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  • Gold & the Bonar

    Hugo Salinas-Price: The Price of the Dollar


    “...the broken wall, the burning roof and tower, and Agamemnon dead.”

    W. B. Yeats, Leda and the Swan


    Hugo Salinas-Price reminds us of something important in a striking 'heart of the matter' essay.

    Gold is the standard of monetary value, because of its unique characteristics which are founded in nature, and are contingent on no other counterparty.

    And this is why central bankers are so interested in the relative value of their paper and gold, even if they choose to feign indifference.

    The ratio of increase of gold bullion is relatively steady at 1.75% increase per year, also known as the 'stock-to-flow' ratio. This is discussed in more detail by Ronald-Peter Stöferle, Analyst at Erste Bank, and James Turk, in the video below.

    Gold and silver are the benchmarks, the 'north star' if you will of monetary exchange fluctuations throughout history. It is how one finds their way through the troubled waters of currency devaluations, war, and temporal customs and regimes.

    Empires rise and fall, and currencies come and go; gold and silver endure.
    The Price of the Dollar
    By Hugo Salinas Price
    December 4, 2012

    It is a mistake to attribute a price to gold.

    What is in question today – and has been in question for a century – is not the price of gold, but rather the price of the dollar, and in turn, the price of all the fiat currencies of the world, which are nothing more than derivatives of the fiat dollar.

    The price of the dollar today is 0.01835 grams of gold. That it to say, it is less that two-hundredths of a gram of gold; physically, a tiny speck of gold. We have to turn the popularly quoted “price” of gold around: at $1,695 dollars for an ounce of gold.

    If you want the price of the dollar in ounces of gold, take $1 dollar and divide it by 1695 = 0.0005899 ounces of gold. In other words, slightly less than six ten-thousandths of an ounce of gold will buy you a dollar.

    Since gold is the numeraire – the substance which prices all fiat currencies – it is not the price of gold which is fluctuating, as the popular press and mainstream media would have us believe. What fluctuate are the diverse prices of all currencies.

    We know that the banking cartels which issue these currencies all strive to control the dollar prices of their currencies by numberless forms of intervention in the world markets. Of course, the prime fiat currency (of which all the others are derivatives) is the US dollar and its price in gold is continuously manipulated in a vain attempt to keep it from falling.

    The false “dollar price of gold” is promoted and published as a deft and subtle means of throwing public opinion on a mistaken track right at the start of any consideration of gold. The “dollar price of gold” is a case of the tail wagging the dog.

    The gold price of the dollar has fallen from 0.8886572 grams of gold in 1934 (at “$35 dollars an ounce”) or slightly less that nine-tenths of a gram, to less than two-hundredths of a gram today.

    Unless monetary policy changes in a revolutionary manner, the gold price of the dollar is going to continue to fall until it approaches zero. In other words, eventually the dollar will be worthless in terms of gold.






  • #2
    Re: Gold & the Bonar

    Don't get how it can approach zero, why can't they just redenominate the currency.

    It really can only fall to zero if another currency becomes the main medium of exchange and is relatively strong against it.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Gold & the Bonar

      Originally posted by Techdread View Post
      Don't get how it can approach zero, why can't they just redenominate the currency.

      It really can only fall to zero if another currency becomes the main medium of exchange and is relatively strong against it.
      having gold may not be sufficient to prevent hyperinflation.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignat

      France
      Early Assignat of 29 Sept, 1790: 500 livres
      Assignat of 4 Jan 1792, still bearing Royal markings: 15 sols

      Assignats were paper money issued by the National Assembly in France from 1789 to 1796, during the French Revolution. The assignats were issued after the confiscation of church properties in 1790 because the government was bankrupt. The government thought that the financial problems could be solved by printing certificates representing the value of church properties. These church lands became known as biens nationaux (“national goods”). Assignats were used to successfully retire a significant portion of the national debt as they were accepted as legitimate payment by domestic and international creditors. Certain precautions not taken concerning their excessive reissue and comingling with general currency in circulation caused hyperinflation.

      Originally meant as bonds, they evolved into a currency used as legal tender. As there was no control over the amount to be printed, the value of the assignats exceeded that of the confiscated properties. This caused massive hyperinflation. In the beginning of 1792, they had lost most of their nominal value. In 1796, the Directoire issued Mandats, a currency in the form of land warrants to replace the assignats, although these too quickly failed.

      This hyperinflation was stirred up by repeated food shortages. Instead of solving the financial problems, the assignats became a catalyst for (food) riots. Instability continued after the abolition of the monarchy, exacerbated by the wars France faced. This situation impeded the implementation of good financial policies that would reduce debts. Bills such as the Maximum Price Act of 1793 aimed to regulate inflation.

      When the Directoire came into power in 1795 the Maximum Price Act was lifted. Hyperinflation reemerged and in the next four years Paris was the stage of yet more riots.

      The inflation was finally solved by Napoleon in 1803 by introducing the franc as the new currency. By this time, the assignats were basically worthless.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Gold & the Bonar

        Gold is the standard of monetary value, because of its unique characteristics which are founded in nature, and are contingent on no other counterparty.

        And this is why central bankers are so interested in the relative value of their paper and gold
        Gold has concrete. real-world values. It also has faith-based fantasies that have spun up around it. It is not a panacea for curing fiat currency, which is here to stay as long as we inhabit a neoliberal world. Bankers may be hoarding gold but it seems more likely it's to feather their wealth-retention nest and not in preparation for a gold-based currency.

        Comment

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