After extensive research we’ve concluded that these are the Top 10 Signs you just might be a Socialist:

1. You advocate for equality for all and yet you want to raise taxes on certain social classes.
2. You support the troops but do not support the war and you did not support the war in Iraq but now you support the war in Afghanistan. So… do you want war or not?
3. You believe in bigger Government and yet you advocate for the government not to run your life.
4. You think that we shouldn’t outsource labor and yet you complain about the rising cost of consumer goods.
5. You want the Government to take control and regulate all private businesses and yet you work for or own a privately owned business.
6. You want to get paid the same as everybody else, but the average income in the US is probably less than what you are making.
7. You think that the Government should spend more money to stimulate the economy when the Government has no money.
8. You think that the tax increase will not affect you.
9. You sit around and wait for the Government to “help” you.
10. You blame the economy for putting you in the situation that you are in even though you’ve been in the same situation for years.

—–SPECIAL OFFER—–

The Federal Reserve is creating tens of trillions of new dollars, debasing our currency, and silently taxing us all through inflation. With tens of trillions in federal budget deficits on the horizon there is nowhere for the US dollar to go, but down. Refuse to be a victim of this flawed financial system, buy gold and silver NOW!

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Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bill in the Senate on April 1st calling for sweeping powers for federal regulators to “secure cyber communications.” The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (S.773) would give government authority over all networks considered part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The usual threats and scare tactics are used to justify giving Big Brother greater powers, including giving the President the power to shut down portions of the internet he deems a threat to national security, and access to vast amounts of digital data currently legally off limits.

Industry experts criticize the pervasive intrusion into private business standards and practices that would result from some of the finer points of the legislation, including a section that grants government exclusive licensing rights to IT professionals.

Here are the basics:

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards development and compliance.
2. Licensing and certification of IT professionals.
3. Regulation of domain name contracts.
4. Executive authority to “shut down the Internet” when in interests of national security.

The bill is still in its infancy being referred to Committee, so now is the time to stop it! Take the time to write or call each of your Congressional representatives. You can look up your representatives’ name and contact information using this tool.

Here is a sample letter you can cut and paste to use as your own:

Details of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (S.773) have recently come to my attention. I am writing to voice my utter contempt for this proposed legislation and wish to document opposition to what I consider unacceptable expansion of federal authority into the cyber domain.

S.773 would give the federal government excessive power in regulating the Internet. The power to unilaterally shut down private networks, to garnish unprecedented digital data currently outside the realm of legal authority, and intrusion into commercial practices of professional certification are unacceptable.

Please take serious consideration in evaluating this measure. I urge you to support freedom of the Internet, individual privacy in digital information, and continue to let the private sector make certification and employment decisions without federal coercion.

We must actively fight the erosion of liberty and individual freedom, preserving the values that made this country great. Thank you for your time!

Take a moment to leave a comment below to voice your support for this movement!

To receive updates and our daily newsletter subscribe by E-mail or RSS Feed.

Watch Sen. Rockefeller discuss the bill below. It is not at all evident he truly understands what he’s talking about, yet this man wields power to control us all:

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CALL TO ACTION:

On April 9th Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states rights under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Tenth Amendment states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

In his speech Gov. Perry states “I believe the federal government has become oppressive. I believe it has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion in the lives of its citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state.”

The Freedom Factory is launching a campaign to get every state government to adopt comparable legislation, reaffirming their legitimate rights within the context of a free American Republic.

We need to spread the word, to mobilize residents from every state in the Union to remind our public servants that we will not tolerate erosion of our rights and the Constitution that guarantees them.

Here’s a sample letter you are urged to send every public servant in your jurisdiction. Send this to your state’s governor and state legislatures, and leave a comment below to sign our petition:

The federal government has grown too big and too powerful, infringing upon the legal sovereign rights of our state affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There is a resurgent federalist movement best highlighted by the Texas Legislature that I want implemented in [list your state]. The Texas legislature will soon be voting on House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 that reaffirms state sovereignty. We need similar legislation in our state.

