Rearden_Steel

I wouldn't say they are wrong about Capitalism they just don't fully understand it. However, they recognize the benefits of such a system. They want individual freedom. You think everyone that fought in the revolution understood Thomas Pain? There will never be a political party were every member completely understands Philosophy. However, if they continue uphold individual freedom and values that are based on Objective morality I see no reason why you wouldn't join them. These are the qualities that I look for in a political party. The day they no longer hold these values I will withdraw my support. How the others choose to live their individual lives makes no difference to me. The idea that a person would not vote for laissez-faire capitalism because not everyone who supports it understands laissez-faire therefore throwing in their towel with the socialist makes absolutely no sense to me.

On the contrary. I've found that most Libertarians do not have a deeper understanding of Capitalism other than it gives more freedom to the individual and is the most efficient means of distribution. The LP is not a Philosophy, its a political party meant to achieve political means. So long as their political means are in tandem with mine I will continue to support them. Many in the LP understand what's right, they just don't know why its right. Under your assessment Eddie Willers would be the most dangerous person in Atlas Shrugged.

4% of the GDP? Where did you get that number?

I've always found it odd that Objectivist will on occasion support the Democrats or the Republicans but never the Libertarians. Of the three only one supports free market capitalism, individual right, and the separation between church and state. There are many in the LP that arrive to these conclusions in a different way than Objectivist, however discrediting the whole lot because of a few seems like tossing out the baby with the bath water. Like it or not the LP has huge ties to Ayn Rand and Objectivism. It would be like discrediting Objectivism because of the actions and words of David Kelly and his group. The LP needs Objectivism, they already are arriving to the right conclusions but we could help them discover why they are right. In answer to your question here is a sample of Objectivism influencing the LP: Ayn Rand: The missing Libertarian Ingredient, the secret Ron Paul ingredient http://www.nolanchart.com/article5521.html My very first exposure to libertarianism was provided by Ayn Rand http://www.fff.org/comment/com0502a.asp http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/ayn-rand.html Also the LP has recently awarded John Alison The "Free Market Hero" title.

Footage of a End the Fed Rally with speaker Peter Schiff and the NIA (National Inflation Association) I always enjoy watching Peter Schiff's speeches. Here he talks about the printing of money and the return of the gold standard and the founding of the Fed.

Doesn't matter. He spent 5 trillion extra dollars so unless he is going to flip the bill guess where the extra money sooner or later will come from. What he will most likely do is just print the money out and reduce the value of everyone's dollar. This by proxy is basically another way of taxing you.

How is protecting your countries trade at sea similar to opening a newspaper in a foreign state? Why wouldn't we protect our right to freely trade with other counties? We didn't violate their sovereignty or anyone's rights. We didn't insists that they trade with us by force. The ability to trade is vital to any nations survival. Any county or group that interferes with that trade is essentially attacking our right to exist.

"Zing went the strings to my heart" - an old Judy Garland song. Also, "Chances Are" by Johnny Mathis.

Which is why they need men like you Tom. They need people who can explain a moral basis for capitalism. Many of them are like Eddie Willlers, they seem to know the right right course of action but they don't know why its right. They are a party in need of philosophy.

