Publicly, Ron Paul, that allegedly contrarian, Libertarian defender of the Constitution, despises the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). According to this 11/22/2005, Ron Paul diatribe against the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act hosted on LewRockwell.com, the FDIC is a monstrous organization that, among others things,
and, undoubtedly the worst of all in Paulite eyes,charges banks premiums, 'which are actually taxes,”transfers liability for poor management decisions from those who made the decisions, to their competitors,”aggravated the S&L banking crisis of the 1980s and 1990s due to its inept management"removes incentives for individuals to act on their own to protect their deposits or even inquire as to thehealth of their financial institution."
"lacks constitutional authority"
Given his antipathy towards FDIC, and the ease with which Ron Paul can avoid supporting this system (by simply withdraw one's money from a bank), you'd expect Ron Paul to have no contact with the FDIC banking system, right? Wrong. Like most things government, Ron Paul is content to spit out platitudes about the evils of government, while mindlessly gorging on the benefits and goodies it gives out. As shown by Ron Paul's 2010 Presidential Campaign financial disclosure forms (h/t Opensecrets.org), Paul not only uses FDIC protection, but actively maximizes his protection by keeping the maximum amount of money covered in FDIC in one bank, and then spreading the rest out to a number of other financial institutions. As shown by the screen shot below, Ron Paul has 250,000+ in account at FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF LAKE JACKSON and spreads out the rest of his cash to two other Lake Jackson banks, the TEXAS DOW EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION and the TEXAS GULF BANK.
Now, I am sure the Paul nuts are going to vomit forth two defenses of their beloved icon. First, they'll argue that Paul is merely getting back the money he pays into this system. This is a common Libertarian argument, one that is without merit given that there is not a Libertarian alive who tracks his use of government resources to ensure that he only uses what he paid into the pot and not a penny more.
Second, they'll offer some convoluted gibberish about how Paul is forced to do this because of the government and he has no choice. Like the banks, he has the option of not being covered by FDIC. He can keep the money at home or in an investment not covered by the government.
Christ, given that Mandela spent decades in jail to maintain his beliefs, is it too much to ask that Ron Paul incur the slightest inconvenience in order to earn his reputation as some solid, limited-government, "pro-freedom," reputation?
Posts
LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm confused. You would rather a presidential candidate keep campaign funds "in cash, in his home"?
Think the FEC might frown on that ?
LOL!!!
I am discussing his personal money in this posts. As to the handling of campaign funds, I have no idea how the FEC would view such activity.
DeleteSo you're saying he should opt out of the FDIC? I don't even know if that's possible
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to do. Simply do not put money in a FDIC protected account.
DeleteThis is completely baffling. Does the author suggest that Ron Paul is doing something wrong by keeping only up to the maximum FDIC-insured amount in each bank account? How is this "...mindlessly gorging on the benefits and goodies it gives out", it being the government? This is all the nameless author has and he/she thinks it merits an "article"?
ReplyDeleteThis is further proof that Ron Paul is one of the most squeaky-clean, top-notch persons ever to be involved in U.S. politics throughout our country's entire history. I'm amazed. Has Ron Paul done nothing wrong in his life? I'm sure he is not without fault, but where is it? I'm convinced that the biggest fault we would ever find with a guy like this would be that he didn't tip his waitress enough at a diner in 1978 because he was unhappy with the service. Top notch.
George Bush, Sr. rolled back Reagan's policies. Clinton has severely limited character, started numerous Unconstitutional wars throughout Africa, and tried to stop the Contract with America before signing on to it when he realized that he couldn't. G.W. Bush expanded the size and scope of government while eroding our freedoms. Obama did the same thing, only worse, plus he openly consorts with communists and Marxists, Acorn, Bill Ayers, and his ridiculous "spiritual mentor".
Ron Paul is definitely different. He's a higher class of human being. I don't know why that bothers so many people, except to say only that it appears to be human nature to want to cut down the great people in life to make them appear to be just like the rest of us. Don't fall for that crap. Ron Paul is the real deal.
First, this post is hardly some broad expose on Ron Paul. It is a merely a report on his public attitude toward FDIC and his hypocritical use of it.
DeleteAs for your pontification, his newsletters are an example of him committing a far greater wrongdoing than that of a significant portion of the population.