Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional Website.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a
previous order of the House, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL) is recognized
for 5 minutes.
2009 Ron Paul 100:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke does not
want us to know any the details of the
Fed’s secret operations. This position
is not surprising and has been typical
of all central bank chairmen.
Bernanke’s stated goal is “to design a
system of financial oversight that will
provide a robust framework for preventing
future crises.”
2009 Ron Paul 100:2
During its 96 years of existence, the
Federal Reserve has played havoc with
our economy and brought great suffering
to millions through unemployment
and price escalation. And it has
achieved what only a central bank can:
A steady depreciation of our currency.
Today’s dollar is now worth 4 cents,
compared to the dollar entrusted to the
Federal Reserve in 1913. Ninety-six
years should have been plenty of time
for the Fed to come up with a plan for
preventing economic crises.
2009 Ron Paul 100:3
Since the Fed is the source of all economic
downturns, it’s impossible for
any central banker to regulate in such
a manner to prevent the problems that
are predictable consequences of his own
monetary management. The Federal
Reserve fixes interest rates at levels
inevitably lower than those demanded
by the market. This manipulation is a
form of price control through credit expansion,
and is the ultimate cause of
business cycles and so many of our economic
problems, generating the mal-
investment, excessive debt, stock,
bond, commodity, and housing bubbles.
2009 Ron Paul 100:4
The Federal Reserve’s monetary inflation,
indeed, does push the CPI upward,
but concentrating on the government’s
reports of the CPI and the PPI
is nothing more than the distraction
from the other harm done by the Federal
Reserve’s effort at central economic
planning through secret monetary
policy operations. Real inflation,
the expansion of our money supply, is
greatly undercounted by these indices.
In response to our latest financial crisis,
the Federal Reserve turned on its
printing press and literally doubled the
monetary base. This staggering creation
of dollars has yet to be reflected
in many consumer prices, but will ultimately
hit the middle class and poor
with a cruel devaluation of their savings
and real earnings.
2009 Ron Paul 100:5
The Fed has clearly failed on its
mandate to maintain full employment
and price stability. It’s time to find out
what’s going on. Instead of assuming
responsibility for the Fed’s role in the
crisis, Bernanke brags about, “arresting”
the crisis.
2009 Ron Paul 100:6
I would suggest to Mr. Bernanke that
it’s too early to brag. Bernanke decries
any effort to gain transparency of the
Fed’s actions to find out just who gets
bailed out and who is left to fail. Instead,
he proposes giving even more
power to the Fed to regulate the entire
financial system.
2009 Ron Paul 100:7
What he does not recognize – nor does
he want to admit – is that he is talking
about symptoms while ignoring the
source of the crisis: the Federal Reserve
itself. More regulations will
never compensate for all the distortion
and excesses caused by monetary inflation
and artificially low interest rates.
Regulation distracts from the real
cause while further interfering with
the market forces, thus guaranteeing
that the recession will become much
deeper and prolonged.
2009 Ron Paul 100:8
Chairman Bernanke’s argument for
Fed secrecy is a red herring. It serves
to distract so the special interests that
benefit from the Fed policy never become
known to the public. Who can
possibly buy this argument that this
secrecy is required to protect the people
from political influence?
2009 Ron Paul 100:9
My bill, H.R. 1207, has nothing to do
with interference with monetary policy.
This was explicitly stated in the
amendment voted on in the Financial
Services Committee. Bernanke’s argument
for protecting the independence
of the Fed is his argument for protecting
the secrecy of the Fed. Chairman
Bernanke concludes that “America
needs a strong” – think cartel –
“nonpolitical” – think Goldman
Sachs – “and independent” – think secret
– “central bank with the tools to
promote financial stability, in the
midst of a horrendous financial crisis,
and to help steer our economy to recovery
without inflation.”
2009 Ron Paul 100:10
This belief is a dream that one day
will become a nightmare for all Americans
unless we come to our senses, stop
our wild spending, runaway deficits,
printing press money, massive bureaucratic
regulations, and our unnecessary
world empire. A crucial step towards
fixing these problems will be transparency
of the Federal Reserve.
