Dr. Ron Paul, the former congressman and US presidential candidate, says unless the United States shuts down the Federal Reserve System - the US central bank known as “the Fed” - the world will experience a major economic crisis.
Paul, the founder of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, made the remarks in an article published on Monday while commenting on the US economy and the role the Federal Reserve plays in it.
“Allowing a secretive central bank to control monetary policy has resulting in an ever-expanding government, growing income inequality, a series of ever-worsening economic crises, and a steady erosion of the dollar’s purchasing power,” Dr. Paul wrote.
“Unless this system is changed, America, and the world, will soon experience a major economic crisis. It is time to finally audit, then end, the Fed.”
He called on the United States to restore a free-market monetary policy “to prevent the monetary system’s inevitable crash from causing a major economic crisis.”
Dr. Paul, whose son, Senator Rand Paul, is currently running for president, has maintained strong positions against the military-industrial complex and the Federal Reserve, each of which he considers responsible for many of the ills afflicting the United States.
The basic source of the economic trouble is America’s central banking system, which cannot function in a real market economy, he observed.
“The failure of the Fed’s policies of massive money creation, corporate bailouts, and quantitative easing to produce economic growth is a sign that the fiat money system’s day of reckoning is near,” he predicted.
The Obama administration has given the Federal Reserve new powers to oversee the financial system and regulate it, but Paul believes there should be more transparency on the side of the government.
In 1983, the Texas Republican proposed legislation to audit the Federal Reserve, but it failed to gain much support at the time.
However, in September 2014, the US House of Representatives, overwhelmingly approved similar legislation, authorizing the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the Federal Reserve's board of governors.
“One positive step Congress may take this year is passing the Audit the Fed bill,” wrote Dr. Paul. “Fortunately, Senator Rand Paul is using Senate rules to force the Senate to hold a roll-call vote on Audit the Fed.”
“If Audit the Fed passes, the American people can finally learn the full truth about the Fed’s operations,” he noted.