Maybe Ron Paul isn't so crazy.

[bigfatjerk]

ifJG_oFFDK0

Kinda crazy when every one of these predictions come true in less than 10 years and everyone thinks he's the crazy one.

[Turd_Ferguson]

Maybe HE's the antichrist...

[StoopTroup]

I don't think I ever thought he was completely crazy but I do know that he was said a few things that if our Elected Officials had listened to....we could have avoided some real problems. That said...we should not follow everything he says as he is Bat **** Crazy at times. :D

If you run for POTUS....I think you have to be a bit off kilter anyway. It's not a terrific job and you may never get much credit for the things you did right.

[StoopTroup]

Too bad Paul isn't 20-30 years younger. Right or wrong, people are reluctant to vote for someone his age for president.

I can see where folks might feel that way....but he is running step for step with the folks who are much younger than him right now and I think he's pretty incredible in doing so.

[StoopTroup]

Maybe HE's the antichrist...

Seeing Hillary Clinton trying to make a deal with the Taliban was sure interesting. I went from "WTF?" to "Bomb their *** now" when they asked for us to release the folks in Guantanamo.

[StoopTroup]

Ron Paul - "Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected once it's realized that our liberties and wealth are in jeopardy."

[StoopTroup]

Ron Paul - Ideas are very important to the shaping of society. In fact they are more powerful than bombings, Armies or Guns. And this is because that ideas are capable of spreading without limit. They are behind the choices that we make. They can transform the World in a way that Governments and Armies cannot. Fighting for Liberty with ideas makes more sense to me than fighting with guns or politics or Political Power. With Ideas we can make real change that lasts.

[StoopTroup]

I guess that kind of puts a kabosh on my idea of dropping some more bombs on the Taliban and that Hillary must be really pleasing Ron.

[MR2-Sooner86]

He's corrupt and a Washington insider.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/10/27/National-Politics/Graphics/w-Lobbyists.jpg

Presidential Candidates: Selected Industry Totals, 2012 Cycle
Lobbyists (http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/select.php?cycle=2012)

Mitt Romney (R) $206,550
Rick Perry (R) $166,999
Barack Obama (D) $84,459
Tim Pawlenty (R) $48,750
Jon Huntsman (R) $33,750
Newt Gingrich (R) $28,550
John Thune (R) $12,493
Rick Santorum (R) $11,800
James DeMint (R) $3,000
Herman Cain (R) $2,500
Michele Bachmann (R) $2,500
Thad McCotter (R) $1,500
Mike Pence (R) $1,000
Ron Paul (R) $451

[OUstud]

He's the only candidate that has the ability to unify this country. He's also the only candidate with an actual plan, not just tired talking points and doublespeak. Elect anyone else from the GOP or Obama, and it's just more of the same.

This article is worth reading: http://www.salon.com/2011/12/31/progressives_and_the_ron_paul_fallacies/singleton/

[bigfatjerk]

Probably the main reason he won't get elected is because he's not going to get any support from the Washington insiders that are paying DC off right now to make sure the system is rigged.

[cleller]

He was wrong about interest rates, anyway. He can blame the Fed for that, though.

[ictsooner7]

Ron Paul is just plain crazy and dangerous. Getting back on to the gold standard will kill our economy and the dollar will no long be the dominate currency in the world.

.
Paul builds campaign on doomsday scenarios
By Andy Sullivan | Reuters – Mon, Dec 26, 2011.

WASHINGTON, Iowa (Reuters) - The man who might win the Republican Party's first presidential nominating contest fears that the United Nations may take control of the U.S. money supply.

Campaigning for the January 3 Iowa caucuses, Ron Paul warns of eroding civil liberties, a Soviet Union-style economic collapse and violence in the streets.

The Texas congressman, author of "End the Fed," also wants to eliminate the central banking system that underpins the world's largest economy.
"Not only would we audit the Federal Reserve, we may well curtail the Federal Reserve," Paul told a cheering crowd of more than 100 in this small Iowa city last week.

Paul, 76, is facing questions for racist writings that appeared under his name two decades ago, which he has disavowed as the work of "ghost writers."

But Paul's dark-horse presidential bid ultimately could founder, analysts and others say, because of increasing questions about how his unorthodox vision of government would work in the real world.

Republican rivals criticize his anti-war, isolationist approach to foreign policy as dangerously naive, and object to his plans to slash the Pentagon's budget and pull back U.S. troops from overseas.

Non-partisan analysts say his economic proposals - drastic spending cuts, elimination of the Federal Reserve and a return to the gold standard - would plunge the country back into recession.

"Paul appeals to people whose knowledge of major issues is superficial (and) he sees conspiracies where there are none," said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group, an analysis firm. "If he does well in Iowa, which is likely, it will be an enormous embarrassment to the Republicans."

