September 29, 2008
VIDEO: Congressman Ron Paul Remarks on the Bailout - Just Prior to the Vote
Dr. Paul gave a quick speech on the House floor this morning concerning the bailout. Due to the nature of the debate today, he didn’t have time to read his full remarks, which were put into the congressional record and are featured below:
The process of this bailout reminds me of a panic-stricken swimmer thrashing in the water only making his situation worse. Even a “bipartisan deal”—whatever that is supposed to mean— will not stop the Congress from thrashing about.
The beneficiaries of the corrupt monetary system of the last three decades are now desperately looking for victims to stick with the bill after they have reaped decades of profit and privilege.
The difficulties in our economy will continue because the Legislative and the Executive branches have not yet begun to address the real problems. The housing bubble’s collapse, as was the Dot Com bubble’s collapse, was predictable and is merely a symptom of the monetary system that brought us to this point.
Indeed, we do face a major crisis but it is much bigger than the freezing up of Wall Street and dealing with worthless assets on the books of major banks. The true crisis is the pending collapse of the fiat dollar system that emerged after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods agreement in 1971.
For 37 years the world built a financial system based on the dollar as the reserve currency of the world in an attempt to make the dollar serve as the new standard of value. However since 1971, the dollar has had no intrinsic value, as it is not tied to gold. The dollar is simply a fiat currency, which has fluctuated in value on a daily, if not hourly, bias. This worked to some degree until the market realized that too much debt and malinvestment existed and a correction was required.
Because of our economic and military strength, compared to other countries, trust in America’s currency lasted longer than deserved. This resulted in the biggest worldwide economic distortion in all of history. The problem is much bigger than the fears of a temporary decline on Wall Street if the bailout is not agreed to.
Money’s most important function is to serve as a means of exchange—a measurement of value. If this crucial yardstick is not stable, it becomes impossible for investors, entrepreneurs, savers, and consumers to make correct decisions; these mistakes create the bubble that must eventually be corrected.
Just imagine the results if a construction company was forced to use a yardstick whose measures changed daily to construct a skyscraper. The result would be a very unstable and dangerous building. No doubt the construction company would try to cover up their fundamental problem with patchwork repairs, but no amount of patchwork can fix a building with an unstable inner structure. Eventually, the skyscraper will collapse, forcing the construction company to rebuild—hopefully this time with a stable yardstick. This 700 billion package is more patchwork repair and will prove to be money down a rat hole and will only make the dollar crisis that much worse.
But what politicians are willing to say that the financial “skyscraper”—the global financial and monetary system-is a house of cards. It is not going to happen at this juncture. They’re not even talking about this. They talk only of bailouts, more monetary inflation, more special interest spending, more debt, and more regulations. There is almost no talk of the relationship of the Community Reinvestment Act, HUD, and government assisted loans to the housing bubble. And there is no talk of the oversight that is desperately needed for the Federal Reserve, the Exchange Stabilization Fund, and all the activities of the President’s Working Group on financial markets. When these actions are taken we will at last know that Congress is serious about the reforms that are really needed.
In conclusion, there are three good reasons why Congress should reject this legislation:
a. It is immoral—Dumping bad debt on the innocent taxpayers is an act of theft and is wrong.
b. It is unconstitutional—There is no constitutional authority to use government power to serve special interests.
c. It is bad economic policy—By refusing to address the monetary system while continuing to place the burdens of the bailout on the dollar, we can be certain that in time, we will be faced with another, more severe crisis when the market figures out that there is no magic government bailout or regulation that can make a fraudulent monetary system work.
Monetary reform will eventually come, but, unfortunately, Congress’ actions this week make it more likely the reform will come under dire circumstances, such as the midst of a worldwide collapse of the dollar. The question then will be how much of our liberties will be sacrificed in the process. Just remember what we lost in the aftermath of 9-11.
The best result we can hope for is that the economic necessity of getting our fiscal house in order will, at last, force us to give up our world empire. Without the empire we can then concentrate on rebuilding the Republic.
Update - Here’s the video of the remarks Dr. Paul delivered this morning:
SOURCE: campaignforliberty.com
Tags: Bailouts, Economy, Federal Reserve, Ron Paul
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It is my understanding that Ron Paul has a bill (HR 2755) before the House which calls for removal of the Federal Reserve. This would be a move in the right direction. Perhaps Dr. Paul could provide a detailed look at how an original Constitutional monetary system would work.
Money is a social tool of exchange, and in no way should its creation be privatized.
I believe that the stock market should be dismantled, and that transnational corporations be barred from operating in the United States.
That’s correct.That is my next call HR 2755 and re-instate the constitution. Accountability too.The people spoke and were listened to. But must stay on their case about the change we want change. Good job to those who took the stand. Most will have to live within their means now. Which isn’t a bad thing. The stock market is like a casino. If you like to gamble do if you lose that’s your own problem.
typo: change we want.
As Democrats blame Republicans and vice-versa, the truth is Political Correctness in the name of greed on Wallstreet.(Working the PC game to stick it to the middleclass, while the elite run off with millions and the wards of the State go back to public housing.)……….Even Socialism has it’s out of control “Shylocks”. For a walk down memory lane, see the October 2002 speech by GWB continuing a failed Clinton policy of Political Correctness:
“How Political Correctness Ruined The U.S. Economy”……scroll down and click on the speech.
http://cofcc.org/
I generally agree with Dr. Paul. If Congress do nothing to save own portfolios, stock will loose some of its value, some banks will go down which is a threat to rich people only. Investors will have no choice but to look at tangible values such as real estate and buy houses for cash and profit later on. That will solve RE liquidity issue and make market stronger.
Ordinary people will only benefit from it.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson…
“… the eyes of our citizens are not sufficiently open to the true cause of our distress. They ascribe them to everything but their true cause, the banking system; a system which if it could do good in any form is yet so certain of leading to abuse as to be utterly incompatible with the public safety and prosperity. Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity… is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” - Letter to Richard Rush, June 1819
“The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.” - Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, January 1814
All of a sudden they would have us believe that the constituents have changed their opinions and mail is now beginning to change in favor of this Bailout, and that’s what it is no matter how much they try to change the purpose word.
Something no-one is talking about. In what condition does everyone in DC think these properties are after having sat empty for months, some years, and what condition do they think they will be in when they put them back on the market and how much money is each one going to take to bring up to saleable condition, and when they are who is going to furnish security until they sell which even then will be at a tremendous loss no matter what these pundents say.
Who is going to handle the sale of these properties that cost will be at minimum 10% of sale price not including any back taxes that were never paid.
These politicians have no right to tell the taxpayer that they will be making money off this swindle. These homes were run up the scale of future value already and there will be no-one left with a job to buy them by the time this is over.
Now Ford wants their share of the swindle and the others will follow and then the airlines and then the hi-techies, etc. etc.