Author - Ron Paul

fed

New Fed Chief Doesn’t Inspire Confidence

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 to questions didn’t inspire...

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Rising Inflation and the Importance of Gold

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 for investors to keep...

stock market correction

Stock Market Correction Is A Warning

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 are rebounding to begin...

Don’t Ignore Alan Greenspan

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 in such a vague...

Only Sound Money Can Put a Brake on Government Spending

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 will continue to rise,...

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No Reason to Fear a Government Shutdown

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 some of the press coverage,...

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Bank “Reform” Proposals Fail to Understand the Problem

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” fail to understand is...

The Hidden Tax Increase in the Tax Reform Bill

While most of the provisions of the newly-enacted tax reform bill were good ones that will help most taxpayers, there is one that has gotten less publicity that won’t benefit taxpayers. That’s the use of chained CPI rather than regular CPI. And if things continue as they have been, that could cost taxpayers down the road. Tax brackets have long...

How You Can Protect Yourself From the Growing Scourge of Counterfeit Coins

Counterfeit coins were once the bane of shopkeepers and their customers all across the world. There’s no worse feeling than selling your goods and suddenly realizing that the coins you’re holding in your hands aren’t really the gold or silver you thought they were. Thanks to the decreased usage of coins in commerce in recent times, it’s been mainly...