Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Fed Vice Chair Nominee Stanley Fischer: Gold Hater

In 1999 Stanley Fischer was interviewed by Arthur J. Rolnick, then Senior Vice President and Director of Research of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota, reports Ralph Benko. When asked about the gold standard, Fischer’s stated that “It may be hubris to believe that human beings can do better than depend on the supply of gold, but we certainly should be able to do so, and are doing so now.”

The interview went on:
ROLNICK: Why don’t we just go back to the gold standard? Some would argue that world economies were more stable under the gold standard. Comments?
FISCHER: It’s hard to quarrel with nostalgia for what the 19th century must have been like. But there is no good reason to tie the growth of the world’s money supply, and global inflation, to the vagaries of gold production. Nor is there good reason to waste real resources to produce gold for use as money. And there is reason to think we can do better than the gold standard: The United States has certainly done so recently, and the development of the inflation targeting approach to monetary policy suggests most countries will do so in future too. It may be hubris to believe that human beings can do better than depend on the supply of gold, but we certainly should be able to do so, and are doing so now.

Since Fischer's comments on the Fed's"management" of the money supply, only 14 years ago, there have been 2 major recessions, sending the economy into massive turmoil:


And price inflation has been on a massive up trend:


Nice job the Fed is doing there, Stanley.


10 comments:

  1. Where's the increase in inflation? Consumer price inflation as measured by the CPI which you show has been steady around 2%. I think you're confusing levels with rates of change.

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    1. Inflation is almost non-existent, no matter what consumers think

      But households may not be noticing much relief from a continued lower-cost environment.

      The ordinary consumer doesn’t look at the inflation number put out by StatsCan, they look at how much it costs them every month to live

      “Unless there is deflation somewhere, prices are still rising [overall] and the cost of living for consumers is still going up,” says Mel Fruitman, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Canada.

      “The ordinary consumer doesn’t look at the inflation number put out by StatsCan, they look at how much it costs them every month to live. We’re not seeing any decline there,” he says.

      “At the end of the year, we’re still going to have less in the pocket than we did last year, no matter what. All we know is that if inflation is high. It’s going to cost us more to live. If inflation is low, it’s not going to cost us as ‘much’ more.”

      Philip Cross, former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada, says the difference in price perceptions comes from comparing everyday items to durable goods with longer lifespans.

      “We buy groceries. We fill up with gasoline. So, we see price increases in these areas,” says Mr. Cross, now a private consultant.

      “Where prices are falling are for goods that we don’t buy very often — cars, computers, iPhones, even clothing. How often do you buy a new suit? I think this is where the discrepancy comes up.”


      http://business.financialpost.com/2013/11/22/inflation-is-almost-non-existent-no-matter-what-consumers-think/

      jimmy crack crow and central bankers don't care what you think they have an agenda....also notice the comments....they don't buy it.

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  2. " It’s hard to quarrel with nostalgia for what the 19th century must have been like. "

    Hey fuckwit, you know very well it's not about "nostalgia", so don't give us that BS Mr. Criminal.

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  3. Human beings can do better than depend on the supply of gold. We certainly should be able to do so, and we're doing so now--Bitcoins forever!

    There's nothing like the permanent prosperity we can all achieve by tying our future to a collection of electronic ones and zeros. Why waste real resouces to dig for gold, or even print ink on paper, when Central Banks the world over have shown that the true path to prosperity is by generating and controlling electrons.

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  4. He dislikes it because banks can't print gold. Under a true gold coin standard, power shifts from the financial elite to the people. It means no military empire, no TBTF banks, speculation is throttled, deficit spending can't persist indefinitely.

    Seems pretty darn attractive to me. Maybe when the Fed and Washington destroy the economy, we'll rediscover these simple facts. Until then, keep stacking.

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    Replies
    1. "He dislikes it because banks can't print gold...power shifts from the financial elite to the people". Exactly.

      Delete
  5. Sir Rees-Mogg said it beautifully in The Times of December
    12, 1979:
    “Gold is a possession and not a promise. A
    government that owns an ounce of gold does not have
    to ask the United States or anyone for permission to
    cash it. The gold supply is finite; that is its monetary
    significance.”


