Ron Paul’s Update on Education and Healthcare

40 Responses

By RonPaul.com on September 8, 2009




Date: 9/8/2009

Ron Paul: Well, it’s Tuesday morning and we’re getting ready to go back to D.C. Congress has been out for five weeks. It used to be said that the country was safe when legislature was out of session but in this day and age it’s not true anymore. Government’s on auto-pilot. The bureaucracies work, the IRS works, the wars continue so Congress isn’t all that necessary but anyway things could get worse as we go back into Congress. But already we’ve been told, we won’t even be voting on Friday so there’s not gonna be too much of a legislative agenda this week. Obama of course will be speaking to the kids today and speaking to a joint session of Congress tomorrow. I’ve already heard that the vote on the medical care bill might not come until December.

So some good things that happened this summer, these past five weeks especially at the townhall meetings, the American people spoke out and they got their fifteen minutes of fame on TV and it looks like the American people aren’t very happy and I don’t blame them. I like the idea that they’re directing their attention to Washington. So we will soon find out whether or not the Congress and the president had become more cautious. Let’s hope so.

There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not the president should be addressing these kids in the public school today and I’m sure his message will be rather benign and in many ways very positive. But the stronger message is why is he doing it and under what authority does the president enter into every classroom in the nation. To me it’s nothing more than symbolism to show where’s the power, where’s the authority? Where does the control of education come from? And unfortunately, it comes out of Washington. The finances come from Washington, the dictates come from Washington, we have No Child Left Behind, Republicans and Democrats span the Department of Education, now we have a president, the man in charge is going to be talking to these kids to let them know.

But there will be a lot of yelling and screaming about what this all means and if you object to it, you’re going to be painted as some sort of a bad person. But in a free society, and in a constitutional society, if we followed our Constitution, the federal government wouldn’t be involved in public education. And of course we would be much better off for it. The more the federal government’s been involved in education, the worse the education has gotten.

So I don’t think anything very good will come from this and tomorrow night everybody will be anxiously waiting to hear what the president will say about his plans. After all these months of talking, now we might hear from the president what his actual plans are. My guess will be that if anything is passed, and I suspect something will eventually be passed, it won’t be the original intent of what Obama wanted. We’re not going to have socialized medicine. That’s not gonna happen. But we could have more corporatism involved in medicine. Much more corporations, he has not taken on the corporations.

The insurance companies are gonna persist, the management companies are gonna exist, the drug companies are going to exist and worst of all, the bureaucracy will grow, the patients will suffer, costs will go up and we’ve seen a recent program saying, “Well, the culprit is the doctor. The doctor makes too much money and therefore if we could make sure the doctor doesn’t make any money, everything is going to be okay.”

That is narrow-mindedness and this is the whole point. What we need is true competition in medicine where actually the doctor would make less with true competition because he would have to compete for patients. And yet today, it’s a locked system. All medical care is delivered by a monopoly and it’s getting worse because even those individuals who would like to practice preventive medicine and natural cures are prohibited by government regulations and the drug companies want to take over control of all the vitamins and nutritional substances so we’re moving in the direction of less competition rather than more competition.

Nevertheless, I think it will be exciting. Fall this year, there will be a few elections coming up that may tell us which way the country is going. People are even talking that Democrats next year may suffer legislatively and that can’t hurt anything because the more competition the better.

Actually under today’s conditions, a little bit of gridlock wouldn’t be harmful to us. So as I said, this is Tuesday morning, getting ready to back to D.C. We will have some votes this evening on some suspension bills but not much else is going to happen this week other than we’ll be hearing from the president.

But I’m sure the issue of the Fed will continue. I continue to get numerous calls about the Federal Reserve and the Auditing Bill and there’s going to be a lot more excitement in the next month or two on this piece of legislation to audit the Fed and the real significance of the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve of course, said their goal is to give us a sound dollar and stable prices and a healthy economy and they’ve done exactly the opposite. They’ve destroyed the dollar and the economy is a wreck and yet what they want is no transparency. So I would say that anybody with some common sense could look at the Federal Reserve and say that they deserve secrecy and no transparency when they, the Federal Reserve, has been so responsible for our very weak economy and the potential of the total destruction of our dollar.

Processing your request, Please wait....

Posted in , | Tagged , , | 40 Responses

Ron Paul: We Need To Know More About What The Federal Reserve Is Doing

49 Responses

By RonPaul.com on September 3, 2009




Date: 8/31/2009
Channel: FoxBusiness.com

Transcript

Male News Anchor: [Congressman Ron Paul] is pushing for the Fed to be fully audited by the end of 2010.

Female News Anchor: Right now the GAO’s access is limited to areas outside of monetary policy. Congressman Ron Paul is joining us now on the phone to talk about this. Welcome congressman and tell us why you’re pushing for this. What’s at the heart of what you think is most important?

Ron Paul: I think it’s the whole issue of transparency that’s become a very popular word in this country. Especially since the bailouts started with the TARP funds and the people waking up and realizing that the Congress had appropriated $700 billion and nobody knew where the money went.

