Rick Perry on Ben Bernanke and treason
Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Monday night suggested that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing an “almost treasonous” act if he were to order the printing of more money.
The video clip from Iowa was captured by the liberal group Think Progress:
The transcript:
“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion.”
Here’s the take from Dan Balz and the Washington Post:
The central bank has tried to use quantitative easing, a monetary policy by which the government purchases bonds to injects more money into the economy, as a way to help revive the struggling U.S. economy. In an appearance last week before the House Financial Services Committee, Bernanke said he expects the economy to strengthen over the remainder of the year, but indicated that if it does not, he would consider another round of quantitative easing.
Perry, when he met with reporters, was asked explicitly whether he was suggesting that such an action by the Fed would be strictly an attempt to help reelect the president. “If they print more money between now and this election I would suggest that’s exactly what’s going on,” he replied
Never before has quantitative easing been a hanging offense.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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55 comments Add your comment
Tom
August 16th, 2011
8:48 am
Moonbat Michelle……
http://youtu.be/TjMnFnrS2t4
td
August 16th, 2011
8:54 am
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. Thomas Jefferson
Clinton "Skink" Tyree
August 16th, 2011
8:58 am
You know the GOTP is in trouble when Ron Paul makes more sense than any of the other candidates.
Amazing
August 16th, 2011
8:59 am
This is the same man who wanted texas to secede from the U.S. What a joke!
brad
August 16th, 2011
9:06 am
What a prick.
Don
August 16th, 2011
9:07 am
Doing anything I don’t like is treason
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
August 16th, 2011
9:13 am
May his “outing” be sooner rather than later.
Pete
August 16th, 2011
9:21 am
Good, Lord! What a bunch of looneys the GOP has running for President! Romney is probably the only one of the candidates left who is electable. But he may not be crazy enough for the GOP primary electorate. As a moderate Republican, my party has left me in the dust. What a shame our party has turned into a right wing side show.
Centrist
August 16th, 2011
9:22 am
Careful, AJC. The more you unfairly attack a candidate, the better they look.
Perry’s past support of the Al Gore, religious fanaticism/ pro-life stance, and no taxes on the truly wealthy have knocked him out my consideration. But he does have some sensible economic ideas – which, of course, the left opposes.
JPM
August 16th, 2011
9:24 am
The last introduction of $670,000,000 of printed money by Treasury through the Feds to loan to banks was pretty stupid and directly correlates to the inflation we all feel at the grocery store, and everywhere else. Before making uninformed comments reason through creating $670 billion in unbacked paper in a $14.12 trillion dollar GDP and you can see the influence of printing more money.
The estimate by the Federal Reserve of the entire gold bullion value in Fort Knox is just over $56 Billion dollars in 2011 dollars- let the ratio of the recent printing of $670 billion to the entire US gold reserve and one can understand why the economy contracted immediately after the new paper was pumped into the system.
It does not take a lot of intelligence to see quantitative easing is NOT good for the populace [you and me], but is great for lending institutions [banks, Freddie & Fannie] to make money AND for the US govt. to devalue the money through inflation the money owed on the national debt [whether to foreign countries or to the US citizens].
Don’t take my word for it…do the research on your own and you will question the current monetary policies of the Treasury and the Fed., and not multiple candidates pointing out a real economic issue. This is not a political issue but an economic issue, so don’t get hungup on the party or the candidate – understand the real issue.
View From Midtown
August 16th, 2011
9:24 am
The man who has advocated secession on multiple occasions should be careful of who he accuses of treason. Glass houses and all that. Watching video of him is like watching a comedian do impressions of George W. Bush. Remember what happened the last time we elected a governor from Texas? Two wars, doubling of the national debt and the Great Recession.
td
August 16th, 2011
9:27 am
Pete
August 16th, 2011
9:21 am
You libs are so funny. Perry has been running the second largest state in the country for the last 10 years. His state has been produced 50% of all jobs created during the entire Obama term and you libs want to say he is to radical to be President. Maybe, he is the right person for the job and you all are to radical to understand? BTW: he is still more qualified then our current President to hold the job.
Cutty
August 16th, 2011
9:31 am
td- How many of those jobs were of the fast food, minimum wage variety? 40% or so. And if you want to get technical, the Lt. Gov of Texas has more power of the state budget than the Gov in the cowboy boots.
td
August 16th, 2011
9:41 am
Cutty
August 16th, 2011
9:31 am
td- How many of those jobs were of the fast food, minimum wage variety?
What is better, a minimum wage type starter job or no job at all? I do not see other states being able to increase their job base for even minimum wage jobs. Please remind me again how many of any type private sector jobs that Obama has created.
