Why So Many Historians Agree With Ted Cruz On Gold

Forbes ^ | February 9, 2016 | Nathan Lewis

[GodGunsGuts]

Echoing the recent sentiments of Steve Forbes, this week Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz told a group in New Hampshire:

"Money is ... a unit of measurement. So, the reason why we see these rapid oscillations in commodities markets, it's because of unstable currencies. And it's why I think we should look at going toward rules-based money supply, ideally tied to gold, so you have stability."

Perhaps this will trigger another flood of disagreement in the mainstream press, such as the recent New York Times item which reported that 40 out of 40 "leading economists" said that a gold standard system "would not improve the lives of average Americans."

This must explain how the United States, which embraced the principle of gold-based money for nearly two centuries until 1971, became the wealthiest and most powerful country in the history of the planet.

Here's a little different view of historical consensus. What follows is..

[GodGunsGuts]

Bring back sound money!

Ted Cruz 2016!!!

[GodGunsGuts]

If you would like to be added to the
TED CRUZ 2016 PING LIST drop me a FReepmail.

[11th Commandment]

The Paul gang is steaming, another libertarian issue taken by Cruz... You know, because only the Paul’s are allow to be libertarians.

[babble-on]

So many historians agree with Ted Cruz on gold because they know nothing about economics, or history.

[GodGunsGuts]

I don’t even think Ron Paul qualifies as a libertarian anymore. Did you happen to catch when he said that Bernie Sanders is the most libertarian candidate in the field on both sides of the political fence. The dude is OUT TO LUNCH.

[Objective Scrutator]

The Pauls have always been more interested in apologizing for Muslims and Nazis than they have been in removing the gold standard.

[Boogieman]

‘New York Times item which reported that 40 out of 40 “leading economists” said that a gold standard system “would not improve the lives of average Americans.”’

These same economists are perfectly happy with a system that led to the great depression, the great recession, constant inflation, soaring national debt, etc.

[Objective Scrutator]

Eliminating printed money is probably the single most important step towards rebuilding this country. Good on Cruz for taking a stance that few dare to challenge, as the cult of Keynes is very strong among the media and political class.

[DannyTN]

Okay, that does it. Cruz is an idiot. We might as well elect Ron Paul as Ted Cruz.

Gold doesn’t make money sound. Just look at the fluctuations in gold price. Do you really want that as your money? No. I’ll tell you who would love that...Soros. He’d make a killing speculating and manipulating the supply of gold.

Congress can borrow just as much on a gold standard than they can on fiat money. It just means they will be promising that your kids will be paying it back in gold.

When we were on the gold standard, we had deflationary depressions every 20 years. Not recessions, but full blown depressions. No Thanks.

[nickcarraway]

That’s a good way for him to end all support from the financial industry.

[Boogieman]

So you prefer phantom currency conjured out of thin air on the whims of men who have proven they aren’t qualified to manage an economy?

[taxcontrol]

GEOSs - Gold Equivalent Ounces

A logical construct to limit the amount of currency in circulation. In essence, us a logical conversion of US Government assets of convertible assets (sell-able into the market - gold, silver, trees, buildings). Once the total asset base is known, having been converted to GEOs, then a limit can be placed on the number of dollars to GEOs. That limit should be set by Congress and enforced by the Treasury.

[GodGunsGuts]

Something to consider (and yes, I know it only talks about the politics of gold):

Politics Versus Gold, by Thomas Sowell

http://www.creators.com/conservative/thomas-sowell/politics-versus-gold.html

[GodGunsGuts]

See #13

[Boogieman]

That doesn’t seem workable to me. We need enough currency in circulation to cover not just the government’s assets, but the liquid assets of the entire nation.

[babble-on]

We had a gold standard in this country for a long time.

In that time we also had depressions, recessions, inflation and soaring national debt.

[PGR88]

The ability to print unbacked money at will, create unlimited debt, and manipulate interest rates to zero - IS THE FOUNDATION of progressive / left government!!

imagine if government had to compete with every citizen for money that they did not control?? It would look like it did before progressives/leftists took over - an actually government representing the Constitution of the United States.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Gold does that now. But this is priced in a fiat currency. We’d need to see historical records to evaluate the question you’ve placed on the table.

A more practical problem might be that there isn’t enough gold in existence to account for the book money wealth of the world. “Voodoo economics” actually ended up working and it spirited the book money wealth of the world past the amount of gold it had.

Fiat currencies are counterintuitive, but under at least some circumstances they work. They work by means of belief, at least; nobody cares if it was the government that just printed that money out of thin air as long as anyone else will still accept it after trading their own goods for it. As long as government does not do things that are so stupid they create scarcity problems, like try to set prices, fiat currencies will keep on working. One could say that instead of being backed by gold or silver, they are backed by the breadbasket.

