2013-04-23 Ron Paul slams stability of U.S. dollar and Bitcoin in pro-gold rant

[surebet]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/23/ron-paul-slams-stability-of-u-s-dollar-and-bitcoin-in-pro-gold-rant/

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said that he is concerned about the “erraticness” of the dollar, that Bitcoin is too complicated and that gold is still the standard by which the value of our currency should be measured.

Erik Schatzker and Sara Eisen, hosts of the show “Inside Track” asked Paul whether he’s concerned about about the recent drop in the price of gold after a ten year boom.

“I am concerned about the erraticness of the dollar,” Paul said. “The dollar is up, the dollar is down. We print a lot of dollars. The dollar gets devalued. That is really the concern. If people think the gold price up and down is a reflection of something wrong with gold, no, I say it is something wrong with the dollar.”

Paul, like erstwhile Fox News personality Glenn Beck, has been urging people to buy gold as a hedge against the inevitable collapse of the U.S. market for years. In 2012, he and attorney Lewis Lehrman financed the publication of The Case for Gold, a reprint of a Reagan-era study by conservative economists that said the price of gold is on a permanent upward trajectory.

Paul has urged the U.S. government to abolish the Federal Reserve and re-adopt the gold standard for the dollar, a proposition many economists find risible.

The conversation ranged over the Consumer Price Index as an indicator of national economic health, as well as whether or not the country is currently facing a high or low level of inflation. With regards to the collapse of the Internet currency venture Bitcoin, Paul said he wasn’t interested.

“To tell you the truth, it’s little bit too complicated,” he said. “If I can’t put it in my pocket, I have some reservations about that. But it has been designed in the free market. If it is a means of exchange, it would not ever be illegal. You shouldn’t regulate it in the free market, but I do not think it fits the definition of money, which has been around for 6,000 years.”

Which returned him to the topic of gold.

“The supply and demand of gold is very important,” he lectured. “That is why it is money, because gold is used elsewhere and it is commodity. The supply and money of paper is the culprit. That is the one that is causing all the trouble. People ignore the supply and demand of paper. Yes, paper goes up and goes down, but look at the long term purchasing power of the dollar. It has been devastating.”

Paul is one of many conservative media personalities who urge the purchase of gold. Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, the late Charlton Heston, Dennis Miller, Fred Thompson, Mark Levin and others have all worked for the company Goldline International, which was investigated for fraud in 2010.

The company reportedly exploits fear of economic uncertainty to convince people to buy gold coins at a 90 percent markup, insisting that the shiny metal will prove valuable should the U.S. economy collapse.

One ad featured Beck urging, “Here’s the deal. Call Goldline, study it out, pray on it. If it’s right thing for you, then do it. But please study it out. Find the people that you trust. The people I trust are the people at Goldline.”

In 2012, Goldline international was ordered by a California court to refund millions of dollars to its customers and operate under a new, strict set of guidelines or face prosecution on 19 counts of criminal fraud.

So yeah, Ron Paul 2016 still?

[davidgdg]

The headline for this topic is a bit unfair. There is nothing in this quotation that suggests Paul was slamming bitcoin. He says he has reservations (fair enough) but that it has emerged in a free market and should not be regulated. Nothing to complain about there.

[Spaceman_Spiff]

The headline for this topic is a bit unfair. There is nothing in this quotation that suggests Paul was slamming bitcoin. He says he has reservations (fair enough) but that it has emerged in a free market and should not be regulated. Nothing to complain about there.

Agreed.  Besides, did we really expect an almost-80-year-old to immediately jump on board of a cybercurrency? 

[World]

Dr. Ron Paul says bitcoin is a bit too complicated  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bAcctnZ9c0
http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/04/ron-paul-says-bitcoin-is-a-bit-too-complicated/

[casascius]

I created a public response to Dr. Paul.  Here it is.  I would be really happy if he could see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDyD-cmSD50

[Jutarul]

I created a public response to Dr. Paul.  Here it is.  I would be really happy if he could see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDyD-cmSD50

Kudos. Your response is content rich and draws some easy to follow analogies.

I can imagine how tough it is to speak to an empty room. Usually a better format for this kind of presentation is a dialog, with YOU being the expert, and a friend of yours being someone outlining the thought process of Dr. Paul.

