The View from Abroad
Congressman Watt – Charlatan or Economic Imbecile?
Congressman Mel Watt (D-NC) is either a charlatan or ignorant of basic economics. Either way he is unfit to serve in Congress let alone serve as chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee. This week Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) announced that Watt took the knife to his bill to audit the Federal Reserve – The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (HR 1207). According to Paul, Watt as chair of the above mentioned committee cut out “just about everything” in preparing the bill for a full committee vote.
Specifically, Watt eliminated the provisions requiring audits of the Fed’s transactions with foreign banks, its deliberations on monetary policy, the activities of the Open Market Committee, and disclosure of communications between the Federal Reserve Board and reserve banks. Essentially the bill has become a shell of its original self. Paul, of course, does intend to attempt to restore the bill to its original form during Financial Services Committee deliberations, but that is not the point. The point is why has Congressman Watt gutted a bill that has over 300 cosponsors in the House and the support of a large majority of Americans?
It could be because he is repaying the financial industry which has throughout his career in Congress contributed over $890,000 to his campaigns. That would be only fair given how much they have helped him maintain power and the privileged perks of members of Congress – great healthcare, great salary, and a great pension plan.
But, what is funny and ironic is that the industry that is second in contributions to Watt is organized labor at $873,000. Big banks and labor unions make strange bedfellows? You would think their interests are so diametrically opposed that they would not be #1 and #2 in contributions to the same member of Congress. Labor union support of Watt is also curious given that North Carolina is a Right to Work state and not nearly as unionized as the People’s Republics of Massachusetts and California. But, not to worry, Congressman Watt has traditionally taken care of unions as well. He has supported every “entitlement” program that comes down the pike in favor of their leadership. The list has included minimum wage, the “right” under law to collective bargaining, so-called fair employment practices, social security, socialized medicine - the list goes on and on.
So, if the congressman is so busy serving big banks and labor unions, what has he done for the actual people who elect him every two years? Well, very little. You see by supporting the Federal Reserve and bailing out big banks through legislation he is supporting the perpetuation of inflation. Our dollar has lost 95 percent of its value since the Fed was given control over it by Congress in 1913. But, most folks don’t understand how the Fed imposes this hidden tax on them by debasing our currency causing prices to rise. Instead Watt and his ilk blame capitalism for rising prices and offer socialized medicine, minimum wages, and other socialist schemes to combat the higher cost of living for families. If they would just support sound money in the first place there would be no perceived need for these wasteful programs.
So this is where the charlatan or economic imbecile question comes into play. Does Watt understand that his support for the banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve System is what actually causes hardship for labor and ordinary Americans in his district? Does he realize that by gutting HR 1207 he will help to continue the debasement of our currency? Has it clicked in his head that his support for or at the very least his blind eye toward the reckless monetary policy of the current Fed leadership will be responsible for the future hyperinflation we will experience. Has he considered his own culpability in the coming collapse of the dollar which will usher in an era of even higher unemployment with a drastically reduced standard of living in America?
Given the bubble mentality around Washington, a reasonable person could conclude that Watt is both a charlatan and an economic imbecile. He is an economic imbecile because he must believe that economic doom caused by Fed policies is not inevitable otherwise he would not support them in light of the fact that the collapse would also affect him negatively. He certainly is a charlatan because like many members of Congress Watt has the best of both worlds. Special interests of all stripes get federal goodies from him which personally cost him nothing. In return those special interest groups guarantee his reelection every two years with huge cash contributions to his campaigns. In the meantime, our national debt is grotesquely high, our manufacturing base continues to move overseas, our financial industry is bankrupt, and the dollar is on the brink of collapse.
This is the essence of our problems. Too many charlatans and imbeciles have been in charge of Washington for far too long. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. The federal gravy train that Congressman Watt and his comrades have built to continually get reelected is about to crash. When it does they won’t understand it, but they should because it will be caused by the fraud they have perpetuated on America.
Kenn Jacobine teaches internationally and maintains a summer residence in Haywood County, North Carolina. For a podcast of this post go to: The View from Abroad.
Congressman Mel Watt (D-NC) is either a charlatan or ignorant of basic economics. Either way he is unfit to serve in Congress let alone serve as chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee. This week Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) announced that Watt took the knife to his bill to audit the Federal Reserve – The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (HR 1207). According to Paul, Watt as chair of the above mentioned committee cut out “just about everything” in preparing the bill for a full committee vote.
