CHARLIE'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL TROUBLES

– AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
– IN REMEMBRANCE, BOB ANDERSON AND MIRIAM DONELL
– MY PERSPECTIVE ON THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL TROUBLES

– AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
We will change pace a little this week with State Representative Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) as our speaker. Following the massacre of over 30 people on the Virginia Tech campus, a group of students and perhaps faculty formed an organization to work toward allowing students and faculty to have concealed weapons while on campus and in the classrooms.

As a result of Representative Murphey’s efforts to pass such legislation in Oklahoma during this year’s session, they invited him to speak at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. about 2 months ago. Representative Murphey will show the DVD of his speech and then answer any questions about these kinds of efforts as well as reveal possible legislation for the 2009 session. This should be a most interesting meeting.

Representative Murphey won the freshman lawmaker of the year award from OCPAC over the past 2 years. He currently is the only lawmaker in the entire legislature with a perfect score of 100 on the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper’s Conservative Index. This year, he was also recognized as the lawmaker of the year by the Oklahoma Rifle Association, an affiliate of the NRA.

Another interesting point about Representative Murphey is his CONVICTION not to receive any contributions from a special interest PAC which employs a lobbyist. He won’t even let a lobbyist buy him lunch. He also believes lawmaker pay should be tied to the average pay of all Oklahomans. To that end, he continues to honor his pledge to donate the difference from his pay and that of the average Oklahoman’s (about $8,000) to the Crossroads pro-life and health ministry in Guthrie. With his considerable energies, Representative Murphey runs a web business and works a part time job on the side to support his wife and 2 children.

The Democrats recruited a radical feminist lawyer to run against him this year and now is when we will see if the friends and constituents of Representative Murphey will step up to the plate and provide the necessary funds for him to have a successful campaign?

To that end, a group of supporters are hosting a banquet at the Club House of the Cimarron National Golf and Country Club, about 1 mile West of Guthrie on highway 33. The cost is only $15 per person which will feature a large Hors d’oeuvres Buffet starting at 7:00 p.m. on Friday evening, October 10th. Introducing Representative Murphey will be newly elected National Committeeman James Dunn, from Luther, Oklahoma. To RSVP, please contact Mary Scarberry, Home: (405) 324-2018, Cell (405) 464-5847 or Tracy Flury (405) 315-1720. The supporters are covering the overhead, so the entire $15 dollars will go to Jason’s campaign. There will be a donation table for those wishing to contribute more.

– IN REMEMBRANCE OF BOB ANDERSON AND MIRIAM DONELL
Long time OCPAC member Bob Anderson passed away about 3 weeks ago. Bob was a retired Colonel in the U.S. Air Force who served our nation with dignity and honor. After his time in Viet Nam, he returned to the states and flew about a year and a half with the famed Thunderbirds.
Bob, along with George Harper was the co-founder of citizens against pornography, which later became Oklahomans for Children and Families, before that organization was rolled into the Oklahoma Family Policy Council. Bob had a lot to do with moving the folks that met every Wednesday for lunch and debate to the organization known today as OCPAC. Prior to his attending our debating society, we had resisted people who wanted to activate us for political purposes. He was also a tireless champion for school choice. We will miss Bob, as we all had a great deal of respect for him.

A few months ago, Miriam Donnell passed away after a long struggle with breathing difficulties. For several years Miriam and her husband Bill attended almost every OCPAC meeting, even after the level of difficulty increased as they each had to start carrying oxygen bottles with them everywhere they went. Miriam was concerned about the issues facing us today and was a long time supporter of OCPAC. I was always encouraged by her personal support for my efforts. When I think about how Miriam cared about the future of this nation and her commitment to learning and taking a stand, it makes me want to be less tolerant of people who say it doesn’t matter, nothing will change or they just don’t care. If everyone put out the effort under difficult circumstances like Miriam did, things would be much better in Oklahoma as well as America. We miss you Miriam, you were a great American.

