Ron Paul says Bernanke ducks the issue

Rep. Ron Paul, the Federal Reserve’s most powerful critic, reacts to Ben Bernanke’s press conference. Here’s a lightly edited transcript of his remarks to the MarketWatch Radio Network. Paul is the chairman of the House monetary policy subcommittee, and is thinking of running for president again in 2012.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — I found the press conference to be enlightening in the fact that we heard one, and he held one, and that’s a sign that the Fed knows that they have to be a little more responding to the demand for transparency. When I listened to what had to be said, I wasn’t too enthralled. I’ve heard it all before. Read more on Bernanke's press conference.

It’s smooth talking, to make current policy sound reasonable, and let it go at that. Because they never admit anything. When it comes to prices, it’s never their fault. I mean, how many different things did he mention about why prices go up, why we have inflation? He never admits it’s the inflation of the money supply that’s the problem.
When he was asked about the dollar, he said, “Well you know, the person in charge for the value of the dollar is the secretary of the Treasury.” Well, Bernanke can triple the money supply, and then he wants to duck the issue that he’s responsible.
He says, “Our position is a strong dollar” ... with constant devaluation, even while he spoke it was devaluing. Against gold, it went down 1.5%. It doesn’t make any sense.

It was more justification for a policy that doesn’t work. There was no explanation on how he’s going to get out of this. He did recognize, though, that price increases are significant and could be a problem in the future. It could be a significant problem for unemployment. He said it softly, but there were some words in there that convinced me that he knows that when inflation is admitted – I think it’s already here – but when he really admits it’s here, he’s really in a box. Because what he’ll have to do is raise interest rates, cut back on all the monetization of all this debt, buying all these securities, and then, in a weak economy, he’s in a mess
He works on the Keynesian assumption that prices go up for other reasons than the monetary reasons.
“It’s the supply and demand...Well, third-world nations are starting to buy more oil, that’s why the price of oil goes up.” And it has nothing to do with the inflation of the monetary system.
So, I think he does a good job for what he has to do, and that is try desperately to make a very, very failed system sound plausible. But from my viewpoint, it isn’t plausible, it’s not workable.
And I so strongly oppose centralized economic planning through monetary policy, especially in a small little group that can manipulate interest rates and the money supply and bail out privileged companies that are too big to fail at the same time the little people suffer. They lose their jobs and their mortgages and their houses.
So, to me, we have to have major monetary reform, and a bit of transparency. A pretense of transparency won’t suffice.

Libertarian Ron Paul to make another bid for 2012 Republican nomination

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference Tuesday, April 26, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. Paul says he's forming a campaign exploratory committee as he moves closer to again seeking the Republican nomination for president. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

WASHINGTON - Ron Paul, the anti-war libertarian who's considered the Tea Party movement's "intellectual grandfather," has signalled he's running for U.S. president for the third time in his political career.

The 75-year-old Republican congressman announced in Des Moines, Iowa, that he's setting up an exploratory committee, generally the first step in an official run for president. Paul said he'd decide soon whether to formally enter the race.

"I would be very surprised if I don't make that decision in the month of May," he said.
Paul ran a dark horse campaign in 2008, resulting in a small but devoted support base, particularly among young voters who were particularly stoked by his support for the legalization of marijuana.
Four years later, amid a lingering recession and consternation about the country's gargantuan US$14 trillion nation debt, political observers say Paul's primary messages — smaller government and deficit reduction — could resonate with larger numbers of Republican primary voters.
"The dialogue has moved towards Ron Paul," Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said Tuesday.
"For the past 25 years he's been consistently worried about the money supply, deficits, debts and the Federal Reserve. He was all alone for a very long time, but now lots of people in the Republican party and beyond are concerned about those very issues."
Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas, agreed.
"He represents the kind of fiscal prudence that not only appeals to the Tea Party, but also the broader Republican base right now," Buchanan said.
"If he acquires the kind of funding that he had last time, and the kind of grassroots support, he could do very well. And if the field turns out to be sparse, and people like Sarah Palin don't run, he could pick up a big chunk of their supporters."
Paul, who was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in 1988, finished a distant fourth to John McCain in 2008, behind Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. But he set fundraising records, bringing in substantial online donations, rivalling Barack Obama's similar triumphs during the presidential campaign.
Paul is strongly opposed to the Federal Reserve and its ability to print money, and successfully pushed Congress to pass a bill forcing it to open its books.
He wants income tax eliminated, wants to wipe out the Department of Education and has voted against raising the debt ceiling. Republicans, he argues, should have allowed the government to shut down in their ongoing fight with Democrats over budget cuts.
He has railed against what he calls "welfarism" at home and militarism abroad, and believes the U.S. should stop sending to troops to meddle in foreign conflicts like the one playing out in Libya.
His anti-military bent might not fly with some Republicans, but other stances cause the party to smile upon him.
He opposes gun control, and even believes pilots should carry firearms in cockpits. He's also strongly pro-life and has called himself an "unshakeable foe" of abortion, although he doesn't think the federal government should legislate abortion policy.
Paul is also opposed to universal health-care, critical of President Obama's health-care legislation due to its scale and scope. But he's also said he'd be willing to "prop up" Medicare and Medicaid with money saved by bringing troops home from foreign bases in places like South Korea.
On other topics, however, Paul could be a tougher sell for Republicans. Among other hot-button issues, he has called the war on drugs "a total disaster" that should be abandoned, and was in favour of a mosque being built near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan.
On Monday, Fox News's Sean Hannity pressed Paul about his stance on the mosque, asking: "You are not concerned about the families of 9-11 and what happened?"
"This means you blame the religion, you don't want to blame the religion," Paul responded. "The principle here is a private property principle. We shouldn't have governments building buildings and telling people where to build. It should be a private property issue."

His announcement came just a day after the surprise decision by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to drop his plans to make a bid for the White House. Barbour, who had lined up major funding and top Republican strategists for a potential campaign, said Monday he lacked the "fire in the belly" to make a run.

Barbour is apparently not alone in his apathy. A recent New York Times-CBS News poll found that 56 per cent of Republican voters were unenthusiastic about any of the potential nominees.

Paul's entry into the Republican race ends speculation that his son, Sen. Rand Paul from Kentucky, was also eyeing a bid for the nomination. The freshman senator, also a Republican, has said he'd drop any plans to run if his father joined the field.

Paul is reportedly planning to appoint top Iowa Republican strategists in an attempt to win over the crucial primary state. The Iowa primary is the first in the 2012 cycle and most presidential hopefuls spent significant money and time there.

But Jillson predicted Paul's policies are too extreme for him to stand any real chance of winning the nomination.

"His message will resonate but he'll still be seen as a bridge too far," he said. "But he'll certainly be an interesting person to watch, someone who has had a consistent, unwavering message on substantial issues for many, many years."