When we wrote this in 2022, it took about $1800 to buy an ounce of gold. Today, it is more like $2900. That implies an $1800/$2900=0.621 or a 38% decline in dollar value over that period. Prices will eventually adjust, over a period of years, to the new, lower value of the currency, with some prices moving faster and some moving slower. “All things being equal” (they never are but it is a good principle), we should expect a $2900/$1800 or 61% rise in prices of goods and services going forward, compared even to the inflation-boosted prices that we have had to get used to in 2022-2024. Read More ›
The United States was founded on Free Trade. And, high tariffs. Domestically, the United States had exceptional economic policy. There were hardly any taxes, and the currency was reliably fixed to gold. Trade was Free between States. With what I've called "The Magic Formula" (Low Taxes and Stable Money), the US got richer — even with high tariffs with the rest of the world. Read More ›
Today, we are seeing a lot of the institutions and bad ideas of the Post World War II Consensus breaking down and collapsing. Among these is the rather stupid notion that economies should be managed by some combination of currency and interest rate manipulation, and “fiscal stimulus” spending that amounts to utter waste, for the simple reason that it has no justification except as “stimulus.” These are the conclusions of “Keynesianism,” which has been taught in all universities since the 1940s. Read More ›
President Wilson enacted the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. This allowed a consortium of private bankers to establish what amounted to a central bank monopoly currency issuer in the United States — although they took great pains to deny that was the goal. The Federal Reserve was never part of the government. It was the fourth attempt by private bankers to establish a monopoly currency issuer in the United States. Read More ›
Presidential Candidate Donald Trump recently floated the idea of getting rid of the Income Tax completely. I think this is a great idea — and so did the Founders themselves, who effectively barred Direct Taxes in the Constitution, including the Income Tax, until it was legalized in the Sixteenth Amendment of 1913. Before 1913, there was no Income Tax in the United States. Read More ›
The Great Depression got started with the passage of the Smoot Hawley Tariff in the United States, by the Republican Party, which immediately set off a cascade of retaliatory tariffs worldwide. This alone did not cause the Great Depression, but it did cause the initial downturn. This was followed by a long string of bad decisions in reaction to that downturn, such as Republican Herbert Hoover's 1932 tax increase which took the top income tax rate from 25% to 63%. Read More ›
The idea of “Sound Money” — this means using gold and silver as money — has been persistently popular among the states for over a decade. Beginning with Utah in 2011, one state after another has removed barriers and impediments to using gold and silver, and digital or other alternatives based on gold and silver, in a monetary role. With over 40 states now having passed some kind of Sound Money legislation, it is now time to take on the federal government. Representative Alex Mooney (R), of West Virginia, recently introduced the Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act, HR 8279, into the US House. The bill aims to repeat, at the federal level, what has already been accomplished in many states. Read More ›
This month, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe launched a new gold-based currency, the first gold-based currency from a government since Richard Nixon effectively ended the world gold standard system in 1971. As long as the Central Bank of Zimbabwe adheres to some important principles, and doesn't play politics, it should be fine. Read More ›
