Secret ban on your money in progress

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem recently vetoed a state bill on currency redefinition.

Predictions #2: The Incoming Currency Crisis & the Bubble

The latest of my peeks into predictions about the near of far future.  Is a currency crisis on the way? Are we about to see the latest Bubble burst? Jack Chapple prognosticates on both.

Saturday Learning Series - Additional information

It looks like I'm caught up on the Geography Now series, so here's some bonus material in rapid fire format.  Currencies, outlets, airports and animals.

China and Russia Abandon the Dollar

China and Russia are looking at avoiding the dollar.  In an interesting development the two countries announced an agreement regarding currencies used for bi-lateral trade. China Daily reports,

St. Petersburg, Russia - China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday....

Pang Zhongying, who specializes in international politics at Renmin University of China, said the proposal is not challenging the dollar, but aimed at avoiding the risks the dollar represents.

UN - Ditch the Dollar / Save the Planet 2

Part 2 of 2

(See Part 1)

After trying to give voice to a massive energy tax, the United Nations wasn't finished. A bloated and ineffectual bureaucracy's work is never done. As if to say "I bet you think we couldn't top the stupidity of the energy tax!" the United Nations pressed on with the idea of ditching the dollar in favor of a shared basket of multiple currencies. Russia apparently is preparing a similar proposal.

Why do it, and why do it now?

Currency specialist Avinash Persaud on the UN panel stated "There is a moment that can be grasped for change." Where have we heard that tune before? Obama. And also the Green New Deal the UN proposed. Is there one massive script out there the world is using to try to tear down the United States in a co-ordinated attack on it's infrastructure?

Persaud clearly has no faith in the long term future of the dollar:

Persaud has long argued that the dollar would give way to the Chinese yuan as a global reserve currency within decades.

A shared reserve currency might negate this move, he said, but he believed that China would still like to take on the role.

So is he or this panel the right one/group to be making this call? And if it's the right call, why is this the right time? The answer from Persuad is less than forthcoming on that point. In fact, given the worldwide economic upheaval, given that the Russians want it, given that the Chinese want it only adds to the suspicion of the rationale behind it. In fact given the UN's like of the idea, I'm suspicious in spades.

And while moving away from the dollar may be a reasonable thing to do, why a towards a basket currencies? Why not move back to the gold standard? If the timing for change is right, right now, why not a move to worldwide asset backed currencies? It smacks of slap-in-the-face anti-Americanism.

If ever there was a time to re-think the rationale of the United Nations, indeed now is the time for THAT change. Their blatant an consistent anti-Americanism, and anti-Israeli stances have been a thorn in the side of America for too long. The structure of the organization is bloated and ineffectual. One can only hope that is the case with these two idiotic proposals.

If indeed the President is serious about cutting spending (ha!), funding for the UN is a great place to cut costs. Unfortunately the cabal of leftists running things in Washington will probably buy into this UN-think and do, once again, the exact opposite of what is needed. All the while, the frustration of right-thinking America grows.

The Gold Standard?

The National Review has an interesting article pending extolling the merits of a return to the gold standard. It's a fairly technical article, but if you enjoy reading economic treatises then it's worth a read because he makes a compelling, albeit insufficiently robust argument. He expounds the benefits quite well, but does not address the potential negatives. He does touch on the difficulties of getting international agreement, the difficulties of making the switch and the lack of political will/desire to do so. But not the real potential negatives, at least robustly enough.

But he does address many positive aspects that could/would result from a change, such as forcing governments to not run deficits, helping trade imbalances and helping to restore the manufacturing sector in America. These are important and deserving outcomes, and ones worth consideration. But is the correlation between the gold reserve idea and these outcomes guaranteed? That requires a more esoteric economic discussion, but it is one I would love to hear and one that deserves to be sat through, even if you are someone who doesn't like / doesn't get / doesn't care about economic theory. The outcome matters.


Nevertheless, his points are quite worthy of consideration and further discussion. There are detractors of course, likely on both sides of the political spectrum.


As an aside, a friendly Buckley-versus-Reagan-Panama-Canal-style televised debate amongst conservatives is something we need to see more often. It's a great way to look at issues from various conservative viewpoints. Even if the principles do not coalesce around a single viewpoint, it gets our viewpoints out there and also shows that the Republican/conservative world views do not conform around a single set of ideas. It shows that we are a considered and reasoned group and our ideas are based on both principled values and thought-out positions.







Unfortunately I couldn't find a Reagan clip to embed here but wouldn't you rather see those two gentlemen debate than Olbermann versus O'Reilly? No offense intended to Bill O'Reilly, I'd enjoy seeing him debate someone like Sean Hannity on an issue of substance where substantive ideas could be exchanged rather than any rabid liberal where it is likely to descend into something little better than repeated talking points. You might as well try to reason with a paint chip.


Getting back to my main point about the gold reserve / gold standard, there are many articles
that are pro and con on the idea. Some examples of each below;

Pro:

Ron Paul (note I am not a Ron Paul supporter, but he does make some interesting points at times. He might be kooky, but I don't think he's a total kook).
Kitco (biased, I'm sure).
Lawrence White @ the Cato Institute

Con:

Credit Suisse
Associate Professor of Economics Brad De Long (he sources Krugman a couple of times, so it's not my favorite opinion).
Steve Saville


So what's the right thing to do, practicality aside since the time for timid solutions has passed? I'm not convinced either way at this point but it would seem that the benefits warrant looking for a way to overcome the objectionable points.