International Bailout Brings Us Closer to Economic Collapse [Ron Paul]

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, 14th District ^ | 2009-06-22

[rabscuttle385]

Last week Congress passed the war supplemental appropriations bill. In an affront to all those who thought they voted for a peace candidate, the current president will be sending another $106 billion we don’t have to continue the bloodshed in Afghanistan and Iraq, without a hint of a plan to bring our troops home.

Many of my colleagues who voted with me as I opposed every war supplemental request under the previous administration seem to have changed their tune. I maintain that a vote to fund the war is a vote in favor of the war. Congress exercises its constitutional prerogatives through the power of the purse, and as long as Congress continues to enable these dangerous interventions abroad, there is no end in sight, that is until we face total economic collapse.

From their spending habits, an economic collapse seems to be the goal of Congress and this administration. Washington spends with impunity domestically, bailing out and nationalizing everything they can get their hands on, and the foreign aid and IMF funding in this bill can rightly be called an international bailout!

As Americans struggle through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, this emergency supplemental appropriations bill sends $660 million to Gaza, $555 million to Israel, $310 million to Egypt, $300 million to Jordan, and $420 million to Mexico. Some $889 million will be sent to the United Nations for so-called “peacekeeping” missions. Almost one billion dollars will be sent overseas to address the global financial crisis outside our borders. Nearly $8 billion will be spent to address a “potential pandemic flu” which could result in mandatory vaccinations for no discernable reason other than to enrich the Pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccine.

Perhaps most outrageous is the $108 billion loan guarantee to the International Monetary Fund. These new loan guarantees will allow that destructive organization to continue spending taxpayer money to prop up corrupt leaders and promote harmful economic policies overseas.

Not only does sending American taxpayer money to the IMF hurt citizens here, evidence shows that it even hurts those it pretends to help. Along with IMF loans comes IMF required policy changes, called Structural Adjustment Programs, which amount to forced Keynesianism. This is the very fantasy-infused economic model that has brought our own country to its knees, and IMF loans act as the Trojan Horse to inflict it on others. Perhaps most troubling is the fact that leaders in recipient nations tend to become more concerned with the wishes of international elites than the wishes and needs of their own people. Argentina and Kenya are just two examples of countries that followed IMF mandates right off a cliff. The IMF frequently recommends currency devaluation to poorer nations, which has wiped out the already impoverished over and over. There is also a long list of brutal dictators the IMF happily supported and propped up with loans that left their oppressed populace in staggering amounts of debt with no economic progress to show for it.

We are buying nothing but evil and global oppression by sending your tax dollars to the IMF. Not to mention there is no Constitutional authority to do so. Our continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan does not make us safer at home, but in fact undermines our national security. I vehemently opposed this Supplemental Appropriations Bill and was dismayed to see it pass so easily.

[rabscuttle385]

ping!

[villagerjoel]

Ron Paul!

[Seruzawa]

I always thought it interesting that the attacks that finally brought down Newt Gingrich only started after he was throwing around disconnecting the US from the IMF.

After all, the IMF is the primary agency used to get nations tied to the international power game of eternal debt.

[ChrisInAR]

Thanx for the post, Rabs....I’ve been trying to fend myself off of a couple of Ron Paul haters on anopther thread for the last several minutes. It’s saddening how so many people who call themselves “conservative” see President Bush as a saint while @ the same time they slander Rep. Paul.

[randomhero97]

It’s because they are brainwashed. Tyranny is fine to them when it’s issues they agree on. They are not true conservatives.

[SECURE AMERICA]

I maintain that a vote to fund the war is a vote in favor of the war.

I maintain that a vote to fund the “war” is a vote to fund our troops that are fighting to defend this nation from the islamofacists that would see us destroyed.

[4rcane]

I don’t hate Ron Paul, but he does stoke conspiracy theories with ppl like Alex Jones and his morality seem to stop at the country’s border. What happens outside is none of his business. He will not voice opposition to outside oppressive dictators, but he will do business with them

[Bon mots]

IMPOSSIBLE!

Obama ended the war in March!

Obama will have troops out of Iraq by March...

[rstrahan]

We either decide to wipe out every dictator, or not. Our half-@**ed approach has led to a lack of a decisive decision. We failed in Gulf War I, and we’re working towards it in GWII.

I was not for going in, since we cloaked the decision in UN resolutions. But then, we should have hammered everyone who lifted a gun against us. Instead, we did nothing for three years and let the opposition firm up against us.

Patton was rolling in his grave over this war.

[ex-snook]

Seems like Paul does not realize how much we are into war. The first half of last century was mainly in Europe, WW I and WW II. The second half was in the Pacific, Korea and Vietnam. Now we are in the ME with Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran under consideration.

Maybe if we have anything left we can venture into South America and Africa and take out somebody there. Those Brits will have nothing on us. We can show the world that we are in charge of international gun control and world democracy and the enforcer of UN resolutions. God Help Us.

