(2006) Ron Paul: GOLD AND THE US DOLLAR [Part 4]

( April 25th, 2006) Rep. Ron Paul speaks before the US House of Representatives.

(2006) Ron Paul: GOLD AND THE US DOLLAR [Part 1]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcP_Lw4BCc

(2006) Ron Paul: GOLD AND THE US DOLLAR [Part 2]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHsh_SwAstw

(2006) Ron Paul: GOLD AND THE US DOLLAR [Part 3]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C04kIwnzRSg

(2006) Ron Paul: GOLD AND THE US DOLLAR [Part 4]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEm03U7eXTw

---------------------------------------------------------------

(Transcript)

It is a mistake to blame high gasoline and oil prices on price gouging. If we impose new taxes or fix prices while ignoring monetary inflation, corporate subsidies and excessive regulations, shortages will result. The market is the only way to determine the best price for any commodity. The law of supply and demand cannot be repealed. The real problems arise when government planners give subsidies to energy companies and favor one form of energy over another.

Energy prices are rising for many reasons: inflation, increased demand from China and India, decreased supply resulting from our invasion into Iraq, anticipated disruption of supplies as we push regime change in Iran, regulatory restrictions on gasoline production, government interference in the free market development of alternative fuels, and subsidies to Big Oil, such as free leases and grants for research and development.

Interestingly, the cost of oil and gas is actually much higher than we pay at the retail level. Much of the DOD budget is spent protecting ``our'' oil supplies; and if such spending is factored in, gasoline probably costs us more than $5 a gallon. The sad irony is that the military efforts to secure cheap oil supplies inevitably backfire and actually curtail supplies and boost prices at the pump. The waste and fraud in issuing contracts to large corporations for work in Iraq only adds to price
increases.

When problems arise under conditions that exist today, it is a serious error to blame the little bit of the free market that still functions. Last summer, the market worked efficiently after Katrina. Gasoline hit $3 a gallon, but soon supplies increased, usage went down, and the price returned to $2. In the 1980s, market forces took oil from $40 a barrel down to $10 a barrel, and no one cried for the oil companies that went bankrupt. Today's increases are for the reasons mentioned above. It is
natural for labor to seek its highest wage and businesses to strive for the greatest profits. That is the way the market works. When the free market is allowed to work, it is the consumer who ultimately determines price and quality, with labor and businesses accommodating consumer choices. Once this process is distorted by government, prices rise excessively, labor costs and profits are negatively affected, and problems emerge.

Instead of fixing the problem, politicians and demagogues respond by demanding windfall profits taxes and price controls, while never questioning how previous government interference caused the whole mess in the first place. Never let it be said that high oil prices and profits cause inflation. Inflation of the money supply causes higher prices.

Since keeping interest rates below market levels is synonymous with new money creation by the Fed, the resulting business cycle, higher cost of living and job losses all can be laid at the doorstep of the Fed. This burden hits the poor the most, making Fed taxation by inflation the worst of all regressive taxes. Statistics about revenues generated by the income tax are grossly misleading. In reality, much harm is done by our welfare-warfare system supposedly designed to help the poor and tax
the rich. Only sound money can rectify the blatant injustice of this destructive system.

(...)

[ http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=7442935 ]

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ron
• paul
• liberty
• usa
• elections
• 2008
• constitution
• dollar
• gold
• fiat
• paper
• money

[kilhan]

the Federal Reserve is the enemy of the American people.

[freedomintheus]

RON PAUL 08

[MrColts420]

Ron Paul 2012

I hope more people have awoken from their deep sleep and have listened to this man preach the same economic principals and philosophical ideals about a free-market society, and a non-interventionist foreign policy, especially with this illegal war in Libya

We have to stop the same false economic theories that got us into this mess in the first place! End the Fed! End Keynesian economics and go back to sound money, not this worthless fiat paper. They abuse the power every time

[TrueKnowledg3]

Don't u just luv the way the government plans out how they gone control ur life.

[TomValedro]

ron paul is a joke, he seriously needs to be on comedy central so I can get a good laugh from the old man. thanks for the good laugh ron, i dont know whats more hilarious, your internet trolls who spam online polls or your wack ass ideas about legalizing cocaine. lol, ron paul, man this guy is great, such a great comedian.

[slapme7times]

Anyone who has read 'the jungle' knows that if people don't watch each other, society goes to hell =)

[wildcatbungalo]

Gold is inflatable and controllable just like paper money - it happened in the past just like it happened today. So, Dr. Paul, you're wrong - besides, gold still backed paper money most of the way through the Great Depression and World War II until groups leveraged gold to hurt the British and US war effort.

[wildcatbungalo]

We remove those military bases and the world will descend into chaos. Our predecessors did not do these things for no reason. I don't like it but reality bites.

Without government and regulation free markets cannot exist.

[emonster5k]

The Federal income tax only pays off the interest charged by the Federal Reserve. The founding fathers intended to have an economy not regulated by the government. Taxes never solve problems. Cuts in unreasonable federal spending does. The U.S. doesn't only protect the U.S. We have 700 military bases in 130 countries, which is unreasonable for the American people to pay for. We must return to a small government, or we will fail. The president and congress shoudln't regulate the economy.

[kondiwagle]

I understand the Libertarian argument that government should stay out of the free market's way much more than I understand the insistence on no taxation.

It seem to me that we depend on the government for protection and many aspects of infrastructure. Why shouldn't we pay taxes for that? How do the necessary roles of government interfere with the free market?