Re-Launching Free Capitalist Radio

Re-Launching Free Capitalist Radio. Episode Theme : The Project, Basic Principles of Capitalism, and a Tribute to Dr. W. Cleon Skousen.

The episode focuses heavily on the basic principles of capitalism. Comments about President Obama’s recent remarks about “losing touch with Americans” and a syllogism of Ayn Rand related to Individual Rights, Property Rights, and Liberty.

The Return of Odysseus

FCR Podcast. Day 141 of the Revolution. The “relaunch” of FreeCapitalist Radio, 3 years to the day of the tragic death of Les McGuire & Ray Hooper. “The Barnacles of Les McGuire,” Gov. Palin’s recent remarks & Homer’s Odyssey, Pres. Obama’s Cairo Speech to Muslims.   

Today’s FreeCapitalist Radio show marks the fourth iteration of FreeCapitalist Radio first started by Rick Koerber on October 31, 2005.  New features of the show include an “ask Rick” section where listeners who email radio@freecapitalist.com with questions can have their topic fully discussed.  Also those interested in being on the show to discuss their questions are encouraged to apply.   

Union’s Expect Obama Payback – Seek to End Secret Ballots

Updated Guest Editorial | On Tuesday’s Glenn Beck Show, a discouraging statistic was shown. In 1999, all government spending as a portion of our national GNP was 33%. In 2009, that number stands at 39%.

An astonishing number when you consider that the United States produces over $14 trillion in goods and services annually.  If that number frightens you and raises red flags about the growth of government, then something is on the horizon which will make that number worse. And that is why we need your leadership today.

Big Labor is expecting a pay back from President Obama.  For the hundreds of millions they spent on his election, they expect him to sign an innocent sounding, yet deceptive bill called Employee Free Choice Act – better known as “Card Check.”

Card Check is a cunning device that will make unionizing companies less democratic in the process of union organizing and more prone to intimidation and harassment.  Currently, unions must have at least 30% of the employees sign cards voicing their support for a union.  In the vast majority of cases the employer will then require a secret ballot election to determine if a union will be formed.  If the new “Card Check” federal legislation is passed, unions may contact employees directly, and when they get 51% of the employees to sign a card, the right of the employees to vote by secret ballot is abolished and the workplace is automatically unionized.

Card check will dramatically speed up the unionization of America by harassment and intimidation. As a result, government will grow bigger and mandatory union dues – the main objective to Card Check – will increase Big Labor political donations to Democrats and left wing causes.  In 2008 alone, 91% of all union contributions went to Democrats.  A staggering number when you realize that Big Labor can simply take dues out of union employees’ paychecks. This is one of the biggest power grabs in recent memory.

It is inconceivable to believe government will not grow bigger and more confiscatory with a larger union presence. Government’s 39% total of our GNP will soon grow to the mid-to-high 40s if card check passes. Do we want that? Will that help or impede innovation, freedom and entrepreneurship?

Big Labor and their allies hope to accomplish this power grab by taking away a working man and woman’s right to a secret ballot.  Can you imagine if your elected officials knew how everyone voted in their districts? How many more votes do you think they would receive on Election Day?  The same logic applies to union voting. Without the privacy of the secret ballot, people become more acutely aware of the need of their jobs and their unwillingness to go against the pressure of union leaders. That is why Save Our Secret Ballot (www.sosballot.org) was organized – to protect the right of the secret ballot for all Americans.

Save Our Secret Ballot is doing this by placing on the ballot in 15-20 states a state constitutional amendment (not federal) to protect the right to a secret ballot (for exact language go to www.sosballot.org).  We want voters to know exactly what is at stake and what unions want to accomplish. Holding a public debate is the last thing unions want.  House Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid are ready to take away your right to a secret ballot and President Obama is ready to sign it. All that stands in its way is you!

Where you and I want public discourse and debate like the famous Lincoln – Douglas debates over 150 years ago, unions want to treat this issue like a Venezuelan policy debate – the less discussion the better.

