Ron Paul getting More Attention

Ron Paul's Impressive Haul
Young Internet Supporters Boost Congressman's Fundraising
By JAKE TAPPER and Z. BYRON WOLF
Oct. 3, 2007 —
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the outspoken libertarian White House hopeful often dismissed by his rivals and the punditocracy as a fringe candidate, was all smiles Wednesday as he bandied about the first-in-the-nation primary state, New Hampshire.
"It's pretty exciting!" he told ABC News.
Long treated at debates as the cantankerous old uncle you don't want to get started talking about the gold standard, Paul had big news. Announcing a relatively astounding haul -- $5.1 million -- in the fundraising quarter that ended Sunday, Paul is knocking on the door of the top-tier candidates in the race.
"It's really fascinating," Paul said, seeming as surprised with the news as was much of the rest of the political world. "I think the time is right. People are really frustrated -- frustrated with both parties, frustrated with the war."
Paul's campaign announced Wednesday afternoon that the congressman from Texas had raised more than $5 million -- twice as much as he raised in the last quarter. Almost every other candidate hit the traditional third-quarter lull in the summer and raised less money.
And while Paul's haul is likely less than that of better-known Republicans, such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who have not yet reported third-quarter numbers, it's roughly what Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is estimated to have raised, and five times what former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee brought in.
(For more on Ron Paul's past, his 1988 presidential run and his love-hate relationship with the Republican Party, check out ABC's special "meet the candidates" feature.)
Paul Supporters to Comment on This Dot-Com Story
Paul's supporters are often young and raucous and emanate from college campuses. Their presence on the Internet is undeniable.
"The organization of the campaign popped up spontaneously on the Internet with these meet-up groups," Paul told ABC News. "It's natural that they would donate the money. So in many ways, the campaign has found me as much as I have found them. It's not a top-down organization. It's sort of bottom up. All we have done at the campaign is provide the message, and the message turns out to be popular."
Paul said the crowds are excited about his "message of limited government and following the Constitution." He wants to do away with much of the bureaucracy in the federal government. If it is not spelled out in the Constitution, Paul probably does not support it. Take the Department of Education. President Paul would get rid of it. Same with the IRS. In the House, the former obstetrician votes against so many spending and government bills he's called "Dr. No."
But attracting the most interest, political observers say, is Paul's long-standing opposition to the war in Iraq.
"Ron Paul says to a lot of people eager to hear this message, 'You can be anti-war and be a conservative,'" said columnist and ABC News consultant George Will today. "In fact, he says, 'If you are a real small government conservative you have to be anti-war.'"
Asked in August at a Republican debate in Iowa, sponsored by ABC News, to summarize his plan for Iraq, Paul distilled his ideas to three simple words: "Just come home."
Support From Soldiers
Another Paul constituency, interestingly enough, comes from the military. A study by the Center for Responsive Politics found Paul received more campaign cash from members of the military than any other Republican presidential candidate.
The study of contributions of $200 and more during the first two quarters shows that Paul has raised three times as much from members of the military as what's been raised by GOP fundraising front-runner Romney, and four times what Giuliani garnered.
But do not look for Paul to shoot to the top of Republican polls yet. His anti-war, small government message resonates with many, particularly on the Internet. But he has foundered in polls.
His stances on those same issues that have given him so much Web popularity could alienate him from the Republican primary voters that will select their party's candidate. Those voters often support the Iraq War.
Still, as Republicans look for a way to energize their base with a message of limited government, noted Republicans say Paul carries an important lesson.
To put Paul's numbers in perspective, they are nowhere near the $20 million-plus raised by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and $27 million raised by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. And Giuliani and Romney may report having raised as much as $10 million apiece this quarter.
But for an insurgent candidate who was written off by many political pundits to be in the same fundraising ballpark as McCain shows the Paul campaign -- and perhaps even more so, some of its ideas -- to be a legitimate force in the GOP this year.
And today, Dr. No was happy so many Republicans were hearing his message and saying yes.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Just Like The Loonie

