Posted on 12/07/2007 4:58:16 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Ron Paul's campaign issued a statement critical of Hillary Clinton’s call for further government action to deal with the U.S. housing collapse. Paul also took shots at the Federal Reserve for causing the economic crises.
"Ron Paul has long predicted this type of crisis would result from federal interventions into the housing market and excessively low interest rates," said Ron Paul 2008 campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Only Dr. Paul has the expertise to explain why we must reject further political intervention into the housing market, such as that advocated by Hillary Clinton."
The Texas Republican has a legislative record spanning four decades that consistently opposed the monetary policies that caused the housing crash. Paul said, “The root of this crisis, as with past financial and economic crises, results from federal government intervention into the economy, not to anything endemic to the market, nor to the actions of market participants.”
The Republican presidential candidate also said, ”The collapse of the housing market has served as a catalyst for the economy's latest bust. Various federal mortgage programs through the FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have distorted the normal workings of the housing market.”
Ron Paul who advocates the elimination of the Federal Reserve also said, "The Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy and lowering of interest rates were a major spur to the housing boom. Low interest rates influence marginal buyers, those who are sitting on the fence, and encourage them to take on a mortgage that they otherwise would not. It is time for the federal government to get out of the housing business."
Dr. Paul has long been a proponent of rejecting central planning by the Federal Reserve and government bureaucrats. He instead advocates returning to a policy of sound money (gold standard) that encourages fiscal responsibility.
The U.S. housing crises may have started with subprime loans but it now seems to have spread way beyond that in many areas of the country where values were artificially inflated by Federal Reserve lending policies.
There now seems to be a growing debate over what if anything can or should the government do to stem the crises. Some believe government intervention will only worsen the crises as they believe it did during the great depression while others believe it is needed to stabilize the economy
There is reason to believe that Alan Greenspan was asleep at the wheel. If so, he ruined a once distinguished career.
Oh no he wasn’t asleep. He knew exactly what he was doing.
BTW, a note to Chairman Bernanke: You don’t fix the aftermath of a bubble caused by low interest rates by lowering interest rates.
He's been opposing monetary policy [that caused this crash] for FORTY years.
So generations of Americans afforded the means to homeownership... and trillions upon trillions of dollars in economic gains were the wrong policy?
This is crazy.
There seem to be a large number of corporations and investment groups that have access to large amounts of cash and credit.
These corporations should be able to provide all the funds necessary for the expansion of the economy through a variety of loans, etc. to other coporations that wish to obtain them.
The interest that any one lender charges to any one lendee should be completely determined by the market.
As the business cycle starts to ramp up there will be greater demand for loans. This will lead to higher and higher interest rates tending to damp any speculative bubble.
As the business cycle starts to ramp down there will be lower demand for loans. This will lead to lower and lower interest rates tending to damp any recessionary tendencies.
The market can handle the pricing of tangible goods and services. It should be able to handle the pricing of the credit necessary to maintain and expand the production of goods and services.
Greenspan was a gold bug early in his career and a devotee of Ayn Rand (sp?). He knew the value of keeping the dollar within a small price range with respect to gold. However, he started to believe his own press clippings and thought that he was smarter than the market.
He’s been opposing monetary policy [that caused this crash] for FORTY years.*****
Yes, and so have many other prominent economists or business leaders. Jude Wanniski, Laffer, Forbes, Kemp and even Greenspan in his younger days.
*****So generations of Americans afforded the means to homeownership... and trillions upon trillions of dollars in economic gains were the wrong policy?
This is crazy.****
Ah, but what might have been.
All you have to do is look at a historical graph of inflation. We had virtually no inflation from the beginning of the country until the 1930’s, when FDR took us off the real gold standard. There was some inflation during the Civil War, but we were not on the gold standard at that time. After the Civil War, we went back to the gold standard and we had some deflation to correct things. Even from the 30’s through the early 60’s we had very little inflation. When we went to a two tier gold pricing system was when inflation started creeping in and it went through the roof when Nixon closed the gold window.
Some people want to claim that the Federal Reserve has lessened the number of recessions/depressions, but our history has been one of increasingly longer periods of prosperity and shorter periods of recessions. The one exception to that was the Great Depression.
My ex father in law purchased an annuity in the early 70’s thinking he would be set for the rest of his life. The high rate of inflation in the 70’s and early 80’s greatly reduced his standard of living. Something he had worked for for 45 years. Inflation destroys savings.
I would urge everyone who would like to learn a little more about the value of a gold standard to visit the Supply-Side Forum and read Jude Wanniski’s paper “Polaris”. It makes a very good case for the value of a gold standard.
The Federal Reserve does not "set" rates, it "persuades" them.
The concept is called "moral suasion" for some unknown and ungodly reason.
Yes, the blimp project is a go.
It hasn’t even started flying and already it is making the news.
What a Dope. So close. If his Foreign Policy was worth a sh*t he’d be the next President of the USA.
Regards, Ed
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I have to ask: just how many different pictures of Washington in that boat do you have anyway? LOL.
Great Pic. The blimp is everywhere.
But giving even the faintest glimmer of validating the 'justifications' used by America's enemies to attack us is not OK. Perhaps if Ron Paul appreciated how mentally deranged and irrational the Islamic extremists are, he would be singing a different tune.
That's correct; he has. I've been reading his economic commentary for many years, long pre-dating his expression of interest in the presidential race. Regardless of what people say about his other policies, he is RIGHT about this.
Especially government intervention in the free market by elitists in the Executive Branch.
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