Mr. Mittens Early Sunday morning the former Senator Ron Paul announced an innovative plan for fiscal reform in his signature “Ron Paul’s Revolution-with-the-letters-LOVE-highlighted-in-it” email blast. The idea for the plan came to him a few years back while he was on his way to the Congressional cafeteria. He encountered a group of eighth graders on a field trip and when he went over to talk to them about the gold standard, they laughed and stole his lunch money. If only debt were a bearer instrument, Paul thought, then those thieves could be worse off than if they had never mugged him! They could have gotten his debt as well as his money! Economist Barney Blah breaks down what that means:
“Essentially a bearer instrument is something whose value is attached to the person who bears it. Cash for example is a bearer instrument. If you earn thirty dollars and your daughter earns zero, you can still give her cash to go to Walmart and buy the new 2 Chainz album. Even though she didn’t earn the money she can immediately redeem the cash and feel the shame of buying a 2 Chainz album.
“This stands in contrast to an order instrument, such as a check or a savings bond, which must be ‘paid to the order’ of the specific individual described. For example, I cannot cash a check made out to King Obama, even on opposite day, because he’s the worst president in the history of the world! But also because my name’s not King Obama.”
During a recent press conference Paul answered tough question on the issue such as “Why would anyone keep the debt they had?”; “Wouldn’t the mugger just keep the cash and bury the debt like treasure so nobody had to have it?”; “Are you on bath salts again, Ron?”; and “What kind of bank in their right mind would issue that, and how would they know who to go to in order to collect their money?”
Ron calmly told the press that “… sometimes the right thing to do doesn’t seem like the right thing to do at first,” at which point someone shouted “that idea sucks!” and was subsequently removed from the press conference.
Ron is no stranger to radical fiscal reform. He’s a staunch advocate of returning to the gold standard which has been called “an incredibly stupid move backwards” because “lol every country left it because it super sucks.” But when it comes to fiscal policy, even in the face of adversity, Ron Paul does what Ron Paul does. And this seemed like the most Ron Paul thing to do.
