'Ron Paul Told Us So' - The Economic Crisis

[brucefan]

'Ron Paul Told Us So' - The Economic Crisis


This page consists of excerpts from a selection of Ron Paul's speeches and columns on economic matters, and a few highlights are bolded below. Throughout his time in Congress (1976-1977, 1979-1985, 1996-present), Dr. Paul tirelessly forewarned of the dire consequences of the Federal Reserve system, fiat currency, deficit spending, corporate statism, and central planning -- consequences that are now besetting the American people.

Dr. Paul primarily attributes the prescience of his work to the scholarship of the 'Austrian School', and he humbly insists that he's 'just the messenger.' While his acknowledgment of intellectual influences is certainly commendable, Dr. Paul himself deserves great credit for his patient, persistent, and often thankless efforts to inform others over the years. This page is intended as a testament to his farsightedness and perseverance, and as a convenient resource for anyone working on projects to advance the cause of liberty and the 'Ron Paul Revolution.'

Thank you, Dr. Paul -- those familiar with your work will never forget.

2008
The Austrians Were Right, November 20 2008
The Austrian School and the Meltdown, September 26 2008
The Crisis is Upon Us, July 19 2008

2007
The Importance of Fiscal Responsibility in Government, December 18 2007
What the Fed Has Done to Us, September 20 2007
High-Risk Credit, August 21 2007
Arguments Against the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act, July 30 2007
Opening Statement to Committee on Financial Services World Bank Hearing, May 22 2007
Executive Compensation, April 18 2007
The Coming Entitlement Meltdown, March 6 2007
Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy, February 15 2007

2006
What Congress Can Do About Soaring Gas Prices, May 2 2006
What the Price of Gold is Telling Us, April 25 2006
The Perils of Economic Ignorance, March 27 2006
The End of Dollar Hegemony, February 15 2006

2005
The GSE Crisis - Reforming the Government Sponsored Enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), October 27 2005
The Coming Category 5 Financial Hurricane, September 15 2005
The Republican Congress Wastes Billions Overseas, July 20 2005
Reject Taxpayer Bank Bailouts, May 4 2005

2004
Government Spending - A Tax on the Middle Class, July 8 2004

2003
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Subsidies Distort the Housing Market, September 10 2003
Paper Money and Tyranny, September 5 2003
The False Tax Cut Debate, May 6 2003

2002
Has Capitalism Failed? July 9 2002
Economic Concerns, February 7 2002
The Collapse of Enron, February 4 2002

2001
The Foolishness of Fiat, October 31 2001
The US Dollar and the World Economy, September 6 2001
Uncontrolled Spending Threatens Our Liberty, April 2 2001
Challenge to America: A Current Assessment of Our Republic, February 7 2001

2000
Economic Update, December 4 2000
Economic Problems Ahead, November 13 2000
Warning about Foreign Policy and Monetary Policy, October 12 2000
Congress Ignores its Constitutional Responsibility Regarding Monetary Policy, October 11 2000
The Dollar and Our Current Account Deficit, May 16 2000

1998
International Economic Turmoil, September 15 1998
The Bubble, April 28 1998

1997
Conduct of Monetary Policy, July 22 1997
Federal Reserve has Monopoly over Money and Credit in the United States, April 28 1997
Our Soaring Trade Deficit Cannot Be Ignored, April 9 1997

1984
Current Political Philosophies' Errors to Result in Political and Economic Crisis, September 20 1984

1980
Gold versus Paper, July 1, 1980

1979
Debasement, December 12 1979
The Chrysler Bailout, November 21 1979
Inflation is Caused by Government, November 16 1979


JOIN THE FIGHT
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[fletchisrhsm]

Good post :toast:

 

[brucefan]

This is fast becoming a very important show.

I hope you take the time to watch.


Part 1 of 6:
Judge Andrew Napolitano's show called Freedom Watch airing every Wednesday from 2pm - 3pm EST. Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell kick off the show, then my vid capture sw decides to mess up and I miss most of the 2nd Amendment discussion with Larry Pratt and John Lott. There are about 10 minutes missing from part 4-5.