No one in Washington D.C. knows how to run our state better than our own residents. I am tired of our government bowing to federal authority. I demand that we reassert our right to self governance. I urge you to do all you can to support this movement and regain control of our state from Washington D.C.

The residents of this state need you to protect them from a growing central government. I hope that you have the courage to stand up for those to whom you are responsible.

Here’s a great resource for finding the names and contact information for your elected representatives. Take a few minutes to cut and paste the sample letter into an e-mail and let these lawmakers know we mean business. Enough is enough!

Please join our cause and subscribe via e-mail if you want to continue following these updates and fight to preserve our Constitutionally protected freedoms.

You can read more about Gov. Perry’s speech here, or watch it directly below:

—–SPECIAL OFFERS—–

The Federal Reserve is creating tens of trillions of new dollars, debasing our currency, and silently taxing us all through inflation. With tens of trillions in federal budget deficits on the horizon there is nowhere for the US dollar to go, but down.

Refuse to be a victim of this flawed financial system, buy gold and silver NOW!

With hyperinflation and risk of economic disaster increasing with each dollar Congress recklessly spends, it pays to be prepared: Consider stocking up on Emergency Supplies:

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4/9/2009 – AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Join our crusade to RESTORE THE REPUBLIC and subscribe to E-mail updates.

Click here to petition your state to follow Texas’ lead!

Highlights from transcript:

I’m here today to offer my unwavering support to the millions of Texans that are tired of Washington D.C. trying to come down here and telling us how to run Texas.

The 10th Amendment was enacted by folks who remembered what it was like to have a very repressive government, to be under the thumb of tyrants and an all powerful government. Unfortunately, the protections it guarantees have melted away over the course of the years.

You’re prob familiar with that old adage of how to boil a frog: You just get him to sit there in that pot and you turn up the heat a little bit by a little bit, before you know it the frog doesn’t realize it, but he’s done.

And since the U.S. constitution has been ratified the federal government has been slowly turning up the heat, and they’ve eroded the notion of states rights.

Texans know best how to govern Texas. We’re proof that good things happen when government lowers taxes, and lowers regulations, it reduces spending and encourages private sector growth.

I happen to believe that the constitution does not empower the federal government to overrule state laws without restraint. I agree with Texas’s 7th governor, Sam Houston, who said “Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.”

I believe the federal government has become oppressive. I believe it has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion in the lives of its citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state.

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President Obama pushes ratification of gun trafficking treaty, housing market continues to crash-new home starts down 11% and foreclosures jumping 17%, Senate to call panel to investigate illegal NSA domestic spying, Obama unveils plan to spend another $13 billion and build high speed trains (it’s a down payment), Democrats attack Texas Gov. Perry over secession comments at tea party, Freedom Watch sues dictator Hugo Chavez for acts of terrorism and human rights violations, and a bit of good news: mystery donors give $45 million to universities…

Obama Pushes Ratification Of Gun Trafficking Treaty. President Obama is pressing the Senate to ratify an arms treaty intended to curb the flow of guns and ammunition to drug cartels. The treaty seeks to establish a system for import, export, and transfer of firearms, as well as bolstering cooperation between law enforcement agencies investigating illegal trafficking.

Housing Market Continues to Crash. A drop in new home construction and an increase in the foreclosure rate both signal that housing has far to go before stabilizing. New home starts fell 10.8% and the number of foreclosure notices jumped 17% in just the last month.

Alternative Investment Idea: With real estate prices still falling, stocks whipping around like crazy, and even U.S. Treasury bonds becoming increasingly risky, it pays to investigate alternative forms of investing. One method I use regularly is selling market insurance.

Every investment involves risk and everyone has their own objectives. Some people want low risk and are OK with low returns. Iron Condor trading strategies turn these people into your clients.

Learn how to use options to start your own insurance business, having the market pay you to insure its risks. Get paid regular premiums every month! This Iron Condor trading system will teach you how to become your own insurance company, managing the market risks you assume. Don’t go into this blindly! Learn how the experts use options to generate steady income.