But then I took that as an opportunity to talk once again about auditing the Fed, which I’ve been talking about for quite a few years. And all of a sudden it struck a chord with everybody and they said “Yeah, if they’re dealing in trillions of dollars and they loan money to companies and central banks and other governments, we need to know more about it.” And all of a sudden, you know, we had an avalanche of co-sponsors. We got all the Republicans on it, over a hundred Democrats are on it. So it’s very, very popular for us to find out what they’re doing. It’s the responsibility of Congress to know what a secret bank can do. They’re a government unto themselves. They create the money and they spend the money. And under the Constitution, obviously, the Congress is supposed to appropriate money and allocate money; not somebody who can print the money and pass it out. Continue reading “Ron Paul: We Need To Know More About What The Federal Reserve Is Doing”

»crosslinked«

Processing your request, Please wait....

Posted in , , | Tagged , , | 49 Responses

It Is Time The Federal Reserve Answered For Its Actions

61 Responses

By RonPaul.com on August 31, 2009




In his latest column Ron Paul predicts that one way or another, the days of Fed autonomy are coming to an end, as they should. The Federal Reserve has demonstrated over and over again that it is a highly antiquated, unabashedly monopolistic and openly politicized creature. Its chairman, Ben Bernanke, is the politician’s best friend as he continues to enable government spending to soar to ridiculous levels that will further endanger the value of the dollar.

The Fed’s Interesting Week

by Ron Paul

It has been an interesting week indeed for the Federal Reserve. Early this week, it was announced that President Obama intends to reappoint Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second term in January, signaling a vote of confidence in him. Bernanke seems to be popular with the administration and with Wall Street, and with good reason. His lending policies have left big banks flush with newly created cash that covers up old mistakes and allows for new ones. By buying up mountains of Treasury debt he has also enabled spending to soar to ridiculous levels that should startle any responsible economist, and scare any American concerned about the value of the dollar.

However, these highly sensitive decisions about our money are not made by economists, they are made by politicians. Bernanke, like most of his predecessors, is the politician’s best friend. However, there is no reason to believe any other central planner would behave any differently, considering the immense political pressure on the Fed.

Fed policies have been as bad for the economy as they are good for politicians and bankers, as the recently released numbers on the debt and deficit demonstrate. For the first time since World War II the annual budget deficit is projected to be over 11 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. It is also projected that by 2019 the national debt will be 68% of GDP. Our path, if unchanged, is completely untenable.

The administration claims that it inherited a dire situation from the last administration, which is absolutely true. However, that hasn’t stopped them from accepting all the policies and premises that got us here, and accelerating those policies to rapidly make a bad situation much worse. The bailouts started with the last administration. They have gotten bigger with this one. The last administration gave us expanded government involvement in healthcare with a new prescription drug benefit. This administration gave us a renewal and expansion of SCHIP, and now the current healthcare takeover attempts. In reality, we can afford none of this, but shady monetary policy allows Washington to continue along its merry way, aggravating all our economic problems.

Not everyone in government finds it acceptable that the Fed wields so much power and privilege in secrecy. Last week, a federal judge ruled against Fed secrecy, compelling them to release under the Freedom of Information Act information regarding which banks received emergency loans, and under what terms. The Fed will, of course do everything in its power to fight this ruling and it is certainly not the last word on the issue. Still, it is encouraging to see that the interests of the taxpayers were defended victoriously in court, while the Fed only sees the plight of its big banker friends.

Meanwhile HR 1207 and S604, legislation to open up the Fed’s books to a complete audit, continue to gain momentum in Congress as the people continue to insist on real transparency of the Federal Reserve. One way or another, the days of Fed autonomy are coming to an end, as well they should. No one should have the power to debauch the currency and gut the economy as they do. It is time they answered for their actions, so the people can understand that we truly are better off with freedom instead of Fed tyranny.

Processing your request, Please wait....

Posted in , , | Tagged , , , , | 61 Responses

Now Shipping: End the Fed – by Ron Paul

17 Responses

By RonPaul.com on August 31, 2009




Order Ron Paul’s Latest Book, End The Fed, Now!

In the post-meltdown world, it is irresponsible, ineffective, and ultimately useless to have a serious economic debate without considering and challenging the role of the Federal Reserve.

Most people think of the Fed as an indispensable institution without which the country’s economy could not properly function. But in END THE FED, Ron Paul draws on American history, economics, and fascinating stories from his own long political life to argue that the Fed is both corrupt and unconstitutional. It is inflating currency today at nearly a Weimar or Zimbabwe level, a practice that threatens to put us into an inflationary depression where $100 bills are worthless.

What most people don’t realize is that the Fed — created by the Morgans and Rockefellers at a private club off the coast of Georgia — is actually working against their own personal interests. Congressman Paul’s urgent appeal to all citizens and officials tells us where we went wrong and what we need to do fix America’s economic policy for future generations.

Order End The Fed Now!

