>> ^volumptuous:
I've watched every video clip of Schiff, and listened to Ron Paul in the senate hearings with the banks.
I have yet to hear either one of them to tell the rest of us what they think can help us get out of this mess. Neither of them, as far as I can find, have said anything productive.


I sincerely hope you're joking, because they constantly state that withdrawal symptoms after the inflationary high are unavoidable and can't be fixed, but that the best thing the government can do is see the hangover as the solution and stop administering more drugs and shock therapy. The recovery to a viable economy can happen a lot sooner if the government stops trying to inflate and redistribute its way out. We need to immediately start cutting Federal government excess to reduce the financial burden on our citizens. Their retirement schemes are unsustainable no matter what and need to be phased out over many years. Entire departments like FEMA, Homeland Security, and the Department of Education have to go, along with our military empire, so that we can abolish the 40% of Federal revenue attributed to Federal Income Tax. With a flat tax or no income tax, the IRS is then superfluous and can be abolished. GSEs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have to be outlawed, subsidies and marriage debates will be resolved because without an income tax, it will be impossible for government to issue tax differences on particular types of marriage, families, incomes, or investments based on social engineering concepts.

The constitution will then need to be clarified to abolish the central bank, because congress has no constitutional authority to create a fiat money or delegate such powers to the private industry. This will require some new judicial appointments. I'm also quite certain a Paul presidency would look at every piece of legislature and ask "was this a lobby bill? does it prevent a cheaper product or service from being chosen?" I hear these are prevalent in the medical industry where he was an OBGYN. For example, there are regulations that bar nurses from performing services doctors can. Lots of licensure and red tape protects that industry. And I'm 100% sure he would immediately end the Federal ban on marijuana bought by the drug industry, that would consequently save billions wasted by the FBI and our prison system trying to fight something 10x less harmful than legal drugs.

>> ^jwray:
The United States federal government is not paying for its deficit spending by printing excessive amounts of money. It is borrowing instead. Inflation is at 3.66% and falling. It peaked at 5.6% in July, before the economic upheaval.


Oh really, is that why it takes 3x as many dollars to buy an ounce of gold today than it did ten years ago? Of course the government is printing obscene amounts of money. Stop picking and choosing little short term windows of time where the trend is not apparent, nothing goes in a straight line. Do you even know what monetization of debt means? If foreigners are no longer interested in buying our government debt (bonds) that the treasury issues every year, the Fed has to raise interest rates to lure them in, because that's the yield on their loan to us. But they're LOWERING THEM. Yields are NEGATIVE. You loan money to us, you will be paid back in depreciated dollars that buy less than what you had before you loaned. So now that foreigners aren't doing that, guess who has to step in and buy those bonds? The Federal Reserve. Except that money isn't someone's savings, it isn't backed by a product in the world. It's pure inflation, pure funny money. That's what's coming, their balance sheet is going into the TRILLIONS.

This is the symbiosis that enabled government excess. A tax is an honest appropriation, people see it and are far more likely to resist it. Inflation is arbitrary money creation in a back room that siphons value from existing dollars. You can pull a curtain over that, lie about how much you're doing it, and watch as people see prices go up 10% in health care, food, per annum with absolutely no idea what hit them. After all, the government weatherman says that prices only went up 3%.

http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/2005/0624.html

The calculations are a joke, after we left the gold standard in the 70s, they kept changing them to understate real inflation and welfare obligations so they could spend more and more without it being easily noticed. They no longer include homes, energy, or food. Also, they introduced a subjective concept called hedonics adjustment, which negates price increases as inflation by discounting an assumed increase in quality.

The most galling result of this Keynesian nonsense is it blinds people to where inflation is going. Keynesian economics is the equivalent of teaching astrology instead of astronomy. First, they change the definition of inflation to mean prices instead of money supply. The correct definition of inflation is an increase of the money supply with the common RESULT being higher prices. After doing this, they then categorize inflation (to them: prices) into "asset-based" and "goods-based," and tell us that they don't fight asset-based. But asset-based inflation is what causes bubbles in assets like homes and stocks. We want things we own to go up and things we consume to go down, of course, but we don't want our assets to go up from artificial demand created by inflation. That's an illusion. So when inflation goes into tech stocks or homes, nobody sees it as inflation. Not the Keynesian Fed Chairmen, not the Keynesian financial managers, almost anyone with a degree in economics was less reliable than A COIN FLIP. That's when you know when your "science" has a problem. And then boom, when it starts going into commodities futures after the implosion, it exposes the inflation at all once that people were previously blind to.

