Wow - There Are STILL Ron Paul People Out There
OK, first, I just want to start off by saying that I love Ron Paul - he’s a great Congressman, but he’s not going to be the nominee for the Republican Party. He’s still got a functional website and he’s still in the race (he’s even got a section about “Now There Are Two,” but what’s with the Ron Paul supporters?
I saw on Reddit earlier this week a post about maybe Ron Paul was right about going back on the gold standard. It’s the 3rd entry (click to enlarge):
Now, Reddit is pretty Obama- and Paul-biased, but still - this is how long after, and we’re still getting Ron Paul stories? There was even one comment: “Feels good for Ron Paul to be back on top of Reddit again.”
Here’s the link to the actual story: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/oil-gold-commodities-47041507. And here’s the link to the Reddit thread: http://reddit.com/info/6fw6w/comments/.
Now, a little comment about my views of the gold standard. In theory, it’s a GREAT idea (but so was communism). Frankly, I don’t know enough about economics yet to speculate on whether it would work - I know enough so that I can tell you that the reason for the mortgage crisis we’re in now is because of giving mortgages to people who never should have gotten them, and abuses in credit, but when it comes to speculating about inflation, I leave that to the experts (who don’t even all agree). The thing is, we’ve been off of the gold standard for so long that it’d take a while to fix it. Consider the gold standard method a generally straight line, and inflation a line curving up. We’d have to all of a sudden bring that line back down to the line that the gold standard is on, and that big of a jump wouldn’t exactly be easy on the economy.
Anyway, I say all of this to summarize that, yes, I love Ron Paul, but the pro-Ron Paul people have to calm down and realize it’s over. Now, let the angry Paulites begin…
Done Ranting,
Ranting Republican
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Tags: 2008 Election, 2008 Primary, Economics, economy, Election, Elections, Finances, Gold Standard, Government, Money, Mortgage, Mortgage Crisis, oil, Reddit, Republican, Ron Paul
April 17, 2008 at 7:54 PM
“In theory, it’s a GREAT idea (but so was communism). Frankly, I don’t know enough about economics yet to speculate on whether it would work”
Fiat money is communism. Really. Without something to back the value of the money, the governement is free to whip out as much credit as it whims. So whenever there is a problem (or perceived problem) they just roll out 30 billion dollars and make it all better. Bear sterns is just as incompetent as it ever was, but now theyre owned by someone else, someone else who owes a massive debt to the government.
April 17, 2008 at 9:45 PM
I understand that. But explain to me how we reign in control of the monetary system without crashing it and the economy.
April 17, 2008 at 11:42 PM
First, you stop government spending, which will allow for more tax cuts.
More tax cuts = money for consumers
Second, The Fed has to quit cutting interest rates. They are artificially low. Banks need more loans to make money. Which means they are more willing to give loans to high-risk people.
Third, the Fed needs to quit printing money on a whim.
Fourth - we need to get oil from ANWR and other places we won’t drill because of “environmental concerns”. Also release some of the reserves.
April 17, 2008 at 11:56 PM
First 3 were good. The 4th one creates a bigger problem. We need to get off oil - make most of our energy from nuclear, and get some cleaner fuel for autos - it’ll be cheaper in the long run anyway.
April 18, 2008 at 12:07 AM
I thought that Paul has some very good ideas about how to run the nation, and perhaps if he keeps on the same course and doesn’t change his values and opinions as the tides change, some day the people will come calling to him for the solution. It’s happened before in American history. Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan provide one good example.
The one thing about Paul that wasn’t appealing was he gives to me the impression that he’s angry all the time, and that’s not very presidential.
April 18, 2008 at 7:48 AM
“explain to me how we reign in control of the monetary system without crashing it and the economy.”
The way to retire a fiat currency is very straightforward, and we’ve done it twice in this country. One way is through a catastrophic collapse, as happened with the continental dollar, which is why the constitution prohibits fiat currency.
The other way, is the way we retired the civil war greenbacks: first, you stop issuing any more of the fiat currency, and repeal the legal tender laws that require people to accept it. Second, you establish a realistic price for the fiat currency in real money (that is, gold). Third, you buy back the fiat notes for gold over time. This means that you also levy taxes in gold, and let people conduct their private business transactions in gold (or whatever other currency they choose).
-jcr
April 18, 2008 at 3:01 PM
But the civil war greenbacks weren’t nearly as inflated as the dollar is now.
April 26, 2008 at 2:28 PM
Your comments are like a batter who suddenly sees an apple coming in at 70 mph. The one thing I like about Rom Paul supporters, at least they don’t try argue a case the way you attempt to do so. Sure we are ignorant and that is bliss. Right?
April 26, 2008 at 2:40 PM
The market sets the value of the dollar. So that fact that it’s inflated is because we rebuilt the world after world war two with dollars. It wasn’t until 20 years later during and because of the Vietnam War that we abandon the Gold Standard. Now, we not only have runaway inflation we also have runaway government. The best check and balance on both these problems is sound money not more Fiat currency. At the very least we should restore the power to print and issue currency to our congress and not allow the Private Fed to operate without having to answer to our congress. This is the current situation.
April 26, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Giving the Congress that power in today’s day and age could lead to a disaster, or it could be great. It would probably become the biggest bargaining chip out there. Vote for _________ and I’ll support your changes to how much money we print. The Congress isn’t used to having that power, and I don’t know how they would react to it being thrown in their lap out of the blue.
June 1, 2008 at 2:06 PM
The problem you have is… you ask the wrong question. The true question is… How do you prevent the crashing of the US economy without reining in the current monetary system?” The answer is it can’t be done. The goal in monetary policy should be to stablize the money so that inflation does not rule peoples economic lives. Currently we are experiencing inflation. But if you listen to the CNBC or Bloomberg you would think inflation doesn’t exist. But let me tell you we are in middle of inflationary times. The fact that the Federal Reserve bank won’t raise interest rates is because they can’t. The problem is that these corporations and you and me are all debters. So the only answer to this issue is create more currency. What do you think that does to the value of the US dollar?
June 1, 2008 at 3:03 PM
Oh, I absolutely understand what you’re saying. But try correcting inflation. Try making it so that getting paid $8/hour now would be equal to say $3/hour if we erased some of the inflation. Try paying somebody $3/hour saying that they can still buy 2 gallons of gas (now at $1.50 instead of $4). Try cutting people’s pay - greedy American’s pay - and see how it goes. It simply cannot be done.