Showing 1 - 20 of 26 - Newest on top - Reorder Feedback

@Injun1: Unfortunately, you know not of what you speak. The "Equal Rights Amendment" was an amendment promulgated to secure equal rights for WOMEN, which was indeed fought for by courageous women over the course of nearly five decades. Unfortunately, it never became part of the Constitution because it was not ratified by the required number of states. It went down in flames in the early 70s.

Your obvious confusion regarding the laws of this country illustrates a major problem in American society today. Like most other people, you rant about "liberal judges" and "Equal Rights Opportunity laws created by all those lawsuits," but your post is meaningless because it contains no factual truth, only amorphous finger-pointing. Exactly what lawsuits created what laws that created what "gravy train" are you referring to? Exactly what "crazy laws" are now "on the books" that demanded that "society as a whole be set aside for a few?" What few? What laws were so created that "kill production?"

You sir, are mixing more than a few different concepts into a noxious stew here, but haven't a clue as to the facts to which you are alluding. I suspect one of the "government entities" you speak of is the EEOC (created to level the playing field for Americans who were unable to work/go to school because of ignorant, bigoted, and paranoid people who felt that anyone who was not the same color/race/sex/etc. as them were somehow not as "human" or "worthy" as they were); you throw in numerous references to "lawsuits" and "ambulance chasers," which sounds a lot like complaining about personal injury laws, which were NOT created by any recent legislation in this country but have been a part of the common law for literally thousands of years, and upon which our entire legal system was based from the beginning; "regulation," which probably refers to the EPA, FDA, USDA - hey, who needs clean air or water, or food that's not tainted, or oversight of the monolithic drug companies that brought us Thalidomide, Vioxx, and most recently Tylenol, which they recently (finally) admitted is toxic in the dosage they've been recommending on the label for over 30 years?

Lawsuits, my dear sir, are the vehicle by which the common man is able to protect himself and seek redress for the wrongs, both civil and criminal, done him by the negligent or intentional acts of others. This is a precious right bestowed on us by the creators of the Constitution. I suggest you read that very short document if you really want to find the "truth" which you purport to seek. And lest you retort with the typical cry for "smaller government" by "going back to the Constitution" - which I agree is not a bad idea theoretically (but the way the PTB wants it to go down would keep the worst and end the last of what remains that actually serves the people) - let me remind you that there are now close to 312 MILLION people in the US today, as opposed to 13 small, isolated, mostly rural colonies as was the case at the time the Constitution was drafted. That's exactly why the framers crafted it to be short. They knew they couldn't conceive of every possibility that would arise in the future, so they deliberately created it to be FLEXIBLE yet set up the three branches of government to ensure that flexibility would not result in the distortion of the original intent of the document. Unfortunately, the wealthy and greedy among the PTB have worked long and hard to subvert the built-in controls of that system, and have finally succeeded in placing the foxes in the henhouse of our last hope to turn it around - the bought and paid for shills placed in the Supreme Court - Alito, Roberts, Thomas, and Scalia.

With respect to the rest, it's painfully obvious that you have partaken of the same Kool-Aid as the rest of the misinformed public, which is exactly what the PTB want for the common man. Get 'em all riled up over false flags, blaming and fearing and hating each other, and stepping all over the weak/old/helpless/etc. - "every man for himself" - and while they're attention is so diverted, strip them of whatever rights they had left.

Might I suggest that while we still have such things as public libraries - and with taxes that pay for such things being taken to pay for their empire-building wars, tax subsidies for the wealthy and the greedy corporations, and "security" (read: police/surveillance state) - you take this opportunity to LEARN what they were teaching in 9th grade Civics class on the days you evidently were absent. A little history wouldn't hurt you, either. Oh, and please, consider your SOURCES - make sure you're reading something CREDIBLE, not the magic-mushroom-fueled, hallucinatory, butchered "historical" accounts that Michelle Bachmann, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, the so-called "Christian" right fundamentalists and their ilk are bandying about as truth.

Meanwhile, my condolences to your neighbors, whomever they may be. May they be safe from your raving paranoia.

Dear Sir,

I have peeked in the rear view mirror sir, and it was you and your attorney that I have seen a thousand times before. It would be interesting to know what you do to create a more productive society and one for yourself if you work at all.

