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Congressman Ron Paul: Ex Post Facto Bonus Bill is “Unconstitutional” and “A Gross Distraction”
Jerry Remmer’s rather salient post with regards to the outrage over the bonuses AIG gave to their executives and Congress’s “solution” to this problem had me wondering whether anyone else has noticed that so many of the problems that Congress seeks to solve have—in fact—been caused (in part) by former “solutions” that Congress came up with.
As I pointed out in the comments section in response to Jerry’s post, I think Congressman Ron Paul summed this current controversy up pretty well on CNN on Friday:
Well, it happened because we did something that was outrageous. These bonuses are outrageous. 165 million dollars is a lot of money. But so is 700 billion dollars of unconstitutional appropriations. That’s where the problem came from. So yes, people are concentrating on these bonuses right now, but they’re missing the point. The point is that we shouldn’t be in the business of bailing out all these companies. And we don’t even know where the rest of the money went. We just discovered—probably inadvertently—that there were some bonuses. Now everybody is outraged, which they should be. So what do they do? They pass 700 billion dollars worth of unconstitutional appropriations. Then they come in and they discover this. The public gets notice of it, so the Congress has to act and feel outraged. So they pass a bill, which is an ex post facto bill, as well as a bill of attainder, which is unconstitutional. So they’re using the tax code to punish people. So they do one harm—one thing wrong—they create a problem—an unintended consequence. Then they go back and they solve the problem by more of the same. Which is essentially what we are doing with our economy . . .
Because they—in Congress, they panic. They react minute to minute, whether it’s passing the PATRIOT ACT or doing all these things. They react in emotional ways. So when the banking crisis hit, instead of dealing with
over the last decade, which I’ve been begging and pleading for them to do, they wait and “Oh there’s a financial crisis.” Oh, it came from too much spending, too much taxes, and too much printing of money. So what do they do? They spend more! They blindly appropriate this money. And I just think the whole process is outrageous! . . . Ultimately, Congress should assume responsibility. This is what’s happened over the many, many decades—that we have transferred the responsibility of the Congress into the executive branch. The executive branch writes laws, and the courts rule, and Congress has reneged so much on their responsibility. And now all we know how to do is . . . spend money.
don’t say how it should be spent, and then we allow the Federal Reserve to print money. We can’t audit the Federal Reserve. So it’s Congress’s fault. If Congress would wake up, we could reign in a lot of this. So, to me, it was very annoying to concentrate on doing what we were doing on Thursday and pretending we were going to improve things. This is just a gross distraction from the important issues that we should be dealing with.
Politicians are like lemmings. They are so eager to prove to the American public that they share its concern, that they’re willing to jump on board the bandwagon and pass the latest law—no matter how bad it is and even if they haven’t even read it.
I blame the American people as well for their insistence that Congress impose a new law for every problem that comes down the pike without regard to their constitutional limitations. It seems that, in the eyes of the American people, a sin of commission is forgivable while a sin of omission is absolutely unforgivable.
7 Responses to “Congressman Ron Paul: Ex Post Facto Bonus Bill is “Unconstitutional” and “A Gross Distraction””
I agree. The idea that the congress can pass a law punishing a small group of people just because they did something unpopular is scary. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't say whether the bill is unconstitutional according to the letter of the law. I've heard arguments that it is not because it does not specifically mention AIG. However, whether or not it violates the letter of the constitution, it is very clear it violates the spirit of it, which ought to be enough.
I don't like the bonuses, but I also don't want to be on the receiving end of public outrage, which anyone who studies mob mentality knows can be unjustified or overblown. In such cases, I would hope that it would at least be the government that would be the fair arbitrator by abiding by unbiased laws. If we hope to receive such treatment, we should extend it to others, even when we disagree with them.
All I can say about this is:
President Barack Obama’s budget proposals, if carried out, would produce a staggering $9.3 trillion in total deficits over the next decade, much more than the White House has predicted, the Congressional Budget Office said on Friday.
Where is the outrage over this? I dont think its sunk in yet as the Democrats continue to find one crisis after another to simply distract us so they can pass incredible deficit spending measures.
Its a crisis….day and night. Aren't you skared yet? I know I am.
If we could combine some of Ron Paul's ideas with Obama's eloquence we'd really have something. Unfortunately Paul often comes across as sort of a nutty guy with a wild hare up his butt. And some of his ideas are kind of nutty, too bad his good ones aren't taken seriously.
http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=3396
OK so if Ron Paul is telling us (in the most reasonable & understandable terms, not nutty at all) that everything that congress is doing is exactly wrong, & these actions will guarantee a deep & prolonged economic downturn (& it sure makes sense to me), then we must consider the real possibility that this course of action is not by accident or error ( 1929 was a controlled crash that benefited the same “money” powers that are in control now), but deliberate.
They (the World Banksters) want it to get bad. They promoted & financed two unnecessary Wars overseas & the War on Terror (against pretty much nonexistent terrorists) at home for the sole purpose of spending borrowed money without restraint. The goal all along, has been to cripple the global economy by deliberately bankrupting the USA.
This is the classic Friedman formula for societal change (Chicago School of Economics). The greater the damage = the greater possible “change” society will accept. We are being directed towards … The New World Order.
The Info Wars are real.
Remember, Gorge Bush never actually won in 2000. It was an appointment by the Supreme Court. He was carried/pushed back into power by the MSM (Main Stream Media) in the election of 2004. The signs are there, that the fix has been in from the very highest levels for a very long time.
Learn, that the Federal Reserve is not a government run institution. It is in FACT, a privately owned global banking business. The majority shareholders aren't even Americans !
“Knowledge is Power”, so go get some & share it with the public, because the MSM will not.
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