Posted on 11/29/2005 1:19:18 PM PST by hubbubhubbub
Stability not only has never been a characteristic of metallic regimes but in actual fact they have been only theoretic thoughout most of capitalistic development. It was the growth of capitalism which led to the development of banking in the first place because of the needs to provide and international means of exchange without having to deal with the cumbersome transportation of precious metals. Coins were notoriously variable in quality and weight. You might measure the backwardness of an economy by its dependence upon metals for money.
So an exchange economy and credit banking are historically coordinated. As for the historic horrors you list surely you cannot compare a deliberate governmental policy of inflation under Weimar to destroy the huge debt of Versailles with the deliberations of representatives of the American people? Or those of a Bloody Tyranny casting about like a desparate animal with the French Assignats?
Hamilton solved the problem of American monetary needs and the Continentals with his funding program and the creation of a money supply by selling debt for specie. He capitalized the word of the American people. American monetary authorities have on the whole done a good job in monetary matters though making some mistakes there have been few examples of real irresponsibility.
Gold coinage is hugely difficult to keep and, the proclamation of metallic standards prove impossible to maintain with war certain to suspend convertibility. Financing modern military establishments is also impossible under a metallic standard.
Public finance is like most sciences in that there were strange theories which once held sway but which have gotten closer and closer to real answers. There is nothing to fear about Central Banking which is just as well since it is impossible to do without it in a modern economy.
In that is supports the transactions of modern capitalism it certainly does work to our advantage. Without modern banking including Central Banking there is no such thing as a capitalistic economy beyond minimal levels. As soon as it grows past a certain point it demands banking look at Italy around the 13th century.
Actually the increased value of the house reflects the increased development of the area around it not mere monetary inflation. And the reduction in the ability of the housing supply to expand fast enough because of governmental restrictions. Do you believe a situation where the value of the house does not increase to be preferable to one where an investment actually becomes more valuable?
This article is just a pretentious conspiracy fantasy of little value.
Jefferson was an economic and financial simpleton. He fought tooth and nail with every underhanded method available to frustrate the real financial and economic genius of that era, Hamilton. A Jeffersonian economy would have left the US with an agricultural economy which could never have led the world or become the most powerful in history.
Jefferson's foreign policy almost destroyed the US economy by declaring an embargo against France and England rather than build a navy and fund and army to protect American interests.
His major act, the Louisiana Purchase, was a complete accident and he didn't even believe the Constitution allowed for it. Jefferson was a very interesting man but the most overrated president we ever had with huge flaws of understanding. Terrific rhetoritician though as long as he didn't have to live up to his rhetoric.
Great Britain has not had a revolution since 1688 four years before the founding of the Bank of England. France's revolution was not caused by fiat money it was introduced during the revolution and theoretically based upon the lands confiscated from the Church.
You are working for purchasing power. With that purchasing power you can buy things which retain or gain value.
Deflation makes it more difficult for new business. When prices are falling you don't see as many new businesses spring up or existing businesses expand. Those were times where it was said "money is scarce". When prices are high or rising more competition arises.
China does not have deflation but rather high inflation. But we would have more inflation if we did not import from China.
US debt is denominated at a fixed rate which would not be affected by the value of the money provided. There is no requirement to pay it in gold or silver so their level is not significant.
The US Government is the creation of the US people.
For his efforts Hamilton earned the undying hatred of the Jeffersonians and their followers blackened his reputation for decades to come.
"All the capital employed in paper speculation is barren and useless, producing, like that on a gaming table, no accession to itself, and is withdrawn from commerce and agriculture where it would have produced addition to the common mass... It nourishes in our citizens habits of vice and idleness instead of industry and morality... It has furnished effectual means of corrupting such a portion of the legislature as turns the balance between the honest voters whichever way it is directed." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1792. ME 8:344
It should only say that it is a one ounce gold note, redeemable for one ounce of gold. Originally, a dollar was set at an exact weight in pure silver, based on the most common coin of the time, the Spanish "piece of eight." The dollar was exactly equal to that weight of silver. Period.
Wow, a straw man and a non-sequitor in one stupid rhetorical question! I'm impressed! (Not.)
Such hubris. Such amazing hubris. Before every crash, they say, "It's different this time. We're so much smarter, we have a much better understanding of economics."
"If recession should threaten serious consequences for business (as is not indicated at present) there is little doubt that the Federal Reserve System would take steps to ease the money market and so check the movement."
