The attached transcript will be TLDR for many here.
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Ron Paul: THIS Worries Me Much More Than Covid | Peak Prosperity
Ron Paul: THIS Worries Me Much More Than Covid
More government intervention makes every problem worse
by Adam Taggart
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
If you’re concerned about the overreach of government in juicing asset prices to dangerous levels, picking economic winner and losers, and constraining our personal freedoms — you have very good right to be.
So says lifelong champion of free markets, sound money and civil liberty, former US Congressman Dr Ron Paul:
Having spent decades in Washington serving as a member of the House of Representatives, Dr Paul is intimately familiar with both the institutions and the individuals currently running our country. And he has “zero” confidence that they will competently handle the major challenges facing America today.
2020 has given politicians a golden moment to capitalize off of the old DC strategy to “never let a crisis go to waste”. And they are making the most out of the current anxiety and uncertainty, using it to justify increased government intervention in nearly every aspect of our lives.
More monetary and fiscal stimulus has been injected this year than ever before in history, by a long shot. Same for Federal borrowing and deficit spending.
More limitations on how we’re allowed to conduct commerce, travel and gather with our families — even what information is permissible to voice publicly — have been imposed than at any time since WW2.
Dr Paul sees this accelerating grab by the government for expanded power and control as exactly what we DON’T need to effectively and sustainably tackle the truly massive tasks ahead of us, such as beating the coronavirus and addressing our nation’s truly massive debt overhang.
The solutions to those, and nearly every problem a society faces, are rooted in expanded freedoms, self-determination, and fair systems that allow the best ideas to prevail.
To understand why,
play our recent interview with Dr Ron Paul.
TRANSCRIPT
Chris Martenson: We asked former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, if he thinks the government is going to get better at dealing with the big challenges we face--the Coronavirus pandemic, our massive national debt and the newly announced global reset initiative--here's what he said:
Ron Paul: I would say the odds of people coming to their senses in Washington from my experience up there are about 00.
Chris Martenson: Welcome to Peak Prosperity. It's my honor today to welcome Dr. Ron Paul to the program. Dr. Paul served as a republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also ran for the Presidential nomination, first as a libertarian and then later on as a republican. And he did much of this while still serving as a practicing physician delivering over 4000 babies.
Dr. Paul has been a lifelong advocate of free market economics, of radical reduction in the size of government, privacy protection for individuals and a reduction in U.S. foreign interventions. We are going to ask him about all of those questions here. But before we get started, Dr. Paul, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the program and I'd like to start by saying it's wonderful to see you in good health.
Ron Paul: Well, very good and I'm very happy to be with you today.
Chris Martenson: Dr. Paul, let me start with the obvious if I may--the coronavirus pandemic caught the world by surprise in 2020. And I'm going to ask you some questions about COVID and public health in just a few minutes given your medical background. But before we get there I just wanted to emphasize that the pandemic and government's response to it has exacerbated a number of the things that you have spent your career warning about--debt, deficit spending, easy monetary policy and government overreach. Let's start with those.
So looking at the U.S. National deficit it's going to be over $3 trillion this year which is a--a record by a huge amount and they are still considering additional stimulus this year so that number could go even higher.
Continuing to look at our national addiction to debt, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the National Debt is going to be over 100% of GDP in 2021. So my question for you, Dr. Paul, is this--are all of these emergency actions stimulus programs, etcetera, emergency borrowing deficits is that actually necessary given the scope of the crisis that we're dealing with? Or are we perhaps creating a much bigger long-term crisis for ourselves given the short-term short sightedness of the response?
Ron Paul: Depends on what your goal is. It's very, very necessary if you want to keep it together under similar conditions we have today for at least a few more months. Other words, the price is very high and it--it won't continue. It's going to destroy the further future out there. And the whole thing is--is we don't know exactly when that will happen. They are going to keep spending and printing and doing whatever they can to manufacture prosperity--which isn't even being achieved right now. There is a lot of money going out there but the people aren't really getting economic growth again. Some people don't go back to work because the welfare benefits are so great. And that just can't last.
