Join the Alliance for a Sound Dollar Monday, January 30, 2012 At a recent Presidential debate, the Republican candidates discussed a new Gold Commission much like the one to which President Reagan appointed Ron Paul and me in 1981. When asked, Jim Grant and I agreed to serve as co-chairmen of a new gold commission — proposed...
Budget Collapse: Too Much Free Money Thursday, December 29, 2011 It's past time for Congress to "tear up" the U.S. Treasury's credit cards.
The super-committee of Congress is the latest group to confess abject defeat by the Treasury budget deficit. Who can be surprised by this total failure? During the past generation Congress has made as many as fifteen legislative attempts...
The Dollar Problem and Its Solution Friday, December 02, 2011 There is little new in this latest cycle of economic boom, panic, and bust. All of these cycles are linked to the life and death of the unstable post–World War II Bretton Woods monetary system. First came the crisis-ridden gold-dollar system from 1944 to 1971. Then...
How to Get to a True Gold Standard Wednesday, October 12, 2011 Today the economic crisis we endure is only the latest chapter in the century-long struggle to restore financial order, the success (or failure) of which is inextricably bound up with American prosperity and the promise of the American way of life.
Between 2009 and 2011, we experienced an emerging market equity...
The Dollar Problem and Its Solution Wednesday, September 28, 2011 There is little new in this latest cycle of economic boom, panic, and bust. All of these cycles are linked to the life and death of the unstable post–World War II Bretton Woods monetary system. First came the crisis-ridden gold-dollar system from 1944 to 1971. Then came the rise of...
Restoring Economic Growth with a Stable Dollar Tuesday, September 27, 2011 The world is in economic crisis. Quite understandably, much attention has been given to cutting runaway government spending, a fundamental cause of the crisis. Much less attention has been given to the fundamental defects of the monetary system. These defects are at the heart of the...
World Must Abandon Paper Reserve Currencies Monday, September 26, 2011 Federal budget deficits and balance-of-payment deficits have radically increased since World War II. Today’s dollar has lost 85% of its value since 1971. Relative to gold the dollar has lost 96% of its purchasing power.
But America has experienced sustained inflation and deindustrialization because of the overvalued...
China: American Financial Colony or Mercantilist Predator? Wednesday, September 21, 2011 The perverse effects of the world dollar standard.
China is an important trading partner of America. But it may also be a mortal threat. And not for the conventional reasons usually cited in the press. Ironically, it is a threat because China is in fact a financial colony of the United...
Gold, not Dollar, Should Be the Reserve Currency Monday, August 29, 2011 While the Chinese financial system has been corrupted primarily by tyranny, deceit, and reckless expansionism, it is also destabilized by the workings of the world dollar standard.
Neither the United States nor China has come to grips with the perverse effects of the world dollar standard.
Chinas dollarized monetary system...
The Nixon Shock Heard 'Round the World Monday, August 15, 2011 On the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 13, 1971, high-ranking White House and Treasury Department officials gathered secretly in President Richard Nixon's lodge at Camp David. Treasury Secretary John Connally, on the job for just seven months, was seated to Nixon's right. During that momentous afternoon, however,...
Bretton Woods and Bad Days for Dollars Monday, August 15, 2011 First July 1944 and then August 1971: the dog days of summer have been momentous for the American dollar. It was 67 years ago that 44 nations from around the world gathered at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to plan the post-war framework...
What America Can Learn from the Greece Financial Crisis Thursday, June 30, 2011
Observations on the Greece financial crisis and what America can learn:
Greece is only one example of an irresponsible, reckless, insolvent government, which is spending itself into bankruptcy. There are dozens of such countries, both developed and emerging.
Central bank and commercial bank credit financing of the government budget deficits in...
It's Not the Debt Ceiling -- It's the Dollar Thursday, June 09, 2011 The missing issue of this Presidential election is monetary policy -- America's need for a stable dollar. But massive Federal Reserve credit expansion, QE1 and QE2, has forced the volatile dollar down to such a depreciated level on the foreign exchanges that, absent QE3, a reversal of trend should appear...
Forgetting the Kemp and Reagan Revival Wednesday, June 01, 2011 26th District loss shows GOP is favoring spending cuts over growth
The Democratic victory in upstate New York on Tuesday seemed to be about the unpopularity of the Republican Medicare (http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/medicare/) plan. Democrat Kathy Hochul (http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/kathleen-hochul/) beat Republican Jane Corwin (http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/jane-corwin/) 47 percent to 43 percent to win the open seat...
Monetary Reform: The Key to Spending Restraint Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Paul Ryan's plan won't succeed without legislation to prevent the Federal Reserve from monetizing the national debt.
No man in America is a match for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on the federal budget. No congressman in my lifetime has been more determined to cut government spending. No one is...
Monetary Reform: The Key to Spending Restraint Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Paul Ryan's plan won't succeed without legislation to prevent the Federal Reserve from monetizing the national debt.
No man in America is a match for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on the federal budget. No congressman in my lifetime has been more determined to cut government spending. No one is...
