Ron Paul fans

[GONNAFISTYA]

Watch this discussion between Ron Paul and Paul Krugman regarding economics.

Paul Krugman To Ron Paul: 'You're Living In A World That Was 150 Years Ago'

Make up your own mind.

I've already made up mine: Ron Paul supporters have their heads up their ass and should go hug their copy of Atlas Shrugged.
Ron Paul looked like a flailing moron lashing out with dumb arguments that none of the participants in the discussion could understand.

[bitWISE]

Yea, I'm going to value the opinions of some guy with an anti-intellectual bias over a well tenured professor of the subject in question.

[seremtan]

ron paul has zero chance of being nominated as the republican candidate, or being elected to the oval office, so while his anti-war stance will be sorely missed, his zany economic policy ideas have no chance of ever being put to the reality test

obama and romney, by contrast, are 100% pro-war, and their economic policies can only be described as 'not radical' because they're the same help-the-rich-and-fuck-the-poor policies of the last 43 presidents (with one or two exceptions)

frankly, this dead horse has been flogged long enough

[Tsakali]

fuck off Ron Paul

[GONNAFISTYA]

ron paul has zero chance of being nominated as the republican candidate, or being elected to the oval office, so while his anti-war stance will be sorely missed, his zany economic policy ideas have no chance of ever being put to the reality test

obama and romney, by contrast, are 100% pro-war, and their economic policies can only be described as 'not radical' because they're the same help-the-rich-and-fuck-the-poor policies of the last 43 presidents (with one or two exceptions)

frankly, this dead horse has been flogged long enough

I'm not so sure, particularly since Ron Paul still has millions of adoring fans (and some posters here at Q3W) that think his ideas from the 1800's are the path to prosperity. What Paul Krugman did - in making Ron Paul look like an idiot with regards to economics, which is the main thrust of Ron Paul's entire career - was a public service.

And again...to remind those whose heads are still up their asses about Ron Paul and the Iraq War: he wasn't against it for the same reasons most normal people are, he was against it for financial reasons. If he felt there were real economic benefits for the US (instead of just a few corporations) he'd have supported it no problem.

I agree with you though, there are still too many people who will happily shove their heads right back up their asses after watching this and continue to think Ron Paul is their economic messiah. Here's hoping some people won't.

[Nightshade]

Don't really know what's so hard to understand about Paul's ideas (not that I endorse ALL of them, he's a bit nuts about some things) regarding economics. I haven't watched all of the video yet, but I don't see Krugman making him look like a moron, not by any means. Is there some point in which Krugman utterly shreds him? No, I don't think we need to revert to the gold standard, but Paul an idiot when it comes to economics? I don't think so.

I think the best thing about Ron Paul is that he's not afraid to say very honest direct things about our government and foreign policy. The Federal Reserve does need to go, IMO, the IRS IS completely fucked, and we do need to bring our troops home and use them for national defense.

[bitWISE]

Don't really know what's so hard to understand about Paul's ideas (not that I endorse ALL of them, he's a bit nuts about some things) regarding economics. I haven't watched all of the video yet, but I don't see Krugman making him look like a moron, not by any means. Is there some point in which Krugman utterly shreds him? No, I don't think we need to revert to the gold standard, but Paul an idiot when it comes to economics? I don't think so.

I think the best thing about Ron Paul is that he's not afraid to say very honest direct things about our government and foreign policy. The Federal Reserve does need to go, IMO, the IRS IS completely fucked, and we do need to bring our troops home and use them for national defense.

He just seems to ramble and make a bunch of claims without backing them up.

What does the Federal Reserve going actually mean?

[seremtan]

And again...to remind those whose heads are still up their asses about Ron Paul and the Iraq War: he wasn't against it for the same reasons most normal people are, he was against it for financial reasons. If he felt there were real economic benefits for the US (instead of just a few corporations) he'd have supported it no problem.

pretty sure he opposed it for other reasons actually, such as iraq not having attacked or threatened to attack the US, and as part of his general position against empire-building (bit late though, since the empire's already built), not mention that whole washingtonian 'foreign entanglements' thing. the idea that he would have supported it if there were "real economic benefits" doesn't really jibe with his general position that any war other than a defensive one is bad, that 'war is the health of the state' (i.e. bad), and in any case benefits mainly the military-industrial complex and is therefore a kind of corporate welfare-by-proxy

also, what *are* the reasons "most normal people" opposed it? i seem to recall a lot of the 'normal' opposition being utterly unprincipled and obsessed with UN resolutions and the quality of WMD evidence (i.e. legalistic bullshit rather than moral cause). there was very little principled moral/political opposition, though i do recall ron paul himself being a stand-out exception in that regard

[Nightshade]

Well, I'm not an expert on this subject, and from what I understand it can rapidly devolve into tinfoil hatted conspiracy theory bullshit. What I do know is that the Federal Reserve is largely run by bankers (READ: Not the government) and they have total control over the cost and value of money in the US. Is Krugman right in that some of this is necessary? Yeah, I think so given how badly the Great Depression kicked the US in the nuts and how the current system makes that almost impossible, but I also understand that the Fed is just another example of the privileged wealthy few having WAY too much control over us, the unwashed, ignorant poor.

Again, I do not claim to be an economics expert, but I do have some understanding of the subject and of Ron Paul's claims thereunto pertaining.

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

The U.S. Federal Reserve should probably be publicly owned like it's counterpart The Bank of Canada (in Canada duh) but then Ron Paul would probably call it commie or at the very least big government.

[bitWISE]

The fact that it is both private and public lets both sides have free reign on the blame game. It is outside the normal branches of government, but responsible directly to Congress and the board is appointed by the President and confirmed by Senate. They take a 6% cut of profits and pay the rest to the government.

[GONNAFISTYA]

Is there some point in which Krugman utterly shreds him?

A few times actually...at least from what I inferred as barely surpressed laughter on Krugman's part as he presented facts to Ron Paul which have been obvious for some time. I've seen lots of discussions/debates of Paul Krugman against various "opponents"...in particular Bill O'Moron...and I've never seen him so blatantly dismissive before. He's usually pretty stoic but this seemed like he was lecturing a child. One moment in particular was when Krugman reminded Ron Paul that not all money was actual real money, stuff like that. Perhaps it's just my perspective and bias shining through, but Ron Paul didn't really present any new facts or arguments that were convincing and it seemed to me that Mr.Krugman had heard it all before and decided to not be so polite in this particular interview.

I'm guessing that Mr.Krugman as well as myself are still wondering why people still believe in the myth of unregulated markets when all the evidence proves that business cannot and will not regulate itself, and when it finally does the damage has already been done. Alan Greenspan didn't think fraud was an issue. It's sorta a no-brainer yet the dumb idea written on a napkin turned into a religion of sorts and alot of people can't take off the blinders...cause that'll cut into profits.

Ron Paul's ideas may have worked a long time ago, but so could leeches.

[Ryoki]

Ron Paul's ideas may have worked a long time ago, but so could leeches.

So could leeches may have worked a long time ago?

[GONNAFISTYA]

They could have worked. They won't and they can't, but they could.

Rainbows could have a pot of gold. They won't, but they could.

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]