Predicting a deepening economic slump, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul told a tea party conference on Saturday that federal policies are conspiring to raise prices and slow growth.

The Texas congressman, who has run for president as a Libertarian and as a Republican, called the Federal Reserve Bank "the great facilitator" for endless military adventures overseas and an unsustainable welfare state at home.

"None of this could happen without the Fed, which is printing too much money," Paul told the American Policy Summit in Phoenix.

Paul said the nation's current economic position "is much worse than it was in the 1970s," when the country was wracked with "stagflation" under President Jimmy Carter and a Democratic Congress.

Without uttering President Barack Obama's name, Paul issued a bipartisan indictment against the federal government, which he accused of "propping up the military-industrial complex and looking around the world for the next dictator to support."

"We could barely get 100 votes to reduce funding for infrastructure in Iraq," he complained.

Alternatively, the veteran congressman reiterated his call for abolishing foreign aid and securing America's borders.

"If we had a functioning government, we would protect our borders," he said.

Sunshine State News is providing continuing coverage of this weekend's American Policy Summit, hosted in Phoenix by Tea Party Patriots (www.summit11.org).