tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post1190547651627526954..comments2024-03-17T00:23:24.896-07:00Comments on Social Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern Left: The Gold Standard did not Prevent Price InflationLord Keyneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-88560159558086042762014-12-30T16:43:08.196-08:002014-12-30T16:43:08.196-08:00The more I look at those numbers, the more I see t...The more I look at those numbers, the more I see that inflation is caused by fractional reserve banking. To the best of my knowledge Rothbard did not deny that inflation is possible under gold standard if banks expand.<br />Proves once more a 100% money standard is the way to go. The inflations you show are followed by deflations, significant ones. Probably due to monetary deflation (money/credit contraction).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-62080659377183825272012-12-03T17:39:46.309-08:002012-12-03T17:39:46.309-08:00This period of deflation also coincided with the i...This period of deflation also coincided with the industrial revolution in the US.<br /><br />For Austrians, this is the golden age so to speak. Huge boom in productivity and efficiency AND falling consumer prices. <br /><br />To the point about inflation during booms and deflation during busts while on the gold standard. Austrians are fine with this. The key is deflation during the busts. The FED and fiat system we have now almost assures price INFLATION during recessions. This is exactly what current Fed policy is aiming at! Even with high unemployment. A double whammy on consumers. Ouch....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-58224523054170209712012-11-23T11:48:26.786-08:002012-11-23T11:48:26.786-08:00"pegging a currency to gold (which, incidenta..."pegging a currency to gold (which, incidentally, is still required by the US Constitution"<br /><br />No it isn't. <br /><br />"keeps its price as stable as gold"<br /><br />Price volatility was higher during the gold standard period. <br /><br />"competing currencies (which were also assumed would continue by the founders"<br /><br />No they weren't.<br /><br />You clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-30311450014487044522012-10-26T08:21:32.378-07:002012-10-26T08:21:32.378-07:00You have to wonder what Austrians would say if a t...You have to wonder what Austrians would say if a technological breakthrough turned gold into a cheap throwaway commodity like aluminum, which in the past 150 years or so went from a scarce metal more valuable per ounce than gold to something we use for disposable food and beverage containers.Mark Plushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03859046131830902921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-71188953487491743432012-10-26T07:54:53.033-07:002012-10-26T07:54:53.033-07:00I've never come across an Austrian explanation...I've never come across an Austrian explanation of the Price Revolution, a period of specie-based inflation in early modern Europe when gold lost about 85 percent of its purchasing power:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_revolutionMark Plushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03859046131830902921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-29420056777974081882012-10-26T07:53:08.775-07:002012-10-26T07:53:08.775-07:00"The vast majority of people do not in fact b..."The vast majority of people do not in fact become poorer just because price inflation occurs."<br /><br />Up to surprisingly high levels of price inflation - double figures at least. <br /><br />Even less so if they have salary linked pensions and decent union representation.<br /><br />Neither do productive businesses which just mark up whatever input costs they have. In fact inflation tends to cover off mistakes.<br /><br />So equity investors in productive businesses are covered - with their dividend and value growing with the inflation.<br /><br />So that, I think, just leaves money lenders at a fixed rate...<br /><br />NeilWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11565959939525324309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-24878713904990060002012-10-26T07:44:00.115-07:002012-10-26T07:44:00.115-07:00"Pegging a currency to paper puts it at the m...<i>"Pegging a currency to paper puts it at the mercy of the state (or whoever runs the printing presses)"</i><br /><br />And a gold standard puts it at the mercy of arbitrary gold discoveries and private sector money creation (read: potentially millions of private printing presses in banks, private bills of exchange, promissory notes, etc.)??<br /><br />E.g., the US currency was "debased" from 1898-1913 by price inflation (without even any central bank existing), but by private sector activity. Why wasn't this a horrible evil?<br /><br />Anyway, complaints about "devaluing the currency" are mostly grossly misleading, because even under mild to moderate price inflation real wages rise and real living standards rise too.<br /><br />The vast majority of people do not in fact become poorer just because price inflation occurs.Lord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-71041856676195181202012-10-26T06:47:15.084-07:002012-10-26T06:47:15.084-07:00Fancy charts aside, pegging a currency to gold (wh...Fancy charts aside, pegging a currency to gold (which, incidentally, is still required by the US Constitution) keeps its price as stable as gold. Pegging a currency to paper puts it at the mercy of the state (or whoever runs the printing presses) - which inevitably devalues the currency for its selfish ends. Furthermore, competing currencies (which were also assumed would continue by the founders) prevent monopolization (as in any product or service) along with all of its symptoms. Nothing could be more foolish than to subject banking and currency to politics. Leave it to the discipline of the natural laws of the market. Politics contaminates everything it touches.John Frederic Kosankehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01110164954209865660noreply@blogger.com