Three questions for the opponents of Ron Paul

[G-Max]

1. Do you know what a currency crisis is?

2. Did you know that the dollar is beginning to lose its status as the world's reserve currency?

3. Did you know that Dr. Paul is the only guy in Washington who would actually stop the printing of Fed notes?

 

[galdre]

1. no
2. yes
3. for ever?

 

[peter grimes]

1. Sort of, but not fully. I'm thinking of Zimbabwe a few years ago, the Weimar years in Germany, Argentina a decade ago, and so on. I don't see how those situations pertain to the USA today.

2. Yes, and it's not only long overdue, but it's inevitable. It's not a bad thing.

3. I know that he claims that, but I doubt he'd be able to pull that off. Don't forget he'd have to convince Congress and the Supreme Court to go along with whatever he tries.

Questions for a Ron Paul supporter:
1. Did you know that Ron Paul is against vaccine programs that have successfully eliminated the leading causes of childhood mortality?

2. Did you know that Ron Paul wants to return the practice of medicine in the USA to a completely unregulated for-profit enterprise?

3. Did you know that he doesn't accept Evolution and thinks that a supernatural power controls everything in the Universe?

 

[kochman]

1. Do you know what a currency crisis is?

2. Did you know that the dollar is beginning to lose its status as the world's reserve currency?

3. Did you know that Dr. Paul is the only guy in Washington who would actually stop the printing of Fed notes?

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) I don't think most people object to this part (though some do, surely)... it's a combination of Paul's points that turn people away. I'm glad he's bringing some items into the national dialogue... but he's really out there on some areas, too far for comfort.

 

[peter grimes]

I'm glad he's bringing some items into the national dialogue

Indeed. I also have tremendous respect for the way he challenges the traditional seats of power. We need more of that from all sides. There are many things I agree with him on, but then again there are many things I agree with Kim Jong Il about* - doesn't mean I'd prefer to have him running things.

*whiskey, women, and movies

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Not an opponent as such, but I'll play

1. Yes. \o/
2. No.
3. No.

 

[warpus]

Questions for a Ron Paul supporter:
1. Did you know that Ron Paul is against vaccine programs that have successfully eliminated the leading causes of childhood mortality?

2. Did you know that Ron Paul wants to return the practice of medicine in the USA to a completely unregulated for-profit enterprise?

3. Did you know that he doesn't accept Evolution and thinks that a supernatural power controls everything in the Universe?

The guy's just full of horrible & wacky ideas: wants to withdraw the U.S. from NATO, the UN, and a bunch of other international organizations, to add to that list. There is more but I don't like using my brain to keep track of crazy.

He's got a lot of good ideas, but they are overshadowed by the horrible.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

1. Do you know what a currency crisis is?

Yes, it happened in 1998 after capitalism was introduced into Russia.

2. Did you know that the dollar is beginning to lose its status as the world's reserve currency?

I couldn't be bothered to care.

3. Did you know that Dr. Paul is the only guy in Washington who would actually stop the printing of Fed notes?

Did you know that Dr. Paul's allegations of such are a complete lie?

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/12/22/is-the-fed-printing-money/

Is the Federal Reserve printing money to finance its bond buying? Or isn’t it? Ben Bernanke has given inconsistent answers, at times saying it is and at times saying it isn’t.

In an exchange with readers on Time magazine’s website this past weekend, a reader asked Mr. Bernanke why the Fed is creating dollars “out of thin air.” Mr. Bernanke said it wasn’t. “These policies are not leading to increases in the amount of currency in circulation,” he said.

He made a similar argument to CBS News’s Scott Pelley earlier this month in defense of the Fed’s plan to purchase $600 billion of U.S. Treasury bonds with money that the Fed creates. “People talk about the printing press. That’s not what this is about. This policy does not increase the amount of currency in circulation. It does not increase in any significant way the amount of money in broader terms, say, as measured by bank deposits,” he said.

Yet back in March 2009 Mr. Bernanke told Mr. Pelley that the Fed was printing money to fund an earlier bond buying program. “It’s not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed, much the same way that you have an account in a commercial bank. So, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed. It’s much more akin to printing money than it is to borrowing,” he said.

The Fed has been buying bonds since early 2009. When a private investor buys bonds, the investor uses cash or sells some existing asset to raise cash and uses that money to buy bonds. The investor might also borrow money from a bank and use the borrowed funds to buy securities on margin. The Fed can do something else. It has the power to electronically credit money to the bank accounts of sellers who in turn sell government securities or mortgage backed securities to the Fed. The banks get the money and the Fed gets the securities. The Fed isn’t literally printing $100 dollar bills when it does this. But it is creating money, electronically, that wasn’t in the financial system before. In that sense, it is printing money.

