ANALYSIS | Republican Representative Ron Paul, R-Texas, is far more libertarian in his economic views than most of his opponents. His views on fiscal responsibility have been well-documented during his many years in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Here is a look at Ron Paul's economic policies.
On Taxes: Drastic Cutting Is Key
Paul has said he wouldn't raise the debt ceiling, would veto unbalanced budgets, and opposes unfunded mandates and regulations on small businesses. He's against income, capital gains, and "death taxes," pledging to eliminate them all. He's also for eliminating the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
He feels a flat tax or fair tax would be better than the current income tax system, but still thinks the 16th Amendment, which allows Congress to impose an income tax, needs to be repealed.
On 'Class Warfare': In Favor of a Little Against 'The Ones Who Rip Us Off'
Paul doesn't agree with his more vocal opponents, Herman Cain and Mitt Romney, in saying that demonstrations are a form of class warfare: "I do agree that there's a mal-distribution in wealth in this country."
"Entitlements end up going to the rich anyway," he told reporters at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "Some of them should be attacked. The ones who rip us off, the ones who get bailed out."
On Economic Recovery: Blame Spending
According to Paul's campaign site, he believes that "excessive spending, artificial credit, and market manipulation crashed our economy, and no one should be surprised that these same policies continue to prolong the suffering for millions of Americans."
He thinks we're sending jobs overseas due to a program of "deliberately weakening our currency."
On the Federal Reserve: End It
This is a topic Paul enjoys discussing. He'd like to see the Federal Reserve abolished. One of his books is titled "End the Fed."
During a June 13 debate in Manchester, N.H., he explained that the financial crisis could be linked to the fed.
"We got in the trouble because we had a financial bubble, and it's caused by the Federal Reserve," he said. "If you don't look at monetary policy, we will continue the trend of the last decade. We haven't even - we haven't developed any new jobs in the last decade. Matter of fact, we've had 30 million new people and no new jobs, and it's because they don't - the people don't understand monetary policy and central economic planning things."
He sponsored H.R. 459, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, which directs the Comptroller General to audit the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the federal reserve banks, then provide a report to Congress.
On Unemployment: Failed Policy Cause of Problems
Paul commented on the Labor Department's jobs report for September 2011:
"The national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent for the month of September says nothing new about our failed experiment with Keynesian economics. Simply put, all these years of Washington deficit spending and money printing did not move the labor market."
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