Unions want to pass this without the American public knowing about it. Like a thief, they want to do this in the darkness of night without the glare of daylight. Unlike a thief who steals material goods which can be replaced, they want to steal freedoms that cannot be replaced.

We need your help today – not tomorrow.  Today, Monday, this freedom protecting legislation will be up for a vote in the Utah House of Representatives.  We have some Republicans still frightened of the unions.  Please help today by getting your family, friends, business associates and YOU to call your Utah State Legislator and State Senator and ask them to vote YES for HJR-8 (Save Our Secret Ballot).

You can call them at the Capitol Hill

Utah State Senate 801-538-1035
Utah House of Representatives 801-538-1029

Without your help and leadership, unions will take away a fundamental freedom. For more information, go to www.sosballot.org and help stop this power grab today!

Chuck Warren is a partner at Silver Bullet, LLC (www.silverbulletllc.org).

Clinton: Communist China & USA will “Rise or Fall Together”

Breitbart.com | US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday urged China to keep buying US debt as she wrapped up her first overseas trip, during which she agreed to work closely with Beijing on the financial crisis. Clinton made the plea shortly before leaving China, the final stop on a four-nation Asian tour that also took her to Japan, Indonesia and South Korea, where she worked the crowds to try to restore America’s standing abroad. In Beijing, she called on authorities in Beijing to continue buying US Treasuries, saying it would help jumpstart the flagging US economy and stimulate imports of Chinese goods.

“By continuing to support American Treasury instruments the Chinese are recognising our interconnection. We are truly going to rise or fall together,” Clinton said at the US embassy here.

Clinton had sought to focus on economic and environmental issues in Beijing, saying Washington’s concerns about the human rights situation in China should not be a distraction from those vital matters.  Beijing’s human rights record emerged nonetheless as an issue, as Chinese activists on Saturday reported being harassed or intimidated by Chinese authorities in a bid to stop them speaking out or meeting Clinton while she was here.

“Plainclothes police blocked me from leaving my home. They were afraid I would try to meet with Hillary Clinton or others in her delegation,” democracy campaigner Jiang Qisheng told AFP by phone on Sunday.

Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi largely agreed to disagree on human rights as they pledged future joint action on the economy and climate change.The goodwill, also on display in her talks with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, could raise hope for a new era of cooperation between the two largest greenhouse gas emitters and two of the world’s top three economies.

“Now it is more important than any time in the past to deepen and develop China-US relations amid the spreading financial crisis and increasing global challenges,” Hu told Clinton, according to state media.

Clinton began her day Sunday by attending a Protestant church service in western Beijing at which an AFP journalist saw plainclothes police taking away some visitors who attempted to enter the church.Their identities could not be confirmed. Later, Clinton met Chinese women’s rights advocates at the US embassy but continued to steer clear of speaking on contentious human rights issues.Instead, while taping an interview on a Chinese talk show, she focused on the need for China to help finance the massive 787-billion-dollar US economic stimulus plan by continuing to buy US Treasuries.

“Because our economies are so intertwined the Chinese know that in order to…” <<<Read Full Story>>>

Utah: Records Release Escalates Charges of Gov’t Corruption

SALT LAKE CITY, January 6 – New evidence signals for the first time that prominent members of Utah Governor Jon Huntsman’s Department of Commerce may be directly involved in illegal, and sometimes criminal activities.

On Monday January 5, Utah County businessman and talk radio host C. Rick Koerber announced that he will begin releasing to the public a mountain of evidence implicating several government employees and officers.  The evidence is in the form of secret audio recordings, photographs, recordings of telephone conversations and printed documents authored by Utah officials.  Beginning Friday January 9, 2008 Koerber has announced his plan to publish in a series information releases including web links to audio files and .pdf documents.

