http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…

The US Federal Reserve is examining the Nordic bank nationalisations of the 1990s as a possible interim solution to the US financial crisis.

The Fed has been criticised for its rescue of Bear Stearns, which critics say has degenerated into a taxpayer gift to rich bankers.

A senior official at one of the Scandinavian central banks told The Daily Telegraph that Fed strategists had stepped up contacts to learn how Norway, Sweden and Finland managed their traumatic crisis from 1991 to 1993, which brought the region’s economy to its knees.

It is understood that Fed vice-chairman Don Kohn remains very concerned by the depth of the US crisis and is eyeing the Nordic approach for contingency options.

Scandinavia’s bank rescue proved successful and is now a model for central bankers, unlike Japan’s drawn-out response, where ailing banks were propped up in a half-public limbo for years.

I’m not able to find the clip he used but Gardner Goldsmith on his radio show yesterday but not only did the administration admit it and the Fed is looking into how the Nordic banking nationalization went it admitted to planning to open the floodgates on the money supply as long ago as last spring.

Ron Paul was on the Glenn Beck show tonight (see below) and Beck was in a daze of sorts. If you noticed, this morning some fairly bad news came out about UBS and some other banks. An additional $19b writedown for UBS and their director stepped down. Auto sales dropped. Oil was at new highs. Metals are all down. Etc. And yet the Dow was up almost 400 points. 3.19%. Nasdaq and the S&P 500 even more. And that’s after this news about the Nordic nationalization. Beck says he was never a conspiracy theorist, thought the John Birch Society people were crazy, but as he reads about the Fed, about the 1907 crash, he’s getting very uncomfortable with what finds in the past and the continuation of it in the present. Beck is hardly a real libertarian or gold bug but it’s really great to see someone on in the MSM helping get this info out there.

• 9:00AM Watched a Libertarian debate featuring: Alden Link, Daniel Imperato, George Phillies, Wayne Allyn Root, and Michael Jingozian. It was moderated by Gardner Goldsmith and former Libertarian presidential candidate Don Gorman. Part 1, Part 2. Link was less enthusiastic than Fred Thompson. He admitted that the only reason for his candidacy was to raise awareness for and push nuclear power. Imperato had a problem understanding that if you place your face so close to the mic that you could kiss it it doesn’t sound good. He’s not even a libertarian. He’s anti non-American. He wants to place fees on everyone else who comes in contact with us from naturalization to exports. Phillies had the most consistent LP platform. He also appears to be the most educated on the issues in general and is very realistic and frank about what he would and could do as president. He also fully admits that’s an incredibly unlikely situation and he’s more interested in making the LP a legit party in the eyes of the general public. Root is a libertarian Republican really but more Republican than libertarian unlike Ron Paul. He’s really got the attitude and money experience that would be nice to see in a LP candidate but his platform isn’t nearly as good as Phillies’. He does have an interesting plan on growing the party which I’d like to see him do regardless of whether he wins the LP candidacy. Jingozian wasn’t very motivated. I didn’t feel that he was putting all that much effort into his candidacy and came across as ignorant often on topics. There were people video recording this but at the time of posting I’ve been unable to find it online.
• 12:00PM Closing Ceremony. Bob Schultz introduces John McManus of the John Birch Society. He have the speech called What About the Constitution? At around 1:10PM Ron Paul was introduced. He brought Barry Goldwater Jr. with him. The video below isn’t complete but it’s a decent speech.
• After Paul had left the room people started to leave and xyz and myself decided to head home. We went around to say goodbye to our new acquaintances. Gardner Goldsmith, Mark Edge, etc. Unfortunately some people were busy dealing with Paul so Chris Lawless, Glen Jacobs and a few others were missed. I met some Objectivists during the forum, both who hate and like Paul, who invited me to the Atlas Society’s Summer Seminar. It’s 2 weeks after PorcFest which I’m more interested in attending so I it’s not likely I’ll attend (that and it’s in Oregon and I’m not in agreement with some of the major tenets of Objectivism as far as I currently understand them).
• We got in the car, went to exit the parking deck and there was a large group of Paul supporters blocking the exit. Seems Dr. Paul was just leaving. We crept through the back of the crowd and headed home. Took about 4 hours.