Ron Paul: Colbert Report Smackdown With The New York Times

• The real issue is a central bank that has a monopolistic control over the issuance of money and credit is anathema to a free society. Fiat currencies, throughout history, have certain characteristics. Forget the dual mandate from the Congress on the Fed, that's just theater - anyone with two eyes and a brain, which you clearly have, can see without much effort that if the Fed's existence was dependent solely upon upholding their mandate of low inflation, maximum employment, they would be closed immediately because they have failed on each account. Central banks do not truly exist to benefit the economy - if they did, the amount of intense secrecy and deception that was used in 1910 when the Federal Reserve Act was written, would have simply been unnecessary. The general public, as well as most of Congress, opposed a central bank. They wanted legislation passed that would essentially dissolve the Money Trust and redistribute the wealth and power that had accumulated into so few hands at the time. The Money Trust, in a very carefully planned out scheme, posed as the anti-Money Trust; they used personal representatives and aliases to draft the act, thus allowing them to hide behind the legislation that created the Fed. When one knows that, they'll see that the Fed is no different from all other central banks of past. They literally exist to debase the currency that they create; this is accepted by the politicians because every time the Fed creates new money and credit, they lower the real debt of the country. What the politicians fail to see is that this system that they endorse IS the cause of the massive transfer of wealth the US has seen in the past decades. Inflationary policies (again . . . the reason central banks exist) of fiat currencies *always* serve as a vessel for a vast transfer of wealth from the low-middle class to the upper-wealthy class. Inflation, throughout history, always erodes the middle class of nations. It is not by chance that the US has seen both a vast transfer of wealth from the middle to upper class, as well as the steady erosion of the middle class, in the time that we have had a central bank. It is not by chance that these phenomena have occurred predominately after 1971, when the US cut all ties with sound, rational, prosperous monetary policies and decided, with no basis in precedent and economic law, that a highly inflationary, purely fiat standard of money would somehow serve to benefit the average American citizen.

• Ron Paul does NOT endorse the idea of moving back to the gold standard. Dr Paul endorses moving forward by legalizing freedom, the freedom of a 'free' people to choose whatever medium of exchange for goods and services they wish to use. Ron Paul has introduced legislation several times, called the Competition in Currency Act, which would simply repeal the legal tender laws so any American or bullion mint who chose to opt out of the USD, and mint coins of different metals, could do so without the risk of having all of their property stolen by the government and being put in prison. Instead of A) somehow suggesting that the gold standard is an ancient idea, and B) trying to make people who understand why the gold standard was far better and achieved Americans far more prosperity than a central bank using paper money, sound crazy, instead of actually RESEARCHING what people like Paul endorse, makes you look like a terrible journalist. Paul does NOT advocate for returning to the gold standard. Paul advocates what Hayek advocated - competition in currency. Where's your journalistic integrity? I mean, honestly - this is why the mainstream corporate media has been rapidly declining in popularity with the public, and why the ushering in of alternative, internet media, and foreign media, has become the media of choice.

• Dick = 0, American Patriots=1

• "I rather not have my currency backed by the finite metal resource" that`s all good king masters and if the rest of the market thinks like you do then so be it...like ron paul says, let the market decide what is tradable for goods and services, the idea of a private bank holding a country hostage and forcing the country to use it`s fiat notes as currency is a disgrace-competition is good for an economy, monopolies are bad and that goes for currencies as well

• "Inflation is always a monetary phenomenon." - Milton Friedman Increasing prices are a result of supply and demand and are just that and nothing more, increased prices. Inflation is the dilution of the monetary supply, a hidden confiscatory tax on everyone that benefits only the government and special interests that receive government bailouts, subsidies, etc.. The conversion rate for gold was $35 an ounce and we were running out to due to arbitrage, the market price was higher than the price the government would convert dollars to gold at and arbitrageurs capitalized on it. $35 is an arbitrary number.

• The economy didn't explode until the FED raised interest rates and reined in stagflation in the 80s. After taking us off of a HYBRID partial gold standard, Nixon had to enact price caps, which negatively affected the economy and caused shortages.