Specifically, Watt eliminated the provisions requiring audits of the Fed’s transactions with foreign banks, its deliberations on monetary policy, the activities of the Open Market Committee, and disclosure of communications between the Federal Reserve Board and reserve banks. Essentially the bill has become a shell of its original self. Paul, of course, does intend to attempt to restore the bill to its original form during Financial Services Committee deliberations, but that is not the point. The point is why has Congressman Watt gutted a bill that has over 300 cosponsors in the House and the support of a large majority of Americans?
It could be because he is repaying the financial industry which has throughout his career in Congress contributed over $890,000 to his campaigns. That would be only fair given how much they have helped him maintain power and the privileged perks of members of Congress – great healthcare, great salary, and a great pension plan.
But, what is funny and ironic is that the industry that is second in contributions to Watt is organized labor at $873,000. Big banks and labor unions make strange bedfellows? You would think their interests are so diametrically opposed that they would not be #1 and #2 in contributions to the same member of Congress. Labor union support of Watt is also curious given that North Carolina is a Right to Work state and not nearly as unionized as the People’s Republics of Massachusetts and California. But, not to worry, Congressman Watt has traditionally taken care of unions as well. He has supported every “entitlement” program that comes down the pike in favor of their leadership. The list has included minimum wage, the “right” under law to collective bargaining, so-called fair employment practices, social security, socialized medicine - the list goes on and on.
So, if the congressman is so busy serving big banks and labor unions, what has he done for the actual people who elect him every two years? Well, very little. You see by supporting the Federal Reserve and bailing out big banks through legislation he is supporting the perpetuation of inflation. Our dollar has lost 95 percent of its value since the Fed was given control over it by Congress in 1913. But, most folks don’t understand how the Fed imposes this hidden tax on them by debasing our currency causing prices to rise. Instead Watt and his ilk blame capitalism for rising prices and offer socialized medicine, minimum wages, and other socialist schemes to combat the higher cost of living for families. If they would just support sound money in the first place there would be no perceived need for these wasteful programs.
So this is where the charlatan or economic imbecile question comes into play. Does Watt understand that his support for the banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve System is what actually causes hardship for labor and ordinary Americans in his district? Does he realize that by gutting HR 1207 he will help to continue the debasement of our currency? Has it clicked in his head that his support for or at the very least his blind eye toward the reckless monetary policy of the current Fed leadership will be responsible for the future hyperinflation we will experience. Has he considered his own culpability in the coming collapse of the dollar which will usher in an era of even higher unemployment with a drastically reduced standard of living in America?
Given the bubble mentality around Washington, a reasonable person could conclude that Watt is both a charlatan and an economic imbecile. He is an economic imbecile because he must believe that economic doom caused by Fed policies is not inevitable otherwise he would not support them in light of the fact that the collapse would also affect him negatively. He certainly is a charlatan because like many members of Congress Watt has the best of both worlds. Special interests of all stripes get federal goodies from him which personally cost him nothing. In return those special interest groups guarantee his reelection every two years with huge cash contributions to his campaigns. In the meantime, our national debt is grotesquely high, our manufacturing base continues to move overseas, our financial industry is bankrupt, and the dollar is on the brink of collapse.
This is the essence of our problems. Too many charlatans and imbeciles have been in charge of Washington for far too long. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. The federal gravy train that Congressman Watt and his comrades have built to continually get reelected is about to crash. When it does they won’t understand it, but they should because it will be caused by the fraud they have perpetuated on America.
Kenn Jacobine teaches internationally and maintains a summer residence in Haywood County, North Carolina. For a podcast of this post go to: The View from Abroad.
Add a Comment
-
Comment by Joe Simpson on November 10, 2009 at 9:19pm - I think YJR used Gold as an example. Overall I think he would support any commodity based currency.
-
Comment by Mr. Right-of-Center on November 10, 2009 at 6:43pm -
Young Jeffersonian Republican
I don't want to be too "existential" about this, but gold does not really have any intrinsic value. It has value because human beings agree that it is valuable.
If you were all alone on a desert island with all the gold in the world, food and water would be much more valuable than a huge cache of gold.
One could make an argument that we should base our currency on silicon chips, or gallium arsinide (used in making micro-chips), or tullips (there was a peculiar "bubble market" for them in 16th century Europe).
