“Truth persists and illuminates, even if there is no one to utter it.“

Government is not the solution; rather, it is causing the problems.  The below slides (view at Scribd) highlight the economic situation, updated from August and May presentation.  I’ve written about the solutions to the unemployment problem, the deficit, Social Security, and the high costs of health care which are linked below.  Thanks to Lee Trembley for providing some of the research and slides.

A giant land mine is about to go off in the United States, and those responsible walk the halls of our nation’s highest political offices and the Federal Reserve.  I know how to cushion the people from most of the damage.  I have the courage to explain reality to the Republocrats, that is why I am running for Congress.  And it is certainly not all gloom and doom – there is a very bright future for America if we just return to what made our country great – individual liberties, sound money, accountability and the rule of law.

I humbly ask for your vote on November 2nd to stop the endless debt and perpetual wars.

For Liberty and the Constitution,

Jake Towne

Will the real national debt please stand up? The national debt published in the papers and online – which is closely tied to the USTreasury market is now over $13.6 trillion.  Current government plans include massive deficit spending through 2013, and the government’s optimistic projections of a return to “normalcy” after 2013 are not anchored in reality.  Source of budget data.

However, the true national debt is hidden by the cash-based accounting method government uses.  The true national debt is over $120 trillion when GAAP (Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles) are used to identify future taxation sources and future debts such as Social Security and Medicare.  That’s around $400,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country.  Massive reductions in spending and taxation are necessary if America is to regain its financial sovereignty, my proposals are outlined here and in “Guns or Health Care?“

As seen in the official USTreasury report on page 178/254, the total unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security is a jaw-dropping $107 trillion over the future of these programs.  While I predict the Democrats may bear the brunt of the blame for the collapse of Medicare, one must not forget that it was the Republican’s massive expansion of Part D’s prescription drug plan under Bush that severely worsened Medicare’s fiscal situation.  While the situation in Medicare will continue to worsen under the new healthcare legislation – some of my proposals to maintain Social Security are outlined in “Social Security or Insecurity?“

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.” – Declaration of Independence, 1776

The quote above from the Declaration is far more true in 2010 than it was in 1776.   Not counting the millions of government contractors, the government’s Republocrat-controlled work force is currently 22.1 million bureaucrats.  This is America’s largest single job sector, and remember, the taxpayer bears the full cost to keep these bureaucrats employed.  Like something out of an Orwell novel, the Washington Post estimates 854,000 bureaucrats are employed to spy on and keep tabs on the rest of us and the world.  Lisa Benson’s cartoon says it all.

Keep in mind bureaucrats make nearly twice the average wage of the private sector, and have better benefits.  My solutions?  First, lead by example.  I will refuse the elite congressional pension and healthcare plans when elected, and keep just the median income for a salary and donate the rest of the $116,000 to local non-profit hospitals.  Second, I favor either a temporary income tax holiday, or simply halting the income tax on the median income, which will abolish the income tax for about 50% of the population and only result in a 3% drop in the taxes collected by the income tax.

Next, notice about 1 in 7 Americans is on food stamps, or 41.8 million people.  USDA link here.  Note the strong rise in number of SNAP food stamp recipients during the past year.  One would expect to see this number dropping or even flat-lining – along with employment rising – if a recovery were underway.  The annual projected cost is now $67 billion, paid for by the ever-diminishing work force.

No jobs, no recovery. BLS link here.  Note that while the “newspaper” unemployment rate is still 9-10%, the U-6 figure – which more accurately describes total unemployment is 16% – a depression statistic.  An estimated 1.6 million will file for bankruptcy this year.   I’ve described the common sense solutions to end the rampant unemployment created by the government almost overnight in the campaign’s Jobs plank.

Since the BLS drops off workers from its U-6 figure, the real unemployment rate is likely greater than 17%.  Shadowstats estimates the rate at about 22%.

The number of new housing starts has reached a 5-decade low, while about 25% of all residential mortgages are underwater.  Note that in prior recession cycles, a quick rebound occurred while this depression looks more like a dead cat bounce.  This is because….

The Federal Reserve bailed out the bankers and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  The above is built from the Federal Reserve H.4.1 data here.  The black line is the total (reported) balance sheet of the FED, which has more than doubled since the time of the Banker Bailout.  While the original TARP bailout (not shown) accounted for much of the initial sharp increase, most of the debt has been replaced by $1.12 trillion of mortgage-backed securities (the yellow line).

This graph shows the nationalization and propping of America’s entire residential housing industry. The yellow and green lines show the cumulative totals of USTreasury and USAgency debt held by the FED.  While the Federal Reserve has admitted it will take losses on the MBS debt, the question remains as to how much and when.

The purchasing power of the dollar has lost well over 94% since FDR took America off the classical gold standard in 1933 through monetary inflation.  The monetary inflation is caused by the Federal Reserve.  They debase the dollar by creating more and more irredeemable paper dollars, which is of increasing concern since China has stopped buying Treasury debt.  A major reason why healthcare now appears so expensive is this money-printing, as I highlighted in my article “Health Care Solutions.”  Graph provided by Bloomberg Financial, 2009.

The relentless rise in the paper gold price from 2000-2010 is not due to any special circumstance with gold – nor is it a bubble yet – it is solely due to the money-printing and credit expansions of the world’s central banks.  Gold is insurance against the failure of unbacked paper currencies, and this is why all central banks – and more and more individuals worldwide – hold gold reserves.  I’ve written extensively on the Federal Reserve and how sound money effects jobs here.

