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View Full Version : Washington Post accuses Ron Paul of gold 'conflict of interest'




Knightskye
06-13-2010, 08:56 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/13/AR2010061304881.html


Rep. Ron Paul is captivated by gold. Over the past two decades, he has written books about the virtues of gold-backed currency. He has made uncounted speeches about the precious metal. He even took a leadership post on the House subcommittee that oversees the nation's monetary policy, mints and gold medals.

But his focus on gold goes beyond the theoretical.

In recent years, Paul (R-Tex.) has poured hundreds of thousands of his own dollars into stocks of some of the world's largest gold-mining operations, according to a review of his financial disclosure forms by The Washington Post. In 2008, while advocating for the United States to reinstate a gold standard, he reported owning up to $1.5 million in shares of at least nine gold-production companies. In addition, he disclosed up to $200,000 in silver stocks. In all, those holdings represented close to half of his assets.

The intersection of Paul's investments, policy convictions and congressional duties is acceptable under the ethics rules that govern lawmaker investing, a code of behavior that stands in stark contrast to the stricter regulations that government and private executives typically must follow.

Paul said he has consciously never taken any legislative action that would directly benefit his gold investments. He said his only goal is to strengthen the U.S. currency. In fact, he said, if that occurred, his gold stocks would drop in value.

They would rather go through investment disclosure forms of someone who wants to restore a sound currency than, say, investigate an actual conflict of interest -- Barack Obama's relationship with window company "Serious Materials".
http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/01/14/a-little-company-praised-by-president-obama/

A high-ranking member of the Department of Energy is married to the Vice President of Policy at Serious Materials. Serious Materials just happened to get a special tax credit, and a vice-presidential and a presidential endorsement of its work.

But let's talk about Ron Paul trying to make some money. :rolleyes:


Link to Dr. Paul's article on competing currencies.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul434.html

Wolverine302
06-13-2010, 08:58 PM
Ron Paul has an army of active defenders, you can expect the WP to get flooded with emails.

Nevermind that Dick Cheney was the VP of Haliburton, and that they some how got Huge govt contracts during his watch as VP of the US.

Flash
06-13-2010, 09:02 PM
The Washington Post are those assholes that wrote 20 articles smearing Rand for his CRA comments.

catdd
06-13-2010, 09:02 PM
RP hasn't even decided if he's going to run yet and they're already cranking up the old smear campaign. I remember they ran this one in 08.

specsaregood
06-13-2010, 09:04 PM
What Ron said is exactly true, if the govt followed if advice the dollar would go up and gold down.

Kregisen
06-13-2010, 09:04 PM
Isn't the fact that he's putting his money where his mouth is hurting their argument?

If he thinks the dollar is going to collapse and keeps talking about how gold hold its value, why would anyone above the age of 5 believe he wouldn't invest money in it?

I don't understand their logic, then again that's probably why I'm a Libertarian.

sofia
06-13-2010, 09:07 PM
"Conflict of Interest"??...reeeeally?

The Washington Post was purchased in 1933 by former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and Chairman of the World Bank - Eugene Meyer.

The Post was then handed down to his daughter Katherine Meyer Graham, and is today run by grandson Donald Graham.

Ya think this might have something to do with the Post's hatred for "goldbug" , anti-Fed Ron Paul????...maybe?

Fucking hypocrites.

sailingaway
06-13-2010, 09:13 PM
Why isn't this allowing comments? there is a click link for them (the kind they hide on the next page) but it goes to a 'page does not exist'

He doesn't have a conflict of interest, he's been putting his money where his mouth is. Those MORONS.

Anti Federalist
06-13-2010, 09:14 PM
"Conflict of Interest"??...reeeeally?

The Washington Post was purchased in 1933 by former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and Chairman of the World Bank - Eugene Meyer.

The Post was then handed down to his daughter Katherine Meyer Graham, and is today run by grandson Donald Graham.

Ya think this might have something to do with the Post's hatred for "goldbug" , anti-Fed Ron Paul????...maybe?

Fucking hypocrites.