• If you can't tell the difference then you probably aren't looking into what Ron Paul or Lyndon LaRouche believes in.

• So, what you mean to say is that gold's value is purely arbitrary? Good, glad we established that.

• I can't tell the difference between a Ron Paul supporter and a LaRoucher.

• To all of you becoming upset over the intern-level political journalism on display here, and perpetually on the HP: do you really take any of this seriously? It's comedy. Nothing more. Ever notice that you very seldom see a journalist run for public office? There's a reason for that.

• Colbert informs all his guests prior to the show that he's doing a character.

• Mr. Connelly, You have shown yourself as a political hack. Houston Press, You demean yourself by printing this person's garbage.

• ribalding please enlighten us with your pick for a presidentail candidate....

• and look where we are now....

• i think the author should take a couple federal reserve notes and buy himself a clue

• Exactly Barney! Most American are lost in the mists of inflation. The definition of inflation has even been distorted over time. It used to be defined as an increase in the money supply with the EFFECT being an increase in prices all else being equal. Today, most Americans define the effect of inflation as inflation itself.

• It is the financial service sector and government that hates commodity money the most. It is the banking interests that like fiat apper because it can be debased. Gold is an honset medium of exchange which is why governmetn hates it. It puts a break on their spending habits and schemes. Your oligarchs comment only reveals your superficial understanding of money and economics. When you've read a little more maybe we can have a discussion beyond a remedial level.

• I don't think that you are in on the joke that you are a joke. If that's all you got from that interview than you are even denser than most journalism majors.

• Maybe you were sick the day they taught long division in grammar school. Gold is infinitely divisible. Transactions could be made in micro-grams or any other definable quantity. You have a bit more than 28 grams per ounce, which means you have somewhat more than 28 million micrograms per ounce. At $1,400 an ounce, a microgram of gold is about one-half of a cent.

• You know what I love about the Paulites? They don't have a set of beliefs. They have a fetish. And facts never get in the way of a boner.

• It's all an ILLUSION! The Dow was hovering around 1,000 after Nixon closed the gold window. The Dow is currently sitting at around 11,000 after $TRILLIONS of TARP and FED printing. Gold was $35 and ounce when Nixon closed the window. It now sits at around $1,300 an ounce. If Gold is a measure of inflation, then the Dow would have to be at 40,000 just to hold its 1972 value, adjusted for inflation.

• I rather not have my currency backed by the finite metal resource that lil john uses as part of his grill. If no one noticed but after Nixon took us off the gold standard our economy exploded, investments increased and businesses were established.

• So this is where you tell us how much gold would have to rise in value to match the current value of assets in the economy, right? I cannot imagine a bunch of billionaires sitting around and let the value of their assets sink all the way to the basement without doing something about it. I don't think the "loss of purchasing power of the US dollar" is the real issue.

• The century prior to the creation of the Fed, a dollar remained a dollar. After the Fed was created with the specific mandated of maintaining dollar integrity, the dollar is worth 2 cents. Odd that you pointed out the shipwreck analogy without context, but not mention the shoe box challenge. Would you stash away 10k paper in a shoe box or 10k gold.

• Let me get this straight. You trust 12 Federal Reserve Governors to decide how many paper dollars to print from thin air, but you don't trust gold ( the supply of which cannot be manipulated by bankers in dark rooms)? Are you out of your mind? The dollar has lost 30% of its purchasing power in just the last 15 years alone. To ask that we should all be forced to use the same depreciating currency you foolishly support is dangerous and absurd Try to Google the word "Counterfeit" and see what you come up with.

• Yeah, we should return to the gold standard so that we can collapse the economy enough to fit it into the pockets of half a dozen oligarchs.

• RON PAUL

• Richard, Your lack of journalistic integrity is showing. The shipwreck comparison was made in response to the comparison that the other gues made. And Ron Paul is all over the place all the time so your last comment is well, stupid.

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