Ron Paul's latest attempt to bring some kind of sanity to Washington has been dealt a serious blow by the House Financial Services Committee, which "gutted" his bill to audit the Federal Reserve.
HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, was introduced in February and has accumulated 311 co-sponsors. However, Rep. Paul (R-TX) maintains that several important elements of the bill have been removed by the committee during hearings on the bill held in September.
Paul says the changes have removed provisions that closed loopholes, such as the protection from audits of transactions with other nations' central banks. And he's pointing the finger at the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee's panel on domestic monetary policy, Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC).
And Watt (surprise, surprise) has gained more than a little bit from the banking and financial sector during his time in office. In 2008, when he won election for a ninth term, the largest percentage of his campaign contributions (35%, or $217,000) came from connections to financial, real estate, and insurance industries. According to OpenSecrets.org, Bank of America (headquartered in Charlotte, a part of Watt's district, which is one of the most gerrymandered in the country) was the largest single contributor to Watt's 2008 campaign.
On the plus side, Rep. Paul says he will try to restore the provisions that have been cut from the bill with an amendment when the bill reaches the floor. With all those co-sponsors, the bill should be easily passed, but the question remains about how effective the bill will be.
Showing posts with label Ron Paul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ron Paul. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
One Degree of Separation....
....between the Philadelphia Phillies and Ron Paul.
Rand Paul, the son of the Texas congressman who ran that so-crazy-it-just-might-work campaign-turned-revolution in the Republican primary last year, declared this week that he is going to run for a Senate seat from the state of Kentucky. Talk about trying to one-up your father.
Obviously, this is exciting news in and of itself. Rand has a pretty legitimate shot at the seat, and at the very least his odds are better than his father's run last year. Drawing on the nation-wide popularity that Ron Paul generated last year, Rand should be looking at a pretty solid pool of donations.
But with the election still well over a year away, I'll save the political posturing.
Here's the other exciting part of the story: the seat that Rand will be running for is currently held by two-term Senator, and former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, Jim Bunning.
Bunning compiled an impressive record of 224-184, and was selected to seven All-Star games, during his major league career while pitching for four different teams. He actually played just three seasons in Philadelphia, but he is forever remembered as a Phillie because he threw the only perfect game in franchise history - on Father's Day in 1964 against the New York Mets.
Of course, the 1964 Mets were probably one of the easiest teams in history to throw a perfect game against (perhaps surpassed only by the 1962 and 1963 Mets), but it still counts the same as the other 17 perfect games in baseball history.
Rand Paul, the son of the Texas congressman who ran that so-crazy-it-just-might-work campaign-turned-revolution in the Republican primary last year, declared this week that he is going to run for a Senate seat from the state of Kentucky. Talk about trying to one-up your father.
Obviously, this is exciting news in and of itself. Rand has a pretty legitimate shot at the seat, and at the very least his odds are better than his father's run last year. Drawing on the nation-wide popularity that Ron Paul generated last year, Rand should be looking at a pretty solid pool of donations.
But with the election still well over a year away, I'll save the political posturing.
Here's the other exciting part of the story: the seat that Rand will be running for is currently held by two-term Senator, and former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, Jim Bunning.
Bunning compiled an impressive record of 224-184, and was selected to seven All-Star games, during his major league career while pitching for four different teams. He actually played just three seasons in Philadelphia, but he is forever remembered as a Phillie because he threw the only perfect game in franchise history - on Father's Day in 1964 against the New York Mets.
Of course, the 1964 Mets were probably one of the easiest teams in history to throw a perfect game against (perhaps surpassed only by the 1962 and 1963 Mets), but it still counts the same as the other 17 perfect games in baseball history.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Health Care Stuff
I don't really want to write too much about the whole health care reform thing going on right now, because, honestly, I don't understand enough of it to offer much. You might want to bookmark this page, because I'm not sure when I will make a statement like that again.
Anyway, I've been using all the attention on health care to educate myself a little bit and how and why the system works the way it does (or doesn't) and regardless of the outcome from Obama's plan, at least I've learned something. Either way, I still think the best plan for me is just to avoid getting sick/serious accidents/being within a mile of an emergency room.
My biggest single problem with the very idea of health care reform is that I'm not convinced that anyone understands the system well enough to reform it, let alone a bunch of politicians. I doubt the people in Congress who are going to reform the system actually understand the system any better than I do. Do we really want, as John Stossel writes, a bunch of people who have most likely never run a small business trying to overhaul one of the most complex markets in the world? What makes them think they are capable of doing it? They do understand that "Yes We Can" was just a campaign slogan, right?
Although there are plenty of well-informed opinions out there on the health care situation, I've found (not surprisingly) some of the most lucid and convincing arguments come from Megan McArdle over at The Atlantic. In particular, these two posts - though long - are worth a read:
A Long, Long Post About My Reasons For Opposing National Health Care
It's Adverse. But is it Selection?
Ron Paul also entered the blogosphere debate today with this post on the Campaign for Liberty site. He makes more good points for why this is a bad idea.
Anyway, I've been using all the attention on health care to educate myself a little bit and how and why the system works the way it does (or doesn't) and regardless of the outcome from Obama's plan, at least I've learned something. Either way, I still think the best plan for me is just to avoid getting sick/serious accidents/being within a mile of an emergency room.
My biggest single problem with the very idea of health care reform is that I'm not convinced that anyone understands the system well enough to reform it, let alone a bunch of politicians. I doubt the people in Congress who are going to reform the system actually understand the system any better than I do. Do we really want, as John Stossel writes, a bunch of people who have most likely never run a small business trying to overhaul one of the most complex markets in the world? What makes them think they are capable of doing it? They do understand that "Yes We Can" was just a campaign slogan, right?
Although there are plenty of well-informed opinions out there on the health care situation, I've found (not surprisingly) some of the most lucid and convincing arguments come from Megan McArdle over at The Atlantic. In particular, these two posts - though long - are worth a read:
A Long, Long Post About My Reasons For Opposing National Health Care
It's Adverse. But is it Selection?
Ron Paul also entered the blogosphere debate today with this post on the Campaign for Liberty site. He makes more good points for why this is a bad idea.
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