What's Behind the Right Wing's Bizarre Obsession with the Gold Standard?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/149550/what's_behind_the_right_wing's_bizarre_obsession_with_the_gold_standard/

What's Behind the Right Wing's Bizarre Obsession with the Gold Standard?

A return to the "gold standard" would chain workers to credit, which works out great for the economic royalists the right wing really represents.

January 16, 2011

There is growing undercurrent among Republicans and conservative pundits who want to ditch the dollar and return to the gold standard for currency. Georgia State Representative Bobby Ryan was the latest to propose this, with his Constitutional Tender Act, which states, "Pre-1965 silver coins, silver eagles, and gold eagles shall be the exclusive medium which the state shall use to make any payments whatsoever to any person or entity, whether private or governmental. As ThinkProgress explains, "Gold or silver standards leave a nation completely powerless to control its own monetary policy, often tying inflation rates to completely arbitrary factors such as the rate that gold is mined in South Africa, rather than to the interests of a national economy. Worse, it leaves a nation without one of its most important tools to push back against economic downturns." This article below shares the fascinating history of America's long debate over the gold standard, and its profound effects on society. snip

Now, more than a century after Bryan’s historic speech, and almost eighty years since FDR ended it, the gold standard is rising in our national discourse like a zombie from the grave in a bad horror movie. It is again the mantra of the right, ranging from libertarians Ron and Rand Paul, to Mama Grizzly Sarah Palin, to the populist ramblings of Glenn Beck and even to some on the religious right such as Robert P. George. Interestingly, it was one of several anti-government rants echoed by Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner.

But why would conservatives fear the judicious use of inflation? I suspect that their real concern is Keynesian economics.

[treestar]

1. They would like to return to the 19th century

Laissez faire and all that.

They are obsessed with the Federal Reserve and how it interferes with their god of pure capitalism.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Or 1971. nt

[HillbillyBob]

2. The rightwingers must like daid thangs, they keep opening graves

of policies that have already been proven wrong or defective and trying to resurrect them to the benefit of their banksta massas, and of course to the detriment of citizens and country alike.

[treestar]

11. Yep, like the recent attack on the 17th Amendment

How out of it does one have to be to want state legislators to elect Senators again?

[amyrose2712]

3. Well, not for nothin but...

my sister had a mental episode and thankfully is now on med. That was a long arduous journey, but that is another story. But anyway, when she was slipping into delusional thinking she started reading the bible and was became obsessed with fundamental Christianity. Many of the things she read and wrote had to do with end times and precious metals. Now, I do realize this is different than the gold standard, but I have heard the likes of Beck saying that you should be carrying gold.

[FormerDittoHead]

4. The rich want to eliminate Federal dollars so our corporate masters can pay us in "scrip".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip

[jody]

5. An IOU for $1 has no value if the source is bankrupt. Is the US nearing bankruptcy? nt

[Statistical]

7. There are some on DU who want a gold standard to abolish the Fed.

It isn't just a RW thing.

[cowcommander]

8. oh irony...

[The Doctor.]

13. Target marketing.

Ads populate based on key words on a given page.

If I were to write the word 'gay' a bunch of times to outnumber the instances of 'gold', it is likely a gay marriage or other such ad will populate on the page.

Gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay.

[Festivito]

9. Perhaps they ran up the price of gold and now they want to cash out.

America becomes older and with no manufacturing, no jobs and depleted of resources. All that remains is to squeeze more and more with a few more boom and bust cycles before moving to Dubai and China for good.

[Odin2005]

10. It's part of the Austrian School of Economic Theory, which is Right-Libertarian BS.

[badtoworse]

12. You can't monetize the debt if you are on the gold standard

Say you have little or no debt and/or you are on a fixed income, would you want your dollars to be worth substantially less because the government keeps printing more of them? I didn't think so. If you don't have a pot to piss in, you probably wouldn't care.