Usa Thread

[Steve]

Texas is trying to emulate Arizona and pass its own illegal immigration law. Its such BS. If you hire illegals it can be jail time (180 days) and 10 grand in fines...except if you are a homeowner and hire an illegal to be maid or cut the grass.

 

http://www.texastribune.org/immigration-in-texas/immigration/bill-hire-an-illegal-go-to-jail--but-maids-are-ok/

 

Bill: Hire An Illegal, Go to Jail — But Maids Are OK

 

 

[Flashermac]

That's so all the politicians who have illegals as maids won't get into trouble.

 

 

[Flashermac]

 

 

ATF Let Hundreds of U.S. Weapons Fall into Hands of Suspected Mexican Gunrunners

 

 

 

Hoping to score a major prosecution of Mexican drug lords, federal prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives permitted hundreds of guns to be purchased and retained by suspected straw buyers with the expectation they might cross the border and even be used in crimes while the case was being built, according to documents and interviews.

 

The decision — part of a Phoenix-based operation code named “Fast and Furious†— was met by strong objections from some front-line agents who feared they were allowing weapons like AK-47s to “walk†into the hands of drug lords and gun runners, internal agency memos show. Indeed, scores of the weapons came back quickly traced to criminal activity.

 

One of those front-line agents who objected, John Dodson, 39, told the Center for Public Integrity that these guns “are going to be turning up in crimes on both sides of the border for decades.†Dodson said in an interview that “with the number of guns we let walk, we’ll never know how many people were killed, raped, robbed … there is nothing we can do to round up those guns. They are gone.â€

 

Dodson has taken his misgivings to the Senate Judiciary Committee as a whistleblower after his concerns were dismissed by his supervisors and initially ignored by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

 

Sen. Charles Grassley, the panel’s top Republican — who is spearheading a probe of ATF’s actions – said “it’s time to step back†and examine the policy. Two of the guns involved in the sting operation turned up at the scene of a fatal shooting of a U.S. agent.

 

The Justice Department said today that Attorney General Eric Holder has asked the department’s acting inspector general to evaluate the concerns about ATF’s investigative tactics.

 

...

 

 

More ...

[Flashermac]

 

 

Utah Considers Return to Gold, Silver Coins

 

 

It's been nearly 80 years since the U.S. stopped using gold coins as legal currency, and nearly 40 since the world abandoned the gold standard, but the precious metal could be making a comeback in the United States -- beginning in Utah.

 

The Utah House was to vote as early as Thursday on legislation that would recognize gold and silver coins issued by the federal government as legal currency in the state. The coins would not replace the current paper currency but would be used and accepted voluntarily as an alternative.

 

The legislation, which has 12 co-sponsors, would let Utahans pay their taxes with gold and also calls for a committee to study alternative currencies for the state. It would also exempt the sale of gold from the state capital gains tax.

 

The bill cleared a state legislative committee on Wednesday, the first of 11 similar bills in statehouses across the country to do so. If the bill clears the House, it would have to pass the Senate before the governor could sign it into law.

 

Attorney and Tea Party activist Larry Hilton, author of the original bill, said he doesn't foresee any roadblocks.

 

"There's enough uneasiness going on in the economy to trigger people to feel that, hey, having a little Plan B, kind of a backup system, is not a bad idea," he told FoxNews.com.

 

The U.S. used some version of the gold standard from 1873 until 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed the private ownership of gold amid the Great Depression. An international monetary system based on a gold-exchange standard continued until 1971 when President Richard Nixon stopped the U.S. from redeeming dollars for gold altogether.

 

Critics of the gold standard say it limits countries' control over its monetary policy and leaves them vulnerable to financial shocks, such as the Great Depression. But supporters argue that the current financial system's dependence on the Federal Reserve exposes the value of U.S. money to the threat of inflation.

 

Rep. Ron Paul, a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve who has called on a return to the gold standard, has praised Hilton's efforts.

 

"Efforts such as yours in states around the country highlight the importantance of returning to sound money," Paul wrote in a letter to Hilton. "Even if such efforts fail to achieve legislative success on their first try, their importance lies in bringing to the public's attention the problem of the ever-weakening dollar and the necessity of returning to a sound monetary system."

 

Hilton said the bill before the House doesn't go as far as his original draft, which was more sweeping, including recognizing more than just U.S. minted coins and more details on specific tax treatment. But he said he's willing to take it step-by step.

 

He also said he's not pushing to restore the gold standard in the U.S.

