Skip to footer

Ron Paul vs. the Federal Reserve: four epic moments

Ron Paul hasn't been the Federal Reserve's only critic, but he ranks among the most consistent and persistent in his charge that the Fed has debased the dollar and destroyed the wealth of Americans.

3. Paul to Greenspan: What happens when the bubble bursts?

  • By Gail Russell Chaddock Staff writer
  • Mark Trumbull Staff writer

Paul opened questioning at a Feb. 17, 2000, hearing of the House Financial Services Committee by noting that Mr. Greenspan had not taken his "friendly advice" to look for other employment. "I'm pleased that you're back, though, because at least you remember the days of sound money and you have some respect for it, even though you do describe it as nostalgia," Paul said.

At the time, Greenspan, who served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, was lionized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who credited him with guiding the economy through a period of strong growth with minimal inflation. But Paul warned that it was all a bubble – a criticism others would take up after the housing and Wall Street crash in 2008. "I know Wall Street likes it and the economy likes it when the bubble is getting bigger, but my concern is what's going to happen when this bursts," he said.

3 of 4
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.