In the article I wrote, Congress Gives IMF Your Tax Dollars to Bailout Greece, I posed the following questions; “How can a country that is over $12 trillion in debt allow Congress to loan $100 billion to the IMF? Where does this money come from?”
I want to reiterate the point this $100 Billion was approved by congress just 8 months after receiving $700 Billion from U.S. taxpayers for TARP. I would also like to point out that the banks who received money from us taxpayers did not use the gift to pay off toxic assets, but instead used it to shore up their cash balances and fend off the FDIC. The banks are still in trouble.
It turns out, Ron Paul asked the question, “Where does the money come from (to fund the IMF)?” to Ben Bernanke in April of 2010. Bernanke confirms the Federal Reserve had nothing to do with it as the money was approved by congress. But where does Congress get the money from? Higher taxes and/or higher inflation, caused by the Federal Reserve of course…with the help of wiling Congressmen.
So Bernanke, in this case, is right. The money wasn’t printed out of thin air via the Treasury and the Fed, but allocated by Congress.
I wanted to know who in Congress voted for this gift to the IMF. Was it along party lines or, like the TARP $700 billion bailout for the financial industry, was it both the Republicans and Democrats who joined together in favor of passing this bill?
When the bill, H.R.2346 came to the House of Representatives vote, it passed by a roll call vote on May 14th, 2009 with 368 Ayes, 60 Nays, 5 Present/Not Voting. 168 Republicans and 200 Democrats combined together to vote for this bill. Ron Paul (R) and Alan Grayson (D), both who are working to Audit the Fed, voted against it. See how each congressmen voted.
The Senate was a bipartisan vote as well with 86 Ayes, 3 Nays, 10 Present/Not Voting, passing on May 21, 2009.
Obama signed the bill into law on June 24, 2009.
Congress Is Either With Us or Against Us
There is a connection here that’s important to voters. Which Congressmen and women are casting their votes for the Constitution and We the People and which are voting against the Constitution and the People? Knowing the difference come election time will dictate whether we remain We the People or become We the Serfs. Do not vote for any of the folks who voted Yes to the TARP funding or Yes to this bill.
One point that brings this all into perspective for the common man is Ron Paul’s exchange with Bernanke involving Greece.
Quote from the video above:
Ron Paul; “The irony of this promise, in the new arrangement, this increase, Greece is going to put $2.5 billion dollars in there (the IMF fund). Only a fiat monetary system worldwide can up and have Greece help bailout Greece.”
The smile that comes to Bernanke’s face at 2:29, right after Ron Paul made that statement is an acknowledgment Bernanke knows Ron Paul is spot on with his assumptions. If only We the People could be spot on with their votes, we could wipe this smile off Bernanke’s face for good.
“Information is a treasure for our people. The promise of the journalist is not with popularity. It is with the truth.” Daniel Coronell
