Ron Paul really needs to stop using the term "liquidate the debt"

[nbhadja]

Ron Paul often times has this problem of not simplifying the words he is saying. There is no point speaking the truth if the people cannot understand what it means.

Another thing I hate when Ron does is when he says Benjamin Netanyahu agrees with him on not sending troops to Israel.....most people have no clue who Benjamin Netanyahu is you have to say he is the Israel Prime Minister.

 

[Highstreet]

I've been hearing Ron Paul use this term for a long time now and I've never really understood exactly what it means. It seems to be a pet term of his, because I don't really hear anyone else using it, even among other libertarians. I'm guessing it means that he wouldn't bail out companies and would let them go bankrupt, but seriously if that's what he means he should just say that instead of using such a vauge and unspecifc term. If someone who understands Austrian economics and is a hardcore supporter of his doesn't know what it means, then I guarantee that the average layman watching on TV doesn't either. If they ask you what your vision for America is and you have 1 minute to answer and use a term multiple times that no one understands, its a serious problem.

You are right in the sense that it would help the laymen understand he wants to stop bailouts (which were unpopular) and let the corporations that caused the economic mess go bankrupt. It would really help him explain why the Free Market actually works if you don't stop what would naturally happen.

 

[joshnorris14]

"The Federal government needs to liquidate the debt."

http://mises.org/daily/40

Best explanation I can find.

 

[mosquitobite]

Yea I know. What's your vision for American

"We need to let the debt liquidate"

COME THE FUCK ON

Talk about people jobs, coming out of school with a good job, getting married, having kids, feeling a good sense of self worth building things. helping to service the economy, shit like that.

Not talking about federal reserver and liquidate the debt. Why don't we talk about fractional reserve banking while we are at it.

Christ

Unless your name is Jesus, this was uncalled for.
The rest of your suggested answers were just that: feel good. That is not Dr Paul. If you want "Feel Good" see Perry's answer following Dr Paul because I think he came off as dumb for trying to paint a picket fence answer. Americans know we're up a creek. They want REAL solutions.

We just need to help educate our friends as to what he means. Share the video I posted.

 

[hauntedbaby]

I'm sorry but I have a problem with this post. If you do not know what it means, you should have googled it before posting this thread. And as I mentioned before, you should work at becoming a better critical thinker. Only then can you figure out what words mean without having the definition read aloud to you. You should take a more firm grasp on your own library of knowledge.

 

[Af-Pak]

Come on ! Its a term made up of two words : "liquidate" and "debt" which separately are understandable to the standard English speaking person.
Naah ! It can have multiple meanings depending on the context its used. Well, in the context of the financial crisis, liquidating debt means valuing and subsequently recovering the actual MARKET value of the debt instrument [derivative or mortgage backed security] which would be much lower following a burst in the bubble, as opposed to government buying the debt at the phony inflated value through a bailout.

 

[joshnorris14]

Come on ! Its a term made up of two words : "liquidate" and "debt" which separately are understandable to the standard English speaking person.
Naah ! It can have multiple meanings depending on the context its used. Well, in the context of the financial crisis, liquidating debt means valuing and subsequently recovering the actual MARKET value of the debt instrument [derivative or mortgage backed security] which would be much lower, as opposed to government buying the debt at the phony inflated value.

Too many big words for us Murrcans.

 

[hauntedbaby]

To clarify - the problem is not Ron Paul's vocabulary. It is yours, and America's.

 

[JuicyG]

Unfortunately Paul is losing in some key areas of the debates. Have to agree with some previous posters that language needs to be addressed a bit. Normal folks are clueless and this world is full of uneducated people who fortunately or unfortunately have the right to vote.

John Stuart cracked a joke about the "we`re all Austrians tonight" saying they`ve had to "look it up.'

Many people react emotionally so when they hear Romney and others mincing words saying "relax I have it covered and give you jobs by bashing China and so on and so forth" makes people believe he actually has a plan. When people hear Ron saying "liquidate debt" they think "shit, I already have shitload of debt myself to liquidate. tell me something I don`t know". Most people think in simple terms and complex explanations put them off.

So basically I think Ron lost some points on the economic questions with average joes out there. On military issue I think it was ok but just ok. He came under heavy attack and had to defend himself and was able to counter-attack but was never on the offensive. The loaded questions didn`t help much either.