Frederick Douglass
August 16th, 2011
10:10 am
Oh no it’s happening again, this guy is George Bush on fu*@ing steroids.
DannyX
August 16th, 2011
10:14 am
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. Thomas Jefferson”
td, that tree of liberty will be no where near the the Capitol during redistricting will it? No, it will be uprooted and moved, maybe brought back after the special session. Both parties treat that tree like a Christmas tree, decorate it all nice and pretty, but throw it out to be shredded after they use it.
Rick Perry on Ben Bernanke and treason | marvinarrington
August 16th, 2011
10:18 am
[...] Article source: http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2011/08/16/rick-perry-on-ben-bernanke-and-treaso... [...]
td
August 16th, 2011
10:25 am
DannyX
August 16th, 2011
10:14 am
You are probably right my friend. The redistricting process (right or wrong) is a spoil of victory and the ruling party has all the power and gets to decide how hard it will be for the minority party in future elections. The Dems did it to Republicans for 150 years and now it is time for the reverse to happen.
DannyX
August 16th, 2011
10:27 am
“I do not see other states being able to increase their job base for even minimum wage jobs.”
High tax California has added 135,000 jobs this year most of them high paying. In fact the liberal areas of California are booming again.
td
August 16th, 2011
10:30 am
DannyX
August 16th, 2011
10:27 am
“I do not see other states being able to increase their job base for even minimum wage jobs.”
High tax California has added 135,000 jobs this year most of them high paying. In fact the liberal areas of California are booming again.
Are those jobs net gains after you count the job loses or are they high tech jobs added without counting the job loses?
the original and still the best John Galt
August 16th, 2011
10:31 am
Perry may as well rest that rhetoric. “Quantitative Easing” III, IV, V, and so on will be implemented unless the ultimate collapse of the dollar happens first. There’s no stopping it now.
DannyX
August 16th, 2011
10:35 am
“Are those jobs net gains after you count the job loses or are they high tech jobs added without counting the job loses?”
Those are net jobs gained. First six months of the year.
bob
August 16th, 2011
10:50 am
ALMOST?
Donnie
August 16th, 2011
10:53 am
In other words, Rick Perry just wants the economy to remain in the crapper.
How about this, if printing more money is a better option than not…not doing so would be treasonous. Because not printing more money would be tantamount to helping the GOP nominee gain reelection.
Perry and the Tea Party are just a bunch of hypocrites and terrorists. They would rather the US fail on a democrats watch than succeed regardless of who is in the White House.
Centrist
August 16th, 2011
10:58 am
I can not wait until January 2013. By then the tea party will just be a foot note in a chapter about the 2010 elections and the resultant Congress.
The dominoes began falling in NY, then the S&P downgrade of the Tea Party, Wisconsin fell last week, the primaries will be the next domino…and hopefully the last.
Donnie
August 16th, 2011
10:59 am
*election…the GOP nominee can not win reelection.
Barb
August 16th, 2011
11:15 am
I too feel as though there is nothing but a bunch of loonies running for POTUS but the biggest Loony is already the false POTUS.
As for Perry and his politics to a degree I think he is another Bush. In the past Texans have fought against him on issues we did not want or like and we won BUT here in the past year or so he has been pushing his agendas knowing we did not won’t or he just didn’t do his job, like the TSA he let it slide through his fingers without doing anything about it when he could have just signed the bill.
I don’t like him and didn’t vote for him, I voted for Medina but when she didn’t win I voted for Perry over White cause White is a hard left politician.
J Throckmorton Malcontent
August 16th, 2011
11:58 am
Who needs money? We can just go back to the way Dad did it in the Great Depression, work all day and get a sack of potatoes.
You aren’t going to improve things by turning the United States into 70,000 Albanias ruled by homeowner’s associations. You will find you need more government than a pistol and a Bible in the nightstand and a volunteer fire department if you want peace and prosperity.
Perry says Fed playing politics with money – msnbc.com | Finance Today
August 16th, 2011
12:30 pm
[...] portend more political pressure for FedWashington PostPrinting Money is TreasonSlate Magazine (blog)Rick Perry on Ben Bernanke and treasonAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)The Guardian -New York Times (blog)all 245 news [...]
Perry says Fed playing politics with money – msnbc.com | Finance Demon | Finance News Magazine
August 16th, 2011
12:34 pm
[...] portend more political pressure for FedWashington PostPrinting Money is TreasonSlate Magazine (blog)Rick Perry on Ben Bernanke and treasonAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)New York Times (blog) -The Guardianall 285 news [...]
