Excerpted from Howard Phillips' Issues & Straegy Bulletin of October 15, 2000

WTO SPANKS CONGRESS -- WHICH DOES AS IT'S TOLD BY FOREIGNERS

Excerpted from Howard Phillips' Issues & Strategy Bulletin of January 15, 2000

SPEAKER HASTERT BOASTS OF GOP'S PRO-WTO, PRO-NAFTA GLOBALIST LEADERSHIP

Excerpted from Howard Phillips' Issues & Straegy Bulletin of June 30, 1999

BUCHANAN BLASTS BIG BANK ROBBERY

IT'S YOUR MONEY: $4.5 BILLION MORE TO THE BOYS IN THE KREMLIN

Excerpted from Howard Phillips' Issues & Straegy Bulletin of April 15, 1998

The Wall Street Journal reports (3/27/98, p. A2) that the "Senate overwhelmingly approved the Clinton administration's $18 billion request for the International Monetary Fund....

"The Treasury and IMF argue that they need the additional funding to cover future crises in developing nations. The IMF has committed tens of billions of dollars to shore up Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea...."

TRENT LOTT LEADS THE WAY

"Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R., Miss.), after winning concessions for shipbuilders at home, joined in support of the IMF....

"Sen. Lauch Faircloth (R., N.C.) lambasted the final package as ‘incredibly weak’ and mocked the IMF as a set of ‘silk-suited dilettantes’ given to a diet of ‘champagne and caviar at the expense of the American taxpayer.’"

CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS ARE LIBERAL WITH YOUR MONEY

The Senate voted 84-16 (Roll Call no. 44, 3/26/98) to provide $18 billion in supplemental appropriations for the IMF, with the following 41 Republicans voting "aye": Bennett (Utah), Bond (Mo.), Brownback (Kans.), Burns (Mont.), Chafee (R.I.), Coats (Ind.), Cochran (Miss.), Collins (Me.), Craig (Ida.), D'Amato (N.Y.), DeWine (Ohio), Domenici (N.M.), Enzi (Wyo.), Frist (Tenn.), Gorton (Wash.), Gramm (Tex.), Grams (Minn.), Grassley (Iowa), Gregg (N.H.), Hagel (Neb.), Hatch (Utah), Hutchinson (Ark.), Hutchison (Tex.), Jeffords (Vt.), Kempthorne (Ida.), Lott (Miss.), Lugar (Ind.), McCain (Ariz.), McConnell (Ky.), Murkowski (Alaska), Roberts (Kans.), Roth (Del.), Santorum (Pa.), Shelby (Ala.), Smith (Ore.), Snowe (Me.), Specter (Pa.), Stevens (Alaska), Thomas (Wyo.), Thurmond (S.C.), and Warner (Va.).

FEDERAL RESERVE DEPENDS ON IMF TO CAMOUFLAGE MASSIVE CURRENCY INFLATION

"The Fed expanded the monetary base 11 percent per year in the 1980s, but the demand to hold dollars overseas helped soak up the monetary inflation...."

U.S. DOLLAR'S RESERVE CURRENCY STATUS JEOPARDIZED BY CONGRESSIONAL DISREGARD OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITS

"American supremacy in the wake of the collapse of communism allowed the Fed to fully exploit the international dollar reserve system. The new system opened up a vast new vista for overseas dollar holdings. From Russia and Eastern Europe to China and East Asia, the governments of former communist countries began to soak up dollars to hold as official reserves....

"Any country trying to take advantage of the fixed exchange rate of its currency against the dollar by excessive domestic monetary inflation and credit expansion will be punished...."

DOLLAR REPATRIATION AND HYPERINFLATION MAY BE COMING

"A rogue nation will be tempted to defend its currency, and stave off devaluation, by spending its dollar reserves. Any significant disgorging of dollars would threaten to ignite price inflation in America if the dollars were repatriated. Significant domestic price inflation would, at best, bring a repeat of the 1970s, and, at worst, a hyperinflation."

$18 BILLION FOR IMF IS A BAND AID, NOT A SOLUTION

"This danger explains the U.S. interest in promoting IMF austerity policies and bailouts. The bailouts are intended to soften the blow of devaluation and price inflation. In exchange for taxpayers subsidizing banks and large corporations, and other key beneficiaries of the system, the IMF can use the bailout money as leverage to impose conditions favorable for the future of the dollar-reserve system."

BANKERS NEED TOTAL POWER (AND ENDLESS BAILOUTS) TO KEEP "HOUSE OF CARDS" FROM TUMBLING

"One condition the IMF has imposed across Asia is for the recipient country to establish an ‘independent’ central bank, i.e., one independent of local political control, and therefore at liberty to harmonize monetary policy with the Federal Reserve....

