Paul, a professed opponent of the Federal Reserve, argues that the lowering of the interest rate robs the savings of retirees and others looking to live off CDs or other investments.
Interestingly, Bernanke doesn't really answer. Certainly something to think about ...
Savings Experiment: Tissues vs. Toilet Paper
Wrecks to Riches: Hunting Sunken Treasures from Cape Cod to the Costa…


Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-05-2007 @ 8:21PM
Leon Benner said...
Make Ron Paul President he will seal the borders and send illegals back with ther anchor babies/
Fine Employers,, 50% of illegals will go back if thay
can't send money back home,stop all immigration
into america until all illegals are out, then only being into our country ones that are in good health
and have top intelect,with a minimum of 50% north european, the same blood lines we founded this country with, thats what we had until after ww2 and then we let any body in, now you see what we have are you happy now, are better off,
and stop the lottery we don't have to take any one, we want the best , this is our last chance,
12-06-2007 @ 12:54AM
eugene said...
god, it's people like you who give credibility to people who say that those of us who are against illegal immigrants are a bunch of racists.
12-06-2007 @ 8:10AM
Leonard said...
Every thing I've ever read about immigrant wages makes the point they work cheap, as do workers in China. I have no doubt that the cost of goods and services in this country would be higher, but for those immigrants. I also have no doubt the cost to retirees for those same goods and services would be higher. So, when Paul lambasts Bernanke because lowered interest rates lowers the return on CD's held by retirees, but would oust immigrants that make goods and services cheaper to retirees, he's pushing an incongruent agenda. The only thing to recommend his agenda is that panders to the class conscious, and those who are threatened by the sound of the spanish language.
12-05-2007 @ 9:36PM
bill martin said...
Bernanke is one dumb SOB. You pull the illigels out and who does he think is going to do the work. The laggest employer of illigels is the US government. Look at the road job alone. Dumb SOB. Wish I had job making policy instead of sweat running down my crack!
12-06-2007 @ 2:08AM
June Zimmerman said...
Ron Paul-Is a good man and a godly one- He will Physically secure our borders and coastlines- He will enforce visa rules. No Amnesty- No welfare for illegal Ailens, He will end Birthright citizenship= ( no more ligeal anchor babies, Oass true Immigration Reform-he is Pro Life, He will end any Goverment Funds for Abortions-Lets ua ll vote him in and bring morals and Christ back in to America- Our Children need to pray on the recess and at their games-Those that do not want to may be excused- God Bless America and our brave trops that are keeping our enemines over when they belong- God Bless ron Paul
Frances June Zimmernam -Mt vote goes to Ron Paul- you tell them paul Frances
12-06-2007 @ 2:35AM
Joseph said...
These paulite's are kinda annoying. Not that I'm not planning on voting for him in the primarys. I definitely agree with him on the business cycle being caused by the fed, and to an extent fractional reserve banking, I don't really think we need a gold, or even asset backed currency, I imagine a purely fiat currency would be good enough providing it were issued in something like the full faith and idunno "dollarworthyness" of america. On the big libertarian /austrian ideals I agree with him, but on the trivial details he's just about the opposite of what I'd want socially, religiously, on abortion and what not. But seeing how few people show up to the primaries historically and seeing how popular he is on the internet and at rallies and strawpolls I think he's likely more than a contender in the primaries and liable to shoot off like reagan did in the face of all these insane rabidly stupid lying politicians that we have elected in these recent years.
12-06-2007 @ 3:38AM
RB said...
You Ron Paul groupies sound like a bunch of fools. I'd vote for him as quickly as the Muslim candidate we have Obama ...NEVER!
12-06-2007 @ 6:07AM
Dan Barnett said...
RB, Barak Obama is a Christian. He goes to a fundamentalist church in Chicago. Where did you get the idea he is a Muslim?
Zac, Bernake did answer the question (although the question took some 4 minutes to ask) weakness in the dollar does not rob anyone. You get paid in dollars, your savings are in dollars, the food you buy, the products you buy are in dollars. Imports become more expensive. Companies with exports sell more overseas.
That said, there is a massive Federal Debt, mostly due to war funding, & a severe savings crisis. On the other hand I am not certain what would happen if the US consumer cut his consuming back 10% & saved the money instead. What's your opinion?
12-06-2007 @ 6:28AM
LouTreize said...
Hey preachers, you didn't come here to preach about some presidential candidate, you came here to listen to a congressman speak his mind about the current state of the economy and give a spit shoe shine speech to Bernanke.
Americans, stop infesting the internet with pro-this and pro-that or Ron this and Obama that. The world doesn't care and don't make them laugh at you again.
12-06-2007 @ 2:42PM
Robert said...
Paul won't win, but he'll get my vote anyway. The reason is this: Losers effect change everytime they threaten the two-party system. As soon as Ross Perot began to siphon votes, the Republican and Democrat Parties began adding reform principles as party planks. It worked and the Reform Party imploded. Ron Paul is a threat not so much as an individual, but as a champion for the Libertarian Party. Wraped in Republican robes, Paul is a stealth Libertarian and - if the Libertarian party begins to creap-up on the margin 15% of the popular vote - rest assured that States rights, low taxes and an anti-Fed attitude will become the fashion of the day for our bogus 2-party system.
= Ron Paul for President =
12-06-2007 @ 3:36PM
MikeVA said...
Weakness of the dollar most certainly does rob the purchasing power of those who have investments in dollars. Especially if you are on a steady retirement income.
Nearly everything that people rely on to maintain themselves is contingent on oil and gasoline. Which is of course, an import.