But as Mr. Bernanke has been trying to emphasize lately — perhaps clumsily — most of the money that the Fed has created isn’t circulating much through the financial system. It’s mostly sitting idly, often in deposits — also known as reserves — that banks keep with the Fed itself. Broader measures of the money supply haven’t grown that much because the money isn’t being lent on. Since January 2008, the amount of Federal Reserve notes, i.e. currency, in circulation has increased 18%, to $980 billion. During the same stretch, the reserves banks keep with the Fed has increased more than 30-fold to $995 billion from $33 billion.

Meantime, in the 12 months between November 2009 and November 2010, M2 money supply, a broad measure of money including bank deposits, retail money market fund deposits and other measures of short-term money, are up just 3.3%.

The Fed chairman seems to be trying to emphasize two points: 1) The Fed isn’t literally printing money; and 2) The money that it is creating isn’t flooding through the financial system in a way that would be inflationary...

...The point is that there’s not as much money out there as you might think. Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues are also confident they can soak it up when needed. One way the Fed plans to do this is by paying banks interest on the reserves they keep with it. It only pays 0.25% now. If the economy heats up, it can increase that rate and keep all of those reserve from being lent too aggressively and overheating the economy. (We’re a long way from that moment.)

 

[Leoreth]

Wow, three questions that have turned everything I thought to know about monetarism and Ron Paul on its head.

 

[Cutlass]

1. Do you know what a currency crisis is?

Yes, and the US is not facing one in the foreseeable future.

2. Did you know that the dollar is beginning to lose its status as the world's reserve currency?

No, it is not. You see the only other contender is the Euro, which is doing much worse than the US$

3. Did you know that Dr. Paul is the only guy in Washington who would actually stop the printing of Fed notes?

Did you know that Dr Paul is the only guy in Washington who thinks the utter crushing of market economics and frequent economic depressions is a superior result to economic growth?

 

[useless]

Did you know that Dr Paul is the only guy in Washington who thinks the utter crushing of market economics and frequent economic depressions is a superior result to economic growth?

And only because he would personally benefit from the ensuing financial choas.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I support Ron Paul, it would be dreadful for the civilised world for America to have another Republican President, him and that Newt guy are Obama's best campaigners.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Currency crisis...
As if inflation was the real problem in the USA, compared to say home foreclosures, private dept or unemployment.
And why is everyone calling him Dr. Paul as if a PhD is something particularly rare and noteworthy among high-ranking politicians? You don't hear alot of people talking about Dr. Obama or Dr. Merkel.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

He's an MD though isn't he? (As in, a doctor of medicine).

 

[useless]

He's an MD though isn't he? (As in, a doctor of medicine).

An MD that spread the belief that aids is spread via saliva and tears, via his newsletter.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Well yeah, obviously I wouldn't want him diagnosing me... Doogie Howser would be my choice.

 

[Quackers]

He specialises in pregnant woman PS, so a few more curries and you'll be on his list ;p

 

[Antilogic]

Indeed. I also have tremendous respect for the way he challenges the traditional seats of power. We need more of that from all sides. There are many things I agree with him on, but then again there are many things I agree with Kim Jong Il about* - doesn't mean I'd prefer to have him running things.

*whiskey, women, and movies

I love that he's not playing to the militaristic aspects of the Republican Party, and he actually engages the other candidates on stage in real debates and not pander-races. Then he starts talking about money and I go all slack-jawed as my earballs are assaulted with utter nonsense.

 

[peter grimes]

He's an MD though isn't he? (As in, a doctor of medicine).

I can't answer this positively Yes or No.

He doesn't think that humans and other apes share a common ancestor. To my mind he's not a full medical doctor, but simply a sort of doctorish technician.

He may know how to push the proper medical buttons in response to certain inputs, but he has no grasp on the underlying meaning of what's going on.

I think it's appropriate to refer to someone as 'Dr.' in the context of their field, but I never refer to my friends and colleagues who have PhD's as 'Dr.'

 

[warpus]

I think it's appropriate to refer to someone as 'Dr.' in the context of their field, but I never refer to my friends and colleagues who have PhD's as 'Dr.'

There exist people who get really offended when you don't call them Dr., even if they're not a doctor doctor but simply have finished their phD. I laugh and giggle at those people