– MY PERSPECTIVE ON THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL TROUBLES
Unless you are an absolute cave dweller, you know by now that the current media and political buzz is about the "severe" financial crisis facing us and the supposed need to "bail out" the financial sector in our nation. I have read and heard many commentaries from the "so called experts" on the subject and thought, why not give it a shot of my own?

We are bing told by the administration and others that if we don’t act fast and decisively to infuse hundreds of billions of dollars into our troubled financial and real-estate markets we could be looking at a serious recession, or perhaps even a depression. We are told this would inflict a great deal of damage, pain and suffering upon American businesses as well as the citizens of this nation.

I don’t want to downplay that notion, as it could happen. However, the degree of suffering is purely speculation at this point. There is a counter movement of people through out the nation that disagree with the "sky is falling" crowd and want to keep government out of the bail out business and let the market place sort it all out.

I would suggest it is imperative we understand what brought us to this point before we go head long into fixing the problem. If not, the fix could become worse than the problem. The federal government has been fixing situations in a big way over the past few years and what are the results? On September 30 (end of the fiscal year) of 1982 we were ONE trillion dollars in debt which covered the first 206 years of this nations existence (1776 to 1982). We will know by October 8th, but my prediction is that we will now be around TEN trillion dollars in debt, just 26 years later. I lay the blame for our problems squarely on the CITIZENS of America and at the feet of what I will call the "GREEDY money manipulators." The citizens, because in our system of government which is a representative Republic, we the people are ultimately responsible for every thing that goes on in government.

Let me say, I have no problem with people creating wealth and a lot of it. I believe God has gifted some people with such an ability, though I also believe it is His intentions for those to be generous with the wealth they create. As usual, my issue is whether or not such wealth is obtained in a moral and honest fashion. We will all answer to God for how we have stewarded the talents and wealth with which he has intrusted us.

Let me define greedy, something Neal Bortz challenges people who use the word to do. According to Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, greedy is defined as: Having a keen desire of any thing; eager to obtain; as greedy of gain.

To the humanist culture which influences much in America today, that definition won’t seem so bad. However, there are numerous references in God’s Word to greed and they are all bad. You might want to look them up for yourself.

I would suggest greed is an ATTITUDE and a MOTIVATIONAL force that fails to be satisfied with honest growth and gain or that which would be the provisions of God’s blessings. The greedy will put a much higher priority upon their lust to obtain rather than build a relationship with God. Therefore, the greedy are willing to push the limits of morality, sound principles and perhaps the law to obtain ever more. The greedy are capable of using falsehoods, flattery and manipulation to obtain their gain while lacking kindness, love or respect for others.

With the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 we set the stage for a system which could eventually manipulate the economy for the purposes of the greedy (the definitive book is Creature from Jeckel Island by Edward Griffin). We had not had a central bank in America since Andrew Jackson was President in the 1830s as he refused to renew the charter for a national bank which was his pledge during his campaign. The creation of a new bank was a high priority for the money manipulators so it came up again in 1913.

Leading up to 1913 the naive were told a central bank would bring stability to the economy and protect depositors from panics and runs on the banks. How has the Fed performed since 1913? Not so good, as we have seen about a dozen recessions, one great depression and intermittent cycles of inflation which have increased the costs of all items and wages many multiples of times. And now, the people who brought us to the crisis of today are also the same people who are telling us what we need to do to get out of this mess. Do you feel confident now?

We now use fiat currency which we call dollars but are actually Federal Reserve notes. I like to call them Federal Reserve green stamps. We no longer use gold or silver for money as is called for in the Constitution. There is nothing of any value backing our currency, other than the full faith and credit of the United States Government.

A government which is now only 10 Trillion dollars in debt. We practice fractional reserve banking. In the equity markets, we have allowed the money manipulators to set up schemes for ever greater gains called derivatives, hedge funds and we even allow people to sell property (stock) they don’t even own. It is call "short selling." Many people have become rich by manipulating money rather than creating wealth (taking raw products and turning them into usable consumer goods or providing important or vital services).

