Ron Paul 2012: Real Hope

Ron Paul is the Only candidate who wants to bring the troops home, end the federal reserve which is stealing money right out of your bank account, reduce the size of government and give power back to the people and defend the constitution. Ron Paul 2012.

Some of the videos were taken from the fantastic DVD "For Liberty" which you can watch online here:

Ron Paul 2012: Real Hope


For Liberty: How the Ron Paul Revolution Watered the Withered Tree of Liberty

EGYPT REVOLT - Fresh clashes erupt in Cairo's Tahrir Square

Egyptian police have clashed with hundreds of anti-government protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, leaving several people injured.

Riot police fired tear gas to try to disperse the protesters, many of whom hurled stones at the police lines.

Tahrir Square was the epicentre of February's revolt that led to President Hosni Mubarak being toppled.

Many of the protesters were calling for the prosecution of former officials to be speeded up.

As dawn broke, stones and broken glass littered the streets around Tahrir Square. Witnesses said it was worst violence in the square for weeks.

The confrontation started on Tuesday when police cleared a sit-in outside the state TV building by families of those killed in February's uprising, activists said.

The protesters later regrouped outside the interior ministry and clashes broke out with police.

Fighting escalated and moved to Tahrir Square where lines of riot police carrying shields sealed off the main streets and dozens of security vehicles parked in side streets.

As volleys of tear gas rained down, injured demonstrators were seen lying on the ground, some dazed and bloodied.

"The people want the fall of the regime," some of the demonstrators chanted.

Continue reading - BBC - Fresh clashes erupt in Cairo's Tahrir Square

Cairo Clashes Video: Violence back on Egypt Tahrir Square

Surge of protest across China

Harmony and stability are priorities for the Chinese. But as Channel 4 News Asia Correspondent John Sparks discovered, young people across China are taking to the streets and calling for change.

Surge of protest across China

UK REVOLT - More than 6,000 schools face teacher strike action

More than 3,500 schools in England and Wales will be closed and some 2,600 partially closed on Thursday when two teaching unions stage strike action.

Education Secretary Michael Gove, who announced the figures, said the strike action, over pension changes, was regrettable, unnecessary and premature.

He was responding to an urgent Commons question by his shadow, Andy Burnham.

Action is being taken by members of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

They say the changes will mean they will have to work longer, pay more and get less when they retire.

Mr Gove told the Commons the strike would cause "massive inconvenience to hard-working families" and would hit working women particularly hard.

"This strike, at this time will not help our schools," he said.

He said his department had established that 3,206 schools would be closed and 2,206 would be partially closed on Thursday.

In total 84 academies would be shut and 128 partially closed.

Continue reading - BBC - More than 5,000 schools face teacher strike action

Strikes among public sector workers begin

Some civil servants have begun industrial action as part of a strike involving hundreds of thousands in protest at changes to their pensions.

Some UK Border Agency staff began strike action at 1800 BST.

About 600,000 teachers and civil servants are striking on Thursday over planned pension changes they say will mean working longer and paying more.

Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs it was unfair of the strikers to cause problems for everyone.

He said government plans were "fair to taxpayers" and the public sector.

Four trade unions are taking part in strike action on Thursday.

Three are teaching unions - the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the University and College Union (UCU).

They will be joined by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) which has around 250,000 members.

The government believes one in five of the nation's 500,000 civil servants will take strike action.

Continue reading - BBC - Strikes among public sector workers begin

UK grinds to a hault as half a million march against govt cuts


UK enters strike chaos: 750,000 public workers walk out

GREECE REVOLT - Greece protest against austerity package turns violent

Police have fired tear gas in running battles with stone-throwing youths in Athens, where a 48-hour general strike is being held against a parliamentary vote on tough austerity measures.

Thousands of protesters have gathered outside parliament in the capital where public transport has ground to a halt.

PM George Papandreou has said that only his 28bn-euro (£25bn) austerity plan would get Greece back on its feet.

If the package is not approved, Greece could run out of money within weeks.

Without a new plan in place, the EU and IMF say they will withhold 12bn euros of loans which Greece needs to repay debts due in mid-July.
'Declared war'

Monday's rally started peacefully, but escalated into running skirmishes on the fringes of the main demonstration.