“Given the current climate and the behavior of these people I just decided that it wasn’t worth letting things continue with business as usual,” said Koerber. “I think its best for everyone if the truth was revealed and everyone can see how things are done by some of Utah’s top ranking bureaucrats.  A few key individuals seem to enjoy ruining the reputations of sincere, hard working men and women and its costing normal every day citizens their jobs, their retirement, and in some cases their life savings.  I bet not a single one of them has ever created a real job and several of them seem to think they are above the law.”

The evidence being released implicates several Department of Commerce personnel including Utah Securities Division Enforcement Director Michael Hines, Enforcement Analyst Jennifer Korb, Licensing examiner A. Gary Bowen, former Division Director Wayne Klien and former Division of Real Estate officer John Brown.  Among the more then fifty recorded segments and documents in Koerber’s possession government employees are revealed lying, admitting conspiracy, misstating the law, admitting coercion, threatening witnesses, leaking protected information, bragging about excessive power and discretion and in at least one instance possible violations of a federal court rule prohibiting certain disclosures related to a grand jury proceeding.

Koerber is part of a growing number of Utah businessmen turning to State lawmakers and to the courts in an effort to reign in the alleged abuses by appointees, staff and employees in Gov. Huntsman’s Department of Commerce.

Henry S. Brock, a Utah based CPA associated with Americans for Civil Rights, is another local businessmen who is fed up with the Utah Department of Commerce and has created a laundry list of documented abuses on the ACR website where a petition is being circulated to pressure lawmakers to take action.  “Whether you are a doctor, contractor, realtor, or financial advisor, we all have similar concerns,” writes Brock, who uses the recently released State Audit of one division inside the Department to call attention to what he calls widespread abuse.

In what is becoming increasingly discussed nationally, Utah’s state officials, under Gov. Huntsman’s tenure, are now ranked, according to a recent study published by the New York Times, as one of the top 15 most corrupt States in the union.

In December of 2007 lawmakers approved a State audit of the Department’s Division of Securities which uncovered an array of problems including impropriety, internal conflict, coercion, violations of due process, and numerous other failures in its official 43-page report released in July of 2008.

“The audit only uncovered the tip of the iceberg” claims Utah businessman James Claybourn.  “If you read the audit carefully you’ll notice that it only looked at a few cases, and that it also describes the need for much further investigation.”

Claybourn, Brock and Koerber are part of a growing business community increasingly disillusioned by the lack of attention and scrutiny being directed at the widely reported abuses by the Department which operates under the sole elective oversight of Huntsman and his appointee Department of Commerce Director Francine Giani.

Koerber hopes that by announcing the systematic release of the recordings and documents he’s been gathering over the last several years that a more thorough investigation of the Department will be conducted and that the State legislature will not take only small, token efforts at reform.

“Look, the situation in the Department of Commerce is out of control.  They brag about being able to break the law, about ruining people’s lives and they regularly demonize small businessmen who are supposed to be treated as innocent until proven guilty,” extols Koerber.  “In today’s financial climate bureaucrats should not be freely spreading lies and acting like they are above the law, forgetting that small businessmen and women are citizens deserving of equal protection under the law.  It’s just plain wrong.”

In fact, the Department has had to drop fraud charges and issue public apologies in the past for erroneously accusing businessmen of fraud and misconduct using punitive premature media, for example its March 30, 2007 release related to Gary W. Teran and Carl A. Page of First Western Advisors.

The Department has been gaining a growing number of critics that extends beyond the business community.  Over the last year, several government insiders, including at least one former Executive Director and one former Division of Securities Director, have suggested that a “changing of the guard” is urgently needed along with several substantial reforms.

The Utah legislature has also begun addressing the reported impropriety, however, several prominent Utahans, are concerned that the gravity of the situation is not being fully appreciated by lawmakers.

