Truth be told the main reason I started investing in precious metals is Ron Paul. And, truth be told, the main reason I’m not interested in selling any of my silver or gold (or mining stocks) is also Ron Paul.
As a fairly novice investor, I’m quick to acknowledge that I lack sophisticated knowledge about many of the terms, concepts and topics that seem to influence more experienced or “professional” traders.
For example, I know nothing about “technical analysis” or “Fibonacci waves.” I’m also pretty clueless about the workings of futures markets – “naked shorts,” “concentrated positions” and the like.
For people like myself (who will probably never take the time to become experts in the intricacies of the precious metals trading worlds), a substitute investing strategy requires the identification of a “guru” we believe in and trust more than any other figure, and then simply follow his advice.
That is, we trust our “instincts” about individuals who we believe have, time and again, demonstrated they know more than others. We look for people who have consistently displayed keen instincts, people who we have come to believe have deeply studied a topic(s) and have reached unwavering conclusions based on their in-depth studies.[amazon asin=1455577170&template=*lrc ad (right)]
For me, this person is Ron Paul. This is the man, more than any, I put my faith in.
Of course, as gurus go, Ron Paul is a faith-tester. He is the definition of a “contrarian” and probably the Father of Political Incorrectness.
Even now I can hear some readers pecking away at their keyboards in rebuttal: “So how has that Ron Paul ‘advice’ worked out for you lately?”
Well, in the last nine or so months (when the USD prices of gold and silver have plummeted), not very well at all.
But then again – thanks in part to the teachings and pronouncements of Paul – I haven’t been in the market to sell my precious metals. In fact – a contrarian like my mentor – I’ve been buying the stuff. For me, acquiring silver is a long-term play (and Paul, a great student of economic history, is definitely a long-term thinker).
However, if I had “discovered” Ron Paul when he first entered national politics in the late ‘70s – and followed his advice to acquire gold and silver – I’d be rich by now and composing these columns at my beach home.
So why do I put my trust in Ron Paul? Why do I think that his analysis about the macro economy is spot on, and that his predictions for the future will become reality at some point in time?
Simply put, because just about everything he’s talked about and warned us about in the past has come to fruition (or is clearly coming to fruition even as I write).[amazon asin=1586489127&template=*lrc ad (right)]
What follows are “talking points” emphasized by Paul over the course of decades. As you will see, many of these positions and statements provoked boos (literally) from his audience, and certainly derision or ridicule from the mainstream media and mainstream political class.
But Paul has nonetheless stuck to his convictions (one of many reasons I’ve come to admire him).
Here’s a sample of Paul’s political and economic positions with comments about how his once controversial pronouncements are perceived years later.
• Going to war with Iraq and Afghanistan was a major mistake, and unconstitutional to boot.
This is/was the position that most conspicuously separates Paul from fellow Republicans. He talked about the folly of such an endeavor almost immediately following 9-11. He spoke about it at every campaign appearance he made in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential primary cycles. At debates, his views routinely got him booed (albeit “not off the stage” – as he held his ground).
Today of course, the vast majority of Americans have come to believe that America’s decade-long involvement in both wars was a terrible blunder, both from a strategic perspective and a financial or budgetary perspective. Most Americans, that is, now believe that Paul was right.
• American empire – or American involvement in countries around the world. Paul famously (or infamously) has long been for “bringing the troops home” not just from Afghanistan and Iraq but all the 100-plus nations[amazon asin=0446549177&template=*lrc ad (right)] where American military personnel are stationed.
Such a presence not only further breaks an already broke treasury, it violates George Washington’s warning about the dangers of unnecessary foreign entanglements, Paul argues. America’s meddling also invites “blow back” down the road and leads to all kinds of unanticipated and unintended consequences. Invariably, dictators we support become enemies.
Events in the Mid-East, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, etc. have made more and more Americans move toward Paul’s way of thinking.
• Audit the Fed (and/or an emphasis on the damaging influence of the nontransparent and unelected Federal Reserve).
No other politician in America (or the world for that matter) has made a greater effort to steer the focus of economic discussions to the policies of the Fed (and other central banks and central planners).
Despite these lonely efforts, most people still see the Fed’s actions as being “solutions” to our economic woes, not as the source of the “mess” we are in. But more people are now critical of the Fed, or at least open to the possibility that the Fed is creating “boom and bust cycles,” devaluing the dollar and making it harder for members of the middle class to remain in the middle class. This evolution in thinking is largely due to the preaching of Dr. Paul.
• Discussions of gold, a gold standard or at least a standard of money that uses “competing currencies.”[amazon asin=1610161963&template=*lrc ad (right)]
Paul is probably the most famous “gold bug” in the world. It was Paul who first questioned whether America actually possessed (free and clear) all the gold the government says it possesses.
His skepticism on this matter was duly noted, and duly ridiculed and dismissed. Today, however, more and more pundits are raising the exact same questions, especially after the U.S. government denied the German government’s request to return just 20 percent of the gold it stores in America.
A return to the gold standard probably won’t happen any time soon, but it is now at least being discussed (forming a commission to study the issue was inserted into the Republican platform). Some smart people are even predicting that China might be working as fast as possible to have the yuan ultimately become the world’s new reserve currency, using gold to back said currency.
Again, something Paul broached first is being considered and talked about in much wider circles.