[djsherin]

Ping

[Bokababe]

"I maintain that a vote to fund the war is a vote in favor of the war."

That's the thing. Since several Presidents started ignoring the part of the Constitution that says "only Congress can declare war" by never attempting to let Congress vote on a declaration of war, the only power left to Congress is "the power of the purse".

Problem is that when a Congressman votes against giving money to the war because he never actually gets to vote on declaring war, then he gets accused of "not supporting our troops", "being unpatriotic", etc.

Plus to add insult to injury, they throw into the bill these additional pet projects for the IMF, and Congress -- unless they are attached to the President -- becomes virtually powerless.

The way it is today, might as well tell Congress to go home, because Obama's got it covered.

[Inappropriate Laughter]

What happens outside is none of his business. He will not voice opposition to outside oppressive dictators, but he will do business with them He will voice opposition, and does not want the US government doing business with them, see below:

Your Taxes Subsidize China

by Ron Paul
by Ron PaulEach year the people of the United States write a check to subsidize China, one of the most brutal, anti-American regimes in the world. Lately it has been in vogue for everyone in Washington to eagerly denounce the egregious abuses of the Chinese people at the hands of their communist dictators. Yet no one in our federal government has been willing to take China on in any meaningful way.

Very few people realize that China is one of the biggest beneficiaries of American taxpayer subsidies. Thanks to the largesse of Congress and the President, China enjoys subsidized trade and the flow of US tax dollars into Beijing's coffers.

I offered an amendment before the House of Representatives last month that would have ended the $4 billion subsidy our nation quietly gives China through the US government's Export-Import Bank. The bank underwrites the purchases of goods and services by the Chinese government and others around the world. Unfortunately, only a minority of Democrats or Republicans supported my measure. Apparently, many members of Congress are happy to bash China, but don’t mind lending her U.S. taxpayer money at sweetheart interest rates.

Some of your money went to fund a nuclear power plant in Shanghai owned by the China National Nuclear Corporation, a state-run company. Many US-based multinational corporations benefit directly from Export-Import Bank subsidies to China, including Boeing, Westinghouse, and McDonnell Douglas. So it’s not hard to understand that business trumps the feelgood rhetoric condemning China.

There is no constitutional authority for Congress to make loans to any country, and certainly no basis for giving away the hard-earned cash of Americans to communist leaders who brutalize their women and children with forced abortions, and persecute Christians for their faith.

In reality, there is very little the federal government can do about conditions in China. Under our Constitution, the federal government simply does not have the authority to point a gun at Chinese leaders and force them to respect the principles of liberty. It just doesn't work that way.

I believe that by engaging the Chinese people, opening personal dialogue, and seeking to change their hearts and minds, we soon will see that regime collapse. The laws of economics dictate that a communist system cannot stand for long. But in the same way, I firmly believe there is a higher law which dictates that people exposed to the principles of liberty will not for long allow themselves to remain shackled to an oppressive government. Economic freedom, i.e. capitalism, now has a strong foothold in China. The Chinese people may soon demand political, religious, and personal freedom as well. But in the meantime let’s stop sending tax dollars to support a government we claim to despise.

August 15, 2006

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas

[djsherin]

***As Americans struggle through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, this emergency supplemental appropriations bill sends $660 million to Gaza, $555 million to Israel, $310 million to Egypt, $300 million to Jordan, and $420 million to Mexico. Some $889 million will be sent to the United Nations for so-called “peacekeeping” missions. Almost one billion dollars will be sent overseas to address the global financial crisis outside our borders. Nearly $8 billion will be spent to address a “potential pandemic flu” which could result in mandatory vaccinations for no discernable reason other than to enrich the Pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccine.***

Doesn’t this kook understand that throwing money at problems makes them go away?

[dcwusmc]

Then you would be wrong. We do not have to keep our troops in Iraq or Afghanistan or 170 other countries in order to keep this nation secure. We DO, however, have to secure our borders, something no one has wanted to do for decades. Once we do THAT we can discuss other methods, but until we secure our own borders, we need to stop pretending that all will be well by keeping our troops in foreign nations. It doesn’t work that way. And that is my professional opinion, as one who spent his adult life in the service of my country.

[Wolfie]

Empire always ends the same way. Good for defense contractors I suppose. Merely defending our nation would put a big dent in profits.

[dcwusmc]

You are absolutely correct. Mind you, I want our folks to have the absolute best of everything when they MUST go in harms’ way, but I am hardly a champion of a war every 3-4 years just to keep our hand in...

[mysterio]

I’ve been trying to fend myself off of a couple of Ron Paul haters on anopther thread for the last several minutes.

No point in doing that. There's no room for logic in the paleo-hater threads.

[takenoprisoner]

The current administration and congress is behaving like gang bangers from the inner cities. Once the victim is down and on the ground, they continue to kick, punch, and stone without mercy. They don’t care if the victim lives or dies. Apparently neither does our supreme leaders on the hill. Since, make no mistake, we are down on the ground, and they continue to wail away at us.