"In the last three years, the system has faced a $50 billion bailout of Mexico, a $57 billion bailout of South Korea, $43 billion for Indonesia, $18 billion for Thailand, for a total of $118 billion in Asia (some estimate that it will eventually rise to $160 billion) to fend off its own destruction. But by delaying the day of reckoning with bailouts, the international mountain of dollars and debt grows, making the inevitable collapse all the more devastating...."

THE EURO MAY BE THE STRAW THAT BREAKS THE BACK OF A FRAUDULENT POLICY

"If the euro becomes the common currency of the EU, what will happen if its members replace their dollar reserves with euros? And if Japan recovers, what will happen if the yen becomes the reserve currency across Asia?"

Excerpted from Howard Phillips' Issues & Straegy Bulletin of March 31, 1998

A VOTE TO FUND THE IMF IS A VOTE TO ABROGATE YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

The Washington Times reports (3/21/98, p. 1) that the "International Monetary Fund is moving on a plan that could override national and even local limits on how and where international corporations can spend their money."

BANS ON ALIEN CONTROL WOULD BE PROHIBITED

"The proposal would amend the IMF's charter to grant the fund broad new power to force nations to eliminate restrictions on foreign ownership of land and other investments."

A BACKDOOR MAI VIA IMF

"It picks up the baton dropped last month by negotiators of the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI). The MAI, a pact being negotiated among the world's wealthiest nations, sought to override any laws – federal, state or local – that discriminated against foreign corporations or restricted corporate investment.

"Treaty talks stalled last month after being subjected to a firestorm of criticism that labeled it a corporate Bill of Rights and a subversion of states' rights.

"The IMF proposal is being called a ‘backdoor MAI’ and a desperate power grab by an agency in crisis. The planned charter amendment has generated an outcry in Congress, where lawmakers are weighing an $18 billion payment to the cash-strapped IMF."

IMF WOULD ASSUME SOVEREIGN ROLE

"‘I don't find it acceptable in the United States to abrogate our sovereignty when it comes to local and state laws that require investor performance, that require compliance with environmental and consumer protection laws, and I don't feel it would be consistent for me to export that value,’ said Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, Oregon Democrat.

"‘I don't think that degree of interference and deprivation of sovereignty is appropriate for any nation,’ he said...."

DECISION TO BE DELAYED UNTIL GOP CONGRESS DELIVERS $18 BILLION?

"‘If there is one lesson to be drawn from the events of the recent past, it is that capital account issues are here to stay,’ Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said in a recent speech at the IMF. ‘They are issues with which the fund will increasingly have to deal. Its charter ought to give it the tools to accomplish the task.’

"Next month, the fund's executive board – where the United States holds about 18 percent of the vote – will consider the amendment to the IMF's charter. If approved, the change would force the fund's member nations, including the United States, to eliminate certain restrictions on capital flows.

"Approved by the executive board, the amendment would go to the 182-nation board of governors for final approval. No date has been set for that vote."

"BUY USA" GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS WOULD BE BANNED

"IMF officials won't specify what sort of investment restrictions they want to do away with and said they plan to make decisions on a country-by-country basis. But high on the list for elimination would be limits on foreign ownership of real estate, municipal utilities and stock. The amendment also could force nations to abandon preferences for domestic companies when issuing government contracts.

"The financial free fall in South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia last year led to a $100 billion international bailout of those economies led by the IMF. The bailout tapped out the fund's cash reserves and led IMF officials to ask members for more money, including $14.5 billion in new dues from the United States. The United States already is $3.5 billion behind on its IMF dues payments."

Excerpted from Howard Phillips' Issues & Straegy Bulletin of February 15, 1998

TRENT LOTT WANTS TO GIVE IMF $18 BILLION OF YOUR TAXES

"In the Senate, Majority Leader Trent Lott said he wants to bring part of the IMF funding up for a quick vote – the $3.5 billion loan that appears to have widespread support in Congress.

"The remaining $14.5 billion would have to wait until later in the session."

TRENT LOTT'S NEW WORLD ORDER AGENDA: NATO, BOSNIA, IMF, AND FAST TRACK

National Journal's "Congress Daily" (1/23/98) reports that Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott's 1998 foreign policy objectives include "fast track trade negotiating authority, the Carribean Basin Initiative, NATO enlargement and supplemental funding for the Bosnia mission and the International Monetary Fund. Lott suggested the administration not request the entire $18 billion in IMF funds it wants in the FY98 supplemental, but divide it into ‘two or three parts;’ he also emphasized a need for reform in recipient countries."

ACTION: Let Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott (Fax: 202-224-2262) know what you think of his plan to help Bill Clinton bail out the IMF.

Excerpted from Howard Phillips' Issues & Straegy Bulletin of December 31, 1997

Senator Lauch Faircloth observes (Washington Post, 12/12/97, p. A29) that the "Clinton administration announced last week that it will commit $5 billion to the record $55 billion bailout of South Korea. This comes on the heels of the $3 billion that was committed by the United States for the $40 billion Indonesia bailout. Add this to the IMF bailouts of Thailand and the Philippines, and one might be led to think the handling of the Asian crisis was complete. If so, he would be wrong....Russia, Brazil, Malaysia and others unknown could all be next."