However, Paul's calls for a dramatically limited government and a hands-off foreign policy are resonating among voters who have grown deeply alienated from Washington after a decade of war and nearly five years of economic malaise.

"Obama got into office and I can't tell the difference between him and Bush," said Deanna Pitman, a homemaker from Bloomfield, Iowa, citing President Barack Obama's support for policies such as the Wall Street bailout and the war in Afghanistan that began under George W. Bush.

Polls show Paul jockeying for the lead in the Iowa caucuses, and political observers say his organization in the state is unmatched. His campaign stops draw hundreds of enthusiastic supporters, along with undecided voters who are giving him a look.

On the campaign trail, he reaches out to Tea Party supporters on the right and Occupy Wall Street supporters on the left.

Some potential supporters from the left have been put off by Paul's uncompromising support for the free market.

At a campaign stop in this small city of about 7,000, Paul told breast cancer survivor Danielle Lin that insurance companies should not be required to offer coverage to people who are already sick.

"It's sort of like me living on the Gulf Coast, not buying insurance until I see the hurricane," said Paul, whose Galveston-based district was devastated by a hurricane in 2008. "Insurance is supposed to measure risk."

The response left Lin in tears. While her insurance covered her treatment, she said, several of her friends were not so fortunate.

"I watched three friends die because they didn't have insurance," said Lin, a registered Democrat who is looking for a Republican candidate to support this time.

"Nobody can afford private insurance, nobody can. And they're dead."

APOCALYPTIC SCENARIOS

Paul can wax apocalyptic as he warns of the dangers of a diluted currency and a deeply indebted government. His doomsday scenarios often are incomplete, leaving listeners room to fill in the blanks.

He draws parallels between the current situation in the United States and that of the former Soviet Union, whose economy collapsed amid the union's breakup and civil unrest in 1991.

Paul acknowledges that his proposal to avoid that outcome - an immediate, $1 trillion spending cut that would slash the federal budget by more than one-third and eliminate the departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, Interior, and Housing and Urban Development - could have some unpleasant side effects.

"I'm afraid of violence coming," he told a crowd of more than 600 in Bettendorf, Iowa. "When you see what the government is preparing for, and the arrests and military law, and the demonstrations in the streets, some people aren't going to be convinced so easily that you don't owe them a living."

At the earlier stop in Washington, he said the Federal Reserve was poised to "bail out" the Euro zone, a move that he said ultimately would cause the United States to surrender control of its own currency to the United Nations.

"This monetary crisis is well known by the international bankers. They want the U.N. to come in and solve this problem," he said. "The dollar will probably eventually disintegrate and be taken over. But I don't want the U.N. issuing that currency."

Economists note that Paul's long-standing proposal to return the dollar to a gold standard would force the United States to relinquish control of its currency.

"We would still have monetary policy - it would be set by gold miners in South Africa and Uzbekistan, rather than bureaucrats in Washington," said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist with JPMorgan Chase.
"If you like what OPEC means for oil prices, you'd love what the gold standard would do to financial markets."

(Editing by David Lindsey)

[bigfatjerk]

Ron Paul wouldn't go straight to the gold standard.

[Sooner5030]

Non-partisan analysts say his economic proposals - drastic spending cuts, elimination of the Federal Reserve and a return to the gold standard - would plunge the country back into recession.

Great analysis there! Given our small nominal GDP growth of course cutting spending will likely result in a recession. Did he tell you the flip side of hiding structural GDP contractions with deficit spending? When is the last time GDP growth exceeded the annual deficit?

As far as the Gold Standard......it probably wouldn't be a good idea since we are a net importer....all those legal claims leaving the country. Might as well export paper. But it would be nice to see concerns over inflation from the central bankers.

Nice balanced article though.....you almost convinced me that Ron Paul is crazy.......of course someone could say the same thing about you with the way you confuse posters with the wrong replies.

[ictsooner7]

Great analysis there! Given our small nominal GDP growth of course cutting spending will likely result in a recession. Did he tell you the flip side of hiding structural GDP contractions with deficit spending? When is the last time GDP growth exceeded the annual deficit?

As far as the Gold Standard......it probably wouldn't be a good idea since we are a net importer....all those legal claims leaving the country. Might as well export paper. But it would be nice to see concerns over inflation from the central bankers.

Nice balanced article though.....you almost convinced me that Ron Paul is crazy.......of course someone could say the same thing about you with the way you confuse posters with the wrong replies.

Confusing posters and taking us off the gold standard. You're right it's the same thing!!!!

Really?

[Sooner5030]

At a campaign stop in this small city of about 7,000, Paul told breast cancer survivor Danielle Lin that insurance companies should not be required to offer coverage to people who are already sick.

"It's sort of like me living on the Gulf Coast, not buying insurance until I see the hurricane," said Paul, whose Galveston-based district was devastated by a hurricane in 2008. "Insurance is supposed to measure risk."

