Ron Paul's "End The Fed"

Coming from strict constitutionalist and libertarian positions, subscribing to the Austrian school of economic thought with a strong influence of Ayn Rand, Ron Paul makes a passionate case against Fiat money, centralized banking, unlimited government powers in general, and the Federal Reserve in particular. He argues that the Fed's manipulation of value of the dollar, interest rates and, indirectly, prices is immoral, unconstitutional and will lead to economic destruction.

He explains how by creating money out of thin air, the Fed contributes to real inflation and so the debasement of the dollar, and helps funds wars and populist government programs. He vehemently urges a return to gold standard and a true market economy, with out manipulation by the Fed or any other central entity.

Some quotes:

"From April 2008 to April 2009, the adjusted monetary base shot up from $856 billion to an unbelievable $1.749 trillion. Was there any new wealth created? New production? No, this was the Ben Bernanke printing press at work. If you and I did anything similar, we would be called counterfeiters and be sent away for a lifetime in prison."

"The Fed's reports to Congress and hearings are for public consumption. Real information is not available to the public or to Congress, the Financial Services Committee, the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee, or to me as a member of all three."

"Governments... default by debasing the currency, reducing the value thereof, through inflation. .. This is the plan: massive debt and inflation to bail out friends, pretending to prop up the economy and liquidate debt. It never goes as planned. John Maynard Keynes knew that in a correction it is necessary to lower wages. That's why he supported inflation to force real wages down and do it without confronting labor with the need to lower nominal wages."

"Do the auto executives come to Washington to demand freedom - freedom to contract labor, freedom to retool when they please, freedom to choose the cars they build, freedom from central economic planners regulating their every move, freedom to make profit and keep it, freedom to fail? Do they demand a sound currency that would rectify the international trade imbalances?

No they come to Washington to demand that innocent Americans bail them out and protect a system that deserves no protection. They never come to demand that the government protect contracts rather than insisting on the government rewriting them. They beg to be taken over, nationalized, partnered with, to obey a car czar and sacrifice every bit of self-respect that they might retain."