To end the Age of Financial Disorder, Forward to a Modernized Gold Standard Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Between 2009 and 2010 we have experienced a major, emerging market equity and economic boom -- but at the very same time, sluggish growth in the United States. Foreign authorities are now reacting to inflation, raising interest rates, just as relative growth shifts to the U. S. I believe we...
Why real monetary reform can - and must - be done now Thursday, March 17, 2011 Under President Reagan, Congress reformed the income tax code and balanced pay-as-you-go Social Security despite deep partisan divisions. Yet by Reagan's self-assessment, the Reagan Revolution was incomplete when he left office.
We believe the monetary and budget reforms left unfinished in the 1980s now seem finally doable.
"When a conservative says it...
Fiat Money, Fiat Inflation Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Why we need a dollar as good as gold.
Since the beginning of 2009, oil prices have almost tripled, gasoline prices are up about 50 percent, and basic food prices, such as corn, soybeans, and wheat, have almost doubled around the world. Cotton and copper prices have reached...
Go Forward to Gold - How to Lift the Reserve Currency Curse Monday, December 15, 2008 THE most disturbing aspect of the current financial crisis is that no U.S. official has correctly identified its primary cause. Experts variously attribute the economic reverses to subprime lending, derivative trading, excessive leverage, and regulation that was either too lax or too strict (take your pick), but these are symptoms...
What the Fed's Monetary "Experiment" Proved Friday, February 09, 2001 The Fed's "expectations" theory. Under Chairman Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve has subscribed to a widely held but erroneous view that inflation is fundamentally a psychological, not a monetary process.
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Jacques Rueff, the Age of Inflation, and the True Gold Standard Thursday, November 07, 1996 ON THE OCCASION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF JACQUES RUEFF
Address by LEWIS E. LEHRMAN
at the
PARLIAMENT OF FRANCE (Assemble Nationale)
November 7, 1996
Distinguished Leaders of France:
In what I now say to you, I draw from the speeches, the writings, and the letters of the greatest economist of the...
Redeem Us With a Cross of Gold Friday, July 08, 1994 Fifty years ago this month, the Allied nations met at Bretton Woods, N.H., to create the postwar monetary system. Bretton Woods re-established international convertibility of the major currencies into gold or gold-convertible dollars.
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The Curse of Being a Reserve Currency Monday, January 04, 1993 The European monetary system is breaking down for the same reason the gold-exchange standard in 1931 and the Bretton Woods system in 1971 collapsed: the use of domestic currencies as international reserves.
Germany inhabits within Europe today roughly the same position the U.S. did in the world of...
Whither Gold Friday, September 15, 1989 This short research note discusses the forecast of gold in an investment portfolio including the relative under- or overvaluation of gold and U.S. equities.
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Gold in a Global Multi-Asset Portfolio Friday, March 04, 1988 Since gold is uncorrelated, rather than negatively correlated, with financial assets, it is not surprising that the addition of gold to a financial portfolio can have very different effects. This Investment Research Strategy paper discusses these effects.
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To Move Forward, Go Back to Gold Sunday, February 09, 1986 The damage inflicted on our workers and industries by the overvalued dollar has demonstrated that free trade without stable exchange rates is a fantasy. The argument for gold as a stable currency has rarely been stronger than it is today.
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Protectionism, Inflation, or Monetary Reform Friday, November 01, 1985 This is the seventh in a series of strategic-issue essays by "good thinkers" that have been published on subjects ranging from gold, supply-side economics, to world debt problem. In this paper, Lehrman argues that the record of the last decade makes clear that floating exchange rates...
Golden Antidote to High Interest Friday, June 29, 1984 Only the gold monetary standard can renew faith in the fixed value of all future money payments on borrowings (bonds, mortgages, stocks and other long-term financial contracts).
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Let's Talk Money at Williamsburg Wednesday, May 11, 1983 Only a world currency will work. That is why having national currencies convertible to gold—an international money—has worked in the past and will work again. Only the U.S. can take the lead.
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If We Had 'Real' Money We Could Still Salvage the Reagan Revolution Sunday, February 20, 1983 THOSE OF US who believe in the goals of the Reagan revolution had better face up to the consequences of the last two years. We called for boom and got something very close to bust. We called for a balanced budget and got record-shattering deficits. We called for a restoration...
Lehrman Urges Return to Gold Standard Tuesday, January 04, 1983 Lewis Lehrman talks with Washington Times columnist John Lofton about the Reagan administration's handling of monetary policy-and he tells what he would do to solve economic problems. This includes a program that would re-establish the gold monetary standard in the United States.
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Time to Return to the Gold Standard? Monday, September 07, 1981 In these 'Pro and Con' interviews Lewis E. Lehrman discusses the wisdom of returning to a gold standard and defining the dollar's value in terms of gold.
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Should We (and Could We) Return to the Gold Standard? Sunday, September 06, 1981 President Reagan appointed a commission of 17 experts to review the issue of gold. Its specific task was to determine whether the metal should once again play a dominant role in the domestic and international monetary system.
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The Case for the Gold Standard Thursday, July 30, 1981 Under the gold standard, the immense national debt could be refinanced very long term...
