Ron Paul calls economic progress under Donald Trump an illusion and predicts 'big crash'

Libertarian politician Ron Paul says he believes a new economic crash is on the horizon, despite economic gains seen during the Trump presidency.

The former Texas congressman believes the US economic system "is coming apart" due to its reliance on debt and credit bubbles.

In a recent interview with RT, the outspoken economic commentator said: "The success over the past 10 years or so has been mainly based on debt, I don't believe we are really out of that [previous] recession. You can predict a bubble but you can't predict timing for a crash."

Low interest rates and surging shares and commodity valuations have only increased inequality between rich and poor. Despite low unemployment, which has fallen dramatically over the past decade, Americans can now be grouped into two distinct economic classes, he claims.

"We have types of society – the lower 50% and then the top 10% or 15%. The economy is doing well for the wealthy but not for the poor".

"We're gonna have a sudden, cataclysmic end. which is sort of what happened to the Soviet system," he said.

"I think the turnaround will come and I'm optimistic on the long run because there are more people like myself who are trying to promote the ideas of liberty and sound economic policy, so I think the big crash will come first and then it'll be up for grabs."