Independent Politics: America and the World

In the last few weeks, the Federal Reserve has taken several unprecedented moves and announced some policies that have only been used out of sheer desperation in the past. Some $400-500 billion of public funding has been used to prop up bank assets and protect risk from surviving banks that acquire their troubled competitors.

The effect on the consumer is profound - with hundreds of billions pouring into the system the cost of money is going to crash and likewise commodity prices have risen to all-time record highs and seem as if they could just keep going higher.

Unfortunately, we can't "vote out" Ben Bernanke. His contract lasts for 12 years and so we're stuck with him! Some argue it wouldn't even matter, because it is Greenspan's legacy of rock-bottom interest rates that got us into this mess and almost anything Bernanke can do will never really "undo" the effect of that on the U.S. economy - particularly home values and inflation.

Now the Fed fights a double-sided battle against inflation and insolvency. The dollar is in a race to the bottom, and yet the Fed keeps printing them anyway.

Click here for most history of the federal reserve

Tomorrow, a new president will be sworn into office and the United States will enter a decidedly new phase of its political history. Most polls show that the population is overwhelmingly optimistic that Obama will prove a more competent leader than we've grown accustomed to, but I can't help but wonder if this will even benefit the working people who pin such high hopes on his administration.

Our economy lies in shambles and the future of American financial dominance seems in doubt. There's an expectation that Obama will be looking out for the regular people, the working folk... Is this expectation based on pure hope or is there a reason to suspect he's truly different than the Washington elite he's filled his cabinet with? Is there a reason to suspect he won't be repaying the banks and financiers who helped bankroll his campaign and the party machine he is indebted to?

I usually don't watch much TV, but it is often on in the background anyway. Today it was flipped to a news show on CNN, and the analysts surprised me. The question was asked: "Does it matter who is elected? Do any of the candidates have a plan that can fix the growing political and economic problems in America?"

The panel came to a nearly unanimous conclusion: It doesn't matter who is elected at all because we can't afford any of their plans.

Obama's victory isn't good news for all Democrats, and neither is McCain's nomination a rallying point for the "big tent" Republican coalition.

Voter dissatisfaction is at an all-time high, and the popularity of our elected representatives in Washington D.C. is at an all-time low.

Will the party loyalists fall in line by November, or is there an opening in this election for a third or even fourth party to make a mark?

Bobb Barr is the libertarian candidate for president, disappointing many Ron Paul supporters who were hoping he'd announce a independent bid for the presidency. Of course, Dr. Paul said all along that he was only interested in reforming the Republican party, but his fans would love to see him back on stage at the coming debates.

Barr's strategy is to go to the right for McCain's conservative flank. Many typical Republicans haven't been typically happy with Bush and McCain as representatives, and there's a feeling that they've spent too much money on the wars, on failed bureaucratic systems like 'No Child Left Behind,' and on contracts for their corporate buddies.

This is the type of conservative Republican that Barr is hoping to win over against McCain. Will Barr be a 'spoiler' who causes McCain to lose? Nah, John McCain can probably lose on his own without any help. However, McCain and Bush's lack of popularity could give Barr, and the libertarian party, a significant boost.