And then here's a guy like Schiff, Ron Paul's economic advisor and Austrian economist, who was warning the whole god damned time since 2000, telling people to get into gold when it was $275 and getting laughed at by every confused Keynesian educated retard on television.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucDkoqwflF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

>> ^dtmike07:
Austrian economics has about as much credibility as scientology. They don't even believe in empirical evidence, for crissakes. Mainstream economics does't have a much better theory - essentially its an extended and mathematized version of Austrian economics. But at least mainstream economists know what the data says and use statistical techniques to analyze it. You know, like real scientists. And regarding the Austrian "theory" of the Great Depression - they pretty much pulled it out of their asses. Its just an attempt to blame the whole thing on the government, and exempt the free market. Austrian economics is a religion - the free market is God and government is the Devil.

You are 100% dead wrong on this. Keynesian "empirical data" is bogus, I've only scratched the surface on how they try to complicate simple concepts into a symbiotic swindle by redefining inflation, making up new terms, and it keeps blowing up in their face no matter who's in charge because that's the whole point. For you or Stukafox to even compare this problem to the firecrackers of banking panics (from fractional reserve lending, a legalized form of fraud that persists to this day with government backstops, an entirely different debate) is unbelievable, there's no proportion to a decade long depression and a bunch of shitty banks going under to remind people not to carelessly deposit all their money in banks.

Second of all, economics is a study of human behavior. Keynes was an idiot whose theories arose from a complete misunderstanding of what caused the great depression. He basically threw classical knowledge out the window and decided that economies needed central direction and stimulation by government. See, like the dumbfucks in this video, most people thought letting the banks fail was what caused the depression. It wasn't. It was what came before and after it. The inflation of the 20s was what caused the crash in the first place, you don't have a crash without a Fed-created bubble. You don't have withdrawal without being high on drugs.

But while withdrawal symptoms suck, they're actually the solution to the disease of the high. Hoover and Roosevelt saw the hangover as the disease, and began administering shock therapy. Over the course of many years, they raised tariffs, raised taxrates, and nationalized industry. The economy would have recovered, capital and jobs would have reallocated on its own. Instead, anyone who had any money after that crash had no incentive to invest or employ anyone, because now government was promising to take 90% of your profits if you made any. So unemployment got worse. The tax revenue the government did manage to appropriate, it used to pay for new government jobs that were extremely inefficient (being immune to bankruptcy, financed by theft, and having no competition tends to be an unproductive business model, ask the soviets). FDR also ordered livestock slaughtered and fields plowed under because he believed falling food prices were bad for farmers. No, I'm not making this up. Deflation being bad is another Keynesian myth, they think more efficient production lowering prices makes people sit on their money rather than invest it. Which is totally untrue if you look at the computer sector where prices fall IN SPITE of inflation and have never had problems raising capital or selling well despite falling prices and obsolescence. FDR is the same asshole who allowed Pearl Harbor to be a massacre and issued unconstitutional orders to confiscate gold from the poor, hungry citizens who had just seen the banks absolved for destroying their savings. The man was a fucking monster, it took four terms to get rid of him.

What got us out of the depression was a just war and FDR's death. WWII had the entire country up in arms because we were attacked by another country. People were willing to sacrifice their wants and contribute to the war effort, this was no pushover on a third world country, it took everything we had. People were buying warbonds based on patriotic fervor alone. Massive amounts of infrastructure was built to produce wartime materials. That manufacturing base remained after the war for private industry, taxes came down, trade resumed, and we emerged as a leading producer of wealth in the world. By default. Because the rest of world was in shambles, only the Soviets were left to compete and their socialist economy eventually crumbled. We didn't plan it that way, it just happened. We were also still on a semi-gold standard, we still had a savings rate, and we became the largest creditor nation. We've lost ALL OF THAT. It's all gone, we're the direct opposite now. No gold standard, negative savings rate, largest debtor nation in the WORLD.

