'We’re so far gone,' Paul said. 'We’re over the cliff. ' Ron Paul: Already over fiscal cliff

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said Thursday that while President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders stake out their positions on a budget deal, the nation’s economy has already driven off the fiscal cliff.

“We’re so far gone,” Paul said on Bloomberg Television. “We’re over the cliff. We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next 5-10 years who will do the wise things. We have to prepare for having already fallen off the fiscal cliff.”


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Paul, who did not run for reelection this year, said everyone is arguing about “what they’re going to protect” instead of focusing on cuts to the federal budget.

“They’re just looking for the truth. They say well, all we need is a little compromise. Well, nobody expects that because they do not admit the truth, and the truth is that we are broke,” Paul said. How do you compromise? They only way you can compromise is if you agree on what to cut.”

The Texas Republican also slammed President Barack Obama’s reelection for not changing Americans’ attitude about robust government spending.

“That is why people were sort of surprised with these conditions that the president could get reelected,” he said. “That is a bad sign in that there are more on the receiving end. People do not want anything cut. They want all the bailouts to come. They want the Fed to keep printing money. They do not believe we have gone off the cliff or are close to going off the cliff.”