Sen. Feinstein Calls For Panel To Investigate Illegal NSA Wiretaps. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), who heads the Senate intelligence committee, said she will hold a hearing to examine the National Security Agency’s (NSAs) interception of domestic communications. This comes after new Justice Department reports that wiretapping went beyond what Congress had authorized. The NSA has been systemically collecting e-mail and telephone call records on Americans without having first obtained court warrants. Sen. Feinstein says the hearing will take place within a month.

Obama Unveils Plan To Build High-Speed Trains. President Obama unveiled an ambitious new plan for developing high-speed passenger rail lines in at least 10 regions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-the $787 billion stimulus plan-allots $8 billion for this project. An additional $1 billion will be requested in the President’s budget over the next five years. President Obama states that these funds will “jump start” the projects, but it is not clear how much this will all cost when complete.

Obama’s at it again-spending tens of billions on investments he thinks will make America better off in the long run. Whether or not these government “investments” pay off, trillions of dollars of resource are being transferred throughout the economy. Read my book, Obamanomics: How To Invest Over the Next Administration to learn how to make government policy work for you!

Democrats Attack Gov. Perry Over Secession Comments. Democrats are furious over comments made by Texas governor Rick Perry following a Tea Party in Austin on Wednesday. Perry suggested that at some point Texans might get so fed up that they would want to leave the union. Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-TX) said that some people associate talk of secession with racial division and the Civil War. “Talk of secession is an attack on our country. It can be nothing else. It is the ultimate anti-American statement.” House Democrats are proposing a resolution expressing “complete and total disagreement with any fringe element advocating the secession of Texas or any other state from our one and indivisible Union.”

U.S. Group Sues Venezuelan Dicatator Hugo Chavez. Freedom Watch, a nonprofit group is suing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez over acts of terrorism and human rights violations. This includes conspiring with Columbian guerrillas, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

Mystery Donors Give $45 Million to Universities. During the past few weeks at least eight universities have received gifts totaling nearly $45 million. The schools had to promise not to try to find out the giver’s identity. It is not clear whether the gifts came from an individual or organization.

You just finished reading Freedom Under Fire, Apr. 17th, 2009 on The Freedom Factory. Please consider leaving a comment!

In a review of intelligence activities by the Justice Department, the National Security Agency (NSA) was caught abusing its domestic surveillance authority, accessing e-mails and phone calls within the United States.

Despite the Justice Department taking “comprehensive steps to correct the situation and bring the program into compliance,” we should all write our legislators complaining about this infraction of our rights and demanding they take steps to prevent future illegal spying on our citizens. Here’s a sample letter you can send your representatives:

Senator/Representative _________,

Domestic eavesdropping is a serious issue for which I harbor deep concerns. Although limited authority to investigate suspicious individuals is reasonable given due cause, it is entirely unacceptable for any element of government to conduct intelligence gathering activities on the general citizenry without prior and specific court approval.

Law adopted by Congress in 2007 requires court approval to monitor purely domestic communications. Violation of this law by any public body should be immediately investigated, details made public, and offenders punished. Consequences must be made clear to public servants who violate the law.

Continued infractions of our liberties will not be tolerated. We look to Congress to re-evaluate domestic surveillance legislation and ensure it adequately protects our inalienable rights as citizens of a free country.

Here’s a great resource for finding the names and contact information for your Congressional representatives. Take a few minutes to cut and paste the sample letter into an e-mail and let these lawmakers know we mean business. Enough is enough!

Please join our cause and subscribe via e-mail if you want to continue following these updates and fight to preserve our Constitutionally protected freedoms.

Domestic eavesdropping has been a contentious issue since 2005, when it was discovered that for years following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the NSA intercepted international phone conversations and e-mails involving U.S. citizens without a warrant.

In 2007 Congress ended that program and passed legislation requiring the NSA to get court approval to monitor the purely domestic communications of Americans who came under suspicion. Since details of the Justice Department’s findings have not been made public it is not clear what aspects of the current law have been broken by the agency.

—–SPECIAL OFFERS—–

The Federal Reserve is creating tens of trillions of new dollars, debasing our currency, and silently taxing us all through inflation. With tens of trillions in federal budget deficits on the horizon there is nowhere for the US dollar to go, but down.

Refuse to be a victim of this flawed financial system, buy gold and silver NOW!