Yeah, that.

sailingaway
06-13-2010, 09:18 PM
I tried to post but when I pushed post of my comment it went to the same place. The number of comments is going up though, so someone is getting through, I wonder if we are overloading the server?

--
edit, ok weird, it went from 18 comments on the ticker to zero. Can't post.

sailingaway
06-13-2010, 09:21 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/13/AR2010061304881.html




They would rather go through investment disclosure forms of someone who wants to restore a sound currency than, say, investigate an actual conflict of interest -- Barack Obama's relationship with window company "Serious Materials".
http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/01/14/a-little-company-praised-by-president-obama/

A high-ranking member of the Department of Energy is married to the Vice President of Policy at Serious Materials. Serious Materials just happened to get a special tax credit, and a vice-presidential and a presidential endorsement of its work.

But let's talk about Ron Paul trying to make some money. :rolleyes:

or how about the subsidies for the hospital Obama's wife worked for, and her promotion, or how he got his side yard?

No, lets see if the guy who has been telling us all to preserve our savings took his own advice and pillory him if he did!

I think they've decided his growing popularity is the source of what they are calling a 'gold bubble'. Forget CHINA telling its people to purchase gold....or India's purchases....

Matt Collins
06-13-2010, 09:34 PM
The propaganda generator is starting to crank up.

Thrashertm
06-13-2010, 10:05 PM
They ignore the most egregious example I can think of recently - Senator Dianne Feinstein - war profiteer. "According to the Center for Public Integrity, Feinstein's husband Richard Blum has racked in millions of dollars from Perini, a civil infrastructure construction company, of which the billionaire investor wields a 75 percent voting share."

foofighter20x
06-13-2010, 10:08 PM
Well, I accuse the Washington Post of irrelevant "ad hominem (circumstantial)" attacks.


The ad hominem circumstantial begins the same way as the ad hominem abusive, but instead of heaping verbal abuse on his or her opponent, the respondent attempts to discredit the opponent's argument bu alluding to certain circumstances that affect the opponent. By doing so the respondent hopes to show that the opponent is predisposed to argue the way he or she does and should therefore not be taken seriously.

...

Merely because a person happens to be affected by certain circumstances is not sufficient to think that person is incapable of arguing logically. Any attempt to discredit such an argument in this way therefore involves a fallacy.

Hurley (1982), A Concise Introduction to Logic.

I doubt too many NYT staffers have taken a university course in Critical Thinking or Argumentation.

Matt Collins
06-13-2010, 10:14 PM
Hurley (1982), A Concise Introduction to Logic.
I have added that to my Amazon queue

foofighter20x
06-13-2010, 10:14 PM
Furthermore,

RON PAUL DOES NOT ADVOCATE FOR A GOLD STANDARD.

He advocates that government-created restraints on the market for money be lifted and thus allow the market to choose for itself what should most efficiently serve as money.

If that just so happens to be gold, bully for him. But imagine the egg on Paul's face if it's some other precious metal...

TCE
06-13-2010, 10:21 PM
Furthermore,

RON PAUL DOES NOT ADVOCATE FOR A GOLD STANDARD.

He advocates that government-created restraints on the market for money be lifted and thus allow the market to choose for itself what should most efficiently serve as money.

If that just so happens to be gold, bully for him. But imagine the egg on Paul's face if it's some other precious metal...

This was exactly what I was going to post. Ron has said repeatedly that in a perfect world, no, there would not be a government issued gold standard currency. He wants the free market to come up with currencies and the government not have a monopoly on money. With the competing currencies system, inflation would occur, but people would be able to complete transactions with the stable currencies of their choosing.

sofia
06-13-2010, 10:24 PM
with competing currencies, wouldnt that have the same inefficiences as barter?

what if i want to buy a suit and the taylor doesnt accept my currency? I'd have to go and exchange my currency for one that he accepts?

TCE
06-13-2010, 10:26 PM
with competing currencies, wouldnt that have the same inefficiences as barter?

what if i want to buy a suit and the taylor doesnt accept my currency? I'd have to go and exchange my currency for one that he accepts?

