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End the Fed

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End the Fed
First-edition cover
AuthorRon Paul
LanguageEnglish
GenrePolitics, economics
PublisherGrand Central Publishing
Publication date
September 16, 2009
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages224 pp.
ISBN978-0-446-54919-6
OCLC318878539
332.1/10973 22
LC ClassHG2563 .P384 2009
Preceded byThe Revolution: A Manifesto 
This article is part of
a series about
Ron Paul
U.S. Representative from Texas
Presidential campaigns
Published works
Ron Paul's signature

End the Fed is a 2009 book by Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. The book debuted at number six on the New York Times Best Seller list[1] and advocates the abolition of the United States Federal Reserve System "because it is immoral, unconstitutional, impractical, promotes bad economics, and undermines liberty."[2] The book argues that the booms, bubbles and busts of the business cycle are caused by the Federal Reserve's actions.[3][2]

Summary

Paul argues that "in the post-meltdown world, it is irresponsible, ineffective, and ultimately useless to have a serious economic debate without considering and challenging the role of the Federal Reserve."[4][5]

In End the Fed, Paul argues that the Federal Reserve was created to bail out banks when they got into trouble.[2] He says that this is bad for competition in banking, as it strengthens the big banks.[2]

Paul argues that the Fed is both corrupt and unconstitutional. He states that the Federal Reserve System is inflating currency today at nearly a Weimar or Zimbabwe level, which Paul asserts is a practice that threatens to put the United States into an inflationary depression where the US dollar, which is the reserve currency of the world, would suffer severe devaluation.

A major theme of the work is the idea of inflation as a hidden tax making warfare much easier to wage. Because people will reject the notion of increasing direct taxes, inflation is then used to help service the overwhelming debts incurred through warfare. In turn the purchasing power of the masses is diminished, yet most people are unaware. Under Ron Paul's theory, this diminution has the biggest impact on low income individuals since it is a regressive tax. Paul argues that the CPI presently does not include food and energy, yet these are the items on which the majority of poor peoples' income is spent.

He further maintains that most people are not aware that the Fed—created by the Morgans and Rockefellers at a private club off the coast of Georgia—is actually working against their own personal interests. Instead of protecting the people, Paul contends that the Fed now serves as a cartel where "the name of the game is bailout", i.e. privatized profits but socialized losses.

Paul also draws on what he argues are historical links between the creation of central banks and war, explaining how inflation and devaluations have been used as war financing tools in the past by many governments from monarchies to democracies.

Reception

In 2009 End the Fed entered the New York Times Bestseller nonfiction list at #6.[6] Since that time it has frequently been among Amazon's top 100 books in the Economic Policy and Banks and Banking categories. [7]

Time's Justin Fox reviewed the book and came to the conclusion that "There’s lots of wisdom in Paul’s Fed critique, and his espousal of the virtues of prudence and saving and hard work. But in this book, at least, he succumbs to the temptation of promising an easy way out." The book received praise from actor Vince Vaughn and musician Arlo Guthrie.[8] After an interview with Ron Paul about the book, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show called it "thought provoking" and "clearly from the heart".[9][10]

David Andolfatto of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis called Paul's claim that "the government and its banking cartel have together stolen $0.95 of every dollar as they have pursued a relentlessly inflationary policy."[11] "just plain false" and "stupid" while noting that legitimate arguments can be made against the Federal Reserve.[12] And former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve [13] Alan S. Blinder, dismissed Paul's arguments on the grounds that "mountains of empirical evidence support the proposition that greater CBI produces not only less inflation but superior macroeconomic performance, e.g., lower and less volatile inflation with no more volatility in output." Binder also circulated a petition to 300 professional academic economists who overwhelmingly agreed with Binder's views on the gold standard and Federal Reserve independence.[14]

References

  1. ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (October 4, 2009). "Hardcover Nonfiction". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d "Ron Paul and the Fed: how we got to this point". MinnPost. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  3. ^ "What Happens If We End the Fed?". U.S. News. 2011.
  4. ^ Ron Paul (2009). End the Fed. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-56818-0.
  5. ^ Ron Paul (2009). End the Fed. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-56818-0.
  6. ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/9ocdw/end_the_fed_enters_nyt_bestseller_list_at_6/
  7. ^ https://www.amazon.com/End-Fed-Ron-Paul/dp/0446549177#detailBullets_feature_div
  8. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-ron-paul/2011/12/07/gIQAu3vOiO_story.html
  9. ^ "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Comedy Central. Broadcast: September 29, 2009.
  10. ^ "Ron Paul – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – 09/29/09 – Video Clip". Thedailyshow.com. 2009-09-29. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  11. ^ "Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Purchasing Power of the Consumer Dollar in U.S. City Average". fred.stlouisfed.org.
  12. ^ Andolfatto, David (2011-03-23). "MacroMania: Ron Paul's Money Illusion (Sequel)". MacroMania. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  13. ^ https://www.federalreservehistory.org/people/alan-s-blinder
  14. ^ https://www.princeton.edu/~ceps/workingpapers/198blinder.pdf
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