Herman Cain Regional Director of Federal Reserve

[Guest Ron Paul 2012]

Herman Cain is a darling of Wall Street and is part of the problem.

 

http://runronpaul.co...py-wall-street/

 

Even Ron Paul is jumping on Herman Cain at the CNN debate in Las Vegas — this time over Cain's comments about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

 

After Cain, who has been under siege for most of the night, doubled down on his previous comments that the protesters shouldn't be blaming Wall Street for their woes, Paul accused the former pizza executive of having no sympathy for Americans who are down on their luck.

 

"I think Mr. Cain has blamed the victims," the Texas Republican said. "There are a lot of people who are victims of this business cycle."

 

And Paul delivered a veiled attack on Cain's past as a member of a regional board of directors of the Federal Reserve, Paul's favorite target. "They created the bubble," he said.

[Guest LAW]

Excerpt from CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate (08:00pm - 10:00pm)

 

Aired October 18, 2011 - 20:00 ET

 

COOPER: We have another question. This one is a Twitter question.

 

"How do you explain the Occupy Wall Street movement happening across the country? And how does it relate with your message?"

 

Herman Cain, I've got to ask you, you said, -- two weeks ago, you said, "Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job, and you're not rich, blame yourself."

 

That was two weeks ago. The movement has grown. Do you still say that?

 

(APPLAUSE)

 

CAIN: Yes, I do still say that. And here's why.

 

(APPLAUSE)

 

CAIN: I still stand by my statement, and here's why.

 

They might be frustrated with Wall Street and the bankers, but they're directing their anger at the wrong place. Wall Street didn't put in failed economic policies. Wall Street didn't spend a trillion dollars that didn't do any good. Wall Street isn't going around the country trying to sell another $450 billion. They ought to be over in front of the White House taking out their frustration.

 

(APPLAUSE)

 

So I do stand by them.

 

COOPER: Congressman Paul, you've been -- Congressman Paul, you've been critical of Governor Romney for -- for holding fundraisers with -- with Wall Streeters. Do you think he understands what the protest is about? Do you understand?

 

PAUL: Well, I think Mr. Cain has blamed the victims. There's a lot of people that are victims of this business cycle. We can't blame the victims.

 

But we also have to point -- I'd go to Washington as well as Wall Street, but I'd go over to the Federal Reserve.

 

(APPLAUSE)

 

They -- they create the financial bubbles. And you have to understand that you can't solve these problems if you don't know where these bubbles come from.

 

But then, when the bailout came and supported by both parties, you have to realize, oh, wait, Republicans were still in charge. So the bailouts came from both parties. Guess who they bailed out? The big corporations of people who were ripping off the people in the derivatives market. And they said, oh, the world's going to come to an end unless we bail out all the banks. So the banks were involved, and the Federal Reserve was involved.

 

But who got stuck? The middle class got stuck. They got stuck. They lost their jobs, and they lost their houses. If you had to give money out, you should have given it to people who were losing their mortgages, not to the banks.

(APPLAUSE)

 

COOPER: Mr. Cain, do you want to respond? He referenced you. So if you want to respond, you have 30 seconds.

 

CAIN: All I want to say is that representative Paul is partly right, but he's mixing problems here. It's more than one problem. Look, the people -- the banks -- yes, the banks and the businesses on Wall Street, yes, the way that was administered was not right.

But my point is this: What are the people who are protesting want from bankers on Wall Street, to come downstairs and write them a check? This is what we don't understand. Take -- go and get to the source of the problem, is all I'm saying.

 

COOPER: I've got to give you 30 seconds.

 

CAIN: And that's the White House.

 

COOPER: And then we'll go to Governor Romney.

 

PAUL: Yes, the argument is it's -- the program was OK, but it was mismanaged. But I work on the assumption that government's not very capable of managing almost anything...

 

(APPLAUSE)

 

... so you shouldn't put that much trust in the government. You have -- you have to trust the marketplace. And when the government gets involved, they have to deal with fraud. And how many people have gone to jail either in the government, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, that participated in this? And nobody suffers the consequences. All these investigations, and yet the people who lose their jobs and lose their houses, it's their fault, according -- that's why they're on Wall Street. And we can't blame them. We have to blame the business cycle...

 

COOPER: Time.

 

PAUL: ... and the economic policies that led to this disaster.

 

(APPLAUSE)

[Guest Wade]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIBrCLozo3k

I like Herman Cain but learning that he is part of the Federal Reserve horrified me.

Cain was part of the Fed during the 90′s with Alan Greenspan. They purposefully kept interest rates artificially low while they loosened banks and increased the money supply causing massive asset inflation. These people created the stock market bubble in the late 90′s and the real estate bubble that finally popped in 2006. Tons and tons of cheap, easy money…and now look at where we’re at and how badly our currency has been debased. These people are financial criminals. They partied in the streets while America was getting taken to the cleaners.