Then go to a different Taylor. If he is smart and competitive (free market), he would accept several of the most popular currencies. If he doesn't, there will be another one who will seize the opportunity and accept multiple currencies. Most businesses would likely accept almost all currencies because they want to make sure you don't go to the competition.

low preference guy
06-13-2010, 10:31 PM
with competing currencies, wouldnt that have the same inefficiences as barter?

what if i want to buy a suit and the taylor doesnt accept my currency? I'd have to go and exchange my currency for one that he accepts?

with relative freedom in the issuance of credit cards, wouldn't that have the same inefficiencies as barter?

what if i want to buy a suit and the tailor doesn't accept my credit card, but accepts only another one that I don't have? I'd have to go get a new credit card for one that he accepts?

low preference guy
06-13-2010, 10:35 PM
with competing currencies, wouldnt that have the same inefficiences as barter?

what if i want to buy a suit and the taylor doesnt accept my currency? I'd have to go and exchange my currency for one that he accepts?

you should study the history of gold. gold as money was not created by a government. it was a natural market process, in which the most marketable commodity gradually became established as money. that commodity was gold. the creation of money was a result of human action, but not of human design. then the governments took over what came about by a natural market process.

whenever there were no restrictions and taxes on gold, and no legal tender laws, a gold based monetary system always took place. the same thing will happen again if legal tender laws and taxes on precious metals are repealed.

foofighter20x
06-13-2010, 10:36 PM
Link to Dr. Paul's article on competing currencies.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul434.html

Matt Collins
06-13-2010, 10:59 PM
you should study the history of gold. gold as money was not created by a government. it was a natural market process, in which the most marketable commodity gradually became established as money. that commodity was gold. the creation of money was a result of human action, but not of human design. then the governments took over what came about by a natural market process.

whenever there were no restrictions and taxes on gold, and no legal tender laws, a gold based monetary system always took place. the same thing will happen again if legal tender laws and taxes on precious metals are repealed.
Exactly, just like language, it was a spontaneous (unplanned, non-coerced) development.

specsaregood
06-13-2010, 11:25 PM
with competing currencies, wouldnt that have the same inefficiences as barter?

what if i want to buy a suit and the taylor doesnt accept my currency? I'd have to go and exchange my currency for one that he accepts?

It already can be like that. Legal tender laws do not force retailers to accept FRNs. They are only required to be accepted for settling debt. A store in theory could right now refuse to accept frns.

Ninja Homer
06-13-2010, 11:54 PM
Flip it on them. A congressman asking that the government follow the law of the Constitution and use a currency backed by gold and silver is not a "conflict of interest". The real conflict of interest is with those politicians who perpetuate the Federal Reserve so that they can spend as much money as they want, raising the debt and destroying the value of the dollar, so that they can pretend to be doing good for the people for the purpose of being reelected.

By the Washington Post's logic, any politician that supports the Federal Reserve and is invested in FRNs has a "conflict of interest".

Ninja Homer
06-14-2010, 12:02 AM
Furthermore,

RON PAUL DOES NOT ADVOCATE FOR A GOLD STANDARD.

He advocates that government-created restraints on the market for money be lifted and thus allow the market to choose for itself what should most efficiently serve as money.

If that just so happens to be gold, bully for him. But imagine the egg on Paul's face if it's some other precious metal...

The way I see it, there's 2 things going on.

1. Ron Paul the constitutionalist wants the government to follow the law and use a gold standard currency.
2. Ron Paul the economist wants to change the Constitution to allow free market competing currencies. (and this is also the best way to phase out the Federal Reserve)

Live_Free_Or_Die
06-14-2010, 02:26 AM
Furthermore,

RON PAUL DOES NOT ADVOCATE FOR A GOLD STANDARD.

He advocates that government-created restraints on the market for money be lifted and thus allow the market to choose for itself what should most efficiently serve as money.

If that just so happens to be gold, bully for him. But imagine the egg on Paul's face if it's some other precious metal...

I am with foo on this one. Ron Paul does advocate repealing legal tender law and competing currencies. Not just a return to the gold standard.

