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Back to the gold standard?
American Thinker ^ | 5-15-19 | Nathan Williamson

Posted on 05/15/2019 1:05:16 PM PDT by skimbell

...nearly two centuries of American adherence to the gold standard created both a stable currency and one of the wealthiest nations in history. He further noted shortly after Congressman Mooney first introduced the gold standard bill in 2018 that "[t]he dollar's value has declined to one-thirtieth of what it was in 1970, compared to gold...

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bloggers; economy; gold; goldstandard
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Still wonder what the he11 Nixon was thinking.
1 posted on 05/15/2019 1:05:16 PM PDT by skimbell
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To: skimbell

Nixon had no choice. He went ballistic when he realized that he could not sustain the existing policy. There was only one thing he could really do, and that was let the dollar float.

The irony is that the economists had been advising him to do that for years anyway.


2 posted on 05/15/2019 1:10:48 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: skimbell
Still wonder what the he11 Nixon was thinking.

Probably that there wan't enough gold available in the world to back all the dollars in circulation.

3 posted on 05/15/2019 1:12:11 PM PDT by Poison Pill
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To: skimbell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock


4 posted on 05/15/2019 1:14:05 PM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: skimbell

It didn’t create a stable currency. There were often annual swings in purchasing power in excess of 20% when we were on the gold standard.

And every 20 years we had a deflationary depression. Not recession but Depression. Massive bank and business failures. Massive foreclosures. That happens because gold production doesn’t keep up with the economy. Unless you have another California gold rush and then you have inflation.

A gold standard would leave our currency in the hands of China, which is the world’s largest gold producer these days, and in the hands of speculators like Soros.


5 posted on 05/15/2019 1:14:26 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: skimbell

And if you think a gold standard would stop Congressional borrowing, think again. They borrowed when we were on a gold standard. They will have no problem promising that your children will pay back their debts with gold.

Not only that, every time there was a crisis, Congress voted to devalue the dollar. So a gold standard does nothing helpful.


6 posted on 05/15/2019 1:16:32 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: skimbell

A gold standard stabilizes the price of gold and not much else. If the price of gold goes down relative to other goods and services then you have inflation. If the price of gold goes up you have deflation.

Currently, China is the largest gold producing country in the world. Russia is No.3. If the U.S. was on a gold standard, then China or Russia could cause U.S. currency to devalue whenever they want by flooding the market with gold.


7 posted on 05/15/2019 1:16:40 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (The Obamanation has ended!)
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To: Poison Pill

***wan’t enough gold available in the world to back all the dollars in circulation. ***

BINGO!


8 posted on 05/15/2019 1:16:43 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: skimbell
It started before Nixon. We used to have real silver coins in our pocket. A half-dollar coin could buy a lot. I think it was LBJ who bastardized our coinage. That was the camel getting its nose into the tent.
 
9 posted on 05/15/2019 1:17:28 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
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To: skimbell
Let's see the Fed try to pull that "2% inflation" trick year after year with us if we have solid money.

I'm so sick of having to borrow money at interest from the Fed to pay off previously borrowed money.

It doesn't work with your credit card, why would it work for a nation.

10 posted on 05/15/2019 1:18:25 PM PDT by Aevery_Freeman (The Elite: Too stupid to know when to quit stealing!)
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To: skimbell

Invest in brass and lead, aka ammo.


11 posted on 05/15/2019 1:19:49 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: Red Badger; Brilliant; Poison Pill
I know what the "reasoning" was.

My comment was meant to reflect the simple rejection of the nearly 200 years of successful economic policy that was chit canned with his action.

I also am aware that he intended that this action be temporary.

$22T later, we're still waiting.

12 posted on 05/15/2019 1:22:17 PM PDT by skimbell
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To: skimbell

A Silver Dollar’s silver content weighs about 3/4ths of an ounce, or 75%.

An ounce of silver today costs $14.80.

The current dollar value of the silver in an old silver dollar is therefore $14.80 * 75% = $11.10.

If one paper dollar used to be worth ONE SILVER DOLLAR but now IT TAKES ELEVEN PAPER DOLLARS to buy the same silver...

Q: WHERE DID THE OTHER TEN DOLLARS GO?

A: The government stole over 90% of your money with planned inflation.


13 posted on 05/15/2019 1:23:04 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Trump 2020 - Re-Elect the M*****F***er!)
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To: DannyTN

” That happens because gold production doesn’t keep up with the economy”

Gold production does not need to “keep up” with the economy. you are mixing the concept of a gold standard with that of fiat currency that expands money supply to hide the devaluation.

A dollar having a fixed purchasing power can cover any expansion of the economy.


14 posted on 05/15/2019 1:24:19 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: skimbell

Do you really want to kill the progressive nanny-state and all leftist social-engineers? Return to the gold standard.

America’s left in all forms lives massive debt and printed money, courtesy of our printed, fiat currency and centrally-controlled monetary system. All statists/fascists/socialists must have a monetary system and currency that is absolutely under their control. Remove that from them - and they die immediately.

So YES - I am absolutely in favor of a gold standard.

Unfortunately, America is too far gone down the path of centralized government and its politics. A return to gold will never, ever happen.


15 posted on 05/15/2019 1:24:27 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
Sovereign money, not borrowed money.

Money is just so you don't have to make change for a chicken - a monetary lubricant, if you will.

Besides, any gold you hold appreciates in value - your savings are enhanced!

Savings produce growth better than debt.

16 posted on 05/15/2019 1:24:44 PM PDT by Aevery_Freeman (The Elite: Too stupid to know when to quit stealing!)
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To: DesertRhino; DannyTN
A dollar having a fixed purchasing power can cover any expansion of the economy.

Absolutely correct. Imagine if the money supply (gold) was effectively fixed, or expanded only with new mine supply. Increases in productivity and technology would not be "stolen" by inflation (that only government and debt-issuing financiers), rather those benefits would flow to the masses of workers and American consumers, as prices would naturally decline reasonably and steadily. A middle-class person's real wages and savings would increase steadily. That's why America boomed in the 19th and early 20th century.

17 posted on 05/15/2019 1:30:56 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: skimbell; All

The real gold standard (with convertibility) ended in 1933...Nixion just killed off the international agreement/”Gold Reserve Act”.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41887.pdf


18 posted on 05/15/2019 1:40:45 PM PDT by Drago
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To: skimbell

The only way to avoid abandoning the gold standard would have been to sell all of the gold in Fort Knox. And when it was gone, then you’d be right back to square one except that there would be no more gold to sell.

The problem was not him abandoning the gold standard, but rather the printing of money.

I suppose he could have said, “Well, we’re not going to abandon the gold standard, but we’ll revalue the dollar so that the price of gold is $200 per ounce instead of $35 per ounce.” Of course, the problem with that is that you might as well abandon the gold standard if you’re just going to revalue the dollar every time it becomes inconvenient.


19 posted on 05/15/2019 1:41:14 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: PGR88

No way 40 straight years of trade imbalances would’ve happened under the international gold standard. Transformation into a credit driven services economy ruled by a bi-coastal elite would’ve at least been slowed too. But do agree the Rubicon has been crossed, reality is that current system needs a global collapse before sound money can return. So with that in mind, hope the fiat works,and I’m all wrong about where this ends.


20 posted on 05/15/2019 1:42:20 PM PDT by teevolt
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