Fox News Strategy Room w/ Judge Napolitano, Ron Paul, Peter Schiff 03/4/2009 Part 1
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[brucefan]

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Ron Paul on the House floor


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WAKE UP AMERICA

PLEASE PASS THIS ON
AND JOIN THE FIGHT


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[brucefan]

Ron Paul on CNN American Morning


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[brucefan]

Ron Paul - update HR 1207


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[brucefan]

Fewer Taxes for Real Economic Stimulus


Taxes are the issue this week as Americans struggle to make the April 15<SUP>th</SUP> deadline to file their returns. It is a good time to contemplate the effects of big government and what it does to our country. The income tax is one of the most egregious encroachments on our liberties today. It is a form of involuntary servitude, which was supposed to have been outlawed by the 13<SUP>th</SUP> Amendment. <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O></O>
Tax Freedom Day is defined as the day when the nation as a whole has theoretically earned enough income to fund its annual federal tax burden. For all of the days of the year before this day, you are a slave to government. For 2009, Tax Freedom Day will come on April 13<SUP>th</SUP>. Almost a century ago in 1910, before the mistakes of 1913-namely the inception of the Federal Reserve and our current income tax, Tax Freedom Day was January 19<SUP>th</SUP>, signifying a mere 5% tax burden. Somehow, our country functioned just fine.<O></O>
If calculated to include government spending and the deficit, rather than just collections, Tax Freedom Day would actually fall on May 29. The annual deficit adds to the growing debt of future generations and adds insult to injury to those that struggle to make this economy work. It is a slap in the face that this is not enough to prevent this crushing governmental burden from falling on the next generation. <O></O>
For months now, Washington has been desperately throwing taxpayers’ money at various programs to stimulate us out of the recession, to no avail. Seeing hard-earned money confiscated from the people and spent in such wasteful ways, such as the recent bailouts, is almost too much to bear. Getting rid of the income tax altogether, while very beneficial, may be a while in coming. In the meantime, I am fighting for every tax cut or tax credit possible. <O></O>
I can think of no better economic stimulus than letting people keep their money and spend it how they see fit. For this reason, I am an original cosponsor on a bill that would give Americans a two month employment and income tax holiday, while taking unused TARP money back from the Secretary of the Treasury and putting it in the Social Security trust fund instead. <O></O>
In addition, I have recently introduced the Child Health Care Affordability Act. If passed this legislation would provide parents with a tax credit of up to $500 for health care expenses of dependent children. I have also re-introduced the Tax Free Tips Act, which would make tips exempt from federal income and payroll taxes. I am also an original cosponsor of a bill that would make permanent the deduction of state and local sales taxes. My bill HR 162 exempts Social Security benefits from income tax.<O></O>
These are just a few of the many tax related bills I am fighting for in Congress, but without a corresponding cut in the size of government, which I am also fighting for, we are simply adding to the future tax burden of our children.<O></O>


Posted by Ron Paul (04-13-2009, 12:58 PM)

 

[brucefan]

When you lay your heads down on your little pillow tonight, and get all tucked in ready for a good nights sleep, rest easy, knowing we are doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of everything this man would do right now

Sleep well uke1:



I sware we are living in the twighlight zone!

Fannie and Freddie
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
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Ron Paul in the House Financial Services Committee, September 10, 2003​

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing on the Treasury Department's views regarding government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). I would also like to thank Secretaries Snow and Martinez for taking time out of their busy schedules to appear before the committee.
I hope this committee spends some time examining the special privileges provided to GSEs by the federal government. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the housing-related GSEs received $13.6 billion worth of indirect federal subsidies in fiscal year 2000 alone. Today, I will introduce the Free Housing Market Enhancement Act, which removes government subsidies from the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the National Home Loan Bank Board.
One of the major government privileges granted to GSEs is a line of credit with the United States Treasury. According to some estimates, the line of credit may be worth over $2 billion. This explicit promise by the Treasury to bail out GSEs in times of economic difficulty helps the GSEs attract investors who are willing to settle for lower yields than they would demand in the absence of the subsidy. Thus, the line of credit distorts the allocation of capital. More importantly, the line of credit is a promise on behalf of the government to engage in a huge unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE debt.
The Free Housing Market Enhancement Act also repeals the explicit grant of legal authority given to the Federal Reserve to purchase GSE debt. GSEs are the only institutions besides the United States Treasury granted explicit statutory authority to monetize their debt through the Federal Reserve. This provision gives the GSEs a source of liquidity unavailable to their competitors.
The connection between the GSEs and the government helps isolate the GSE management from market discipline. This isolation from market discipline is the root cause of the recent reports of mismanagement occurring at Fannie and Freddie. After all, if Fannie and Freddie were not underwritten by the federal government, investors would demand Fannie and Freddie provide assurance that they follow accepted management and accounting practices.
Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.
Despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government's interference in the housing market, the government's policy of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.
Perhaps the Federal Reserve can stave off the day of reckoning by purchasing GSE debt and pumping liquidity into the housing market, but this cannot hold off the inevitable drop in the housing market forever. In fact, postponing the necessary, but painful market corrections will only deepen the inevitable fall. The more people invested in the market, the greater the effects across the economy when the bubble bursts.
No less an authority than Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has expressed concern that government subsidies provided to GSEs make investors underestimate the risk of investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to once again thank the Financial Services Committee for holding this hearing. I would also like to thank Secretaries Snow and Martinez for their presence here today. I hope today's hearing sheds light on how special privileges granted to GSEs distort the housing market and endanger American taxpayers. Congress should act to remove taxpayer support from the housing GSEs before the bubble bursts and taxpayers are once again forced to bail out investors who were misled by foolish government interference in the market. I therefore hope this committee will soon stand up for American taxpayers and investors by acting on my Free Housing Market Enhancement Act.​

