A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

[algerwetmore]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable

Thanks, I enjoyed it very much. Although, my ears twitched a bit when he said that the idea of an international central bank was a horror or did he mean "whore"? Maybe-both!

[algerwetmore]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

If this is a true, literal translation, then there is a lot more smugness, arrogance and vanity among the elite then I thought.
I don't think they even have a clue how dangerous the situation really is.
Do you think they can convince foreign governments to continue to buy worthless $usd until the international new Bretton Woods is in order? My understanding is that it took over 2 years of planning for the original agreement.

[rj1]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable

i find this line more productive than the 'don't fuck with us, we got guns' line.

he's not saying confiscation but taxes. really... are guns going to save you from the irs? have you tried that re your income taxes? :eek:

silver makes a smaller target but i can see how the gov't might tax it for non-industrial use. same with platinum.

what's that leave as a hard asset, rocks?

Nothing. Like I said, the government will do everything they can to "f*ck us" and the public will not care because they think goldbugs and private gold owners are a bunch of crazies that are out of touch with reality.

Your best shot if the government takes the gloves off and you own gold is to keep it and let no one know you have it. And at some point if you want to sell either drive it up to Windsor or down to Tijuana.

[rj1]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable

maybe the generational difference is the ability to comprehend the difference between the international gold standard, used for international transactions, and a national gold standard for every nation... usa, france, japan, etc., etc.. he is not talking about a gold standard in the usa or anywhere. the article is about an INTERNATIONAL gold standards, ala bretton woods. don't they teach you kids this stuff in high school?

Actually, no they didn't (I was in high school from 1997-2000).

History pretty much stopped with World War II. We covered a little bit on Vietnam and that was about it. All we were told about 1971 was that the country had a nice little thing going by having the dollar set to gold, de Gaulle asked for gold instead of dollars, and Nixon did the right thing for the country and ensuring our position by ceasing the gold standard.

And what's an international gold standard really? Doesn't every individual currency still have to have a set value against the gold and they're not all equivalent (one peso isn't equalling one dollar)? And how do we determine that true value without manipulation or bias? How do you account for changes that occur after imbalances over time?

[Rajiv]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

Sorry, for the misunderstanding! This is Catherine Austin Fitts' "satirical translation" into "Plain English"

[rj1]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

JK,

You've left out a large part of the economic world in your summary: Europe.

From my view - the Europeans, at least the 'northern' EU - are looking for ways to prevent their again getting screwed by the US.

That's simple. Don't buy our stuff and negotiate to not use our dollars in transactions. They'd of course have to convince their business partners to do that.

Of course the nation fighting all of this is the US: both from hardening of its debt burden and the effective sidelining of the US$ as a world reserve currency.

What would replace it? Do you think the world is going to start trading gold certificates and oil certificates?

The question in my mind: What is the likely outcome of this struggle?

My personal view is that the US will get one of its goals: either deflation of its debt burden or the loss of the dollar's reserve currency free ride, but not both. Which is the more acceptable gain? Or less painful loss?

I can't see the dollar losing its reserve status because that would mean some other reserve would take its place, even if we're talking just an order of magnitude. This crisis has shown the euro is nowhere near as solid as while they talk a big game about consolidation, when the crisis was in full effect it wasn't Brussels talking but instead London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome.

[marvenger]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable

Americans cant afford to buy oil anymore. Maybe they could sell all their assets for oil, but that would be pretty dumb.

[audrey_girl]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable

don't fall for the conspiracy nonsense about the usa not having the gold it reports. the usa always gets it right in the end. see below for the ranking of winners and losers when gold is remonetized for international trade. usa is #1.
Officially reported gold reserves

As of 22 September 2005, the largest gold holdings in tonnes as reported by the World Gold Council can be seen in the table below.^[7] The United States' holding of gold is worth approximately US$164 billion (December 2006). A tonne or metric ton (symbol t), sometimes referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. ... The World Gold Council, formed in 1987, is an industry association of the worlds leading gold mining companies. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

1	United States of America	8,133.5
2	Germany	3,427.8
3	International Monetary Fund	3,217.3
4	France	2,892.6
5	Italy	2,451.8
6	Switzerland	1,290.1
7	Japan	765.2
8	Netherlands	722.4
9	European Central Bank	719.9
10	People's Republic of China	600.0
11	Republic of China (Taiwan)	423.3
12	Portugal	407.5
13	Russia	386.6
14	India	357.7
15	Venezuela	357.4
16	United Kingdom	311.3
17	Austria	307.5
18	Lebanon	286.8
19	Spain	283.0
20	Belgium	227.7
21	Philippines	187.9
22	Bank for International Settlements	185.3
23	Algeria	173.6
24	Sweden	155.4
25	Libya	143.8
26	Saudi Arabia	143.0
27	Singapore	127.4
28	South Africa	123.9
29	Turkey	116.1
30	Pakistan	107.9
31	Romania	104.9
32	Poland	102.9
33	Indonesia	96.5
34	Thailand	84.0
35	Australia	79.7
36	Kuwait	79.0
37	Egypt	75.6
38	Denmark	66.5
39	Pakistan	65.3
40	Kazakhstan	58.6

on the other hand, on the basis of the ratio of gold reserves versus currency outstanding, the usa ranks 7th...

thanks very much for the post - appreciate it

but again - has the gold been audited by this council? If so does anyone know when? Just asking.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but from my experience the American government has a propensity to lie when it suits it. Whether the lie is about weapons of mass destruction in the Iraqi desert or the social security trust fund.

regards -

AG

[algerwetmore]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

I wondered if it might be a satire. Usually central bankers have a much more garbled nuance in their writings that require more reading between the lines. I do think that Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson are not quite as elusive as the grand bubble blower, Alan Greenspan.

