And now we have the right wing version of Moore in Alex Jones. Just like Moore Jones dropped out of college and came from middle class parents. People on the left complain Jones is funded by and is agent for the Jews, whatever that means. Anybody know please leave a comment. His videos are handed out at Tea Parties all across America. He has two web sites Prison Planet and Infowars. Apparently Mr. Jones is approaching Moore in nut job video status.
At one of the Tea Parties I picked up his “Fall of the Republic” video। I viewed it and knew it would piss off one of my left wing nut job friend। And it sure did. I watched Fahrenheit 9/11 that was torn apart by David Kopel and Christopher Hitchens a few years ago so now it was payback time.. The guy is so brainwashed like the characters in 1984 when shown the bad guy he starts screaming and throwing things. Right on cue when there was a video clip of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann he went into convolutions saying crap like “if she was next to me I would pummel her face”. Of course he says this crap whenever a person worthy of demonization by the left appears on a television. You know Sarah Palin, Bush and the crowd. He is a total tool of the left. Other than that he’s a normal well mannered jihad type.
So the dirty deed was done. To his credit my friend sat through the whole video, even the global warming part that caused his blood pressure to peak at dangerous levels all the will frantically trying to control erratic convulsions. He did quite well for a left tool and now we are even.
This brings me back to Mr. Jones. Just like Mr. Moore he has a tendency to be short on research and long opinion. Briefly a couple of glaring errors in the video.
The first is the proposal that the Federal Reserve be put under the jurisdiction of the congress so “the people” can control the national bank. Mr. Jones has an aversion to banker and the Federal Reserve. A lot of economist agree. The Federal Reserve has depreciated the currency 95% soon to be 98% since its inception. Bankers love printing money and getting people to pay for the inflated currency with hard currency. What’s new? This has been going on for centuries. John Law did the money bubble dance back in 1715. And the Alex Jones solution is to turn the bank over to congress?
Hello earth to Mr. Jones! This congress has been ripping off the people for decades and you want to give them the keys to the piggy bank? Not a good idea. Dude badly needs to watch some Dan Mitchell or Peter Schiff videos and get a clue.
Here is a clue for you Mr. Jones. The Federal Reserve was created by wealthy New York banks to eliminate competing from regional banks and to facilitate as much seigniorage as possible. All over the world preferably. Basically kill the little guys and print a bunch of cheap money and pass it off as valuable money and pocket the difference. Got it?
The solution to the problem would be to eliminate the Federal Reserve and revert back to regional banking that worked from 1836 to 1913. Or create a federal receivership bank to handle banking collapse and a second federal bank that is restricted to increasing the money supply at some set rate say 4% plus or minus 1%. Set the reserve requirement at 8% or some number and leave it alone. Get out of setting interest rates and let them float. The old system creates competition and forces bad competitors out of business. The old system worked fine for everyone but New York bankers that wanted monopoly profits and were scared of “unfettered competition” from regional and state banks. Got it?
The second theme that reoccurs in these “right wing” videos is that the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. Lou Dobbs, Ross Perot and every right wing group seems to be opposed to free trade. All those Mexican stealing our jobs. Well let’s set the record strait. The reason blue collar wages have been suppressed 37% give or take a little in the 1990’s and 2000’s at the same time there was a boom for white collar wages is the border. You see a wall there Mr. Jones? No wall and no restriction on foreign workers mean lower wages for unskilled and semi-skilled labor. You know that supply and demand thing. NAFTA increases economic activity thereby increasing demand for workers. NAFTA is not the problem. The lack of a wall and chaotic immigration policy is the problem. Build a wall and wages will rise for low skilled labor.
Exports by the US have increased 157% since NAFTA. Exports from Canada and Mexico have increased 231%. NAFTA has helped the US economy grow 0.5% a year. When a consumer is allowed to by cheaper goods it increases the consumers’ purchasing power. The people are better off not the large corporations. More choices mean more competition and less centralization of economic power.
When trade increases with Mexico it created more demand for Mexican labor. The incentives for the average Mexican worker to stay in Mexico go UP not down. If the Mexican worker can make a living and raise a family in his or her home country they will be less likely to want to relocate to the United States. If the United States had free trade with every nation the purchasing power of the people would go UP not down.
Basically Mr. Jones for every $1 of savings to a domestic manufacturer created by barriers to trade the consumer loses $9 to $19 of purchasing power. A very bad trade off. Look at Venezuela and their 90% tariffs on imported goods. Is that what you want?
Protectionism also renders domestic manufacturers obsolete in the world market. Does anyone remember the isolationist Soviet Union and eastern block automobiles? Anyone remember the Yugo? Isolate domestic industry from international competition and you end up with a bunch of factories producing Yugo’s. Not a smart decision.
The problem with domestic manufacturing is the horrendous tax burden and complexity of the tax code. If you want real change support the Fair Tax or a flat tax that eliminates all corporate taxes. Corporate taxes are nothing more than a tax on the people. Double taxation. Corporations collect taxes and pass them off on consumers, share holders or company growth and research. It all depends on the elasticity of the product but all three are bad outcomes.
Mr. Jones does get a lot right and he does put both republican and democratic politicians and points of view in his video. Give credit where credit is due. Unfortunately his lack of education, specifically economic education clouds the overall effect of his videos and relegates him to the “nut job” video library.
I like cake.
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