During the online portion of the “Center Seat” segment of Fox News’ “Special Report with Brett Baier,” Ron Paul said that he would “probably” pick economist Jim Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, for the position, reports The Daily Caller.
The question was posed by Stephen F. Hayes of The Weekly Standard, who noted that Paul would be unable to immediately abolish the Federal Reserve.
“He’s an Austrian economist, he has experience on Wall Street, he’s brilliant, he’s a good historian,” Paul said of Grant. “He would quit printing money.”
Grant has previously said that Paul should be named the “executor” of the Fed’s “living will.”
Grant is an interesting pick. I would classify him as Austrian friendly rather than Austrian. My pick would have been Joe Salerno.
Here's the clip:
Paul took a very conservative approach to his pick here. Grant has many Austrian attributes, I like a lot of what he says, but he also has some more neo-classical influences.
ReplyDeletePolitically, I completely understand Paul's choice: he picked a mid-point between libertarianism and etatism. To be honest, I don't blame him, if he had picked Salerno, the SPLC would be all over it. When it comes to monetary theory and banking, there is no equal to Salerno today IMO, the guy's awesome. But, the left absolutely despises him and there is no way that the media would ever let it go (Paul's "blackout" would turn into full-on attack).
I don't love it, I don't hate it. You have to admit that it was a very smart choice given political and perceptional reality of today.
Damn- that is so Awesome! I hope Dr RP will start naming cabinet positions, and allowing skeptics to look at their bona fides early.
ReplyDeleteNapolitano (or Kwiatowski) for VP!
Joe Salerno is an excellent pick. Not sure why he didn't name any of the Mises guys since they have been the ones that made him famous. Hopefully he's just naming someone that the Conservatives could warm up to. Then if he wins, he'll just go completely radical and name all Mises dudes/or true Austrians.
ReplyDeleteSalerno is just brilliant, I would've picked him as well.
ReplyDeleteSalerno would work as part of his economic advisers - putting Jim Grant there would be perfect, as the only thing that needs to be done is to stop printing money and not be swayed from doing otherwise.
ReplyDeleteJim Grant is awesome. His TV interviews are always golden.
ReplyDeleteRP is right, just recently a can of Ranch Style beans at HEB here in Austin went from $.66 to $.74, a 20 oz. bottle of soda at Walmart is $1.48, candy bars are now selling for $1 at some gas stations.
HOLD ON, PEOPLE.
ReplyDeleteI like Jim Grant and Joseph Salerno but I wouldn't want either of them to head the Fed. If they don't believe in central banking, and central economic planning in general, then they shouldn't be central bankers or central economic planners. Remember what happened to Allen Greenspan?
Mises had it right when he said that he would immediately resign if he were made a dictator.
Better to put a statist in charge of the Fed (maybe Paul Volcker or someone similarly "responsible") and enlist the help of Salerno and Grant to diminish the power of the Fed by pushing for the legalization of alternative moneys.
^Nothing happened to Greenspan. He was always a Keynesian.
ReplyDeleteThat's nice, Jim or Joe, it won't matter, the curtain will close and the speech will begin "...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI5hrcwU7Dk
..."
Im going to throw out Robert P. Murphy or Gary North... anyone else?
ReplyDeleteWenzel, how deep am I in your bench? Can I at least close, like after Salerno shuts down 5 of the regional banks?
ReplyDeleteI have you penciled in to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Coast Guard.
ReplyDeleteRather than just appoint someone who will have a target stuck on their butt, I think a better policy will be to take a leaf from from FDR's supreme court packing exercise; fill the fed full of the lazy, stupid and ineffectual, reorganize the districts, anyone who is good moved around or into mindless soul destroying jobs, and as a centerpiece electing 'peoples' representatives who have enough just power to meddle and annoy the bureaucrats.
ReplyDeleteMurphy is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the list, Bob is going to have to have more than those two hats as it looks like there are more government agencies than Austrians.
ReplyDeleteRon Paul is talking over their heads. Fox News are not used to talking specific facts.
ReplyDeleteIt's so funny to see Austrolibertarians bidding for cabinet positions! love it.
ReplyDeleteRobert Murphy for Karaoke Czar!
ReplyDeleteMr. Wenzel, I will send you my resume. I don't care where or for how long Ron might need me in his administration. I just want to fire people. As many as possible.
ReplyDeleteHow about Ron Paul for chairman? If he doesn't get the Presidential nomination for some weird reason.
ReplyDeleteI like Joe, but I prefer Jim because he has the experience of being able to talk to the media while being grilled and questioned about his anti-fed philosophy.
ReplyDeleteIt's one thing to explain your philosophy in the classroom. It's another to be grilled about it on capitol hill.
Alan Greenspan was not always Keynesian. Here is a timeline of his life - notice his connection with Ayn Rand. http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/greenspan-time.html
ReplyDeleteGreenspan was always a Keynesian. For a time he pretended to be a Randian and Austrian so that later it would be hard to charge him with Keynesianism, which worked like a charm.
ReplyDeleteBut, if you look at his professional career, he never hung out with Austrian economists, even as he lived in the City of New York, where outstanding Austrians like Murray Rothbard or Israel Kirzner were available. No, in his professional life he exclusively worked with Republican Establishment economists like Arthur Burns and Herbert Stein. The pro-Austrian essays he wrote for Ayn Rand was just a public relations stunt to put off conservative Republican critics as he anticipated succeeding Burns and Stein as a fake free market spokesman working for Republican presidents. (Naturally, the presidents he worked for -- Nixon, Ford, and Reagan -- were also fake free marketeers who pretended otherwise to appease Republican voters. Pay attention to what the political class does rather than what it finds expedient to say.)