[Rajiv]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

Not quite a satire, but a satirical interpretation of the actual G-20 Communique

[due_indigence]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

I routinely see big fat puffy Americans at gun shows. Most of them couldn't scale a three-foot wall. Many of their kids have the arterial health of 45-year-olds, thanks to childhood obesity. Believe me, the American citizen militia is grossly overstated and romanticized. In fact, I would argue that no population in history is more ill-suited for the harsh reality that awaits it. The gun fantasy is just that: a Dirty Harry wet dream. For all the John Wayne rhetoric, Americans are on the whole remarkably passive and dundering. For the most part, Americans are bunch of out-of-work realtors and mortgage brokers. How they will transform themselves into modern-day fighting machines escapes me.

Here's something the American Psychiatric Association should look into: compulsive gun ownership. I know people who have 50+ firearms. Paranoid and insecure, no amount of firepower will make them feel safe. These people strike me more as frightened of their own shadow than they do citizen-warriors awaiting Armageddon. America is an isolationist haven with all the psychological maladies that sort of 'absent communitarianism' brings. America's swashbuckling self-image may be the last bubble to go.

Most Americans under 30 think that food comes from a neon sign. They would be hard-pressed to cook it, let alone GROW it. No, I see America either slipping inauspiciously into nonentity status or exploiting the only industrial advantage it has left: the military industrial complex. War with Iran. It worked for FDR.

[c1ue]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

What would replace it? Do you think the world is going to start trading gold certificates and oil certificates?

Actually, one way would be for some nation to convert its currency to a limited gold backing. I.e. rather than a fixed market value of currency redeemable for gold, have a currency redeemable for 1/10th its value in gold.

In the present world currency depreciation environment, this would seem like a safe haven. Of course the currency in question must also then be convertible - which leaves China and Russia out for now.

I can't see the dollar losing its reserve status because that would mean some other reserve would take its place, even if we're talking just an order of magnitude. This crisis has shown the euro is nowhere near as solid as while they talk a big game about consolidation, when the crisis was in full effect it wasn't Brussels talking but instead London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome.

The mistake is assuming the round hole the dollar occupies must be replaced by another round peg.

The reason the dollar is the reserve currency is not entirely due to military, historical, or being the largest market reasons. A significant part of it is that the dollar has been the most relatively stable of all currencies for a long time.

The present gyrations - which have no evidence of easing - will remove that stability factor. After all, if trade with the US slows due to US consumers being 'all spent out', then the internal needs of each nation become more important - as does then the internal currency.

I can see the various trade blocs squaring off their own little territories should this present situation continue.

[marvenger]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

I can see the various trade blocs squaring off their own little territories should this present situation continue.

makes sense to me, but Bank of America just increased its stake in China construction bank.. There's scary stuff going on that I just do not understand.

[riadi]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable

I just can't see it. This could be a generational disconnect, the only thing I've ever known or has existed in my lifetime is the current system, so I don't know what a gold-backed system looks like. But the reason we went off gold was because we were losing our power to the current system because we weren't economically strong enough to justify our then-current position. So I don't see why the Fed or government would subject our country to the gold standard just for us to continue that decline that Nixon got us out of in the 1970s, unless they plan on using the fact that most governments' gold is physically held in New York.

A good read is Murray Rothbard's "The Mystery of Banking" - it's an enjoyable and rather short text at 150 pages or so. the editorial work is not great, but don't let it deter you, it's well worth the read. It talks about the economic and historic aspects of money that would help answer your question.

[rj1]

Re: A return to the Bretton Woods international gold standard is inevitable - Eric Janszen

I routinely see big fat puffy Americans at gun shows. Most of them couldn't scale a three-foot wall. Many of their kids have the arterial health of 45-year-olds, thanks to childhood obesity. Believe me, the American citizen militia is grossly overstated and romanticized. In fact, I would argue that no population in history is more ill-suited for the harsh reality that awaits it. The gun fantasy is just that: a Dirty Harry wet dream. For all the John Wayne rhetoric, Americans are on the whole remarkably passive and dundering. For the most part, Americans are bunch of out-of-work realtors and mortgage brokers. How they will transform themselves into modern-day fighting machines escapes me.

Here's something the American Psychiatric Association should look into: compulsive gun ownership. I know people who have 50+ firearms. Paranoid and insecure, no amount of firepower will make them feel safe. These people strike me more as frightened of their own shadow than they do citizen-warriors awaiting Armageddon. America is an isolationist haven with all the psychological maladies that sort of 'absent communitarianism' brings. America's swashbuckling self-image may be the last bubble to go.

Most Americans under 30 think that food comes from a neon sign. They would be hard-pressed to cook it, let alone GROW it. No, I see America either slipping inauspiciously into nonentity status or exploiting the only industrial advantage it has left: the military industrial complex. War with Iran. It worked for FDR.

And what country are you from? If you're going to pick fun on us you should at least let us know where you're from.

Americans' strength by and large comes from not depending on or expecting anything from a government or organization to help them.