Gold Standard lasted Until Nixon

All 44 Allied nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and signed Agreements during the first three weeks of July 1944.

FDR had taken our currency off the Gold Standard. Bretton Woods was a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system, -- chief among them were --an obligation for each country to adopt a monetary policy that maintained the exchange rate of their currency within a fixed value—plus or minus one percent—in terms of gold and the ability of the IMF to bridge temporary imbalances of payments.

Don't let anyone tell you the gold standard is archaic and wasn't used recently. Nixon was fighting the war in Viet Nam and did not want to raise taxes (sounding familiar yet?) to pay for the war. When he ended Bretton Woods, in 1971, precious metals were stolen from our coinage. The 1960's quarters had silver worth over $5 today. The Federal Reserve had no limits to their power of expansion or inflation.

I feel so much better now that I've got that off my chest. More from NYTs.

And a hearing explaining rising prices and federal reserve actions

What Jefferson thought of English Politics

"The parliament is, by corruption, the mere instrument of the will of the administration. The real power and property in the government is in the great aristocratical families of the nation. The nest of office being too small for all of them to cuddle into at once, the contest is eternal, which shall crowd the other out. For this purpose, they are divided into two parties, the Ins and the Outs, so equal in weight that a small matter turns the balance. To keep themselves in, when they are in, every stratagem must be practised, every artifice used which may flatter the pride, the passions or power of the nation. Justice, honor, faith, must yield to the necessity of keeping themselves in place. The question whether a measure is moral, is never asked; but whether it will nourish the avarice of their merchants, or the piratical spirit of their navy, or produce any other effect which may strengthen them in their places. As to engagements, however positive, entered into by the predecessors of the Ins, why, they were their enemies; they did every thing which was wrong; and to reverse every thing they did, must, therefore, be right. This is the true character of the English government in practice, however different its theory; and it presents the singular phenomenon of a nation, the individuals of which are as faithful to their private engagements and duties, as honorable, as worthy, as those of any nation on earth, and whose government is yet the most unprincipled at this day known."
-- Thomas Jefferson to Governor John Langdon, March 5, 1810
Doesn't this apply to DC insiders now.

Oxymoron

Mr Buffett and Mr. Gates openly lobby others who have amassed great wealth to avoid capital gains taxes and inheritance taxes by donating to a foundation. They also freely espouse paying higher taxes is not only necessary, but the right thing to do... Am I the only one who sees this as an oxymoron?
In Nebraska, Buffett's capital gains taxes @ 7% of $Billion would produce $70Million in revenue and make up much of our budget shortfall.
After capital gains and later, death taxes are paid, foundation donors can still fund their charities only using after tax dollars. Better yet, research promising new industries in the US and fund them. The Bloom box, only one idea, creates electricity using 1/2 the fuel of current methods and is smaller than a dumpster. Americans are full of ideas and have literally changed the world. Investing creates jobs, grows the economy and teaches folks how to 'fish' rather than feeding them for a day. Risk means some winners and some losers, but many jobs.
By shielding their wealth, their dividends and real estate from the tax man, they should know the result is selfishly leaving the rest of us to make up the difference. Isn't the removal of billions from our struggling economy also a problem? Although I have no doubt their goals are unselfish, possibly they haven't thought through the "unseen" [Bastiat] lost benefits of added production, growth in the economy, job creation and worker independence that could have developed.
Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates, the least you can do is offer to drop your Foundation's tax exempt status to show you are sincere and do desire to pay a fair share of taxes.
Sent to the hill on 12/17/10

WikiLeaks

Dear readers, listen to audio of Naomi Wolf as she warns that TSA and Wikileaks are Master-Slave fights, not Left-Right.

A deeply worried Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America, fears that both TSA actions and the threatened use of the 1917 Espionage Act against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, a journalist, signal a rapid escalation on multiple fronts toward the end of liberty for all of us. Historically, the state always uses the excuse of national security as a tactic to subjugate citizens, forcing nakedness and sexual intrusions upon us, unless and until, courageous acts of resistance and mass opposition finally force these totalitarians, like the TSA, to back down. But we must act if we are to have a chance.


I love smart people who see past the rhetoric. This post from a Fox News from daisypug about WikiLeak's insurance file of unredacted data which exists to be 'unlocked' if they are shut down.

One of the stated goals for the release of the diplomatic cables is to expose American hypocrisy about freedoms of the press and speech. They chose to work with certain companies, like Amazon, specifically to show how quickly the government will demand censorship and how easily those corporations do cave. The U.S., Australian, and even Canadian governments have shown themselves to be no better than China when it comes to the distribution of information that actually has the power to change how those governments conduct themselves. They immediately start trying to shut down the website by any means legal, illegal, or completely against any sense of American democratic values.

You won't see anything that substantial on televised news, in the failing print publication industry, or even on mainstream websites.