In the “Hearing on Restoring the Economy: Strategies for Short-term and Long-term Change”, Ron Paul and Paul Volcker discuss the history, present and future of fiat currencies.
Date: 2/26/2009
Transcript:
Chairman: Mr. Paul for one minute?
Ron Paul: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I, too, hear my voice all the time and I’m sure the rest of you are tired of hearing it. But, nevertheless, I will take a moment. In California they worry about the big one, the big earthquake, and I think financially the big one is here – the very big one, and nobody seems to know what to do about it and I think it’s because they don’t quite understand how it came about. It’s been building, the bubble has been building since 1971, but it has exploded and I visualize it as we in the Congress and Federal Reserve are there with this tiny little pump, pumping into a bubble that has a huge hole, and the longer you pump, the poorer this country is going to get and there will be no solution. Even a bigger pump is not going to solve the problem. The past year, we have run up a debt of additional $1.5 trillion. We have created about $9 trillion worth of credit in the financial system. It hasn’t done any good. We have to reassess what we’re doing because I think we’re on the wrong track.
Chairman: Thank you very much and Senator Bennett? [...]
Ron Paul: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Chairman Volcker some of your comments sort of frightened me, not because you remind us that we’re in an economic and financial crisis, and I’m satisfied that you admit that, especially since it’s a reflection of the monetary and financial system that we’ve been working with for so long. But some of the suggestions you make, give me some concern. But I did date our current problem from 1971, I won’t quibble over the dates but 1971 to me was significant because it ended the monetary order of the Bretton Woods agreement, and that was a major, major event. And that was the Gold Exchange Standard and it was flawed and it failed. In ’71, we as a nation, as a world financial system we accepted a paper dollar as the reserve dollar of the world. Continue reading “Ron Paul and Paul Volcker Discuss Fiat Currencies”
7:00 pm Campaign for Liberty’s, “Liberty Forum”
Hampton Ballroom
Sponsored by Campaign for Liberty
Speakers: Rep. Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Thomas Woods, Bruce Fein, Larry Pratt, Mark Mix
Open to all CPAC attendees
Source: Young Americans for Liberty
Date: February 2009
Transcript:
Patrick J. Ford: Younger people, specifically members of the Young Americans for Liberty, are looking for ways to educate themselves on issues in ways that they’re not going to be educated by college professors or by the media, things like that. What was it that initially interested you in Austrian Economics and liberty and what were some of those fundamental texts that got you involved with it, and has led you to where you are now?
Ron Paul: It was a lot more difficult to find books when I was growing up in high school and college and I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in college but more on when I got into medical school I started looking around. But in the late 50s some of the books I read, all the Ayn Rand novels and Doctor Zhivago, got my attention, and then Hayek got my attention with “The Road to Serfdom” and then I went one book to another and become fascinated with Austrian Economics.
But the group that helped me the most back then get the literature was the Foundation for Economic Education, which is in a town called Arlington on the Hudson in New York, and Leonard Reed ran it back in those days. So when everything else was Keynesian, we had no Mises Institute, there was no Cato group and none of these things existed, but the Foundation for Economic Education did provide a lot of literature and I can remember getting Bastiat’s Law from there, and that’s still being circulated; great little book. But then later on I did get to meet a lot of the Austrian economists, I’ve met, at least heard lecture; heard Mises lecture, met Hayek, had dinner with him, knew Murray Rothbard real well, knew Sam Holtz very well, and I’ve stayed close to that whole movement.
And now of course with the Mises Institute, a group that I helped start in the early 80s, and lately Rockwell does an excellent job in providing literature. Today to find the textbooks and the things to read, if you’re really interested in Austrian economics, you ought to know about the Mises Institute to find this literature. Continue reading “Speaking of Liberty: An Interview With Ron Paul”
Ron Paul addresses Congress Channel: C-SPAN Date: 2/25/2008
Transcript:
Ron Paul: Mr. Speaker, the Federal Reserve is the culprit. It has delivered this crisis to us. The Federal Reserve’s low interest policy is a big mistake; it is not a panacea. Artificially low interest rates are achieved by inflating the money supply. Low interest rates penalize the thrifty, and those who save are cheated. It promotes consumption and borrowing over savings and investing. Manipulating interest rates is an immoral act; it is economically destructive. The policy of artificially low interest rates caused our problems and therefore cannot be the solution.
