What DC’s student loan and farm bills have in common

When considering how Congress has been running since Obama became president, one can’t help but ponder if the student loan bill and farm bill will eventually just have to be passed so that American can see what’s in them. Though neither of these are the size of the Obamacare bill, they certainly have the potential to become a crisis that DC libs won’t be wasting – especially with 2012 being an election year.

The student loan bill will be reaching crisis level first. As the House and Senate haggle over just how the meltdown of student loan interest rates will be contained, the proverbial needle moves steadily into the red warning zone of July 1. Democrats want the 6.8 percent hike paid for by a hike in the payroll taxes of private companies, according to CBS News. More specifically their Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. Reid claims these companies are made up of “wealthy tax dodgers” anyway, and so taxing the very ones who can create jobs for all the unemployed college students is just the way to go. What a wonderfully logical plan: two bankrupt systems paying for another bankrupt system. Don’t you love how consistent the Dems are in their Keynesian economic thinking?

On the other hand, the Republicans want to pay for one bankrupt system with part of an illegitimate system that’s never had any true funding: Obamacare. Can you tell it’s an election year and America is one hot, economic mess?

The other closely looming crisis that won’t be wasted is the Farm bill. According to a video at AG Web, five year cyclical bill has a rather significant impact on SNAP (formerly food stamps), and a Huffington Post article from 2010 points out the major impact on “the efficiency of direct payments, disaster relief programs, crop insurance and conservation programs.”

Another interesting thing about the Farm bill is that is fits snugly into the green agenda of the global warming crowd in that there may be some fresh discussion regarding “an expanded ‘green payments’ program, which would reward farmers for environmental stewardship instead of placing the incentives on overproduction.”

This has the potential to open the door to the nationalization of the agricultural industry. And it’s not like such a thing hasn’t been done before. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez would be a relatively recent case in point. In October of 2010, Breitbart reported that Chavez planned a government take-over of Venezuela’s agricultural industry, and he started it with “the nationalization of land owned by a subsidiary of British meat products company Vestey, as he called for ‘acceleration of the agrarian revolution.’” The article goes on to state that “Chavez called for the acceleration of nationalizing agricultural assets across the country in coming months, including land and property owned by Venezuelan farming technology company Agroislena.

His reasoning is that such a government take-over will, “Free the land, free the slave labor, feed our people.” Keep in mind here that Chavez thinks that capitalism is why Venezuela has economic problems, and that nationalization is the solution to those economic issues.

There was a great deal of discussion about a bill nicknamed cap and trade back in 2010. When all the attention died down and some even declared it dead, it was quietly renamed “Nationwide Renewable-Electricity Standard,” or RES. Some may remember all the talk about the purchase of carbon permits and how damaging something like that would be to farms (and other industries) if it were implemented. When one considers that the Obama administration has already made moves to nationalize the healthcare industry through Obamacare and the banking industry through the Wall Street Reform legislation; it’s not that much of a stretch to consider the possibility of an attempt to nationalize the agricultural industry and even the energy industry.

The idea of “rewarding stewardship” through a “greener” environment can be connected to the Environmental Protection Agency; an organization that has set a goal for 59 million acres of farmland to be converted to forests within 40 years. A computerized economic model indicates that the move would be more profitable than producing food, but the profits would be the result of fewer crops, which would then drive up prices. A USA Today article from August of 2009 claims that both pasture and farm fields would be replaced with about 18 million acres of new trees by 2020, which would be “roughly the size of West Virginia.”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has ordered his staff to revise the information projected by the Forest and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model (FASOM) which has caused considerable concern among the farmers and ranchers. Vilsack stated that “If landowners plant trees to the extent that the model suggests, this would be disruptive to agriculture in some regions of the country.” At the time, he pointed out that there were options not added in the cap and trade bill that would have increased the income of farmers as they continued producing food. The omissions caused the model to overestimate the actual effect of planting new forests.

Vilsack instructed his chief economist to collaborate with the EPA, review the model, update it, and develop options that would help prevent “unintended consequences for agriculture that might result from climate change legislation.”