I suspect you are a clone of the many who need all these crazy laws on the books to protect your rants and raves and destroy the productive side of this country.

As a young man coming back from conflict, I had a little college girl spit on me while riding the bus home. Perhaps it was one of your relatives. I bet it was your attorney who wrote your rants and raves regarding my history back ground.

My history sir, is protecting this country so people like you have the right to disagree. I really don't care what feedback you throw upon me. As for where I live and who my neighbors are, your dink job, assuming you have one, will never permit you to attain my neighbors nor my home.

You remind me of the elite kids from the north. When the blacks were fighting for their rights in the south you got on a bus and went to help. But when the fighting broke out you carried your little elite butt back home.

I have battled on foreign soils and the streets of the south while you stayed in the bus. Sir, I stand behind my history as I have lived through it. You simply read about it!

I have been productive all my life, it is because of flipped out loonies like you that I have become protective. Good luck sir, I truly wish the best for you and I will keep being productive in spite of what you think and continue to pay all the taxes to keep your libraries open.

Oh by the way sir, I go to the library quite often but I would really appreciate it if you would keep your grocery cart out of building.

Have a nice life!

Ron Paul is right! Too many still refuse to accept the reality of the situtation.our founders called for a small government and to be care that our military didn't become too large. As long as the government is given more and more power we will lose more and more freedom. Since we have become a welfare state and a police state i don't know which is worse. We have so many give away programs it is hard to keep track. i can understand why so many businesses are either closing or moving out of country. The EPA like the ACLU is destroying our country. The ACLU with its attacks on christian princples and the EPA forcing regulations that many companies can't possibly meet. While we are suffering the real losers are our children and their children. They deserve better.

@oldman67: see my response to Injun1 this evening re making claims about government that you know nothing about.

For one thing, the EPA is the only thing standing between you and the deadly chemicals the giant corporations pump into your drinking water every minute of every day, and the tons of ash, carbon, lead, and other particulate matter they belch into the sky, as well. Yes, it must be such a burden for the gigantic power monopolies to spend $15,000 of their $64 billion profit (for one year - that's net, AFTER the taxes they DIDN'T PAY) on a scrubber for the smokestack on the power plant that reduces these deadly emissions by 80%. Why, if the big bad government regulations required them to do that, they might have to cut the bonuses handed out to their CEOs, who might not be able to buy another house in Aspen that year, or another yacht, or a private jet - how horrible! I'm sure your children, grandchildren, and future generations will thank you for being so thrifty with their tax dollars when they're choking to death from asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema, or dying at 22 from lung cancer. You said it yourself - "they deserve better." Better than what, I wonder - being able to breathe, or making sure we don't impose these burdensome regulations on the benevolent corporations. (Incidentally, the EPA is NOT the cause of these monopolies "moving out of the country" - hello?? - the power plants that are the subject of these restrictions have to be located here to power the cities they serve geographically; the water-polluters as well - after all, the EPA's regs exist to protect land and water located HERE in the US - make sense?)

And ah yes, the ACLU - why, of course, we'd better shut them down posthaste! After all, it simply wouldn't do to have anyone working to ensure that the Constitution is not subverted by oh, say, special interest groups - such as FUNDAMENTALIST RELIGIOUS GROUPS, including the so-called "Christian" right. (You're the one who brought up "christian [sic] principles," after all.)

Time for a quick history refresher, I see. Here's the story: that's exactly why the original colonists left England in the first place. You recall King Henry VIII, don't you? Yeah, that horny old Catholic ruler who wanted a divorce, but since the Catholic church - that was the "official" religion of the country - forbade divorce, he just up and decided to start his own church, the Church of England. Voila! He got his divorce, and God help anyone who actually believed in the faith they'd been brought up in all their lives. It was a death penalty offense to remain Catholic.

After his death, his eldest daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, took the throne. Guess what? Yep, "Bloody Mary" had remained a devout Catholic. Immediately, she reinstated Catholicism as the "official" religion of England, and God help anyone who'd forsaken the True Faith. Didn't want to go to Mass on Sunday? Fail to take Holy Communion? Off with your head! Of course, Mary didn't rule forever, and her successor once again "switched" the official religion back to the Church of England. Talk about confusion! A wonder everyone didn't just become Atheists (but that, too, was a death penalty offense). Gee whiz, what's a God-fearing person to do? Why, they hopped into a ship and set sail for another place where NO GOVERNMENT could tell them what to believe, and that includes Christianity - so much for your "christian principles."