 

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week dismissed the notion of the gold standard returning to the U.S.

 

"It did deliver price stability over long periods of time, but over shorter periods of time it caused wide swings in prices related to changes in demand or supply of gold," he told the Senate Banking Committee. "So I don't think it's a panacea."

 

Bernanke also said that gold couldn't return as the world standard because there's not enough gold in the world to effectively support the U.S. money supply.

 

Hilton said he's taking a positive approach to the issue.

 

"This is not an anti-dollar issue at all," he said. "We want to strengthen the dollar. We think by introducing gold and silver of our nation's history, by injecting that into the debate is very healthy for our policymakers."

 

Jeff Bell, a policy director for the Washington-based American Principles in Action (APPIA), which helped shape the Utah bill, told FoxNews.com that passage of the bill would send a message to Washington and other states.

 

"People sense that in the era of quantitative easing and zero interest rates, something has gone haywire with our monetary policy. But people are afraid to say it," said Bell, who was an adviser to Ronald Reagan's 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns. "If one state recognizes gold as a valid currency, I think it would embolden people not just in other states but in Washington."

 

Bell credited Tea Party activists for advancing the legislation this far. Rep. Brad Galvez, who introduced the legislation, is a freshman legislator backed by the Tea Party.

 

"Saying we now recognize gold as money is a big step forward," he said.

 

Twelve other states have offered similar proposals: Georgia, Montana, Missouri, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, Vermont and Oklahoma.

 

 

 

Link

[cavanami]

I heard that on the northeast coast of the USA, in Mass?, they are using Berkshires, some locally printed currency?

[Central Scrutinizer]

Cav,

 

Yes, they are doing this. 2.7 million so far used.

 

Here: Berkshares

 

 

 

 

[cavanami]

It seems to me, just part of the doomed US dollar story.

I see signs in the USA, "Euros accepted here", etc.

 

More and more people are dumping and trying to get away from the US dollar, IMO.

 

I know I am buying gold/sliver/Yen/Baht/ Singapore dollars and Chinese Yuan in my efforts to flee the doomed dollar...we will see...

[Flashermac]

You mean we can print our own currency too? How about Cavs and Flashers?

 

They'll be redemable in gold coins ... filled with chocolate.

 

 

 

[cavanami]

Everyone can print their own money, but to get it accepted as legal tender

 

Xchg rate: 1 Flasher = 5 Cavs

 

Flashers and Cavs...scary!!!

[Steve]

Many states, especially southern states always feared federalism and wanted to retain state rights. However, they've f*cked up their economies so much they not only welcome but sometimes beg the federal government to get involved.

The recent economic crisis exposed what was already there. That some states were teetering on the brink. Some cities have been insolvent. Some states are next.

The federal government directly or indirectly inlfuences what used to be city or state functions.

Education. No Child Left Behind K-12 and grans/loans on the university level.

Roads/Highways are now federally funded.

Law enforcement - Clinton's 100,000 cops program.

I want to know why the American voters were asking presidential candidates what they were going to do about the local crime rate? They have no faith in their state and local governments to do anything about, that's why.

Health care is now partially a federal responsibility. What do states do nowadays other than DMV functions? Really.

California is completely f*cked and its BOTH parties fault. Their trump card is that they are too big (and important) to let fail. In a strange way (and admittedly its a slight reach), the world economy is linked to California. Its often said that when American sneezes (economically), the worl catches cold. Its been an accepted truism by economists that when California sneezes the American economy catches cold. California would be a G8 nation if it was independent.

The only way the American economy can survive is for a change in culture. We have to become a savers like the Japanese are famous for. This is not good for the economy. The government needs us to spend to fuel the economy. However, we are chided for taking on too muh debt to do so. A mixed signal.

We have to look to ourselves. Young urban couples and singles figured that out. Gentrification which is really a big word for living in or near the 'hood...lol...was because housing prices put a home in a good neighborhoo so far out of reach young or youngish middle income people started buying the more affordable homes adjacent to neglected neighborhoods. I saw it Philly. Its happened in other cities. Its happened outside of America. Brixton, in south London has changed due to gentrification.

So, if Americans could change their spending habit. Live within in their means, it won't matter as much what the goverment does. We'll always be taxed to death by the powers that be. So, we should live accordingly with that knowledge and forego that new car, the over priced neighborhood to impress people we don't like. Wait a little longer to have kids.

Edited March 5, 2011 by Guest