I now expect the American economy to contract by 40%, which is what Ron Paul's ultimate goal is.

I think Ron Paul makes some good points about the wacki-ness of our monetary policy, but like many libertarians, he takes it too far.

IMHO, the House and Senate have little (or should have little) influence over the Fed, especially with Bernanke at the helm.

Doesn't he favor a return to the gold standard?

I'm not in any hurry to dismantle the fed, but I think every federal agency should be overseen by someone who hates its guts.

If nothing else, he can push through the audit that should have taken place last year. Any agency with that much power over the economy needs to be independently audited.

@4, you're an idiot, then. We tried that under Bush. It actually makes a difference if people in government have a clue what they're supposed to be doing and why. Science-based agencies, for instance. Economic agencies, for instance. If you think Ron Paul's ideas about how the global economy works have even a tiny fraction of merit, you're just plain NOT SENTIENT.

Ron Paul wants to return to 1910. Do you want to dismantle the modern world from head to toe and go back to pulling a plow behind a horse on a farm? Do you want to reduce your income by 3/4 and your life expectancy by 20 years? He's your man.

apropos that wacko Ron Paul...
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Ayn Rand, born "Alisa Rosenbaum"
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"Rand" Paul... a truly dizzy, disconnected non-senator, who ran an absurd campaign, promising impossible things ("Let's make 'Pi' = 3.00!"), determined to get what he wants regardless of his inanity, named after someone who used an alias to conceal her true identity.
"Rand" Paul's namesake is Alisa Rosenbaum -- her REAL name, that is.
I'll bet if "Rand" knew this he would be really pissed since he and his dad are on the record as being rabidly anti-Semitic.
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Erica Tarrant @3: Yes, he does. Although he doesn't seem to realize it, he'd like to paralyze our economy.

Yes, let's return to the gold standard. After all, a cartel in South Africa and Russian oligarchs should really have the final word on the rate at which our economy expands.

Fnarf @ 6: Oversee is not the same as run. Congressional overseers are supposed to question assumptions, look for problems, and generally cast a critical and suspicious eye on the whole operation. This is one of the reasons that having the legislative and executive branches in opposite hands is a good idea.

Well, perhaps if he fucks it up as much as he desires to, people will finally see libertarianism for the unrealistic sham it is.

The republican ideas when it comes to fixing government is akin to burning down the restaurant because you thought your freedom fries could've used a pinch more salt.
Ron Paul would add in the killing of the entire restaurant staff as a sound fix to the problem.

I support the killing of incompetent staff for all sound problems.

I'm not really sure what this has to do with Ron Paul.

Ron Paul doesn't scare me at all.

Darrell Issa fucking terrifies me.

Here's to hoping Bernenke gets fired!

@15:

Here's hoping people learn how to spell things!

The fucking GOLD STANDARD. No, really. Because the way to never debauch your currency is to back it in a commodity with exceptionally high volatility. Genius. Shit, why don't we back the dollar with OIL. That makes about as much sense.

The extent to which the man doesn't understand modern monetary policy is jaw dropping. People all over the world are laughing their assess off right now. Remember when Joe Barton questioned Steven Chu about climate science, and Steven Chu did an admirable job of not gagging to death? Get used to that kind of humiliating you tube footage. The banking committee's going to be a non-stop source of it for the next 2 years.