“The bills [being proposed] are grossly inadequate and do not go far enough to protect the constitutional and civil rights of all licensees under the Department of Commerce, including the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, the Division of Real Estate, and the Division of Securities,” says Brock.  “Regulators are not above the law, and are accountable for their acts in relation to the public trust reposed in them…the Legislative Auditor’s Official Report said that employees within the agency themselves fear to speak-up due to reprisals, and the licensees are certainly fearful of retribution; hence, an unwillingness to speak out on legislation such as this. I have no doubt there may be reprisals against me for speaking up.”

One disturbing example of such reprisals involves State Representative Carl Wimmer who began looking into potential abuses by Huntsman’s Department in 2007.  After learning of Wimmer’s inquiry, then Securities Division Director Wayne Klein fired off an email to State Attorney General Mark Shurtleff suggesting that Wimmer should not be trusted and that his efforts be downplayed because he was an investor in one of the companies being investigated by Klien.  Wimmer, however turned out not to be an investor in any company being investigated by the Division.

“A government bureaucrat, trying to sabotage a State legislator to protect his territory- this is exactly what they do.” said Koerber.  “If you accuse them of wrong doing they line up a row of supposed victims of fraud-never mind that the story of fraud might be entirely made up by the regulators-and suggest that by attacking the government you are somehow harming or being insensitive to potential victims.”

In one of the audio recordings yet to be released by Koerber, Klien can be heard justifying his division’s targeting of Koerber himself because of statements made about Klein on Koerber’s his talk radio program and because of legislative scrutiny being brought on the Department by Rep. Wimmer and his colleague Rep. Jim Bird, pressure which Klein seems to attribute to Koerber.

–Partial Transcript-

Within a month of the announcement of last year’s audit and amidst a storm of controversy Klein resigned from his position as Securities Director.  But in commentary released after the release of the official audit, Audit Manager Tim Osterstock immediately preempted any suggestion that Klein’s resignation would solve the problem.  “It’s not just a director, it’s an organization,” Osterstock said.

One Department of Commerce insider, who requested to remain unnamed for fear of reprisal, confided about the Department and actions taken by Executive Director Francine Giani, “You have no idea how crazy this place is.  Its all about territory, power and egos.  Once the audit came out Francine put on a happy face but things around here got put on lock down. Quite frankly, so long as Francine and people like Michael Hines have free reign, I would hate to be a business owner in Utah.”

Regarding Koerber’s January 5th announcement that these recordings will be released to the public, this same insider remarked, “This is extraordinary evidence, I hope it starts to get the kind of attention it deserves.”

Huntsman who has been Utah Governor since 2004, appointed Giani to her present position in 2005, and has remained silent since the scandal started brewing in 2007.  Several businessmen, lawmakers, citizens organizations and government insiders now appear committed to making sure his Department doesn’t escape legitimate scrutiny and reform.

[Note: C. Rick Koerber is the Founder and President of FreeCapitalist Enterprises, LLC  that parent company in charge of operations for FreeCapitalist Daily]

Related Content on the Web:

• January 05, 2009 – FranklinSquires Press Release
• Audit blasts state securities division
• Utah’s securities chief is resigning under cloud
• Francine’s Domain – Scandal Brewing in Utah State Government
• Rogue Agency Arrests Utah Mom
• Audit: Corruption, Failure and Incompetence in Utah Government
• Open Letter to the Legislature
• Division of Securities Apology Regarding Teran and Page

Israel War Channel on YouTube

From (The Jerusalem Post) |In the midst of its Gaza operations, the IDF is entering yet another conflict zone: the Internet. The Israeli army announced yesterday the creation of its own YouTube channel, through which it will disseminate footage of precision bombing operations in the Gaza Strip, as well as aid distribution and other

“The blogosphere and new media are another war zone,” said IDF Foreign Press Branch head Maj. Avital Leibovich. “We have to be relevant there.”

Her sentiment reflects a growing awareness in the Israeli government that part of the failure of the 2006 Second Lebanon War was Israel’s lack of readiness for the intense media debate surrounding its operations.  <<Read the Full Story>>>

RNC Speaking Out Against Socialism? Wow.