Interestingly, back during the Great Depression there was a federal government project that involved planting acres of trees. According to a US history website , it was part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program. The idea was to “recruit thousands of unemployed young men, enlist them in a peacetime army, and send them to battle the erosion and destruction of the nation’s natural resources. More than any other New Deal agency, the CCC (Civilian Conservation Core) is considered to be an extension of Roosevelt’s personal philosophy.” The proposed plan was rushed through the approval process, and the CCC gained the nickname of “Roosevelt’s Tree Army”. Since most of the unemployed people were on the east side of the nation and most of the work was on the west side, people were shipped off to work camps to perform the work. California alone had 150 camps. The website also states that, “The War Department mobilized the nation’s transportation system to move thousands of enrollees from induction centers to work camps.”

The article goes on to state that, “By 1935, however, there was, in the words of CCC director Fechner, a ‘complete segregation of colored and white enrollees,’ but ‘segregation is not discrimination.’” In addition, “An important modification became necessary early in 1933. It extended enlistment coverage to about 14,000 American Indians whose economic circumstances were deplorable and had mostly been ignored. Before the CCC was terminated, more than 80,000 Native Americans were paid to help reclaim the land that had once been theirs” (emphasis added). One could replace the words “American Indians” with “Illegal immigrants” and see yet another connection. One of the few requirements for participation was that a person had to be a US citizen – but then making all illegal immigrants legal through immigration reform could easily solve that problem. Even veterans were eventually granted enrollment into the program.

When 1941 rolled around, the CCC seemed to lose its importance, mainly because of the improved economy. Therefore, “A joint committee of Congress recommended that the CCC be abolished by July 1, 1942. Technically, however, the corps was never abolished. Congress simply refused it any additional money. Eventually, $8 million was set aside to cover all costs of liquidation, and the War Department, Labor Department, and Civil Aeronautics Administration were given first opportunity to acquire CCC properties. The War Department claimed the majority of the equipment” (emphasis added). The CCC seems to have a positive place in history and the record seems to show that many good things were done for the country through that organization. However, there are some aspects of the program that also seem as though they could lead to a repeat of the horrors of Nazi Germany and the holocaust when put in the hands of a dictatorial government – or even one whereby its representatives are not listening to the voice of the majority of its citizens.

‘The SALT Plan’ addresses America’s economic enigma

The Fed has finally admitted what many who have been paying attention already knew: we’re heading for economic upheaval. This brief and passing moment of truth brought forth from the system of the Fed bowels made its way to the American public via CNBC on Tuesday. For readers who can stomach additional detail on this, two fed officials, Charles Evans of the Chicago Fed, and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said that tax increases and spending cuts will put the US at risk of careening toward a “fiscal cliff” by year’s end.

It what could be construed as additional proof that Obama and the rest of DC may be hiding the inevitable, Reuters reported last week that Yale economics professor Robert Shiller
believes that the housing market may take as much as an entire generation to rebound.

For those who are wondering what can possibly be done to prepare for and position their families for what’s beginning to look like the Great Depression of the 21st century, one of several helpful resources is the book The SALT Plan: How to Prepare for an Economic Crisis of Biblical Proportions.

SALT is an acronym that stands for Savings, Allocation, Liquidity, and Truth. The book is written by Chuck Bentley of Crown Financial Ministries and not only does it offer insight for those who actually still have some assets about which to be concerned, but it also offers some very basic ways to prepare.

Bentley said in the book that he wrote it with the intent to “shock” people out of their “typical mindset.” He goes on to note that Americans are generally an “optimistic people, but that leads us to be unprepared for something unexpected.” He adds that the combined events of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan in 2011 were what made him realize that the “unthinkable” isn’t as unlikely as we tend to believe.

Bentley discourages a survivalist, loan-ranger mentality, but rather, encourages the idea of people being willing to come together in a community to help each other in difficult times. He touches on the ideas of the value of gardens; having an ample supply of canned goods, clean water and other basics on hand; and having at last a basic understanding of how to live off the land if necessary. Bentley also addresses economic cycles and the approach of the New World Order.