The market rate of interest is crucial information for the smooth operation of the economy. A central bank setting interest rates is price fixing and is a form of central economic planning. Price fixing is a tool of socialists and destroys production. Central bankers, politicians and bureaucrats can’t know what the proper rate should be; they lack the knowledge and are deceived by their own aggrandizement. Manipulating the money supply and interest rates rejects all the principles of the free market.
Ironically, free markets and sound money generates low rates, but unlike the artificially low rates orchestrated by the Fed, this information conveyed is beneficial to investors and savers. The Congress, by conceding this authority, conveys extraordinary economic powers to the elite few. This is a power that has been abused throughout history.
Only the Federal Reserve can inflate the currency; creating new money and credit out of thin air in secrecy without oversight or supervision. Inflation facilitates deficits, needless wars and excessive welfare spending. Debasing a currency is counterfeiting; it steals value from every dollar earned or saved. It robs the people and makes them poorer; it is the enemy of the working person. Inflation is the most vicious and regressive of all forms of taxation. It transfers wealth from the middle class to the privileged rich.
The economic chaos that results from a policy of central bank inflation inevitably leads to political instability and violence; it is an ancient tool of all authoritarians. Inflating is never a benefit to freedom loving people; it destroys prosperity and feeds the fires of war. It is responsible for recessions and depressions. It’s deceptive, addictive and causes delusions of grandeur with regards to wealth and knowledge.
Wealth cannot be achieved by creating money by fiat; it instead destroys wealth and it rewards the special interests. Depending on monetary fraud for national prosperity or a reversal of our downward spiral is riskier than depending on the lottery. Inflation has been used to pay for all the wars and empires, and they all end badly.
Inflationism and corporatism engenders protectionism and trade wars. It prompts scapegoating; blaming foreigners, illegal immigrants, ethnic minorities, and too often freedom itself for the predictable events and suffering that results. Besides, the whole process in unconstitutional; there is no legal authority to operate such a monetary system. So let’s stop it. Let us restore a policy of prosperity, peace and liberty.
This afternoon, Ron Paul participated in Judge Andrew Napolitano’s online show “Freedom Watch”, joining Peter Schiff, Cody Willard and others in a refreshing discussion about the latest economic and political developments.
On February 9, Ron Paul was interviewed by Texas Republic News on a wide range of issues. The interview is shown below. Read James A. Bernsen’s article here.
Source: Texas Republic News
Date of Interview: 2/9/2009
Transcript
First Part of Interview with Congressman Ron Paul:
Question #1: What is your current legislative agenda in Washington DC?
Ron Paul: Well, the usual thing; I’ve had an intense interest in monetary policy, fiscal policy as well as foreign policy. So I’ve already introduced what I do every two years, the bill to get out of the UN and de-internationalize. I don’t like this internationalization whether it’s financial or political so that usually gets a lot of support from the conservative community and everybody expects me to do it. But also I’ve had a lot of interest in monetary policy and I’ve already introduced bills dealing with the Federal Reserve.
Ultimately we should get rid of the Federal Reserve, that’s not going to happen soon. It might self destruct the way it’s going but there will be another bill introduced shortly that I’m working on that will be at least allowing Congress some oversight and some legal permission to audit the Federal Reserve. Right now we’re not allowed, they’re exempted from audit and under today’s circumstances we’re there literally creating trillions of dollars out of thin air and subsidizing and helping their friends in the banking industry and corporations. It’s time the American people knew what was going on but it’s up to the Congress to demand that. Continue reading “Ron Paul Interviewed By Texas Republic News”
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Ron Paul has been married to his wife Carol Wells since 1957. They have five children: Ronald, Lori, Rand, Robert, and Joy. Paul's son Rand is the junior senator from the state of Kentucky.
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