With hyperinflation and risk of economic disaster increasing with each dollar Congress recklessly spends, it pays to be prepared: Consider stocking up on Emergency Supplies:

You just finished reading Stop NSA From Spying On Americans on The Freedom Factory. Please consider leaving a comment!

Intelligence officials say NSA exceeding legal limits on domestic spying-intercepting private e-mails and phone calls, 43% of Americans pay no taxes or actually receive money from government (i.e. receive your money!), consumer prices mixed, nationwide anti-tax protests blast bailouts and big government, Obama vows to simplify the tax code, America has its first “Border Czar,” White House pushes for new government health insurance, Federal Reserve actually considers telling the public what it’s doing, central bank claims recession may be ending soon, Homeland Security labels returning war vets as “right-wing terrorists,” and Texas governor rallies tea partiers with states’ rights agenda…

NSA Domestic Spying Exceeds Legal Authority. The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the legal limits set by Congress last year. Several intelligence officials said the N.S.A. has been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications on a significant and systemic basis.

Not All Taxpayers Are Created Equal. The Tax Policy Center estimates that for 2009, 43% of tax units-most of which are low income households that may or may not file a return-will have either zero or a negative income tax liability, meaning the government will actually pay them. And when we say “government” will pay them, we mean government will take other peoples’ money and redistribute.

Learn about the real causes of the financial crisis and how to profit from the storm yet to come! Crash Proof, written by Peter Schiff, is one of the best books on the subject. Peter Schiff is a legend for accurately predicting the real estate collapse, subprime mortgage meltdown, and stock market fallout.

Consumer Prices Mixed: General Prices Down, Core Prices Up. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its consumer price index fell 0.1% in March, compared to the previous month. Consumer prices are 0.4% lower this month than they were in March 2009. However, core prices-which exclude volatile food and energy-are up 1.8% from last year at this time. The inflation-deflation debate has yet to be concluded.

Boost Your Career, Earn Your CFA. Tough economic times mean we should focus on cutting spending, repairing our balance sheets, and enhancing our careers. Financial professionals should consider earning a CFA charter to boost your earning potential and make you more competitive in your labor market. Check out this CFA study program to help pass the Level I exam.

Nationwide Anti-Tax Protests Blast Bailout And Big Government. More than 300 organized “tea party” protests raged across the country on Wednesday. Protesters complained about the growing size of government, their tax burdens, and recent bailouts. At one protest a sign read, “I read as much of the stimulus bill as my Congresswoman.” Another read, “You can’t put lipstick on Socialism.” Conservatives are proving increasing sophistication in using social media to organize such events.

Obama Vows To Simplify U.S. Tax Code Amidst Protests. President Obama promised to rewrite the “monstrous” U.S. tax code as protesters marked April 15th with anti-tax demonstrations across the nation. Obama said he’s renewing his commitment to a simpler tax code, which he defined as one that rewards work and the pursuit of the American dream. These comments are entirely contrary to the massive redistribution programs his administration is pursuing.

The U.S. Now Has A “Border Czar” To Watch Mexican Border. Former U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin has been appointed the new “border czar.” Bersin will oversee Homeland Security’s efforts to end drug cartel violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and reduce the flow of illegal immigrants.

Obama Administration Pushes Government-Run Health Insurance. President Obama’s top health care adviser, Nancy-Ann DeParle, said on Wednesday that she was optimistic about implementing a new government-run health insurance program. The plan would compete with private insurers to provide affordable coverage to the uninsured. Government involvement would be anything but “competitive” since they are uninterested in profit and could easily set prices below market to drive private insurers out of business.

Fed Considers Actually Telling Public What It Is Doing With “Emergency Programs.” The Federal Reserve is mulling over whether or not it will provide more information about recent emergency programs to the public. This will probably entail increasing disclosure on the collateral it holds against loans to financial firms. Central bank bureaucrats are also thinking about possible press conferences. These statements come after increasing public and Congressional outcry over secrecy and lack of oversight.

Learn the value investing style that made Warren Buffett the world’s most successful investor. This fully automated way to invest like Warren Buffett is worth a quick look.

