EAST LANSING, Michigan -- Ron Paul gave a hat tip to the wealthy in a speech today at Michigan State University.
He took a slight detour from his monetary policy stump to add, "There’s nothing wrong with being wealthy if you earn your money honestly."
"In a free market, the wealthy get wealthy because they deliver a service to the people," Paul said. "If we make an individual wealthy because they provide a good product and we vote for that product and they become wealthy, and they get no benefits, nothing special from the government, no bailouts,no contracts, nothing, they should be entitled to keep that."
He added: "But, those who are in the military industrial complex or in the financial system that benefits from the monetary system that we have -- they’re not entitled and they don’t deserve the bailouts."
In the context of the recent rumors about a Romney-Paul alliance, the quote seems like Mitt praise. Ron Paul's campaign manager didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.