July 28, 2010

Dear xxxx: 

Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns about the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  I supported the bill, and appreciate the opportunity to explain my views on the issue.  

The 2008 collapse of the US financial system reverberated throughout the global economy, setting in motion the worst recession since the Great Depression.  Eight million Americans lost their jobs, and $17 trillion in retirement savings and net worth evaporated virtually overnight.   

The crisis revealed enormous vulnerabilities in our financial system, primarily the potential for abuse, and laid bare the oversight failures of prior Administration.  Over time, many in the industry had adopted business practices that promoted excessive risk-taking and rewarded shortsighted profiteering at the expense of long-term stability and consumer protection.  In some cases, they exploited loopholes and lax regulation, and in others, they knowingly engaged in risky behavior which had the potential for big payoffs.  At the end of the day, it is clear that the existing oversight authorities were not adequate to avert collapse.   

The Dodd-Frank Act is designed to ensure that our regulatory infrastructure is up to the task of managing the 21^st century financial system.  The legislation limits the size and scope of financial institutions, ending the era of “too big to fail” by providing a mechanism for the FDIC to seize and liquidate failing institutions that pose a risk to the financial system and our economy, with shareholders and creditors, first, and then the financial industry bearing the costs – not taxpayers.  This major reform is crucial in preventing a repeat of the major job losses that resulted in 2008 when the disorderly failure of several large financial institutions caused chaos in the financial system, drying up credit and suffocating small businesses.   It establishes rigorous oversight of risky, unregulated financial instruments like derivatives and gives more enforcement and oversight power to the Securities and Exchange Commission.  It imposes restrictions on banks’ ability to gamble with the college and retirement savings of millions of Americans.  And it limits pay and bonus practices – including excessive executive compensation – which fostered the behavior that brought the system to the brink of failure. 

In addition to reining in Wall Street, the Dodd-Frank Act will ensure that the federal government is actively protecting consumer and small-business interests in the financial realm.  The bill creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which will have the power to end abusive mortgage lending practices, compel lenders to ensure a borrower’s ability to repay, require easy-to-read mortgage contracts, eliminate hidden fees, and put an end to manipulative and deceptive schemes in the marketplace.  It will also have the authority to ensure American consumers get the clear, accurate information they need to shop for credit cards and student loans (including access to their credit score), while protecting them against abusive terms and deceptive practices. Small and mid-size banks and credit unions, those with under $10 billion in assets, will not be subject to direct CFPB examination.  Also, merchants, retailers and other non-financial businesses that extend credit directly to consumers for the purchase of goods or services will not be subject to CFPB authority.

The cost of the bill is fully paid for and reduces the deficit by $3.2 billion over 10 years. I believe enactment of legislation to reform Wall Street and establish a safer, more stable financial system is vital to our economic security, and that is just what the Dodd-Frank Act will do.  The President signed the bill into law (P.L. 111-203) on July 21, 2010. 

Again, thank you for contacting me about this important legislation, and please continue to be in touch on issues of concern to you. 

Sincerely,

DAVID PRICE 

Member of Congress

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

Currently, the American people “love wealth more than liberty”. Take the passage of the extension of the unemployment benefits to 2-1/2 years yesterday. Let’s call this “benefit” what it really is: welfare payments to stay dependent on the state. According to www.usdebtclock.org, the current real unemployment rate is 18.17%. What would happen if a large portion of these people were not being paid off? Welfare vs. Liberty? At this point in time, we the people are choosing welfare over liberty.

We do not understand liberty and freedom as our founding fathers did. George Washington would not accept any limitation on his freedom since this was an affront to our God given rights. We talk about the loss of some of our freedoms as acceptable only because we have been indoctrinated to accept dependence in steps. Let’s talk about the section of the Declaration of Independence which states:

“we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor”

I challenge everyone reading this article to think how this applies to you. The phrasing in our society today is:

“we mutually pledge to each other their lives and their fortunes”

Sacred Honor is not part of our culture anymore since it is not politically correct to refer to our religious foundation. When was the last time you voted for a politician because you felt he or she had honor?

The first thing to understand about freedom is that the concept is not plural. If we talk about freedoms, we already are willing to give up some of our “freedom”. Freedom is not divisible into smaller parts that can be traded or sold. Consider this quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.“

Our politicians and ruling class have mastered this principle. We have been led to the trough of slavery through legislation designed to “protect” us and our rights. The list includes TARP, stimulus legislation, health care legislation, finance reform legislation and limiting our right to free speech by implementing a kill switch on the Internet.

