By Katie Kieffer
Image credit: “National Yacht Club” by vasta on Flickr via Creative Commons
I haven’t talked about my little buddy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, since I told you how to mix a Bernanktini. But, last weekend, Bernanke invited me to his yacht party.
Ben was christening a yacht “QE2” in honor of his new $600 billion “quantitative easing” program. Bernanke asked me to give him some solid coverage of the ceremony on my blog. “No problem,” I said, with my fingers crossed behind my back.
The boat looked more like a “bloat.” It was the biggest boat (excuse me, yacht) that I had ever seen. I call the yacht a “bloat” because it was overflowing with freshly printed U.S. dollar bills from the QE2 program. Ben doesn’t just throw a party – he throws money.
Here are the facts:
- History has shown that printing money, as the Federal Reserve is doing via QE2, leads to inflationary prices.
- Commodity prices are skyrocketing.
- Investors are running from the U.S. dollar and gold continues to increase in value since Bernanke launched QE2.
Image credit: “National Yacht Club” by vasta on Flickr via Creative Commons
How to rock Bernanke’s bloat and restore the economy without QE2:
- Throw the “bloat” overboard. Stop printing money and deteriorating the U.S. dollar.
- Eliminate Social Security for young people. According to a recent Gallup poll, the majority (75 percent) of 18 to 34-year-olds do not plan on Social Security anyway. Stop forcing young people to pay into a broken system that they will never see the full benefits of.
- President Obama wants to give 2.1 million government employees a 1.4 percent pay raise. As I discussed here, public sector workers already make significantly more than private sector employees. The President should eliminate unnecessary federal positions and bring public sector salaries in line with the private sector.
- Restore America’s energy independence by drilling for oil in places like Alaska’s ANWR, as I argue for here. Bring financial independence, jobs and security to America rather than paying the Saudis nearly $87 a barrel for crude oil. The LA Times reports that crude oil prices have increased 9 percent this year.
- Lower the U.S. corporate income tax rate of roughly 35 percent to be competitive with foreign rates, as I discuss here, so that American companies will bring $1 trillion in profits, jobs and innovation back home.
- Check Congress from spending money. Take these steps to hold your elected officials and the media accountable.
Come on, America. Let’s rock Bernanke’s bloat. Mmm, Yeah, Mmhmm.
Image credit: “National Yacht Club” by vasta on Flickr via Creative Commons