Some protesters started throwing stones and bottles at the police in one corner of the central Syntagma Square, with police firing tear gas to keep protesters back.

Small fires appear to have been started by the protesters.

The general strike has halted most public services, banks are closed and hospitals are operating on skeleton staff.

Airports are shutting for hours at a time, with air traffic controllers walking out between 0800 and 1200 (0500-0900 GMT) and 1800 and 2200 (1500-1900 GMT). A number of flights were also cancelled at Athens international airport.

Trains, buses and ferries are also affected.

In Athens, the metro is the only form of public transport which will work "so as to allow Athenians to join the planned protests in the capital", metro drivers said.

More than 5,000 police officers were deployed in the centre of Athens as the protesters marched towards parliament.

Protesters have blockaded the port of Piraeus, near Athens, which links most Greek islands with the mainland.

"The situation that the workers are undergoing is tragic and we are near poverty levels," said Spyros Linardopoulos, a protester with the PAME union at the blockade.

"The government has declared war and to this war we will answer back with war."

The unions are angry that the government's austerity programme will impose taxes on those earning the minimum wage, following months of other cuts which have seen unemployment rise to more than 16%.

Continue reading - BBC - Greece protest against austerity package turns violent

Reuters - Police fire teargas at Greek austerity protest

Breakdown Of Greek Austerity Measures

TAXATION

- Taxes will increase by 2.32bn euros this year, with additional taxes of 3.38bn euros in 2012, 152m euros in 2013 and 699m euros in 2014.
- A solidarity levy of between 1% and 5% of income will be levied on households to raise 1.38bn euros.
- The tax-free threshold for income tax will be lowered from 12,000 to 8,000 euros.
- There will be higher property taxes
- VAT rates are to rise: the 19% rate will increase to 23%, 11% becomes 13%, and 5.5% will increase to 6.5%.
- The VAT rate for restaurants and bars will rise to 23% from 13%.
- Luxury levies will be introduced on yachts, pools and cars.
- Some tax exemptions will be scrapped
- Excise taxes on fuel, cigarettes and alcohol will rise by one third.
- Special levies on profitable firms, high-value properties and people with high incomes will be introduced.

PUBLIC SECTOR CUTS

- The public sector wage bill will be cut by 770m euros in 2011, 600m euros in 2012, 448m euros in 2013, 300m euros in 2014 and 71m euros in 2015.
- Nominal public sector wages will be cut by 15%.
- Wages of employees of state-owned enterprises will be cut by 30% and there will be a cap on wages and bonuses.
- All temporary contracts for public sector workers will be terminated.
- Only one in 10 civil servants retiring this year will be replaced and only one in 5 in coming years.

SPENDING CUTS

- Defence spending will be cut by 200m euros in 2012, and by 333m euros each year from 2013 to 2015.
- Health spending will be cut by 310m euros this year and a further 1.81bn euros in 2012-2015, mainly by lowering regulated prices for drugs.
- Public investment will be cut by 850m euros this year.
- Subsidies for local government will be reduced.
- Education spending will be cut by closing or merging 1,976 schools.

CUTTING BENEFITS

- Social security will be cut by 1.09bn euros this year, 1.28bn euros in 2012, 1.03bn euros in 2013, 1.01bn euros in 2014 and 700m euros in 2015.
- There will be more means-testing and some benefits will be cut.
- The government hopes to collect more social security contributions by cracking down on evasion and undeclared work.
- The statutory retirement age will be raised to 65, 40 years of work will be needed for a full pension and benefits will be linked more closely to lifetime contributions.

PRIVATISATION

- The government aims to raise 50bn euros from privatisations by 2015, including:
- Selling stakes this year in the betting monopoly OPAP, the lender Hellenic Postbank, port operators Piraeus Port and Thessaloniki Port as well as Thessaloniki Water.
- It has agreed to sell 10% of Hellenic Telecom to Deutsche Telekom for about 400m euros.
- Next year, the government plans to sell stakes in Athens Water, refiner Hellenic Petroleum, electricity utility PPC, lender ATEbank as well as ports, airports, motorway concessions, state land and mining rights.
- It plans further sales to raise 7bn euros in 2013, 13bn euros in 2014 and 15bn euros in 2015.