The SALT Plan is available at Amazon.com and at www.Crown.org

Strained Economy into 2013 and Beyond

Though mainstream media would have legal US residents and legitimate voters believing that the economy is improving, the inconvenient truth is that it isn’t. The end of housing crisis is being pitched to Americans with the smooth shrewdness of a seasoned used car salesman at the end of a slow month. Only in this case, slow has gone well beyond one month.

Because some of the ARMs that are anticipated to reset are 7 year loans, this suggests that next year has the potential to be rather ugly. In fact, a Madison, Wisconsin real estate news blog is suggesting that the nation may not even be able to hope to see the beginning of the end until 2017 or 2018. It reasons that the lengthy recovery is not only the result of 2 million homes that will be going into foreclosure over the next several months, but also all the massive overabundance of inventory at a time when people are unemployed, underemployed, or just don’t have the savings available to put toward a purchase.

But the next round of resetting sub-prime ARMs aren’t the only reason for 2013 being an ugly year. When the Democrat-controlled congress passed Obama’s Wall Street Reform bill in July of 2010, one of the bill’s authors, Chris Dodd, proclaimed with joyous tears in his eyes that his monstrous 2300 page creation was a, “great moment” and that “no one will know until this is actually in place how it works.” He also declared that, “it will take the next economic crisis, as certainly it will come, to determine whether or not the provisions of this bill will actually provide this generation or the next generation of regulators with the tools necessary to minimize the effects of that crisis.” The bill’s other author was Barney Frank, hence it’s alternative name: The Dodd-Frank Act.

Well, the time has come to reveal just exactly how it is beginning to work. Though the new government regulations won’t fully kick in until 2013, the regulations that are required now are bringing about a significantly increased work load without boosting the economy in such a way that new jobs and the employees to fill them can be added, according to CBN.

Not only will everybody’s favorite payday lenders be affected by the bill, but so will anybody using a debit card. Republicans are calling it a “vast federal overreach that will drive financial-sector jobs overseas.”

Back in 2010, a Wall Street Journal article outlined some of the destructive aspects of the Wall Street reforms. Some of the more scary things noted are that, “The legislation would redraw how money flows through the U.S. economy, from the way people borrow money to the way banks structure complicated products like derivatives. It could touch every person who has a bank account or who uses a credit card” (emphasis added).

Another deeply concerning thing that the Wall Street Journal mentioned about the Wall Street reforms is that, “It would erect a new consumer-protection regulator within the Federal Reserve, give the government new powers to break up failing companies, and assign a council of regulators to monitor risks to the financial system. It would also set up strict new rules on big banks, limiting their risk and increasing the costs.”

Moving right along, the Securities and Exchange Commission will be granted, “new powers to regulate Wall Street and monitor hedge funds, increasing the agency’s access to funding.” Also, there will be new government programs introduced because of the bill, and the way that these programs will be paid for (besides by the tax dollars of American citizens) is that the bill “would allow the government to charge fees to large banks and hedge funds to raise up to $19 million spread over five years.” Guess how the large banks will offset those government fees. They certainly won’t be absorbing them into their own cost of doing business!

Another interesting bit of information about the Wall Street reforms from 2010 was reported by The Hill It noted that the Wall Street reform legislation was intended to provide “a ‘frame’ for the new regulatory landscape, but the full force of the rewrite hinges on how regulators interpret their new powers in the coming months and years.” It also mentioned “the creation of a new council of federal regulators to oversee broad financial risks; new regulations of the $600 trillion derivatives market; and a new system for the government to wind down failing financial firms.”

The Hill also stated at the time that Obama, “will be nominating an inaugural head of the consumer bureau, which will have broad power to write and enforce rules over home loans, credit cards and other products across the financial system” (emphasis added).

That economic crisis to which Dodd referred may not be limited to the US. Especially since Italy and Spain have declared that they will not be able to balance their budgets by 2013. And the shaky conditions of the eurozone combined with the shuttering US economy has the Fed contemplating another round of quantitative easing here at home.

