Author: Ron Paul

The fractional reserve banking system is a system that is doomed to fail, it’s just a matter of when, not if. Governments throughout history have taken steps to prop up that system, but in the long run nothing has ever worked. You just can’t loan out deposits while telling depositors they can retrieve their money […]

With his recent decision to place tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, President Trump could cause some serious disruption to the economy. In an attempt to rectify what he sees as an uneven trade deficit, he could harm American industries and consumers. But with so much discussion of the trade deficit, it is surprising that […]

Last week saw the first Congressional testimony of new Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome “Jay” Powell. Anyone who expected anything groundbreaking from his testimony was, of course, disappointed. But Powell’s appearance did show signs of his thinking and of what we might expect from the Fed going forward. For investors, both Powell’s testimony and his answers […]

The government’s official inflation figures surged in January, with the producer price index (PPI) rising by 0.4% and the consumer price index (CPI) rising by 0.5%. If those trends continue throughout the year, that could be dangerous for consumers and investors. Combined with newfound uncertainty in stock markets, it makes it all the more important […]

The stock market correction of the past couple of weeks is a warning to investors that equities are fundamentally overvalued. The euphoria that had infested markets in recent months was reminiscent of the dotcom bubble, especially since the major stocks pushing indexes higher are tech stocks such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple, etc. While stock markets […]

One of my foils while I served in Congress was Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. For many years while I served on the House Financial Services Committee I had the opportunity to question him during his semiannual testimony before Congress, and I never could get a straight answer from him. Greenspan was notorious for speaking […]

We’re not too far away from another government shutdown drama, as Congress continues kicking the can down the road. Neither side in the budget debate is willing to admit that government spending is out of control, just as neither side is willing to accept budget cuts to their sacred cows. Both welfare and warfare spending […]

Much of the recent news has focused on the government shutdown, the first since 2013. Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about how awful it would be when the government shuts down. Those who understand exactly what the federal government does, however, realize that it’s not the end of the world. From […]

Proposals to reform the US banking system pop up every now and then but often never go anywhere. It’s only in the aftermath of a crisis that legislation gets passed, and at those times it’s almost universally awful, such as the Dodd-Frank Act that was passed after the last financial crisis. What most banking “reformers” […]

2018 has started off with a bang for the gold market. The price of gold started the year over 13% higher than last year and continues to leave the $1300 price level in its wake. With such a good start, 2018 could be a breakout year for more reasons than one. Federal Reserve Monetary Policy […]