via BBC - Breakdown Of Greek Austerity Measures

Athens riots video: New round of clashes, stones & tear gas in Greece


Athens Chaos: Video of riots, flames & violence in Greece


More video of Greek riots, 18 detained, 4 police injured


Rioting, General Strike Leave Greece in Standstill Ahead of Austerity Vote


Greek leader 'dead man walking', Greek bailout 'collective punishment'


LATEST UPDATES:

Violent scenes in Athens as bloody Greek riots keep on raging


Athens War Zone: Latest dramatic footage from Syntagma square


Athens Riot Madness: Video of explosions, tear gas in Greece


Bailout Battlefield: Greeks fight against foreign fiscal take-over


Athens on Fire: Video of night clashes, Greek capital smoked

In Depth Interview With Ron Paul

C-SPAN interviewed 2012 Republican presidential candidate and Representative Ron Paul. He talked about his two previous presidential bids, the state of the Republican Party, the Obama administration, his years as a doctor and military service, and other topics.

In Depth Interview With Ron Paul pt.1


In Depth Interview With Ron Paul pt.2


In Depth Interview With Ron Paul pt.3


In Depth Interview With Ron Paul pt.4

Ron Paul’s Anti-Fed Message Gains Respect

When Ron Paul announced four years ago that he was running for president, the congressman from Texas had a tough time attracting attention.

Paul, known for his anti-government views, opposition to the Iraq, Afghan and Libyan conflicts and drive to get rid of the Federal Reserve, stayed in Washington to declare his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination on C-Span, the cable television station devoted to government proceedings. His entry earned a one-sentence mention near the end of a Washington Post political story, and little notice elsewhere.

Last month, his venue for announcing another presidential bid was an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” -- a program with more than 4.5 million viewers. He spoke from a rally in New Hampshire, where hundreds of backers drawn to Paul’s message of shrinking government and limiting its reach cheered the 75-year-old great-grandfather.

“During the last campaign people weren’t too interested in what I was saying,” Paul said in an interview. “There’s some respect for it now.”

Paul, a former obstetrician who estimates he’s delivered about 4,000 babies, also has seen his clout grow within Congress, where during most of his 11 full terms he had little influence. This year, he ascended to the helm of the House subcommittee that oversees the Fed. Rand Paul, his son and a Tea-Party favorite who follows his father’s anti-tax, anti-debt politics, joined Paul in Washington in January as a Republican senator from Kentucky, elevating the family brand.

Straw Poll Win

At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, an annual gathering of party activists that this month featured speeches by several White House aspirants, Paul won a June 18 presidential preference straw poll. The day before, he took the stage at the event to a thundering chant of “Ron Paul” from supporters. Minutes into his speech, several hundred began shouting “Kill the Fed.”

Paul looked on with a smile. “This is wonderful; this is where we have made our greatest stride,” he said. “It’s time we not only audit our Federal Reserve, but in due time get rid of the Federal Reserve.”

The heightened appeal of his efforts was evident in 2010, when the House cleared his legislation to require audits of the central bank’s interest-rate decisions. It was Paul’s ninth attempt at passing legislation to rein in the Fed. A watered- down version of Paul’s measure was included in the financial- regulation law enacted last year, and Paul has vowed to push for greater oversight.

Heightened Stature

“Anybody who ever thought Ron Paul was a joke was not paying attention,” said Charlie Black, a veteran political strategist who advised Republican presidential nominee John McCain in 2008. “His stature is elevated because his followers did play a big role in the Tea Party movement and the victories for Republicans in 2010.”

In the 2012 campaign, Paul said, rivals no longer dismiss him.

“In the debates last go-around, if I brought up monetary policy they literally would laugh or snicker,” he said. “I don’t think that’s there anymore because people are realizing the current system isn’t working that well.”

Continue reading - Bloomberg - Ron Paul’s Anti-Fed Message Gains Respect

A personal appeal from Ron Paul

Rich Dad Advisors Discuss Food Storage for the coming 2012 Depression

Rich Dad "Robert Kiyosaki" and his entire adviser team discuss how they have prepared for the coming depression:
- Year's supply of food
- Guns
- Gold & silver
- Cash on hand

They speak of the coming depression (inflationary or not it's going to happen), shutting down the credit card system, and higher taxes no matter what. Budget-cutting police forces promotes lawnessness.

