Ron Paul slams stability of U.S. dollar and Bitcoin in pro-gold rant

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said that he is concerned about the "erraticness" of the dollar, that Bitcoin is too complicated and that gold is still the standard by which the value of our currency should be measured.

Erik Schatzker and Sara Eisen, hosts of the show "Inside Track" asked Paul whether he's concerned about about the recent drop in the price of gold after a ten year boom.

"I am concerned about the erraticness of the dollar," Paul said. "The dollar is up, the dollar is down. We print a lot of dollars. The dollar gets devalued. That is really the concern. If people think the gold price up and down is a reflection of something wrong with gold, no, I say it is something wrong with the dollar."

Paul, like erstwhile Fox News personality Glenn Beck, has been urging people to buy gold as a hedge against the inevitable collapse of the U.S. market for years. In 2012, he and attorney Lewis Lehrman financed the publication of The Case for Gold, a reprint of a Reagan-era study by conservative economists that said the price of gold is on a permanent upward trajectory.

Paul has urged the U.S. government to abolish the Federal Reserve and re-adopt the gold standard for the dollar, a proposition manyeconomists find risible.

The conversation ranged over the Consumer Price Index as an indicator of national economic health, as well as whether or not the country is currently facing a high or low level of inflation. With regards to the collapse of the Internet currency venture Bitcoin, Paul said he wasn't interested.

"To tell you the truth, it's little bit too complicated," he said. "If I can't put it in my pocket, I have some reservations about that. But it has been designed in the free market. If it is a means of exchange, it would not ever be illegal. You shouldn't regulate it in the free market, but I do not think it fits the definition of money, which has been around for 6,000 years."

Which returned him to the topic of gold.

"The supply and demand of gold is very important," he lectured. "That is why it is money, because gold is used elsewhere and it is commodity. The supply and money of paper is the culprit. That is the one that is causing all the trouble. People ignore the supply and demand of paper. Yes, paper goes up and goes down, but look at the long term purchasing power of the dollar. It has been devastating."

Paul is one of many conservative media personalities who urge the purchase of gold. Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, the late Charlton Heston, Dennis Miller, Fred Thompson, Mark Levin and others have all worked for the company Goldline International, which was investigated for fraud in 2010.

The company reportedly exploits fear of economic uncertainty to convince people to buy gold coins at a 90 percent markup, insisting that the shiny metal will prove valuable should the U.S. economy collapse.

One ad featured Beck urging, "Here’s the deal. Call Goldline, study it out, pray on it. If it’s right thing for you, then do it. But please study it out. Find the people that you trust. The people I trust are the people at Goldline."

In 2012, Goldline international was ordered by a California court to refund millions of dollars to its customers and operate under a new, strict set of guidelines or face prosecution on 19 counts of criminal fraud.

Watch the video, embedded via Bloomberg TV, below: