It is astonishing that as the dollar has lost more than 50% of its value against the Euro in the past four years, the silence is deafening in the presidential debates, except for the insightful statements by Dr. Paul about our nation’s monetary system.  Dr. Paul has pointed out time and time again how the FED manipulates interest rates by injecting new money into the economy fueling the unsustainable boom that inevitably ends in a bust.

Dr. Paul also has stated that the U.S. invasion of Iraq as well as the military adventure in Afghanistan is eroding the value of the dollar, because the Federal Reserve prints new money to cover the federal government’s budget deficit caused by the welfare-warfare state. 

Although the FED does not literally print the new money, it has an unlimited checking account that it uses to conduct “open market” operations.  At each meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the FED either pumps in new money to lower interest rates or keeps them stable.  However, when the economy begins to feel the inflationary pressures from the FED’s previous easy money policies, the FED will raise rates to dampen price inflation.  

The country is now mired in a housing depression—a direct consequence of the Greenspan FED dropping interest rates to one percent a few years ago.  The flood of easy money and credit fueled one of the biggest housing bubbles in modern American history.  With the bubble now burst, the question remains will the fallout spread to other sectors of the economy? 

Preliminary indications reveal that consumers are becoming more cautious in their spending just as the Christmas holiday shopping season begins on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  Even Starbucks is reporting slower sales as higher gasoline and heating costs are beginning to pinch family budgets.

Whether a Ron Paul presidency could return to a gold standard given the enormous power of the vested interests in favor of fiat money remains to be seen.  In the meantime, Dr. Paul is explaining how the Federal Reserve is undermining the dollar’s purchasing power, how the FED causes the boom-bust cycle and how war and inflation are interconnected. 

For his efforts, Dr. Paul is a breath of fresh air in the presidential debates, while all the other candidates remain silent on the cause of the redistribution of wealth from savers and low and middle income families to the military-industrial complex and the nation’s financial elites. 

Since the creation of the Federal Reserve nearly one hundred years ago, the American people have been taught by economists and supported by the DC politicians and the clueless media that the FED is necessary to “stimulate” the economy and fight inflation.  

Now that Rep. Paul is teaching the public the truth about the “creature from Jekyll Island.” the attacks on him are accelerating every day in the mainstream media.  And with Iran’s leader calling for an alternative to the U.S. dollar, will Bush and Cheney order an attack on Iran soon?  Visit the USA Daily Forum to discuss this and other issues.