If this was two or three years ago I might have agreed. However, too much of the Feds wheeling and dealing has changed the rules of the game. Beneke has recently said in response to inflation fears something very similar to what you said. That it would be easy for the fed to remove all that excess liquidity. But recently there is a story out from Bloomberg that says the federal reserve may offer investors longer term loans at higher interest rates to buy commercial mortgage back securities. The federal reserve received applications to borrow are down is 64% from March. The problem is that investors are demanding longer loans in order to join the TALF. Which raises the problem that FED normally raises the federal funds rate to fight inflation by selling treasuries that are on its balance sheet. This drains liquidity from the reserves of bank system. The Fed normally raises the benchmark federal funds rate by selling Treasuries on its balance sheet, further draining reserves from the banking system. That task is tougher with the Fed’s commitment last month to buy more than $1 trillion in mortgage- backed securities, which are harder to sell quickly without roiling markets or potentially attracting political scrutiny. TALF loans in particular would be difficult for the Fed to move. Beneke claiming that he can quickly remove this liquidity to fight inflation is completely wrong. Michael Pento recently pointed out he is wrong for exactly five reasons: 1 The Amount of securities that are on its balance sheet are much much greater than they have ever been before. 2 The types of securities that the federal reserves holds will make it absolutely impossible to sell them quickly without causing great disturbance in the market. 3 The duration of the securities on his balance sheet likewise will also make it very difficult to remove liquidity at the right time. 4 The amount of leverage in the economy will be so great that any attempts to raise interest rates will cause horrible and significant damage. 5 Bank assets are collecting money now at a little over 4% because were buying long-term treasures and coupon passes and keeping rates artificially low. So the federal reserve can't raise rates significantly without turning banks balance sheets upside down. So the bottom line is the Fed and the government has dug themselves and us into a very deep hole and there is no way out except through inflation. I would position myself and my portfolio to counter act the coming inflation.

No!! don't you see! The universe is this blanket!

Your right, credit is retracting in the private industry but in other areas its exploding such as with the government. You can count on the government to spend every trillion dollars that they have borrowed. We have increased the supply of dollars but the demand for dollars increased because of a rush for liquidity. This is one of the reasons that the government has been able to pay for the bailouts its because we have had this influx of cash from out side sources. But this can only go on for so long. Whats going on right now is de-leveraging, and this is benefiting the dollar, so despite the terrible fundamentals for the dollar, it still goes up anyway. But ultimately, when this "fools" rally runs out (and it will), the dollar is going to collapse, and that’s when we’re going to have a much greater crisis because now you’re going to have a collapsing dollar, which is going to push long-term interest rates up, commodity prices up. How is that exactly? Has SPDR GLD not been doing great? PRECIOUS-Gold inches up, ETF unchanged near record One of the reasons your getting paid $7 is because of the inherited risk in that particular option. There is a lot of different Gold ETFs and they are sold in many different baskets. This one particular option says very little over the overall demand for gold. Have you seen Gold bug prices lately? Also, recently Goldman Sachs lifted its three-month gold forecast to $1,000 an ounce from $700 an ounce, citing safe-haven demand for gold.

Much of the bailout money has yet to materialize into the market. Also many nations are still holding onto US dollars. China has already hinted that they are going to stop. Also, foreign markets are still buying our bonds and holding back inflation. This can only go on for so long. Once China and the other counties realize that we can't pay them back they will cut their losses and leave us to our own devices and people will be looking for "real money". I don't think you would end up sorry for buying gold. You should do your own research but I would not be surprised to see Gold 2000 within the next two to three years.

Libertarians have always had a bad rep with Objectivist (and for many good reasons). However, I believe the isolationism and anarchism in the party are just loudly spoken outliers. Many times when I describe the anti-military and anarchism to people who consider themselves Libertarians didn't even know this element existed in their own party. I feel many of these outliers could be rubbed out of the LP. I've mentioned in previous post that I believe that Objectivism could be the ethical back bone of the libertarian Party just as socialism is for the Demarcates and Christianity is for the Republicans. One of the reasons that the LP party has become host to "undesirables" is because its principles are not founded on a particular ethical code.

At least Obama's book(s) is off the list.

I often watch his vlog "penn says" on youtube. Once he mentioned that he has a poster of Ayn Rand in his dressing room.

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is #23!

Ron Paul puts Bernanke on the spot until Barney Frank interrupts him. I know this doesn't add anything new but to tell the truth its fun to watch him squirm.

Woody Allen

There is currently a Atlas Shrugged Book Campaign going on it could be the start of that.

I believe he is proposing the 'final solution'.

I can’t believe that happened what are the freaking odds?