If an old hickory falls in the forest and there's no one around to remember...

The original intent of this blog was to bring attention to little-known confirmable facts that would implicate a much bigger picture. I've called this "collecting the dots." If some of my posts seem overly empty of opinion and interpretation, well, now you know why. I present some more dots for your consumption.

The Federal Reserve is not America's first central bank. The last one, the Second Bank of the United States, was killed by Andrew Jackson during his second term in office. The following are only some of the juicier excerpts from Andrew Jackson's farewell address.

"When the charter for the Bank of the United States was obtained from Congress, it perfected the schemes of the paper system and gave to its advocates the position they have struggled to obtain from the commencement of the Federal Government down to the present hour. The immense capital and peculiar privileges bestowed upon it enabled it to exercise despotic sway over the other banks in every part of the country. From its superior strength it could seriously injure, if not destroy, the business of any one of them which might incur its resentment; and it openly claimed for itself the power of regulating the currency throughout the United States. In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly possessed) the power to make money plenty or scarce, at its pleasure, at any time, and in any quarter of the Union, by controlling the issues of other banks and permitting an expansion or compelling a general contraction of the circulating medium according to its own will."

"No nation but the freemen of the United States could have come out victorious from such a contest; yet, if you had not conquered, the Government would have passed from the hands of the many to the hands of the few; and this organized money power, from its secret conclave, would have dictated the choice of your highest officers and compelled you to make peace or war as best suited their own wishes. The forms of your government might, for a time, have remained; but its living spirit would have departed from it."

"The distress and sufferings inflicted on the people by the bank are some of the fruits of that system of policy which is continually striving to enlarge the authority of the Federal Government beyond the limits fixed by the Constitution. The powers enumerated in that instrument do not confer on Congress the right to establish such a corporation as the Bank of the United States; and the evil consequences which followed may warn us of the danger of departing from the true rule of construction and of permitting temporary circumstances or the hope of better promoting the public welfare to influence, in any degree, our decisions upon the extent of the authority of the General Government."

"The corporations which create the paper money can not be relied upon to keep the circulating medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when confidence is high, they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the influence of those who hope to profit by it to extend their issues of paper beyond the bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands of business; and when these issues have been pushed on from day to day, until public confidence is at length shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immediately withdraw the credits they have given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an unexpected and ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is felt by the whole community. The banks by this means save themselves, and the mischievous consequences of their imprudence or cupidity are visited upon the public."

"These ebbs and flows in the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits and character of the people. We have already seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in the public lands and various kinds of stock which within the last year or two seized upon such a multitude of our citizens and threatened to pervade all classes of society and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits of honest industry. It is not by encouraging this spirit that we shall best preserve public virtue and promote the true interests of our country; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as it now is, it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth without labor; it will multiply the number of dependents on bank accommodations and bank favors; the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will become stronger and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way into your public councils and destroy at no distant day the purity of your Government."

"Recent events have proved that the paper-money system of this country may be used as an engine to undermine your free institutions, and that those who desire to engross all power in the hands of the few and to govern by corruption or force are aware of its power and prepared to employ it."

"We are not left to conjecture how the moneyed power, thus organized and with such a weapon in its hands, would be likely to use it. The distress and alarm which pervaded and agitated the whole country when the Bank of the United States waged war upon the people in order to compel them to submit to its demands can not yet be forgotten. The ruthless and unsparing temper with which whole cities and communities were oppressed, individuals impoverished and ruined, and a scene of cheerful prosperity suddenly changed into one of gloom and despondency ought to be indelibly impressed on the memory of the people of the United States."

And finally...

"The severe lessons of experience will, I doubt not, be sufficient to prevent Congress from again chartering such a monopoly, even if the Constitution did not present an insuperable objection to it. But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing."

Here's a simple video

...I made to promote the end of the Fed this November 22nd.

Economic Predictions, Dr. Proscriptions

I had planned on a different topic for this post, but tonight I made the mistake of watching CNN covering the economic crisis in which we've found ourselves. Suze Orman and some other talking heads were explaining the great mystery of the failing banks. They pronounced that a year ago no one predicted this would happen (if anyone had, this could potentially upset those that took her fiscal advice...to the bank). Apparently we are in uncharted territory, playing a whole new ball game with new rules, and have no real explanation for what's happening around us and no obvious solutions. All we seem to know is that for some reason the housing market crashed and is taking down the major banks with it.



I will go out on a limb and say this is as deep an explanation as we are going to find from the mainstream media. But is Suze right? Did no one predict the housing crash, the failing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the subsequent strains this would put on our economy and our dollar? Well, for those that still haven't heard: google Ron Paul.



Of course, he is the former presidential candidate that Rudy loved to laugh at during the debates. We now find him getting a little more respect and his tone a little more bold. Later in the night and as if sensing my CNN headache, the good doctor provided some relief by giving an interview on another CNN channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvcgGp5mz_E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_RFIXcj4ik

Maybe we can get Suze to watch (or more importantly those that listened to her a year ago.)

It may not be pretty (yet), but here it is!

After months of promises and self-perpetuated hype, I present my first blog post. To kick things off, I present a simple list. Hopefully, this is just the first incarnation and presentation of this information.


The idea originally was to compress Rothbard's work into a graph that almost anyone could read and be impacted by in very little time. Along the way, the graph became a list, and I decided to update it past the 1984 presidential run right up to the present day. And seeing as today is the first day that we have both major presidential candidates officially nominated, (Hello, McCain and Obama, a.k.a, McBama!) there would seem to few better occasions.

Enjoy!