Keynes main problem is, politicians have no precise idea what all needs to be produced and created to please everyone in a PEACETIME economy, it's impossible. The free market is millions of individuals with diverse wants and needs, there's no way in hell you can centrally manage that. But they think they can and want to spend, that's why they picked Keynes as a replacement for old models, because his theories completely justified what socialist academics had been wanting to do all along. They honestly believed they could spend money more efficiently than its earner. That's impossible, the earner has a stake in the money. If he throws it away, he loses the labor he spent to obtain it, so he has a natural incentive to be thrifty. A politician spending it loses nothing, they have no incentive to be thrifty. They're people motivated by self-interest, just like you and me, their only legitimate job in the economy was to make sure force and deception is not used when we are out here transacting with one another. That's what graphs and "empirical data" doesn't explain, and it's why history will show Keynes to be a failure.

Far from our free market roots, we centrally fix interest rates, we declare lending standards discriminatory with goofy programs like the community reinvestment act, we redistribute capital from good businesses to failed ones, savers to speculators, and pass all kinds of anti-competitive laws. That's what Ron Paul understood and was going to put a stop to. He was going to end the monopoly on currency that forced us all into accepting the bill for government excess. He was going to end the useless military expenditures overseas. He was going to eliminate the income tax and cripple the ability of politicians to engage in collusive campaign dealings, or "engineer" society by issuing special credits to certain types of marriages, incomes, families, or investments. He knew the enablements, he understood how seemingly innocuous program could change human behavior. Politicians are just lawyers spending and accepting millions of dollars to get a low-paying position of controlling other people's money. That's it. And if you think they should be controlling 50% of our money in life, you deserve everything that's coming to you. Your employers are all going to close up shop to avoid the tax, your education is going to suck, your welfare dollars' value is going to be pissed away on foreign entanglements and overpaid execs, your gold is going to get confiscated (again). It's all coming, comrades.

Hey lady! Thanks! you're too sweet! I would hope I could contribute at least a little bit around here. Good luck with the hangover, if tonight goes as it should I'll be in the same boat tomorrow

CHEERS!

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
Heyyy, congratulations on your gold! I'm sorry it has got overlooked, it's that fuckin chatroom that's done it

I'm gonna do soemthing about that, but right now i'm hungover, gah...

For now, well done, you're a great asset to us all

I've actually never had a hangover, for some reason. I guess I'm just lucky so far, but I'm sure that in time I'll start to get them; I know several friends that didn't start getting them until about their third year of college, lol.

That sounds pretty neat! I mean, you are an architect, if I remember right, so that sounds like a relaxed way to put your skills to good use. I'm majoring in East Asian Studies, but realizing that I have to write a bunch of papers and that I have no clue what I'll do for a living when I graduate in another two years kind of makes me wish I had decided to go for Molecular Biology after all, haha.

I could never get TOO into real punk stuff, but every now and then I listen to something on the hard side. Mostly I go for stuff with moving melodies/harmonies. I guess as of late I've been back on a huge Death Cab for Cutie and the Smiths kick, sort of rediscovering how much I love both of those bands.

In reply to this comment by gorgonheap:
Lately I've been really into 88 Fingers Louie, and discovered The Casualties. Mostly just reintroducing myself to midwest punk. College eh, what are you studying? My side business is doing a lot of design consultant work. Basically if people need an interior designer, carpenter, blueprints, or would like a remodel, my company is there. They can also hire me to do estimates, teach do-it-yourself classes, and submit construction permits.

It's mostly residential work which is a nice break from a lot of the commercial and institutional work I do with my other job.

Don't party too hard, you gotta remember how much fun you had in the morning.

In reply to this comment by JAPR:
Nothing new that's been super impressive to me, though there have been a few good ones here and there. One of my favorite bands, Plus-Minus, dropped a new album on October 21st though, and I was very impressed with that. Other than that, I've gotten a bit more into stuff like Braid and Hey Mercedes. Pretty busy with school, but somehow I still make time to party harder than I should each weekend.

What sort of business is it? Doing two jobs sounds pretty exhausting.

In reply to this comment by gorgonheap:
Pretty good, how about you? I started my own company a couple months ago but kept my old job so I haven't had a whole lot of time to sift lately. Discover any kickass bands lately?

Take this for a saturday hangover vid!
*promote!

I should never watch videos with the tag "Fox News" when I have a hangover.

Wow, I don't know what to say. I actually don't watch Nightline, but I do watch Frontline. I don't actually wake up early to watch Sunday talk, I Tivo it and use my Sunday mornings the way God intended: sleeping off a hangover.

