- May 9, 2012, 10:52 PM
REAL TIME ECONOMICS HOME PAGE
By Kristina Peterson
Source: Wall Street Journal Blogs
Republican presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul certainly wants to end the Federal Reserve. But he also has to eat breakfast.
One day after chairing a hearing on proposals to abolish or overhaul the central bank, the Texan congressman sat down for the first meal of the day Wednesday with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the lawmaker confirmed in a brief interview at the Capitol. The decision to meet for breakfast at the Fed was “mutual,” said Mr. Paul, who last year introduced a bill to eliminate the central bank.
The Fed chief and lawmaker had “sort of an open discussion,” Mr. Paul said, while declining to provide any details of the conversation. “It was off the record,” he said. The Fed declined to comment on the meeting.
Wednesday’s visit to the Fed’s Washington headquarters was not the first for Mr. Paul, who has said previously he dined at the central bank with former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.
Nor is it unusual for Mr. Bernanke to play host to lawmakers, including those proposing to refashion the Fed. The Fed chief had breakfast in February with Rep. Kevin Brady (R., Texas) who earlier this year introduced a bill that would narrow the Fed’s mandate to focus solely on price stability. Currently, the central bank has a dual mandate that also requires it to strive for maximum employment.
Still, Wednesday’s breakfast brought together two figures who publicly agree on very little. A longtime critic of paper currency and fan of the gold standard, Mr. Paul’s fiery Fed-bashing has enthused his campaign trail supporters, who often start rallies with loud chants of “end the Fed!”
Mr. Bernanke, meanwhile, dedicated a significant chunk of his first lecture at George Washington University in March to enumerating the flaws associated with a system in which the dollar is valued at a fixed price per unit of gold.
So did Wednesday’s meeting overturn any deep-set beliefs?
“He’s for the gold standard now,” joked Mr. Paul.
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I don’t know why this is so remarkable to the author of this article. And he/she makes it sound like he, Ron Paul, has no footing in the Run for presidency. Almost the entire voting people are behind him. The media lies about everything. The only place to get the truth is on the Internet. And you have to follow the right stories in order to avoid some very wrong impressions as to who the American voting public are behind. And it is no one else but Ron Paul. And beings who he is in our government, why should it be so hard to fathom that he would have meals with those who are important to our country for so long. He certainly cannot have any of these private chit chats while on duty, can he? This author is very biased and I will dismiss him out of hand as I know the truth. Emma ps thanks for posting this Jean. Beings all the mass arrests that are going on now as we speak in Washington DC, its no wonder they feel the need to divide and conquer. Emma
Thanks for posting this, Jean. <3