So but on the short run, if Trump hadn't pressured them and the democrats hadn't pressured the Fed about a year ago--because I think the--the economic correction from the bubble that the Fed created occurred before COVID. COVID complicated things. And they have--the both parties they were there and the Fed changed its tune after it was discovered the ___ [00:03:37]rates back September of 18, the rates went up to 10%, the spigot was turned on and it really made everybody happy even though they did politicize it a bit. But that's I think that is doing it--a person that's been on drugs and they're--they're having some--they're having some symptoms because they are being weened off drugs or they missed it and they can get pretty violent and problems. And that's the economy is going to get like that.
So that's why even though the right thing to do--people know what it is. Quit spending, balance the budget, have some money. Give us a free country. Let us solve our own problem. But that's not going to happen because the medicine is too tough. The system can't hold it. But we don't realize that what the people should realize is that the--if you don't take that treatment the results will be more deadly than the ramifications of living within our means. And that's where the real problem is. So I would say the odds of people coming to their senses in Washington from my experience up there are about 00. They would all of a sudden have enough people, enough members of Conbress to represent a more libertarian free market approach and quit this spending and living within our means.
So we have to look forward, vaguely speaking in a positive way--anticipating this thing is going to get much worse and nobody can understand how exactly it might turn out. Most of the time when a country gets into this much trouble the--the final results are very, very bad.
Chris Martenson: I was hoping maybe there was a little bit more hope in the story than that but 0.0 is pretty definitive prediction there. You've been there. You know the people that are in place. You know the institution is making the decision so I trust your estimates way better than mine. So Dr. Paul, it sounds like you are saying look, they are going to continue doing what they're doing just until the system breaks. At this point, do you think that it is going to break economically in a way that they just can't control at some point in time? Or because of the--the huge wealth disparity that all of the intervention is creating, right? The spoils are going into the pockets of a smaller and smaller group of people that are kind of running the show and everybody else is getting left behind. Do you fear sort of a social unrest element to this story?
Ron Paul: You know, I think that's--that's the key thing to be concerned about cause you know, I don't remember everything about the depression but a little bit about it I was born ___[00:06:23]. People were destitute and they were poor but it was different--different now because I think there is more dependency, more anger, more demands and more at stake and that the discrepancy between the wealth in this country is worse than ever And right now, the people who have the upper hand on this which should scare everybody is this fits into the scenario that the socialists and the Marxists and the communists you now, can use to argue the case for see what happens with capitalism. So if we believe in freedom can't convert more people to an understanding that what we are talking about today--the shortcomings, has nothing to do with freedom. It has to do with the opposite. It has to do with a system of corporatism, pseudo capitalism and yet there is a lot of people in Washington still who believe it is a you know, it is because that we don't have enough spending and this sort of thing and that is of course, the reason why you hear more people willing to talk about socialism.
But it's going to be up for grabs and it's going to be very, very tough. But I think your question inferred or inquired whether or not there could turn into violence and I think so. I think the violence is there already. When you look at what was happening in our streets and we still see it today that they--they tear our cities and steal and rob and then they identify with the police and the police don't help bring about order. There is no respect for private property. I think that is just the beginning. Because we do not one thing the people have to remember--we do not create wealth by creating new money.
Most people say, send me another check and we'll go back to work and create the money. Turns out the people ___ [00:08:18]it was more than they were making in their job. So they are not going to go back to work a lot of them. So this is I think the violence should be something that we should be very concerned about. And a lot of people are planning for it, unfortunately. Because it is only the change in philosophy and the belief in freedom and the responsibility of individuals to care for themselves that can prevent this from--from coming unglued.
Chris Martenson: All right, so let's pull in that thread just a little bit more in terms of you know, the hunger of the masses to you know, to take in the promises of those that are offering them you know, I think it's understandable to think that the masses would say look, if I'm getting shafted I may as well get shafted and get something. So the guy who is promising me free healthcare, you know, debt forgiveness whatever I am going to go for that guy.
