Blame your central bank for inflation

People rightly blame politicians running deficits for inflation. But spare some thought for the central bankers who enable them. 

Can’t Afford a Vacation? Blame the Fed. | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

November 3, 2025 - "According to data collected by the research firm Statista, 29 percent of Americans cannot afford to take a vacation this year. A vacation is not the only thing Americans are struggling to afford. The failure of wages to keep up with price inflation is why household debt hit a record level of 18.4 trillion dollars this year, with the average household owing more than 100,000 dollars.

"The Federal Reserve is responsible for the decline in American living standards and the rise in income inequality. The turning point in the people’s economic fortunes was on August 15, 1971. That is when then-President Richard Nixon closed the “gold window,” severing the last link between the dollar and gold. This left America with a purely fiat currency and no restraint on the Federal Reserve’s ability to create money.

"When the Federal Reserve pumps money into the economy the new money is not equally distributed. It first goes to wealthy and well-connected individuals. These individuals benefit from having increased purchasing power before the new money has caused price increases.

"The Fed also contributes to economic instability and inequality by creating bubbles that distort the signals sent by the market. This causes over-investment in some sectors. When bubbles burst, workers employed in certain sectors lose their jobs, while those at top often suffer at most a modest setback. The government bails out the “too big to fail” corporations, but the government never considers workers and homeowners too big to fail.

"The Federal Reserve facilitates the growth of the welfare-warfare state by purchasing Treasury bonds, thus monetizing federal debt. The majority of government spending is on programs benefiting powerful special interests. This includes in large part the military-industrial complex that gobbles up more money from the government each year.

"The Federal Reserve’s continued devaluation of the dollar to finance an empire abroad and a welfare state at home is the driving force behind the erosion of the people’s living standards. As the dollar loses purchasing power, demand for government assistance increases, leading to more government spending, more debt monetization, and a further decline in living standards.

"The fact that almost a third of Americans cannot afford a vacation illustrates how fiat money harms average Americans. Continued growth of federal debt and Fed-created inflation will lead to a major economic crisis. This will either induce or be caused by a rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. The result will be a rise of demagogic authoritarians of both left and right and increased political violence, leading to an increase in government repression.

"Those of us who know the truth must continue to explain that the solution to our problems is a vacation from the welfare-warfare state and the fiat money system that facilitates government growth at the expense of the people’s standards of living and liberty. Limited government, free markets, and peaceful relations and free trade with as many nations as possible are components of the path to lasting peace and prosperity."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/cant-afford-a-vacation-blame-the-fed/

The Communist origins of Antifa

The extremist group Antifascist Action (Antifa) began as part of the Soviet Union’s operations to bring about a Communist dictatorship in Germany, and worked to label all rival parties as “fascist.”

The Communist Origins of the Antifa Extremist Group | Epoch Times | Joshua Philipp:

September 23, 2025 - "The extremist anarchist-communist group Antifa is in the headlines because President Donald Trump has announced that he will be designating it as a terrorist organization. The organization was initially part of the Soviet Union’s operations to bring about a communist dictatorship in Germany, and it worked to label all rival parties as 'fascist.'

"The organization can be traced to the 'united front' of the Soviet Union’s Communist International (Comintern) during the Third World Congress in Moscow in June 1921 and July 1921, according to the German booklet 80 Years of Anti-Fascist Action by Bernd Langer, published by the Association for the Promotion of Anti-Fascist Culture. Langer is a former member of Autonome Antifa, formerly one of Germany’s largest Antifa organizations.... 

"Moscow ... sought to unite the various communist and workers’ parties of Germany under a single ideological banner that it controlled. 'The "unified front" thus did not mean an equal cooperation between different organizations, but the dominance of the workers’ movement by the communists,' Langer wrote....

""Benito Mussolini, a Marxist and socialist who ... founded the fascist movement as his own political party ... took power through his 'March on Rome' in October 1922.... The KPD [Communist Party of Germany] decided to use the banner of anti-fascism to form a movement. However, Langer noted that to the KPD, the ideas of 'fascism' and 'anti-fascism' were 'undifferentiated,' and the term 'fascism' served merely as rhetoric.... Both the communist and fascist systems were based on collectivism and state-planned economies. Both also proposed systems wherein the individual was heavily controlled by a powerful state and both were responsible for large-scale atrocities and genocide.