What scares me now is these are not some local yocals on youtube speaking their wacky thoughts. Instead, these are calm, straight speaking, successful businessesmen in the know, telling us what they have done. We should take notice. They are prepared.

Rich Dad Advisors Discuss Food Storage for the coming 2012 Depression

BIS Says Central Banks Need to Start Increasing Rates to Contain Inflation

Central banks need to start raising interest rates to contain inflation and may have to act faster than in the past, the Bank for International Settlements said.

“Tighter global monetary policy is needed in order to contain inflation pressures and ward off financial stability risks,” the BIS said in its annual report published today in Basel, Switzerland. “Central banks may have to be prepared to raise policy rates at a faster pace than in previous tightening episodes.”

While policy makers in Asia and Latin America are already raising borrowing costs to damp price pressures, rates remain near record lows in the world’s largest developed economies. Central banks in the U.S., U.K. and Japan have signaled they intend to keep that stimulus in place for some time, with only the European Central Bank moving to gradually tighten credit as inflation risks increase.

“Global inflation pressures are rising rapidly as commodity prices soar and as the global recovery runs into capacity constraints,” said the BIS, which acts as a central bank for the world’s central banks. “These increased upside risks to inflation call for higher policy rates.”

Risk of Distortions

The BIS said that in “some advanced economies” policy tightening still needs to be balanced against the “vulnerabilities” associated with private and public sector balance-sheet adjustment and financial-sector fragility.

At the same time, “undue delay in the normalization of the monetary policy stance entails the risk of creating serious financial market distortions, the postponement of deleveraging and the misallocation of resources,” it said. Furthermore, a “timely tightening” of policy in both emerging-market and advanced economies will be needed “to preserve a low-inflation environment globally and reinforce central banks’ inflation- fighting credibility.”

The BIS said central banks should also reduce the size of their balance sheets, though it would be “dangerous” to cut them “too rapidly or too indiscriminately.”

Balance Sheets

In response to the financial crisis, the Fed and the Bank of England “sharply” increased their total assets from about 8 percent of gross domestic product to just below 20 percent, according to the BIS. The ECB expanded its assets from 13 percent of GDP to more than 20 percent. In emerging markets, central bank balance sheets “grew more gradually over the past decade,” the BIS said.

“Balance sheet policies have supported the global economy through a very difficult crisis,” it said. “However, the balance sheets are now exposed to greater risks -- namely interest-rate risk, exchange-rate risk and credit risk -- that could lead to financial losses.”

The BIS urged governments to pursue fiscal consolidation, saying the biggest risk is “doing too little too late rather than doing too much too soon.” In Europe, policy makers must fix the region’s debt crisis “once and for all,” it said.

‘No Shortcut’

“Nowhere is the link between fiscal sustainability and financial health more apparent than in parts of Europe today,” Caruana said. “There is no easy way out, no shortcut, no painless solution.”

The BIS also warned that a failure of the U.S. to tackle its budget deficit could become a source of instability, with potentially “far-reaching ramifications for the global economy” should a rapid depreciation of the dollar result.

“The current ability of the United States to easily finance its deficit cannot be taken for granted,” the report said.

Continue reading - Bloomberg - BIS Says Central Banks Need to Start Increasing Rates to Contain Inflation

Peter Joseph Speaks at LA Town Hall

Peter Joseph on Technological Unemployment & Market Inefficiency [ LA TownHall 6/21/11] | The Zeitgeist Movement

Peter Joseph on Technological Unemployment


Peter Joseph on True Safety and Security

Global Banking is What's Really in Crisis

We are confronting a crisis, all right, but it is not a Greek crisis, unless uncertainty as to the date of that country's de facto default counts as a crisis.

If the insolvency of that tiny country were the world's only problem, it would be stretching the word "crisis" to apply it to the travails and insolvency of that tiny country.

What we have come to call the Greek crisis is, first, an international banking crisis. Like Lehman Brothers, Greece is definitely not too big to fail. It is too interconnected to fail, too interconnected to the international banking system, too interconnected to the political ambitions of those who have spent decades replacing the system of nation states with a united Europe.

