VIDEO: Ron Paul Debates Financial Regulation With NHTI Director

U.S. Rep. , R-Texas, made a morning campaign stop at the Windmill Family Restaurant in Concord on Jan. 7. The candidate spoke with owner Louis Smirnioudis and his sons and then introduced himself to the breakfast crowd.

While shaking hands, Paul got into a short debate with Paul Hogan, an athletic director at , Concord’s community college.

Hogan stated that Paul was wrong on deregulation and the candidate countered that the Securities and Exchange Commission gave investors the impression that their money was safe. He said that Wall Street types would have been sent to prison if he were the president, adding that Americans were saddled with debt instead.

Hogan agreed with the statement about alleged swindlers being sent to jail. But after the encounter, he said he disagreed with the candidate.

“I understand where he’s coming from,” he said. “I think some of those people should be in jail. But I think we need regulation. I hear deregulation in everything with him.”

Hogan added that he was a teacher for two decades and didn’t agree with Paul’s position that the U.S. Department of Education needed to be cut. He said the country needed to invest more money in education, since secondary schools like NHTI may eventually get too expensive for students.

Ron Paul