'Gold, peace, and prosperity,' Paul tells New Orleans conference

12:27a CT Monday, October 12, 2009

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the libertarian-leaning candidate for the Republican presidential nomination last year, was received enthusiastically Sunday as he gave the valedictory speech to the 2009 New Orleans Investment Conference.

Paul titled his remarks "Gold, Peace, and Prosperty," arguing that people would not tolerate "welfare, corporatism, and wars" if those things had to be financed by taxes in the here and now under a hard-money system rather than financed by borrowing and deficit spending.

The U.S. government's credibility is crashing, Paul said, but the "remnant of American individualism" is much greater than had been thought. Young people especially are receptive to advocacy of freedom, he added, and tired of "wars that make no sense."

Paul noted that more than 300 members of Congress have sponsored his legislation to audit the Federal Reserve, and he speculated that an audit might lead to the Fed's abolition. But he warned that the despite the broad nominal support for his bill, the House leadership won't bring it to a vote unless the public brings pressure on Congress.

"You can't have big government without a corrupt, fraudulent monetary system," Paul said. The Fed is "ruining our economy, undermining personal liberty, and financing wars."

The anti-war movement in the United States is weak, Paul said, and the country's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to be ended only by the country's bankruptcy or a drastic devaluation of the dollar.

"Someday we're going to have to understand money and the principles of liberty," Paul said. The people are in danger of losing their virtue, he warned, and he urged his audience, "Invest your time promoting liberty and freedom."

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