文语德

"Instead of congratulating themselves for cutting the deficit by zeroing out spending that was never going to happen, they’re considering using the “savings” from cutting that imaginary spending to pay for other (real) spending" Problem?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:44:21 +0000

submitted by vagabondvet to Libertarian
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And much of Arizona’s budget trouble can be attributed to a decade-old decision to finance an expansion of low-income health insurance coverage with revenue dependent on tobacco industry profits.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:27:27 +0000

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vagabondvet on Private First Class Bradley Manning Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize

2012-02-07T16:59:38.314686+00:00-0700

TIL the entire world is America's enemy.

vagabondvet on Private First Class Bradley Manning Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize

2012-02-07T14:31:59.565578+00:00-0700

Defense Secretary Gates said the leaks hadn't caused a single death last year. Treason has a specific definition in the Constitution: giving aid and comfort to enemies. How is granting the American people access to knowledge of crimes committed by their government giving aid and comfort to an enemy?

vagabondvet on "'Putting the F-35 into production years before the first test flight was acquisition malpractice,' said acting Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall, speaking at a Monday [6 February 2012] event . . . 'It should not have been done.'"

2012-02-07T14:28:58.423290+00:00-0700

>After all, the Pentagon does not need votes to make a purchasing decision about a plane. Today I learned the Pentagon doesn't receive its funding from Congressional appropriations. Got it. >By the way, the F-35 is not produced in 47 states. Boeing, Lockheed, and the other major defense contractors always hire subcontractors in dozens of states to produce aircraft for government contracts to make it less palatable for politicians to cut procurement.

vagabondvet on "'Putting the F-35 into production years before the first test flight was acquisition malpractice,' said acting Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall, speaking at a Monday [6 February 2012] event . . . 'It should not have been done.'"

2012-02-07T12:11:10.073994+00:00-0700

The political economy of defense spending is amazing. The exact number of votes the F35 depends on is probably closer to 526 (535 - three small state delegations) if it is produced in 47 states.

Vets are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with illnesses caused by US mismanagement of the environment.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:32:03 +0000

submitted by vagabondvet to Libertarian
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vagabondvet on Okay this is kind of funny.

2012-02-07T11:30:03.027866+00:00-0700

We love us some high fructose corn syrup.

vagabondvet on What no one else here is saying: Ron Paul is really not doing that good.

2012-02-06T20:37:41.847829+00:00-0700

Sounds like a Grammar Nazi.

US income taxes are far more progressive than those in Europe

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:36:55 +0000

submitted by vagabondvet to Libertarian
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vagabondvet on I'm Karen Kwiatkowski -- running for the Virginia's 6th District seat against Bob Goodlatte, entrenched RINO and SOPA cosponsor. AMA

2012-02-06T07:33:28.864709-07:00-0700

Abraham Lincoln, railroad lobbyist and corporate banking president? That guy was the greatest president?

vagabondvet on How did I do?

2012-02-04T05:48:30.910465-07:00-0700

And people commenting on Standard Oil don't seem to understand that it was a net gain for consumers. The price of kerosene dropped from 56 to 7 cents in 25 years.

vagabondvet on YO MOMMA'S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SO BIG!!

2012-02-04T05:42:06.996147-07:00-0700

The Fed ensuring people still use dollars and keeping the government-backed banking ponzi scheme alive? Investment banking has always been a mechanism dependent on the state. Private interests may have agitated for the creation of central banks, but they are always a mutually beneficial organization for the banking industry and the government. On the one hand, the banks have much of their risk eliminated by having a government institution to backstop them with taxpayer money and the courts. And the government gets a guaranteed industry to buy debt so it can continue the warfare and welfare state. So why did the Fed secretly bailout banks? Because the government depends on it. If banks fail, the money supply drops. If the money supply drops, it gets harder for the government to tax and spend. So the Fed helped out by propping up the banking industry. It just so happens that many politically connected bankers made tons of profits off the deal, which is to be expected with an industry so tied to the state. As for an earlier remark I made regarding investment banking being tied since its inception to the state, read "Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy" by Murray Rothbard. In it, he describes how up until the late 19th Century, investment banks only dealt in government paper. If you read more into railroad investment, toward the end of the 19th Century investment banking started trading in railroad bonds, a heavily subsidized industry. And now in the 20th and 21st Century housing debt has become another major investment banking security, which as we know is another government created problem by way of the secondary loan market created by Fannie Mae in the 1930s. tl;dr: the Fed is not a private bank, it works hand in hand with the government.

vagabondvet on Inmates add pig to police license plates

2012-02-03T19:08:47.645823-07:00-0700

Stickers convey importance.

vagabondvet on YO MOMMA'S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SO BIG!!