Fed Claims Recession Is Slowing, May be Bottoming. The Federal Reserve cited today that although the U.S. economy is continuing to weaken, the pace at which it is declining has slowed. Officials claim this is a sign that the recession may be nearing an end.

Homeland Security Report Calls War Veterans Potential Terrorists. A Homeland Security intelligence assessment characterizes military veterans as right-wing extremists. The assessment was sent to law enforcement officials last week, warning that right-wing extremists could use the bad economy and discontent over President Obama as recruiting tools for veterans returning from war.

Texas Governor Rallies Tea Partiers With States’ Rights Agenda. Texas Governor Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax “tea party” Wednesday with his opposition to the growth of federal power and its incursion into state sovereignty. Gov. Perry says federal officials have abandoned the country’s founding principles of limited government and are strangling Americans with taxation, spending, and debt.

You just finished reading Freedom Under Fire, Apr. 16th, 2009 on The Freedom Factory. Please consider leaving a comment!

Has the federal government risen above its constitutional right to tax and spend billions of dollars on pork? What argument do we have which puts a seemingly all powerful federal government back in its constitutional place and restores the principle of federalism?

James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, established a concept of dual sovereignty, “…where the state and federal governments might coexist as sovereigns over the same space, representing and acting on behalf of the people of the United States, the ultimate source of authority….,” writes, Alex Kozinski and Steven Engel in an article entitled, “Recapturing Madison’s Constitution: Federalism without the Blank Check,” published in James Madison and the Future of Limited Government.

However, this political theory of federalism has come to a crashing halt, in part, due to poor interpretations, by Congress and the U. S. Supreme Court, of what is know as the General Welfare Clause. Once again Professor Robert G. Natelson has done excellent research of what he believes to be the true meaning of The General Welfare Clause. I have only included his introduction and Conclusion to the 56 page law review article with a link that you can download to rest of the article for further reading. I have left his footnotes off this short post. [Click Here to download his excellent article]

If we are going to take the battle, for liberty, and constitutional government, as intended by the Framers, seriously and with effective arguments, we must do a little heavy reading. Enjoy!

—–SPECIAL OFFERS—–

The Federal Reserve is creating tens of trillions of new dollars, debasing our currency, and silently taxing us all through inflation. With tens of trillions in federal budget deficits on the horizon there is nowhere for the US dollar to go, but down.

Refuse to be a victim of this flawed financial system, buy gold and silver NOW!

With hyperinflation and risk of economic disaster increasing with each dollar Congress recklessly spends, it pays to be prepared: Consider stocking up on Emergency Supplies:

THE GENERAL WELFARE CLAUSE AND THE PUBLIC TRUST*

By Robert G. Natelson

What think you of [Hamilton’s] commentary…on the terms “general welfare”? – The federal Gov’. has been hitherto limited to the specific powers – If not only the means but the objects are unlimited, the parchment had better be thrown into the fire at once….
-James Madison

INTRODUCTION

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general welfare of the United States: but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States

This is the Taxation Clause – the first in the Constitution’s enumeration of congressional powers. It has been controversial since it first saw the day of light. The most controversial part of all has been the phrase in the middle (“to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and the general welfare of the United States”). It is called the General Welfare Clause, and it is the subject of this Article.

The General Welfare Clause is one of the two principal constitutional pillars supporting the modern welfare state – the other being the commerce clause. While the Commerce Clause supports most unfunded federal regulation, the General Welfare Clause is said to include an implied spending power used to justify federal spending programs and the regulatory conditions attached to them. For that reason, the General Welfare Clause is sometimes called the Spending Clause.

This Article examines the three traditional of the General Welfare Clause. These are, first, that it is a plenary grant of regulatory and spending power to Congress; second, that it is a plenary grant of spending power only; and, third, that it is not a grant of power at all. I find severe textual problems with the first and second interpretations, and my subsequent historical analysis confirms that those interpretations have little basis in original understanding. I find that the third view is the most textually sound.

Examination of history, however, shows that the General Welfare Clause is more than a mere “non-grant” of spending power. It was intended to be a sweeping denial of power – specifically, it was intended to impose on Congress a standard of impartiality borrowed from the law of trusts, thereby limiting the legislature’s capacity to “play favorites” with federal tax money.