"According to the 2016 annual report of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, from the viewpoint of the 'left-wing extremist,' the label of 'fascism' as pushed by Antifa often does not refer to actual fascism but is merely a label assigned to 'capitalism'.... This held true from the beginning, according to Langer. For the communists in Germany, 'anti-fascism' merely meant 'anti-capitalism'.... A description of Antifa on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s website notes that the organization still holds this same basic definition of capitalism as 'fascism'....

"Langer wrote that, historically, by labeling the anti-capitalist interests of the communist movement as 'anti-fascism,' the KPD was able to use this rhetoric to label all other political parties as fascist. 'According to this, the other parties opposed to the KPD were fascist, especially the [Social Democratic Party of Germany],' he wrote. Thus, in a move that today would be considered ironic, the group that the communist 'anti-fascists' most heavily targeted under their new label of 'fascism' was the social democrats....

"At this time, Hitler and his Nazi Party had begun to emerge on the world stage, and the Nazi Party employed a group similar to Antifaschistische Aktion in its use of political violence and intimidation, called the 'brownshirts.' Antifaschistische Aktion, meanwhile, began to attract some members who opposed the arrival of actual fascism in Germany and who did not subscribe to — or were potentially unaware of — the organization’s ties to the Soviet Union. However, the violence instigated by Antifaschistische Aktion largely had an opposite effect. The ongoing tactics of violence and intimidation of all rival systems under the Antifa movement, along with its violent ideology, drove many people toward fascism.

“'The Communists’ violent revolutionary rhetoric, promising the destruction of capitalism and the creation of a Soviet Germany, terrified the country’s middle class, who knew only too well what had happened to their counterparts in Russia after 1918,' Richard J. Evans wrote in The Third Reich in Power. 'Appalled at the failure of the government to solve the crisis, and frightened into desperation by the rise of the Communists, they began to leave the squabbling little factions of the conventional political right and gravitate towards the Nazis instead.'

"Langer noted that, from the beginning, the KPD was a member of the Comintern, and 'within a few years, it became a Stalinist party,' both ideologically and logistically. He wrote that it even became “financially dependent on the Moscow headquarters.' Leaders of the KPD, with Antifa as their on-the-ground movement for violence and intimidation of rival political parties, fell under the command of the Soviet apparatus. Many KPD leaders would later become leaders in the communist German Democratic Republic and its infamous Ministry for State Security, the Stasi.

"As Langer wrote, 'Anti-fascism is a strategy rather than an ideology.' It was brought into play in Germany in the 1920s, not as a legitimate movement against the fascism that would later arise in Germany, he wrote, but instead 'as an anti-capitalist concept of struggle.'”

A version of this article was first published on Aug. 18, 2017.

Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/the-communist-origins-of-the-antifa-extremist-group-3-post-5916901

Neocons retake control of U.S. foreign policy

Marco Rubio's installation as U.S. Secretary of State and (acting) National Security Advisor has led to a neocon recapture of American foreign policy. 

The Rubio Doctrine: Neocons Are Back! | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

Oct 27, 2025 - "According to several recent news reports, the two major Trump foreign policy shifts last week are the handiwork of Marco Rubio, the President’s Secretary of State and (acting) National Security Advisor. As with all neocon plans, they will be big on promises and small on delivery.

"First up, according to Bloomberg it was Rubio who finally convinced President Trump to take 'ownership' of the US proxy war on Russia, and for the first time place sanctions on Russia. Up to this point President Trump chose to portray himself as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia. But with this move against Russia’s oil sector he can no longer credibly claim that this is 'Joe Biden’s war.'

"The Trump move followed a confusing few weeks since the Trump/Putin Alaska summit in August. After that meeting Trump dropped the neocon position that a ceasefire in the Russia/Ukraine war must occur before any peace negotiations. It was a sign that Trump was looking more realistically at the war. He also said he did not think Ukraine would win, which is pretty obvious. A surprise call to Putin the day before Ukrainian president Zelensky was to arrive in town just over a week ago reinforced that position and Zelensky left Washington empty-handed. He was seeking Tomahawk missiles that could strike deep into Russian territory.

"Then out of the blue President Trump last week announced through his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the US would be sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies until Russia declares a ceasefire in the war before negotiations. That won’t happen, but what it does mean is that Rubio and the neocons have successfully gotten Trump to step on the escalation escalator. That is what they always do. It will be much harder to back down now.

