Christian Conference on Economics

Christ Reformed Presbyterian Mission is hosting a conference on Economics this weekend. Apologies for not getting this posted any sooner although this has been in the works for months, even before the global market crisis.

Dr Tom Rose has a long and distinguished career as a leading proponent of
Christian Free Market Economics. He is professor Emeritus of Grove City College
in western Pennsylvania. Tom is author of two economics textbooks for senior
high and college level courses used in schools across America: Economics:
Principles and Policy, and Economics: The American Economy. Both textbooks use
the Bible as the benchmark for judging economic principles and theories. His
other titles include: Free Enterprise Economics in America; God, Gold, and Civil
Government; Reclaiming the American Dream by Reconstructing the American
Republic; and How to Succeed in Business.

Friday Oct 31, Nov 1 & 2 2008

Featuring Veteran Economist, Author & Professor Dr. Tom Rose

At the Paris EconoLodge Lafayette Building

Highway 79 North, Paris, Tenn.

Free Admission
Refreshments provided
Book table available

Sponsored by Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church


Conference Schedule:

Friday Oct 31, 2008

6:45 pm The Importance of Biblical Economics

8:00 pm God's Design for Free Market Economics and the Opposition

Saturday Nov 1, 2008

10:45 am An Economic History of these United States

1:30 pm Political Manipulation: Understanding What is Happening

2:30 pm The Basics of Personal and Family Economics: Children, Labor, Land, and Wealth

5:30 pm Hayride, chili, and hotdog roasting at the home of Pastor McDade

Sunday Nov 2, 2008

10:00 am Sustainable Economics: Surviving Economic Resession and Worse

11:00 am Regular Worship Service and Sermon by Pastor McDade – The Choosing of Magistrates

Sunday Worship will be at the Paris Seventh-Day Adventist Building 2331 Hwy 641 North, Paris, Tenn.

For more information, post questions or comments below or feel free to email me.

A MUST Read

I do not have time to tease you with any quotes, just go here and read the whole thing. I will update later today.

Subsidizing Lead Balloons

With the economy in shambles some look to more government intervention as the solution. The buzzwords are jump start, rescue, stabilize, stimulate. The word they are looking for is subsidize.

Subsidies come in many sizes and shapes. Most (if not all) social programs (which are sometimes given the horribly wretched misnomer, entitlements) could be lumped into this general category. There does seem to be a difference, though, in the government’s stated motivation behind subsidies.

On one hand, there are subsidies that are a misguided (not to mention Socialistic) attempt to “level the playing field.” These usually come in the form of social welfare. The theory is that the government has the responsibility to maintain a minimum living standard for every single individual in its boundaries. (Increasingly the boundaries are disappearing as the U.S. moves toward globalization of social welfare.) The subsidy of the welfare state is the wage for failing, be it by slothfulness, poor economic decisions, or simply the inability to “make ends meet.”

Then there are subsidies which are “necessary” for the survival of the collective citizenry which includes the one probably most talked about; the farm subsidy. The government tells us it is essential to prop up the farm and that if we do not, folks will starve.

Recently Congressman Randy Kuhl (NY) told John Stossel in a one hour 20/20 special titled, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics that if we did not have farm subsidies, people would starve for lack of jobs (i.e. if farmers failed at farming, then they would starve for lack of employment).

Why has farming become an occupation very nearly impossible without the crutch of the taxpayers? It is not as though these “endowments” catch the shortfall on the occasionally horrible year. The same farmers receive these subsidies year after year after year. (For detailed information about various state and local farm subsidies, visit http://farm.ewg.org/sites/farmbill2007.)

The reader should see the theme developing. Government subsidies in nearly every form are the salaries for failure.

So too is the “bail-out” of Wall Street and the bankers. What D.C. should learn from subsidizing lead balloons is that they attract a lot of lead balloon manufacturers. The banks in question are part of that elite group that is deemed too big, too important to fall. This Emergency Economic Stabilization package is nothing more than another subsidy.

Considering the perpetuity of all “temporary” subsidies, it should be no shock that this is only a continuation of former Wall Street bail-outs. Nor should it surprise the reader when another multi-billion dollar rescue is in order.

Why Uncle Sam Will Never Get Out of the Stock Market

This is Bill Barr's (not to be confused with Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate) latest submission on Leviathan in the markets.
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Uncle Sam will never get out of the stock market.

That would be because of the political class in imperial America, spiritual descendants of the Praetorian Guard. Remember them? Highly politicized, they were the special force of bodyguards in Rome which finally quit pretending and just auctioned off the emperor's job from the steps of the Senate.

