The question “what is value” must first be addressed outside the field of economics; it is one of the fundamental questions in the field of philosophy. It is the core of the branch of philosophy known as ethics. For millennia, philosophers debated the nature of value. One view was that value is intrinsic—given by a […]
In the United States, there are once again TV commercials advertising Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) for residential real estate. Today, I saw one from Quicken Loans promoted with the tagline “why pay more in interest charges now just to know what rate you will have in 2018?” (they are offering a 7-year “teaser” rate and […]
Professor Antal Fekete has written several pieces discussing gold backwardation, and arguing that this is the red alert signal for the coming financial Armageddon, when the tower of unpayable debts collapses. In this paper, I delve deeper into this topic. My goal is to make this topic approachable by the layman and describe what I […]
There is an old erroneous view of fractional reserve banking. “Naturally, all fractionally reserved banks are de facto insolvent at all times…” The Acting Man blog is usually very good, but it published an article by Pater Tenebrarum containing this comment (http://www.acting-man.com/?p=6781). If there is a weakness in Austrian School thinking surely fractional reserve banking […]
In 1913, the US Congress authorized the creation of the Federal Reserve. Its mandate was limited, but it grew over time to become the central planner of all things monetary. In 1933, President Roosevelt outlawed the ownership of gold. In 1944, the soon-to-be-victorious allied powers signed a treaty at Bretton Woods, agreeing to use the […]
Listen to the audio version of this article here. The Root of the Problem is Debt Worldwide, an incredible tower of debt has been under construction since President Nixon’s 1971 default on the gold obligations of the US government. His decree severed the redeemability of the dollar for gold and thus eliminated the extinguisher of […]
Today, people who believe that gold is money think that one should hoard gold. They seek to take possession personally. Or when they have it stored professionally, they look for a private vault outside the banking system where they can (hopefully) trust their warehouse receipt. And why shouldn’t they avoid the banking system? Its corruption […]
After the near-collapse of the financial system in 2008, a growing number of people have come to realize that our monetary disease is terminal. It is that group to whom I address this paper. I sincerely hope that this group includes leaders in business, finance, and government. I do not believe that my proposal herein […]
I gave this talk at the Chicago Objectivist Society MiniCon Sep 4, 2011. Here is the full set of 9 videos on youtube for my presentation plus Q&A at the end, posted on this site to archive the links. Irredeemable currency vs gold – 1_9 introduction.wmv Irredeemable currency vs gold – 2_9 the origin of […]
