What the Fed Has Done to Us by Ron Paul
Statement before the Financial Services Committee,
September 20, 2007
“Further regulation of the banking sector, of mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, or credit-rating agencies will fail to improve the current situation, and will do nothing to prevent future real estate bubbles. Any proposed solutions which fail to take into account the economic intervention that laid the ground for the bubble are merely window dressing, and will not ease the suffering of millions of American homeowners.”
'Plunge Protection,' Fiat Money, and the Fed by Ron Paul
From the Hearings on Monetary Policy, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
July 20, 2006
Mr. Paul: I have a question dealing with the Working Group on Financial Markets. I want to learn more about that group . . .
Mr. Bernanke: [Its] primary function is advisory, to prepare reports.
Mr. Paul: In the media you will find articles that will claim that it is a lot more than an advisory group, [that] if there is a stock market crash, that you literally have a lot of authority to impose restrictions on the market. And we are talking about many trillions of dollars . . .
Monetary Inflation is the Problem by Ron Paul
December 5, 2006
"The federal government consistently wants to spend more than it can tax and borrow, so Congress turns to the Fed for help in covering the difference. The result is more dollars, both real and electronic – which means the value of every existing dollar goes down."
The World’s Reserve Currency by Ron Paul
January 7, 2007
"When we borrow a billion dollars every day simply to run the government, and when the Federal Reserve increases the money supply by trillions of dollars in just 15 years, we hardly can expect our dollars to increase in value."
Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy by Ron Paul
February 15, 2007
"Even before a currency collapse occurs, the damage done by a fiat system is significant. Our monetary system insidiously transfers wealth from the poor and middle class to the privileged rich. Wages never keep up with the profits of Wall Street and the banks, thus sowing the seeds of class discontent. When economic trouble hits, free markets and free trade often are blamed, while the harmful effects of a fiat monetary system are ignored."
Don’t Blame the Market for the Housing Bubble by Ron Paul
March 20, 2007
"Unless and until we get the Federal Reserve out of the business of creating money at will and setting interest rates, we will remain vulnerable to market bubbles and painful corrections. If housing prices plummet and millions of Americans find themselves owing more than their homes are worth, the blame lies squarely with Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke."
Inflation and War Finance by Ron Paul
January 30, 2007
"If every American taxpayer had to submit an extra five or ten thousand dollars to the IRS this April to pay for the war, I’m quite certain it would end very quickly. The problem is that government finances war by borrowing and printing money, rather than presenting a bill directly in the form of higher taxes. When the costs are obscured, the question of whether any war is worth it becomes distorted."
The Coming Category 5 Financial Hurricane by Ron Paul
Before the U.S. House of Representatives,
September 15, 2005
“If Congress does not show some sense of financial restraint soon, we can expect the poor to become poorer; the middle class to become smaller; and the government to get bigger and more authoritarian – while the liberty of the people is diminished. The illusion that deficits, printing money, and expanding the welfare and warfare states serves the people must come to an end.”
Borrowing, Spending, Counterfeiting by Ron Paul
August 23, 2005
“Simply put, the more money our Treasury prints, the less every dollar is worth. Our pure fiat money system, in place since the last vestiges of a gold standard were eliminated in the early 1970s, has reduced the value of your savings by 80%. Disregard the government’s Consumer Price Index, which substantially underreports price inflation. Monetary inflation is true inflation, and we only need to look at the cost of homes, cars, energy, and medical care to recognize that a dollar buys far less today than ever.”
Questions for Greenspan by Ron Paul
Q&A between Rep. Paul and Fed Chairman Greenspan,
Before the House Committee on Financial Services,
1997 - 2005
Paul: So what are the conditions that might exist for the central bankers of the world to reconsider gold?
We do know that they haven’t given up on gold. They haven’t gotten rid of their gold. They’re holding it there for some reason.
So what’s the purpose of the gold if it isn’t with the idea that some day they might need it? They don’t hold lead or pork bellies. They hold gold.
Greenspan: . . . the question is: Would there be any advantage, at this particular stage, in going back to the gold standard?
And the answer is: I don’t think so, because we’re acting as though we were there. . .
So I think central banking, I believe, has learned the dangers of fiat money, and I think, as a consequence of that, we’ve behaved as though there are, indeed, real reserves underneath the system.
The Guilty Fed and Feds by Ron Paul
May 24, 2005
“A fiat system means every dollar you have can be eroded into nothing by the actions of politicians and central bankers. In essence, paper currencies like the US dollar operate as articles of faith – faith in the policies of the governments and central banks that issue them. When it comes to a government as deeply indebted as our own, that faith is sorely lacking among investors worldwide. Politicians often manage to fool voters and the media, but they rarely fool financial markets over time.”
What the Price of Gold is Telling Us by Ron Paul
Before the U.S. House of Representatives,
April 25, 2006
“Holding gold is protection or insurance against government’s proclivity to debase its currency. The purchasing power of gold goes up not because it’s a so-called good investment; it goes up in value only because the paper currency goes down in value. In our current situation, that means the dollar.”
Stop the Printing Press! by Ron Paul
Statement before the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, Humphrey Hawkins Hearing on Monetary Policy, July 16, 2008
“At the heart of this economic malaise is the Fed's poor stewardship of the dollar. The cause of the dollar's demise is not the result of a purely psychological response to public statements on US dollar policy, but is rather a reaction to a massive increase in the money supply brought about by the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy. The policies that led to hemorrhaging of gold during the 1960's and the eventual closing of the gold standard are the same policies that are leading to the dollar's decline in international currency markets today.”
The Real Meaning of Inflation by Ron Paul
Statement before the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, Full Committee Hearing on "Implications of a Weaker Dollar for Oil Prices and the U.S. Economy," July 24, 2008
“In Germany in the 1920s, South America in the 1980s, and Zimbabwe today, everyone recognizes that inflation was caused by the government running the printing presses non-stop, with the resulting exponential rise in prices being the necessary result of monetary growth. Yet somehow, both the empirical and theoretical reality of inflation as a rise in money supply is ignored in this country. Inflation is conflated with price inflation, the increase in the overall price level, and is viewed as something both endogenous to the market economy while at the same time influenced by exogenous price shocks.”
Good for the Blind and the Sighted by Ron Paul
Statement before the Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Domestic & International Monetary Policy, Hearing on Examining Issues Related to Tactilely Distinguishable Currency, July 30, 2008
“ If we had a truly free market in currency, private currency producers could produce coins or bills that are tactilely distinguishable, with bills incorporating different sizes, shapes, raised geometric patterns, etc. . . .
“What prevents such a scenario from occurring is the US government's attempts to maintain the monopoly of the dollar.”
Capitalism Without Capital? by Ron Paul
October 16, 2008
“. . . our economy has been increasingly running on debt, not capital. Capitalism does not exist without capital and debt is not, has never been and will never be a form of capital. Only now are we seeing the more dire implications of an economy without capital.”
Too Big to Fail? by Ron Paul
October 22, 2008
“Supposedly, some entities can be so big, so important, that no matter what they do, citizens must perpetually sustain them. . . . But one could use this reasoning to prop up slavery. It could be deemed unfortunate but economically beneficial, and indeed these arguments have been used historically to deprive people of their liberty.”
The Neo-Alchemy of the Federal Reserve by Ron Paul
December 3, 2008
“ The updated total bailout commitments add up to over $8 trillion now. This translates into a monetary base increase of 75 percent over the last two months. This money does not come from some rainy day fund tucked away in the budget somewhere – it is created from thin air, and devalues every dollar in circulation.”
