LETTERS: Monday
Fed the wrong prescription
It’s very disappointing that a man as seemingly intelligent and gifted as George Will has been duped by the propaganda being spread by the Federal Reserve and its outliers (“Like the dentist, the Fed is needed to alleviate our pain,” Dec. 16).
Congressman Ron Paul’s HR 1207 and the companion Senate Bill, S 604, are not about “populist resentment.” Instead, the legislation is about hard economic reality. There are enormous consequences to the Fed’s actions of the last 18 months. Those consequences will become apparent in the next two years, in the form of stagflation, higher unemployment, a declining dollar, broken credit markets, commercial real estate and bond market collapse and much more.
Mr. Will has taken the default position: Ben Bernanke and the Fed have to remain as they are even in the face of near total failure. That is exactly the wrong prescription in the face of the glaringly obvious; the Fed is broke and needs to be fixed.
The primary role of the Fed is price stability and, secondarily, to maintain low unemployment. On the first count it has failed miserably. Since the creation of the Fed in 1913 the value of the dollar has fallen almost 96 percent. In the previous 114 years from 1800 until 1913 the value of the dollar increased 49 percent without the central bank.
On the second count, unemployment, twice in the last 80 years (real vs. statistical) has reached more than 20 percent. In the current cycle real unemployment is destined to reach more than 25 percent. The 25 million Americans already unemployed are not fooled by the government’s statistical manipulations.
The Fed has created and lent trillions of dollars to domestic and foreign central and money center banks. It has manipulated the credit markets against the interest of American taxpayers in favor of the banks and Wall Street. There are only “front door” audits. What goes in and out of the backdoor is not reviewed by anyone outside the Fed. Congress created the Fed, why shouldn’t they see what it’s really doing?
Unfortunately, George Will has fallen into the Fed apologist camp largely with little consideration of the enormous damage it has already done to the dollar and the economy. It’s completely without consideration of the enormous damage coming in 2010 and 2011. The apologists will undoubtably try to blame everything else but the Fed. But make no mistake, it is time to audit the Fed and return the value of the dollar and our economy to the American people.
HR 1207 was added to another bill and passed out of the house with 317 co-sponsors. Call our U.S. senators and demand that the language of S 604 be passed intact and sent to the President.
Jeff Wright
Black Forest
It’s all in the details
While Doug Bruce is contemplating his “battle conditions” (Letters, Dec. 17) over the holidays, maybe he can take time to add a bit of detail to clarify the words he will use.
Searching “end” on dictionary.refernce.com results in a total of 44 entries. My bet is that if you polled the voting public as to their interpretation of the word “end” at least 25 percent of those 44 entries would be covered.
Being vague on the wording of ballot issue 300, and focusing the marketing on a single enterprise that’s obviously a tax in disguise, worked for Doug in getting his way with the city. Too bad the rest of the legitimate city enterprises have to suffer, maybe that is the price we have to pay for the council’s ruse.
If you have ever read actual legislation, actual ordinances and regulations, they are detailed and sometimes seemingly redundant for a reason. That reason is to prevent the very thing Doug is complaining about, misinterpretation. In the end his anger with the council is his own fault for not being detailed and explicit. Imagine the chaos he would have created had we been silly enough to let him stay in the legistlature.
Dan Spohn
Colorado Springs
Council: No means no
I’m no fan of Doug Bruce and I voted against 300. But it appears that City Council doesn’t quite understand the meaning of the word NO. I thought, flawed as it was, the Stormawater Enterprise was doing lots of important work like keeping us out of the Supreme Court with Pueblo. It appears that the citizens knew exactly what they meant with a overwhelming yes on 300: the city and I lost and they won, so get over it. The mayor and city legal eagles continue to parse the meaning of 300 while those who voted for it are regarded as idiots who didn’t really know what they were voting for. I say, end the enterprise right now, refund the voters’ money and get Doug Bruce out of the headlines. Continued attempts to stall and preserve what was a weasley fee will only further alienate voters. There was a time when it was said, “the voice of the people is the voice of the gods”. Listen up, Council.
John A Cunningham
Colorado Springs
City’s homeless problem
Today I decided to do something about the homeless situation. On Google there are numerous sites to see places that are way ahead of us. Start with “Calcutta slums,” then check out Reo de Janeiro, Nairobi, Patagonia, downtown L.A., Washington, New York, Detroit, etc, etc...(are you sick yet?) It’s amazing how much like some of them look like Fountain Creek, only larger with lots of babies. Whether we’re concerned about homeless, street people, out of work, displaced, disturbed, or even those who might choose to be there; our city has a problem. Solutions will be many and varied and many are already in place, but every person “out there,” needs our assistance. In a sense, it would have been nice if Jesus had not said, “The poor you will always have with you.” But it’s true and he admonished everyone to pitch in to help, whether it is allowing gleaning or simple things like giving a glass of water or whatever else we have. It’s complex, but doable!
Ray Lane
Colorado Springs
Solutions always cost us
It was just over a year ago that we were assured that we needed to bail out all the wealthy folks or the world as we know it would cease to exist. Then a few months ago we were told that we hadn’t given them quite enough and the world as we know it was still in danger of ceasing to exist. Now we are warned that despite saving all the wealthy folks’ mansions, limos and vacation homes, if we don’t pass the Healthscam bill the world as we know it is once again in danger of ceasing to exist. A more paranoid person than I might imagine that he sees a pattern forming here. Fortunately by exempting Nebraskans from paying their share we have dodged another cataclysmic event.
Some how even after all these super human efforts by our leaders we still have 10-plus percent unemployment. Fortunately the powers that be are now taking aim at this problem or, I’m sure, the world as we know it would once again be in peril. Anyone want to guess how they are going to solve this problem? Just one hint; if it doesn’t involve unburdening you of your money ... you’re wrong.
Dennis Runnells
Colorado Springs
