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Invited
Address
Delivered on November 18, 2007, in Torrance, California,
to a Joint Session of the Positive Deviant Network
and the Flight to Genius movement
Dear
Fellow Deviants,
Dear Fellow Travelers standing by for the next flight to Genius,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Synergy
Be With You!
One of
the truly spectacular sights is from the airplane as it makes its approaches
to Los Angeles International Airport at dusk. Down below is the illuminated
"live" map of Los Angeles with its winding and intersecting
freeways, with an endless flow of white headlights and an opposite flow of
red tail-lights. It reminds me of the human bloodstream with its flow of
white and red blood corpuscles. As I was flying in the other day I could not
help but contemplate that possibly just a handful in a million people down
there may realize what a fatal year 2007 has been, as the rest are completely
oblivious to the great dangers awaiting the world on this Thanksgiving Day.
Over
the last thirty-five or so years people have been de-sensitized to the
'chill-and-fever' syndrome epitomized by the gyrating value of the dollar. It
had its ups and downs but, here we are, still doing business using the
services of 'Old Trusty'. People appear to be forgetful that the dollar is
steadily losing value, losing purchasing power, losing the all-important
respect of foreigners. They have been brainwashed into thinking that
inflation, like continental drift, is God-ordained. There is nothing human
beings can do about it. It would never occur to people that they are victims
of deliberate plundering by their own government, and deceitful pilfering by
their banks, covered up by the mendacity of academia and the financial media.
By this
fall we have reached the threshold, we have crossed the continental divide,
we have passed the 'point of no return' as it is becoming obvious that bad
debt in the system has reached and surpassed 'critical mass.' The chain
reaction has started. In the fullness of time the nuclear explosion is bound
to occur.
The
history of the dollar boasts two Waterloo's. The first one was in 1933. That
year marks the default of the U.S. government on its domestic gold
obligations, accompanied by the confiscation of the people's gold by F.D.
Roosevelt. He appealed to patriotism saying that in complying with his
Executive Order people were saving the country from economic ruin. The bad
faith behind this capricious and unconstitutional act was shown by the fact
that no sooner were people forced to give up gold in their possession than
the government would write up its value by 69 percent, pocketing the
difference as 'profit'. So much for the provision of the Constitution that
"...nor shall private property be taken for public use without just
compensation."
The
monetary bloodstream of this nation was given the cancerous qualities that
characterized the currency of both Soviet Communism and Nazi Socialism,
neither of which has survived the test of times. Nor will the irredeemable
dollar.
There
was a second Waterloo for the dollar, in 1971, marking the default of the
U.S. government on its international gold obligations. In economic
terms this event was even more devastating than the first. It triggered a
snow-balling process as revealed by the price charts of commodities such as
wheat, sugar, copper, not to mention crude oil, and the destabilization of
foreign exchange and interest rates, making debt proliferate and rendering
government bonds totally unsuitable for the purposes of saving.
I have
been often asked the question: "why gold?" I avoid giving an answer
in terms of the physical or chemical qualities such as weight, inertness, and
the like. My answer usually refers to the nation's monetary bloodstream which
becomes corrupted as the disease-fighting gold corpuscles are removed.
Debt
is an indispensable economic instrument. It has a great beneficial impact on
human welfare. But like fissionable nuclear material, it is shot through and
through with extreme danger. If its quantity exceeds critical mass, then
chain reaction is bound to set in causing a nuclear explosion. The role of
gold is precisely to prevent that from happening. Gold is the agent that can
detect bad debt and stop its proliferation in good time. Thanksgiving 2007 is
special because we are just re-learning the ancient lesson that no banking
system can safely operate without gold. You cannot measure the quality and
quantity of debt in terms of another, just as you cannot measure the length
of an elastic band in terms of another.
What
has happened this fall is that the presence of bad debt in the economy has
been established. However, bad debt is in hiding. Who is hiding it?
"Nobody alive is above suspicion!" One bank can no longer trust
another in accepting an overnight draft. Maybe the other feller is trying to
pass on bad debt. True enough, banking is based on trust. But if you are not
allowed to test debt, or to spot bad debt through demanding payment in gold,
then trust is not justified. All debt becomes sub-prime. Why should a client
trust his bank, if banks cannot trust one-another?
Thus,
then, my answer to the question "why gold?" is that the gold
corpuscles fight incipient leukemia in the nation's monetary bloodstream.
It's not that withdrawing them causes sudden death. But it inevitably causes
death in the long run. A rather painful and ugly death.
