Rand Paul: “I have taken a Special Order today to address the subject of the U.S. dollar and the world economy, and in the words of…”

“I have taken a Special Order today to address the subject of the U.S. dollar and the world economy, and in the words of James Madison, the pestilent effects of paper money. Mr. Speaker, Congress has a constitutional responsibility to maintain the value of the dollar by making only gold and legal silver tender and not to emit bills of credit, that is, paper money. This responsibility was performed relatively well in the 19th century despite the abuse of the dollar suffered during the Civil War and despite repeated efforts to form a Central Bank. This policy served to maintain relatively stable prices, and the shortcomings came only when the rules of the gold standard were ignored or abused. In the 20th century, however, we saw the systematic undermining of sound money with the establishment of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 and the outright rejection of gold with the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement in 1971. We are now witnessing the effects of the accumulated problems of 30 years of fiat money, not only the dollar but also all the world currencies, something the world has never before experienced. Exactly how it plays out is yet unknown. Its severity will be determined by future monetary management, especially by the Federal Reserve. The likelihood of quickly resolving the deeply ingrained and worldwide imbalances built up over 30 years is remote.”