GOP Longshot: Ditch the Fed and Go Back to Gold

Anyone planning a long career at the Federal Reserve better think again if Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Rep. Ron Paul makes it to the White House in 2008.

Paul (R., Texas) is so disgusted with the Fed and its role in failing to stem inflation that he wants to eliminate the entire institution, including its army of economics Ph.D.s and other money wizards.

In its place, he proposes returning to a system of money abandoned more than three decades ago, after slowly falling out of favor for much of the 20th century: the gold standard, or backing paper currency with bars of the precious metal. ...