An Economic Post

Some excellent posts on monetary and economic issues:

Francis W. Porretto at Liberty’s Torch recently published a 3-part explanation of money, currency and the gold standard:

Part 1: The Nature of Money and Currency

Definitions:

money n: A medium of exchange and a store of value.
currency n: a proxy for money often employed in commercial intercourse.—

---

A society's fiscal problems commence when people start to lose the distinction between money and currency.

—

Bitcoin, like the Federal Reserve notes in your wallet, is a currency. It cannot function as a money; it lacks the properties of money.

—

The great financier J. P. Morgan had been asked to testify to that august body on monetary matters. This was the very first inquiry put to him:

    Senator: Mr. Morgan, what is money?
    J. P. Morgan: Gold is money, and nothing else is.

Part 2:  Bimetallism and Gresham’s Law

Read the flaw with a system based on two metals like Silver and Gold (Bimetallism), and the challenges of shifting to the preferred Restricted Bimetallic Standard.  Further, read a case study of how the French Revolutionary Government failed to manage their currency and how the people there switched, illegally, to gold.


Part 3:  The Great Transformation

Read this part to learn how it took a hundred years to transform the dollar’s attachment from precious metals to fiat currency.

…the seeds of disaster had already been sown, in three ways: the income tax; the Federal Reserve Bank; and the rise to national prominence of "the Great Engineer," Herbert Hoover.

---

…the "New Deal" of the FDR years was not an entirely new development. It was in large measure a continuation of the policies of the Hoover years -- and the destruction of the gold standard, begun under Wilson with the creation of the Federal Reserve system, was integral to it.

---

There is no path back to sound money through politics. The political elite would never accept it, and they're too firmly entrenched to be dislodged by anything short of an armed uprising. Unsound money facilitates vote buying, cronyism, and the indefinite expansion of federal power -- and as I've said more than once, he who goes into politics desires power above all other things.

---

We uploaded four videos a couple of months ago discussing our precious metals investing lessons-learned and exploring our Silver-to-Gold Ratio investing ideas.  If you have some time, check them out:  Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, and Video 4.

---

Turning to the economy, our comrade, Captain Capitalism, aka Aaron Clarey, posted this video.  He makes an excellent point: the stock market is not the best economic indicator.  Be ready to voice these facts in the coming election season!