The Aussie dollar looks to be the next currency to challenge the U.S. dollar with parity.
“Fundamentals suggest the Aussie dollar will continue to rise in 2008,” Mr. Gaffney continues. “The economy is expected to expand by more than 4% next year, and inflation will accelerate. Overseas shipments of raw materials, which contribute about 14% to Australia's economy, helped drive 4.3% growth in the second quarter from a year earlier, the biggest increase in three years.”
A technical analyst at Goldman Sachs suggests a close above the resistance level 89.25 would set the Australian dollar free to reach parity. But crazy as it sounds, that’s not uncharted territory either. The Australian dollar reached $1.20 back in 1981.
The Aussie buck traded at 88 cents this morning. Another 13% move to parity isn’t out of the question.

The Canadian dollar, on the other hand, shows little sign of weakness. The loonie hit a new 31-year high yesterday at a $1.009. “The Canadian dollar has set the standard for commodity based currencies,” Chris Gaffney of EverBank tells us.

Maybe DR Is Worth A Look

The Dominican Republic Rolls Out the Welcome Mat
Following the example of Panama and Belize, the Dominican Republic has just enacted a new law aimed at attracting foreign residence with a fast track residency system, especially aimed at foreign retirees.
With the approval and publication of Law 171-07 on Foreign Retirees, the Dominican Republic bills itself as "a paradise for people wanting to retire to an idyllic setting."
The new law promises a fast tracked residency program with simplified paperwork, all to be done within 45 days. It also allows the import of duty-free household goods and a host of tax breaks. These tax breaks include reductions on motor vehicle taxes, exemption on transfer taxes for the first purchase of local real estate, a 50% reduction on taxes on mortgages, a 50% reduction on the annual property tax, exemption on taxes on dividends and interest, and a 50% reduction on capital gains taxes.
Local real estate developers praised the new law. Jose Luis Asilis, the president of the Metro Group, called for an international campaign to publicize the news overseas. Asilis told a meeting that Europeans and Americans can "live in the Dominican Republic like kings on a fraction of what they receive in pensions."
The minimum monthly income required under the new law is US$1,500 for retirees with a government or private pension and US$2,000 in verified income from all others.

Greenspan Says, "BOO!"

“The process of inventory adjustment has just started," Alan Greenspan said this week, while in London on his book tour, “and we have a long way to go before residential housing and mortgage markets stabilize in the U.S.”
Greenspan then peered down at his “chance-of-recession-o-meter” and reported it had risen from “slightly more than 1 in 3” to “less than 50-50.”
The downward path of home prices “will dominate Fed policy over the next several years,” said Bill Gross yesterday in his latest missive, “as will the lingering unwind of related financial structures and derivatives that have yet to be discovered by the public.”
“If the Fed was so slow to grasp the role that subprime mortgages played in the housing boom and bust,” Gross continued, one has to ask, “do the Fed and the Treasury of today totally comprehend what happens when the nonbanking private system suddenly stops flooding the market with credit?”
We’ll soon find out...
Ironically, much of the housing market mess could have been avoided entirely. A new study from Fannie Mae reveals 50% of the subprime mortgages sold in recent years were purchased by borrowers who could have qualified for “prime” mortgages.
Sure, borrowers would have had to pay higher monthly payments earlier. But they also would have avoided the tsunami of resets that is rifling through the industry now. Among the culprits: mortgage brokers heavily incentivized to steer borrowers with good credit into ARMs that pay higher fees over the long term. Caveat emptor, people.
Deutsche Bank took a page from Citi’s playbook this morning and announced that they too will pay billions for bad subprime bets in the third quarter. The German banking giant will take charges up to $3.1 billion on leveraged loans, structured credit products, and mortgage-backed securities.
Both Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse announced layoffs within their home loan divisions. Together, the firms will fire about 1,000 employees.

