By Ron Paul
While Congress and the president fight over funding a border wall, they continue to ignore the coming economic tsunami caused by the approximately 22 trillion dollars (and rapidly increasing) federal debt. President Trump may not be troubled by the debt’s effect on the economy because he believes he will be out of office before it becomes a major problem. However, the crisis may come sooner than he, or most people in DC, expects. The constituency for limited government, while growing, is still far outnumbered by those wanting government to provide economic and personal security. From lower-income Americans who rely on food stamps, public housing, and other government programs, to middle-class Americans who live in homes they could not afford without assistance from federal agencies like Fannies Mae and Freddie Mac, to college students reliant on government-subsidized student loans, to senior citizens reliant on Social Security and Medicare, to billionaire CEOs whose companies rely on bailouts, subsidies, laws and regulations written to benefit politically-powerful businesses, and government contracts, most Americans are reliant on at least one federal program. Many programs are designed to force individuals to accept government aid. For example, it is almost impossible for a senior citizen to obtain health insurance outside of Medicare. The welfare state is fueled by the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies, which are also responsible for the boom-and-bust cycle that plagues our economy. The Federal Reserve’s policies do not just distort our economy, they also distort our values, as the Fed’s dollar depreciation causes individuals to forgo savings and hard work in favor of immediate gratification. This has helped create an explosion of business and individual debt. There has been a proliferation of bubbles, including in credit card debt, auto loans, and student loans. There is even a new housing bubble. An economy built on fiat currency and public and private debt is unsustainable. Eventually the bubbles will burst. The most likely outcome will be the rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status due to government debt and the Federal Reserve’s monetization of debt. When the bubbles pop, the result will be an economic crisis that will likely dwarf the Great Depression. The fall of the dollar and the accompanying economic downturn will make it impossible for the government to continue running up huge debts to finance a massive welfare-warfare state. Thus, Congress will be forced to raise taxes and cut benefits. Cowardly politicians will likely outsource the job of raising taxes and cutting benefits to the Federal Reserve. This will cause a dramatic increase in the most insidious of taxes: the inflation tax. As the Federal Reserve erodes the value of the dollar, thus reducing the value of both earned paychecks and government-provided welfare benefits, a large number of Americans who believe they are entitled to economic security will react by engaging in acts of violence. Politicians will use this violence to further crack down on civil liberties. The resulting economic and civil unrest will further the growth of authoritarian political movements. Fortunately, the liberty movement continues to grow. This movement counters the authoritarian lies with the truths of Austrian economics and the non-aggression principle. While the years ahead may be tough, if those of us who know the truth work hard to educate others, the cause of liberty can prevail.
Sen. Lindsey Graham claims that Trump backed down on removing troops from Syria after having lunch together. President Trump has indicated no such thing. Meanwhile polls show support for the troop withdrawal? Is this a case of neocon wishful thinking?
It's been reported that (just) the interest payments on the U.S. government's debt will be larger than Medicaid in less than 2 years, and larger than the military budget in 6 years. The math is finally catching up with the big government. Supply & Demand is finally catching up to The Federal Reserve. Change is coming, and believers in omnipotent government are in for a big surprise. Ron Paul discusses on today's Liberty Report.
By Adam Dick
Donald Trump’s presidency is a “mixed bag.” That is the assessment of libertarian communicator and former presidential candidate Ron Paul in a recent interview with Larry King at King’s Ora TV show Politicking. Asked by King what he thinks overall about the Trump presidency, Paul says he cannot praise Trump as a libertarian or condemn him as a “socialist-authoritarian.” So what then is Trump’s political philosophy? “I can’t figure him out,” declares Paul regarding Trump, who Paul says does not appear to be “worried about following a consistent pattern.” With Trump’s political views being rather indecipherable, his presidency, concludes Paul, is a “mixed bag.” In contrast to Trump’s approach to government, Paul discusses in the interview the libertarian approach. “Libertarians don’t intervene other than [for] the protection of liberty,” Paul explains. While Trump intervenes here and there, sometimes in line with conservatives and sometimes in line with liberals, Paul says a libertarian would follow clear guidelines: “Stay out of the business of regulating the economy; stay out of the business of telling how people should live; stay out of the business of telling other countries how they should run their countries.” Watch Paul’s complete interview, in which Paul also talks in detail about the American economy, here:
In a free society, the government is transparent in all its actions and kept on a short leash. The citizens have a natural right to their privacy. Today, it's the exact opposite. The government is totally secretive, ignores its Constitutional leash, and seeks to place every citizen in a constant state of surveillance. Whistleblowers heroically put their lives on the line to tell Americans the truth about government. We hope you enjoy this flashback from Ron Paul Institute Conference 2017.