Of course, some may argue that the United States Supreme Court already has adopted an interpretation of the General Welfare Clause, and that it has been settled for some time. An academic response is that an authoritative historical understanding of the Clause will help us assess the forces that induced the Supreme Court to get its own version wrong (or right). A practical response is this: One lesson of the late twentieth century is that in politics (of which constitutional interpretation is arguably a branch), the proposition that everything is settled is a safe bet only for losers. The world is changing too fast to take any political settlement for granted. Ask the people of East Berlin.

CONCLUSION

The current Supreme Court interpretation, the Hamiltion-Story view, stands the original meaning of the General Welfare Clause on its head. The Clause was not a qualified grant of spending authority, as Hamilton claimed. Nor did it merely point to other powers, as Story understood Madison to have said. On the contrary, the General Welfare Clause was an unqualified denial of spending authority. It did not add to federal powers; it subtracted from them.

The General Welfare Clause was designed as a trust-style rule denying Congress authority to levy taxes for any but general, national purposes. Because the Clause prevented Congress from using tax revenue for local or special interest purposes, the Clause indirectly qualified the appropriation power. Even if some enumerated power could be enlisted to support the appropriation, federal tax money was not to be used for the private benefit of a museum – however worthy – in Savannah, nor an artist – however struggling – in New York.

What was to happen if government official violated the restrictions of the General Welfare Clause? Not many of the Federalists addressed the issue. But three did. David Ramsay (“Civis”) rather naively suggested only electoral retaliation. Noah Webster suggested that remedy, but also countermeasures from the states and impeachment. At the Virginia ratifying convention, Federalist leader George Nicholas offered the answer most relevant today: [W]ho is to determine the extent of such powers? I say, the same power which, inn all well-regulated communities, determines the extent of legislative powers. If they exceed these powers, the judiciary will declare it void, or else the people will have a right to declare it void, enforcement ultimately by the courts.

*52 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1 (2003)

Dr. Natelson, has kindly, given For Freedom’s Sake, permission to make his Article available as a free downloadable PDF file. Click here to download. Please read this document and be informed as to it contents. Send it to your friends or send them here.

Professor Natelson teaches Constitutional Law, Legal History, Advanced Constitutional Law, and a seminar on the First Amendment. He is a recognized national expert on the framing and adoption of the United States Constitution, and on several occasions he has been the first to uncover key background facts about the Constitution’s meaning. He has written for some of the nation’s most prestigious academic journals. Moreover, his work is frequently cited in top journals, such as Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Georgetown Law Journal. He also edits the web page, The Scholarship of the Original Understanding of the Constitution, www.umt.edu/law/original-understanding and collected and edited the material that forms the Documentary History of the Ratification of the Montana Constitution.

This Website is Dr. Natelson’s home site at The University of Montana

http://www.umt.edu/law/faculty/natelson.htm

This website provides a portal for selected scholarship that examines the original understanding and original meaning of the U.S. Constitution. A secondary purpose is to provide links to online resources useful to those researching the Constitution’s original understanding or original meaning.

http://www.umt.edu/law/original-understanding/

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We are moving closer towards a political economy every day. Every dollar borrowed, taxed, printed, and spent by government really comes from the private sector.  Trillions of dollars of national resources are being allocated by politicians and bureaucrats towards things they claim will benefit our economy. Congress just passed a $3.6 trillion budget ($1.2 trillion in deficit), and combined the Federal Reserve and Treasury have dumped $13 trillion into the economy in the last 16 months. What we must all ask ourselves right now is whether or not we trust government with our money?

The stock market certainly seems to believe in Big Brother:

Since the absolute low in early March, the Nasdaq is up 27.8%, the S&P 500 is up 24.5%, and the Dow Industrial Average is up 22.5%. These are massive gains in an extremely short period of time. Are we finally seeing results from TARP and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? Is Congress doing something right, and is the market finally warming up to President Obama?

