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Sept. 8, 2022 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
24:21
Learn From Europe's Misery: Trade Is Superior To Sanctions

The policy of harming and isolating Russia has backfired hard on Europe. This should provide a learning opportunity for Americans. In an interconnected world, it's never good policy to bite the hand that feeds you. Americans should keep this in mind when considering policy towards countries like China. Trade is superior to sanctions.

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Time Text
Simple Problems Abroad 00:11:11
Hello everybody and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
With us today is Chris Rossini, our co-host.
Chris, welcome to the program.
Great to be back, Dr. Paul.
Good to have you.
And we're going to talk about a simple little problem that's going on in Europe and a little problem in China.
We won't talk about how our budget is in this country because they don't listen to us.
You know, how long we've been telling them, you know, you don't need more spending, you need less spending.
And quit bringing money.
But someday they'll have to do it because markets are very powerful and that's what the markets are demanding.
But until then, the people who want more government, more power, as long as the elites get protected.
And the elites don't suffer quite as much as the middle class.
And it's amazing how they can write rules and regulations like under COVID.
And they didn't even have to follow the rules.
Maybe, Chris, we ought to look into that.
I wonder how much it costs to become an elite person, you know, where we can share in all that.
But we want to share in something much more valuable than the elitism that's destroying our country.
And that, of course, is share in the cause of liberty and the prosperity that that brings and the amount of peace it brings.
And we've had a lot of that.
We've been lucky.
Our Constitution was very decent, the best ever.
But it wasn't too long after it was written that they started whittling away at it.
And certainly the last hundred years since we've had progressivism.
You know, progress, I thought, was a good term.
We'll progress and get things better and everybody's going to be better off.
But it doesn't mean that they started tricking us with words back even then.
Progressive mean regressive.
And we've seen a lot of that, but not quite as bad as what's going on in Europe.
Europe is a mess.
And the British, I hear their empire doesn't exist very much anymore.
And there's a lot of problems.
But we don't have quite as many, but we're looking for them.
It almost seems like Republican or Democrat, they have to have an enemy to deal with.
And both Republicans and Democrats have worked on the belief that a wartime president always becomes the most popular president.
But evidently, that is not always true.
So the 21st century has proven that some of those Middle Eastern wars didn't turn out.
They're so pretty.
Maybe a World War II and a three or four year fight and a victory is a little bit different than 20 years and losing.
So something definitely is going on.
But in Europe, things are in shambles and they're raising interest rates and the interest rates are a problem.
And yet at the same time, our foreign policy gets mixed up in this because we still need an enemy.
We work hard at keeping Russia, but our policies sort of backfire.
They made more money when we put the sanctions on them.
They did a lot better and Europe became much poorer and they're in a mess.
So it's something, but then what are we doing with China?
Well, we put sanctions on them just like we did on Russia.
But the sanctions haven't worked and they haven't worked for us or them.
Yet we persist.
And, you know, free trade has been around, that's one area where Adam Smith was quite right in that you should trade with people.
And the more you trade with people, the less likely you fight with people.
And here we are trying to provoke something with China.
In particular, we saw that article today, Chris, where the F-35 is very dependent on those special rare earth metals.
And because, you know, in any way, this whole system has given the monopoly to them.
And so the most, so they claim, the most important airplane, even though it doesn't work very well, is dependent on the Chinese to provide these metals for us.
I would say it looks like they could be in the driver's seat, but our government says, oh, we're looking around.
We're trying to find alternative sources.
And there are alternative sources, but it'll probably take them 20 years to develop them.
So anyway, Chris, it's a mess over there.
And I know you've looked into this a bit and understand quite well how China is not exactly receiving the best treatment from us.
And yet we have a responsibility to our people to do what is best.
And it doesn't look like our policies are the best thing for the American people either.
That's right, Dr. Paul.
And I hope Americans are learning a lesson from Europe's misery.
But what concerns me is American attitudes, perhaps even future American attitudes towards China.
And you brought up, China, how dependent we are on them, not just for rare earth metals, for just about everything.
And it's not because we have any love for China, but I do have love for this country.
And I'd hate for them to do like what Europe has done to themselves, which is harm themselves, you know, needlessly.