Also, since you had all these nice illustrations prepared: You may benefit from having two cameras, one for the full scene and one with a focus on the illustrations. Then, afterwards you can switch between the cameras when you edit the video, allowing the viewer to actually SEE the casascius coin.

You should send Mr. Paul one of your coins.

[Lethos]

So he has reservation about things he can't put in his pocket, but is okay with Gold.
Does he walk around with gold in his pocket?

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

You should send Mr. Paul one of your coins.

This!

PS: great video, Mike.  I hope he sees it, too.

[kiba]

You reversed the date. It should be 2013-04-23

[surebet]

You reversed the date. It should be 2013-04-23

Sorry for not being American, I guess.

[bitcool]

So he has reservation about things he can't put in his pocket, but is okay with Gold.
Does he walk around with gold in his pocket?

I think he does. He showed it to Ben during one of their friendly conversations.

[SirWilliam]

The headline for this topic is a bit unfair. There is nothing in this quotation that suggests Paul was slamming bitcoin. He says he has reservations (fair enough) but that it has emerged in a free market and should not be regulated. Nothing to complain about there.

Agreed.  Besides, did we really expect an almost-80-year-old to immediately jump on board of a cybercurrency? 

Haha, good point.

Put the bitcoin in the slot on the computer and it will get sucked through the series of internet tubes and come out someone else's disk drive on the other side of the world!

[solex]

So he has reservation about things he can't put in his pocket, but is okay with Gold.
Does he walk around with gold in his pocket?

I think he does. He showed it to Ben during one of their friendly conversations.

I am sick and tired of hearing the complaint that "You can't touch or put a bitcoin in your pocket".

These are the same people who would happily pay their utility bills online or whip out an Amex card to pay a restaurant tab. Does a stupid piece of rectangular plastic that you can put in your pocket make all the difference between money and non-money?

I am still convinced that the reason the value of metal gold has languished for 30 years, in inflation-adjusted terms, is that it is fully tangible, and hence useless for 99% of the transactions required in a modern economy. Bitcoin is 21st century monetary gold.

[Rygon]

It would be easy to get into an argument about the definitions of money, currency, means of exchange, storage of wealth, but I don't think that's necessary. I'm happy that he took a libertarian view to bitcoin.

Although I agree with his views, Bitcoin has made me realize how difficult it is to use PM's as an actual currency, even without government suppression.

What is the rate of gold generation? Do we really know that? At least with Bitcoin, I know the rate of inflation.

[Rygon]

I think Paul would be on board with a gold/silver/Bitcoin exchange. It would be a libertarian's wet dream. Gold and silver for storage of wealth, and Bitcoin to transfer value anywhere.

[xcsler]

Satoshi himself was an advocate of gold so don't be hating on my octogenarian hero for his lack of understanding distributed P2P cryptocurrencies.
Also, please keep in mind that if all people understood money and economics as Ron Paul does Bitcoin would likely never have been created.

[World]

I created a public response to Dr. Paul.  Here it is.  I would be really happy if he could see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDyD-cmSD50

excellent video

[btbrae]

I think a lot of what Bitcoin is about would sit well with Ron Paul if he understood the computer side of things a little more, he always seemed pretty weak with technology although he was always all for it. At the end of the day holding some gold is not a bad idea, even if you are pro-Bitcoin. Nobody has come up with a gold-backed digital currency that is feasible and as the unbacked digital currency still trumps the fiat currency then that is what we have.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

I created a public response to Dr. Paul.  Here it is.  I would be really happy if he could see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDyD-cmSD50

Excellent vid, thanks Mike.

[Akka]

On businessinsider.com, there is a bit longer Statement from Ron Paul:

http://www.businessinsider.com/ron-paul-on-bitcoin-2013-4

"To tell you the truth, it's little bit too complicated. If I can't put it in my pocket, I have some reservations about that. But it has been designed in the free market. If it is a means of exchange, it would not ever be illegal. You shouldn't regulate it in the free market, but I do not think it fits the definition of money, which has been around for 6000 years. People want to see something they can know what it is, they can define it, touch it and put in their pocket. If you do not have a computer and someone running the computer and calculations, you don't have it. I am not a big supporter of that, but I am not opposed to it. I admit, I do not fully understand what is going on with it."

And that's the point.

Nothing agains him, but a majority of his Generation just don't get how it works.