By Ralph Z. Hallow (Washington Times) |In what would amount to a slap in the face to a sitting Republican president and the party’s Senate and House leaders, national GOP officials, including the vice chairman of the Republican National Committee, are sponsoring a resolution opposing the resort to “socialist” means to save capitalism.

“We can’t be a party of small government, free markets and low taxes while supporting bailouts and nationalizing industries, which lead to big government, socialism and high taxes at the expense of individual liberty and freedoms,” said Solomon Yue, a cosponsor of a resolution that would put the RNC — the party’s national governing body <<<Read the Full Story>>>

Forbes: How Capitalism Will Save Us

By Steve Forbes (Forbes Magazine) |We are experiencing the devastating consequences of a chain of major economic policy errors, which, to use a current cliché, created the perfect storm. These government blunders temporarily paralyzed the global credit system and are now sending the U.S. and Europe into recession, while sharply cutting back Asia’s growth rates.

Left to its own devices, the credit crisis, which began in August 2007, would have crushed economies as severely as did the Great Depression.

Belatedly, but thankfully, governments recognized that the only way to get credit flowing again was for them to make quick and direct massive infusions of new equity into beleaguered banks, as well as commit to other emergency measures hitherto unimaginable.

If sensible rescue efforts continue–and they will–the immediate crisis will quickly pass. Shell-shocked businesses and consumers won’t recover rapidly from the trauma of recent months, especially as we now cope with recession. But the downturn shouldn’t be prolonged: The economy here and those overseas should start to pick up no later than next spring.

That soon? Despite the crisis, the global economy still retains enormous strengths. Between the early 1980s and 2007 we lived in an economic Golden Age. Never before have so many people advanced so far economically in so short a period of time as they have during the last 25 years. Until the credit crisis, 70 million people a year were joining the middle class. The U.S. kicked off this long boom with the economic reforms of Ronald Reagan, particularly his enormous income tax cuts. We burst from the economic stagnation of the 1970s into a dynamic, innovative, high-tech-oriented economy. Even in recent years the much-maligned U.S. did well. Between year-end 2002 and year-end 2007 U.S. growth exceeded the entire size of China’s economy. Obviously China’s growth rates were higher, but China was coming off a much smaller base.

The world is flush with cash. It’s frozen because of fear, but the cash is there. Productivity gains are burgeoning.

So, will this global boom resume next year, slowly at first and then with increasing momentum? It should. Whether that happens, however, depends on the next, highly dangerous phase: <<<Read the Full Story>>>

>>>Learn more about Capitalism and becoming a capitalist

Bush Stops Gravity: Abandons Free Market to Save it?

Can principles be suspended or sacrificed?

AFP (Breitbard.com) | US President George W. Bush said in an interview Tuesday he was forced to sacrifice free market principles to save the economy from “collapse.”

“I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system,” Bush told CNN television, saying he had made the decision “to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse.”

Bush’s comments reflect an extraordinary departure from his longtime advocacy for an unfettered free market, as his administration has orchestrated unprecedented government intervention in the face of a dire financial crisis.

“I am sorry we’re having to do it,” Bush said. Bush said….<<<Read the Full Story>>>

Mystery? SEC Not Effective at Stopping Fraud

By Stephen Labaton (International Herald Tribune) |  WASHINGTON: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a once-proud agency with an impressive history as the top cop on Wall Street, finds itself increasingly conducting autopsies of leading financial institutions after failing, in the first instance, to perform adequate biopsies.
The latest black eye for the commission came when it was disclosed that inspectors and agency lawyers had missed a series of warning signs at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. If it had checked out the warnings, the commission might well have discovered years ago that the firm was concealing its losses by using billions of dollars from some investors to pay others.  The firm was the subject of several inquiries over the years, including one last year that was closed by the agency’s New York office after it had received a referral of potentially significant problems from the Boston office.  Similarly, the SEC chairman, Christopher Cox, assured investors nine months ago that all was well…<<<Read the Full Story>>>.

Next Page »