And when we think of China, we should not be fooled by the whole rhetoric of freedom and democracy versus communism.
That's, you know, both countries, ours and theirs, it's a marriage of government and corporations.
They are corporatists.
China is not communist like Mao or the Soviet Union.
They would still be in abject poverty because communism is unworkable.
That's how you always hear in America how China is referred to.
They're communists.
You know, if they're communists, they're more capitalist than us in many respects.
And we're more socialist than they are in many respects.
You know, we have our own problems with socialism.
We don't have to go all the way around the world to go find socialists to go do battle with.
So before we villainize China, we should really sit back and think about, you know, go to any store.
Look at, like Dr. Paul, the rare earths.
You know, we depend so much on that region of Asia.
You know, Europe villainized Russia over Ukraine, but Europe depends so much on Russia.
So you're a bit the hand that feeds them, and now they are suffering terribly.
You know, a lot of Americans get very annoyed when they hear about the investments that China's making in this country and how much power and clout they have.
And yet they are, they have advanced.
They don't have capitalism, but they have a form of system that we've used, and that is sort of special interest interventionism, take care of certain companies, and corporatism, but not, like you say, Chris, not pure communism, because they had to modify that a bit.
But the American people, though, blindly fall into this, and it's tough, and I found that campaigning nationally, is it's tough to be critical of one's own country.
And I think that to me is one of the signs of patriotism, is that you're allowed to, and you will, politely and in a positive fashion, what you ought to do.
But if you can't criticize your country, you know, you've lost your liberties that a lot of people fought, at least they thought and died for.
But we've had a tremendous advantage over these last several years.
Matter of fact, even before the breakup of the and the end of the Cold War, because we have benefited because we, ever since the Bretton Woods set up, and ever since actually the Breton Wars was started, and we became the owner of the reserve currency of the world, and it was our dollar, and the dollar was backed by gold, and that gave us a lot of benefit because we were rich, we had economic power,
we had military power, we were essentially an empire, and we were able to print a lot of money.
And people, even today, it's still a haven because the other ones are so bad.
But the rules are going to apply to us as well.
We just can't keep printing money on and on.
But the American people, you know, ended up with a lot of cash.
They wouldn't believe that now, but they have a lot of cash.
And what they're really complaining about, and they don't quite understand, it's the prices that are going up, the value of the dollar is going down.
But what did we do as a nation?
We adapted very well to we can work a little bit less.
We don't have to make all these gadgets.
The Chinese will do it, and they have cheap labor, and they'll send us this stuff over here, and that will be just wonderful.
And they're going to end up with a lot of dollars.
Now they're spending dollars around the world on investments and buying property and companies.
At the same time, we're sending a lot of our influence around the world with guns, no butter, just guns and weaponry, get involved in all the fights going on.
Just look at what we've done since this century, how we've been overly involved in the Middle East.
Then we had to be involved in Syria, and we're still there.
And now, of course, the whole mess that we have in Ukraine is the fact that we still have that money that we can mess around with.
And the cash goes out.
We stick to our militarism.
People who make some money, you know, it's conceivable that somebody might look into this and find out, you mean those Chinese could be more capitalistic than the United States?
In some areas, I'm afraid it's true.
And we have to be honest with ourselves because that's not the way for us to move toward peace and prosperity.
Yeah, Dr. Paul.
And, you know, we constantly point out that trade is so much better than sanctions.
And the thing about trade is you don't have to like everything about the people that you do business with.
One of the greats about trade is that you don't know everything about the people that you do business with.
You know, I'm going to go later today out to the store.
What if I went and had to talk to all the employees and see where they stand on this and dig into their lives?
I would find so many things that I probably find abhorrent that I, you know, it would mess everything up.
That's not how trade works.
It would be an exhausting way to live to have to analyze everybody that you're trading with to make sure that they're just like you.
But our differences don't prevent us from peacefully, hey, you take my money, I'll take this thing that you made, that you transported for me, thank you.
You know, that's all it is.
Elite Group Dynamics 00:05:12
Now, China is terrible when it comes to civil liberties and individual liberty.
And it's not surprising.
Individual liberty is a Western Christian idea.
It didn't come from the East.
But China is not our government.
My concern is my government and what they think and do with civil liberties.
