http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/05/25/weiners-fools-gold-attack-against-beck/ New York Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner, a member of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, is using his public office to attack one of Glenn Beck’s key sponsors, Goldline, Inc. It seems that Goldline, Inc. has committed the heinous crime, according to Weiner, of exploiting Beck’s scaremongering about the collapsing economy to tout gold as a save haven and to overcharge for gold coins.
Weiner is abusing the power of his office to intimidate Goldline into dropping its sponsorship of Beck, whom Weiner regards as a serious threat to his progressive agenda. Weiner wrote letters to the SEC and FTC requesting that they investigate Goldline and is proposing punitive legislation against Goldline. Under Rep. Weiner’s plan, Goldline would be required to show consumers (and presumably its competitors) its full business model including what he calls their “astronomical markups.”
In launching his fools gold crusade, Weiner said:
Goldline … has recently gained prominence through the use of high-profile conservative spokespeople like Glenn Beck, who use their shows to prey on the public’s fears of inflation and socialist takeovers while actively promoting the purchase of gold coins as insurance against this purported government overreach.
Last night, Weiner came on the “O’Reilly Factor” to defend his charges against Beck and Goldline. He called Beck Goldline’s “shill” for promoting its sale of the heavily marked up gold coins. O’Reilly pointed out that Goldline was rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and was free to charge whatever it wanted for its coins. O’Reilly also said that Weiner was being unfairly selective in going after Beck’s sponsor and not other gold companies with far worse Better Business Bureau ratings. Weiner’s response was to attack the credibility of the Better Business Bureau and O’Reilly himself.
I think that O’Reilly let Weiner off too easily. Weiner, needless to say, is a leading progressive voice in Congress. He is also a hypocrite.
For example, he has been one of scandal-ridden ACORN’s strongest advocates with a 100% voting record in support of positions favored by ACORN.Weiner also has a 100% voting record in support of positions favored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, an Islamic “charity” which was convicted in 2008 by a federal jury for giving more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.Weiner sure knows how to pick his friends. Instead of going after a corrupt leach of the taxpayers – ACORN – and a radical Islamic group with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – CAIR, Weiner is attacking Beck and a perfectly legitimate business rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau.
Weiner says he is just trying to look out for the consumer who, apparently in Weiner’s eyes, is unable to look out for himself. Yet the industry contributing the most money to Weiner’s campaigns has been the real estate industry, which has cost consumers and investors billions of dollars in losses.
Gold does not depreciate in value and is not affected by fluctuations in currency values. Real estate values have plummeted and are affected by variables over which consumers and investors have no control such as interest rates. In the last three years, the price of gold has increased about 70%. Since 2003, the price of gold has tripled. As for housing, from the beginning of the downturn in mid 2006 to June 30, 2009, the median price of an existing home nationwide fell by 30%, or 11% annualized, according to Fiserv Lending Solutions. The median home now sells about what it sold for in 2003.
Why isn’t Weiner going after Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and his buddies in the real estate industry who helped bring about the real estate collapse? Could it be that Weiner is their bought-and-paid for shill in Congress?