Now, where do the government and bankers spend a good portion of this currency they created from thin air?  In a word, WAR.  The United States spends more on military expenditures than the rest of the world combined, and the military-industrial-congressional complex that Eisenhower warned about now serves as the world’s largest arms dealers.  Check out this movie clip from “The International” on debt and control. (Graph source and data here)  There are far better solutions to capturing the criminals who attacked America on 9/11 which I write about in my Afghanistan War plank.

To cap off the situation with the dollar, the latest quarterly banking profile from the FDIC state the deposit insurance fund (DIF) is bankrupt.  While consumers at failed banks still receive “insured” funds, the losses are presumably filled in with dollars from the FED, as reported last here.  The current FDIC “watch list” rose to 775 banks, or almost 10% of all FDIC-insured banks in the US per p. 3/26.

CAUTION: LAND MINES

In summary, do not expect a recovery until the Republocrat ruling elite are removed from power or are forced to address the problems the rest of society faces.  As the extravagant $5 million Bill Clinton wedding under heavy security – possibly paid for by the taxpayer – and $7 million John Kerry yacht (and avoidance of >$500,000 in taxes) demonstrate, the elite are not exactly suffering.

The “Great Recession” still has a firm grip on the economy, and the situation continues to deteriorate, now matter what cherry-picked news is shared in the mainstream media.  Sadly, the truth is the situation in America will not improve until the government removes its jackboots from the throat of the economy.  Ceasing all special privileges to special groups would help as well.

That Freedom Shall Not Perish,

TOWNE FOR CONGRESS

Article Archives

As those who have been following the campaign are aware, my independent candidacy was recently endorsed by a major local newspaper, the Express Times, and I destroyed my opponents in the debates, the last one you can watch here or 8 pm this evening on Channel 69 WFMZ-TV.  Momentum is all on the campaign’s side, and anyone in the area is encouraged to spread this issues flyer.

I’d like to conclude with a quote on youth by Randolph Bourne, which explains why the younger generation has to step forward to converse with the older generations.

“Youth is the incarnation of reason pitted against the rigidity of tradition; youth puts the remorseless questions to everything that is old and established – Why? What is this thing good for? And when it gets the mumbled, evasive answers of…… the defenders it applies its own fresh, clean spirit of reason to institutions, customs and ideas and finding them stupid, inane or poisonous, turns instinctively to overthrow them and build in their place the things with which its visions teem. . . .

“Youth is the leaven that keeps all these questioning, testing attitudes fermenting in the world. If it were not for this troublesome activity of youth, with its hatred of sophisms and glosses, its insistence on things as they are, society would die from sheer decay. It is the policy of the older generation as it gets adjusted to the world to hide away the unpleasant things where it can, or preserve a conspiracy of silence and an elaborate pretense that they do not exist. But meanwhile the sores go on festering just the same. Youth is the drastic antiseptic. . . . It drags skeletons from closets and insists that they be explained. No wonder the older generation fears and distrusts the younger. Youth is the avenging Nemesis on its trail. . . .

“Our elders are always optimistic in their views of the present, pessimistic in their views of the future; youth is pessimistic toward the present and gloriously hopeful for the future. And it is this hope which is the lever of progress – one might say, the only lever of progress. . . .

“The secret of life is then that this fine youthful spirit shall never be lost. Out of the turbulence of youth should come this fine precipitate – a sane, strong, aggressive spirit of daring and doing. It must be a flexible, growing spirit, with a hospitality to new ideas and a keen insight into experience. To keep one’s reactions warm and true is to have found the secret of perpetual youth, and perpetual youth is salvation.”

Lastly, a grassroots supporter sent this in to commemorate the campaign’s upcoming victory on November 2nd.  I have a dream as well, thanks to Arianne Elinich for the use of her song.

Jake Towne for US Congress PA-15 – Economy in Pictures (OCT 2010)

Upcoming Events

• Rally to Restore Sanity, 12 PM- 4 PM on Saturday, October 30 at Porter’s Pub, 700 Northampton St., Easton, PA 18036.  MAP.  The Comedy Central march in DC will be televised from 12-3 pm and Jake will be taking questions from 3-4 pm.  This is not a campaign sponsored event.
• Slatington-Walnutport Halloween Parade: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 30. Help hand out flyers before the parade begins!!  Contact the campaign at 610-392-8156 or towneforcongress@gmail.com for meetup details.
• Replay of “Debate at the State”, 8 PM on Saturday, October 30 on WFMZ Channel 69.

• Easton-Phillipsburg Halloween Parade: 12:30 p.m. Oct. 31. Help hand out flyers before the parade begins!!  Contact the campaign at 610-392-8156 or towneforcongress@gmail.com for meetup details.
• Allentown Halloween Parade: 1 p.m. Oct. 31. Help hand out flyers before the parade begins!!  Contact the campaign at 610-392-8156 or towneforcongress@gmail.com for meetup details.
• Bethlehem Halloween Parade: 1 p.m. Oct. 31. Help hand out flyers before the parade begins!!  Contact the campaign at 610-392-8156 or towneforcongress@gmail.com for meetup details.

• NOVEMBER 2nd ELECTION DAY!! Volunteers are needed to hand out literature outside of local polling stations, please volunteer here and share your name, phone #, city, and if you live in the district, your current polling location.
  • Post-Election Victory Party for all volunteers and supporters at 8 PM on Election Day at Pies On Pizzeria at Front and Pine Streets, Catasauqua!!!!