Daily Archives: April 23, 2013

Ron Paul On Bitcoin: "If I Can't Put It In My Pocket, I Have Reservations"

Posted: April 23, 2013 at 6:43 pm

"You will not see economic growth until you liquidate the debt and liquidate the malinvestment out there," is the hard truth that former Congressman Ron Paul lays on Bloomberg TV in this wide-ranging interview. Paul is concerned at "the erraticness of the dollar... and its devaluation," explaining that, "people think the gold price up and down is a reflection of something wrong with gold; no, I say it is something wrong with the dollar." The topic gravitates to inflation, which Paul explains is far from missing as, "Bond prices go up. Stocks are going up. Housing prices are starting to go back up again. Education costs are going up," adding that, "CPI is not reliable." Paul is buying gold, believes "we are in as much trouble as Greece," and while fascinated by the free market nature of Bitcoin, he notes that while he doesn't fully understand it, "if I can't put it in my pocket, I have some reservations about that."

Paul on whether he's concerned about the drop in gold:

"I am concerned about the erraticness of the dollar. The dollar is up, the dollar is down. We print a lot of dollars. The dollar gets devalued. That is really the concern. If people think the gold price up and down is a reflection of something wrong with gold, no, I say it is something wrong with the dollar. People have been expressing concerns over the past couple of months about gold, but compared to what?

Compared to where gold went from when the Fed took over where it was $20 per ounce compared to what has happened in the past?...

I remember in the 1970's when they finally allow people to own gold and it went from $35 to $200 rather rapidly, and then it lost 50%. Then it went up to $800.

To compare a couple of months or a couple of weeks and forget about a bull market in gold price in relationship to the dollar for 12 years. I would say the comparison is not an authentic comparison. What you have to look at is the inflation. Inflation is an increased supply of money.

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Ron Paul On Bitcoin: "If I Can't Put It In My Pocket, I Have Reservations"

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Why Libertarianism Is So Dangerous – Video

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Why Libertarianism Is So Dangerous
A former libertarian abandons his dream of a voluntary world and explains the potential worse case scenario after the overnight disappearance of government. ...

By: SchoolSucksPodcast

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Why Libertarianism Is So Dangerous - Video

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Libertarianism challenges the old left-right divide

Posted: at 6:43 pm

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in Lexington, Ky., in a file photo from Oct. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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In a recent article in Politico, reporter James Hohmann says that libertarianism, long considered a radical movement stereotyped as pro-pot, pro-porn and pro-pacifism, is moving into the mainstream.

Led by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., he writes, libertarians hope to become a dominant wing of the Republican Party by tapping into a potent mix of war weariness, economic anxiety and frustration with federal overreach in the fifth year of Barack Obama's presidency.

The retirement of Paul's father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, long a libertarian icon but considered slightly goofy, is allowing the movement to try to rebrand itself as a reasonable and serious element of the GOP.

In a rebuttal to the Politico article, though, Reason.com says the movement is trendy because Ron Paul's ideas received an airing during his two presidential campaigns, not because of any efforts by the younger Paul.

According to NPR, Rand Paul himself may have aspirations toward a 2016 presidential run, which would likely raise questions about what many consider the mixed legacy of his father.

When it comes to actually winning elections, however, the movement faces steep challenges: Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who ran as the Libertarian Party candidate in 2012, received 1.2 million votes, or 1 percent.

THE TAKEAWAY: Rand Paul's filibuster was a paradigm buster.

"Rand Paul is a very canny politician," Matt Welch, the editor of Reason, told host Tom Weber. "His filibuster [against U.S. drone policy] was a pretty epic moment in American politics ... partly because of the way it completely scrambled the usual left-right paradigm. You had Code Pink and Van Jones giving him a high-five, and you had Bill Kristol denouncing him, and Lindsey Graham and John McCain calling him wacko bird, and this kind of thing. And it really sheds light on the fact that our traditional left-right paradigm isn't always the best way to look at things. Sometimes it's better to look at things in terms of 'Do you favor government intervention,' or 'Do you favor more individual autonomy and control over your life?'

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