What does the Ron Paul Liberty Report and the Ron Paul Institute have in store for 2019? What have we accomplished in 2018? What are our plans to keep spreading the peace and prosperity message and how can you be a part of it? Tune in to this special episode of the Liberty Report. And please help us with a year-end, tax-deductible donation: http://ronpaulinstitute.org/support/
Wikileaks founder and chief editor Julian Assange has been in solitary confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy for more than six years. Though the original charges have been dropped against him, he remains in the Embassy for fear of being extradited to the US for prosecution. His "crime"? Publishing things the government does not want us to know. It is past time for Assange to be freed. Julian joined Ron Paul Institute Conference 2017 via Skype. We hope you enjoy this flashback video of a true hero.
By Ron Paul
We all had a big shock this week when, seemingly out of the blue, President Trump announced that he was removing US troops from Syria and would draw down half of the remaining US troops in Afghanistan. The president told us the troops were in Syria to fight ISIS and with ISIS nearly gone the Syrians and their allies could finish the job. All of a sudden the Trump haters who for two years had been telling us that the president was dangerous because he might get us in a war, were telling us that the president is dangerous because he was getting us out of a war! These are the same people who have been complaining about the president’s historic efforts to help move toward peace with North Korea. There was more than a little hypocrisy among the “never Trump” resistance over the president’s announcement. Many of the talking heads and politicians who attacked George W. Bush’s wars, then were silent for President Obama’s wars, are now attacking President Trump for actually taking steps to end some wars. It just goes to show that for many who make their living from politics and the military-industrial complex, there are seldom any real principles involved. Among the neoconservatives, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s reaction was pretty typical. Though it seems Sen. Graham is never bothered when presidents violate the Constitution to take the US into another war without authorization, he cannot tolerate it when a president follows the Constitution and removes US troops from wars they have no business being involved in. Sen. Graham is now threatening to hold Congressional hearings in attempt to reverse the President’s decision to remove troops from Syria. Neoconservatives are among the strongest proponents of the idea that as a “unitary executive,” the president should not be encumbered by things like the Constitution when it comes to war-making. Now all of a sudden when a president uses his actual Constitutional authority to remove troops from a war zone the neocons demand Congressional meddling to weaken the president. They get it wrong on both fronts! The president does have Constitutional authority to move US troops and to remove US troops; Congress has the power and the obligation to declare war and the power of the purse to end wars. Most of the Washington establishment – especially the “resistance” liberals and the neocons – are complaining that by removing US troops from these two war zones President Trump has gone too far. I would disagree with them. I call President Trump’s announcement a good start. Americans are tired of being the world’s policemen. The United States does not “lose influence” by declining to get involved in disputes oceans away. We lose influence by spending more on the military than most of the rest of the world combined and meddling where we are not wanted. We will lose a whole lot more influence when their crazy spending makes us bankrupt. Is that what they want? We should pay attention to Washington’s wild reaction to Trump’s announcement. The vested interests do not want us to have any kind of “peace dividend” because they have become so rich on the “war dividend.” Meanwhile the middle class is getting poorer and we’re all less safe. Let’s hope President Trump continues these moves to restore sanity in our foreign policy. That would really make America great again!
There's no such thing as a good central planner. No one can successfully manipulate the economy and be a good Fed Chairman. The problem with the economy is the existence of the Federal Reserve itself. Ron Paul discusses on today's Liberty Report!
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