Since
currency touches practically all our people, everybody is contaminated by a
corrupted monetary bloodstream. The effects of monetary leukemia are many and
in some respects subtle. The withdrawal from the monetary bloodstream of the
gold corpuscles which, within broad limits, keep other money and credit
corpuscles in good order, has produced the typical results: profligate
government spending, extravagant growth in public and private debt, the
monetization of government debt, extensive socialization, artificial
exhilaration (not to say irrational exuberance), bloating,
intoxication, fever, chills, nervousness, irritability, irresponsibility,
dishonesty, immorality, decline in the purchasing power of the currency and,
characteristically, the insane fear of gold -- as the drug addict fears the
withdrawal syndrome. All these mixed with elements of a pronounced monetary
revolution and the scattering of dollars and other resources among the
nations of the world. The dishonesty involved in, and flowing from, the use
of irredeemable currency permeates practically all aspects of our economic,
social, and political system and provides yet another instance of how "corruption
grows as naturally as fungus on a muck heap" (Andrew Dickson White in
his classical book Fiat Money Inflation in France).
The
pulsation of this corrupt monetary bloodstream through an economy finally
weakens and undermines the nation involved; and unless removed before the
logical and final consequences are reached, eventually brings destruction --
economic, political, and social.
When
the people of a nation operate with a redeemable currency every individual is
able to exercise direct control over the government's use of the public purse
to the extent of his purchasing power. If he is disturbed by government
profligacy or unsound banking practices, he can conserve his purchasing power
by converting it into the gold coin of the realm. He is not compelled to join
forces with others to form a third political party in an effort, usually
futile, to protest the profligacy of government and the duplicity of the
banks. But if a considerable number of people demand redemption of non-gold
currency in gold, the banks experience the impact in the form of diminishing
bank reserves which is passed on to the U.S. Treasury and thence to Congress.
These demands for redemption are the flashing red lights on a central
signal-board -- signals the banks and the government respect. The wires were
crossed at the signal-board when gold corpuscles were removed from the
monetary bloodstream. Ever since signals deliver the wrong message.
It is
true that a redeemable currency may, and frequently does, depreciate in a
pronounced degree because of the misuse of credit and debt; but it cannot
depreciate to the same extent irredeemable currency can. The limit in case of
the latter, as it will be most dramatically demonstrated by the dollar, is zero.
When
the government cut all the wires from individuals to the central signal-board
in Washington, it opened the way to an orgy of profligate spending, to an
unlimited depreciation of the dollar, to the ultimate destruction of this
nation, and to the overthrowing of world order. The government and the banks,
freed from their proper responsibility of meeting their promises to pay, now
have an unrestrainable control over the lives of the people of this nation.
Freedom is lost. We have all become slaves. It is this control that the
government and the banks want to perpetuate through the regime of the
irredeemable dollar.
The
fact that the people have lost control over the public purse constitutes a
mortal danger threatening the well-being of the United States -- and that of
the world as shown, for example, by the usurpation of war-making powers by
the president.
The
proof, if one is still needed, that the removal of gold corpuscles from the
monetary bloodstream ultimately leads to cancer, is the exploding derivatives
market. Its size has exceeded the $ ½ quadrillion (500 trillion) mark.
Compare this with the annual GDP of the U.S. at about $ 14 trillion. Worse
still, the derivatives market is growing at a pace of 40 percent per annum,
roughly doubling in size every other year. This is cancer, which mainstream
economists and politicians want you to ignore.
What
is the solution? The answer is obvious. Put the gold coins back into
circulation. Restore a healthy monetary bloodstream. Unfortunately, this is
easier said than done. The failure of the initiative of Malaysia to revive
the Islamic Gold Dinar is a case in point. Mainstream economists call me an
old foggy-bottom and an unreconstructed belly-acher. They point to the Gold
Eagles, Gold Maple Leafs, Gold Pandas, and Gold Koalas, in addition to the
Islamic Dinar. "See, they are all sitting out there and refuse to
circulate. They go into piggy-banks and cookie-jars. Gold just does not
behave as it used to, they say. Gold is passé. You can't put spent
tooth-paste back into the tube".
I want
to explode this kind of disingenuous reasoning for once and all. The gold
coins which governments have sold for profit were not meant for circulation.
Governments don't want them to circulate. They are souvenir coins,
conversation pieces that people will not spend, and for a very good reason,
too. People are not sure they can get them back on the same terms.
