Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: d:oug who wrote (6484)	6/17/1999 7:41:00 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 81996

<<Again, a gold standard for Fiat money because those who control the printing presses might not be moral and honest and ..... and might be fooled by those like Ron and Hutch since they seem to have strong and solid points, but its really rusted and infected metal with a coat of new paint and perfumed added. And you now ask me to help you push it into my gut, me the victim. Sorry, I know of "Sanction of the Victim", and will not help you and will watch you fall apart. I know how to build, you only know how to destroy that which I have built.>> Doug As I ask everyone draw a line between some producers of gold and others that near the relm of hedge fund, we should draw a line between Hutch & Ron. Hutch is willing and able to accept a truth, Ron will not even admit there are major gold producers that are: a) unhedged b) Using only their own inventories to loghtly hedge Vs borrowed gold. c) Hutch will go long (or short) gold at any given moment, He is willing to admit he's only in anything for the money. Ron has an axe to grind, and will not disclose his positions(and all those positions of whom he works) even though he has (unlike Hutch) crossed the line into giving negative investment advice.

To: d:oug who wrote (6484)	6/17/1999 9:06:00 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 81996

Again, a gold standard for Fiat money because those who control the printing presses might not be moral and honest and ..... Doug, would you care to explain how the US economy came to suffer so greatly under the Great Depression and the 30-year depression/recession that existed from the 1860's through to the 1890's, and the great panic of 1907, which ultimately led to the process that brought into being the Federal Reserve Board???? All of these events occurred under the gold standard. And would you then describe how in 1987, or even last fall, when the stock market suffered 20% crashes, somehow we avoided falling into a depression and were able to maintain confidence in our financial system. There are numerous historical examples from above where under the gold standard, such financial shocks were made worse by "hard money" policies And you now ask me to help you push it into my gut, me the victim. Hmm... you must a very wealthy man, Doug. You're more interested in preserving your hoard of money stuffed in your money bin, than concentrating on maintaining economic conditions where people HAVE JOBS and thus can try to obtain some compensation for the fruit of their labor. The issue is fully an economic one and how we choose to structure our financial system in such a way as to impart credibility and confidence in it. It doesn't matter whether that system is backed by gold or FFACOTG (Full faith and credit... etc). There are, again, plenty of examples where gold-backed financial systems have resulted in economic collapses and liquidity traps. The problem is that under a gold backed system, there are limitations to what monetary officials can do to deal with liquidity traps. They are restricted from pumping money into the system to spur economic confidence. They certainly would have been prevented from taking the actions that Greenspan took last fall, when he added liquidity and cut interest rates 3 times, effectively intervening to prevent a complete economic disaster. No Doug, the gold standard was tried and found lacking. At the heart of economics and financial credibility is something called "psychology". It differentiates into consumer and investor confidence and without it, it doesn't matter whether you have two ounces of gold for every dollar in circulation, or no gold backing the dollar. Gold backed systems have shown they are not immune to the financial panics that create economic depressions. They have also shown that do to their "hard money" bias, they also lack the means to effectively deal with negative consumer/investor psychology. If you could show me evidence where financial systems had never failed when under gold standards, I would be more than willing to acknowledge the value and power of gold. But you can't, can you? Psychology, Doug... Economics is all about psychology. If people beleive that things are fine, they are. If they believe that things will get better, they often act in that manner. If they believe that things will get worse before they get better, they continue to save and avoid risk, and by doing so as a nation, only succeed in harming themselves even more. Sorry, I know of "Sanction of the Victim", and will not help you and will watch you fall apart. I know how to build, you only know how to destroy that which I have built. The true victims are those who find themselves suddenly unemployed and standing in unemployment lines and having to feed their children off of a welfare check. So excuse me if I don't feel your pain too badly. Not all of us have so much money in the bank, as you seem to imply you do, to worry more about retaining our accumulated wealth, than making sure that the economic conditions continue that permit us to continue to accumulate that wealth. Regards, Ron