You and Injun1 must have been together smoking in the boys' room during 9th grade Civics class, and evidently World History, as well. So much for those who "refuse to accept the reality" of the situation. BTW, "our founders" never cautioned against "our military" becoming too large - there WAS no "military" at the time, only an informal "militia," consisting of free, white, able-bodied male citizens. No, the individual who issued such a caution was President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in his farewell address to Americans only 50 years ago this January said "the military-industrial complex must never be allowed to endanger our liberties or democratic processes."

Hm. Today Lockheed Martin is the Pentagon's biggest contractor, awarded over $29 billion of your tax dollars for 2011 alone (that was in January; since then they've received far more for "cost over-runs" due to additional "wars" begun this spring) to build fighter planes, artillery systems, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and to operate a nuclear weapons laboratory. In fact, they build everything but the semi-automatic rifles and pistols for the Pentagon. That's done by the next-largest recipient of Pentagon spending ($23 billion.)

Oh, and speaking of "endangering our democratic processes," Lockheed Martin also finances the "think tanks" that advocate foreign policy, as well as making large (and I use the term loosely) "contributions" such as the one to Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), Chair of the House Armed Services Committee - Lockheed Martin was his biggest contributor in the 2010 election - interestingly, they have a plant located in his district; and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), who runs the Senate Appropriations committee. This information is easily found and easily verifiable at a myriad of open sources including various government and Congressional websites, numerous university websites, official government reports, mass media publications such as US News and World Report, and in a recently published book, "Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex" by William Hartung.

Oh, and the small government thing? I dealt with that one too in my response to Injun1 above, but it bears repeating: as of January 2011, the population of the US was over 312 MILLION, quite a bit more, I daresay, than existed as of 1787 (the year the Constitution was written; admittedly, it didn't actually take effect until after it was ratified in 1789, replacing the Articles of Confederation). Bet you didn't know that, huh? Oh yes, and at the time, it did NOT include a bill of rights; James Madison proposed twelve amendments to the First Congress in 1789; they were approved in September of that year as a block, but only ten were ratified by the end of 1791 (by eleven states). Thoseten amendments are what we now know as the "Bill of Rights," which is what most people are referring to whenever they squeal "I know my Constitutional rights." Uh-huh.

The implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment was a well fought for piece of legislation. People marched,lobbied, petitioned, picketed, went on hunger strikes and yes even committed acts of civil disobedience. Then the attorney's got their hands on it. It became the goose that laid the golden egg(s).

Twisted and turned and positioned however it was needed to initiate lawsuits. Commonsense was thrown out the window. Liberal judges created a windfall for the legal profession that are now laws to be undone. The "new" twisted Equal Rights Opportunity laws created by all those lawsuits has demanded that society as a whole be set aside for the few.

That's how the gravy train started. And as the train rolled along it kept picking up more passengers for the ride. More lawsuits, more fees, more free money for the passengers. It continues today.

It has created mile high paper and entry barriers for small business owners and created government entities to enforce and oversee these crazy laws that are now on the books. In the mean time our education system keeps turning out more ambulance chasers, more monied lawyers, all in the name of "I can sue you just because".

The name of the game is protection not production. Production is killed by these crazy laws and regulation. Protection is from each other. One must move assets in blind trusts, move offshore, create silent holdings. One dares not have anything in his name for the fear of losing it. If the government doesn't confiscate it, your neighbor will take it!

We must look in the mirror and find the truth, but while holding that mirror peek to the rear and see who is standing there. It's probably your neighbor.

@Injun1: Unfortunately, you know not of what you speak. The "Equal Rights Amendment" was an amendment promulgated to secure equal rights for WOMEN, which was indeed fought for by courageous women over the course of nearly five decades. Unfortunately, it never became part of the Constitution because it was not ratified by the required number of states. It went down in flames in the early 70s.

Your obvious confusion regarding the laws of this country illustrates a major problem in American society today. Like most other people, you rant about "liberal judges" and "Equal Rights Opportunity laws created by all those lawsuits," but your post is meaningless because it contains no factual truth, only amorphous finger-pointing. Exactly what lawsuits created what laws that created what "gravy train" are you referring to? Exactly what "crazy laws" are now "on the books" that demanded that "society as a whole be set aside for a few?" What few? What laws were so created that "kill production?"