By
contrast, gold coins issued constitutionally will circulate. The
Constitution mandates the striking of the coin of the realm free of
seigniorage. People surrender the exact weight and fineness of gold at
the Mint in exchange for the coin of the realm free of charge. The right to
convert is unlimited. If the government opened the U.S. Mint to gold, then
people would start spending their Gold Eagle coins because they would know
they had a constitutional guarantee to get replacement for their coin on the
same terms. This is the wisdom of Isaac Newton, Master of the Royal Mint in
London, who put England on the gold standard.
We may
take it for granted that usurpers at the Federal Reserve and the U.S.
Treasury have no use for Newton. They will not relinquish without a fight
their monopoly of charging 100% seigniorage, as against the constitutionally
mandated 0%, on issuing new money.
So how
are we to restore gold corpuscles to the monetary bloodstream? It may well be
that the solution is in the hands of minorities such as native Hawaiians,
American Sovereign Indian Nations, or the First Nations of Canada, to
establish a Mint on their reservations or territory. They don't need more
gambling casinos or more liqueur outlets. They need a Mint in order to open
it to gold. The police scientists at the Federal Reserve and the U.S.
Treasury may stop short of putting the Mint owned and operated by minorities
out of business using Waco-type violence.
If the
minorities did open a Mint to gold, it would be "their finest
hour." A grateful posterity would remember them for their heroism in
defying slavery insidiously imposed by a reactionary monetary regime on them
as well as on the rest of the world.
If
they did that, we could truthfully say that "never have so many owed so
much to so few".
GOLD
STANDARD UNIVERSITY LIVE
Session
Three of Gold Standard University Live (GSUL) will take place in Dallas,
Texas, U.S.A., from February 11 through 17, 2008. We are happy to announce
that this program is sponsored by Mr. Eric S. Sprott, LL.D., C.A., CEO of
Sprott Asset Management Inc. of Canada. The program is in three parts:
(1) A
course on Adam Smith's Real Bill Doctrine and its Relevance Today, consisting
of 13 lectures. Professor Lawrence H. White of the University of Missouri,
St.Louis, has been invited to represent the opposing view. Date: from
February 11 through 14.
(2) A
debate on the Economics of Gold Mining. The failure of Barrick Gold's
hedging program. True or Bilateral hedging. With industry participation.
Date: February 15-16.
(3) A
panel discussion entitled Gold Profits in Troubled Times where
paraphernalia such as the gold and silver basis, gold and silver lease rates,
NAV of gold and silver ETF's, the bimetallic ratio, and the variation of
these will be discussed with invited experts. Please note that this is a new
departure in gold and silver investing through bimetallic arbitrage. Date:
February 16-17.
The
registration fee for GSUL Session 3 covers participation in all three
programs, the course during the week February 11-14 and the debates during
the week-end of February 15-17. It is also possible to register for the
week-end programs separately at a reduced fee. Participation is limited;
first come first served. Participants pay their own hotel and meal bills. The
cost of the closing banquet is included in the registration fee.
For
the benefit of European friends of Gold Standard University, Session Three
will be repeated, March 10-16, 2008, at Martineum Academy in Szombathely,
Hungary, where the first two sessions of GSUL were held, provided that a
sufficient number of peopleregister.
For
further information please check www.professorfekete.com or inquire at GSUL@t-online.hu.
We are
pleased to announce that a new website www.professorfekete.com is now
available. It contains e-books, archives, news about GSUL, and material of
current interest.
Antal
E. Fekete
San Francisco School
of Economics
aefekete@hotmail.com
Read
all the other articles written by Antal E. Fekete
DISCLAIMER AND CONFLICTS
THE PUBLICATION OF THIS LETTER IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND AMUSEMENT ONLY.
THE AUTHOR IS NOT SOLICITING ANY ACTION BASED UPON IT, NOR IS HE SUGGESTING
THAT IT REPRESENTS, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY OR SELL
ANY SECURITY. THE CONTENT OF THIS LETTER IS DERIVED FROM INFORMATION AND
SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, BUT THE AUTHOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATION THAT
IT IS COMPLETE OR ERROR-FREE, AND IT SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS SUCH. IT IS
TO BE TAKEN AS THE AUTHORS OPINION AS SHAPED BY HIS EXPERIENCE, RATHER THAN A
STATEMENT OF FACTS. THE AUTHOR MAY HAVE INVESTMENT POSITIONS, LONG OR SHORT,
IN ANY SECURITIES MENTIONED, WHICH MAY BE CHANGED AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON.
Copyright © 2002-2008 by Antal E. Fekete - All rights reserved
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