I will choose, no I can’t choose, well I can choose if they say so.

I reported on my radio show once that the FDA was going to start regulating homeopathic, natural and nutrition stores so that you would have to bow down to their approved meds.  They are already allowing Mexico to do some regulation on them, and an arrest may be near you soon.  Carl sends me this ditty to peruse.  Read on my children:

Chrysalis Nutritionist Stephen Heuer Arrested by Federal Marshalls in FDA Raid

 http://www.naturalnews.com/025347.html

NaturalNews) Both the FTC and FDA are turning up the heat on
nutrition-oriented companies and websites, resorting to arrests at gunpoint
to enforce “nutritional illiteracy” across America by imprisoning those who
accurately describe the health benefits of nutritional products they sell.

It was only days ago that the FTC attacked a church over its dietary
supplements. NaturalNews covered the legal battle in a feature article
(http://www.naturalnews.com/025303.html) and an exclusive audio interview
with health freedom attorney Jim Turner
(http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Podcas…).

The latest victim of this state-sponsored oppression and censorship agenda
is Stephen Heuer of Cocoon Nutrition (www.CocoonNutrition.org) who
advertised natural health products as treatments for depression and other
health conditions. It remains the position of the FDA that there is no such
thing as an herb, vitamin or superfood that has any ability to prevent,
treat or cure any disease or health condition whatsoever. (In other words,
the FDA ridiculously believes foods and herbs are chemically inert.)

Anyone who accurately describes the biochemical effects of their herbal or
nutritional products is immediately branded a criminal by the FDA and
subject to arrest at gunpoint. Read the history of FDA raids on vitamin
companies here: http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html

NaturalNews contacted Cocoon Nutrition offices and was told that Stephen
Heuer had been arrested and detained by U.S. Federal Marshalls. No further
comment was available, but we hope to be able to speak with Heuer’s
attorneys soon to determine the nature of the charges being brought against
Heuer.

The truth about health is outlawed in the “land of the free”
Effectively, it is illegal in America to tell the truth about nutritional
products that you sell. The statements made by Heuer on the Cocoon Nutrition
website are technically factual and accurate. But they are not LEGAL to make
in America because Free Speech is routinely oppressed by the FDA and FTC.
Telling the truth in America is enough to get you locked up in federal
prison; especially if you dare to inform people about natural cures that
might take revenues away from the drug companies.

Both the FDA and FTC are now acting as the racket enforcement thugs of Big
Pharma. And like any other mob, they use armed personnel to protect their
revenue territories. Who will they raid next? Take your pick: It will be a
small, family-run health supplement company that lacks the financial
resources to fight back. Notice how the FDA won’t dare attack the Life
Extension Foundation anymore? That’s because LEF has the financial resources
to stand up for itself. Small, family-run nutritional businesses do not, so
they’re routinely targeted by FDA thugs for business termination.

A letter sent to customers by Cocoon Nutrition asks for donations to support
Heuer’s legal defense fund. Here is the full text of that letter:

I regret to inform our customers and close friends that Stephen is being
held by the FDA and their goal is to permanently discontinue Chrysalis. He
has not committed a single crime and is only guilty of helping thousands of
people across the country live healthier happier lives. The government
unfortunately will do whatever it takes to protect the pharmaceutical
companies and its investors from a product that genuinely threatens their
profit margins.

Stephen will be waging war against Federal Agencies because his rights are
at stake as well as your freedom to purchase these supplements. He is going
to need all the help and encouragement he can get. If any of you are willing
and capable to support or donate towards his legal battle, please do so by
mail or by calling us at 888-988-3325. Our mailing address is 160 Dewey
Road, Greer, SC 29651. Checks or money orders need to be made out to Stephen
Heuer. Thank you so much for helping Stephen in his time of need. He hopes
to return home soon so he can continue helping each and every one of you to
better health.

What will happen next?
I personally have never met Stephen Heuer, and I’m not yet aware of what
charges are being brought against him by the FDA, but this raid and arrest
are consistent with the secret police-style oppression tactics the FDA has
relied on for nearly two decades to eliminate competitors of Big Pharma.

We are witnessing a nutritional knowledge cleansing of America. This has
nothing to do with protecting the public, or good science, or product
safety. It is 100% based on eliminating the competition for Big Pharma while
keeping the public in the dark about natural cures.

Through their actions, FDA officials have revealed themselves to be little
more than common thugs hiding behind a federal badge. Even the FDA’s own
scientists accuse the agency’s top decision makers of being outright
criminals who place the safety of Americans’ lives at risk
(http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000655_…).