If I were to make an assessment, I`d say Paul came in 3d after Romney, Huntsman and tied with Gingrich for 3d place.

 

[realtonygoodwin]

http://mises.org/daily/40

Best explanation I can find.

A for effort, but liquidating Federal debt wasn't mentioned in that article...

 

[realtonygoodwin]

To clarify - the problem is not Ron Paul's vocabulary. It is yours, and America's.

Yes, but...

a teacher's job is to explain things so people understand them.

A. One person can alter some phraseology, or add a sentence of explanation...

or

B. 300 million people can get an education in Austrian business cycle theory.

B would be nice, but A is a lot easier and more likely.

Well, maybe not more likely lol.

 

[Af-Pak]

To clarify - the problem is not Ron Paul's vocabulary. It is yours, and America's.

True, the average American doesn't understand what "liquidating debt" means and yet they were active participants in the mortgage ponzy scheme for the last decade.

 

[joshnorris14]

A for effort, but liquidating Federal debt wasn't mentioned in that article...

From that article:

A policy of bailout, even if it can be tailored to liquidate bad debt, creates moral hazard, making the next boom-bust cycle more extreme.

 

[tttppp]

I've been hearing Ron Paul use this term for a long time now and I've never really understood exactly what it means. It seems to be a pet term of his, because I don't really hear anyone else using it, even among other libertarians. I'm guessing it means that he wouldn't bail out companies and would let them go bankrupt, but seriously if that's what he means he should just say that instead of using such a vauge and unspecifc term. If someone who understands Austrian economics and is a hardcore supporter of his doesn't know what it means, then I guarantee that the average layman watching on TV doesn't either. If they ask you what your vision for America is and you have 1 minute to answer and use a term multiple times that no one understands, its a serious problem.

I've been thinking the same thing for months. I knew he was going to say this in the debate. He really needs to simplify this, explain it better, and stop rambling.

 

[Af-Pak]

!!

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Ron, and the campaign staff need to sit down and present the information to the dumbed-down public to understand. He needs to link it to how it affects the country and the people in their personal lives.

RON missed the "PREFECT STORM" to take Romney down on the China fiscal issue. Romney sounded presidental, but only give 10% talking points the clueless public swallow hook, line, and sinker.

 

[hauntedbaby]

Yes, but...

a teacher's job is to explain things so people understand them.

A. One person can alter some phraseology, or add a sentence of explanation...

or

B. 300 million people can get an education in Austrian business cycle theory.

B would be nice, but A is a lot easier and more likely.

Well, maybe not more likely lol.

I honestly respect and take your response into consideration. However, what we are looking for is a shift in culture, wouldn't you agree? I think that perhaps we have to meet in the middle on this. The population has to become better at thinking critically, which leads to coming to independent conclusions (read: not being so susceptible to being a sheep).

A sheep cannot reach conclusions independently. That's a pretty simple definition, right?

 

[icon124]

at some point people need to actually understand the term liquidate the debt....because it's pretty sad that most people don't...considering it effects their lives every second.

 

[tttppp]

I honestly respect and take your response into consideration. However, what we are looking for is a shift in culture, wouldn't you agree? I think that perhaps we have to meet in the middle on this. The population has to become better at thinking critically, which leads to coming to independent conclusions (read: not being so susceptible to being a sheep).

A sheep cannot reach conclusions independently. That's a pretty simple definition, right?

I don't mean this as an insult to anyone, but the majority of people are stupid. And this includes the educated people. Most people don't think for themselves. If you want to reach the average person, you have to give them simple answers.

 

[realtonygoodwin]

From that article:

A policy of bailout, even if it can be tailored to liquidate bad debt, creates moral hazard, making the next boom-bust cycle more extreme.

Okay, this says to me:

A policy of bailout creates moral hazard.
Even if the policy is designed to liquidate bad debt, it still creates moral hazard.
The moral hazard makes the next boom-bust cycle more extreme.

Correct?

Assuming it is, then
bailouts are government provided money given to private companies to keep them from failing and ceasing to exist, right?
So, the bad debt liquidated in your quoted sentence would refer to debt held by the private companies, right?

Ron Paul talks about liquidating the Federal debt, I am pretty sure.