Are you confident that you understand the concepts of Liberty and Freedom? Lord Halifax put it succinctly:

“If none were to have Liberty but those who understand what it is, there would not be many freed Men in the world.”

So where does this leave us? Consider this quote from Alexis de Tocqueville:

“The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.”

So I ask not your counsel nor your arms as you follow a path to slavery. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

David DeGerolamo

Raleigh, NC – Beyond their manufactured turmoil and attempts to sully Wake County’s image are very tangible costs brought on by the NAACP and Great Schools’ antics. Data provided by the Wake County Public School System shows dramatic security cost increases directly attributable to their ongoing chaos creation activities.

 Unfortunately these costs have undoubtedly increased significantly since April and show no signs of abating. 

Total July 2009 – November 2009: $451.58

Total December 2009 – April 2010: $14,719.39

 Since the December 1, 2009 Board of Education Meeting the system has spent $14,719.39 on hiring both private security officers and off duty police officers for security for the Board of Education Meetings.  These funds are paid from our Security Department’s contracted services budget.  I have attached a month by month breakdown of these expenses.

Michael Evans
Chief Communications Officer
Wake County Public School System

Source: Wake County Public School System

President Obama, during his Cairo speech, said: “I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America ‘s story.”

Dear Mr. Obama:

Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed? Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.

Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.

Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution?

Declaration of Independence ?

Bill of Rights?

Didn’t think so.

Did Muslims fight for this country’s freedom from England? No.

Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America? No, they did not. In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery. Your own half brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though Muslims of Arabic descent refers to black Muslims as “pug nosed slaves.” Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family’s “rich Islamic heritage,” doesn’t it Mr. Obama?

Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country? Not present.

There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.

Where were Muslims during this country’s Woman’s Suffrage era? Again, not present. In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture. So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the ‘hajib’ or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband. Yep, the Muslims are all for woman’s rights, aren’t they?

Where were Muslims during World War II? They were aligned with Adolf Hitler. The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi’s in killing Jews.

Finally, Mr. Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001? If they weren’t flying planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East. No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news networks that day. Strangely, the very “moderate” Muslims who’s asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11. To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.

And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the “rich heritage” Muslims have here in America.

Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates. They were Muslim.

And now we can add November 5, 2009 – the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a Muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That, Mr. Obama is the “Muslim heritage” in America.

An interesting article in Politico today gives us a taste of things to come, as Congress abdicates yet one more of its constitutional responsibilities by not proposing a federal budget this year:

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer made official Tuesday morning what most insiders have known for months: Congress won’t do a budget this year.

Instead, Democrats are pushing an alternative route that falls well short of the more rigorous annual budget resolution — a short-term resolution that will call for discretionary spending lower than in President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget. But he said Congress wouldn’t take longer-term budget action before hearing from Obama’s fiscal commission in December. Republicans have lambasted Democrats for not passing a budget resolution, saying that’s the first time it’s happened since 1976. 

Both the bolded sentence above and the report that President Obama’s budget director Peter Orszag will resign this summer indicate that a profound power shift is underway. The not-so-subtle message is that our economic future will not be driven by a our elected representatives.

Instead, we’ll be facing self-imposed austerity measures compliments of President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission. This commission, chaired by North Carolina’s Erskine Bowles and retired Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, has been given the mandate to make the “tough choices” necessary to prevent a Greek-like fiscal outcome in the face of exponentially growing debt, and unmanageable long-term liabilities.

The problem with this commission, however well-meaning, is that it is the endgame for a failed experiment in Hoovernomics. Not Hoover the president, but Hoover the vacuum.

You see, the past century has seen gradual but accelerating federal control and socialist central planning over every aspect of our economy. We’ve “regulated” our economy — ostensibly in order to protect the “small people” — in such a way that the the corporate interests most interested in consolidating their control over different industries have now divided up our economy, and our labors, to their overall satisfaction.

The wealth of our country has thus been sucked out of the hands of industrious, working Americans and into the elite political class who manipulate the levers of power. The “giant sucking sound” that Ross Perot first noted as jobs leaving for Mexico is even louder, and is now a black hole of debt, entitlements, and pilfered wealth that spans from D.C. to Wall Street.

Our government hasn’t protected the “small people”. We’re being destroyed. Adjusted for inflation, the median household income has been flat for the last decade, in the face of rising costs of living. That’s the Hoover at work.

