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by RON PAUL
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Unless President Donald Trump reverses course, the “Lower Prices Bigger Paychecks” banner that hung behind him at his “affordability” speech this month will be remembered as being to economic policy what President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” banner was to foreign policy.
According to a Politico poll, many Americans are having difficulty paying for food, housing, transportation, and health care. 37% of Americans cannot afford to take their family to a professional sports event while 46% of Americans cannot afford airfare for a vacation.
For an increasing number of Americans, the affordability crisis is compounded by the firing crisis. Last month, approximately 120,000 small business workers lost their jobs — the highest one month decline in small business employment since the covid lockdowns. Large businesses including Amazon, Verizon, Target, and Apple are also laying off workers.
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The affordability crisis began in 1971 when President Richard Nixon severed the last link between the US dollar and gold. This removed any restraint on the Federal Reserve’s ability to pump money into the economy, leading to a continuous dollar devaluation. The decline in the dollar’s purchasing power is the real cause of the rise in prices and decline in living standards.
Fiat currency may be bad for the average American, but it is great for the welfare-warfare state and the special interests that benefit from it. This is because the fiat money system enables the Federal Reserve to monetize high levels of government debt via purchases of Treasury securities, thus making possible the explosion in government spending and power we have experienced the past fifty years. The fiat money system is also responsible for the bubble-boom-bust economy that has plagued America.
President Trump promised to reduce federal spending and end “Bidenflation.” Instead of keeping his promise, with the help of the Republican Congress, he has increased spending. As a result, the federal debt is now over $38 trillion and will soon exceed $39 trillion.
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Much of President Trump’s spending increases are on so-called “defense.” Most of this spending goes to “defending” other countries and meddling in conflicts in which the US should not be involved. Spending on militarism will no doubt increase further as President Trump prepares to launch an unconstitutional war against Venezuela. These bad policies are a betrayal of President Trump’s promise to avoid starting new wars, put an end to ongoing wars, and pursue a foreign policy that puts the American people’s needs ahead of the demands of the military-industrial complex, the deep state, and their lapdogs in Congress, the media, and the “policy community.”
President Trump still has time to regain the support of disgruntled MAGA voters who are wondering what happened to the man for whom they voted. A good first step would be for President Trump to oppose the massive National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) currently before Congress unless it cuts spending by taking pro-peace actions such as closing some of the about 750 military bases the US maintains around the world. Savings from closing these bases can be used to start paying down government debt and take care of those dependent on government programs as Congress winds down the welfare state.
Additionally, President Trump should support legislation forbidding the Federal Reserve from purchasing federal debt instruments. He should also support auditing and ending the Fed. Limited government, free markets, sound money, and peace are the way to make America great again.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas and the leader of the pro-liberty, pro-free market movement in the United States. His weekly column – reprinted with permission – can be found here.
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5 comments
This is one time I must disagree with Dr Paul. Trump has zero credibility anymore, not that he has had much since taking office in 2017. On the campaign trail in January of 2016, Trump told an audience at a Vermont rally, that his first day in office, he would remove the Gun Free Zone status from schools and military bases in the US. Trump correctly noted that GFZ status made these places easy targets for mass shooters and this needed to change. Almost ten years later, it has yet to happen or to even be attempted by him.
Also on the campaign trail in 2016, Trump all but promised he would “drain The Swamp”. Instead, Trump turned The Swamp into his preferred personnel pool for most hires, appointments, nominations, and selections. Haley, Mulvaney, Kavanaugh, Sessions, Bolton, Barr, and many, many, other Swamp creatures, were the best he could find out of this great big wide open country? I don’t think so.
This term, Trump has kept the oppressive Joe Biden economy alive, well, and chugging along, unimpeded. Gas prices are still fluctuating in the same range as they did under Biden. Despite his lies to the contrary, inflation has not halted or reversed. Each week, more money buys less at the grocery store than it did the week before. Has Trump ever bought a bag of groceries in his life? My guess is, probably not. When you have staff and servants doing those things for you, you tend to not be in touch with the reality of things like grocery prices and such.
As with his last term, Trump talked about getting us “nationwide CWP reciprocity” and “protecting our gun rights”. As with last time, I have yet to see this happen. My money is on us getting to January 2029 with no CWP reciprocity seriously attempted. Despite the dog and pony shows with his anti-2A Attorney General, Pam Bondi, I see no serious or lasting protection of our 2A rights coming from this administration, exactly as Trump and his handlers want it.
But let us by all means continue giving, and giving, and giving, to Israel and Ukraine! Ametica First my big old hairy ass.
Thinking the guy who said take the guns first cares about letting you take your guns more places is comedy gold.
I only fell for it once. I voted for him in 2016. In 2020 and 2024, I left the Presidential part of my ballot blank. It was obvious to me by then that they all work for the same side, not us.
Affordability is a Democrat hoax, just ask Trump.
Dick Nixon put one of his stooges on the Fed which led to a decade of inflation, much like Dementia Don is getting ready to do this spring.