istartedi's Comments Stream Stats
- 27 Comments, 6
, 3 
- Total Comment Stream rating - = 3
- Free E-Newsletters
- About Seeking Alpha
- About Us
- Contact Us
- What's New
- Readers Feedback
- Advertise With Us
- Contributors
- Contribute an Article
- Feature Your Book
- Our Contributors
- Anonymous Contributions
- Dispute an Article?
- Legal
- Terms of Use
- Privacy
- Copyright
Returning to a Gold Standard Is a Bad Idea
The only way to end fraud is to prosecute it.
The only way to mange the money supply is to manage the money supply. Or, as I've been putting it, "Either we manage the money supply, or it manages us". And again: Under the current system the money supply is managed by a Federal Reserve which is accountable to Congress, but not transparent enough for some people. Under a gold standard the money supply is managed by miners and foreign vaults. That would be better... how? If you want the Federal Reserve to be accountable... why... hold them accountable! Force them to open their books and charter a new Fed if they refuse. Don't eliminate the whole concept of managing the money supply. That's just abdicating all responsibility and turning our fate over to the fickle winds fortune.
Oh, and then there's the incentive for 3rd world countries to poison all their streams with mercury because suddenly they are full of "money", and mercury is the easiest way to separate the gold. If anything, we should be paying these nations to NOT mine. These poor people kill themselves digging up that useless rock. What a waste. What an international travesty it is already, and it would be even worse under a gold standard.
On Dec 30 08:56 AM archman82011 wrote:
> Return to the gold standard would mean one thing:
>
> Accountability.
>
> We can't have that now can we? That means if we have accountability
> in our finance system, we have to have accountability in government.
> If we have accountability in government, that means our citizens
> have to be more accountable, and return to an ethical and moral country.
>
>
> We can't have that though. That means minimal corruption, less graft
> and greed. Our country would have to do what is best for the majority
> instead of what is best for the select few.
>
> Good golly we can't have that now can we????
>
>
Dominion and Realty Income Increase Dividend Payouts
China's Greatest Trade Ever: The Sequel
If you go to the World Gold Council web site, you see that the "increased demand", which is more correctly stated as "increased purchases" was due to FALLING PRICES.
This just tells us that the demand curve has purchasers willing to buy more product at lower prices, which is no big news to anybody who took a semester of economics.
It doesn't tell us much about the future equilibrium price at all.
Surprising Call for Return to the Gold Standard
In the FAA, they say "aviation safety policy is written in blood". The saying that will prevail in managing the economy is ultimately, "economic policy is written in bubbles, recessions, market failures, etc."
That said, the Fed should certainly be restrained from allowing more bubbles to form. Why tie this to gold? Why not tie it to things that really matter, like stocks, houses, consumer staples? After all, if gold went to $100,000 oz, nobody would really be hurt, but if a loaf of bread costs $100 because of something the Fed does, you've got bigger problems on your hands.
Eric Lemieux: Decline in Gold Price Goes Against Every Theory
China's Greatest Trade Ever
Neither does it make sense for them to corner the market in gold--certainly not to the extent where it would allow the US to wipe its balance sheet clean by dumping its own gold reserves and/or leasing proven reserves on Federal lands.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again "A clean balance sheet in exchange for some pretty rocks". It isn't going to happen, not unless the Chinese get some hick with a C average running the country. I mean, a major power with an imbecile like that at the helm? It... will... never... umm... nevermind.
Ignore the Hype - Gold as Currency is Dead
Gold Miners: Amazingly Cheap
Law of Supply & Demand Is Dead for Gold & Silver
Of course, as Greenspan just told us, people don't always act in their own self-interest. I mean, look at me--here I am typing stuff on this stupid web site, and it does me no good at all.
Is This the Gold Buying Opportunity of a Lifetime?
If you had seen all the European tourists I saw over the summer, you might have drawn some conclusions about the Euro.
Let's assume that all fiat currencies will, at some point in the future, become weak relative to hard assets. Let's assume that the currencies being hoarded by banks will eventually be released into the markets. Where will they be released first? How would that manifest itself in the market, and what would it look like to the suits and the shoeshine boys?
Is This the Gold Buying Opportunity of a Lifetime?
It's not as simple as tallying up the world's supply of fiat money and dividing by the gold supply. If the market values fiat X equal to fiat Y, then the total supply of money is 2X; but if the market decides that fiat X is only worth half fiat Y, then suddenly the total money supply is 1.5X, and it really can happen very quickly.
The markets are run by human beings. Human beings are not logical. If you could actually come up with a value for gold (or any other item) just by doing a simple division problem, the world would be nothing like it actually is.
Is This the Gold Buying Opportunity of a Lifetime?
In the long run I think you're right about gold being much higher than now; but the short run could kill you.
Are Safe Haven Investments Really Immune From Current Crisis?
Is Gold A Sucker's Bet?
Rest assured, people retain their fear and greed under a gold standard.
There were financial crises all throughout the 19th century, a period that represents the closest we've ever come to a gold standard.
Really, our big mistake was to go off the wampum standard. The Native Americans had it right, but the foolish White Man was too blind to see it. Really. True wampum requires labor just as much as gold mining does, and can't be faked to the expert eye. In the end, both are equally fiat--wampum and gold are both currencies simply because the social contract says they are. Switching from dollars to gold as a reserve currency forces us to re-write all existing contracts at great cost, and provides no real benefit.
Fibonacci Unhinged
The idea that you should try to apply any sort of mathematical analysis over such a long period of time, with such random inputs as foreign financial crises, terrorist attacks, etc. strikes me as dubious.