On More Stimulus Spending – by Dr. Ron Paul

http://stockmarketchartanalyst.blogspot.com/



Faced with continuing economic decline and an impending election, the administration, predictably, is entertaining the idea of another stimulus package. To explain why the last one didn't work, adherents to the Keynesian economic philosophy are claiming that they actually did work – it just looks like they didn't because we don't realize how much worse off we would be right now without trillions of dollars of public spending. The last administration bought into Keynesianism just as much as this one does, unfortunately. Until we have leaders who understand that debt is not the way to prosperity, there will be no stopping runaway government spending.

While it is nice to hear about business tax breaks, the positive results of these tax cuts will be dwarfed by its negative effects. First of all, $200 billion or so in temporary tax cuts and credits to businesses are nothing compared to the $3.8 trillion in tax hikes that will hit the economy like a ton of bricks on January 1, 2011 if the Bush tax cuts are not extended by Congress.

Second of all, businesses are reluctant to hire and invest, not because they are looking for temporary credits, but because of future uncertainty; they simply don't know what the government is going to do next and how future government policies will affect decisions they make now. What new costs and regulations will be placed on them with healthcare reform and financial services reform? Will Congress convene a lame-duck session this winter to pass cap-and-trade and other destructive legislation? What will the cost of compliance be for hiring new employees, and will that force them to simply lay off anyone they hire now? Worse, will the government come up with fines or additional costs if businesses have to lay people off in the future? Right now, the safest thing for businesses to do is nothing. Until we regain respect for the rule of law and remove some of this uncertainty, I'm afraid none of these temporary promises, made right before an election, will do much towards any economic improvement.

The other glaring problem with this proposed stimulus package is that it couples tax cuts with spending increases, which makes no sense when we are already heavily indebted to foreign countries. We should be cutting taxes and slashing government spending dramatically. The private sector simply cannot bear the burden of our engorged public sector. In fact, one reason earlier stimulus programs did not result in any private sector growth is because large amounts went to the public sector. Indeed, the spending that the administration is now proposing arguably constitutes a bailout of the public sector and various union allies of the administration.

This administration is falling into the same dangerous trap we fell into during the Great Depression, as did the Germans leading into their hyperinflation of the 1920's. The temptation is to do something, anything, proactive to attempt to stimulate the economy, but history has shown us that governments cannot spend their way into prosperity. The best thing government could do is get back to its Constitutional limitations and let the economy stabilize, heal and recover without the crushing burden of government holding it back.

http://www.thedailybell.com/1375/Ron-Paul-On-More-Stimulus-Spending.html

Dangerous Economic Misconceptions:

http://stockmarketchartanalyst.blogspot.com/

I won't be posting my usual fundamental and technical analysis of the S&P 500's daily and weekly charts this weekend for a couple of reasons...The first is, we have family visiting from far away, and creating and posting my charts takes many hours...And secondly, what's the point?...

If you've been following my blog lately, I've been harping on how corrupt the market has become lately, and how much more difficult it is to predict near terms movements because of this...The mainstream media/propaganda machine and bogus government economic reports were in full force again this week...So it's no surprise that the market went UP!...Here is just one example of a bogus economic report put out by the gubbermint this week...The weekly jobless claims numbers were "estimated" because numerous states didn't report their numbers to the BLM because of the Labor Day holiday!...So what did the gubbermint do?...They LIED/FUDGED the numbers as usual:

Nine States Did Not File Initial Claims Data Due To Labor Day, Hundreds Of Thousands Of Estimates In Data "Beat"

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/nine-states-did-not-file-initial-claims-data-due-labor-day-hundreds-thousands-estimates-data

So you can see that the powers that be are doing all they can to make the market rally again, even though there is no real reason for it to do so...IMO

And this article backs up everything I've been saying for months now...It took me a number of hours to read the entire story yesterday...And by that, I mean also reading every story included in it, because there are numerous links in this article that verify the paragraph written above it...These are the kinds of TRUTHS you will NOT hear from the mainstream media/gubbermint propaganda machine!...

In my humble opinion, this has to be one of the top ten articles I've read so far this YEAR!...And I highly encourage you to take the time and read the whole article, and also follow every link below every paragraph so you can verify that what the author has written is the TRUTH...

http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=748

Please! SHARE this to all you Friends on numerous Social Media sites, using the "Bookmark" button below...

And also...Take a few moments out of your day to remember the thousands of lives lost in the attack on the World Trade Center that happened nine years ago today...September 11, 2001

Put Patients and Doctors Back in Control of Healthcare:

http://www.thedailybell.com/1095/Ron-Paul-Put-Patients-and-Doctors-Back-in-Control-of-Healthcare.html

by Dr. Ron Paul - The Daily Bell - Wednesday, June 02, 2010



Most everyone agrees that health care in the United States has major problems, the biggest problems relating to skyrocketing costs.

No one doubts the system is in need of reform. However, too many in Washington see tighter government controls as the solution. In fact, the problems are rooted in past government controls that created more problems than they solved.

Ironically, laws and policies in the 1970's promoting Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) resulted from desperate attempts to control spiraling costs. However, instead of promoting an efficient health care system, HMOs took far too much control away from patients and physicians and gave it to the insurers. This excessive reliance on third-party payers instead removed incentives for insured patients to economize on health care costs, and allowed the problem to snowball. Furthermore, the third-party payer system created a two-tier health care system where people whose employers could afford to offer "Cadillac" plans have access to top quality health care, while others face financial obstacles in obtaining quality health care.

For these and other reasons, I introduced the Private Option Health Care Act last week. This bill places individuals back in control of health care by replacing the recently passed tax-spend-and-regulate health care law with reforms designed to restore a free market health care system.

First, the bill would provide all Americans with a tax credit for 100 percent of health care expenses. This tax credit is fully refundable against both income and payroll taxes. It would also allow individuals to roll over unused amounts in cafeteria plans and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs). Next, it would provide a tax credit for premiums for high-deductible insurance policies connected with a Health Savings Account (HSAs) and allow seniors to use funds in HSAs to pay for medigap policies. In addition, it would repeal the 7.5 percent threshold for the deduction of medical expenses, and thus would make all medical expenses tax deductible.

This bill would also create a competitive market in health insurance by exercising Congress's Constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause to allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines. Ending these state-imposed bans would create a competitive national marketplace in health insurance.

The Private Option Health Care Act would also ensure that people harmed during medical treatment receive fair compensation while simultaneously reducing the burden of costly malpractice litigation on the health care system. The bill achieves this by providing a tax credit for negative outcomes insurance purchased before medical treatment. This type of insurance would provide compensation for any negative outcomes without having to go through lengthy litigation or giving huge sums to trial lawyers.

Finally, the Private Option Health Care Act would lower the prices of prescription drugs by reducing barriers to the importation of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved pharmaceuticals. Under my bill, anyone wishing to import a drug simply submits an application to the FDA, which then must approve it unless it is either not approved for use in the United States or is adulterated or misbranded.

The Private Option Health Care Act allows Congress to correct the mistake it made last month by replacing the new health care law with health care measures that give control to individuals, instead of the federal government and corporations. Our health is too vital to allow for the typical results of government interference and "fixes".