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August
1, 2008
The Dangers
of Neo-Conservative Economic
Policies
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
The
dangers inherent in the foreign policy advocated by
the neo-conservatives are well known. While many
Americans have become increasingly aware of those
dangers, far less attention has been focused on the
dangers of neo-conservative economic policies. This
issue is of critical importance right now, because
many are mistakenly pointing their fingers at the
free market as the culprit behind our current
economic plight.
There are only a few in elected office who have
any real loyalty to free markets and limited
government. The agenda of neo-conservatives in the
economy calls for a very active central government.
Indeed, while there are some neo-conservatives who
continue to use the rhetoric of limited government,
and who oppose increases in the federal income tax
as a way to maintain the political benefits that
apply to those who talk about free markets, it is
now the neo-conservatives who promote fiat monetary
policies even more than those on the liberal
left.
While I have been a strong proponent of cutting
taxes on all Americans, and therefore supported the
tax reductions offered by President Bush, the
neo-cons argue that tax rate reduction alone is the
key to "getting the government out of the way" of
economic growth. Moreover, they invariably argue
for tax reductions targeted toward the wealthy, and
toward multinational corporations.
Over the years, I have offered several tax plans
designed to assist hard-working middle-class
Americans to pay for their needs, whether these
needs be health-care related, educational or to pay
the costs of fuel. A few years back when I
introduced one such bill, a prominent Republican
approached me on the House Floor and asked, half in
anger and half in amazement "why did you do that?"
Shortly after that, the committee chairman at the
time, also a Republican, sent out a release
strongly attacking my tax cut bill.
So, while the liberal economic agenda includes
more taxes and spending, the neo-con economic
program simply looks to target some tax cuts to
preferred groups, but ignore the economic big
picture. The neo-con economic agenda is to "borrow
and spend" and it is that agenda, even more than
the tax-and-spend ways of many liberals, that has
cast us in economic peril at this time.
Simply, on spending, the neo-cons and the
liberals share views, just as they share similar
views on foreign policy. While each side tries to
claim the mantle of change, reality is that more of
the same is not change.
The fiat monetary policy we now follow is the
most significant factor contributing to our
economic peril, and it is central to the neo-con
agenda. As we hear new calls to empower the Federal
Reserve Board, we should be aware that underlying
all neo-conservative policies is the idea of
monetary inflation. Inflation is the technique used
to pay for the regulatory-state and the costs of
policing the world.
Paul
Archive
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican
member of Congress from Texas.
Because
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