They start "diversifying" because the lose some of that faith and watch the value tumble. Ever wonder why the Fed quit reporting M3?

I'm far from a doomsayer, but I do believe in a sound monetary policy. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my big house, fast truck and golf along with you.

Federal control of the waterways is not disputed by any strict constructionist I know of.

Trying to play "gotcha" with waterway and harbor earmarks would be like finding a time he voted for spending on the post office and playing "gotcha" with that - even though it says right in the Constitution that the Congress can appropriate monies for post offices.

He proposes returning to the gold standard because he is a KOOK!

You think the government indiscriminately prints money? WRONG

You think that the value of our money needs to be linked to something with a store of value?
IT ALREADY IS! THE FULL FAITH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE! NOTHING MORE VALUABLE THAN THAT!

Go live in a cave and wait for the economy to fail. The rest of us will live in big houses, drive fast cars, golf our way across the country, and drink beer.

Have fun!

sounds pretty wacko to me.

returning to the gold standard - or some other standard that links the value of money to something that's an actual store of value - wouldn't happen overnight, but a movement in that direction would start to undo the years and years of monetary inflation resulting from the goverments self designated power to print money - part of that inflation resulting from a goverment that can't cover it's spending through direct taxes alone. If you value your money being worth something, you ought to check into it a little and at least understand why someone would propose returning to the gold standard.

Sometimes that's damn appealing.

Yes, Ron Paul is the far, far extreme for sure. People that support him I don't think always realize how radical he is. For heaven's sakes he wants to go back to the gold standard! And as a doctor, I'm sure he would do OK bartering but the rest of us would live in caves.

This is a good example of the fact that most democrats are not that far left of center as say a Hillary is, and most repubs are not that far right of center as say Ron Paul is. We all just want to tweak things our way a bit. And our economy and country is so big and vast that a little tweaking has wide ranging implications.

The US would be an earthly paradise within five years, and everybody would have not just ponies but flying ponies genetically mdofied to grow their own biodegradable seat belts.

I'd like to be the first to welcome our new overlords and remind them that as somebody nobody has ever heard of I'd be capable of narcing out the flying-seatbelted-pony-haters, as we call the "loyal" opposition.