2012-02-03T19:03:28.326782-07:00-0700

The notion that the Fed acts independently of the government is preposterous at best. You know that the Fed wouldn't exist without the government giving it monopoly control over the currency, yes? You know that the Fed and the Treasury work **together** to inflate the currency through open market operations, yes? The Fed is a government entity. The policy decisions are made by the Washington appointed board, not the 12 regional banks. When the board doesn't make decisions the government likes (such as when Volcker stopped money creation in the early 80s to curtail inflation), they get the boot. >http://www.monetary.org/intro-to-monetary-reform Oh, okay. These are greenbackers, who know nothing at all about money or banking. Read Rothbard, not these clowns.

vagabondvet on YO MOMMA'S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SO BIG!!

2012-02-03T18:08:55.964476-07:00-0700

A federally created entity whose board is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and whose members are forced by law to buy shares is a private entity in your opinion? Go on, I'd love to hear more.

vagabondvet on Regarding Obama saying Jesus is where he gets his economic views from...

2012-02-03T11:49:25.742708-07:00-0700

Regardless, Jesus is certainly not where he gets his foreign policy views from.

Obama: "Policies are extension of my faith"

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:09:28 -0700

submitted by vagabondvet to Libertarian
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vagabondvet on Anyone See This Latest Gem? You can Almost Chew On The Irony.

2012-02-03T08:55:22.834293-07:00-0700

thatsthejoke.jpg

vagabondvet on What exactly is "libertarian left"?

2012-02-03T08:46:42.656335-07:00-0700

Read [this](http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/libertarian-left/) by Sheldon Richman. As the subtitle suggests, it is "Free-market anti-capitalism." To various degrees, different LeftLibs are anti-government and anti-corporation.

vagabondvet on Sen. Rand Paul Proposes Amendment 1490 to the STOCK Act which would force former elected officials to forfeit their benefits if they choose to become lobbyists

2012-02-02T16:43:40.457374-07:00-0700

Unless you get rid of voting entirely, you won't fix the problem with bad voting. Democracy is a tragedy of the commons, where everyone tries to vote themselves largesse at the expense of others. It's counter to the rational self-interest of a majority of voters to limit government power, because if they do they will get trampled by the interests of others. Read into public choice economics if you haven't already. It's fascinating.

vagabondvet on Senate Democrats introduce the Buffet Bill, which would require millionaires to pay at least 30% in federal income taxes

2012-02-02T12:26:05.942971-07:00-0700

You mean the same Standard Oil that was so good at producing kerosene that the price in the US dropped from 56 cents in 1865 to 7 cents in 1890? 1. Which regulations did they get passed in their favor? 2. How did Standard Oil harm the consumer?

vagabondvet on Sen. Rand Paul Proposes Amendment 1490 to the STOCK Act which would force former elected officials to forfeit their benefits if they choose to become lobbyists

2012-02-02T12:16:53.306248-07:00-0700

>Legislatures today are only interested in the short-term How would term limits lengthen the time focus of the legislature? >Some of us feel the executive branch should be nerfed as well. As do I, but without "nerfing" the executive branch before term-limiting the legislature, the problems will only get worse. >Both these arguments are invalid and irrelevant if discussed in terms of truly sensible electoral reform. Um. No.

vagabondvet on Sen. Rand Paul Proposes Amendment 1490 to the STOCK Act which would force former elected officials to forfeit their benefits if they choose to become lobbyists

2012-02-02T12:14:50.731197-07:00-0700

1. Who would Boobus vote for? The guy who promised to keep the Constitution in check, or the guy who promised to make all their wildest dreams come true in two years? 2. The executive branch isn't just the President. It includes the hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats under the various regulatory agencies. I guess I should have been clearer on that point from the beginning, but I figured if one were to make statements about the different branches of government they would understand that the bureaucracy is part of the executive branch. Are you proposing to term limit all bureaucrats too then?

vagabondvet on Sen. Rand Paul Proposes Amendment 1490 to the STOCK Act which would force former elected officials to forfeit their benefits if they choose to become lobbyists

2012-02-02T12:13:00.328628-07:00-0700

Who would Boobus vote for? The guy who promised to keep the Constitution in check, or the guy who promised to make all their wildest dreams come true in two years?