Shepard said, adding that some of them may not be fit for print. Then he turned back around to face the crew, thinking of an idea. 'How about drones?' Fairey said." Continue reading

Continue ReadingObama ‘Hope’ poster artist says drones have killed hope

Shutdown: ObamaCare (No) and the Federal Government (No)

"So, how long will House Republicans continue to take a stand? Until the polls indicate that they will lose in November 2014. On October 1, enrollment in the exchanges is to begin. But hardly anyone knows how to enroll yet. The computer programs are not ready. The confusion has not yet hit. The sense of betrayal has not yet hit Obama’s poll numbers. If Republicans can hold out long enough for resentment against the program to spread, they win politically. They can hold out longer. But at some point, they will capitulate. That’s what the uncertainty is all about. It’s about the timing of their capitulation." Continue reading

Continue ReadingShutdown: ObamaCare (No) and the Federal Government (No)

Ron Paul: Internet Sales Tax Could Crush Small Businesses

"It is amazing that some of the same conservatives who rightly worry over Obamacare’s effects on job creation and economic growth want to impose new taxes on the most dynamic sector of the economy. The main proponents of this bill are large retailers and established Internet business. Big business can more easily afford to comply with a national Internet sales tax. In many cases, they are large enough that they already have a 'physical presence' in most states and thus already have to collect state sales taxes. These businesses are seeking to manipulate the political process to disadvantage their existing and future small competitors." Continue reading

Continue ReadingRon Paul: Internet Sales Tax Could Crush Small Businesses

Fmr. Pres. Candidate Michael Badnarik Weighs in on Rush to War w/ Syria

"John Kerry and John McCain would have been on opposite sides of a war debate 40 years ago. Today, they stand together with the president supporting a military strike on Syria. Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky took the Secretary of State to task for his viewpoints on the future of Syria. This was just a few days after former Democratic lawmaker Dennis Kucinich said President Obama may face impeachment if he attacks Syria without Congressional authorization. Matt Drudge, normally a well-known conservative, tweeted that there is no difference between the parties. The publisher of the Drudge Report stated that politics is now 'Authoritarian vs. Libertarian.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingFmr. Pres. Candidate Michael Badnarik Weighs in on Rush to War w/ Syria