"At the same time the US Administration was jumping deeper into the Russia/Ukraine war, a long-time neocon dream was suddenly back in play. Although in Trump’s first term a 'regime change' operation was attempted against Venezuela, it failed spectacularly. But the neocons have long dreamed of overthrowing the Venezuelan government – they almost got their way back in 2002 – and suddenly after several weeks of extrajudicial murder on the high seas in the name of fighting the drug war, President Trump announced that land strikes on Venezuela would begin soon.

"He did mention that he might brief Congress on his plans for war on Venezuela, not that Congress can be bothered to care much one way or the other.

"The neocon old guard that still dominates Washington foreign policy is taking a victory lap. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham was on the Sunday shows beaming over the conversion of 'no regime-change wars' President Trump to 'regime change wars' President Trump.

"The Saddam Hussein WMD factories of 2002 have become the Nicolas Maduro cocaine and fentanyl factories of 2025 and once again the neocon war lies are amplified by the US mainstream media and transmitted to the American people. A new disaster is in the making. The “global war on terror” has been rebranded the “hemispheric war on narco-terror” and the US military industrial complex is rubbing its hands in anticipation of a windfall.

"After John Bolton’s disastrous stint in the first Trump Administration, promises were made that the second Trump Administration would be neocon-free. Instead, the neocons are back. Unless President Trump wakes up soon, the neocons will destroy his second term…and maybe the country."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
ronpaulinstitute.org/the-rubio-doctrine-neocons-are-back/

Political persecution did not begin with Trump

Using government power to harass political opponents was a favorite pastime of American presidents before Donald Trump was even born. 

It Didn’t Start with Trump | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

Oct 20, 2025 - "'What do you expect when you sue the president?' Hearing that comment, some people may guess the comment was made by someone addressing one of President Trump’s political opponents who has been targeted for federal prosecution. That quote, though, is much older. It is from an IRS agent addressing officials of a conservative organization that was being audited during Bill Clinton’s presidency. This illustrates that the use of federal agencies to punish presidents’ enemies did not start with President Trump.

"The administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used tax investigations against political opponents. Targeted individuals included publishers of newspapers that were highly critical of Roosevelt’s domestic and foreign policies.

"President John F. Kennedy used the IRS and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to drive his conservative critics off the radio. President Lyndon Johnson also used the IRS and the FCC to silence conservative critics. One tool that was used to silence conservatives was to accuse broadcasters of violating the “fairness doctrine” by favoring conservative commentators.

"President Richard Nixon used the IRS to target political enemies. The Nixon administration also threatened television and radio companies with revocation of their broadcast licenses unless they provided favorable coverage of the administration.

"During the Clinton administration, the IRS not only targeted conservative and libertarian organizations. It audited Paula Jones after she sued President Clinton for sexual harassment.

"During the George W. Bush years, the IRS targeted organizations critical of the Iraq War. When Barack Obama assumed the presidency, the tax agency turned its attention back to conservative and libertarian groups, with a focus on organizations associated with the Tea Party. The Department of Homeland Security also issued a warning that those with pro-liberty bumper stickers — including supporting the Libertarian Party or my presidential campaign — might be violent extremists.

"During the Biden administration, many Americans received harsh sentences for being present at the Capitol on January 6 even if they did not commit any violent acts.

"Federal agencies can also target presidents’ political enemies without a presidential order to do so being issued. Some ambitious and unscrupulous individuals will target a president’s enemies believing that this is an effective way to curry favor with the president or high-level administration officials. Others will use the power of the government against the president’s political enemies or those involved with political movements seeking to change the direction of the government out of a belief that these people or groups constitute a threat to the federal government that justifies violating constitutional rights.

"This history suggests that abuse of power is an inevitable feature of the modern welfare-warfare-regulatory state. Therefore, instead of focusing just on electing the 'right' president, we should focus on shrinking the size and scope of the federal government to its constitutional limitations. This will ensure that Americans can exercise their right to criticize the government without fear of reprisal. As Thomas Jefferson said, 'in questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.'"

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/it-didnt-start-with-trump/

Ontario AG's office stops prosecution of Trudeau

The Ontario Attorney-General's office is refusing to allow a private prosecution of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for obstruction of justice and breach of trust in the SNG-Lavalin scandal, a decision that Democracy Watch says is based on legally incorrect reasoning.

