Former congressman Ron Paul has warned of a government crackdown on bitcoin and safe-haven assets may not be safe from government intervention. “The government is the threat,” he said, noting that “they will crack down because they have the ability to do it.”
Ron Paul Warns of Government Threat to Bitcoin
Former presidential candidate Ron Paul shared his view on the government’s intervention on bitcoin in an interview last week with Kitco News’ Michelle Makori. Paul is an American author, physician, and retired politician. The former congressman from Texas launched The Ron Paul Liberty Report in 2015 to bring “provocative opinion and analysis to the breaking issues affecting our lives and finances,” its website describes.
Paul was asked about the “threat of potential gold confiscation or one form or other of government intervention because that concern is rising.” Several well-known hedge fund managers, like Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio and “The Big Short” investor Michael Burry, have said that “safe-haven assets are not necessarily going to be safe from government intervention,” Makori recalled. “They expect possible tax changes or regulations that will prevent a flight of capital to these assets that could be viewed as an alternative to the dollar, like gold, like bitcoin.” She then asked Paul, “Could they be at risk of a government crackdown?”
The former congressman replied:
Absolutedly … the government is the threat because they will crack down because they have the ability to do it.
He added: “We had a taste of [a free society]. If you don’t know where to start, just start with the Constitution, that might give you an idea of what a free society is all about.”
Paul was also asked: “What form of a crackdown do you think this could take when we talk about assets, like gold and even bitcoin, potentially being at risk of government intervention at higher taxes and regulation … what do you think could happen to those assets?”
The former congressman replied, “I think all of that can happen.” He elaborated that “Either the tax system will be used” or the government will just print more money, resulting in “the devaluation of the currency.”
He further opined: “But they will do it for public relations reasons. They will have to show that they’re putting a heavy tax on the very wealthy because of the civil strife that’s going on.”
On President Joe Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill, Paul expects its outcome to be “worse than average.” He opined: “Most likely it will do what those kinds of programs always do, they spend a lot of money, they’re inefficient, they always cost more than they thought they should. Besides, it’s built on some mystical belief that you shouldn’t have any concern about the deficit … everybody’s just in a dream.”
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