    “Keynesianism and Friedmanism are simply
    20th century versions of John Law. Their appeal is
    that by ignoring the discipline of convertibility into
    gold, and deliberately printing paper money at some
    economist or politician-minded rate we can somehow
    cheat nature and get something for nothing, eliminate
    the business cycle, and ensure perpetual full
    employment prosperity – without ever taking our
    lumps. It means, of course, that some economist – or
    council of economists – serving a politically-oriented
    government and not risking his own money and
    judgement in the marketplace, knows so much about
    the workings of the economy that he, in his John Law
    wisdom, can decide what monetary, fiscal, tax, trade,
    price, income, or what-have-you policy is best for all
    the rest of us, and can thus fine-tune our great
    economy.”22
    No wonder they did not like gold, not to speak of a gold
    standard. It is not that men like Keynes or Friedman did not
    understand – quite the contrary – but they bowed to the political
    winds of the time. The trouble is that for more than half a century
    their followers in academia have been corrupting the minds of
    generations of students with their erroneous teaching.

    Gold Wars by Ferdinand Lips

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  6. The Mafia State of Mind

    The mafia state of mind is all about establishing a monopoly that leaves the populace no other choice, and that creates sufficient leverage to enable systemic extortion. In the mafia state of mind, the government is a partner in the racket. When thugs arrive in a peasant village in China to drive the residents off their land so a corrupt developer can build hundreds of highrise flats, where are the corrupt officials of the government? In line to collect their "fees", which will fund their purchase of homes in Vancouver, B.C. or Sydney, Australia.

    The mafia state of mind is all about extracting wealth that could not be extracted without state enforcement, monopoly and covert systems of control and extortion. When the "too big to fail" banks received $16 trillion in direct subsidies and loans to keep from imploding (i.e. what would have happened in a truly free enterprise system), that was the mafia state of mind in action: the central state extorted whatever was necessary from the populace to aid and protect its banker cronies.

    What is the shadow banking system other than a shadow financial mafia? The "too big to fail" banking sector is a mafia of the cartel-crony capitalist sort, and the shadow banking system is a cloaked version of the same extortionist system that depends on the government for protection. In the shadow banking mafia, the government protects the racket by acting as if it doesn't exist.

    http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-mafia-state-of-mind.html

    mafia~ cartel ~ FED......semantics

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  7. The Ongoing War In Gold


    “The problem that gold has faced since it peaked in nominal terms in 2011, is that the pricing mechanism for gold has been the Comex. The problem with the Comex is the high frequency trading algorithms and serious intervention by central banks, including the central bank for the central banks, which is the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)....

    What this means is that the financial system is just continuing with the same behavior that nearly led to its destruction 5 or 6 years ago. The powers that be are aware of this camouflaging effect by ‘putting gold in the freezer.’ They feel that by putting gold in the freezer, gold won’t be free to express the fact that their policies are incredibly flawed.


    But, regardless, their policies are going to lead to some extraordinarily disastrous results down the road. Gold would be signaling this coming disaster if it were liberated and allowed to do its job. But it’s been put in the freezer by the powers that be, and that’s the problem.

    http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2014/2/6_Financial_Armageddon_%26_The_Ongoing_War_In_Gold.html

    Kneel before Stanley...and kiss his ring.

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  8. Fischer Worth Up to $56.3 Million Will Sell Assets to Join Fed

    Stanley Fischer, the nominee for vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, disclosed assets of as much as $56.3 million and said he would sell his shares of financial companies including BlackRock Inc. if he is confirmed.

    While Fischer has spent much of his career as an academic and government official, he served as vice chairman of Citigroup Inc. from 2002 to 2005 and amassed a personal fortune of between $14.6 million and $56.3 million, a sum that would make him one of the wealthiest Fed officials. The nominees value their assets in ranges, making a precise tally impossible.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-06/fischer-to-sell-holdings-of-blackrock-ge-if-confirmed-for-fed.html

    how about an audit? didn't citicorp spearhead into a cesspool w/ him on site?

    does he pay taxes?...drink from the river plenty? wtf????????

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