[Guest EG3]

Cain a Neo-Con??

 

[Guest ALWAYSRED]

Liberals are brainwashed. Herman Cain should be applauded for making sure our country is safe and fiscal order. Maybe this will give some better insight. Read his words.

 

==================================================

 

Ownership: An Unalienable Right

By Herman Cain

 

My maternal grandfather was a farmer and would proudly take his vegetables and produce into town to sell at the farmers' market. He was often successful in getting a respectable return on his sweat equity, which would allow him to support his family and plan for the next growing season.

 

Even though my grandfather was the grandson of slaves, he was able to own his small farm, own his crops and own the modest return as the fruits of his labor.

 

Our Founding Fathers envisioned a society that valued and rewarded ownership and individual achievement. Ownership is as much an unalienable right as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because they are all endowed by our Creator. Just as the pursuit of happiness is not possible without liberty, liberty is not possible without ownership of one's time, talent and treasure. To argue otherwise would be illogical.

 

President Bush's vision of an ownership society is the same as that of our Founding Fathers, our grandparents and our parents. The centerpiece of Bush's vision is to restructure the soon-insolvent Social Security structure and instill a greater degree of fairness for all citizens in the outdated income tax code.

 

When Social Security was enacted in 1935, each worker was taxed 3% on the first $3,000 of income. A brochure describing the new program issued by the then-Social Security Board stated, "That is the most you will ever have to pay." Today we are taxed at a rate of 12.4% on the first $90,000 of income. According to the latest projections by the Social Security trustees, benefits paid to retirees will exceed payroll taxes collected by 2017. If members of Congress do not act now to restructure the system as the President has proposed, which is very similar to two bills already introduced in the Senate, they will have no choice but to cut benefits and raise taxes again.

 

But congressional Democrats attack the President's vision daily. They believe it is right for citizens to continue to receive a negative return on their lifelong contributions to the Social Security system, and in many instances no return at all. The return on contributions is even worse for black people, because of the difference in their average life expectancy.

 

These same Democrats do not want to replace the outdated tax code. They do nothing but place party partisanship over what is best for the country, because they want to continue to deny people more control of their money. When the tax code was enacted in 1913 it taxed a small percentage of the working population a few simple percentage points of their income. Today, no one escapes the complexity and inherent unfairness of the tax code except those who cheat or deal in illegal activities. Millions of honest citizens pay more than one-third of their income in federal taxes, and their estate is hit with another huge tax bill when they die.

 

The evidence is compelling that ownership encourages people to work, save and invest for their own retirement. The Galveston County, Texas, municipal employees are laughing all the way to the bank when they retire, because many of them have earned two to four times what a person on Social Security would receive for the same lifetime contributions.

 

The small country of Chile switched to an optional system of personal retirement accounts in 1980 and workers are retiring at 80% of their pre-retirement income. Social Security recipients in the U.S. on average receive about 40% of their pre-retirement income, and they do not own their contributions or benefits after their death. In Galveston County and Chile, your money is yours to keep or pass on to heirs.

 

Pursuit of Happiness

 

The 70-year-old Social Security structure and the 92-year-old income tax code thwart the natural, individual motivation of citizens to use their God-given talents to pursue happiness and their respective dreams. Any program that undermines an individual's liberty to create ownership is, then, by its very nature, immoral. It took our nation nearly 250 years to end slavery and live up to the self-evident truth that all men are created equal. It should not take us another 250 years to cease the involuntary negative return most working people receive from Social Security, or the involuntary servitude imposed by the oppressive income tax code.

 

Congress does not lack the skill to fix these big problems. It lacks the will. Too many members of Congress will not follow the President's lead toward an ownership society nor will they get out of the way. Even worse, they offer no alternatives except higher taxes and lower benefits for the Social Security system, more complexity and less efficiency for the income tax code, and divisive rhetoric that pits grandparents against their grandchildren. They are trading the next generation for the next election.

 

One of the greatest events in the annals of human history--the declaration and fight for independence by a visionary group of American colonists against a tyrannical king--was motivated by a faith in God and a faith in the ability of the individual to determine his own destiny.

 

Ownership lets people realize their dreams and opportunities and is the key to the greatest nation on earth remaining the greatest nation. We have a moral obligation to protect our Founding Fathers' vision and to protect the unalienable right of ownership for our grandchildren.

 

It's our unalienable responsibility.

 

Mr. Cain is chief executive of The New Voice, Inc. and New Voters Alliance, and host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show "The Bottom Line with Herman Cain." He is past chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and past chairman and chief executive of Godfather's Pizza.

 

http://economicfreedomcoalition.com/news/press-opinion-040805.asp

[Guest American4Progress]

“Not everybody’s a foreign policy expert,” Condoleezza Rice said of Herman Cain’s ignorance of China’s nuclear capability, “but obviously if you’re going to run for president you’re eventually going to really have to know these things.”