Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 9/30/13: A Grand Bargain for Liberty?

A Grand Bargain for Liberty?
by Ron Paul

As I write this, it appears that the federal government is about to shut down because the House and Senate cannot agree on whether to add language defunding or delaying Obamacare to the "Continuing Resolution". Despite all the hand-wringing heard in DC, a short-term government shut down (which doesn't actually shut down the government) will not cause the country to collapse.

And the American people would benefit if Obamacare was defeated or even delayed.

Obamacare saddles the American health care system with new spending and mandates which will raise the price and lower the quality of health care. Denying funds to this program may give Congress time to replace this bill with free-market reforms that put patients and physicians back in charge of health care. Defunding the bill before it becomes implemented can spare the American people from falling under the worst effects of this law.

As heartened as we should be by the fight against Obamacare, we should be equally disheartened by the fact that so few in DC are talking about making real cuts in federal spending. Even fewer are talking about reductions in the most logical place to reduce spending: the military-industrial complex. The US military budget constitutes almost 50 percent of the total worldwide military spending. Yet to listen to some in Congress, one would think that America was one canceled multi-million dollar helicopter contract away from being left totally defenseless.

What makes this military spending impossible to justify is that is does not benefit the American people. Instead, by fomenting resentment and hatred among the world population, our costly interventionist foreign policy makes our people less safe. Thus, reducing spending on militarism would not only help balance the budget, but would enhance our security.

Yet both the House and the Senate continuing resolutions not only fail to reduce military spending, they actually authorize $20 billion more in military spending than authorized by the "sequestration" created by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Most of the supposedly "draconian" sequestration cuts are not even cuts; instead, they are "reductions in the planed rate of spending." This is where Congress increases spending but by less than originally planned—and yet they claim to cut spending.

Under sequestration, military spending increases by 18 percent instead of by 20 percent over the next ten years. Yet some so-called conservatives are so opposed to these phony cuts in military spending that they would support increased taxes and increased welfare "military" spending. This "grand bargain" would benefit the DC political class and the special interests, but it would be a disaster for the American people.

Instead of grand bargains of increased spending and taxes, those of us who support limited government and free markets should form a coalition with antiwar liberals to reduce spending on both the military industrial complex and domestic welfare programs. Instead of raising taxes on "the rich" we should also work to reduce all corporate subsidies. This "grand bargain" would truly be a win-win for the American people.

Sadly, even if a congressional coalition to cut both warfare and welfare spending was formed, it would be unlikely to carry the day as long as the Federal Reserve is willing to enable Congress's debt addiction by monetizing the debt. But this cannot last forever. At some point the Fed's policies will result in hyper-inflation and an economic crisis that will force Congress to reduce spending. Hopefully, the growing number of Americans who are awaking to the dangers of our current path can convince Congress to reduce overseas militarism and begin an orderly drawdown of the welfare state before this crisis occurs.

Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk 11/29/10

Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk 11/29/10

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Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk 8/23/10

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 8/23/10: Stop Meddling with the Housing Market!

Congressman Ron Paul discusses why government meddling has caused serious problems in the housing markets and, thanks to the "efforts" of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has left the taxpayers to pay the bill.

Ron Paul Time for The Government to Reverse its Failed Policies

RON PAUL TEXAS STRAIGHT TALK MARCH 1ST, 2010

Ron Paul : The real Unemployment number is close to 20% , The government is fabricating the numbers

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 2/22/10: Government Stimulus, One Year Later

Ron Paul The real Unemployment number is close to 20% , The government is fabricating numbers
Last week marked the one year anniversary of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, or the stimulus bill, passing into law. While the debate over its success has been focused on whether or not it is stimulating the economy and on various questionable uses of funds, in my estimation this legislation is accomplishing exactly what it was intended to accomplish grow the government.

Those of us concerned about the ever increasing level of government debt gasped at the astonishing $787 billion cost estimates for this bill. True to form it has actually cost 10 percent more at $862 billion. We heard over and over that government could not sit around and do nothing while people lost their jobs and houses. The administration claimed that unemployment would not go above 8 percent if the stimulus bill passed. Now, a year later, the government estimates that unemployment is over 10 percent. The real number is closer to 20 percent. It appears that those promises were total fabrications in order to close the deal.

Ron Paul The FED is bailing out the world with Americans Tax Payers Money

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk on the Greece Bailout 2/15/10

Fiat money is a blank check to the government and we are seeing how dangerous it could be ....the FED is probably bailing out the entire world country after country from Iceland to Dubai passing by Greece Spain and Portugal and using for that the American tax payer money despite the unemployment in the US have now reached alarming levels...

How Keynesianism is Prolonging the Agony Ron Pauls Texas Straight Talk for Feb 08 2010

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk for 2/8/10 on How Keynesianism is Prolonging the Agony

Congressman Ron Paul talks about why Keynesian economics, and the politicians who follow its recommendations, is creating massive debt and crushing the economy.

Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk Obama Spending Freeze Feb 02 2010

RON PAUL FEBRUARY 2, 2010 TEXAS STRAIGHT TALK OBAMA'S SPENDING FREEZE NOT LIKELY

Ron Paul Useless Spending Freeze Texas Straight Talk for February 1st 2010

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk for 2/1/10 on the Useless Spending "Freeze"

Congressman Ron Paul says we need actual and significant spending cuts NOW rather than the toothless spending "freeze" that won't start until 2011 and which, since it doesn't affect the programs that actually need to be cut, will only make the situation worse.

Ron Paul on The Financial Crisis Inquiry Texas Straight Talk 18 January 2010

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk for on Financial Crisis Inquiry 18 January 2010

Congressman Ron Paul talks about how the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission will likely repeat the mistakes of the Great Depression by blaming the economic crisis on the "free" market, when Big Government and it's evil creature, the Federal Reserve, are clearly to blame.

Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk AIG, Geithner and audit the FED 11 Jan 2010

Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk for 01 11 10 on AIG, Geithner, and the need to audit the FED.

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk for 1/11 on AIG, Geithner, and the need to audit the FED!

Iran Embargo Ron Paul on Texas Straight Talk

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 12/21/09 on Iran Embargo

Ron Paul talks about the Iran embargo that amounts to a not-so-subtle threat of war.

Ron Paul on Financial Overhaul Package

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk for 12/14/09 on Financial Overhaul Package

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Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk on Afghanistan 07 Dec 2009

Congressman Ron Paul talks about the continuing quagmire in Afghanistan in his Texas Straight Talk for the week of December 7, 2009. Text to be included soon.

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Ron Paul November 16 Competition With the Government?

Ron Paul November 16 '09 "Competition With the Government?"

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Ron Paul November 16 '09 Competition With the Government

Ron Paul: Healthcare Reform is Economic Malpractice

As Washington continues debating healthcare reform the rest of the country is primarily concerned about jobs and the economy. It is still uncertain what policies will be implemented, but I am certain about one thing: It will only further devastate our economy and our dollar.

The leadership has come up with a proposal they are confident will be what they consider fiscally responsible, only to have it scored as nearly twice as expensive by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Estimates of past healthcare spending programs have been off by as much as 100 percent so there is no telling what the actual cost will be.

The past century should have taught us one thing: that government intervention is expensive. Government programs lend themselves so easily to waste, fraud and abuse. Combine that with overall inefficiency and it all adds up to a hefty price tag for the taxpayer, with not much leftover for actual services. An outright takeover of an entire sector of the economy, especially one as important as healthcare, is something that we just cannot afford for the government to do right now. Not to mention the fact that it is completely unconstitutional. But Washington insists on torturing the numbers and tinkering around the edges rather than facing this truth.

If healthcare reform does indeed pass, we should not be under the illusion that it will be free. The money to pay for it will have to come from somewhere. They say they will get the money from cutting waste, fraud and abuse, but all of that is seemingly intrinsic to government programs. Since they want to expand the governments reach we have to assume we will be trading waste, fraud and abuse for waste, fraud and abuse with a bigger budget. The powers that be have insisted the money wont come from higher taxes, it wont come from rationing of care, and it wont come from higher premiums. This can only then put more pressure on the Fed to print the money out of thin air. We already have a weakening dollar. They are accelerating everything that weakened it in the past. Adding this new, monumental pressure could very well be the straw that will break the dollars back.

Foreign creditors are already nervous about continuing to invest in the US because of our skyrocketing debt. The explosion of debt that is certain to accompany the enactment of this national health care bill can only add to that nervousness.

Ironically, enactment of the health care bill could help the cause of liberty by hastening the day when Congress is forced by economic circumstances to stop increasing the welfare-warfare state and return to the Constitution.

There are many problems with our current healthcare system, to be sure. There are many tragic stories to be told. However, we need to look at the root of our problems in order to address them properly. More government intervention and bureaucracy injected into healthcare will take a flawed system and make immeasurably worse.

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congressman ron paul texas straight talk healthcare health care obamacare pelosicare pelosi obama socialism socialist flawed system hr3200 dollar crisis crash depression recession government congress economic malpractice

Ron Paul: Healthcare "Reform" Will Make a Flawed System Immeasurably Worse Nov 09

Congressman Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk for November 9, 2009. Text to be added when available.

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congressman ron paul texas straight talk healthcare health care obamacare pelosicare pelosi obama socialism socialist flawed system hr3200 dollar crisis crash depression recession government congress

Texas Straight Talk Ron Paul ~ Politicians Must Stop Stealing from Seniors and Our Future

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Congressman Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk 19 Oct 2009

Time to reverse course and never again let Big Government solve our Problems

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