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Exchange Stabilization Fund

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Exchange Stabilization Fund
Exchange Stabilization Fund
16 July 1998    1998 Ron Paul 79:2
Mr. Chairman, I rise to support this amendment. I would have to say this amendment is a very modest approach to a serious problem. I see no reason for the Exchange Stabilization Fund to exist. There is no constitutional authority for it. There is no economic benefit for it. It is detrimental to the people.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
Exchange Stabilization Fund
16 July 1998    1998 Ron Paul 79:4
Where did the money come from? It came from confiscation, not through taxation, but confiscating gold from the American people, revaluing the gold, taking the net profits, putting it into the Exchange Stabilization Fund, as well as the initial financing of the IMF.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
Exchange Stabilization Fund
16 July 1998    1998 Ron Paul 79:10
That is why the Exchange Stabilization Fund should either be abolished or put on the appropriations process. If we cannot do that or will not do that, we have to at least pass this amendment. Pass this amendment and say, yes.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
New Global Economic Plan
9 October 1998    1998 Ron Paul 117:9
Second, it calls for more credit expansion by the richer nations, more loan guarantees, and export-import bank credits and, indirectly, by providing credit to the Exchange Stabilization Fund and possibly to the Bank International Settlements.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
Exchange Stabilization Fund
15 July 1999    1999 Ron Paul 76:3
I would like to clarify one thing about the original intent of the Exchange Stabilization Fund. It was never meant to be used to support foreign currencies. It should not be so casually accepted that that is the proper function of the Exchange Stabilization Fund.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
Exchange Stabilization Fund
15 July 1999    1999 Ron Paul 76:4
The Exchange Stabilization Fund was set up, I think in error; but it was set up for the purpose of stabilizing the dollar in the Depression. How did that come about? Well, it started with an Executive order. It started with an Executive order to take gold forcefully from the people. And then our President then revalued gold from $20 an ounce to $35 an ounce, and there was a profit and they took this profit and used some of those profits to start the Exchange Stabilization Fund. They set it up with $200 million. It does not seem like a whole lot of money today. How did it come about over these many years that this fund has been allowed to exist without supervision of this Congress, and now has reached to the size of $34 billion and we give it no oversight? It is supposed to send reports to us, very superficial reports to the Congress. We don’t know how they got $34 billion. They earned interest on some of the loans, and all the loans are paid back because the countries who get the loans borrow more money.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
Exchange Stabilization Fund
15 July 1999    1999 Ron Paul 76:6
It has also been suggested by many who know a lot more about the details of the Exchange Stabilization Fund than I do, and it has been suggested that possibly, quite possibly, what happens is Treasury deals in currencies all the time and there are profits to be made. And when there is a profit, it goes into the Exchange Stabilization Fund. When there is a loss. It is sent over to the Treasury and then recorded as a loss.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
Exchange Stabilization Fund
15 July 1999    1999 Ron Paul 76:11
Mr. Chairman, are we going to protect the Euro now? The Euro is getting pretty weak. I guess we are going to bail out the Euro. When it drops down under a dollar, we will expect the Exchange Stabilization Fund to come and bail out the Euro. This has to be looked at. This is the first very modest, very minimal step that we are making tonight. It should be overwhelmingly supported.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
A Republic, If You Can Keep It – Part 2
2 February 2000    2000 Ron Paul 5:8
But in addition, there have been various other special vehicles that our Presidents use without congressional oversight. For example, the exchange stabilization fund set up during the depression has over $34 billion available to be used at the President’s discretion without congressional approval. This slush fund grows each year as it is paid interest on the securities it holds. It was instrumental in the $50 billion Mexican bailout in 1995.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
The Foreign Aid Limitation Act
17 July 2003    2003 Ron Paul 80:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Foreign Aid Limitation Act. This bill limits the ability of the Executive Branch to use the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) to distribute largesse to foreign countries without the approval of Congress.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
The Foreign Aid Limitation Act
17 July 2003    2003 Ron Paul 80:3
Mr. Speaker, these provisions all passed Congress as “riders” on appropriations bills in the 1990s. However, they have not been included in the appropriations bills for the past several years. It is long past time for Congress to make these provisions permanent. Over the past several years there has been great controversy over the use of the Exchange Stabilization Fund. This fund was created in the 1930s to help stabilize the exchange value of the dollar, yet it has mutated into a “slush fund” used by the executive branch to funnel money to foreign governments and even foreign companies free of congressional oversight.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
The Foreign Aid Limitation Act
17 July 2003    2003 Ron Paul 80:5
Mr. Speaker, it long past time for Congress to begin reasserting its constitutional role in the appropriation of funds for foreign aid programs. For too long, the Exchange Stabilization Fund has allowed the executive branch to commit the American taxpayer to supporting foreign governments without even consulting with Congress. I hope all my colleagues will join my efforts to end this practice by cosponsoring my Foreign Aid Limitation Act.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
“The Bailout”
September 29, 2008    2008 Ron Paul 65:5
We need to get our house in order. We need more oversight—that is a certainty —but we need oversight of the Federal Reserve System, of the Exchange Stabilization Fund and of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. Find out what they’re doing. How much have they been meddling in the market?

Exchange Stabilization Fund
“The Bailout”
September 29, 2008    2008 Ron Paul 65:15
But what politicians are willing to say that the financial “skyscraper”—the global financial and monetary system-is a house of cards. It is not going to happen at this juncture. They’re not even talking about this. They talk only of bailouts, more monetary inflation, more special interest spending, more debt, and more regulations. There is almost no talk of the relationship of the Community Reinvestment Act, HUD, and government assisted loans to the housing bubble. And there is no talk of the oversight that is desperately needed for the Federal Reserve, the Exchange Stabilization Fund, and all the activities of the President’s Working Group on financial markets. When these actions are taken we will at last know that Congress is serious about the reforms that are really needed.

Texas Straight Talk


Exchange Stabilization Fund
Your Taxes Fund South American Bailout
12 August 2002    Texas Straight Talk 12 August 2002 verse 2 ... Cached
You may have seen minor media coverage last week focusing on the economic problems in South America, particularly Uruguay and Brazil. The U.S. Treasury, acting through the Exchange Stabilization Fund and without congressional approval, gave Uruguay $1.5 billion to ease the impact of a bank shutdown. While $1.5 billion barely raises an eyebrow in Washington anymore, and scarcely attracts media attention, this latest bailout provides a telling example of the real priorities of our federal government.

Exchange Stabilization Fund
Your Taxes Fund South American Bailout
12 August 2002    Texas Straight Talk 12 August 2002 verse 6 ... Cached
The real concern behind schemes like the Exchange Stabilization Fund and the International Monetary Fund is the corporate interests they subsidize. American banks and corporations have a great deal of money invested in South America, and a bank default by any country there directly threatens those dollars. The multinational banks especially fear a chain reaction of economic meltdowns, beginning with Argentina and spreading to Uruguay, Brazil, and beyond. So they use political influence to thwart the free market process and prop up bankrupt economic policies in Uruguay.

Texas Straight Talk from 20 December 1996 to 23 June 2008 (573 editions) are included in this Concordance. Texas Straight Talk after 23 June 2008 is in blog form on Rep. Paul’s Congressional website and is not included in this Concordance.

Remember, not everything in the concordance is Ron Paul’s words. Some things he quoted, and he added some newspaper and magazine articles to the Congressional Record. Check the original speech to see.



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