U.S. Federal Marshalls, of course, are so clueless about law and justice
that they’re arresting all the wrong people! They should turn around and
arrest the FDA criminals who are running this illegal monopoly enforcement
racket instead of harassing the small family business owners who are trying
to offer healing herbs to informed consumers.Buzz up!8 votes

About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate with a mission to
teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and
published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on
topics like health and the environment, impacting the lives of millions of
readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits
from reading his articles. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who
receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other
companies’ products. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of energy
efficient LED lights that greatly reduce CO2 emissions. He’s also a noted
pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to
launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a
standard in the industry. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the
executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and
adult gymnastics. Known on the ‘net as ‘the Health Ranger,’ Adams shares his
ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at
www.HealthRanger.org

New H.R. Policy for the next 4 years

This will probably show up on a job bulletin board near you:

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of
this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the
economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges.
However, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to
your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing
political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might
help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers
against employees, you have to understand that for every business
owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and
overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my
Mercedes outside. You’ve seen my big home at last years Christmas
party. I’m sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some
idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don’t see is the back story.

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300
square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment
was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into
building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I
spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla
with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often
times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking
and partying. In fact, I was married to my business — hard work,
discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made
a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove
flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer
clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom’s for the latest hot
fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting
any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70’s.
My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I,
however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a
business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be
able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check
in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don’t. There is no “off”
button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have
a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom.
I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no
rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this
business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs
child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden — the
nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations… you never realize the
back story and the sacrifices I’ve made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the
right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people
who didn’t. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel
entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade
of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I’ve paid is
steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you,
is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me
tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay
enough I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and
use taxes.. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment
taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these
taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him.
Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes
with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to
the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my
“stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the
guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over
2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the
single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting
for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter
is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d
quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s
nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I
agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don’t understand …. to stimulate the
economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly
government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess
what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington
black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and
generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have
enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and
better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t
defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back
to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at
the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must
stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington
believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the
American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth
and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this?

It’s quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will
be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can
then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV,
and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and
retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes
the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work
and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my
citizenship.

So, if you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy;
it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through
this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed
its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a
beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about…..

Signed,
Your boss

Barack’s Gonna Buy Me Some Gas!

Ah, Promises, promises…made to be broken…especially by politicians.  This one appeared in Bloomberg:

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama said reviving the U.S. economy will require scaling back on his campaign promises and personal sacrifice from all Americans.

“I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped,” Obama said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” program broadcast this morning. “Everybody’s going to have to give.”

Obama also said in the interview recorded yesterday that he wants stricter guidelines and greater transparency in spending the remaining $350 billion in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Obama takes office Jan. 20 and is pressing Congress to act quickly on a two-year economic stimulus plan of about $775 billion that includes new government spending and tax cuts. As part of his campaign to build support from lawmakers and the public, Obama has been speaking about the economy every day over the past week, warning of a deeper and more prolonged recession without government action.

Though some Democrats have resisted elements of Obama’s plan, recent economic data have helped him make his point. The Labor Department reported Jan. 9 that the U.S. lost almost 2.6 million jobs in 2008 and that the unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in almost 16 years. The losses were widespread, with manufacturers, builders, retailers and temporary-help agencies axing positions.

Indicators

“Whether it’s retail sales, manufacturing, all of the indicators show that we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression,” Obama said on ABC. The result is that all Americans will feel the effects of efforts to put the economy back on track, he said.

“Everybody’s going to have to have some skin in the game,” he said.

Companies including Boeing Co., the world’s second-largest commercial-plane maker, CSX Corp., the third- largest U.S. railroad, and General Dynamics Corp., the second-largest shipbuilder for the U.S. Navy, announced job cuts last week.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index has lost 37 percent in the past 12 months and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33 percent.

The last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, faced a similar predicament. In the face of a deepening budget deficit, Clinton during his transition scaled back his spending plans and abandoned a campaign pledge to enact a middle-class tax cut.

Report on Plan

Obama yesterday released a report by his economic advisers that forecasts his two-year stimulus proposal would generate as many as 4 million jobs, higher than his previous estimates, the biggest portion of them in construction, manufacturing and retail.

The plan would also result in the U.S. gross domestic product increasing by 3.7 percent more by the end of 2010 than it would without the stimulus, according to a study compiled by Obama’s economic advisers. The study gives a forecast based on a package of spending and tax cuts totaling “slightly over” the $775 billion that has been discussed by the transition team with members of Congress.

