Intro What is Ron Paul Thinking?
First the facts: From Ron Paul's interview with Kitco's Daniela Cambone
Former Republican Congressman Ron Paul said he was "surprised,' when the majority of his devout gold followers, chose bitcoin over the yellow metal as their investment choice. Earlier this week, Paul, the ambassador for the firm Goldco took to Twitter to ask his followers how they would invest a $10,000 gift - but he offered this catch: "You must keep the gift in the form that you choose, and you can't touch it for 10 years," Paul said in a tweet Tuesday. The libertarian's followers were provided with four options: U.S. dollars, gold, U.S. ten-year Treasury bonds and bitcoin.Their answer? Bitcoin – 54% of respondents chose the cryptocurrency over gold at 36%. In an interview Thursday, Paul said he was not surprised however, that only 2% would store away Federal Reserve notes. Paul, a well-known critic of the Federal Reserve, and an advocate of holding gold, had previously campaigned to audit the central bank and return to a gold standard. “It was information for me to tell me what my viewers are thinking…[And I] was surprised that many people would stash away [in bitcoin],” Paul said.
Now the question:
Our take is that Ron is a little slow on the uptake here in processing the reality that greed is overtaking good (again). The fact that he was surprised speaks to us of his failure to see his own waning influence with people. This is sad for several reasons. He is still right and a hero as a protector of liberties. And he may be in a bubble now of his own creating if he is truly "surprised" at the poll response.
No-one is immune from the lure of marketing money. If Ron starts touting a crypto product then all hope is lost for us integrity-wise at the political level. This is said with thought and respect, and hope that he now drills down on both the similarities and differences in the 2 assets in regards to protecting economic freedom.
We'd love to hear him comment on the phenomenon with some understanding under his belt. His ideals of economic freedom and protection of people from power abuse are timeless. He just now has to scale that concept into different potential tools that help his ideals be realized. If he does not, then Rand better step up if he ever wants to be President- Soren K.
Ron Paul Says He Was "Surprised" His Followers Prefer Bitcoin To Gold
h/t zerohedge.com
Earlier this week, former Congressman Ron Paul posted a Twitter poll asking his followers to choose between four different assets for a long-term investment, with the stipulation that the bearer would need to keep their money locked up for ten years.
A wealthy person wants to gift you $10,000. You get to choose in which form you'll take the gift. But there's a catch: You must keep the gift in the form that you choose, and you can't touch it for 10 years. In which form would you take the gift?
— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) December 5, 2017
Paul admitted he was surprised when he saw that a majority of respondents – 54% - selected bitcoin over gold, dollars and a 10-year Treasury bond.
During an interview with the Street, a reporter [Edit- Kitco's Daniela Cambone] asked Paul if he was surprised that his followers prefer bitcoin to gold.
Yea a little bit. I was a little bit - of course I wasn’t surprised that only 2% would store it in Federal Reserve notes, nor do they think they should buy Treasury bills. Gold has 36% but bitcoin has 54%...it’s the sort of information that tells me where my viewers are and what they’re thinking. Most of my viewers know how supportive I am of gold, and they know I’m tolerant of digital currencies.
Still, Paul believes cryptocurrencies are an interesting experiment and is generally supportive of their development and increasing popularity. But when asked for his thoughts on where bitcoin might be in ten years, he demurred.
What’s it going to be like in ten years? Nobody knows. But we have a pretty good idea where gold will be. It’s been around a long time and it’s not going away.
Though the market for gold is still much larger than the market for bitcoin, Paul’s interviewer asked if the interest in cryptocurrencies could be one reason for gold’s recent stumbles.
I think we could still be in a phase where gold could take off. It’s just a matter of figuring out when…the fed has created so much money and people have sort of caught on to it like a fever."
Paul said he doesn’t invest in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies, and has no plans to start.
No, I don’t intend to at all. I find it fascinating, but as an investor, no…"
At the interview’s conclusion, Paul explained that digital currencies have helped demonstrate an important principle about government and sound money: When a government loses all credibility and its currency becomes worthless, people will work out an alternative monetary system on their own. Venezuela and Zimbabwe have been perhaps the best examples of this: bitcoin trades at a premium in both countries. And in Venezuela, bitcoin miners risk being prosecuted by the government.
“Take a country like Zimbabwe or Venezuela. They change their attitudes quickly when they get in trouble.”
Daniela's full interview of Senator Ron Paul here
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