Now if there is some more desirable state of affairs then I’m not arguing against going there. But gold is not going to be up to the task.

Now if somebody manages to find an astounding vein of new gold in a mine, he will happily accept fiat money to purchase it and he will get very rich. That’s an independent issue.

[PGR88]

Congress can borrow just as much on a gold standard than they can on fiat money.

this is absolutely false. Logic alone tells us that.

[loveliberty2]

For an overview on the Founders' formula for liberty, freedom and opportunity, read the following:

Freedom Of Individual Enterprise

The Economic Dimension Of Liberty Protected By The Constitution

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"Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise." - Thomas Jefferson

"The enviable condition of the people of the United States is often too much ascribed to the physical advantages of their soil & climate .... But a just estimate of the happiness of our country will never overlook what belongs to the fertile activity of a free people and the benign influence of a responsible government." - James Madison

America's Constitution did not mention freedom of enterprise per se, but it did set up a system of laws to secure individual liberty and freedom of choice in keeping with Creator-endowed natural rights. Out of these, free enterprise flourished naturally. Even though the words "free enterprise' are not in the Constitution, the concept was uppermost in the minds of the Founders, typified by the remarks of Jefferson and Madison as quoted above. Already, in 1787, Americans were enjoying the rewards of individual enterprise and free markets. Their dedication was to securing that freedom for posterity.

The learned men drafting America's Constitution understood history - mankind's struggle against poverty and government oppression. And they had studied the ideas of the great thinkers and philosophers. They were familiar with the near starvation of the early Jamestown settlers under a communal production and distribution system and Governor Bradford's diary account of how all benefited after agreement that each family could do as it wished with the fruits of its own labors. Later, in 1776, Adam Smith's INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS and Say's POLITICAL ECONOMY had come at just the right time and were perfectly compatible with the Founders' own passion for individual liberty. Jefferson said these were the best books to be had for forming governments based on principles of freedom. They saw a free market economy as the natural result of their ideal of liberty. They feared concentrations of power and the coercion that planners can use in planning other peoples lives; and they valued freedom of choice and acceptance of responsibility of the consequences of such choice as being the very essence of liberty. They envisioned a large and prosperous republic of free people, unhampered by government interference.

The Founders believed the American people, possessors of deeply rooted character and values, could prosper if left free to:

acquire and own property have access to free markets produce what they wanted

work for whom and at what they wanted travel and live where they would choose acquire goods and services which they desired

Such a free market economy was, to them, the natural result of liberty, carried out in the economic dimension of life. Their philosophy tend­ed to enlarge individual freedom - not to restrict or diminish the individual's right to make choices and to succeed or fail based on those choices. The economic role of their Constitutional government was simply to secure rights and encourage commerce. Through the Constitution, they granted their government some very limited powers to:

• assure that the ground rules were fair (a fixed standard of weights and measures)
• encourage initiative and inventiveness (copyright and patent protection laws)
• provide a system of sound currency with an established value (gold and silver coin)
• enforce free trade (free from interfering special interests)
• protect individuals from the harmful acts of others

Adam Smith called it "the system of natural liberty." James Madison referred to it as "the benign influence of a responsible government." Others have called it the free enterprise system. By whatever name it is called, the economic system envisioned by the Founders and encouraged by the Constitution allowed individual enterprise to flourish and triggered the greatest explosion of economic progress in all of history. Americans became the first people truly to realize the economic dimension of liberty.

---

Footnote:  Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III:  ISBN 0-937047-01-5

__________________

"...nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers, and destroyers press upon them so fast, that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachment upon the American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching. Like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour. The revenue creates pensioners, and the pensioners urge for more revenue. The people grow less steady, spirited, and virtuous, the seekers more numerous and more corrupt, and every day increases the circles of their dependents and expectants, until virtue, integrity, public spirit, simplicity, and frugality, become the objects of ridicule and scorn, and vanity, luxury, foppery, selfishness, meanness, and downright venality swallow up the whole society." - John Adams

"This was a favorable moment to shut and bar the door against paper money." [This statement referred to a proposed provision in Article I, Section 8, that would have read 'and emit bills of credit (paper money) of the United States,' which the Founders rejected by an overwhelming vote.] - James Madison- Notes of the Federal Convention 1787

"...there have always been those who wish to enlarge the powers of the General Government. There is but one safe rule...confine (it) within the sphere of its appropriate duties. It has no power to raise a revenue or impose taxes except for the purposes enumerated in the Constitution....Every attempt to exercise power beyond these limits should be promptly and firmly opposed." - Andrew Jackson's Valedictory

"...experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government), those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate...the minds of the people...to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth. History, by apprizing them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future...it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views...." - Jefferson's Bill for the more general diffusion of knowledge for Virginia

"Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson?...the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it....It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free." - James Madison

"These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety." - Thomas Jefferson-First Inaugural Statement of Principles of Good Government