Congressional Candidate George Phillips is calling for a return to the old way of valuing American money.

The Republican wants U.S. currency tied to the gold standard as it was prior to 1971.

Phillips says linking dollars to gold would prohibit the Federal Reserve from essentially printing new money as it has recently done through its program of quantitative easing.

He says the Fed has issued 3 and a half trillion dollars in bonds, keeping interest rates low and increasing the money supply.

Phillips says the result has been more federal debt and an economy that only benefits rich investors.

“I think Fed policy is at the heart of inequality. Wall Street, the wealthiest have gotten wealthier because of this soft money policy. They’re getting returns on these bonds and doing massive investments. Main Street is struggling.  We can’t get this economy going. The Fed has tried to do too much. We need to return to stable money and gold,” said Phillips.

Phillips says returning to the gold standard would also help prevent currency manipulation by other countries which hurts U.S. exports.