Thursday, August 23, 2012

A Call for a Gold Commission to Be Part of the GOP Platform

Oh joy, FT headlines: Republicans to embrace gold in platform

Except it is not a call for a gold standard, but a commission to study linking gold to the dollar.

FT tells us what happened the last time there was such a commission (my bold):
The proposal is reminiscent of the Gold Commission created by former president Ronald Reagan in 1981, 10 years after Richard Nixon broke the link between gold and the dollar during the 1971 oil crisis. That commission ultimately supported the status quo.
Mark me down as: Not enthused. It's all about who picks the commission and who ultimately ends up on the commission. Don't expect Tom Woods or Joe Salerno to even make the commission.

7 comments:

  1. And doubtful we'd ever see such a powerful minority report in dissent as this:

    http://mises.org/document/603

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  2. If there were a Gold Commission (which seems unlikley), I think they will havesome good people on it. Lew Lehrman is solid on the gold issue and respected by the Republican establishment. He would likely be on it and Jim Grant is pretty respected by people like Seth Klarman and would be a good prospect. The problem is most mainstream economists will shoot the idea dead very quickly.

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  3. They are desperate to get the Ron Paul/Libertarian 10% voting block....

    They are hoping a few magic buttons will do it...like fat head Benton I think they underestimate the majority of those people...especially the RP folks.

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  4. rEVOLution !
    See what the long march was for Paulites ?
    Dreams have been realized now.
    A commission will study sumthin about gold and sumthin.
    RepubliCAN !

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  5. During one of the GOP debates, Gingrich talked about this gold commission and mentioned appointed Jim Grant to the commission. Grant is an Austrian, no?

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    Replies
    1. I wouldn't get all heady on surface level platitudes. One only has to remember that there was a period of time Reagan was "for" the gold standard as was Greenspan to see what the inevitable outcome is once the jackals take hold.

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  6. Romney was on Fox Business Channel and said he would not reappoint Ben Bernanke to the Fed. (story-video at on.wsj.com/PJEzOM). Problem is he would not reel in the Fed. He would not commit to whom he would appoint in Bernanke's place, but did not rule out Glenn Hubbard (who has publicly supported Bernanke’s reappointment, and writes working papers with NY Fed Pres. William Dudley); and mentioned Greg Mankiw, a Harvard economist. Both favor a ‘flexible’ money supply, an ‘Activist Fed.’ Point is, sound money (or gold) does not sound in the offing with either presidential candidate, else they would as a first step do away with the Fed.

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