What Would Ron Paul Say to Timothy Geithner?

Matt Welch | March 24, 2009

See for yourself:

Comments

Hugh Akston|3.24.09 @ 5:00PM|#

Bernanke: For better or worse we created deposit insurance and lender of last resort to prevent panics and help control them.

And since they've worked so well, we must expand them.

|3.24.09 @ 5:02PM|#

China Probleme

Wenige Tage vor dem Weltfinanzgipfel in London hat die chinesische Zentralbank eine tiefgreifende Reform des internationalen Währungssystems gefordert. Sie zielt langfristig darauf, den amerikanischen Dollar als wichtigste Reservewährung der Welt durch eine neue supranationale Reservewährung abzulösen. Der chinesische Vorstoß hat großes Gewicht, weil China mit fast 2 Billionen Dollar das Land mit den größten Währungsreserven der Welt ist - und zudem mit einem Portefeuille von mehr als 700 Milliarden Dollar der größte Halter von amerikanischen Staatsanleihen.

An den Devisenmärkten spielte der Vorstoß laut Devisenhändlern aber keine größere Rolle; das Geschehen wurde vielmehr von den Plänen der amerikanischen Regierung zum Ankauf toxischer Wertpapiere geprägt. Von amerikanischer Seite gab es zu dem am Montag veröffentlichten Aufsatz des chinesischen Zentralbankgouverneurs Zhou Xiaochuan zunächst keine Stellungnahme. Schon Mitte März hatte sich der chinesische Ministerpräsident Wen Jiabao besorgt über die Wertbeständigkeit der chinesischen Dollar-Engagements gezeigt. Ein Sprecher von Präsident Barack Obama hatte daraufhin versichert, dass Anlagen in Dollar die sicherste Anlage der Welt seien.

|3.24.09 @ 5:02PM|#

Ah, just a few hundred more Ron Pauls, and we'll be most of the way there. He has faults, but man, he's not like the rest of those evil lunatics.

|3.24.09 @ 5:02PM|#

Autor

Warty|3.24.09 @ 5:02PM|#

Geithner must hate when Ron Paul asks him questions.

Sweedish Chef|3.24.09 @ 5:10PM|#

Cheena Prubleme-

a Veneege-a Tege-a fur dem Veltffeenunzgipffel in Lundun het deee-a cheenesische-a Zentrelbunk ieene-a teeeffgreiffende-a Reffurm des interneshunelee Vähroongssystems geffurdert. Um de hur de hur de hur. Seee-a zeeelt lungffreestig derooff, dee emereekunischee Duller els veechtigste-a Reserfooähroong der Velt doorch ieene-a neooe-a soopruneshunele-a Reserfooähroong ebzoolösee. Der cheenesische-a Furstuß het grußis Gooeecht, veeel Cheena meet fest 2 Beelliunee Duller des Lund meet dee größtee Vähroongsreserfee der Velt ist - und zoodem meet ieenem Purteffeooeelle-a fun mehr els 700 Meellierdee Duller der größte-a Helter fun emereekunischee Steetsunleeehee. Un dee Defeesenmärktee speeelte-a der Furstuß loot Defeesenhändlern eber keeene-a größire-a Rulle-a; des Geschehee voorde-a feeelmehr fun dee Plänee der emereekunischee Regeeeroong zoom Unkooff tuxeescher Vertpepeeere-a geprägt. Um de hur de hur de hur. Fun emereekunischer Seeete-a geb is zoo dem em Munteg feröfffentleechtee Ooffsetz des cheenesischee Zentrelbunkguooferneoors Zhuoo Xeeeuchooun zoonächst keeene-a Stelloongnehme-a. Schun Meette-a März hette-a seech der cheenesische-a Meenisterpräseedent Vee Jeeebeu besurgt über deee-a Vertbeständeegkeit der cheenesischee Duller-Ingegements gezeeegt. Um de hur de hur de hur. Ieen Sprecher fun Präseedent Bereck Oobema hette-a derooffheen ferseechert, dess Unlegee in Duller deee-a seecherste-a Unlege-a der Velt seeeee.

Taktix®|3.24.09 @ 5:22PM|#

Our apologies, those responsible for the previous post have been sacked...

|3.24.09 @ 5:25PM|#

That's not Swedish; det är svenska.