The pandemic has served as an accelerator for sort of a new concept that is being put forth at the--the global level world govenrments, world NGOs like the world economic forum and the IMF in many major developed countries have now been putting forward this concept called the Great Reset. And I just want to very quickly for those folks who aren't familiar with it, give its quick tenets.
It says it targets a redefinition of capitalism and this is what you were just getting to Dr. Paul. The three main pillars are, they want to steer their market towards fairer outcomes and that is very interesting because who determines what's fair if the market is not determining what is fair. And they plan to use taxes and regulations to do that. They are looking to increase economic stimulus spending that focuses on quality and sustainability. So these are things like green infrastructure projects and what not. And then, the last is to harness innovation to address health and social challenges very much int eh way the world is marshaling to fight COVID they want to marshal the world's resources to target things like public health and social challenges. And on the surface that doesn't sound so bad given your experience as a U.S. Congressman, as an economic hawk and as a defender of personal freedoms, what's your reaction to this?
Ron Paul: Not a chance in the world that this reset is something positive about it. Reset sounds like pretty good. Reassess things and do the right thing. Everything they are talking about is doing more of it. It is like this modern monetary theory. Oh, what we ought to do is print more money and pass it out and that will solve the problem. No, I think resetting is just the anticipation that we should have anticipated and we are having it more and more the longer system we have lasts the more demands you need. Bigger deficits and you need more government intrusion, we need more regulation. And what they're talking about is not a solution. The only thing that is a solution is returning to an understanding of what free people can do for themselves.
It isn't like I know the odds are pretty slim and for now I think that they are correct. But it doesn't mean it has to be that way because one of the most memorable times in my lifetime and that's not that long ago, is 1989 and 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet system. I thought that was the most fantastic thing in the world. But it wasn't so much that the grassroots understood ___ [00:11:52]but they did understand that communism was a total failure and they just walked away from it. What was amazing was that and I was drafted in the 60's during the Cold War and missiles in Cuba and this sort of thing. So they were ready to do that. But all of a sudden there was no exchange of weapons. It just collapsed. Things did get somewhat better--there was a freedom, there was a dividend but it was all a façade because it was not so much going to liberty but it was going to economic interventionism, the Keynesian approach which some people accepted as a substitute for communism.
Well, it was better but the thing of it is the point I'm making is it wasn't a whole answer it was a part of an answer and it happened without the total annihilation of billions of people like had been occurring so often. I thought that's what we need. We need a change but instead of going back and saying we can modify Keynesianism we just need people at the Federal Reserve. We can solve this problem. No. We need a changed attitude among the people to understand why their best interests are only going to occur when we live in a free society which emphasizes the responsibility of each and every individual to take care of themselves and that they have this responsibility and of course, they have the benefits too. They own their own life and they just have that one rule. Don't lie, cheat or steal and things would get better. But back to my assessment--we don't have enough yet but we have a growing number of people. A program like yours that gets information out that talks about these things. There are a lot of people out there and we are coming, we are going to come to this climactic end and maybe the question should be could we have a transition like in 88, 89 and 90 to something more peaceful and then we participate what a free society is all about.
So I remain optimistic on that but very pessimistic on expecting congress in the next year or two or in a Biden administration to all of a sudden shift gears. It's going to get worse before it gets better.
Chris Martenson: All right. All right so then switching then from civil liberties for a second to the economy and something that we spend a lot of time talking about here at Peak Prosperity as well and Dr. Paul, I know you have been again one of the more you know, vocal advocates for you know, better economic policies that bring us into better alignment both with living in our means and also increasing you know, fairness, sound money, etcetera.
So just real quickly, we are looking at an economy that was as you said earlier it was actually struggling pre COVID then it got basically a massive gut shot from the pandemic and the lockdowns that came along with it. What is interesting is the economy is still really struggling to get out of that hole and yet, we have asset prices back up to record all time high levels of valuations. By many metrics the most richly valued they have ever been in all of history. And I am just curious as you look forward do you have a strong sense of how this is going to end up? You know, will history repeat and get some big corrective crash here or are we at the point potentially where the flood gates have bene opened so wide that it is just run away prices from here?
Chris Martenson: Real pleasure. Thank you.