PROFITS ARE PRIVATIZED TO THE POWERFUL---DEBTS ARE BORNE BY WORKING AMERICAN TAXPAYERS

"What has happened is that the free market is no longer at work in the field of international finance. The legacy of the Clinton Treasury Department is that it will have given rise to a new doctrine – perhaps called the Rubin Doctrine – that international bailouts are good policy if Wall Street is not allowed to suffer any losses for its poor credit decisions. For major lenders to emerging markets, the Clinton administration has effectively privatized the profits made by these loans and socialized the losses...."

CONGRESS SURRENDERS POWER TO CLINTON---CLINTON TRANSFERS IT TO IMF COLLECTIVE

"Following the Mexico crisis, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and the IMF conceived an idea called New Arrangements on Borrowing (NAB). The idea was to establish a new fund at the IMF that would stand ready and able to lend money in emergency situations such as Mexico. In effect, the United States was no longer acting on an ad hoc basis, as it had in Mexico; it was establishing an actual policy for future bailouts. The United States was to contribute $3.5 billion, giving the IMF $40 billion in additional funds to lend."

S&L CRISIS GLOBALIZED, BUT AMERICANS STILL GET THE BILL

"Regrettably, what the Treasury Department had stumbled into was equivalent to laying the groundwork for an international crisis similar to America's savings and loan crisis. For Wall Street lenders, it was a ‘heads I win, tails the taxpayer loses’ scenario."

WALL STREET WILL CONTINUE TO GAMBLE SO LONG AS YOU BUY THE CHIPS

"Take a look at the lending in Asia for the effect of this policy. U.S. banks are owed $10.6 billion by borrowers in South Korea; $4.6 billion in Indonesia; $4.1 billion by Thailand; $2.8 billion by the Philippines; and $2.4 billion by Malaysia. To put these numbers in perspective, the U.S. banks have lent approximately $11 billion to borrowers in Canada, just $1 billion more than in Korea. Americans might be surprised to learn that U.S. banks have lent more to Indonesia than they have to such countries as Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Chile or South Africa."

NOW THE IMF WANTS $28.8 BILLION MORE FROM UNCLE SUCKER

The Wall Street Journal points out editorially (12/17/97, p. A22) that IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus is expected to soon request a huge increase in the IMF's capital base, with U.S. taxpayers and others expected to foot the bill. "Mr. Camdessus asked for a 45% hike just three months ago, and now wants to make it a bigger dollop of some 70% to 80%. That would bring the total IMF pool to roughly $360 billion, of which more than $100 billion would be readily available for further bailouts. Toward this end, the U.S. Congress will be asked to pony up some $28.8 billion, instead of the $3.5 billion that got stalled in the last session. We hope someone in Congress asks who will end up with this money. A clue: It will not end up in the pockets of Korea, but in the pockets of Korea's creditors."

KOREA OWES $10 BILLION TO WALL STREET FINANCIERS

"Korea's immediate problem is some $20 billion in foreign obligations coming due this month, of which perhaps $4 billion has already been rolled over. Overall – not just this month – Korea owes Japanese banks about $26 billion, while the U.S. and German banking systems are on the hook for $10 billion each...."

GREED IS THE PROBLEM, DEFAULT IS THE CURE

"It might even serve the world if the IMF and Mr. Rubin recognize that default – should some of these countries come to that – does not mean that a debtor goes up in smoke. For all the apocalyptic language surrounding California's Orange County, for example, it weathered default with no public aid, and emerged stronger for the experience. And lenders who made bad loans were not immunized from the consequences.

"The crony capitalists in Mexico or Indonesia, by the way, do just fine in bailouts. They are usually the first to sense a coming devaluation, and the first to put flight capital into hard currencies. They are usually also exporters, and profit from the de facto wage cut, at least until it's wiped out by the inevitable domestic inflation."

REPUBLICANS LACK THE MORAL, FACTUAL, AND INTELLECTUAL SELF-CONFIDENCE TO DISAGREE WITH BILL CLINTON

Robert Novak has warned in The Washington Post (12/29/97, p. A17) that there "was instant assent to the International Monetary Fund's Korean solution two weeks ago when top Republicans in Congress were briefed by President Clinton and his lieutenants. Thoughts of dissent vanished when the congressional leaders were warned that failure to bail out South Korea could trigger a communist invasion from the north....But even without the invasion scare, GOP leaders were accepting a governmental decision that carries grave repercussions.

"Why? One congressional staffer described his bosses who attended the briefing as ‘uninformed, unprepared and confused.’

"The president will not ask Congress for merely an extra $3.5 billion contribution to the International Monetary Fund (the sum not approved last year because of an unrelated battle over abortion) as originally indicated. The amount is now $35 billion and growing."

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