Rand Paul: The Fed is Squeezing the Middle Class

During an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Dagen McDowell, GOP Presidential candidate Rand Paul says the first step to turning the markets and economy around is shedding light on the Fed and making them more accountable for their impact on the economy.

“We’re going to have a vote on Audit the Fed [legislation]… The Fed is one of the most incredibly powerful and secretive of government institutions… I think the Fed bares a lot of responsibility for the boom and bust cycle -- particularly the real-estate boom in the early 2000’s that culminated in a devastating recession in 2008,” he said.

Congress is scheduled to vote on “Audit the Fed” which could bring an end to the Fed’s lack of clarity on monetary policy decisions.

“We had one single audit, but we don’t have the power to have an annual audit -- and the audit that we did have excluded the auditing of some of the most important activities of the Fed that involved trillions of dollars,” he said.

Paul also explained how auditing the Fed would impact the average American.

“What the Fed does, it provides billions of dollars to very large banks who get to use the money first but as the money trickles down into the system to regular people, by the time they get it, they’re getting no earnings on interest, but they are also seeing their prices rise -- so they are being squeezed.”

When asked whether he will attend FOX Business Network’s Republican presidential primary debate in South Carolina on January 14, 2016 he said: “We need all the criteria for the first debate, so if FOX Business goes by their own rules we will be in the first tier and we will be there.”

FOX Business Network will host its second Republican presidential primary debate on Thursday, January 14 at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in North Charleston, South Carolina. The debate, which has been sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, will be held two days after the State of the Union address.