We have allowed the politicians to regulate the financial market place by demanding financial institutions make loans (community redevelopment act) on a racial or poverty quota system rather than on sound credit ratings. We would call that an excess of regulation, not a lack of regulation. In other cases we have removed the protections which kept bond rating entities from becoming entangled with conflicts of interest for the entities they were supposed to be rating. In past years we have seen some of the largest and oldest accounting firms become compromised. We have seen government regulators or accounting examiners have their hands tied by politicians who desire to be seen as caring for the people, while they may have actually been covering for the actions of the greedy or simply seeking political gain.

However, the biggest problem we face today is an attitude most Americans have. That attitude believes that it is the responsibility of the government to provide for a robust economy as well as provide for the needs of the people. Please pay close attention. If you want to live in a socialist or fascist society then it IS the responsibility of government to control the economy and it WILL BE the responsibility of government to solve our problems and bail us out of financial calamities as well as provide for our needs.

However, if you believe in a free market economy as envisioned by our Founding Fathers, then we must look for every opportunity to return us to a market driven economy. A society where people are responsible for their own well being. In such a society, when people need help as they will from time to time, that help must come from family, friends, civic organizations and religious institutions, NOT government.

America is not bullet proof. Only a fool, ignorant of history, would believe in our invincibility as many great nations and empires of the past have fallen into the dust bin of oblivion. The attitude that it is the government’s responsibility to meet our needs is a sure path to fiscal collapse, simply given enough time.

All economies are ultimately driven by consumer demand. In a free market economy, if too many citizens take on too much in obligations, they pull back for a while and a slow down occurs. When the pressure if off, they begin to purchase again, either by cash or with debt, and the economy expands again. This is as natural as people breathing in and out. The slow downs are corrections of the excesses. If the excesses were too severe, the slow downs could become recessions.

Politicians don’t want to lose their jobs or their wealth, so when slowdowns occur, they begin to try and manipulate the economy. The longer and more aggressive they manipulate the economy, the more severe the correction will become, once the correction finally overpowers the manipulations. God’s economical principles cannot be violated forever. They will eventually overpower any manipulations we try to enact.

This may be very close to the situation we face today. The bail out as proposed or a compromise that will soon come about are nothing more than more manipulations. Will they work? Maybe and maybe not. If they do work and we don’t have a long range plan to gradually work our way back to sound economic principles, then the next crisis will only be more threatening. I would actually support some kind of a bail out if we could begin on a long term path to return us to limited government and a free market economy. However, I see no evidence of that in any of the plans at this time.

Congressman Lucas said we must do something as he didn’t want to see the nation suffer the way people in Oklahoma did with the bust of the 80s. He indicated it took up to 15 years in some areas of Oklahoma to regain the property values lost in the bust. However, I am not so sure we didn’t learn some important lessons in Oklahoma that the rest of the nation might need to learn at this time.

After all, we have had a robust economy in Oklahoma for several years now, but our lending institutions haven’t made massive numbers of bad loans. We have also avoided the hyper-price increases affecting the costs of properties. Could that all be because we learned our lessons from the correction of the 80s? We haven’t closed a bank in Oklahoma in quite a long time, after closing around 50 banks and S&Ls in the 80s. Did people feel pain during the 80s? Yes, but we may be the better for it now.

Bottom line. Contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives once we know the particulars of the plan and then tell then what you want them to do. As for me, if there isn’t significant reforms and a move away from an ever growing federal government, I will be opposed to the plan. Please log on to the OCPAC blog and register your opinion as to whether or not the feds should go farther into the manipulations of the economy. www.ocpac.info

Don’t miss this Wednesday’s meeting or you will be sorry you did.

Charlie Meadows
charliemeadows@peoplepc.com