TheStreet.com on Ron Paul and the Gold Standard
M.A. Nystrom, M.B.A.
July 24, 2007
Cambridge, MA
In the past, Simon
Constable from TheStreet.com has done some mildly positive, mildly
misleading stories/articles on Ron Paul and his idea of "returning
to the gold standard." I
critiqued one of his earlier articles here, and did a followup critique here.
The gist of my criticism is this: Mr. Constable
tries to make it appear that Ron Paul wants to "go back" to an
inflexible system that was abandoned in the 19th century. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Dr. Paul himself has said there
were flaws with the past system, and he would in fact like to move
forward to a new, commodity-based, honest money system. A 100%
reserve gold standard has never, in fact, existed in the United
States.
After my first critique, Mr. Constable emailed
me, thanking me for my interesting perspective. Recently, Mr.
Constable again emailed me with a link to a new video/story that
he's done on Ron Paul and the gold standard. In this new video,
Constable interviews random people in front of the New York Stock
Exchange. The first question he poses is whether they know what the
gold standard is. Woefully, no one does. He then goes on to ask the
same ignorant people, "Presidential candidate Ron Paul wants to
abolish the Fed and reintroduce the gold standard. Do you think that
is a good idea?"
Certainly, there is no point in
asking ignorant people for advice on a topic, and certainly Mr.
Constable knows that such advice worthless. So why ask
it? It appears that Mr. Constable prefers to use their words to
subtly ridicule the idea. For example, the first person he shows
responding to this question says, no it is not a good idea, but that
it's irrelevant since "we don't have to worry about Ron Paul."
Another man responds, "19th century...1800's? I
would hope that we've advanced quite a bit since then."
This is a fallacious argument that easily plays
among the ignorant, and Mr. Constable does nothing to correct it.
Not once in his video piece does he attempt to explain 1) What the
gold standard is or 2) Why Dr. Paul is so adamantly opposed to the
Federal Reserve System.
Certainly we have come a long way in our
thinking, ideas, science and technological capabilities since the
19th century. However, human nature remains much the same. As such,
bankers, governments and politicians still have the same desires
that they had in the 19th Century: Bankers to make more money using
money alone; governments to exert more control over citizens and
property; and politicians to spend more money without raising taxes.
The fiat money system of the Federal Reserve allows and promotes all
three of these while at the same time surreptitiously saddling
citizens with the hidden tax of inflation. As the supply of fiat
dollars is increased, each existing dollar is worth less, thus
eroding the buying power and saving ability of citizens.
On the other hand, a gold standard contains
inflation, enforces fiscal discipline on government, and makes it
much more difficult for government to fight needless wars. Under a
gold standard, money is worth increasingly more
each year as citizens reap direct benefits from
increases in efficiency. This is a nearly impossible concept for
most citizens to grasp, since all we have ever known in our
lifetimes is a currency that is worth less and less each year.
You can watch Simon Constable's video here.
Please let me know
what you think of it by posting your comments here. There is no
need to register to post.
To his credit, Mr. Constable says at the end of
his piece, "I suspect we're going to see a lot more of Ron Paul, and
when we do, I'll be covering. So stay tuned..." What worries me is
that Mr. Constable will continue with more misleading pieces about
Dr. Paul (such as this one) that promote more disinformation than
truth. If Mr. Constable is to continue reporting on Dr. Paul, I for
one would like to see him give Dr. Paul's ideas a more serious and
thorough examination. It would be great to even see an interview of
Dr. Paul by Mr. Constable.
At the same time, the video does reveal how
woefully ignorant the general public is regarding the Federal
Reserve, money and gold, and how this affects them on a day-to-day
basis. It is said that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is more
powerful than the President of the United States, because his
decisions on monetary policy (though interest rate decisions) affect
the average citizens’ house payment, car payment, and whether or not
he will have a job. But most people never give that a second
thought. This ignorance can easily be manipulated to serve the
current powers that be - the government and the MSM.
An educated, fully informed populace is much
more difficult to manipulate and fool. As such, I encourage each of
you to do your own research on the subject of money, gold, the
Federal Reserve, Ron Paul and the MSM.
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© 2007 bullnotbull.com
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