Count on it to happening here within the lifetime of your children.

"Historically, politicians are loathe to give up power they managed to steal. Indeed, it is my hunch that from here on out, whenever a sector starts to dip below 'acceptable' levels, they too will have their hand out and the government foxes will be only too happy to guard the sector's hen house." Attorney Sandra Hamilton makes this shrewd point in her blog at lewrockwell.com this week.

Moreover, "When businesses have the ability to force the government to steal money from the people to give to them if they fail, you get businesses that are incredibly risky", she discerns. Accordingly, "what benefit do you have (in) being a carefully well-run company?" Hamilton goes on to demand.

In this era of Crony Capitalism, Hamilton underscores that "Lehman Brothers was not well connected" at all when compared to rival investment bank Goldman Sachs. Thus, we find a clear moral to the story.

Crony Capitalism, born from the union of plutocracy with the managerial revolution, means that lucrative investments in securities are made by the investors who "know which of (the) companies has the most political connections". That's the only way to realistically hope for a return on your money in "a game where the rules change hourly", Hamilton concludes, pointing out the indispensability in government "reform"--changing the rules when the wide boys want them changed.

Ms. Hamilton is too reserved to say it, but is this very incestuous promiscuity, this financial interconnectedness, not the indispensable element in our political and economic system? And without it, would the global economy lie revealed as a house of cards?

--William Barr (Katy, Texas)

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Thanks again Bill!

Where's the Encore?

I am dying to see these two interviewed together again now.

For six years Peter Schiff has been predicting this and in this interview from 2006, he makes Art Laffer look like a complete fool.

The Difference Between a Terrorist and a Secessionist?

Here is Bill Press of C-Span showing his ignorance of the political philosophy that shaped early America.




Sure, just ask Lincoln. Forget about the fact that this nation was built on the right "to alter and abolish" a government that no longer is a minister to the people. With our legislators' approval rating in the SINGLE digits, what could possibly be so radical about secession.

Here is an idea. Perhaps the real terrorists are those who have abandoned the Constitution, make laws and pass taxes contrary to common sense and the voice of the people, send thousands of our soldiers all over the world to die, be maimed, or occupy other countries while telling the citizens of the States of America that we are stuck with D.C. and there is no way out.

Financial Coup d'etat

In a recent email, I ask some friends about the possibility of us experiencing a financial coup. Many countries have experienced military coups which are generally very obvious what with all the shooting, but a stratagem spread out over several generations may not be quite as obvious.

Some attribute the possibility of this happening to the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 and while I see this as one of the major steps in such a process, I believe the ball was dropped when Lincoln usurped his Constitutional authority in 1861 and called for troops to "preserve' the Union, thus setting precedent for ignoring Constitutional constraints.

Some may even point back further to the writings and influence of the Federalists and the central banking ideas. (At least during the time of the Federalist papers, the states still had the choice to ratify or not.)

Either way one looks at it, though, I would suggest that we have seen the total takeover of the state via the economy.

Dictionary.com defines coup d'etat as, a sudden and decisive action in politics, esp. one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force.

One must acknowledge the immense amount of corporate influence in the federal government. This influence is not confined to the financial sector, though. To understand this, the reader need only look at the public positions that are held by former execs.

Goldman Sachs is a prime example of this. Henry "Hank" Paulson, Treasury Secretary, left his position as CEO of Goldman Sachs to accept the nomination the Federal Reserve Chairmen. It should be noted that the Federal Reserve board has most recently approved the transition of GS from an investment bank into a commercial bank giving them more access to "emergency" loans.

GS alumni have or do hold various public positions such as White House Chief of Staff, state governor, three Treasury Secretaries, U.S. Trade Representative, and Deputy Secretary of State to name a few and that is just Goldman Sachs!

One could go on and on if he were to look at each corporation.

This is just one area in which government is affected by corporate interests. One other that cannot be left out is the fact that so many of these execs are also members of the Council on Foreign Relations which becomes the means of access for the private interests of corporations into the state.

Thomas Jefferson warned us that the establishment of banks is more dangerous than standing armies and that the "central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution."

Now here we are in 2008 and not only do we have a central bank, but through the inflation of currency we are seeing the establishment of banks through direct investment by our government. One should look no further for proof of the coup d'etat than H.R. 1424 (Emergency Economic Stabilization Act). It did not matter that it was unconstitutional and individuals overwhelmingly made their opposition known to their respective Representatives.

We are now more than ever considered resources for the state. The coup has occurred, make no mistake about it.