Instead of electing representative to Congress with a commitment to unplug the vacuum, we’ve elected self-serving politicians who have only wanted to empty the bag, and distribute the fruits of others’ labor to best preserve their own power.

It is time to replace the career politicians who have corrupted our political system, and to wean ourselves from the promises of a bankrupt government. The only hope for recovery from our shared disaster is a renewed commitment to honest, transparent government that serves the American individual instead of corporate interests, and once again allows American individuals to keep the fruits of their own labor and thus do well by doing good.

Dr. BJ Lawson

I was told one month ago that this oil spill would be the end of our country due to the ecological and economical impacts. The reasoning was sound unless the well was capped immediately. Let’s not use a disaster to pursue a political agenda.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4ngpNcsW0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjC8PU8tDWY

Although this video makes fun of the incident, Rep. Etheridge’s actions are a serious breach of conduct. Every current US representative won their primary in North Carolina. After all of our efforts, the majority of the people are still voting for the politicians who have bankrupted our country and ignored the will of the people. It is past time that we find and elect competent politicians who understand what it means to represent the people. As our last primary elections have shown, we have a lot of work to do in both Washington and Raleigh.

Bob Hope from the Ghost Breakers

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpU8sX10_4

Archie Bunker

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fqCS7Y_kME

John Wayne

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPA8fGeRUc

Charleton Heston

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ju4Gla2odw

DURHAM — City Council members will decide June 21 whether they want to end all business travel by members of their government to Arizona until that state repeals its new immigration law.

Members scheduled the vote after City Attorney Patrick Baker advised them they couldn’t go further and declare a boycott on any Arizona-based business that tries to sell to or work with the city.

That “I don’t believe is justified in the statutes of North Carolina,” he said, alluding to laws the General Assembly has established to govern bidding and contracts.

The council is wading into the issue at the request of Durham’s Human Relations Commission.

Like other groups of its type around the country, it believes the new Arizona law, which requires police when they arrest or stop someone to check immigration status if they have reason to believe the person might be in the country illegally.

Critics of the law see that as an invitation to racial profiling, despite anti-profiling language in an amended version of the bill.

The Human Relations Commission’s chairman, Nathaniel Goetz, told council members events in Arizona have “created an environment of fear and hostility amongst minority communities and anyone of color,” nationwide.

“Community groups and Durham’s Police Department have done substantial work in building trusting relationships in our city,” he added. “Arizona’s action flies in the face of these efforts, which are vital for not only helping reduce neighborhood crime, but generat⅛ing⅜ positive relations amongst our city’s growing diversity.”

Other supporters of a boycott noted that the city had similarly acted against apartheid in South Africa. They also pointed out that Arizona has faced boycotts before, following its refusal to adopt the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.

“Boycotts work,” said Ricardo Correa, noting the state buckled on the holiday issue in the early 1990s after the National Football League relocated a Super Bowl from Tempe, Ariz., to Pasadena, Calif.

Council members by and large didn’t tip their hands Thursday on whether they favor the proposal. The main exception was Councilman Eugene Brown, who was unhappy that it’s coming up while members are still debating the fiscal 2010-11 city budget.

The council has received e-mails on both sides of the issue. Boycott opponents have offered varying reasons for their views. Some agree with Arizona legislators and want a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Others agree with Brown that the issue is tangential for the Durham council.

“If you want to consider a boycott, let’s see if the city does any business involving BP Petroleum products,” said two residents, Jane and Back Dailey, who wrote council members Wednesday to oppose the Human Relations Commission’s request.

The BP reference alluded to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

If we could only find one Thomas Jefferson, would if be enough to at least put us back on a fiscally responsible footing? President Jefferson’s accomplishments are also responsible for the success of this country. The following quote is attributed to Thomas Jefferson:

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

This quote was never written directly by Thomas Jefferson. It may have come from his personal translation of Destutt de Tracy’s Treatise on Political Economy:

“To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, ‘the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.

With our current progressive income tax system, 47% of the people who are working do not pay any income tax. In fact, in many cases, they receive an earned income tax which means that we pay them extra money even though they pay no income tax. This is one of the methods currently being used to redistribute wealth (or the fruits acquired by industry). Another method of redistribution is the printing of fiat currency by the Treasury to pay for social programs. Spending two dollars for every one dollar taken in effectively devalues the dollar 50%.

Will our representative republic cease to exist due to redistribution of wealth as Thomas Jefferson warned? You betcha. Although Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man, this is just common sense.

David DeGerolamo