Ron Paul is a presidential candidate because he does not believe that a central bank should print money out of thin air, thus creating a house-of-cards economy on the verge of collapse. Ron Paul wants to abolish the Federal Reserve.
“Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle and working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary policy. In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing power because of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies. This represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people,” Paul said in a 2002 speech.
Anyone watching the GOP debate last night had to take notice of Paul’s emphatic and sound argument that our economy is a mass of manipulations. To curry favor with the Reaganomics audience at the Reagan Library in California, Paul relayed a story about how Ronald Reagan told Congressman Paul 20 years ago that any nation whose economic system veers away from the gold standard is a flawed economy.
Which brings us to another form of hard currency: Land. Like gold, it’s value is almost impossible to undermine.
And to show how valuable land is, read this story out of Bismarck, N.D. Tribune, which quotes U.S.D.A. officials on the price of farmland in 2007:
Farm real estate values nationwide rose 14 percent from Jan. 1, 2006, to Jan 1. 2007, to a record average of $2,160 an acre, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
USDA spokesman Scott Shimmin said the report on 2007 farm real estate prices won’t be finished until this summer, though it appears last year will set another record.
Low interest rates, government farm programs and reinvestments to avoid taxes on capital gains are among the factors contributing to the record farm land prices, but record commodity prices are the main reason, he said.
“Commodity prices have remained very strong, if not excellent – you would expect that to drive up real estate prices,” Shimmin said. “If you look at the past 25 to 30 years, (farm land) has not been a very risky investment. Over the long term, it has had a pretty solid return.”
3 Comments
February 3, 2008 at 3:46 am
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April 5, 2008 at 2:24 am
I enjoyed reading your article.
Not only has farmland increased in value due to the ethanol craze, but it has increased because the population is at a all time high and other evolving countries are beginning to consume more food than ever before. Speculation in the commodities markets will continue to drive farmland prices higher and higher.
March 24, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I also enjoyed your article. Landflip is right, as long as the world population increases, so will the need for farmland, and it’s value will increase as well.