United Liberty

It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. “Reality control,” they called it: in Newspeak, “doublethink.” - George Orwell (1984)

This speech by Ron Paul in the House against the proposed auto industry bailout is delivered with the Congressman’s usual razor-sharp edge to almost devastating effect, putting the whole issue into a larger perspective that is so seldom heard in Washington, or in the press and other media. It really speaks for itself, as little more needs to be said. Were that there were more in Congress like Dr. Paul.

Note: This is a revision of a previous article that was entitled “Falling Prices: Why is Food Not Part of This Trend?”. The author has made the revisions to reflect the fact that crop commodities are in fact deflating, while maintaining that agriculture subsidies did in fact play a role in pushing the prices artificially high, prior to the current correction.

The recent sweeping bailouts of irresponsible businesses reminds me of a quote by the great Thomas Jefferson, “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”

That Jeffersonian sentiment doesn’t seem to jive with economist Mark Zada, who told NPR in an interview:

“What if the Fed and Treasury did not step in aggressively, and in fact they were right? Then the impact on the economy, and on jobs, on incomes, on profits and therefore on tax revenue would be even more serious.”