[lbo-talk] Many happy (Austrian) returns

[Sean Andrews]

It seems there is only one final answer the Austrian crowd can come up
with to what has occurred.  They seem to have mostly dropped the "F &
F" and CRA meme and settled on something much purer: it turns out
that, for all the complicated models they've come up with to talk
about the problems of monetarism, velocity of money, etc. that the
real problem is that we don't follow the gold standard. It really is
an elegant solution.  It's really a wonder they aren't in charge.

<CLOSE QUOTE>


>From the Austrian Econ Blog, on "Greenspan's Mistake":

http://austrianeconomists.typepad.com/weblog/2008/10/greenspans-mistake.html

<OPEN QUOTE>
Instead of blaming himself for his monetary policy and admitting once
and for all that central banking is not the best monetary system
available (he actually admitted that the economy is too complex to be
forecasted by Fed experts), he blamed it on the free market. Greenspan
true mistake is to absolve himself from all responsibility by saying
that he had faith in the free market system and that that system
abandoned him (i.e. it had a flaw).

But the more fundamental mistake Greenspan made was 50 years ago when
he abandoned his position on the role of the gold standard. We
shouldn't be surprised that Greenspan is trying to deflect criticism
by minimizing his errors and poor judgments as the Fed Chairman. The
scholars who will write the second edition of "A Monetary History of
the United-States 1961-2040" will surely find a different story."

And from the advertisement for the Mises Institute's "Supporter's
Summit" at the end of the month:
http://mises.org/events/107

<OPEN QUOTE>
Join Ron Paul, Judge Napolitano, and Pascal Salin!

The Gold Standard Revisited


>From Menger to the present day, Austrians have favored sound money
over government-manipulated paper currency. The very first Mises
Institute conference in 1983 was on the gold standard. At the time,
people said the idea was outmoded and that paper currency was working
just fine. Here we are 25 years later, and it is not so.The dollar is
in grave danger, the government is growing at the expense of society,
and the business cycle has been unleashed with ferocity. The best time
for a gold standard is in calm times, but only a crisis focuses the
mind. People are looking for answers, and the Misesian answer is the
same now as it was when Mises wrote his first book on the topic:
restore sound money, stop the inflation, and get government out of the
money business.
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And, just in case you were wondering, at the summit in Alabama,
"Optional golf is $75 per person."   Not sure why I find that so
funny; I guess sometimes you just need to talk about the one good
Scottish philosopher over some nice, Scottish recreation.

Just out of curiosity, other than gold and what Dr. Paul calls "fiat
money," what other option is there?  Using shells? shiny beads? labor
chits? It is gold and the free market or nothing at all.

s