And my government locked us down for two years.
They destroyed our economy.
They tried to force jabs into people, and they're destroying our money.
Now, is it rational for me to sit here and stew over China when my government is doing this to me?
I mean, that is just a very unself-aware way to go about living.
You know, there's a saying that goes, because there's been some investigation into it, that no matter what type of government you have or what kind of a society you have, you always have this elite group.
There's an elite group that may be philosophic and producing very evil ideas just because they really believe in it.
It might be an elite group, like I think the elite group that led to our Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and that's very positive.
But once a society gets going, there's usually an elite group, whether it's Marxist communism in Russia or China, any place, there's always an elite group that they don't suffer the consequences of their policy.
And I guess what?
I don't think it would take us a very long time to convince most of our listeners, because they probably already agree, that the elites are with us today.
All you have to do is look at the inconsistencies and the punishment that was put on people with lockdown with COVID.
But the elites didn't have to do it.
They didn't have to abide by these rules.
Take a look at the governor of California.
I mean, he fits into that category.
He's an elitist.
And yet he's under a challenge.
But the big question is, is really how far does it have to go?
Because I think eventually that group fails because even the elites of Russia, they finally failed when the system went down, but a lot of them were able to move over to the modified system.
And the European leaders did the same thing.
So there's always this elite group.
And that's why the marketplace is a sorter out.
They sort things out.
Because then, in a true free market, you have to work with sound money.
You don't have a Federal Reserve.
You don't have government intervention.
You don't have governor's special interest for the elites.
And it's a much fairer system.
As a matter of fact, it's much more productive because the elites stay in power by making rash promises that's all based on continuing to use wealth, consume the wealth, and run up debt and put pressure on your currency.
And they get away with that for a long time.
But eventually it always ends because it was all fake.
It was always a fake system where they were, you know, a system where they thought they were getting real wealth, but they weren't.
It was a borrowed wealth.
It's like if you and I, Chris, went out and borrowed a million dollars every month, we'd be doing okay until they said, hey, you have to pay some of that back.
We're in a payback period right now.
Europe is way ahead of us on this.
And they're still, no matter how bad it gets, they still do dumb things.
Like what have they done for an oil policy?
You know, when they, if they'd have had a little different arrangement with Russia, but we pressured them, oh, closed on the pipeline.
So once again, the Russian government became, got into the driver's seat there.
So it's these things that makes no sense whatsoever because they don't have an understanding, a belief, and a desire to move into a society.
There's no confidence that a free society would work.
And they say, oh, that'll cause chaos.
Well, I would suggest they go and look at some films any day, really any weekend.
It's still happening.
But a year or so ago, the streets were, the cities were burning.
And it continues.
And the whole law enforcement system in our country today.
The trust has been lost, not only in the system, it's certainly been lost in the trust of the value of the currency, but the trust has been lost in government.
And some of that is very good.
But we better come up with an alternative because an alternative will be there.
And right now, the battle is those of us that want to hear the truth and those who want to just move on to something else and they're looking at cultural Marxism.
There's a big contest going on right now.
But the culture of Marxists have taken over a lot of power.
But I consider that a religious cult because if you're not woke, you're in big trouble.
Fear Of Revolution 00:07:44
But it can't work.
It won't work.
But what is the fear there?
The fear is revolution that isn't designed to get more liberty.
It's designed to just capture the remaining wealth.
And that is a real problem.
It's already seen that there's a clash between the rich and the poor, young and the old.
And it need not be that way.
But there certainly has to be some changes of attitude, which hopefully we can participate in a very positive way.
Excellent, Dr. Paul.
I will finish up.
You know, Dr. Paul often says on this program that the government should never be allowed to do what we can't do ourselves.
So how do we apply that to something like foreign policy?
Well, let's look on the individual level.
You know, whenever we individually have, you know, personal or relationship problems with a boss, a spouse, your kids, whatever, the best approach to take, and it's not the one that's often taken, but the best approach to take is what is it about me that has contributed to this situation?
What can I improve?
Because when you do that, that puts you in control of what you can control.
The usual road that's taken is to start pointing fingers outward and then go and change that person, then force that person, and then you end up with terrible results.
Well, that is the philosophy that the government and the American people have been taking for 100 years now.