Interestingly, back in 2010 Investors.com reported that the Congressional Budget Office projections were suggesting that the US could have its credit rating downgraded sometime between 2013 and 2018, depending on how adverse the situation becomes with interests rates and the US debt.

The article went on to quote a recent Societe General economics team report: “While we see limited risk of a US sovereign debt downgrade in the next 2-3 years, beyond that we cannot be so certain.” Keep in mind that Societe General has locations in about 40 countries and has been advising its clients about safe investment options to assist them in avoiding wealth destruction for at least a year now. The US downgrade actually ended up happening last year – which suggests that an economic crisis may be much closer than anyone actually wants to admit.

Even so, another threat that is far more daunting to the global economy than the sub-prime one is the derivative industry, according to a Washington Times article from 2011. It describes the difficult to understand item as follows: “Essentially, they are bets for or against the house - red or black at the roulette wheel. Or betting for or against the weather in situations in which the weather is critical (e.g., vineyards). Forwards, futures, options and swaps form the panoply of derivatives. Credit derivatives are based on loans, bonds or other forms of credit. Over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives are contracts that are traded and privately negotiated directly between two parties, outside of a regular exchange.

All of this is unregulated. What happens between two parties - notably hedge funds - is like what happens between two individuals who bet on the final score of a football or baseball game. Congressional committees have been warned time and again about ‘ticking time bombs’ and ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’ - to no avail, demonstrating that both the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress are dysfunctional.”

One other type of loan that is in a massive bubble and about ready to burst is the student loan bubble. According to a National Inflation Association article from 2011, “Student loan debt in America is now larger than credit card debt, but unlike credit card debt, student loan debt can't be discharged in bankruptcy.”

Since only about half of all college graduates are finding employment right now, it’s obvious why Obama is trying to get the same student loan bill passed on which he avoided voting back when he was a senator. Especially since, according to Politico, student loan interest rates are expected to shoot up this July, only months ahead of 2012 elections. If this bill doesn’t get passed, it will be interesting to see whether it will be defaulted student loans or one of the other many options noted above that will be the catalyst to set off the next economic crisis that Dodd said he was sure is on the way, but that the he also seems to think the government is ready to fix.

IMF head accuses US of not paying its fair share

Never mind that the U.S. has been contributing to Europe’s bailout since the first signs of trouble in Greece. The US still hasn’t paid its fair share. Or that’s what IMF head Christine Lagarde has implied with her latest statement.

While speaking in the US capital on Tuesday, the International Business Times of India
reported that Lagarde stated that, “Americans might ask themselves. ‘Why should what happens in the rest of the world concern us? Don't we have our own problems?’ The answer is simple: In today's world, we cannot afford the luxury of staying in our own mental backyards.”

America has been anywhere but its own mental backyard where the eurozone debt crisis is concerned. In fact, the U.S. Federal Reserve bailed out the eurozone through the year’s end in 2011. And the U.S. is the biggest contributor to the IMF, which has also extended funds to troubled eurozone countries.

Obama has admitted from the beginning of the euro’s unraveling that he was watching the Greek debt crisis closely. And if he was watching Greece that closely, it stands to reason that he has been watching the other troubled countries as well. Italy and Spain would have been especially interesting to watch.

Back in November, not only was Italy supposed to be audited by the EU and the IMF,
but according to the Christian newswire, World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs noted the significant impact of family issues: “Over the past 8 years of its socialist misrule, the Zapatero government painted a symbolic bulls-eye on the Spanish family and moral virtues -- liberalizing and promoting divorce, instituting same-sex marriage and adoption, creating easy access to abortion, lowering the age of consent, eliminating parent's rights, and mandating pro-homosexual education in the schools.”

It has even been suggested that eurozone countries need to surrender their sovereignty in order to save their economies, in spite of the fact that the euro is a faulty currency that was basically doomed to fail from the start.

