Mike:
Re: point 2. of your response. Krugman, with his example of $35 gold in 1971, gives a real life example of Mencken's line, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." The $35 gold price was artificial, and later that same year, Nixon took the international dollar off the gold standard and gold immediately went to the $150 area, which is what you would have had to pay for gold all year, had you wished to purchase it in, say, India. IMO, he was purposely misleading so that the statistics would better fit his model...that's intellectually dishonest.
Best regards, Merritt
PS: Prior to '71, there were unscrupulous small-time miners <G> who would smuggle their dust out of the country rather than surrender it to the @*** gov't...I had a wild experience related to that - but if I told you, I'd have to kill you.<G> |
