"What About Money Causes Economic Crises?" Part 3

[ubaru]

"What About Money Causes Economic Crises?" with Peter Schiff - Ron Paul Money Lecture Series, Pt 3/3

Rep. Ron Paul sponsored this Congressional lecture on "What About Money Causes Economic Crises?", the concluding lecture in a three part series on the basic principles of money for Congressional staff. As a continuing educational tool this lecture was filmed and is provided to the public. The lecture was delivered by Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital and author of Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse and How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.

Mr. Schiff explains the fact that the interest rate is a price and that manipulation of that price results in real changes to the capital structure and structure of production within the economy, causing imbalances, booms, and eventually busts in the economy. His lecture also explores how government intervention through labor and employment policies results in diminished employment and an overall reduction in the standard of living.

Previous videos in this lecture series can be found here:

Pt. 1: "What is Money?" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vowbrq_g5NM
Pt. 2: "What Is Constitutional Money?" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6gMkKmQSW4

[ubaru]

I finally got a chance to listen to this, and I found it fascinating. I liked the explanation for how going back to the gold standard is not only inevitable, it's beneficial. Peter Schiff also spells out that we are now in a government bubble, like the housing, the dot com and the stock market bubbles, but bigger. I didn't know that. He also spells out the remedy for this economic crisis, none of which is good for politicians. But of course, that's why no one on capitol hill is doing it. What's good for politicians is not good for the economy!

It's a good primer on Austrian economics, which is refreshingly full of common sense. When Ron talks about eliminating the Department of Education, people can feel threatened by that. Schiff has a decent answer for how it could be better without it. He does not have an answer for the transition out of social security, however, I heard Paul say in a different video that he would not do anything traumatic to current recipients while letting younger people, who know they'll never see a dime of it, get out and invest for their own retirement.

This lecture stands on it's own without parts 1 and 2. It's definitely educational and enlightening out-of-the-box thinking worth a listen.

Liz