Salon.com > Gold Standard

GOPer wants Virginia to have its own currency

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:35:00 +0000

Virginia's House of Delegates passed a bill this week to set up a committee that would consider whether the state should mint its own currency, based on a gold or silver standard.

ABC News reports:

The lower chamber passed a bill Monday to study the possibility. The legislation, proposed by Manassas Republican Del. Robert Marshall, would create a new joint subcommittee made up of lawmakers, plus two outside experts, to “study the feasibility of a metallic-based monetary unit.”

The committee could spend up to $17,440 and would present its recommendations before the legislative session starts in 2014.

Tennessee GOPer floats return to the gold standard

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 22:08:00 +0000

Rep. John Duncan Jr. believes that the U.S. should return to the gold standard in order to "protect our money" from the threat of inflation.

Appearing on "The Mike Church Show," Duncan, R-Tenn., responded to Church's question about the relationship between the fiscal cliff and the Federal Reserve. "Isn’t the fiscal cliff and our fiscal malaise at least partly to blame on the Federal Reserve and our reckless monetary policy?" Church asked. "Wouldn’t it be prudent for Republicans to gently begin urging their fellow citizens to return to gold?"

"Yes, I agree with you completely," Duncan responded. He continued: "The best way to protect our money and keep us from facing things like I mentioned a few minutes ago about our pensions and so forth becoming almost worthless is to return to a gold standard or non-inflationary policies."

The gold standard delusion

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Pick an economist -- just about any economist, left, right or center -- and see what happens when you suggest that the United States should return to the "gold standard." Unless your chosen wonk happens to be of the ultra-conservative Austrian persuasion, the most likely response will be a sigh and an eye-roll. For the vast majority of the field, the inadvisability of running a modern advanced economy on the gold standard is settled science. It's a bad idea.

We'll get to the reasons for that in just a bit. For now, the newsworthy thing to consider is that a substantial portion of the Republican Party disagrees with mainstream economic thinking -- to the point that the 2012 GOP platform includes a clear shout-out to good old gold.

The exact words "gold standard" aren't included in the text, but the intent -- the longing -- is obvious.