Ontario Crown counsel stops prosecution of Trudeau for SNC-Lavalin scandal using incorrect legal standard – should reverse decision | Democracy Watch (news release):

September 29, 2025 – "Today, Democracy Watch [DWatch] released and criticized the letter it received recently from John Corelli, Director of the Complex Prosecutions Bureau at Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, exercising the Crown counsel’s power to stop DWatch’s application filed last February in the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa for approval from the court to proceed with a private prosecution of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for alleged obstruction of justice and breach of trust by pressuring, and directing others to pressure, then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to stop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin in 2018 (now operating under the name “AtkinsRéalis”).

"DWatch also released the letter it sent to Mr. Corelli today requesting that he reverse his decision and proceed with the next steps in the prosecution process because his decision is based on legal reasons that are clearly incorrect. DWatch’s applications included a detailed legal opinion by a retired superior court justice (who did the opinion on the condition of remaining anonymous) setting out the clear evidence and legal arguments for prosecuting the PM for the allegation of obstruction of justice, and possibly also for breach of trust.

"Mr. Corelli requested in June that the Regional Sr. Justice have a judge oversee the next step in the private prosecution application process, called a 'pre-enquête' hearing, at which DWatch would present the evidence it pried out of the RCMP, and key witnesses would be questioned such as Wilson-Raybould, her former Chief of Staff Jessica Prince, and her friend and confidante former Liberal Cabinet minister Jane Philpott, and a judge would decide if there was enough evidence to proceed with a prosecution.  Democracy Watch supported that request.  The Regional Sr. Justice had not yet made that decision whether a judge or a Justice of the Peace would preside at the pre-enquête hearing.

"Mr. Corelli’s letter staying (i.e. stopping) the prosecution does not set out any valid reasons explaining why the available evidence of Mr. Trudeau’s actions does not cross the lines established by the obstruction of justice (ss. 139(2)) and breach of trust (s. 122) provisions in Canada’s Criminal Code.... Mr. Corelli only claims that 'there is no reasonable prospect the Crown could prove that Mr. Trudeau acted with the requisite criminal intent for either alleged offence.'  As Democracy Watch set out in its “will say” document that was included in its court application, this is the same incorrect legal standard that the RCMP used to decide not to prosecute Trudeau for obstruction (the RCMP did not even consider whether Trudeau had committed a breach of trust).

"In fact, the Supreme Court of Canada made it clear in its ruling in R. v. Beaudry, 2007 SCC 5 (CanLII) that, in order to prove obstruction of justice, the Crown is only required to prove that an alleged offender acted 'willfully'  to frustrate the course of justice.  Proof of 'criminal' (i.e. deceitful or corrupt) intent is not required. 

"In addition, the case against Trudeau is unprecedented – so there is no way that the Crown could know there is no chance of proving that Trudeau committed a crime.

"Mr. Corelli’s letter also says that he has concluded that it is not 'in the public interest to hear any evidence that may be adduced by the informant' at the hearing, and that 'new evidence' is unlikely to become available because the RCMP did its own review.  This continues the cover-up begun by the Trudeau Cabinet (which refused to disclose internal Cabinet communication records), and continued by the RCMP with its weak, incomplete and delayed investigation that was buried for years, that accepted the Cabinet keeping key records secret, that only interviewed four of 15 key witnesses, that hid key testimony from Wilson-Raybould, Prince, and Philpott, and that trusted without question the biased, self-interested public statements of Trudeau and everyone else who pressured the AG....

“'Crown prosecutors stopping this prosecution for a legally incorrect reason, just like the RCMP did in addition to suppressing key evidence, amount to a smelly cover-up that shows clearly that Canada does not have independent, effective anti-corruption law enforcement and, as a result, corruption in the highest public offices across the country is effectively legal,' said Duff Conacher, PhD (Law) and Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  'This means Canada does not have a rule of law, a rule that violations of the law will be prosecuted no matter who the violator is, which is considered worldwide to be a fundamental requirement for a country to actually be a democracy.'"

Read more: https://democracywatch.ca/ontario-crown-counsel-stops-prosecution-of-trudeau-for-snc-lavalin-scandal-using-incorrect-legal-standard-should-reverse-decision/

Nobel Peace Prize goes to anti-Maduro activist

This year's Nobel Peace Prize is being given to Venezuelan anti-Maduro activist Maria Corida Machado, who has been funded by the U.S. National Endowment of Democracy. 

