[clubcughSheet]

We've been ****ed since the 50's.

[Abedgebeefs]

I remember hearing some absurd rant about returning the to gold standard. I think it was on the Colbert Report.

[somasideff]

“The scope of the changes since 1971 certainly matches those between 1945 and 1971 that prompted the shift from Bretton Woods I to II,” Mr Zoellick writes. “Although textbooks may view gold as the old money, markets are using gold as an alternative monetary asset today.” Blah? What does this mean? Who in the commodity markets is using gold as a monetary asset? I thought gold is only traded for speculative reasons or for an inflation hedge.


Oh and I googled this guy:
He was previously a managing director of Goldman Sachs KH

He has a law and public policy background so no economics education, by the way.

[MattJargin]

Why do you call it 'alum' like Goldman Sachs is a university. Why don't you just say former employee?

[durootrium]

It is a university. It hands out Master of the Universe degrees.

-Arrian

[JosephEL]

Hawkwind

[CGH1KZzy]

Also in This Week In Batshit Nuttery:


This guy is now in the running to be chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee:




Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.

I believe that is the infallible word of God, and that's the way it is going to be for His creation... The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood.

[teewHettive]

The end of fractional reserve banking would do even more than that...

[Vokbeelllicky]

First, the governor of the Bank of England proposes eliminating fractional reserve banking

Then comes the possibility that everybody's favorite monetary wackjob will be chairing the House committee on domestic monetary policy

And most recently, the president of the World Bank advocates a gold standard



We are so ****ed...

Calls to revisit the gold standard are not new. Although I think the gold standard would be a very bad idea it does have the advantage that it prevents unrestrained printing of money. Zimbabwe went down the path of unrestrained printing which lead to hyperinflation. Printing all that money was one short term expedient after another with the end result of hyperinflation. This appears to be symptomatic of deeper problems in Zimbabwean political, economic and financial management. Anyway, I would dare to suggest that Zimbabwe may have been better off with the gold standard as this would have acted as a break on all that printiong of money. Apparently things have improved markedly since Zimbabwe "dollarised". The purpose of dollarising is to restore faqith in the currency by amonst other things removing the ability to senselessly prime the pump and tying the currency to something (US$) that is perceived to have value. Umh, that is the the rational behind the gold standard.

Although, I think, the gold standard would not be a good thing, there are worse alternatives. If you have a total lack of confidence in the prudence and integrity of your government and central bank then the gold standard starts to look relatively good.

We have a number of governments in financial distress who may be very tempted to do a spot of printing, and then a bit more printing, and a bit more....

I recall that the Basle Accords have been subject to criticism since even before Basle 1 was agreed. Thre argument about whether a banks first duty is to its shareholders or to its customers seems newish. It had seemed the answert was "the customers" but now I hear bankers claiming their first responsibility is to the shareholders. The debate about how big a "capital cushion" a bank should have may go on for ever and a day. Debate about the amount of risk a bank should be allowed to take with depositors money is valid hence the need to discuss how much regulation should be applied to banks.

[ditpiler]

No. If you paid attention, it's HE-MAN and the masters of the universe. So no, he hasn't worked there.

[luffyplayaz]

I'm not quite sure why the gold standard actually works. Does it work? It seems to me that the end result would be that gold becomes essentially like dollar bills except it can be used for a small handful of useful things other than exchange.