You sir, are mixing more than a few different concepts into a noxious stew here, but haven't a clue as to the facts to which you are alluding. I suspect one of the "government entities" you speak of is the EEOC (created to level the playing field for Americans who were unable to work/go to school because of ignorant, bigoted, and paranoid people who felt that anyone who was not the same color/race/sex/etc. as them were somehow not as "human" or "worthy" as they were); you throw in numerous references to "lawsuits" and "ambulance chasers," which sounds a lot like complaining about personal injury laws, which were NOT created by any recent legislation in this country but have been a part of the common law for literally thousands of years, and upon which our entire legal system was based from the beginning; "regulation," which probably refers to the EPA, FDA, USDA - hey, who needs clean air or water, or food that's not tainted, or oversight of the monolithic drug companies that brought us Thalidomide, Vioxx, and most recently Tylenol, which they recently (finally) admitted is toxic in the dosage they've been recommending on the label for over 30 years?

Lawsuits, my dear sir, are the vehicle by which the common man is able to protect himself and seek redress for the wrongs, both civil and criminal, done him by the negligent or intentional acts of others. This is a precious right bestowed on us by the creators of the Constitution. I suggest you read that very short document if you really want to find the "truth" which you purport to seek. And lest you retort with the typical cry for "smaller government" by "going back to the Constitution" - which I agree is not a bad idea theoretically (but the way the PTB wants it to go down would keep the worst and end the last of what remains that actually serves the people) - let me remind you that there are now close to 312 MILLION people in the US today, as opposed to 13 small, isolated, mostly rural colonies as was the case at the time the Constitution was drafted. That's exactly why the framers crafted it to be short. They knew they couldn't conceive of every possibility that would arise in the future, so they deliberately created it to be FLEXIBLE yet set up the three branches of government to ensure that flexibility would not result in the distortion of the original intent of the document. Unfortunately, the wealthy and greedy among the PTB have worked long and hard to subvert the built-in controls of that system, and have finally succeeded in placing the foxes in the henhouse of our last hope to turn it around - the bought and paid for shills placed in the Supreme Court - Alito, Roberts, Thomas, and Scalia.

With respect to the rest, it's painfully obvious that you have partaken of the same Kool-Aid as the rest of the misinformed public, which is exactly what the PTB want for the common man. Get 'em all riled up over false flags, blaming and fearing and hating each other, and stepping all over the weak/old/helpless/etc. - "every man for himself" - and while they're attention is so diverted, strip them of whatever rights they had left.

Might I suggest that while we still have such things as public libraries - and with taxes that pay for such things being taken to pay for their empire-building wars, tax subsidies for the wealthy and the greedy corporations, and "security" (read: police/surveillance state) - you take this opportunity to LEARN what they were teaching in 9th grade Civics class on the days you evidently were absent. A little history wouldn't hurt you, either. Oh, and please, consider your SOURCES - make sure you're reading something CREDIBLE, not the magic-mushroom-fueled, hallucinatory, butchered "historical" accounts that Michelle Bachmann, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, the so-called "Christian" right fundamentalists and their ilk are bandying about as truth.

Meanwhile, my condolences to your neighbors, whomever they may be. May they be safe from your raving paranoia.

Yes, and often I wish he would be more forceful and accusatory about the morality of the positions taken by squishy Republicans and other scurrilous collectivists.

But he is a kind and gentle soul.

So be it. This will be the second time the American people have a real choice. If they pick wrong, we will experience the just consequences.

It is said that a people get the government they deserve. At present, the best the rest of us can do is to see it coming and try to take steps to avoid the worst of it. And keep trying to wake people up.

From Ayn Rands' Essay "What Can One Do ?":

In an intellectual battle, you do not need to convert everyone. History is made by minorities-or, more precisely, history is made by intellectual movements, which are created by minorities. Who belongs to these minorities? Anyone who is able and willing actively to concern himself with intellectual issues. Here, it is not quantity, but quality that counts (the quality-and consistency-of the ideas one is advocating)...

If a dictatorship ever comes to this country, it will be by the default of those who keep silent. We are still free enough to speak. Do we have time? No one can tell. But time is on our side-because we have an indestructible weapon and an invincible ally (if we learn how to use them): reason and reality.

The implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment was a well fought for piece of legislation. People marched,lobbied, petitioned, picketed, went on hunger strikes and yes even committed acts of civil disobedience. Then the attorney's got their hands on it. It became the goose that laid the golden egg(s).

Twisted and turned and positioned however it was needed to initiate lawsuits. Commonsense was thrown out the window. Liberal judges created a windfall for the legal profession that are now laws to be undone. The "new" twisted Equal Rights Opportunity laws created by all those lawsuits has demanded that society as a whole be set aside for the few.

That's how the gravy train started. And as the train rolled along it kept picking up more passengers for the ride. More lawsuits, more fees, more free money for the passengers. It continues today.

It has created mile high paper and entry barriers for small business owners and created government entities to enforce and oversee these crazy laws that are now on the books. In the mean time our education system keeps turning out more ambulance chasers, more monied lawyers, all in the name of "I can sue you just because".

The name of the game is protection not production. Production is killed by these crazy laws and regulation. Protection is from each other. One must move assets in blind trusts, move offshore, create silent holdings. One dares not have anything in his name for the fear of losing it. If the government doesn't confiscate it, your neighbor will take it!

We must look in the mirror and find the truth, but while holding that mirror peek to the rear and see who is standing there. It's probably your neighbor.

Hmmm... I wonder if %country% would once wish to exchange US$ to SF, how much of a fee would take it being converted from UK jurisdiction, where %country%=China ? A busy ditch presently, or it ain't?

I can just hear the congressmen in the audience--"Ron, Ron--shhh!! They're not supposed to know all this!" I think most congresscreatures think Ron is a nerd who just doesn't "get it", kind of like the nerd lion in Gary Larson's Far Side cartoon who came up behind his buddies talking loud when they were trying to surprise a deer. They're trying to feast on us, and Ron keeps blowing their cover.

* Nailed it! *

That was an incredible speech. I especially liked Dr. Paul's solution of telling the Fed to shove it so we can chop that $1.2 trillion off our debt. I came across another solution on the internet, however. There is no limit on how much coinage the Treasury can mint (there's a limit on paper dollars, but not coins). There are some suggesting that they mint themselves a couple of trillion dollar platinum coins, deposit them in their account at the Federal Reserve and start drawing against that.

Click to view link

This is such an obvious fiat scam (no Platinum is worth a trillion dollars, even fifty pounds of it), but apparently it has it's supporters. Am I missing something here, or is this idea as bad as I think it is?

They don't mention the cost of the bureaucrat spending six months writing a 2500 page specification for the part that pretty much rules out all but one supplier's version of it or makes it almost impossible to comply with. You can just guess the multiplication factor on what should be a $150,000 machine. Usually over ten times what the cost of a standard machine would be.

Government RFQ's go straight to the wastebasket around here. It's not even worth the man-hours to read through all that tripe, let alone the weeks it would take to write a quote that complies with the requirements. Not to mention all the regulations on how you will run your business if you take any government contract. If you had a small business and wanted to sell the government a 12-cent hex key wrench, it would cost you far, far in excess of $10,000 to do it. And guess how much it costs to make a special hammer that isn't a commercially available design? Hmmm?

Just sayin ...

You are so right. In our business, to do a job for the Army Corp of Engineers, you have to read through a 200+ page contract and need a lawyer to interpret it. Meanwhile a job 1000 times larger is negotiated over the phone with customers where trust is mutual. Of course these jobs die as government guns support their own.

I've been a supporter of Dr. Paul for many years.

However, I see an obstacle that he must overcome if he is ever to become a serious force in American politics, beyond those with which we are so familiar.

As much as I admire Ron Paul and his philosophy, he has a very flawed communication style. He has a way of speaking, and writing, in a kind of intellectual shorthand. His is a style an old boss of mine called CIPU -- Clear If Previously Understood. He is so bright, and speaks on issues with which he has been speaking for so many years, that he tends to omit the conceptual underpinnings to make his points in a rapid-fire fashion.

I fear that even if he progresses so far as to become a familiar face through public appearances, campaign speeches in the hustings and so on, that intelligent but uninformed citizens who wish to understand his positions will look at each other and go, Huh? Following his logic takes great leaps; we know what he means, but I have to say, if I didn't understand the issue he is speaking on, I'd have a very hard time following him.