The Nobel (War Is) Peace Prize | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul: 

October 13, 2025 - "When it comes to destroying your brand, Norwegian Nobel Committee is the Bud Lite of peace prizes. After all, back in 2009 they gave the Peace Prize to a President Barack Obama who then went on to bomb at least seven countries, set the Middle East on fire, and even conduct drone strikes on American citizens! Other awardees have had similarly suspicious records as peacemakers. They even gave a Peace Prize to the likes of Henry Kissinger.

"This year has proven to be no different. Last week the Nobel Committee announced that the 2025 Peace Prize would go to Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado. Machado has a long history in the Venezuelan opposition including support for and participation in the US-backed, 2002 coup against then-president Hugo Chavez. 

"She is likewise a strong opponent of current Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and in 2018 even wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking for Israel’s assistance in overthrowing the Venezuelan government.

"Shouldn’t we be cheering anyone seeking to overthrow Maduro’s authoritarian style of socialism that is hardly helping the people of the country? Perhaps, but what Machado is seeking is very different from working for change in her country’s system of government. She has long worked with and been paid by the US government’s “regime change” apparatus, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

"NED was founded under President Reagan to do openly what the CIA has been notorious for doing in secret: overthrowing foreign governments that Washington doesn’t like. Scratch any of the “color revolutions” of the past 30 years and you will find the participation of the National Endowment for Democracy.

"Nowhere have these coups and revolutions promoted and funded by NED (and the CIA itself) been even remotely successful. They have only produced broken, ravaged, burned-out shells like we have seen in Libya and elsewhere. They produced chaos and called it freedom and democracy. They even helped put al-Qaeda in power in Syria!

"No, you don’t have to love Maduro or his style of governance to be critical of outside attempts to oust him. In President Trump’s first term, he set his neocons loose on Venezuela and the result was the almost comical rise of the political nobody Juan Guaido. I say 'almost comical' because Trump’s neocons wasted untold millions of our dollars on the farce.

"Is the Nobel Peace Prize just another deep state, soft-power tool intended to boost the US global military empire? The timing of the award going to the relatively unknown Machado is suspicious. President Trump has parked an armada of warships off the Venezuelan coast as his aides openly talk about 'decapitation' strikes on the Venezuelan government. After the extrajudicial killing of some 20 civilians in his attacks on at least four boats off the Venezuelan coast, President Trump is openly bragging that no one dares launch a boat in the area.

"The 'Peace Prize' endows Machado with a new sense of moral authority and gives weight to any 'green-light' she may again give to outside militaries to attack her own country.

"What’s wrong with heeding Machado’s calls to 'liberate' her country? President John Quincy Adams said it best, America 'goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.' We should leave Venezuela alone."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/the-nobel-war-is-peace-prize/

Barber and Lich sentenced to year's house arrest

Freedom Convoy organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Leach have been sentenced to a year's house arrest, followed by 6 months' curfew, and 100 hours of community service. 

'Freedom Convoy' leaders Tamara Lich, Chris Barber given conditional sentences | CBC News:

Chris Barber and Tamara Lich. CBC News.

October 7 - "Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, two major figures of the 2022 'Freedom Convoy,' have been handed conditional sentences and spared further jail time. Barber was found guilty of mischief and counselling others to disobey a court order earlier this year, while Lich was found guilty of mischief. Both were found not guilty on several other counts.

"On Tuesday, each was given an 18-month conditional sentence: Twelve months at home with limited outings per week, followed by six months under a 10 p.m. curfew. Lich is being given credit for the 19 days she initially spent in jail, and for another 30 days she spent in custody after breaching her bail conditions. Barber and Lich will each have to serve 100 hours of community service.

"Lich's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said they're still considering whether to appeal her conviction. 'The main objective was to make sure she didn't spend one more day in jail, and that was achieved,' he told reporters outside the courthouse.

"Barber's defence lawyer Diane Magas said her client respects the judge's decision and considers it reasonable, adding it was more or less the sentence they expected....

"Crown prosecutor Siobhain Wetscher previously asked Justice Heather Perkins-McVey to impose extraordinary sentences — eight years' imprisonment for Barber and seven for Lich — arguing that such heavy penalties would reflect the profound impact the two had on the public during the protests they led in Ottawa."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-chris-barber-sentencing-freedom-convoy-1.7652753