Posted on October 11, 2011

Ron Paul: "Alan Greenspan Was A Disaster"

From tonight's debate hosted by Bloomberg and The Washington Post:



GOLDMAN: Thank you, Charlie.

Mr. Cain, you disapprove of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and we all know that your priority is 999. But one of the most important appointments that you're going to have to make your first year, should you be president, would be Fed chairman.

So which Federal Reserve chairman over the last 40 years do you think has been most successful and might serve as a model for that appointment?

CAIN: Alan Greenspan.

GOLDMAN: Why?

CAIN: Because that's when I served on the board of the Federal Reserve in the early 1990s. And the way Alan Greenspan oversaw the Fed and the way he coordinated with all of the Federal Reserve banks, I think that it worked fine back in the early 1990s.

Now, on that same point, I have already identified two candidates -- which I cannot give their names -- to replace Mr. Bernanke, in anticipation of having that responsibility.

We must narrow the mission of the Fed first. I don't believe in ending the Fed. I believe we can fix the Fed by getting their mission refocused on monetary price stability. And I have candidates in mind that will help us do that.

GOLDMAN: So you have two appointments waiting in the wings for -- for 2013, for -- when his term is up, 2014?

CAIN: Yes, I have two candidates waiting in the wings...

GOLDMAN: How about a hint?

CAIN: ... to take that job. I've got to keep them confidential.

GOLDMAN: OK.

Congressman Paul?

PAUL: Spoken like a true insider.

No, Alan Greenspan was a disaster.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

Everybody in Washington -- liberals and conservatives -- said he kept interest rates too low, too long. Of course, the solution was, lower them even more, and they think that's going to solve our problem.

But if I had to name one person that did a little bit of good, that was Paul Volcker. He at least knew how to end -- or help, you know, end the inflation.

But, of course, with my position that I don't think highly of the Federal Reserve, I think we should have sound money and we shouldn't have somebody deciding what the interest rate should be and how much money supply we should have, I mean, nobody satisfies me.

But certainly, Alan Greenspan has ushered in the biggest bubble. And what did we do? We've continued the same thing, doing the same thing. We think the inflation under Alan Greenspan was bad so we're trying to solve the problem by inflating even further. So Bernanke compounds the problem. He's inflating twice as fast as -- as Greenspan was.

But Greenspan caused so much trouble. And he used to believe in the gold standard. I think he's coming around to that. Before he retires, he'll write his -- his biography and explain why he's coming back to the gold standard.