If the eurozone is by any chance the “pilot program” for the remaking of America, sort of like Romneycare was the pilot for Obamacare, then what is happening in Europe is eventually coming here. While the dollar was not originally designed to fail as the euro was, the debt load that America is carrying isn’t going to be able to be sustained forever, especially as more baby boomers retire and need to pull on social programs that are not only presently grossly underfunded, but also in need of reform.

To borrow an Occupy Wall Street concept, if the U.S. is the 1 percent and Europe is the 99 percent, will we have finally paid our fair share when we no longer exist?

National movements pressuring DC to act with fiscal responsibility, preserve America’s future

Cincinnati, OH - The “Tax Day 2012 – We Demand a Balanced Budget” rally is fast becoming a national movement. The organization highlights DC leaders who have committed to acting with fiscal integrity for the sake of America’s future, and the rally will encourage attendees to take a pledge saying they will not send money to or vote for any candidate until that candidate has agreed to pass the People’s Balanced Budget Amendment. 

Cincinnati, Ohio is leading the way with the rallies.  Tea Party groups from the Ohio and Indiana regions will gather on Fountain Square in Cincinnati on Sunday, April 15 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  The rally, organized by the Cincinnati Tea Party and the People’s Balanced Budget Amendment movement, will bring attention to this important 2012 election season by highlighting one of the most significant issues of our time—a balanced budget.

Attendees who choose to take the pledge will be joining American citizens, candidates, and elected officials from over 40 states who have already signed the balanced budget amendment Pledge at www.WeDemandABalancedBudget.com.

The rally will feature a slate of local leadership, candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives and the Ohio House of Representatives, and other invited guests:

• George Brunemann, President of the Cincinnati Tea Party
• Dan Regenold, local businessman and WeDemandABalancedBudgetAmendment founder
• Ben Swann from Fox 19
• Brian Thomas from 55 KRC radio
• Brad Wenstrup, Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio’s 2nd District)
• Mike Wilson, founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party and current candidate for the Ohio House of Representatives (28th District)
• Dave Yost, State of Ohio Auditor

The People's Balanced Budget Amendment is a nationwide initiative to force our elected federal officials to balance the budget.  The People’s Balanced Budget Amendment would:

• Balance the budget in 7 years
• Reduce the deficit by 1/7 each year after passage
• After the budget is balanced, prevent Congress from spending no more than the average income of the previous 3 years
• Allow Congress to operate at a deficit during an emergency that is declared by 2/3 majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives

The full text of the amendment, plus a running tally of Senators, Representatives, and presidential candidates who have indicated support for the People’s Balanced Budget Amendment is available at www.WeDemandABalancedBudget.com. Citizens can take the pledge on the site, and are able to search by state to see how many others have taken the pledge.  The site also allows groups to sign the pledge as a block of people and makes it easy to get friends and relatives involved.

Santorum: ‘This campaign is about liberty’

Blue Ash, OH – The room at the Crown Hotel where the Santorum rally was held was packed to capacity last Saturday.  Roughly 500 supporters were in attendance. It appeared that several segments of the American population were represented: young adults to retires, homemakers, blue collar workers, office workers and business owners.

It was particularly interesting to note that there was even a female Muslim wearing a white hijab. Though she did not want to give her name, when asked what motivated her to attend the rally, her answer was enthralling.  She is a foreign exchange student from Indonesia who attends high school in the area.  She was curious to see how an American political rally differs from one in her country.  Two major things that she noted were that Indonesia’s rallies are usually open air and there is generally a parade.

Perhaps she also noticed the plethora of politicians from different offices and representatives of various organizations.  Some of these included State Rep incumbent Seth Morgan, Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine, Attorney David Kearns, Chairman of Ohio’s Hamilton County Republican party Alex Triantafilo, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Citizens for Community Values President Phil Burress, Concerned Women for America Ohio Director Bobbi Radeck, Cincinnati Tea Party leaders, and incumbent Fred Kundrata, who is running for Jean Schmidt’s seat.