Eli
August 16th, 2011
12:45 pm
As I remember, Rick Perry floated the idea of Texas seceding from the United States (after the election of a non-white right-wing conservative).
How is that not treason!
Remind yourself about that, by the way, come primary time: Rick Perry would rather turn his back on the United States.
Joe Mama
August 16th, 2011
12:50 pm
Why run for President, Governor Perry?
Just secede like you threatened to and you can be President of the Republic of Texas without even having to stand for election at all.
Perry: “Almost treasonous” if Bernanke prints more money – Salon | Finance Today
August 16th, 2011
12:57 pm
[...] Hill (blog)Perry says Fed playing politics with moneymsnbc.comSlate Magazine (blog) -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -New York Times (blog)all 873 news [...]
clem
August 16th, 2011
1:11 pm
td you were wrong on taxing wealthy as part of deficit reduction…you need to catch buffet on charlie rose sometime this week….he is not too complimentary of the tps….all of his businesses are growing except related to home construction….his effective tax rate for 2010 is 17.4% or so…..he would like revenues to be 19 and expenditures no more than 21% of gdp or so….
here is a guy from nebraska who makes more sense then anyone running from the repub party and unfortunately the dems too….
perry and palin both governored states with exceptional natural resources which allowed those states to be more business friendly tax wise….they also in texas were more prudent on mortgages which barnes tried to do….but repubs reversed…oh by the way, how do you like your leader tom graves?
td
August 16th, 2011
1:23 pm
clem
August 16th, 2011
1:11 pm
I read Buffets editorial piece. If you do raise the income tax rates on people like Buffet then you are still not going to capture a lot more revenue because they make their money on long term capital gains (which is taxed at 15%). Now if you raise the capital gains rates then you will not only be taxing Buffet but every person with a 401K account and every retirement system will have less money.
The real question is if Buffet is so worried about not paying his fair share then why does he make most of his salary in stock options instead of a salary paid by his corporation? Why not take less stock?
JD
August 16th, 2011
1:27 pm
td,
what long term capital gains? I am a day trader and make nearly all of my money from investments that I hold for 10 to 20 minutes.
It would be nice to see 401ks get taxed. Then maybe you bratty baby boomers will end up paying for what you spent.
Ghost Rider
August 16th, 2011
2:18 pm
Crucify Perry! He’s telling the truth!
I can see Obama waving good-bye from my house!
Ghost Rider
August 16th, 2011
2:23 pm
Eli:
The War of Northern Aggression was fought over the states’ right to leave the union. It was won through force of arms by the yankees and not settled in a court of law. There are a great number of scholars who would tell you that states do have the right to leave the union.
MSC
August 16th, 2011
2:51 pm
Actually the Coinage Act of 1792 made currency debasement a “hanging offense”, to use your phrasing. QE is currency debasement.
Penalty on debasing the coins
Section 19. And be it further enacted, That if any of the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint shall be debased or made worse as to the proportion of the fine gold or fine silver therein contained, or shall be of less weight or value than the same ought to be pursuant to the directions of this act, through the default or with the connivance of any of the officers or persons who shall be employed at the said mint, for the purpose of profit or gain, or otherwise with a fraudulent intent, and if any of the said officers or persons shall embezzle any of the metals which shall at any time be committed to their charge for the purpose of being coined, or any of the coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint, every such officer or person who shall commit any or either of the said offenses, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death.
Ghost Rider
August 16th, 2011
3:24 pm
MSC:
Great post! Thanks!
yuzeyurbrane
August 16th, 2011
4:28 pm
Perry does not understand economics or constitutional law (although he should be treason expert with his pro-secession talk) but he does understand politics. One of his biggest fears apparently is that the economy will start doing better during election campaign and therefore is bullying someone who might be able to help bring that about. What a patriot! He’d rather screw the American people than lose an election. Rule or ruin. He is perfect for the times.
clem
August 16th, 2011
4:29 pm
congressmen bought and paid for are now charging to meet with them:
It will cost $15 to ask Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) a question in person during the August congressional recess.
The House Budget Committee chairman isn’t holding any face-to-face open-to-the-public town hall meetings during the recess, but like several of his colleagues he will speak only for residents willing to open their wallets [...]
Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) is scheduled to appear Aug. 23 at a luncheon gathering of the Arizona Republican Lawyers Association. For $35, attendees can question Quayle and enjoy a catered lunch at the Phoenix office of the Snell & Wilmer law firm.
And Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) took heat in Duluth this weekend for holding private events in his district’s population and media center — including a $10-per-head meeting hosted next week by the local chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which on its invitation notes that the organization “supported Chip in his stunning upset over long time Congressman Jim Oberstar in the 2010 election.”
clem
August 16th, 2011
5:41 pm
obama 39% approval; congress 13%
Ghost Rider
August 16th, 2011
7:57 pm
yuzeyurbrane:
Go vote for a democrat. I’m sure you’ll feel better in the morning.
yuzeyurbrane
August 16th, 2011
9:49 pm
Ghost, at least the Democrat won’t be a traitor.
Debt crisis – as it happened August 16, 2011 : Pakistan Focus
August 17th, 2011
4:52 am
[...] Here’s a link to Rick Perry, the Texas Governor, saying Fed chairman Ben Bernanke would be “almost treasonous” if he carries out any more quantitative easing, aka money printing, before the 2012 election, and [...]
TSA on the way to second base
August 17th, 2011
9:20 am
the left is using buzz words for their talking point
revenue
OMG doesnt everyone understand that is TAXES.
Would you give a crack addict more drugs? That’s what we are letting happen if DC raises TAXES
Make no mistake they are ALL politicans;
If ppl want to call the Tea Party terrorist rabble, go ahead; thats the same thing the British called our founding fathers.
Obama 2012
August 17th, 2011
12:03 pm
This was some of the funniest rhetoric I have seen in a long time.
Wondering
August 17th, 2011
12:45 pm
With the oil boom I am not surprised to see job growth in Tx. It was happening before Perry and it will continue to happen after him. Part of it is also that Tx leads the nation in the precentage of its workers making minimum wage. Many of those jobs were created by Perry paying companies to create jobs out of his slush fund.
Ghost Rider
August 17th, 2011
6:37 pm
“The jobs created in Texas have all been low paying jobs. Texas’ average wage is much lower than the national average.”
That statement would imply that Texans are working for minimum wage and must be living at poverty levels compared to other states.
Here’s a thought … isn’t a low paying job in Texas better than being jobless in another state?
Having a job is only one part of the Texas equation – the other significant part is Texas’ low cost of living. The Cost of Living (COL) index takes into account prices on a variety of basic goods and services, including groceries, housing, utilities, healthcare, and transportation, as well as common expenses like movie tickets and newspapers. These disparate costs of living can mean that a salary in one city has a far different value than the same amount of money in another city.
While it is true that Texas median household income ($48,259) is less than some states like California, New York, and Connecticut, the state does fare well when the income is adjusted by the Cost of Living (COL). When the COL is factored in, Texas’ median household income ($53,009) exceeds California by $8,550, exceeds New York’s by $10,403, and Connecticut’s by $1,532. These are 2009 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau reported in a U.S. News article.
Note that those figures are based on median income (a midpoint, as many above as below). Please explain: if Texas has been creating only minimum wage jobs, how is the Texas median income still $48,259? A minimum wage job in Texas would only earn $15,080/yr?
Here is a direct comparison illustrating how much the cost of living affects one’s standard of living. Let’s look at two cities, Los Angeles and Dallas. When Dallas is compared to L.A., here is the result: “The cost of living in Dallas is lower than the cost of living in Los Angeles. If you make $100,000.00 in Los Angeles and move to Dallas, you will only need to make $62,862.55 ($37,137.45 less) to maintain the same buying power.” The comparison is from Inflation Data.com where you can compare two selected cities against one another.
And here’s another objective, authoritative comparison:
Texas is ranked third among “Best States to make a living.” The ranking is based on an Adjusted Average Income value which considers taxes, housing, and cost of living. Texas’ average is $41,427. Compared to Massachusetts: $38,665, Minnesota: $37,721, and California: $29,772 just to compare a few. This from CBS MoneyWatch, April, 2011.
And finally, Texas places two metro areas, Houston ($60,634) and Dallas ($59,217) among the top ten metro areas in the nation with the highest real income. Real income is the median household income adjusted by the COL. Compare those figures with a couple of other large metro areas from the bottom ten: New York ($35,370) and Los Angeles ($41,331). The figures are from a June, 2011 analysis by the U.S. News using latest available (2009) data.
And what about wages? Texas has seen wages climb faster than the country overall. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average wage for employees in Texas rose 7.4% between May 2008 and May 2010 (the latest data available). For the nation as a whole, average wages climbed only 5%. This from Investors.com.
So, contrary to the poverty implied by the original criticism, the standard of living in Texas isn’t as bad as the “low paying” statement (if true) would indicate – the accusation is just an another attempt to diminish the job creation achievement, Texas’ standard of living, and by association, Governor Perry.