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas​

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[gtc08]

i al
al
al
alwa
alwa
alwa
alwa
alwa
i alway
i alway
i alway
i alway
always
always
always
always
i always
i always
i always
love that one

 

[Dave007inVegas]

GTC, where are you so I can alert Homeland Security

 

[brucefan]

GM, Amtrak and an Increasingly Fascist America by Ron Paul
Posted June 8th, 2009 by JeffD
http://www.house.gov/htbi...

Last week, General Motors finally declared bankruptcy. Many in government thought $20 billion in taxpayer dollars would save the company, but as predicted, it only postponed the inevitable. The government will dump another $30 billion into GM and take a 60 percent controlling interest for it. Public officials are now involving themselves in tactical business decisions such as where GM’s headquarters should move and what kind of cars it will build.

The promise that this is temporary and will eventually be profitable is supposed to ease the American people into accepting this arrangement, but it is of little comfort to those who remember similar promises when the American taxpayers bought Amtrak. After three years, government was supposed to be out of the passenger rail business. 40 years and billions of dollars later, the government is still operating Amtrak at a loss, despite the fact that they have created a monopoly by making it illegal to compete with Amtrak. Imagine what they can now do to what is left of the great American auto industry!

In a truly free market, GM would get your money one way and one way only – by selling you a car you want, at a price you are willing to pay. Instead, the government is giving public money to a private company in spite of the market signals it has been sending. Throwing money at GM does not stop it from being an engine of wealth destruction; on the contrary, it simply gives it more wealth to destroy.

Had it been allowed to fail naturally, the profitable pieces of GM would have been bought up and put to good use by now. The laid off employees would likely have found new jobs and all that capital would be in private hands, reinvested in companies that produce products demanded by consumers. Instead, we are all poorer now.

Political pressure, rather than the rule of law, is deciding how to divide up the remains of GM. The bondholders had billions in retirement savings invested in the company, and though they were entitled to nearly three times as much as the United Auto Workers, the bondholders were left with just a 10 percent stake compared to the union’s 17.5 percent stake. For their 60 percent stake, taxpayers have a future of constant bailouts to look forward to.

Comingling public control of private business is known as fascism. While today’s politicians may feel emboldened with all their new power, history will only repeat itself as all this collapses on itself. It is the height of hubris for bureaucrats and politicians to attempt to control the market and the freewill of the American people. In the end, the market always wins out. Maybe one day future generations will wise up and allow free markets to function and thrive without the albatross of government around its neck. For now, it looks like those in charge have not learned the lessons of the past, and have doomed us to repeat those mistakes once again.
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[brucefan]