This could kill him in an election. People will come away shrugging: "I like the guy, but I don't really get what he's saying."

It would be tragic if Dr. Paul through superhuman effort actually got so far along the path, only to lose because he doesn't slow down and fill in the blanks while he is speaking.

Don't know if I'm alone in this observation. I would love it so much if someone could tell him of this.

Yes, and often I wish he would be more forceful and accusatory about the morality of the positions taken by squishy Republicans and other scurrilous collectivists.

But he is a kind and gentle soul.

So be it. This will be the second time the American people have a real choice. If they pick wrong, we will experience the just consequences.

It is said that a people get the government they deserve. At present, the best the rest of us can do is to see it coming and try to take steps to avoid the worst of it. And keep trying to wake people up.

You ask why Ron Paul can not be elected. It is very simple, we as libertarians have failed to convince most people that our positions are true. The average American and indeed the average person has been fed the opposite of libertarian positions as truth for their entire lives, so that on the rare occasions when they do hear the truth, it sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. Wah wah wah. Writing articles here is fine, at the very least it refines our thinking, but preaching to the choir doesn't do much good. We all must continuously endever to spread economic truths as widely as we can. Most libertarians want to be left alone, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it does not get the word out. How many of us write or even attempt to write for the N. Y. Times, or Vanity Fair etc.. How many of us run for office. Ron Paul has been the lone nationally know libertarian politician for most of the last thirty years, had who was there before that?

I woke two more people up this week.

No more Wah Wah Wah. They are scared now. Hey, sorry about that. But they can never, ever go back. The first question was, what should I do? My first answer was, I'm not an investment advisor, but I wouldn't leave any money in the stock market right now. Then I showed them the high frequency trading that is making the 'banks' all their profits nowadays since they don't lend anymore. "Can you do that like they do?" "No!" "Then it's being done at your expense, isn't it?" "Yes!"

You ask why Ron Paul can not be elected. It is very simple, we as libertarians have failed to convince most people that our positions are true. The average American and indeed the average person has been fed the opposite of libertarian positions as truth for their entire lives, so that on the rare occasions when they do hear the truth, it sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. Wah wah wah. Writing articles here is fine, at the very least it refines our thinking, but preaching to the choir doesn't do much good. We all must continuously endever to spread economic truths as widely as we can. Most libertarians want to be left alone, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it does not get the word out. How many of us write or even attempt to write for the N. Y. Times, or Vanity Fair etc.. How many of us run for office. Ron Paul has been the lone nationally know libertarian politician for most of the last thirty years, had who was there before that?

I've been a supporter of Dr. Paul for many years.

However, I see an obstacle that he must overcome if he is ever to become a serious force in American politics, beyond those with which we are so familiar.

As much as I admire Ron Paul and his philosophy, he has a very flawed communication style. He has a way of speaking, and writing, in a kind of intellectual shorthand. His is a style an old boss of mine called CIPU -- Clear If Previously Understood. He is so bright, and speaks on issues with which he has been speaking for so many years, that he tends to omit the conceptual underpinnings to make his points in a rapid-fire fashion.

I fear that even if he progresses so far as to become a familiar face through public appearances, campaign speeches in the hustings and so on, that intelligent but uninformed citizens who wish to understand his positions will look at each other and go, Huh? Following his logic takes great leaps; we know what he means, but I have to say, if I didn't understand the issue he is speaking on, I'd have a very hard time following him.

This could kill him in an election. People will come away shrugging: "I like the guy, but I don't really get what he's saying."

It would be tragic if Dr. Paul through superhuman effort actually got so far along the path, only to lose because he doesn't slow down and fill in the blanks while he is speaking.

Don't know if I'm alone in this observation. I would love it so much if someone could tell him of this.

It is business as usual
"Every gun that is fired, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.... We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat (by 1987, the price was twenty million bushels). We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than eight thousand people.. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." Dwight David Eisenhower's Cross of Iron speech, April 16, 1953

***

It is important for you to understand that the GAO debunked a phony idea widely spread by some Air Force generals that the $435 hammer is a result of the "equal allocation of overhead" to these parts which are of minimum intrinsic value. The 12-cent Allen wrench did not increase to $9,606 by the "equal allocation of overhead" -- General Dynamics and Westinghouse actually charged engineering time to the wrench that resulted in that kind of price. According to an examination of the labor records, Westinghouse charged 63 hours of engineering time to develop a 3-inch piece of common wire for $14,835 -- a tool officially dubbed an assembly pin -- when Westinghouse had been using a wooden peg for five years for the same purpose.