This Housing Market Defies Description

The pending home sales index came out yesterday… and dropped to a record low score of 85.5 in August. Economists were expecting a 2% drop from July’s score of 91.4. But the index declined 6.5% -- the third biggest one-month fall on record.
Home sales dropping rapidly year over year
Overall, the index is down 21.5% since this time last year -- also an all-time record decline. Last week, we reported ‘new home sales’ at seven-year lows. Median prices are falling at a rate unseen since 1970.

Do You Hear Drums In The Distance?

Sound Of Cannons has mentioned briefly in the past that currency speculators in the Middle East have been predicting a revaluation of local dollar-pegged currencies. “Frenzied traders bid up the UAE dirham and the Saudi riyal to near record highs as a result,” reports Dubai sources. “Saudi British Bank did its best to calm the waters by saying, ahem, it would only dump the buck, ‘if the dollar weakens at an alarming rate.’"
Now it’s OPEC’s turn: “International banks and analysts have hinted at the possibility of the OPEC changing the price of oil to a currency basket, rather than the dollar,” With Iran all but there… and Venezuela not far behind, we’re not surprised.
"If the dollar were to lose its luster as a reserve currency,” reads a note of concern released by Merrill Lynch, “this could prove disruptive to the global financial system."

Hopefully The Inhabitants Won't Ever Know What Socialism Is

Dust Belt May Become a Second Earth
By Ker Than,
(Oct. 3) - Astronomers have spotted evidence of a second Earth being built around a distant star 424 light-years away.

NASA
A belt of dust surrounding a nearby star has the potential to congeal into an Earth-like planet, scientists said.

Using NASA 's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted a huge belt of warm dust swirling around a young star called HD 113766 that is just slightly larger than our sun. The dust belt, which scientists suspect is clumping together to form planets, is located in the middle of the star system's terrestrial habitable zone where temperatures are moderate enough to sustain liquid water. Scientists estimate there is enough material in the belt to form a Mars-sized world or larger. At approximately 10 million years old, the star is just the right age for forming rocky planets, the researchers say. Their finding will be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal.

"The timing for this system to be building an Earth is very good," said study team member Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore, Md. If the star system were too young, the planet-forming disk would be full of gas, and it would be making gas-giant planets like Jupiter instead. If it were too old, Spitzer would have spotted rocky planets that had long ago formed. The star system also has the right mix of dusty materials in its disk to form an Earth-like planet, Lisse said. Using Spitzer's infrared spectrometer instrument, the team determined that the material around HD 113766 is more processed than the snowball-like stuff that makes up infant solar systems and comets, which are considered cosmic "refrigerators" because they contain pristine ingredients from the solar system's formative period. But it is also not as processed as the stuff found in mature planets and asteroids. "The material mix in this belt is most reminiscent of the stuff found in lava flows on Earth," Lisse said. "I thought of Mauna Kea [in Hawaii] material when I first saw the dust composition in this system – it contains raw rock and it's abundant in iron sulfides, which are similar to fool's gold." Earlier this year, scientists announced they had found evidence for one, and possibly two, already formed Earth-like planets around Gliese 581, a dim red star located only 20.5 light-years away. The possible planets, called Gliese 581c and Gliese 581d, are located at about the right distance from their star to support liquid water and life as we know it, but many more observations are needed to confirm this.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures a the celestial equivalent of a geode in this gas cavity carved by stellar wind. Real geodes are baseball-sized rocks that start out as bubbles in volcanic flows.
To date, planet hunters have discovered more than 250 extrasolar planets, or "exoplanets." Most of the distant worlds, however, are giant gas planets several times the size of Jupiter. While life is known to exist only on our planet, the range of exoplanet types found so far has astronomers increasingly confident that many worlds in our galaxy could be habitable. Finding Earth-like worlds in habitable zones is a first step toward the technically challenging task of discovering biology outside our solar system.