I am trying to make a difference though, and I hope I have helped people reach some sort of conclusion about this election -- at a minimum that it's important.

I appreciate the responses I've gotten, from both those who agree and disagree -- the latter category, ironically, have been the best part. You guys keep me on my toes, and help me keep at least some tie to objectivity.

Now to respond to some of your baseless smears and accusations:

>> ^Constitutional_Patriot:
Congrats netrunner.. you may be a CFR candidate propaganda pusher but you're ok in my book.

Shh, I'm part of their inner circle. There will be one world government, and I will be its shadowy puppet master. Dick Cheney's got nothing on me.

>> ^rottenseed:
yay netrunner...way to capitalize on our unfortunate political climate. can't you just post some nice kitty vids?

I think only someone in the pocket of Big Kitteh would suggest such blatant pandering to the lolcatz agenda.

>> ^blankfist:
The big 5-0-0. Great work. Yay! Keep it up. I do enjoy our private debates.

If we keep it up, we'll be Master Debaters.

>> ^firefly:
Way to go, 'Runner.
But whatever will you do after Nov. 4 ?!

Other than sleep? Well, if McCain wins, I'll be looking for advice which country would be good to seek refuge in. If it's Obama, I'll probably find the time to sift non-political things, though I doubt politics will stop being interesting -- there's a lot to fix after Bush is gone.

>> ^deedub81:
Cheers.
I'm curious,though. How many votes do you have if you take out all the Obama/Biden/McCain/Palin videos?
Big ups!

Probably still at least a 100-star -- unless you take away all my politics videos entirely, then I'm probably barely a bronze star.

I'm sorry ladies and gentleman, my staffers tell me that's all the time we have for this press conference.

Now you can go back to talking about McCain suspending his campaign due to the polling economic crisis. I'm hoping he just puts Country First and concedes right now.

I had a really bad hangover if that counts

Recording an endless loop of generic apologies on your mobile, leaving it on the counter in the kitchen with her and heading down to the pub for a pint or seven works as well. It'll unleash a shitstorm once you return, but you'll be pissed enough to pass out before her first insult even reaches the remaining dozen cells of your brain.

And in the morning, your hangover will completely mask the pain caused by the assortment of things she shoved up your buttocks while you were asleep.

What a coinkydink, this song correctly describes the hangover I'm experiencing. Shatner understands....I love you

This is missing the ending where he screams at the end "MISTER TAMBORUINE MAN!!"

monarchy sure has come a long way. in the past the kings of England were thought to be able to cure a number of terrible diseases by touch and today, via the power of internet, the sight of kp's photoshopped head on a diaper-wearing weirdo's body instantly cured my poker night hangover. cheers, king KP!

Sorry I'm late to post here, but I just woke from my week-long hangover.

But seriously, I understand the plight of wrongly mixed drinks. I once mixed Four-dollar-fifth of gin with Diet 7-Up. I thought I was going to hurl BEFORE I was drunk. Which is a crime in Kuwait, I think.

A short list of great drinks that have made me do terrible things to bar stools:

AMF (Adios, Motherfucker)
Long Island Iced Tea (tip the bartender for that extra special Kelsey Grammer amount)
Cherry Bomb ("Bomb" is right. I think I invaded a sovereign nation while drunk on 13 of those fuckers.)
Rattlesnake (something involving Kahlua, Creme de Cacao and taking off my pants at a house party.)

However, the worst combination I have ever tried:

A six-pack of Bud Light chased with an entire pint of Jagermeister and a few swigs of Goldschlager. You don't even want to know the medium Jackson Pollock used in THAT bathroom!

Now it's time to get drunk on PBR and watch midget porn.

Thanks! For both the support and channel fixing.

In reply to this comment by Eklek:
Nice first sift!
*nochannel
*Wtf
*Documentaries

http://www.videosift.com/video/Think-hangovers-are-tough-Think-again
>.>

It wasn't me!

It was the one-armed man.

I'm innocent I tells ya. I was just trying to make a quick microwave nacho snack. Somehow my cellphone was left inside, it morphed into a giant cheese hat... I don't know what happened next. I woke up with a hangover and a large cheese wedge affixed to my skull.

Ya gotta beleez mah!

I object to this whole line of questioning, your honor.