Faith and Politics Voice took advantage of the opportunity to get Kundrata’s views on a few issues.  When asked about his thoughts on how he would work to improve the economy and get the budget under control, he responded that one thought he has had is to encourage defense contracting between the Pentagon and Cincinnati businesses so that jobs can be brought back into the area. He added that his jobs plan includes networking between Wilmington airport, Wright Patterson and Cincinnati. 

When asked about the healthcare legislation and repealing or amending it, he said that it was put together way to haphazardly, there were too many deals, it wasn’t done properly and that he’s the only one running in his district who can bring understanding to a lot of the legal issues that it involves.  He wants to see something that is going to protect everybody while still solving the need for Medicare and Medicaid to be made solvent.

When asked why voters should choose him over Jean Schmidt, he summed it up on one word: “Leadership.”

Though the rally got started late, the crowd seemed to feel it was worth the wait and cheered wildly when Santorum took the stage.  A snippet from Kool & the Gang’s song “Celebrate” played, perhaps in the hope that a Santorum presidency would restore the good times of a more positive economic future for America.

Santorum assured the crowd that his wife Karen and their seven children that range in age from
3 ½ to 20 would eagerly embrace living in DC, and that he would enthusiastically work to encourage the restoration of the values that have been key in making America a great nation – the very same values that are the foundation of why it is has become known as the land of the free.

He expressed appreciation for all who have been keeping his daughter, Bella in their prayers, and with regard to his campaign, Santorum confided that, “this race is about liberty.  It’s about the future of this country.”

He added that, “We’re all stewards of this country and it’s the obligation of every generation to pass on to our children and grandchildren something better.”

Acknowledging that many Americans today have anxiety and pessimism about America’s future, he assured the crowd that if he gains the honor of serving as America’s next president, that he will do everything he can to encourage an atmosphere among those in DC of working together and bringing about the restoration of a strong America, both for now and for the sake of future generations.

Dem presidential candidate says Obama’s actions ‘rotten through and through’

At a time when gas prices seem to be surging out of control and the threat of a major regional war in the Middle East looms, Democrat presidential incumbent Randall Terry has some rather stinging thoughts regarding voters allowing a second term for Obama.  The Christian Newswire reported that Terry made the following statement last Thursday:

“Today President Obama has demonstrated he is willing to side with known Islamic terrorists on one side, and abuse FBI power on the other, clearly for the sake of his re-election.

If the reports are true -- that the U.S. is offering hi-tech weaponry to Israel in exchange for their commitment not to attack Iran until after the U.S. election -- then Obama is putting Israeli and US security behind his re-election campaign. Such a trade would border on treasonous.

In the mid-1930s, then British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin knew that the Germans were arming for war, but rather than alert the British populace to the danger and begin arming, he choose silence, inaction, and the status quo with Germany. He confessed to parliament -- and his confession caused him to lose his post as Prime Minister -- that he did not attempt to keep parity with Germany when he should have, because there was an election before them, and he did not want the Conservatives to lose power. In other words, he put his retention of power ahead of England's and Europe's security.

Baldwin's confession led to his loss of the Premiership; but far worse, his actions -- or rather his lack of timely action -- gave Hitler the time he needed to get air superiority, as well as tank superiority -- which enabled Hitler to conquer most of Europe.

Like Baldwin before him, Obama appears to be appeasing those who are committed to Israel's and our destruction, and giving them more time to build weapons that could be used to murder millions of people. In the light of history, Obama's actions are deplorable.

Concerning his use of the FBI to protect radicals from the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau, his actions are a sickening cross between political correctness and federal intrusion into local law enforcement prerogatives.

I must give Barack Hussein Obama credit for being true to his convictions.  His mentors, his father, and his own writing describe the United States of America as a colonial usurper that deserves to be put in its place.  Apologizing for America, abandoning Israel (until it becomes politically damaging) and now turning our country's counter-terrorist forces against each other; these actions are consistent and informative.”

 Terry finished by making a subtle reference to a Bible verse found in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 verse 17: “We must judge this man by the fruit of his actions; the fruit is rotten through and through.”