The response left Lin in tears. While her insurance covered her treatment, she said, several of her friends were not so fortunate.

"I watched three friends die because they didn't have insurance," said Lin, a registered Democrat who is looking for a Republican candidate to support this time.

"Nobody can afford private insurance, nobody can. And they're dead."

I just don't get the logic here. I don't know anyone whose death was caused by a lack of insurance. Usually it's a combination of causes such as 1) being a living thing in the first place, 2) living a ****ty life, 3) living a good life but time is up, 4) severe trauma 5) genetics

They might not have received the equivalent care that health insurance provided but I am almost sure they were eligible for indigent care. If they didn't qualify for indigent care maybe they should change their budget priorities and put health insurance a little higher.

I'm actually not against drastic healthcare reform from either side.....more competitive & less regulation vs VA system baseline plus free market additional coverage. I just sick of all the emotional claim"people are dieing" due to lack of insurance crap.

[bigfatjerk]

Who is to say that more regulation of health care will make the system better? What if less regulation makes it to where that lady can afford more for her care? It's not like regulation has proven to make things cheaper in the past.

[ictsooner7]

I just don't get the logic here. I don't know anyone whose death was caused by a lack of insurance. Usually it's a combination of causes such as 1) being a living thing in the first place, 2) living a ****ty life, 3) living a good life but time is up, 4) severe trauma 5) genetics

They might not have received the equivalent care that health insurance provided but I am almost sure they were eligible for indigent care. If they didn't qualify for indigent care maybe they should change their budget priorities and put health insurance a little higher.

I'm actually not against drastic healthcare reform from either side.....more competitive & less regulation vs VA system baseline plus free market additional coverage. I just sick of all the emotional claim"people are dieing" due to lack of insurance crap.

We, the democrats, did a lousy job of naming reform because it is really health INSURANCE reform, not health care reform. We are not the party that is telling doctors what to do republicans are. How many state laws have been passed telling doctors to show sonograms and even exactly what to say to patients who want an abortion? As for sick of all these people are dying because they don't have insurance crap...........really? It is true. How many times do you hear early detection is vital from doctors? You sound like one of those "let them die" teabaggers. People get sick sometimes for no reason, no lifestyle choices nothing.

As for eliminating preconditions, of course the right thinks that the reason is to be able to buy insurance after you you find out your sick, but the reality is that is it designed to not let insurance companies cancel your insurance for a technicality after you've been paying into for years and not cover you. Buying insurance after the fact was perfectly fine, dandy and well when it was TRENT LOT who's house was flooded then jammed a bill through congress to allow home owners, like himself, to pay for two years of back insurance then be covered AFTER THE FLOOD!!!

[dwarthog]

For someone reasonably attuned to current events, those aren't prognostications requiring that he really step way out on limb to make.

It does make for good theater though.

[MR2-Sooner86]

Ron Paul is just plain crazy and dangerous. Getting back on to the gold standard will kill our economy and the dollar will no long be the dominate currency in the world.

If it's so dangerous, kindly explain then why the dollar has lost 95% of it's value since going off the gold standard.


For someone reasonably attuned to current events, those aren't prognostications requiring that he really step way out on limb to make.

It does make for good theater though.

Then that's really sad because he was one of the few in Washington saying this stuff while the others went on with "business as usual."

Either he's smart and can see things before they happen or he's not so smart and sees the obvious but other politicians just aren't paying attention.

[dwarthog]

If it's so dangerous, kindly explain then why the dollar has lost 95% of it's value since going off the gold standard.



Then that's really sad because he was one of the few in Washington saying this stuff while the others went on with "business as usual."

Either he's smart and can see things before they happen or he's not so smart and sees the obvious but other politicians just aren't paying attention.


I am certainly not insinuating that Ron Paul isn't intelligent.

I'm just saying if you peel apart some of those predictions, they are actually pretty safe. Stife and conflict in the middle east? Radical Islam overthrowing a few dictators? It's far safer to make that prediction as opposed to predicting they will all lay down their weopon's, embrace the Israeli's and start singing Cumbaya.

Defict's? We haven't had a surplus in decades. With the way the "conservatives" were spending money at time, unempeded by their willing accomplices from across the isle, another safe one.

I agree with you, it is definitely "business as usual".

Until voters wake up and cease pulling the lever for whichever politician is promising them the biggest payout for their vote, we are all screwed.

[bigfatjerk]

I actually like what Romney said in his speech tonight after winning New Hampshire about not giving anyone free stuff. But I don't find anything he says believable.

[Caboose]

Ron Paul is just plain crazy and dangerous.

Hey look, the guy who thinks newborn infants survive on their own ALL THE TIME says Ron Paul is the crazy one.

[soonercruiser]

Hey look, the guy who thinks newborn infants survive on their own ALL THE TIME says Ron Paul is the crazy one.

Newborns don't always survive on their own - so we should kill all newborns, right?