Start with Greek banks, which hold €70 billion ($99.3 billion) of their government's sovereign debt. The Economist estimates that if Greek banks were required to recognize the fact that markets are valuing Greek government debt at about half the value assigned to this paper on their books, shareholders would be wiped out and the banks would have to scramble to raise substantial new capital. Depositors would scramble to get their money out, and the European Central Bank would have to torture its rules to find a way to continue accepting Greek bank IOUs in return for the cash needed to maintain the liquidity of the Greek banking system.

Other financial institutions would also find life more difficult. Many of Germany's under-capitalized banks would be hard hit if they were forced to recognize that their books are in good part works of fiction, with IOUs of Greece and its banks and businesses recorded at values that have no relation to their true worth.

German banks are not alone in their predicament: The rating agencies are already expressing concern about the exposure of three French banks and some 29 Italian banks, and the governor of the Bank of England has called the problems of overly indebted euro-zone countries the "most serious and immediate risk" to the U.K. financial sector. It is also obvious that we have no clear idea of the exposure of U.S. money-market funds to Greece's insolvency, or of insurers—remember AIG, anyone? That's why $51 billion has been pulled out of those funds in recent weeks by nervous investors, why America's banks have become reluctant to lend to their European counterparts, and why the Fed is asking U.S. banks about their exposure, including credit default swaps written on European banks.

Greece's problem has also revealed another crisis—a crisis of governance. The Tower of Babel that is euroland governance is collapsing. Markets have gone from puzzled to incredulous and on to near-panic as Herman Van Rompuy says one thing, José Manuel Barroso another, Jean-Claude Trichet another, Angela Merkel still another. Their failure to sing from the same hymn sheet is damaging—no, destroying—any confidence markets might once have had in the competence of the euro-zone governing class.

On to the next, and related crisis, a crisis of German identity. The current generation of German voters is no longer certain it must pay any price to subsume its nation in a wider Europe lest its nation's economic power stir fears of a rebirth of the "German problem." Germans remember the decades-long price they paid to bring woebegone East Germany closer to the economic standard of the West, and are not sure they want to pay a similar price to bring southern Europe up to German standards of economic performance, if that is even possible. A Germany that wants once again to be a "normal" country is not a nation that will uncomplainingly consent to the perpetual southern shift of its income and wealth, which is the only alternative to default other than devaluation, unavailable to euro-zone countries.

What we are calling the Greek crisis is also a crisis of structural economic dysfunction. Illiquidity and insolvency are merely the symptoms of the deeper problem affecting a broad swathe of the euro-zone. Excessive debt is not the result of profligacy alone. It is also the result of demography and of a lack of economic growth. The ageing of the European population, and the increasing proportion that consists of immigrants not enamored of Western values and free markets, present problems Europe has yet to confront. Nor has it coped with the stifling effect on innovation and growth of the systematic protection of inefficient private- and public-sector institutions. Illiquidity and even insolvency can be cured with money; a lack of international competitiveness in countries unable to devalue requires the stronger medicine of structural reform.

But enough whining. In Philip Roth's wonderful novel "Portnoy's Complaint," a book closer to reality than the ledgers of many banks, a psychiatrist listens to the protagonist's complaints about his life for more than 200 pages, and then remarks, "Shall we begin?"

Let's. If we accept that the politicians have decreed that immediate default is off the table, we can, indeed, must:

• force the banks to recognize that much of what they count as assets aren't, and to recapitalize, even if this slows lending and growth in the short term;

• recognize the need to speak to markets with one voice;

• admit that perpetual dependence on the generosity of Germany is not a sustainable policy;

• remove incentive-numbing high taxes and barriers to innovation in order to generate the growth and tax revenues to support more sensibly constructed welfare states.

There's more, but that would be a start.

Continue reading - WSJ - Global Banking is What's Really in Crisis

PAUL: Time to end Federal Reserve secrecy

Among the facts that the Federal Reserve would rather you didn’t know is that at the height of the financial turmoil in 2008, when average Americans were just beginning to suffer, the institution was passing out sweetheart deals to protect the powerful and well-connected. Among the beneficiaries were foreign banks, Wall Street giants and even the company that then owned MSNBC.

