Guest Post: Gold-Bugs And Anti-Gold-Bugs

Submitted by Gary North of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, An article by David Weiner on the MarketWatch site reminded me of just how weak the economic arguments against the gold standard are. Its title: "A Fool's Gold Standard." I examine this article here. The arguments by American critics of a gold standard all rest on this unstated presumption: The economic outcomes of policy decisions made by a committee of 12 salaried bureaucrats, 7 of whom were appointed by the president of the United States, and 5 of whom were appointed by the largest regional banks that own a majority of shares of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks, are better for the nation than the decisions of millions of owners of gold coins, who seek their own interests. This is the argument in favor of a salaried bureaucracy in place of the free market. It assumes the superior wisdom and superior public interest...