If human beings agree something has value, it has value that can be bid on in an economic market, the price being set by that market exchange.
If you pay close attention to Stonewalls' much more subtle arguments you might see he is saying something somewhat similar to this...(I don't want to be characterizing his thought here because he is really making some very well informed points...)
-
Comment by Joe Simpson on November 10, 2009 at 4:55pm
- On a side note this is probably been the most civilized, wel ldiscussed and useful debate I have ever seen on this sight. I commend Stonewall, MR. ROC, and YJR for not spewing some illogical unintelligent comments about one of us being a socialist or unamerican because we have a slightly different opinion on the issues.
-
Comment by Young Jeffersonian Republican on November 9, 2009 at 9:15pm -
One needs to live in reality, and the reality is that if you give a politician free access to an unlimited amount of credit, he/she will overspend thus ruining his/her territory.
We need a dollar which is backed by gold in order to stabilze our currency. Having our dollar backed by gold will then give our politicians a finite amount of money that they can spend, and that finite amount is a function of how much gold our country has accumulated.
-
Comment by Young Jeffersonian Republican on November 9, 2009 at 8:53pm
-
Lol, we are getting nowhere. First off, me and you do not agree on our position on the Fed as you claim, and I would like to read a book that you have read which would convince me that having a central bank that has a monopoly control of the money supply is an evil which we should tolerated(How does a Capitalist country have a bank which holds a monopoly over the money, and if the people freely CHOOSE to use gold as a means of business they get thrown in jail? God bless America, capitalism, and the Republican Party!)? I could go on but I'll just be wasting my time on this issue. Please read "The Case Against the Fed" by Murray Rothbard to understand why the Fed must be abolished as Jefferson and Andrew Jackson did to their central banks.
I understand that politicians are part of the problem, but you need to cut off their ability to fund all of their projects by eliminating the source of thier limitless source of credit, which is the fed. If you go to a bar, and the bartender keeps handing out free drinks and the patron gets trashed, who do you blame? If you didn't have the bartender handing out free drinks, the chances the patron getting sloppy drunk is almost eliminated. The elimination of the Fed is a giant step in the right direction to constrain our politicians, but to continue this limitless fountain of credit which they enjoy will surely lead this country to its quick demise. Just wait for the disastrous consequence of this abhorrent monetary policy. When the system collapses you can't blame the policians for acting foolishly because you didn't think they would. The truth is you are propagating this system which will ALWAYS be exploited by corrupt politicians. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The Fed is handing out free drugs to drug addicts, and you should not be surprised when the drug addicts abuses those free drugs to the detriment to themselves and others. Stop supporting the irresponsible drug dealer.
-
Comment by Mr. Right-of-Center on November 9, 2009 at 12:19pm
-
Young Jeffersonian Republican
Great quote from Henry Ford.
-
Comment by Mr. Right-of-Center on November 9, 2009 at 12:13pm
-
Stonewall is like me and likes to preach a bit too much...but on economics I think he's pretty well informed.
He's making good points about the Fed.
-
Comment by Stonewall on November 9, 2009 at 12:05pm -
There isn't much point in reading books with which you agree. You need to read ones which offer an alternative point of view.
As I think I said before, I am not a fan of the Fed, but getting rid of it will not solve our country's problems. "The Fed has always catered to the banks and the Administration on all monetary issues." Is true in recent years, but you would say that Volcker was a caterer. The problem now is that the Fed is providing subsidies to banks at costs that are more than a standard deviation from the norm. It is creating massive imbalances in the system, and is creating havoc in the capital markets, starving out real businesses in favor of drinking buddies.
Here is the flaw in your thinking. You have representation that is failing you. You want to say that you do not have a vote, but you have as much of a vote at the Fed as you do at the Supreme Court. Why do you think that your representation which has tolerated an obscene abuse of the Constitution will stop abusing the Constitution if the Fed goes away?
-
Comment by Young Jeffersonian Republican on November 9, 2009 at 11:18am
- Are there any books you would like me to read to help prove your point that the Fed is an entity which is a necessity even though it owns a monopoly over the countries monetary supply? I'm always open to new opinions...
-
Comment by Young Jeffersonian Republican on November 9, 2009 at 11:12am
-
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand
our banking and monetary system, for if they did,
I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
-Henry Ford
About
Events
© 2009 Created by Rebuild the Party on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of Rebuild the Party to add comments!
Join this Ning Network