LibertarianfromGermany
06-14-2010, 02:33 AM
2. Ron Paul the economist wants to change the Constitution to allow free market competing currencies. (and this is also the best way to phase out the Federal Reserve)

I don't see where the constitution prohibits competing currencies. Only gold and silver are allowed to be legal tender, that's afaik all it says.

rprprs
06-14-2010, 05:19 AM
The intersection of Paul's investments, policy convictions and congressional duties is acceptable under the ethics rules that govern lawmaker investing, a code of behavior that stands in stark contrast to the stricter regulations that government and private executives typically must follow.

Yes, Ron, PLEASE change your position and follow a 'code of behavior' which is more in line with 'stricter regulation'. lol :p

roho76
06-14-2010, 05:52 AM
What Ron said is exactly true, if the govt followed if advice the dollar would go up and gold down.

I was just going to say, wouldn't this hurt gold bugs if we adopted a gold standard like he advocates?

xd9fan
06-14-2010, 05:58 AM
1. Dr Paul is putting his money where his mouth is.
2. He just backing what the Constitution wants....gold and silver.

LibertarianfromGermany
06-14-2010, 06:09 AM
What Ron said is exactly true, if the govt followed if advice the dollar would go up and gold down.

Not really; competing currencies would in the long run destroy the dollar as it should be - fiat money has no place in a sound economy. If you did adopt a gold standard, you would have to link like 100.000 dollar to each ounce or sth. like that.

fisharmor
06-14-2010, 06:21 AM
I was just going to say, wouldn't this hurt gold bugs if we adopted a gold standard like he advocates?

If the dollar was pegged to gold, then the purchasing power of gold would remain the same (it would fluctuate slightly after the period described below, but not near the 6% inflation per year that investment advisers try to beat) and the purchasing power of the dollar would be pegged to that.

That was the point: to have a stable dollar. At original 1792 mint act valuation, a dollar would then have roughly $60 of purchasing power.

Gold would I suppose "go up" because demand would go up. If anything gold is probably undervalued because legal tender laws make it impossible to use for currency - if everyone in the world suddenly wanted gold currency, it'd go through the roof for a couple years, until the market reacted by pumping ridiculous amounts of money into gold mining.

I think it would be economically chaotic getting to that point, but once we got there it would level off and there would be no more economic panics that shut down entire industries, put millions of people out of work, and get politicians making power grabs that would make Stalin blush.

I'd trade a couple years of chaos for that.

Wolverine302
06-14-2010, 07:03 AM
my buddy just told me CNBC was smearing Paul as well about the gold standard this morning.

specsaregood
06-14-2010, 07:21 AM
Not really; competing currencies would in the long run destroy the dollar as it should be - fiat money has no place in a sound economy. If you did adopt a gold standard, you would have to link like 100.000 dollar to each ounce or sth. like that.

well it depends on which of his positions you are speaking of.
Yes, the competiting currencies would eventually destroy the dollar; but that isn't what I was referring to when I said, "if the govt followed his advice the dollar would go up ". I was referring to his consistent advice about not growing government, not running deficits and drastically cutting spending. Quite frankly, his competiting currencies legislation is only partly about freedom but more of a pragmatic attempt at creating an "out" for citizens from the coming dollar destruction.

sailingaway
06-14-2010, 07:47 AM
Part of the price of gold at this moment is 'safe haven' investing, because people don't know where to put their money. Were money stable gold would be valued at its intrinsic value not at its 'safe haven' value, because there would be no need. (and what Ron really wants is a basket of commodities, but it would take a Constitutional amendment)

ProBlue33
06-14-2010, 08:24 AM
Let's see Ron Paul has been investing in Gold for over thirty years, because he is smart, and understands this issue. This investment has paid off.
If any type of new standard was applied, the price of Gold would drop.


http://goldprice.org/charts/history/gold_30_year_o_b_usd.png?0.07602443555143623

catdd
06-14-2010, 08:27 AM
RP will slip right through this trap.
He's broken no laws whether legal or moral, and they know it. They just hope that the very suggestion of impropriety will be enough to cast him in a bad light.

