One-on-One With Ron Paul

AP

Ron Paul

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul doesn’t have much confidence in the Federal Reserve, he told Cramer Friday. Especially when it comes to setting interest rates.

In fact, the biggest complaint Paul gets on the campaign trail is from people claiming the Fed cut too much or not enough. But according the Texas congressman, this shouldn’t be the central bank’s job anyway.

“If you believe in free enterprise and capitalism,” Paul said, “you should have the market forces determining interest rates.”

It’s the distortion of interest rates by manipulating the money supply that causes bubbles, like the one in housing, to form, he said, and rarely does the Fed take responsibility when these bubbles burst. “They’re not held accountable,” even after the “total chaos” of the past year.

Unfortunately for most Americans, Paul said he doesn’t think his fellow candidates, or most of Washington, understand how the monetary system works in the U.S., so they’re neglectful. But if they do, “they like the status quo and they like the benefits that come from it.”

But people – especially younger people – know just what they’re inheriting, the presidential hopeful said. So his message is being heard at the grassroots level thanks to lots of rising inflation, a declining standard of living, dependence on China and “a world crisis building over the dollar.”

“They’re waking up,” he said.

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