It's to point outwards.
Our government has so many problems that they can't all be solved in our lifetimes.
That's how many problems they have.
Yet the focus is always on forcing others to do what we say they should do.
And not just others here and there.
Others like the whole world, like Venezuela, like North Korea, like Russia, like China, like the Middle East.
I mean, it's total insanity.
And look what it has done.
This progressive idea of we're going to make everyone like us for democracy or whatever other thing they concoct.
Look what it's done.
It has created the biggest financial and moral disaster probably in history.
And history books are going to say when this is all done, they're going to be filled with reasons why you should never try to do what America did.
So we should always look inward as individuals and as a country and control the things that you actually have control over.
Chris, very good.
You know, the one thing that we do, and we've done it especially in the last 50, 60 years, is that there's provocation.
Our government's provoking.
It doesn't make any sense unless we understand their goals.
Sometimes it's hard because the goals seem to be so stupid because most of the time the provocation is leading to war or they're trying to grab markets and then there's trade wars and then there's more poverty.
But this idea that we will tease some countries that we claim are the enemy.
Just think of how often we take our military airplanes and fly them close to the borders of China, and sometimes we skirt out of the boundary.
They're just waiting for somebody to have an accident.
There might be a false flag.
It sets up stage for false flags to stir things up for the people who want it because chaos is their tool for rebuilding the society that they might want.
And it is, you know, an accident can happen.
It could be deliberate.
So it's so dangerous, but we do it all the time.
And then, of course, the other thing that provokes people, and the American people don't know too much about it, and that is how we get involved in the internal affairs of other nations and how we're involved in the taking over a government.
We participate in coups all the time.
You know, people in this country get accused of a coup and taking over the government insurrection.
But I'll tell you what, we should look into that because it's the insurrection that goes on constantly when we get involved.
And right now, we're still suffering on a daily basis from the coup that we participated in in 1953 when we combined our efforts with Russia, Britain, to go in and get rid of an elected Democratic leader in Iran.
And it's like, those are in it.
Why don't they forget about it?
That's a long time ago.
That's our attitude.
And one problem with we have in America is that we have short memories and we forget about it.
But that is a big problem is the provocation that we'll stir it up.
And before you know it, we're into a war that was totally unnecessary.
What is the solution?
You say, this is too big.
There's too many people that do the wrong things and you can't trust them.
Well, I guess if you had one thing that you could do, even though I'm not very optimistic about it because of what's happened the last hundred years under progressivism, and that is have people follow the guidelines that the founders had a Declaration of Independence to develop.
And that is follow the Constitution.
And you say, oh, that would hamstring.
We have to protect our interests.
And it's moving quickly.
So we always have to protect our interests.
That is, whose interests?
The interests of the elite in order to punish the people who have to fight and die in those wars.
So that is a problem that people have to realize that it is to our responsibility of what we do because once we set the stage, then they stir up the emotions of the people.
Patriotism, supernationalism.
And if you don't support them, you don't care about the troops.
You don't care about our country.
You're unpatriotic.
You're treasonous.
You're a terrorist.
And that's kind of accusations are made, American against American, because they might just say, you know, there's a better way.
Oh, yeah, I've been accused of a few of those things.
I said, when did it become treasonous to do a very good job on protecting the Constitution?
Why don't we go over what you're complaining about, what I'm doing, and check it out and compare it to what the Constitution said.
Oh, we don't look at that anymore.
The Constitution is an old document.
And I had conservatives, so-called conservatives, in office tell me that in a committee hearing.
Ron, do you worry about this getting into wars carelessly?
And the word they use, that's acronistic.
They don't pay any.
No, we don't pay attention to that anymore.
So if we wanted to change our direction, it wouldn't be too bad to maybe raise up a generation of individuals saying, you know, it's a good thing to have a rule of law based on, you know, a higher law based on non-intervention and non-aggression.
That shouldn't be that tough.
But we're not there yet.
But I tell you what, they're going to need something.
And I know the Marxists are lining up.
They're anxious and waiting for the total chaos in the streets and they want to fill the void.
But I think that we should study and produce and be more convincing, get more allies in there to make sure we know how to replace what we have now with a free society once dreamed about by our founders.
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