Ninja Homer
06-14-2010, 08:43 AM
I don't see where the constitution prohibits competing currencies. Only gold and silver are allowed to be legal tender, that's afaik all it says.

If competing currencies aren't allowed as legal tender, then they're not really competing.

LibertarianfromGermany
06-14-2010, 08:50 AM
If competing currencies aren't allowed as legal tender, then they're not really competing.

But if you just remove all legal tender laws and give no commodity the status of monopoly money, you have competing currencies and no infringement of the constitution at the same time.

ItsTime
06-14-2010, 09:00 AM
OMG a man who puts his money where his mouth is! HOW DARE RON PAUL DO THAT!

sailingaway
06-14-2010, 09:00 AM
But if you just remove all legal tender laws and give no commodity the status of monopoly money, you have competing currencies and no infringement of the constitution at the same time.

true, it is the NON gold and silver being allowed that is the issue....

Thrashertm
06-14-2010, 12:15 PM
my buddy just told me CNBC was smearing Paul as well about the gold standard this morning.

I caught the tail end of it. Do you know what was said?

Thrashertm
06-14-2010, 12:18 PM
my buddy just told me CNBC was smearing Paul as well about the gold standard this morning.

Also - CNBC is jealous because they all invested in tech stocks in '99, then banks in '07.

lester1/2jr
06-14-2010, 12:27 PM
article is ridiculous. his precious metal holdings are nothing like and in fact are the complete opposite of Jane Harmans being a military industrial complex parasite.

If we bring back the gold standard and ron tries to use his influence to get a miner he is invested with a government contract without due scrutiny they will have a story

Pizzo
06-14-2010, 01:14 PM
Wow, Ron Insana on CNBC just said if anyone in Congress lacks a basic fundamental understanding of economics, it's Ron Paul. Silly comment coming from Insana considering the fund that he started lasted all but 2 years.

Badger Paul
06-14-2010, 01:31 PM
Ron Paul puts his money where his mouth is. Got a problem with that WaPo?

newbitech
06-14-2010, 01:39 PM
Isn't the fact that he's putting his money where his mouth is hurting their argument?

If he thinks the dollar is going to collapse and keeps talking about how gold hold its value, why would anyone above the age of 5 believe he wouldn't invest money in it?

I don't understand their logic, then again that's probably why I'm a Libertarian.


it goes something like this. Ron Paul is a gold bug moonbat with gold nugget eye balls and gold nugget, well nuggets.

So it follows that he would spend the last 20-30 years unsuccessfully trying to push a gold backed currency so that his investment and inflation hedge would become worth less. But alas the only reason for the surge in gold and the genius of those who bought $35 an ounce THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS a friggin OUNCE is because of kooky old Ron Paul droning on for 30 years about gold...

maybe we can get this Ron Paul kook fellow to talk about some damn jobs in this country..

FreedomProsperityPeace
06-14-2010, 01:47 PM
Wow, Ron Insana on CNBC just said if anyone in Congress lacks a basic fundamental understanding of economics, it's Ron Paul. Silly comment coming from Insana considering the fund that he started lasted all but 2 years.I just caught that. God, a hate that little rat. :mad:

HOLLYWOOD
06-14-2010, 01:52 PM
I caught the tail end of it. Do you know what was said?


http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=2750547&posted=1#post2750547

Obama Pump Monkey Channel CNBC

Knightskye
06-15-2010, 05:21 PM
http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=V1kA0yWnRGc#t=3m34

devil21
06-15-2010, 05:33 PM
OMG a man who puts his money where his mouth is! HOW DARE RON PAUL DO THAT!

And how dare him try to preserve his wealth! He should be like the rest of the sheep and let the wealth he earned throughout his life be destroyed and eroded by inflation from a collusive central bank and central government. :rolleyes:

emazur
06-15-2010, 05:53 PM
YouTube - Ron Paul has conflict of interest w/ gold? P. Schiff debunks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYxn--_cYI4)