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Alan
Greenspan 1967
"As the supply of money increases relative to the supply of tangible assets
in the economy, prices must eventually rise. In the absence of the gold
standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through
inflation. There is no safe store of value".
Alan
Greenspan 1981
"A return to a gold standard (would be) a basic change in our economic
processes. A gold-based monetary system will necessarily prevent fiscal
imprudence. Once achieved, the discipline of the gold standard would surely
reinforce anti-inflation policies, and make it far more difficult to resume
financial profligacy".
Alan
Greenspan 1998
"The potential for accelerating inflation is probably greater than the
risk of protracted, excessive weakness in the economy".
Last week - the
week of the Humphrey-Hawkins report to the House Banking Committee and Senate
Banking Committee saw Alan Greenspan once again cover, what for him is old
ground.
In formal
testimony to both chambers, he seemed to indicate the U.S. economy is healthy
and in no need of any immediate change in interest rates.
Under the
Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978 the Central Bank has a dual mandate of fighting
inflation and promoting economic growth.
Reassuring
Words
Alan Greenspan’s reported "reassuring words" painted a
picture of an economy strong enough to withstand all the menacing forces
arrayed against it. "Let the Asian economic winds howl and the trade
deficit rise. Let the General Motors strike drag on and depress factory
production".
Controlling
an Unsustainable Monster
Despite speaking so strongly against it in the late 1960’s, Mr.
Greenspan today, as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, sits at the helm
of the ‘Modern Fiat Money Machine’.
This monster is
"A System" that keeps it’s subjects
continually bankrupt. It is fragile and unsustainable. It must constantly
create new money, through further borrowings, to keep the system running.
"Millennium Money" reported that all-modern money, in the
Fed’s own words, is backed by nothing but confidence.
It takes very
careful manipulation, through raising and lowering ‘usury’ or
interest rates, to prevent the economy from going into hyperinflation, or
alternatively, imploding or collapsing into deflation.
The longer it
runs the more volatile, unstable and difficult to control the whole system
becomes.
Walking
the Tightrope
Daily, in our modern economy, major opposing forces war with each other.
Built-in ‘deflationary’ pressures contest with inherent
‘inflationary’ pressures. In the 16 months since the central bank
last adjusted rates up to 5.5%, these pressures have been faithfully building
within. Walking the tightrope between lower and higher rates has become like
walking a razors edge.
This helps
explain the wide range of reports last week. Some economists and commentators
felt sure Mr. Greenspan’s comments signaled lower rates ahead, to ward
off the effects the Asian crisis and sluggish corporate profits. Still others
expect a rate hike in the future. Certainly Mr. Greenspan made it clear the
central bank would "resist vigorously" any up-trend in inflation.
This all adds to confusing and conflicting signals being given in the global
economy and establishment media.
A
Preoccupation with Inflation
"The potential for accelerating inflation is probably (meaning he
doesn’t know for sure) greater than the risk of protracted, excessive
weakness in the economy,'' Greenspan said.
It was the
former banking chief John Exter that said
"once that deflation starts there is just no way to stop it". Yet
today the Fed seems more concerned about inflation than deflationary signals
and the effects of an Asian led slowing in the economy. Maybe its the haunting recent memory
of when Paul Volcker came dangerously close to losing control of the whole
shooting match in the late 1970’s. Those days of "runaway"
inflation had the potential to plunge the U.S., and indeed the world into a
1930s-style depression.
Inflation
is the Expansion of Money Supply
Generally these days inflation is explained as a "rise in prices".
Millennium Money explained how inflation is the result of an increase in the
money supply (the amount of money circulating) relative to the amounts of
goods and services circulating. The more of something you have the less it
becomes worth. A ‘rise in prices’ is not inflation, it’s
the result.
Hidden
Inflation
The current 98 month economic expansion is the longest economic expansion in
peacetime history. America and Australia have been experiencing the lowest
reported inflation for many years. While economic indicators suggest a 2 - 4%
inflation rate, the reports across my desk have indicated new money supply
growing at a rate of up to 8 or 9%. Where has all that new money gone? In this months Australia Fair
BI-monthly Update Service we examine this question.
Inflation
is Immoral
Inflation, in any of its forms, has been unlawful at some point in all
cultures. The book of the Law, on which the ancient Israel State was built,
said, "you shall have just weights amongst you". In the Hebrew
Pentateuch alone there were six separate references to dishonest weights.
King Solomon called unjust weights an abomination. Unjust weights and measures, just like debasing coins or printing paper
notes, caused inflation. As the Hebrew prophet Amos put it "You swallow
up the needy and the poor of the land by making the bushel smaller and the
shekel larger, falsifying the balances by deceit".
Inflation is
high theft on the grandest of scales because it erodes the savings and the
purchasing power of the masses.
Legalized
Counterfeit
As recently as 1792, the United States Coinage Act declared any one working
in the US mint caught in the act of debasing currency (taking out silver and
adding base metal) had committed a crime punishable by death.
Today, for the
same reason, it is against the law for you and I to
print counterfeit money. It erodes the value of the money, ultimately making
it worthless. Yet, while it may not be alright for us, governments and banks
can increase the money supply at will. It is legalized counterfeit.
Inflation
is Taxation
As Alan Greenspan put it "inflation is the hidden confiscation of
wealth". It is the direct result of government, through the central
banking system, expanding the money supply. They create new money, so they
can spend into circulation, to pay for their ever-increasing spending
programs.
You and I pay
for ‘Inflation Taxation’ in our lost savings and purchasing
power.
My least
favorite economist John Maynard Keynes correctly observed "It is common
to speak as though, when a Government pays its way by inflation, the people
avoid taxation. This is not so. What is raised by printing notes is just as
much taken from the public as an income-tax. What a Government spends the
public pay for"
Inflation
is Normal
On inflation John Loeffler wrote recently
"Keynesian economic pundits regularly thump the drum that inflation is a
normal part of a healthy economy. This is false. It only exists when a
monetary system has no sound base".
Mr. Loeffler is right. Most people walking the streets today
have never known a ‘sound money’ based economy. The masses have
been conditioned so they no longer see the harmful effects of this
hereto-unlawful monetary system.
Inflation’s
theft of savings and ever increasing prices has become a normal part of every day life.
People have
been forced to employ more sophisticated investment techniques in the vain
attempt to avoid the guileful effects of inflation. Most often these
’techniques’ engage greater borrowings or leverage.
Franklin
Sanders talks about the "mal-investment" built into the system over
the past 60 years as a result of this inflationary system. Many losses are
yet unrealized, hidden in a false cloud of inflating prices.
Inflation
is Unnecessary
This inflationary monetary system is global. It exists so that governments
and banks can profit by it. It has led to immeasurable heart break and
suffering along the way. Ultimately it is unsustainable and cannot last.
This is how Mr.
Greenspan finished his 1981 money reform discussion in the Wall Street
Journal. "Considering where the policies of the last 50 years have
eventually led us, perhaps there are lessons to be learned from our more
distant gold standard past".
Philip Judge
Anglo Far-East Company
Also
by Philip Judge
Philip Judge is the 3rd
generation of a family that has had substantial involvement in the Precious
Metals markets. He has researched, written and spoken on the gold, silver and
commodities markets for over a decade. Philip works in the marketing and
operations department of The Anglo Far-East Bullion Company, an
internationally based Bullion Banking, Investment Management and Financial
Services Company
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