WG/Strategies/Ideas/Ron Paul on OWS
Transcript of Ron Paul on Occupy Wall Street Republican National
Debate 10/18/11.
Moderator: Congressman Paul you have been critical of governor Romney
for holding fundraisers with Wall Streeters, do you think he
understands what the protest is about? Do you understand?
Ron Paul: Well, I think Mr. Cain has blamed the victims. There's a
lot of people that are victims of this business cycle. We can't blame
the victims. We also have to point out, I'd go to Washington as well
as Wall Street, but I'd go over to the Federal Reserve. They create
the financial bubbles and you have to understand that you can't can't
solve these problems if you don't know where these bubbles come from.
But then when the bailout came, and supported by both parties, you
have to realize '08 republicans were still in charge, so the bailouts
came from both parties, guess who they bailed out? The big
corporations, the people who were ripping off the people in the
derivatives market, and they said the world is going to come to an end
unless we bail out all the banks. So the banks were involved, and the
Federal Reserve was involved. But who got stuck? The middle class
got stuck. They got stuck. They lost their jobs, and they lost their
houses. If you had to give money out, you should have given it to the
people who were losing their mortgages, not to the banks.
Moderator: Mr. Cain do you want to respond. He referenced you, so if
you want to respond you have 30 seconds.
Herman Cain: All I want to say is that representative Paul is partly
right, but he's mixing problems here. There is more than one
problem. Look, the people, the bank, yes. the banks, and the
businesses on Wall Street, yes. The way that was administered was not
right. But my point is this. What are the people who are protesting
want from bankers on Wall Street? To come downstairs and write them a
check? This is what we don't understand. Take, go and get to the
source of the problem is all I'm saying. And that's the White House.
Moderator: I gotta give you thirty seconds and then we'll go to
governor Romney. Congressman Paul.
Ron Paul: Yes, the argument is the program was ok but it was
mismanaged. But I work on the assumption that government is not very
capable of managing almost anything. So you shouldn't put that much
trust in the government. You have to, you have to trust the market
place and when the government gets involved they have to deal with
fraud. And how many people have gone to jail, either in the
government Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac that participated in this? And
nobody suffers the consequences. All these investigation and yet the
People who lose their jobs and lose their houses, it's their fault according
(sarcastically,implicating Herman Cane) that's why they're on wall street.
And we can't blame them. We have to blame the business cycle, and the
economic policies that led to this disaster.