“A noble man cannot be lost in a crowd.” — Old Maori saying
Last week, I met with Senator Rand Paul and issued this report: https://www.markskousen.com/my-meeting-with-senator-rand-paul/.
A week later, I joined together with 500 people in Lake Jackson, Texas, to celebrate his father, former Congressman Ron Paul’s 90th birthday. I was one of the keynote speakers, along with Secretary of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, political podcaster Tom Woods, libertarian comedian Dave Smith and Ron Paul himself. It was like a FreedomFest reunion!
I paid tribute to Congressman Paul, who I have known since he was first elected to Congress in 1976. Christian economist Gary North was his personal assistant. Paul was the most libertarian and best-known member of Congress who never held a position of power on Capitol Hill.
I endorsed him for president in 1988 when he was the Libertarian Party candidate. He was uniquely qualified to be president — a MD surgeon in the Air Force, a congressman and a family man (a father of five, including current Senator Rand Paul).
He became known as Dr. No, voting “no” to foreign aid, the UN, the Department of Education, the IRS, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, the Patriot Act and to the Federal Reserve. At that point, the audience started cheering, “End the Fed, End the Fed!” Maybe “Dr. Know” would be a better description!
Dr. Paul said “Yes” to the gold standard, Constitutional government, lower taxes, the debt ceiling, free trade and the right to life for the unborn.
After my talk, I was ushered into a private room to meet Ron Paul himself. He was in surprisingly good condition, and we had a lengthy chat about our friendship over the years.
“There Were Giants in the Land”
We talked about his relationship with my uncle W. Cleon Skousen and their common interest in defending the US Constitution. He said, “I love his book, ‘The Making of America,’ about the founding principles of the Constitution.”
In our recent book, “There Were Giants in the Land,” Ron Paul is highlighted several times as one of those “giants.” This book is available for only $29.95 at Skousen Books at Discount. Jo Ann and I autograph the book and mail it at no additional charge inside the US.
You will love this book. For more information, go to Our New Book is Banned in Beijing! – Mark Skousen
Ron Paul Helps Make History with the Gold and Silver Eagle Act
The “Giants” book points out that Cleon and Ron worked together on promoting Constitutional government, replacing the federal income tax with the Liberty Amendment and ending the Federal Reserve with a “sound money system” based on the gold standard.
In the 1980s, Congressman Paul promoted the Gold and Silver Coin Act of 1985, directing the United States Mint to manufacture one-ounce gold and silver coins every year. President Reagan signed the bill in 1985, and the U.S. Mint has minted these coins ever since.
Amazingly, since 1985, the U.S. Mint has issued over 23 million gold eagles and 700 million silver eagles!
The silver eagle coins are our official symbol of liberty and sound money at FreedomFest, and several hundred attendees have their picture taken every year with speakers holding their silver dollars.
Mark Skousen, Steve Forbes and Kennedy join attendees holding up silver eagle coins at FreedomFest.
Ron Paul has been a gold bug ever since, and has advocated a big position in precious metals and mining stocks throughout his career.
Controversy at the Ron Paul Event
I did create some controversy in Texas, noting that Dr. Paul, as a gold bug, has been a permabear on Wall Street, while I was a permabull.
His forecast of another stock market crash did unfold during the financial crisis of 2008. It reminded me of a statement by Sir Harry Schultz, found on p. 111 of my book, The Maxims of Wall Street: “Never underestimate the size of a panic, nor the power of the politician.” (See https://skousenbooks.com/)
Paul was right about the first half of the quote (“the size of a panic”), but I was right about the second half (“the power of the politician” to bail out the financial system).
During the Mother of all Bull Markets in 2013-2020, the Ron Paul Investment Letter recommended shorting the market (even as it was making new highs) and investing up 64% of one’s portfolio in gold and silver mining stocks. See Ron Paul portfolio: ‘Craziest’ we’ve ever seen?
During this post-crisis time period, mining stocks went nowhere, while the stock market roared ahead.
But it should be pointed out, in Ron Paul’s defense, that gold and silver coins have been an excellent inflation hedge in the 21st century, outperforming the S&P 500 since 2000.
Gold Stock Doubles!
And now, a decade later, Ron Paul’s gold mining portfolio has finally come back to life. The mining stocks are outperforming. With gold over $3,400 an ounce and silver over $38 an ounce, our precious metals positions are doing extremely well this year. My favorite mining stock has more than doubled this year. (To subscribe, go to www.markskousen.com).
Ron Paul and the Best Debate Ever on Foreign Policy
Congressman Paul is also famous for being a non-interventionist in foreign policy, opposing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Middle East. He would agree with Ben Franklin, who believed “the system of America [should be] commerce with all, and war with none.”
In 2007, FreedomFest sponsored what many consider the best debate ever on foreign policy, pitting Congressman Ron Paul and anarchist Doug Casey against neo-con Dinesh D’Souza and financial advisor Larry Abraham. Technology guru George Gilder was the moderator.
Paul was at the height of his powers of persuasion in this debate, blaming 9/11 terrorist attacks on “blowback” from interventionist policies by the United States. “We remember nothing… They forget nothing,” he said memorably.
The debate took place in Las Vegas before a standing-room-only crowd, and was filmed by C-SPAN 1 and 2. You can watch this big debate here: https://www.c-span.org/program/campaign-2008/us-foreign-policy-debate/179663
You Nailed it!
Our New Magnificent Seven: TNT Trader Explodes Upward
“Nothing but money is sweeter than honey.” — Benjamin Franklin
Over the past several months, I’ve been updating you about my best-performing trading service this year — the TNT Trader that I co-edit with my son, Tim. He’s one of the world’s experts on all things techno… crypto, AI, data centers, Internet of Things….
The TNT Trader is a short-term trading service that focuses on technology stocks — as you can see, currently all seven positions are up by double-digit-percentages and our call options are ahead by triple-digit-percentages. We just took profits in five weeks on CoreWeave, an AI stock, making 200% on the stock and up to 1,100% on the calls.
We’ve also made over 200% on Bitcoin in the past year. We think there’s more to go in tech.
Here are the current positions:
TNT Trader Recommendations
Tim has his ear to the ground and has a sixth sense of what the next hot tech stock will be. We will be adding a new tech stock next week. Stay tuned!
For more information on the TNT Trader, go to www.markskousen.com, or call Grant at 1-800-211-7661.