They don't mention the cost of the bureaucrat spending six months writing a 2500 page specification for the part that pretty much rules out all but one supplier's version of it or makes it almost impossible to comply with. You can just guess the multiplication factor on what should be a $150,000 machine. Usually over ten times what the cost of a standard machine would be.

Government RFQ's go straight to the wastebasket around here. It's not even worth the man-hours to read through all that tripe, let alone the weeks it would take to write a quote that complies with the requirements. Not to mention all the regulations on how you will run your business if you take any government contract. If you had a small business and wanted to sell the government a 12-cent hex key wrench, it would cost you far, far in excess of $10,000 to do it. And guess how much it costs to make a special hammer that isn't a commercially available design? Hmmm?

Just sayin ...

You ask why Ron Paul can not be elected. It is very simple, we as libertarians have failed to convince most people that our positions are true. The average American and indeed the average person has been fed the opposite of libertarian positions as truth for their entire lives, so that on the rare occasions when they do hear the truth, it sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. Wah wah wah. Writing articles here is fine, at the very least it refines our thinking, but preaching to the choir doesn't do much good. We all must continuously endever to spread economic truths as widely as we can. Most libertarians want to be left alone, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it does not get the word out. How many of us write or even attempt to write for the N. Y. Times, or Vanity Fair etc.. How many of us run for office. Ron Paul has been the lone nationally know libertarian politician for most of the last thirty years, had who was there before that?

I think it is also a case where the media does not powder him like they do other canidates. The media has their orders too.

But sadly, what does this say about the vast majority of the American people who adopt the opinion that is spoon fed to them by the TV?

Ron Paul succinctly not only makes his point, but proves it... if only people would listen to him!
Yes, we are already defaulting regardless of what happens with the debt ceiling. This is a great tie-in with Peter Schiff's article. And, yes, history should smile nicely on RP... but poorly on the average American voter that ignored him.

You ask why Ron Paul can not be elected. It is very simple, we as libertarians have failed to convince most people that our positions are true. The average American and indeed the average person has been fed the opposite of libertarian positions as truth for their entire lives, so that on the rare occasions when they do hear the truth, it sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. Wah wah wah. Writing articles here is fine, at the very least it refines our thinking, but preaching to the choir doesn't do much good. We all must continuously endever to spread economic truths as widely as we can. Most libertarians want to be left alone, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it does not get the word out. How many of us write or even attempt to write for the N. Y. Times, or Vanity Fair etc.. How many of us run for office. Ron Paul has been the lone nationally know libertarian politician for most of the last thirty years, had who was there before that?

History should smile nicely on RP. He is ethical and constitutional and right about most things. Why is he unelectable?
He is a good man for the job of POTUS. . .
God Bless America, for she shall survive the threat of Globalist socialism!

Maybe if you tell people they are in deep trouble, they become disillusioned, they need to question their whole social programming it is traumatic so they would rather not face reality?

They need wise leadership to guide them and lead them?

America is a nation of children, led by wolves. As far as I can tell, Ron Paul is the only person in any leadership role who really wants to do what is right (maybe his son).

Reply from The Daily Bell

Rand may be more of a free-market tiger than some give him credit for.

Usually the truth is quite simple. It is working through or undoing the lies that are monumental.

It is business as usual
"Every gun that is fired, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.... We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat (by 1987, the price was twenty million bushels). We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than eight thousand people.. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." Dwight David Eisenhower's Cross of Iron speech, April 16, 1953

***

It is important for you to understand that the GAO debunked a phony idea widely spread by some Air Force generals that the $435 hammer is a result of the "equal allocation of overhead" to these parts which are of minimum intrinsic value. The 12-cent Allen wrench did not increase to $9,606 by the "equal allocation of overhead" -- General Dynamics and Westinghouse actually charged engineering time to the wrench that resulted in that kind of price. According to an examination of the labor records, Westinghouse charged 63 hours of engineering time to develop a 3-inch piece of common wire for $14,835 -- a tool officially dubbed an assembly pin -- when Westinghouse had been using a wooden peg for five years for the same purpose.