SpongePaul|3.24.09 @ 5:26PM|#

Great question and he was right of course. I think the problem with Dr. Paul (and don't get me wrong i support hin) is that he tends to be long winded, thus loosing his audience before he asks the question. But he has been proven right as of late. If he was not a classy politician (if there is such a thing) he would be standing in the belltower yelling ahha i was right suck it obama and mcain and all the doubters.

|3.24.09 @ 5:29PM|#

The temptation to yell, "Fuck you, you fucking socialists, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" and to run screaming out of the Capitol, carrying a Gadsden flag, must be hard to resist. I thought he did a pretty good job of saying all that in a calm, reasonable tone.

hmm|3.24.09 @ 5:41PM|#

"Geithner must hate when Ron Paul asks him questions."

From his testimony and fidgety habits when answering question I think he dislikes when anyone asks him a question.

|3.24.09 @ 5:42PM|#

I think disliking Geithner is something we should all unify around. He's clearly unfit.

Ron Paul|3.24.09 @ 5:46PM|#

Yo, fuck you Timothy Geithner!

|3.24.09 @ 5:49PM|#

Neither Bernanke nor Geithner have ever been in charge of a business that had to compete in a free market. The idea scares the crap out of them.

-jcr

Rice Bingham|3.24.09 @ 5:58PM|#

Timothy Geithner is easily Obama's worst appointment, and he's appointed some real douchbags. He may as well left Paulson in the position.

Reinmoose|3.24.09 @ 6:03PM|#

Funny way this post is going, considering Geithner does look remarkably like a muppet...

SpongePaul|3.24.09 @ 6:07PM|#

now that you mention it, hmm yes he is a bit Muppetish. and i thought his head was up his butt. looks like it might just be a puppeters hand. that, and a hollow head.

|3.24.09 @ 6:11PM|#

Why not? He was appointed by a Muppet.

Reinmoose|3.24.09 @ 6:13PM|#

*applauds Pro Lib*

|3.24.09 @ 6:20PM|#

He has faults, but man, he's not like the rest of those evil lunatics.

He's not evil at least.

Oh and can we please chill on the "Ron Paul was proven right" BS? There's a homeless guy with a giant pus globule on his left eyelid who goes through the dumpster where I work, and he's been vaguely predicting economic catastrophe for as long as I can remember too. That doesn't mean I'm going to put his name on a banner and herald him as a prophet for our times because his prediction finally came true.

Still waiting for that runaway inflation Dr. Paul!

|3.24.09 @ 6:27PM|#

Did Bernanke just say that the Fed was created in 1913 because of the panic of 1914? I also like how Paul, knowing he had 5 minutes allotted, spent 4:15 on his question for all three members of the panel.

|3.24.09 @ 6:35PM|#

crimethink,

I'm not uncritical of Paul, but I think he's right on a lot of issues. He's hit or miss on economics in general, at least in my opinion, but his ideas on limited government and on government's role in the economy are a heck of a lot better than what we get from most Congress "persons."

I think Paul wanted to get certain things into the record, without regard to whatever evasive answers he was likely to get. At least they said they still believe that capitalism is the most efficient means for allocating resources. Wonder how that flew with some of the leadership these days?

Reinmoose,

Thanks. I didn't create that image, but the song was mine ☺

|3.24.09 @ 6:39PM|#

PL,

Oh I understand what he's doing, but the problem is that he talks in circles. He could have gotten the meaning of his question into the record in 2:00 tops if he weren't so scattershot, and then we would have heard Bambi Geitner's response too.

|3.24.09 @ 6:46PM|#

Well, he's not the world's greatest speaker, no. Then again, I'm sure all of the Friends of the Friends running the committee gave Geithner plenty o' time to make his views clear.

Jeff Balla|3.24.09 @ 6:59PM|#

Apparently, very little. And if Barney Frank kept his blabbering short, maybe he'd realize his hypocrisy and that Geithner would have had the chance to answer Paul's question.

