|
Written by Ralph J. Benko
|
|
Monday, July 04, 2011 |
|
One of Robert Frost's greatest poems begins:
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
One is reminded of this in reading Greening the Gold Standard, a long, thoughtful, article published by National Geographic Daily News by Professor Saleem H. Ali, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Vermont, is a National Geographic Emerging Explorer for 2010 and author of Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future (Yale University Press).
His biography Read more |
|
|
Written by Kelly Hanlon
|
|
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 |
 Late last year, the Discovery Channel produced a new reality television series entitled Gold Rush. The program followed a group of unemployed men from the Pacific northwest as they headed north to the Alaskan wilderness in an attempt to strike it rich. Completely inexperienced, the so-called miners leveraged everything they owned to purchase, borrow, and hire the equipment needed to search for gold on a long abandoned claim.
By the end of the summer, at least one of the miners quit and the others were not much Read more |
|
Written by Christopher K. Potter
|
|
Wednesday, March 09, 2011 |
 After his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on March 1st Ben Bernanke was asked a question about the gold standard. His answer:
"It did deliver price stability over very long periods of time but over shorter periods of time it caused wide swings in prices related to changes in demand or supply of gold. So, I don't think it's a panacea, and there also are other practical problems like the fact that we don't have enough gold to support our money supply.... I don't think that a full-fledged gold standard would Read more |
|
Written by Ralph J. Benko
|
|
Thursday, February 17, 2011 |
|
"Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding just got even more groundbreaking. Now those crazy youngsters, who have eschewed a big fat royal wedding for something a little more low key, are reportedly considering using Fairtrade gold for their wedding rings."
We are solidly "small r republican." We look on kings and monarchists as elitist. Yet the story of William and Kate's wedding ring contains an element of interest. Whether worn by prince, princess or citizen, wedding bands are made of gold.
Read more |
|
Written by Ralph J. Benko
|
|
Saturday, January 29, 2011 |
|
In Forbes.com, Nathan Lewis provides a delightful primer entitled What Is A Gold Standard." Lewis is the author of Gold: the Once and Future Money.
He cites aphorisms and observations by classical economists such as David Ricardo: A currency, to be perfect, should be absolutely invariable in value.
Lewis deftly dispels lingering myths such as "there isn't enough gold to restore the gold standard," to wit:
In 1941 the U.S. government held 52% of all the gold in the world, which is probably an all-time Read more |
|
|
|
|
|
