Ron Paul: Is Inflation Dead?

Spoiler Alert: NO

Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul put the following statement on his Facebook page in response to a Washington Post article claiming that inflation is dead:

The Death of Inflation? Hardly!
by Ron Paul

Matt O’Brien recently wrote in the Washington Post, “R. I. P., Inflation. You had a good run, but it’s over now that prices are rising less than 1%.” O’Brien goes on to argue that since oil prices started falling, this caused inflation to fall as well. What he fails to realize is that inflation is the increase in supply of money and credit by the central bank, rather than evidence of falling prices of various items or the government rigged Consumer Price Index. Even though he dwells on the fact that the falling prices of certain commodities is proof positive that there is no inflation, his reasoning is pure Keynesianism.

Immediately after his assertion, he claims that the real problem is “credit bubbles.” I wonder where he thinks credit bubbles come from if not the inflation of the money supply by the Federal Reserve. He laments the fact that there are so many credit bubbles and claims, “just when the world gets over one, another bursts and drags everyone down again.”

He also points out that China is suffering from its own housing bubble and a bank-fueled debt explosion up to 75% of gross domestic product that looks unsustainable. He claims falling demand proves that there is no inflation, yet he entirely ignores the fact that the consequences of inflation -- the bubbles -- will inevitably be corrected by market forces. But instead of true deflation occurring, the central banks of the world, led by the Federal Reserve, become more determined than ever to INFLATE. He claims that inflation is only a concern for those who lived through the 1970s in the United States. However if he would choose to look at economic history he will find that inflation and its serious consequences associated with the destruction of currencies go all the way back to Roman times.

Read the whole thing here, and if be sure to help Campaign for Liberty bring transparency to the Federal Reserve by signing our Audit the Fed petition.

Tags: Ron Paul, Audit the Fed, monetary policy