We trust government for so much these days. We have the military, police forces, regulations, laws, courts, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, and myriad other programs upon which we have come to depend. Soon we’ll need government to run our health care, regulate carbon emissions, tell cows how much they can fart, and give us permission to take sight-seeing trips to Antarctica! But how much do we really need of some adults to tell other adults what to do? That is, after all, what government boils down to.

Being that government officials are drawn from the same population pool as everyone else, we ought to question their omnipotence. Are they fallible just like you and I? Or does winning an election or securing a federal union job suddenly strip one of human vice?

In “Contributing Factors To The Housing Boom” I wrote that multiple layers of government caused the housing troubles currently tearing apart our economy. Without the Federal Reserve pumping up the money supply, without Congress creating Fannie and Freddie and mandating they provide junk loans to people who had no chance of repaying them, and without local and state micro-regulators dictating everything from building sizes to where and how you could build, the housing market may have simply functioned like any other market. We didn’t exactly witness cheese prices behaving “irrationally exuberantly” over the last decade!

So if we accept that the people running government are fallible, and that they even have some blame in the distorted, crashing economy in which we are all forced to eke a living, we ought to question all the assumptions they expect us to take for granted. Maybe Americans should cut back on spending and save? Maybe interest rates should float higher to represent scarcity of capital for real economic activities? Maybe adding another $10 trillion to the national debt over the course of the next decade is not a good thing?

If you think that what government is doing is good-if you trust them with your life’s savings, then go ahead and listen to your regular financial adviser. Roll your savings back into the stock market. Buy government bonds. Oh, and don’t forget to buy another SUV, a bigger house, line your walls with gold the IMF is selling, and buy yourself that marble floor you’ve always wanted! The good times will return!

Or maybe they won’t. Our government and the Federal Reserve are rolling dice with our futures. They are playing games with our currency, and they are betting that their blind spending of confiscated trillions will magically restore our economy to pre-crisis conditions. This is a tall order!

Should you suddenly become suspicious, here are a few things you can do to protect yourself:

1) Avoid non-dividend paying stocks. Seek yield in everything you do. Stocks are decent inflation hedges since companies can increase prices to compensate, but you should avoid stocks that retain 100% of earnings. Retained earnings are essentially bets that the company can earn sufficiently high returns on incremental capital expenditures. In a tough business environment this becomes less realistic.

2) Buy short-term debt instruments. Avoid long-term maturity bonds since increasing inflation will wipe out coupon payments and resale value on the secondary market. The big exception to this is if you require a fixed income for living expenses for which the current risk-adjusted yield provides. If you can lock in rates you know you can live on, by all means do so.

3) Buy real estate. During an inflationary environment you want to be a net debtor holding fixed rate liabilities. Each new dollar printed makes all the others less valuable, so you might as well use this to your advantage-repay fixed rate debt with less valuable dollars in the future. The second benefit of real estate is that rents can grow with inflation, so long as your tenants do not hold long-term leases already locked in at pre-inflation terms.

4) Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIP). These are Treasury securities with fixed real returns supplemented by an inflation premium. These are good so long as the government issuing them remains solvent. To diversify this risk consider the international equivalent, WIP.

5) Commodities. When the world can no longer trust our paper money people turn to commodities as a refuge. Commodities are tangible and have real utility, unlike government paper. Gold and silver are traditionally viewed as currency replacements, agricultural goods always have value in that people must eat, and energy holds the world together. Consider DBC, USO, GLD, SLV, GSG, and DBA, to name a few.

If you’re really savvy and feeling bold you could short the market, hedge with VIX, or join a local militia.

—–SPECIAL OFFERS—–

The Federal Reserve is creating tens of trillions of new dollars, debasing our currency, and silently taxing us all through inflation. With tens of trillions in federal budget deficits on the horizon there is nowhere for the US dollar to go, but down.

Refuse to be a victim of this flawed financial system, buy gold and silver NOW!

With hyperinflation and risk of economic disaster increasing with each dollar Congress recklessly spends, it pays to be prepared: Consider stocking up on Emergency Supplies:

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A collection of criminal advocacy groups, guilds, and workers unions sponsored this advertisement. Please consider the feelings of your local criminals and keep guns out of the hands of the law abiding citizenry:

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