--Harvard Economic Society, October 19, 1929
Your example of the USA from 1973 to present as proof of the long-term viability of fiat money systems is laughable, like the man falling off a cliff who says, "So far so good" when half way down.
Time will tell, who of us is right.
Got the site bookmarked.
I think some people consider that the current era is the most enlightened height of human civilization. That technology always equals advancement or progress in every sphere. That humanity is always progressing up, up, better and better. That just because something is happening "now" it must be better than what was happening "then".
I don't have that view.
There are other standards of human civilization besides traveling fast, telecommunications, millions of stores in which to purchase millions of trinkets and gadgets, and thousands of drugs that often have odd side effects.
The hubris of each generation knows no limits. We have mastered the art of pumping up a credit bubble to undreamed of size. The pop is going to be ever so dramatic. I believe we will see "a greater depression."
With the Gold Standard, it "Costs money to create money." That is both the advantage and disadvantage if the gikd standard. To create money, the government has to buy gold. That puts a big damper on expansion of the money supply. The advantange to the gold standard is that there is no inflation with it. Unfortunately, that's the only advantage. It also stymies economic growth - the money supply may not expand fast enough to keep up with bursts in the economy.
The classic example of hyperinflation - Weimar Germany in the 1920s - occurred because of massive deficit spending in the face of almost no tax revenue.
"What is Inflation," by Walter Williams, Nov. 2005.
Last month, President Bush nominated Dr. Ben S. Bernanke, currently chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, as chairman of Federal Reserve Board to replace the retiring Alan Greenspan. Alan Greenspan's replacement comes at a time of heightened fears of inflation resulting from the recent spike in oil prices.
First, let's decide what is and what is not inflation. One price or several prices rising is not inflation. When there's a general increase in prices, or alternatively, a reduction in the purchasing power of money, there's inflation. But just as in the case of diseases, describing a symptom doesn't necessarily give us a clue to a cause. Nobel Laureate and professor Milton Friedman says, "[I]nflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it cannot occur without a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output." Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and a general rise in prices is the symptom.
Let's look at that with a simple example. Pretend several of us gather to play a standard Monopoly game that contains $15,140 worth of money. The player who owns Boardwalk or any other property is free to sell it for any price he wishes. Given the money supply in the game, a general price level will emerge for all trades. If some property prices rise, others will fall, thereby maintaining that level.
Suppose unbeknownst to other players, I counterfeit $5,000 and introduce it into the game. Initially, that gives me tremendous purchasing power, whereby I can bid up property prices. After my $5,000 has circulated through the game, there will be a general rise in the prices -- something that would have been impossible before I slipped money into the game. My example is a highly simplistic example of a real economy, but it permits us to make some basic assessments of inflation.
First, let's not let politicians deceive us, and escape culpability, by defining inflation as rising prices, which would allow them to make the pretense that inflation is caused by greedy businessmen, rapacious unions or Arab sheiks. Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and the general rise in the price level is the result. Who's in charge of the money supply? It's the government operating through the Federal Reserve.
There's another inflation result that bears acknowledgment. Printing new money to introduce into the game makes me a thief. I've obtained objects of value for nothing in return. My actions also lower the purchasing power of every dollar in the game. I've often suggested that if a person is ever charged with counterfeiting, he should tell the judge he was engaging in monetary policy.
When inflation is unanticipated, as it so often is, there's a redistribution of wealth from creditors to debtors. If you lend me $100, and over the term of the loan the Federal Reserve increases the money supply in a way that causes inflation, I pay you back with dollars with reduced purchasing power. Since inflation redistributes (steals) wealth from creditors to debtors, it helps us identify inflation's primary beneficiary. That identification is easy if you ask: Who is the nation's largest debtor? If you said, "It's the U.S. government," go to the head of the class.
So what about the president's nomination of Ben S. Bernanke as Alan Greenspan's replacement? I know little or nothing about the man. What I do know is that it's not wise for one person, or group of persons, to have so much power over our economy. Here's my recommendation for reducing that power: Repeal legal tender laws and eliminate all taxes on gold, silver and platinum transactions. That way, Americans could write contracts in precious metals and thereby reduce the ability of government to steal from us.
Dr. Williams has served on the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, since 1980.
So what about the president's nomination of Ben S. Bernanke as Alan Greenspan's replacement? I know little or nothing about the man. What I do know is that it's not wise for one person, or group of persons, to have so much power over our economy. Here's my recommendation for reducing that power: Repeal legal tender laws and eliminate all taxes on gold, silver and platinum transactions. That way, Americans could write contracts in precious metals and thereby reduce the ability of government to steal from us.
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