Recently, my House subcommittee on domestic monetary policy held a hearing to examine information disclosed by the Federal Reserve about its bailout lending during the 2008 financial crisis - disclosure that was required by the Dodd-Frank Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

These Federal Reserve records, made available to the public on Dec. 1, 2010, and on March 31 provided a look at thousands of transactions and trillions of dollars in lending by the Federal Reserve.

The importance of this hearing cannot be overstated.

The conduct of the Fed and the operations of its lending facilities, especially during the most critical periods of the financial crisis, require intensive oversight and the utmost transparency.

Had it not been for the actions of grass-roots activists intent on holding the Fed accountable, none of this information would have seen the light of day. The Fed not only protested these transparency efforts every step of the way, but also predicted financial disaster if details on the recipients of those funds were released.

Several months after the disclosures, the only disaster is the continuing refusal of the White House and Congress to rein in an out-of-control Fed and exercise effective oversight of its monetary policy.

In fact, as I pointed out during the hearing, much of the data we received in these disclosures were heavily edited by the Fed.

Like the majority of Americans who support my push for full transparency for the Fed’s monetary policy, I want to know the whole story about the Fed’s actions leading up to the crisis and beyond - not just the parts it chooses to disclose. Countless lives have been ruined by the havoc created by the Fed’s loose monetary policy, and Congress owes it to those Americans to prevent another financial crisis from happening.

Not holding the Federal Reserve accountable for its actions is the epitome of negligence. Unlike the story sold to the American people in 2008 - that the economy would grind to a halt without trillions of dollars in bailouts - the truth has turned out to be very different.

And let me tell you - Americans will be outraged when they see what the Fed has done.

For example, money was lent to major firms such as Goldman Sachs at rates as low as 0.01 percent, essentially a free loan to the politically well-connected. Non-banks such as General Electric and Verizon Communications got Fed loans. Banks partly owned by the Chinese government received billions in loans.

We now know that at the peak of the crisis, the Fed was providing nearly 90 percent of its discount window loans to foreign banks and even lent billions of dollars to a bank partially owned by the Bank of Libya.

Those actions warrant further investigation into how the Fed operates.

It is little wonder the Fed so ardently opposed the grass-roots audit movement as it was duping the American people into bailing out its Wall Street cronies and sending billions of dollars overseas.

While everyday Americans suffered through the Great Recession, Wall Street and politically connected insiders benefited from their ties to receive a reprieve from the consequences of their bad decisions - and Congress stood by and did nothing.

Given what we know now, we cannot afford to waste any more time and must take action right away to permanently lift the Fed’s veil of secrecy.

I have reintroduced my Audit the Fed legislation, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, to require full transparency and accountability from the Federal Reserve, and my subcommittee will continue to hold hearings on the Fed’s policies. It is long past overdue that Americans learned the truth about what happens inside the central bank that holds absolute power over the value of their money, the health of the economy and the strength of the nation.

Rep. Ron Paul is a Texas Republican.

Continue reading - PAUL: Time to end Federal Reserve secrecy

Trichet Says Risk Signals Are Flashing Red as Debt Crisis Threatens Banks

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said risk signals for financial stability in the euro area are flashing “red” as the debt crisis threatens to infect banks.

“On a personal basis I would say ‘yes, it is red’,” Trichet said late yesterday in Frankfurt after a meeting of the European Systemic Risk Board, referring to the group’s planned “dashboard” to monitor risks. “The message of the board is that” the link between debt problems and banks “is the most serious threat to financial stability in the European Union.”

Trichet, who chairs the ESRB, said officials did not discuss the situation in Greece, where the government is trying to stave off a default as European governments prepare a second bailout for the nation. The EU is trying to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis that followed the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) and resulted in European governments setting aside more than $5 trillion to support banks.

BNP Paribas (BNP) SA, France’s biggest bank, and rivals Societe Generale (GLE) SA and Credit Agricole SA (ACA), may have their credit ratings cut by Moody’s Investors Service because of their investments in Greece, the ratings company said on June 15. German banks could also be at risk from contagion, Fitch Ratings said last month.

“The most serious threat to financial stability in the EU stems from the interplay between the vulnerabilities of public finances in certain EU member states and the banking system,” Trichet said. There are “potential contagion effects across the union and beyond.”

