Gold Standard

Bob applies Mises’ taxonomy of money and the regression theorem to Bitcoin, asking whether it should be classified as commodity or fiat money and whether Austrian theory really rules out Bitcoin ever becoming money.

It is clear that the government has lost all spending discipline and it would be foolish to believe that it will suddenly regain that discipline absent an external control, namely, gold.

The purchasing power of the US dollar has been debased by over 99 percent since the foundation of the Federal Reserve.

Bob responds to James Rickards’ recent tweet on record U.S. gold exports driving an improved trade balance, walking through the official data on non-monetary gold, Trump-era tariff uncertainty, and the broader question of what chronic trade deficits really mean in a post-gold-standard world.

Menger said alternative monetary theories were “unhistorical,” but one could argue that Menger’s theory also lacks historical evidence necessary to verify his theory. Did Menger display a double standard or a nuanced view as to what we should expect from different monetary theories?

Each economic crisis brought on by loose money brings on a “solution” of...looser money. This pattern is not just a threat to the economy but to our very freedom itself.

One way to compare prices of similar commodities and services over long periods of time is to convert the nominal prices to ounces of gold.

To stay in power, governments have to keep spending money. They need to give money to their friends, to give money to their supporters, to carry out their various projects, and—most expensive of all—to have wars.

While it wouldn’t solve everything, a gold audit would be a step towards sound money.

Prominent central bankers have given conflicting statements concerning gold. What soaring gold prices might indicate is that the world is now turning to gold.