Also if wages do not increase in ratio to the amount of inflation, than people end up getting short changed. Your average worker is usually the last person to understand that they are getting hit by inflation. Well before everyone catches on, the costs of goods and services go up.
The current monetary policy, with its artificially low interest rates, discourages people from saving. Why save? The interest rates on savings accounts hardly can keep up with inflation rates. Its better to take out debts and make speculative investments. If you game the system right, then you can come out ahead.
This is what the majority of people have been encouraged to do and why the value of houses is imploding. The equity wasn't actually going up in value, a handful of people took out loans and flipped the houses before everything went south. People around the country took notice and decided they wanted in on the action and were convinced to re-buy their houses with new mortgages and come out ahead. Since the value of housing wasn't being driven up by actual demand, the ultimate value of housing is now becoming deflated.
Your average homeowner (in my area) is now stuck with a mortgage on their house that is worth $80,000 more than the true value of their house. Think of how many people live in one neighborhood and it won't take very many to get up to millions of dollars of losses, just in one neighborhood. Nationwide, Fortune magazine just published an article saying we are looking at potential losses of $3 trillion!!
On top of this we have a national debt that is soaring up to $9 trillion and a dollar that is losing value all the time. We need a new system with more transparency and safeguards against runaway inflation and malinvestments.
12-06-2007 @ 6:29PM
Nidian said...
Remember folks, there are trolls out to smear Paul with this racist stuff. Your naive if you don't think political operatives are out there.
I've watch alot of video and read many of Paul's writings since I found out about him. In all that material, I've never seen him imply anything racist. Ever.
The only thing his critics have is a newsletter that Paul didn't even write (he fired the person that did) and Paul took moral responsiblity for it. Even the New York Times conceeded it wasn't Ron Paul's writing style. Let alone the content.
If you look into the history of Paul's campaining, you'll find the Republicans playing dirty trick after dirty trick on one of their own. Why, because he can't be bought. That 's why I voting for him. The big lobbyists don't even bother going to his office! Still I've read lots of accounts of him making time for regular people.
So, remember some of the 'crazy and/or racist' supporters - may not be supporters at all. I encourage anyone to watch the man speak, the truth is...he is closer to a civil rights leader than any political figure we've had for decades.
12-08-2007 @ 8:57PM
Wonka said...
That's an excellent point, and thank you for making it. Paul's consistent fighting for individual liberty makes him the anti-racism candidate, and his mainstream appeal across party and income lines is remarkable.
Clearly, the American people are reasserting themselves in a powerful way with Paul as their champion, but the movement is much bigger than him, and this is only the beginning. One can be sure that Ron Paul Republicans from across the country will be running for local, state, and federal offices in the near future.
12-06-2007 @ 9:58PM
Rich said...
MikeVA - How does a weak dollar affect someone who has a CD any differently than someone that gets a paycheck from working? Ben said a weak dollar is not going to affect the buying power of someone buying things in dollars, which is right. Bernanke didn't answer Ron afterwards because Ron didn't make a valid argument after Ben's statement.
12-12-2007 @ 6:03PM
alexlavr said...
Yeah, what did he mean about them CDs? Maybe - If dollar declines and cost of living goes up, CD's returns stay the same. So people who live of CDs lose money. Also, there is less investment from abroad.
12-06-2007 @ 10:46PM
MikeVA said...
Rich, well if you are collecting a paycheck than you are out there in the work force and you are able to bargain for better wages. (Or living wage/minimum wage laws can mandate that.)
if you are collecting on savings and are incapable of working, than you are pretty much set with what you got.
12-07-2007 @ 4:55AM
EF said...
Anyone who thinks that a weak dollar does not effect every last American needs to go Christmas shopping and try to find something Made in the USA.
If the Chinese can only buy half as much stuff with the dollars we are giving them, they will eventually demand twice as many dollars to compensate. Everything in this country will then be twice as expensive.
The only reason this hasn't already happened is because we pulled a Donald Trump on the rest of the world -- the same reason no one was particularly interested in helping people avoid defaulting on their mortgage until so many started doing so that it threatened the viability of companies like Citi: China, Japan, and the Middle East have so many dollars in their coffers they need to keep the currency afloat long enough for them to diversify their investments out of our paper and into hard assets.
Hence why foreigners are trying to buy our ports; why they will start buying land; why they are diversifying into Euros.
Until we make the dollar a more attractive investment, our paper will continue its long-term decline.
Note the big upswing since 2003:
http://www.nowandfutures.com/download/gold_vs_currencies_ppp1900-2005_from_AEIR_report_rr11_pdf.png
12-07-2007 @ 5:02AM
EF said...
Oh, and Ben Bernanke agrees with Paul:
"If someone has their wealth in dollars and buys consumer goods in dollars [...] the only effect [the decline in the dollar] has on their buying power is it makes imported goods more expensive."
Too bad that "imported goods" just happens to be... everything.
12-08-2007 @ 2:41PM
Eric said...
Here's a pretty good video about Ron Paul that promotes a return to sensible economics and having the dollar backed-up by gold. A must watch.:
Ron Paul: House of Cards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaxdUPNYj2s
12-09-2007 @ 6:27AM
Barry said...
June Zim, your a twit, despite what you mother says about you. Illegals are not a problem in this country, its ignorance about what good they do that is...
Lower interest rates not only will hurt retirees, it will cause foreign investment to go elsewhere, further weakening the dollar. If either OPEC or China drops the US Dollar, and opts for the Euro, everyone everywhere better be ready for the next worldwide depression, because I see it coming, and its a locomotive at full steam. Good luck to everyone over the next year. There is going to be some hungry people.....