“Rarely has a single book not only challenged, but decisively changed my mind.” — Arlo Guthrie

“Everyone must read this book — Congressmen and college students, Democrats and Republicans — all Americans. The Federal Reserve, which serves private banks, has compromised our economy and is undermining our freedom. It can and must be stopped now. Ron Paul shows us how and why we must end the Fed. Read this book!” — Vince Vaughn

Processing your request, Please wait....

Posted in , | Tagged , | 17 Responses

What Barney Frank Really Said About HR 1207

58 Responses

By RonPaul.com on August 31, 2009





Here’s an updated transcript of what Barney Frank really said about Ron Paul’s HR 1207 (also see Misinformation Alert: Barney Frank Never Said That HR 1207 Will Pass In October).

Audience: Okay, hi, Mr. Frank, thank you for coming. I was just going to mention of something that I’ve noticed people and blogs talking about on the Internet, that these banks all across the country are overvaluing their assets, their mortgages that they hold on their books, and I’ve actually been to a few foreclosure auctions and I noticed banks are buying back houses for themselves in order to prevent themselves from having to mark down the value of these assets.

And they’re basically lying to us about their solvency. And this is only possible by the Federal Reserve lending money to these institutions. And I just want to ask you, when will you put HR 1207, the bill to audit the Fed, up for a vote in the Committee. Thank you very much.

Barney Frank: [...] while I really disagree that the Fed is the cause of this but yes, I have been pushing for more openness on the Fed, back when the Democrats were in power, and Henry Gonzalez, and we did get some of it. [...]

I want to restrict powers of the Federal Reserve in a number of ways. First of all, they will be the major losers of power if we are successful, as I believe we will be, in setting up that financial product protection commission. The Federal Reserve is now charged with protecting consumers. They were supposed to do subprime mortgage restricted. Congress in 1994 gave the Federal Reserve the power to adopt rules to ban bad subprime mortgages. Alan Greenspan refused to do it. He said that was too much market intervention.

They had the power to ban credit card abuses. They had the power to [...] overdrafts. They under Greenspan did nothing. Under Bernanke they started do things but only after Congress started. When I became Chairman of the Committee they began to act on these things. Subprime mortgages, credit cards, overdraft, and in every case after we started the [...], so that’s one of the reasons why in the new consumer protection agency, we will take away from the Federal Reserve the power to do consumer protection.

Secondly, they have had since 1932 a right, under Herbert Hoover and the Democratic Congress combined, the right, that they had to use it until recently, to intervene in the economy almost whenever they thought.

Last September, the Federal Reserve came to us and said that they were going to advance $82 billion to AIG. I was kind of surprised and said, “You have 82 billion dollars, Mr. Bernanke?” He said, “I have 800 billion dollars.” Under section 13.3 of the Federal Reserve Act they can lend money to anybody they want. We are going to curtail that lending power. We are going to put some restraints on it.

Finally we will subject them to a complete audit. I have been working with Ron Paul, who is the main sponsor of that bill. He agrees that we don’t want to have the audit appear as if it is influencing monetary policy because that would be inflationary. Ron and I agree on that.

We also [...], one of the things the audit will show you is what the Federal Reserve buys itself. And that will be made public, but not instantly, because if that was made instantly you would have a lot of people trading off of that and it would have too much impact on the market. [...] agrees with that, so we’ll probably have that data released after a time period of several months, enough time so it wouldn’t be market sensitive. That will be part of the overall federal regulation that we are redacting.

Audience: By the end of the year?

Barney Frank: The House will pass it probably in October.

Processing your request, Please wait....

Posted in , | Tagged , , | 58 Responses

Ron Paul on Ted Kennedy and Healthcare

12 Responses

By RonPaul.com on August 31, 2009




Date: 8/26/2009
Channel: FOX 26 – KRIV

Transcript

FeMale News Anchor: Well, Congressman Ron Paul is with us this morning. Thank you so much for coming.

Ron Paul: Good morning, good morning.

FeMale News Anchor: Thank you. I know that you were here to talk about healthcare reform and we are definitely going to talk a little bit about that. But because of this news this morning – this surprising news – I want to know what your reaction is.

Ron Paul: Well, the reaction it is always sad to see or hear about anybody’s death, and the Kennedy’s certainly have suffered in that regard. I never met any of the Kennedys, so I never knew any of them personally. But, you know, the healthcare issue is very important right now and Ted Kennedy was very much involved. In some ways this might be a real boost for getting Obama’s package passed. All of a sudden people might say “Well in honor of Ted Kennedy we have to pass this.”

That’s more or less what President Johnson did after President Kennedy died. All of a sudden he used the death of President Kennedy to promote the agenda that at that time President Kennedy wasn’t able to get through. So it may be that this is going to give a shot in the arm for those who want to nationalize more so our healthcare system and for those of us who aren’t exactly anxious for that, that might be a benefit to our opposition. Continue reading “Ron Paul on Ted Kennedy and Healthcare”

Processing your request, Please wait....

Posted in , | Tagged , | 12 Responses

Page 281 of 398« First...102030...279280281282283...290300310...Last »