Are you smarter than a 3rd Grader?

Don’t you wonder how the political system works?  Heck, it’s not just the political system…it’s my life.  I ran over this wonderful story from a teacher in Nashville working with 9 year olds.  I know kids three times that age that haven’t figured this out yet.  Gotta love a 3rd grader!

TJ

Ice Cream  . . . from a teacher in the Nashville area.

Who worries about “the cow” when it is all about the “Ice Cream?

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president.

We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.  We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have.  We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections.  Both candidates were good kids.  I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia’s mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches, and Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place.  He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded.

He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise. She said, “If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream.”  She sat down.

The class went wild.  “Yes!  Yes!  We want ice cream.” She surely could say more. She did not have to.

A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream?  She wasn’t sure.

Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn’t know.

The class really didn’t care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and fifty-two percent of the people reacted like nine year olds. They want ice cream.

The other forty-eight percent of us know we’re going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.

An Economic Lesson from Carl

My friend Carl is back with a vengeance!  My mailbox is full of great stuff!  Here’s one about Ben Bernake and company selling you a sack of, well you know, about how the economy works.  Hey Ben, Ronald Reagan could have taught you a thing or two!

 

Steve

Credit Where Credit is Due

by Peter Schiff, Euro Pacific Capital | January 16, 2009

This week, in a speech before the London School of Economics, Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a perverse economic theory in his
quest to gather support for never-ending Wall Street bailouts; “This
disparate treatment, unappealing as it is, appears unavoidable. Our
economic system is critically dependent on the free flow of credit,
and the consequences for the broader economy of financial
instability are thus powerful and quickly felt.” In other words,
credit is the lifeblood of our economy, and the continued operation
of credit providers is an issue of national security.

In truth, not all economies run on credit. But over the last decade,
the United States became a bubble economy that needed unlimited
credit to keep from collapsing. In a legitimate economy, it is not
credit that fuels spending and investment, but simply income and
savings. It’s too bad our Fed chairman does not understand the
difference.

That American families now routinely rely on credit to make every-
day purchases is a habit that needs to be broken and not encouraged.
What we need in America is more restraint and less indulgence. For
example, Americans in the current economy should not go into debt to
buy new cars. Given the level of debt that weighs down the typical
family, Americans should defer such purchases until they have paid
down existing debt, or replenished their savings to the point where
they can afford to pay cash. Until that time, Americans should
continue driving their old cars. In the meantime, the untapped
savings could be made available to local businesses that would use
it to finance badly needed capital investments.

But such a drastic reversal in financial culture represents the kind
of change that no one in the outgoing or incoming Administrations
appears willing to consider. By providing perpetual support to
lenders who have bankrupted themselves through bad loans, the
government merely guarantees that bad economic behavior will
continue.

Credit is indeed vital to an economy, but it does not constitute an
economy within itself. The important thing to remember is that
credit is scarce, and is limited by the stock of savings. Savings
loaned to one individual is not available to be loaned to another
until it is repaid. If it is never repaid, the savings are lost.
Loans to consumers not only crowd out more productive loans that
might have been made to business, but they have a far greater
likelihood of ending in default.

In addition, while business loans increase our capital stock and
lead to greater productivity, loans made to consumers are merely
spent, and do not create conditions that will make repayment easier.
When businesses borrow to fund capital investments, the extra cash
flows that result are used to repay the loans. When individuals
borrow to spend, loans can only be repaid out of reduced future
consumption.

One of the reasons we are in such dire straits is that consumers
have already borrowed and spent too much. Many did so based on the
false belief that ever-appreciating real estate would ultimately
provide the means to repay their debts and finance their lifestyles.
Now that reality has finally set in, why should the spending spree
continue? The fact that a GDP comprised of 70 percent of consumption
is currently contracting should not surprise anyone. In fact, such a
contraction is long overdue and the government should not do
anything to interfere.

In trying to perpetuate the illusion, the government wants to revive
the spending spree that has led us to this disaster. But how can
such actions possibly help? How will more debt improve the economy?
Wouldn’t our circumstances be vastly improved if we paid off some of
our debts and replenished our savings? Wouldn’t we be in better
shape if instead of buying more stuff we concentrated on producing
it?

The unpleasant reality is that years of bad monetary and fiscal
policy have over encumbered our economy with debt and undermined our
industrial capacity. The sooner we can begin to repair the damages,
the sooner we can right the ship. If instead we merely administer
more of the same, the ship will sink in a sea of inflation.

Copyright © 2009 Peter Schiff