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A Glittering Economy Wednesday, July 22, 1981 President Reagan was elected to end inflation and restore the economy. He is moving in that direction…but the economic program will not work without a BALANCED BUDGET and the GOLD STANDARD.
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The Origin of Money – 4000 B.C. – 1700 A.D. Wednesday, July 01, 1981 Forerunners of man lived upon the planet several million years ago. But the unique social order of man – civilization – emerged only four to five thousand years ago. Historical and archaeological evidence suggests that the institution of money evolved coterminously with civilization among all the institutions of life on...
The Struggle for Financial Order in the Western World Friday, May 01, 1981 A free people can have a nominal paper dollar; or they can have a real dollar, defined by its weight in gold, which is the historic American monetary standard. When we had a sound dollar, we had no serious inflation.
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The Case for the Gold Standard Friday, May 01, 1981 This interview includes reflections on the struggle for financial order including returning to a gold standard. Lewis Lehrman discusses the Republican platform and why the Reagan administration should accept the gold standard.
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The Case for the Gold Standard Sunday, March 01, 1981 This exclusive interview with Lewis Lehrman includes a thorough-going discussion of why he favors the gold standard, how to return to it, and what effect it would have on the economy.
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The Means to Establishing Financial Order Wednesday, February 18, 1981 The true means by which to achieve the goal of a stable value for the dollar is a remobilized discount rate at the Federal Reserve Bank, joined to a true international gold standard.
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How to End Inflation Sunday, January 18, 1981 Inflation is the transcendent issue of our times. Inflation is to our generation what depression was to our grandparents. Inflation, if not stopped, will revolutionize our nation and its social institutions.
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A New Public Philosophy Wednesday, November 12, 1980 The Presidential election was a political avalanche. There are many ways to interpret it, but the significance of the vote is unequivocal. President Reagan clearly has a mandate to change the direction of public policy in America. It is true that much of the vote was an anti-Carter vote. It...
Real Money Friday, August 01, 1980 The world economy of the nineteenth century was, above all, characterized by the gold standard. Each great power defined its currency by a weight unit of gold and guaranteed convertibility, at that rate, of cash into gold. The international gold standard was the impartial arbiter...
Total Economic and Monetary Reform. Stop the Battle for Reagan's Soul. Monday, June 16, 1980 There is intellectual combat going on in Governor Reagan's camp. Some call it a struggle for Reagan's soul. The subtle arguments of the opposing sides make a battle ground of many editorial pages, for it is clear that Governor Reagan may be our next President.
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Gold is Not a 'Side Show' Wednesday, February 20, 1980 The lagged correlation between the rise and fall of Federal Reserve Bank credit and the rise and fall of gold is not perfect, but there is compelling association between the two. For example, almost every reacceleration of Federal Reserve Bank credit between January 1977 and January...
Monetary Policy, the Federal Reserve System, and Gold Friday, January 25, 1980 This essay presents the economic and political issues of the 1970's and 1980's, similar to the present, including the complex interrelationship between Federal Reserve Bank policy, inflationary expectations, the financial markets, and the price of gold.
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The Great American Food Disaster Friday, December 09, 1977 Are the experts ever right? Do you remember the “Club of Rome” forecasts in 1973-74? The intellectually fashionable Rome “experts” and many other specialists predicted permanent food shortages. Anticipations of worldwide famine swept them and the media men off their feet. When the soybean price reached $12 per bushel, even...
Inflation and Civilization: Man’s Fate and His Money Wednesday, October 05, 1977 We identify civilization by its etymology: -- From the Latin "civis", or "civitas", meaning citizen or city. That is to say, civilization is characterized by the economy of city life. By this definition hunting and gathering cultures are, in the most fundamental sense of the word, not civilized. Indeed, the...
Barbaric Relic or Rational Money - Ray Vicker, The Realms of Gold Saturday, October 01, 1977 Volume 50, 1977
John Maynard Keynes and his disciples buried the gold standard, we might say, in the tomb of the "barbaric relics". There, its tribal bones have remained to this day, for most policy makers, economists and intellectuals. In order to replace the gold standard, fashionable Keynesian policy...
Up, Up and Away! The U.S. Debt Thursday, September 01, 1977 The runaway momentum of federal expenditures is threatening this country's very independence.
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Federal Debt, Taxes, and National Independence Thursday, April 14, 1977 Not until several weeks ago did I realize that the arcane subject of Federal government debt had become a subject of cocktail party debate. I suppose that the cause of the heated debate was a discussion of the “de facto” bankruptcy of New York City. (For two years New Yorkers...
Money and the Coming World Order: The Creation of International Monetary Order Thursday, January 01, 1976 Today, national economic policy making is largely concerned with the problems of unemployment and inflation. More precisely, it is their simultaneous combination in nearly all Western economies which preoccupies policy makers. As these problems grow worse, the stakes rise higher.
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Reflections on the Monetary History of the West – 1700-1974 Thursday, January 03, 1974 By 1700, the banking system of Europe had elaborated the institutions of money and credit we know today. And England had taken the lead. For almost 200 years, from 1717 until the onset of World War I in 1914, the British pound sterling, a weight unit of metallic money, set...