Continue reading - Bloomberg - Trichet Says Risk Signals Are Flashing Red as Debt Crisis Threatens Banks

DEBTOCRACY

For the first time in Greece a documentary produced by the audience. "Debtocracy" seeks the causes of the debt crisis and proposes solutions, hidden by the government and the dominant media.

via - DEBTOCRACY - ΧΡΕΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ

DEBTOCRACY

Q&A: Ron Paul

In his 12 terms in Congress, Ron Paul has waged many lonely crusades. Before he was a Tea Party standard bearer and a master of the online money bomb, the man known as “Dr. No” was a libertarian icon who regularly bucked his party’s budgets and preached isolationism* against military intervention when his peers were girding for war. But while he’s nurtured a devoted band of supporters, the Texas Republican has been a non-factor in his two prior bids for the White House. Paul is hoping his third bid for the presidency will be different. With the rise of the Tea Party, the center of gravity of the Republican base has shifted toward Paul, particularly on foreign policy. And while the political punditry has again written him off, his supporters believe Paul has the fund-raising might and grassroots army to make a credible challenge for the nomination in 2012.

On June 17, Paul spoke to TIME by phone from New Orleans, where he won the straw poll at the Republican Leadership Conference. A trimmed and lightly edited transcript follows:

Why do you want to be President?

To straighten out the mess that this country is in. To give this country more peace, more prosperity, a sound currency and a lot more security.

Four years ago, you demonstrated your fund-raising prowess and your appeal to a segment of fervent fans. But you weren’t a top contender for the nomination. Why do you expect to do better this time?

Because the country is a completely different country than it was four years ago. People have come to realize that you can’t continue these wars, and both sides now are putting a lot of pressure on the President to back off, especially when it comes to Libya. Also, people are now looking at the Federal Reserve as being a major contributor, if not the entire cause, of financial bubbles and these troubles we have. These are the kind of things I’ve been talking about for 20 to 30 years.

In addition to saving money abroad, what policies would you prescribe to spur economic growth here at home?

I would work real hard on the tax code. I want the Federal Reserve to quit creating money out of thin air, because that distorts the economy. That’s central economic planning by manipulating interest rates. Money should come from savings. Where are our savings? They’re overseas. A lot of our companies made money overseas and don’t want to bring it home and get taxed 30% or 40%. They’ve already been taxed overseas. Corporate taxes should be as close to zero as possible.

Then you need to have regulatory relief. The more trouble we get into, the more regulations they add on. They say the lack of regulations was why we had our crisis. Well, the regulations should be placed on the Federal Reserve, not on the businessman. You have to allow the liquidation of debt and the mal-investment. We should have allowed bankruptcies to occur rather than save weak companies.

Would you vote to raise the debt limit if the deal to do so contained spending reductions equal to or exceeding the $2.4 trillion it would take to raise the borrowing limit through 2012?

The promises to cut spending, which is supposed to be the temptation to vote for the debt increase, I think is a trick. Are they going to do it this year? Next year? Or is it going to be a 10-year program? There is no value to promises to make cuts in the future. In the 1980s they had a tax increase and it was agreed that for every dollar of increased taxes, there would be two dollars of spending cuts. What happened to the deficit in the 1980s? It still exploded.

You’re known for voting your ideology. Are you willing to compromise this time around to enhance your chances of winning the nomination?

That would be like crossing your fingers as you take an oath of office. Instead of compromising, I work with coalitions. Some of my best groups have been working with progressive Democrats. They understand civil liberties and they understand war, and many of them, believe it or not, think deficits are bad. They like transparency of the Fed. I think working with coalitions without sacrificing any principle is the way to go. If you say now is the time to compromise, you’re also saying your oath of office is worth about 50%.

What would a Ron Paul presidency look like?

There would be changes on Day 1. I’d do everything conceivable to trade with [foreign countries] rather than intimidating them. I’d try to relieve some of the tension. I certainly wouldn’t have warships in the Black Sea trying to stir up a new Cold War with the Russians. That’s crazy. The rest of it, you have to get a consensus, get Congress to pass laws. You could back off on regulations. The federal register is big enough. That would be a signal to the business people: Wow, he doesn’t like taxes. You could do a lot to change the atmosphere, the intimidation that Big Government places on our business community.

Continue reading - TIME - Q&A: Ron Paul