International Bailout Brings Us Closer to Economic Collapse


Last week Congress passed the war supplemental appropriations bill. In an affront to all those who thought they voted for a peace candidate, the current president will be sending another $106 billion we don’t have to continue the bloodshed in Afghanistan and Iraq, without a hint of a plan to bring our troops home.
Many of my colleagues who voted with me as I opposed every war supplemental request under the previous administration seem to have changed their tune. I maintain that a vote to fund the war is a vote in favor of the war. Congress exercises its constitutional prerogatives through the power of the purse, and as long as Congress continues to enable these dangerous interventions abroad, there is no end in sight, that is until we face total economic collapse.
From their spending habits, an economic collapse seems to be the goal of Congress and this administration. Washington spends with impunity domestically, bailing out and nationalizing everything they can get their hands on, and the foreign aid and IMF funding in this bill can rightly be called an international bailout!
As Americans struggle through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, this emergency supplemental appropriations bill sends $660 million to Gaza, $555 million to Israel, $310 million to Egypt, $300 million to Jordan, and $420 million to Mexico. Some $889 million will be sent to the United Nations for so-called “peacekeeping” missions. Almost one billion dollars will be sent overseas to address the global financial crisis outside our borders. Nearly $8 billion will be spent to address a “potential pandemic flu” which could result in mandatory vaccinations for no discernable reason other than to enrich the Pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccine.
Perhaps most outrageous is the $108 billion loan guarantee to the International Monetary Fund. These new loan guarantees will allow that destructive organization to continue spending taxpayer money to prop up corrupt leaders and promote harmful economic policies overseas.
Not only does sending American taxpayer money to the IMF hurt citizens here, evidence shows that it even hurts those it pretends to help. Along with IMF loans comes IMF required policy changes, called Structural Adjustment Programs, which amount to forced Keynesianism. This is the very fantasy-infused economic model that has brought our own country to its knees, and IMF loans act as the Trojan Horse to inflict it on others. Perhaps most troubling is the fact that leaders in recipient nations tend to become more concerned with the wishes of international elites than the wishes and needs of their own people. Argentina and Kenya are just two examples of countries that followed IMF mandates right off a cliff. The IMF frequently recommends currency devaluation to poorer nations, which has wiped out the already impoverished over and over. There is also a long list of brutal dictators the IMF happily supported and propped up with loans that left their oppressed populace in staggering amounts of debt with no economic progress to show for it.
We are buying nothing but evil and global oppression by sending your taxdollars to the IMF. Not to mention there is no Constitutional authority to do so. Our continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan does not make us safer at home, but in fact undermines our national security. I vehemently opposed this Supplemental Appropriations Bill and was dismayed to see it pass so easily.

 

[brucefan]

Cash for Clunkers


The Cash for Clunkers program has received a lot of attention this week on Capitol Hill and across the country. The program offers a voucher of up to $4500 in federal funds to anyone who trades in a working used car for a new one with better fuel economy. Congress was shocked at how quickly people responded to promises of free money and drained the program, while car dealers have been equally shocked at how slow and arduous the government’s website to claim the rebates has been.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O></O>
It’s not a shock that people respond to incentives. The program has been deemed a resounding success, and Congress has authorized 2 billion more taxpayer dollars for it. But not everyone is happy about this. Low-income earners who would have been in the market for those perfectly serviceable, working cars will have fewer to choose from, and those cars will probably be more expensive than they normally would have been. Automotive repair shops actively lobbied against this program, as it will destroy many of the cars they would have repaired. They were out-lobbied. And of course, Americans as a whole are hurt, because this additional bailout of auto companies comes at our expense through inflation.<O></O>
I have introduced a somewhat similar bill that would have provided a much better alternative to Cash for Clunkers because it does not rely on increased government bureaucracy or spending. My bill HR 1768 provides tax credits to people trading in used cars for new cars with better fuel economy. There is a big difference, in my mind, between letting people keep their own money versus giving them someone else’s. It is clear which one a free and fair society would choose. Not only that, but my bill would not have required working, serviceable cars to be destroyed for scrap metal.<O></O>
Cash for Clunkers is a popular program right now, but in the larger scheme of things it does very little towards accomplishing its stated goals. Requiring cars to be destroyed and new ones made to replace them might help the auto industry in the short run, but any improved fuel economy will not make up for the environmental impact of junking one car and making a new one. So this is not a program that should really make environmentalists happy.<O></O>
There is also much evidence that the boost in demand for autos, that has made dealers happy, is just borrowed demand from the past and the future. In other words, many have put off purchases they would have made anyway because they were waiting to see what the government would do. Others who would have waited a little longer to trade in a vehicle are accelerating their decisions so they can get in before the money runs out. So I would not be surprised to find that this artificial boom in auto sales is followed by an extended drop. This should serve as a very tangible example of how government meddling in the economy creates booms and busts. While everyone loves the booms, the busts are what creates the crises that government thrives on, and that is what we really need to watch out for!<O></O>

Posted by Ron Paul (08-11-2009, 11:55 AM)