Paul Blames Federal Reserve for Weak Economy
KENNER, La. — Ron Paul, a Republican presidential contender and Texas congressman, said Monday that the Federal Reserve is to blame for the country’s weakening economy.
Paul highlighted his economic remedies — abolishing the federal income tax and returning to the gold standard, among them — on a three-city tour of Louisiana.
The libertarian-minded Paul was the only candidate to visit Louisiana on the eve of the state’s Republican caucuses Tuesday. The caucuses are an intermediary step in picking a favorite candidate. A presidential primary will take place on Feb. 9 and a state convention will convene on Feb. 16.
Paul blamed the Federal Reserve for the current economic conditions; stock markets worldwide fell Monday after Wall Street declined last week. On his Web site, he said the Fed has taken the United States “into a terrible crisis.”
Paul told an overflow crowd at a suburban New Orleans hotel Monday that the Fed has allowed the dollar to weaken, which in turn, he said, has hurt the middle class and led to inflation.
“I would enjoy being the next president to get rid of our central bank,” he told supporters. The crowd gave him a raucous welcome, chanting at one point, “Who dat? Who dat say they’re gonna beat Ron Paul?” — a riff on a popular football chant for the New Orleans Saints.
Paul, on his Web site Monday, said the economic policies of his opponents are based on ill-advised “print-and-spend” theories. He added that he would cure the economic crisis by ending the “hyper-expensive, hyper-dangerous empire all around the globe.”
Paul is a 10-term congressman from southeast Texas whose campaign differs on many points from most of his Republican rivals. He opposes the Iraq war and the death penalty, for instance, and votes against military appropriations.
He would also like to abolish the Education Department, Energy Department and Internal Revenue Service. He is against abortion and gun control.
In Nevada, Paul was a distant second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Still, Paul called Nevada “a shot in the arm” and pledged to keep campaigning “all the way through a brokered convention.”
As of late, Paul has been raising hefty sums, pulling in about $20 million in the last quarter of 2007, according to his campaign.
He’s been running an Internet-driven campaign, trying to appeal to and excite younger and libertarian-minded voters. Monday marked another so-called “Money Bomb,” in which his campaign aims to raise as much money online as possible in one day.
ron paul is the best candidate i have seen on tv. the people of this country need to get behind this man and save our country. he is left out of most of the debates and put on far end instead of the middle of the candidates. why is this? he has to ask many times to be heard. thats a shame for this to happen.
Ron Paul is against abortions personally, however he does not feel it should be a federal issues! It is a states issue! To make a decision as Rov v Wade was not constitutional!
Ron Paul’s campaign has restored my faith in the democratic process. He is the only candidate I have ever seen that speaks from the heart and says what he believes. No canned speeches from Ron, he is not an actor. He also has the voting record to support what he says he believes in. The way mainstream media avoids the campaign he is running is a disgrace. Ron Paul has the best position on fiscal policy of all candidates regardless of party affiliation. Whether Ron wins the republican nomination or not, I will write him in on the ballot in November.
Dr. Paul is absolutely right. The Fed blew it, as demonstrated by their need to have an emergency mid meeting cut (Jan. 23) of 75 basis points, while not cutting at all at their recent December meeting. The question then is why did the Fed wait, the answer is to allow Wall Street insiders like GS to strip mine the accounts of the average person who either entered limit orders to sell or were too nervous to hang on and threw in the towel at the lows. Once huge amounts of stock were transferred to the insiders at the lows the Fed became the white knight and dropped the Fed funds rate an unusually large 75 basis points providing the market a stimulus to rally 700 points intra-day over the next 2 days. Why did the Fed leave interest rates at historic lows in 2005 fueling the Austrian business cycle greed that resulted in the Housing bubble and the “Sub-Prime” loan debacle. As a nation we should not depend on a NY banking establishment cartel called the Federal Reserve to set monetary policy for the US. As Thomas Jefferson said we must not turn over the coining of money to a non-government entity which is what the Federal Reserve is. You can thank President Wilson and Col. House for that, the rest is history.
Wow. I’m actually having a heart attack. A fair and balanced article from Fox6 news? Jesus Christ!
Here’s a little competition for the media - http://www.truckers4ronpaul.org
Too bad, they probably could have had it all…
Ron Paul is right. The retail wing of the Republican Party has abandoned its’ time honored platform of less government, fiscal conservatism, personal freedom, and no nation building, in favor of a borrow, tax, print, and spend agenda aimed at limiting American freedom, ingenuity, and industry. The benificiaries of American labor are China and OPEC. In Texas, we are currently facing the Trans Texas Corridor (southern leg of the Nafta Superhighway system). We have been informed that they will take our land (my farm is in the way of the Corridor). They will not offer fair or even reasonable compensation. They will move us by force if necessary. All tolls paid by Americans to drive on the Corridor will be paid to a Spanish company. The residents of Texas have not been permitted to vote on this issue. Ron Paul opposes the Trans Texas Catastrophe and the NASCO corridor project. Check the NASCO maps and the TxDot maps. There are several. Look to see if you are in the path of this behemoth. If every American in the path of these corridors votes for Ron Paul, he will have the biggest landslide victory since Ronald Reagan ran. That’s how much land they want to take from Americans.
Vote Ron Paul.
I live up in Canada and I love Ron Paul…if he doesn’t become the next president of the United States please send him up here, we could sure use a guy like him.
Ron paul has the cures America needs. Everyone else wants to sell expensive medication to manage the problems.
If Ron Paul DOESN’T become the next president of the United States, I hope he becomes president of Texas and that Texas secedes from the Union. I’ll pack my bags and put on my cowboy hat. GO DR. PAUL!