Thursday, August 23, 2012

FT — Republicans eye return to gold standard

The gold standard has returned to mainstream US politics for the first time in 30 years, with a “gold commission” set to become part of official Republican party policy.
Drafts of the party platform, which it will adopt at a convention in Tampa Bay, Florida, next week, call for an audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy and a commission to look at restoring the link between the dollar and gold.
The move shows how five years of easy monetary policy – and the efforts of libertarian congressman Ron Paul – have made the once-fringe idea of returning to gold-as-money a legitimate part of Republican debate.
The Financial Times | U. S. Politics & Policy
Republicans eye return to gold standard
Robin Harding and Anna Fifield
(h/t Zero Hedge)

Really heading off into the bush.

Mark Thoma comments at Economist's View, 'Republicans Eye Return to Gold Standard,' quoting Krugman in 1996 extensively.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Tom!Yes the GOP is lunatic by the way,the Texas GOP are worst it seems.They think Obama want to send in UN troops.Watch this!lol!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkT03qMEgMQ

Jonf said...

I don't really think any of them take that seriously. Its like Obama was going to take away everyone's guns in2008. Makes for nice red meat for the crazies.

Matt Franko said...

Noooooooooooo!!!!!

AndyCFC said...

Wouldnt bet on that Jonf... i can show you a place where they do take it seriously.

Anonymous said...

The US be handed over to UN??Ha ha ha!Why?Are the UN lookin hidden weapon for mass-destruction?Well then they actually could find a lot this time!But of course Obama must see that the US ambassodour in security council don´t use his veto of course.
And see that all the other countries are on the same line.Well infact legaly there are a long and wellknown record of US vilolations UN Charta since way back to mid 1940s,so no other country had gone away with such without some sanctions at least i guess.But the Texas Sheriff could sleep with out worries for sure!

Adam1 said...

Krugma 1996, "(Argentine law now requires that one peso be worth exactly one U.S. dollar, and that every peso in circulation be backed by a dollar in reserves.)"

And we now where that lead Argentina (hehehehe).

widmerpool said...

"That in some fields of his country there are certain shining stones of several colours, whereof the YAHOOS are violently fond: and when part of these stones is fixed in the earth, as it sometimes happens, they will dig with their claws for whole days to get them out; then carry them away, and hide them by heaps in their kennels; but still looking round with great caution, for fear their comrades should find out their treasure." My master said, "he could never discover the reason of this unnatural appetite, or how these stones could be of any use to a YAHOO..." - Gulliver's Travels

googleheim said...

GOLD IS DOING FINE IN IT'S SMALL CUBBY IN THE INDICES OF COMMODITIES.

Why would you want to return the USA currenty pegged to something that is dug up out of the ground in Africa ?

Why would you want to back the U$D with something that you can only get by war most of the time ?

It's antithetical to Libertarians but they want to be self annihilating I guess.

How would you back all the dollars out there with what amount of gold ?

This would either require destroying dollars or devaluating the dollar.

This is another form of creative destruction without the wishers knowing it. The golden tea totalers are way off.

Tom Hickey said...

This would either require destroying dollars or devaluating the dollar. This is another form of creative destruction without the wishers knowing it.

The people recommending a return to gold know this full well, and they are hoarding gold in expectation of making a killing on it,, even though it would plunge the world into debt deflation as the unit of account is devalued and nominal debt remains the same. Then the gold hoards could pick up assets at vulture prices. There is method in this madness.

Leverage said...

"There is method in this madness."

I agree, a lot of so called gold-bugs just want to do 'insider trading' by using politics. They want to do the trade of the century: destroy the USD, summon the world into chaos, and acquire assets at cheap prices with their hoarded gold.

They probably would invest in defence (offence) industry later, as a world war would ensue in a few decades most probably.

I've seen this trait of nihilism and destructive behaviour in a lot of right-wing 'libertarians', gold-bugs etc. (Yeah, yeah, wait for Bob Roddis comment on how he is against violence, but does it matter when your own stupidity is producing it? The most dangerous kind of a person is...).

googleheim said...

I would say that gold bugging is anti-christian.

Then I would expect it to be patently anti-semtitic.

Gold standard would ruin Israel.