Tom|3.24.09 @ 8:23PM|#

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE52M5UZ20090323

That's confirmation of the dollar beginning to lose value, for anyone curious. If the Chinese stop taking debt, well, that's the hyperinflation scenario Paul speaks of. A little more sophisticated than the ramblings of a homeless man.

ev|3.24.09 @ 8:56PM|#

e-

Warum hast du auf deutsch geantwortet? Es ist total mir egal, aber es ist für mich undeutlich. Kannst du echt reason auf deutsch finden? Und wenn dass nicht möglich ist, kannst du naturell englisch verstehen/lesen. Warum antwortest du in einer Sprache, die fast niemand hier reden/verstehen kann? Interessant.

Oh, and the fucktard who posted after you is a cockbite.

|3.24.09 @ 9:41PM|#

Tell me about it, ev. Swedish--ha!

Kris|3.24.09 @ 11:24PM|#

Barny Frank is fucking douche bag. Fuck you Frank. Fuck you with a Gadsden flag pole!

Kris|3.24.09 @ 11:40PM|#

Still waiting for that runaway inflation Dr. Paul!

You're correct. We'll be watin' a while. Not that it won't happen or anything, just that Paul will likely have been pushing up daises for quite a while by the time that it does. For now, and the foreseeable future, deflation is the name of the game. This could change quickly if the Fed and Treasury get all kinds of radical, but that's not likely, with myriad of political obstacles. A trillion dollars of monetized debt? You'll have to do quite a bit more than that if you want real inflation.

Good luck.

|3.25.09 @ 7:36AM|#

Fuck you with a Gadsden flag pole!

I thought about saying he might like it, but that's just too classless a thing for me to say.

nonPaulogist|3.28.09 @ 7:34PM|#

It is curious that the posts on RP seem to garner a few more comments than is otherwise the case. I guess Reason is trying to grab some of that traffic from the more popular lewrockwell.com.

Reason destroyed its own credibility as an organization that advocates freedom when they turned on Dr. Paul. It still fills me with rage whenever I think about it. Dr. Paul was our last, best hope to turn things around. Now all we can do is hunker down and wait for the slow decline and inevitable collapse. Reason didn't cause him to lose, but they revealed themselves to be establishment suck-ups with no clear commitment to liberty.

Ron Paul is no Cicero, but he's done a hell of a lot more for liberty than Matt or Nick have ever done. Maybe future historians will describe Paul as a gadfly, but they won't mention Matt Welch at all.

Dark Days In Libertarianville|3.28.09 @ 9:46PM|#

"Dr. Paul was our last, best hope to turn things around. Now all we can do is hunker down and wait for the slow decline and inevitable collapse. Reason didn't cause him to lose..."

Oh, enough you old fart. No wonder you're in love with Ron Paul. You both speak the same language that was contained in many of his newsletters.

You guys are as bad as Christian fundamentalists with talk of Armageddon. I would pity you if I wasn't so busy laughing. Grow the fuck up, study some biology, history, or whatever else that may will reveal to you that your line of thinking is cliched and silly.

Ron Paul sounded like some kind of conservative goon up there with questions about the administration's feelings on Capitalism. He was probably mocked behind closed doors. Of course ideologues aren't frightening when they're preaching to the converted.

If Libertarians weren't so politically lazy, I would probably have to kill some of you before you gained power.

The only thing that people seem to be educated about on here is economics, and that's pretty much a theory game. When it comes to most other major topics, nuance flies out the window. And you wonder why most people see Conservatism and its offshoots as intellectually vacant?

Most of you are walking advertisements for a better Liberal Arts education. As usual, conservative extremists tend do the most to usher in Socialist agendas, and it's due to their inability to see the bigger picture.

Until Libertarians effectively marginalize people like the poster above, then the party will continue to suffer from the same prejudices that Conservatives do because of their Christian base.

|3.29.09 @ 1:50AM|#

"traffic from the more popular lewrockwell.com," how do you figure LewRockwell.com is more popular than Reason.com? Don't get me wrong, I am fond of Rockwell and Paul, but according to Quantcast.com:

LewRockwell.com - 145K unique hits per month
Reason.com - 442K unique hits per month

|4.3.09 @ 4:43PM|#

the inflation wont happen until we rebound out of the depression then the market will be flooded with doe and the dollar will be worth pesos

|4.3.09 @ 4:44PM|#

excuse me i accidentally typed depression i meant recession