HomeBullion & Precious MetalsThe Coin Analyst: GOP Platform Calls for New Gold Standard Commission

The Coin Analyst: GOP Platform Calls for New Gold Standard Commission

By Louis Golino for CoinWeek …..
Republicans, or at least many of their political leaders, just can’t seem to get enough of the gold standard.

Marsha Blackburn, a GOP representative from Tennessee, told the Financial Times recently that Republicans agree on the idea, and that the House recently passed a bill on it. She believes it “is something we think needs to get done.”

At last week’s GOP convention in Tampa, a provision calling for a new gold standard commission was part of the Republican platform, although it did so without actually using the word gold.

The idea of tying the dollar to gold appeals to conservatives who are concerned about the possibility of future hyperinflation, and those who don’t believe in fiat-based paper currency.

Throughout the 2012 GOP primary process, one candidate after another endorsed the idea, as I discussed in detail earlier this year (https://coinweek.com/featured-news/the-coin-analyst-gop-presidential-candidates-and-the-gold-standard/).

Newt Gingrich told Mother Jones recently he favors the appointment of gold standard backers on the new commission after the reports surfaced about the platform.

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s views on the gold standard are unclear. He said in an interview earlier in the year that he does not see it as a “magic bullet substitute for economic restraint,” but that is about all he has said about it. He has called for replacing Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman.

Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan has also not endorsed the idea but supports something similar, specifically, pegging the dollar to a broad basket of commodities, an approach many economists question.

The new commission would be similar to the one authorized by legislation passed by Congress in October 1980. That commission ultimately rejected the idea of returning to the gold standard, but it also made some recommendations calling for the creation of an American gold bullion coin program, which laid the groundwork for the American Gold Eagle program that started in 1986.

The 1980 commission began work after Ronald Reagan became president in January 1981. The commission was dominated by gold standard critics, and a minority report that endorsed a new gold standard was prepared by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman, who have both favored the idea for decades.

At the time, the only gold coins or medals the U.S. Mint was issuing were the American Arts gold medals. And South African gold Krugerrands, which were not legal to buy in the U.S. because of Apartheid, were dominating the global gold bullion coin market.

The Tampa platform said the 1981 commission explored the possibility of a “metallic basis” for the dollar to tame the high inflation of the late 1970s, which is an odd way to phrase it since anyone familiar with the issue knew the reference meant one specific metal of the precious variety, namely, gold. Perhaps they were thinking of silver too.

The platform provision refers to the double-digit inflation of the Carter era and the 1981 gold commission, and then says: “Now, three decades later, as we face the task of cleaning up the wreckage of the current administration’s policies, we propose a similar commission to investigate possible ways to set a fixed value for the dollar.”

But in reality when the U.S. was on the gold standard, which was from 1900 until August 1971, the supposedly fixed value of the dollar was changed numerous times. The main way that was done was by altering the amount of silver and gold used in our nation’s coinage. In addition, the fixed amount at which the U.S. government valued an ounce of gold, which is still the basis for valuing the gold at Fort Knox, was changed several times.

The news coverage of the GOP platform’s gold commission idea has focused mainly on the perceived unworkability of tying the dollar to gold. In the aftermath of the platform news, a barrage of anti-gold standard commentary was published throughout the media.

There are three main arguments. First, there is said not to be enough gold in the world for it to serve as the basis of a new U.S. monetary system.

Second, the American government would supposedly relinquish control of monetary policy to the vagaries of the gold market and gold mining companies.

And third, those who oppose a new gold standard argue that there is a very real risk of monetary instability and even collapse of the financial system if the dollar were linked to gold. And that is the mirror image of the main argument of gold standard proponents, which is that it would create sound money and a more stable financial system and stave off an economic collapse.

The main point of critics is that a new gold standard would deprive political leaders of the flexibility they need to set interest rates, adjust the money supply, and generally manage the economy.

To understand these issues better, it is important to remember that gold is the only commodity whose price has little to do with supply factors.

Normally, the price of a commodity is driven mainly by supply and demand, but gold is different. Its supply is essentially what economists call inelastic.

Unlike silver, where supply is very much an issue because silver is used up in many different applications, almost all the gold ever mined in the world still exists. Gold also has some industrial and medical applications, but the gold mined each year, though relatively limited, is enough to replenish what is used up. All the rest lies in storage, or is used in coins and jewelry. And very little new gold is being mined because there are not many large deposits left, and the cost of mining has gotten very high.

There is even talk of mining gold in outer space from asteroids though it is hard to see how that would be cost effective.

So gold’s price is definitely demand driven, especially by demand in India and China, and other factors like monetary issues, especially central bank gold purchases, and central bank monetary stimulus programs, plus international instability and the state of the economy, are the key determinants of its price.

My own view, as I explained in August (https://coinweek.com/bullion-report/the-coin-analyst-groundwork-for-gold-backed-reserve-currency-is-being-laid/), is that a new gold standard per se is unlikely to be implemented, but gold is increasingly seen as an alternative currency, and it could play a major role in future monetary regimes. Gold could form part of the basis for a new global reserve currency at some point.

Finally, noted gold expert and investor Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro-Pacific Capital, told King World News (http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/8/31_Schiff_-_The_US_Will_Be_On_A_Gold_Standard_In_12_To_24_Months.html) on August 31 that he expects the U.S. to face a currency crisis soon and predicted the U.S. would return to the gold standard within “a year or two.”

Schiff later that day contacted King World News to clarify his remarks. He said it could actually take longer than he said earlier, adding: “I think we could have a currency crisis or a sovereign debt crisis begin within the next two years. That might precipitate going back on a gold standard, but who knows? It could be four years, five years, I don’t know.” In Schiff’s view, the sooner the U.S. returns to gold, the better, but before long it will be forced to take that step.

On the GOP platform issue, Schiff said: “Well, discussing and doing are two different things. But eventually we will be back on a gold standard, not because politicians want it, but because the public demands it and the situation requires it.”

He may or may not turn out to be right, but it is worth noting that he and many others with similar views have been predicting a collapse of the financial system on a regular basis for years, and it has not happened yet.

golino portrait thumb The Coin Analyst: 2013 Bullion Coin Designs Released by Perth and Canadian MintsLouis Golino is a coin collector and numismatic writer, whose articles on coins have appeared in Coin WorldNumismatic News, and a number of different coin web sites. His column for CoinWeek, “The Coin Analyst,” covers U.S. and world coins and precious metals. He collects U.S. and European coins and is a member of the ANAPCGSNGC, and CAC. He has also worked for the U.S. Library of Congress and has been a syndicated columnist and news analyst on international affairs for a wide variety of newspapers and web sites.

Louis Golino
Louis Golino
Louis Golino is an award-winning numismatic journalist and writer specializing on modern U.S. and world coins. He has been writing a weekly column for CoinWeek since May 2011 called “The Coin Analyst,” which focuses primarily on modern numismatic issues and developments at major world mints. In August 2015 he received the Numismatic Literary Guild’s (NLG) award for Best Website Column for “The Coin Analyst.” He is also a contributor to Coin World, where he wrote a bimonthly feature and weekly blog, and The Numismatist, the American Numismatic Association’s (ANA) monthly publication, where he writes a monthly column on modern world coins. He is also a founding member of the Modern Coin Forum sponsored by Modern Coin Mart. He previously served as a congressional relations specialist and policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress and as a syndicated columnist and news analyst on international politics and national security for a wide variety of publications. He has been writing professionally since the early 1980s when he began writing op-ed articles and news analyses.

Related Articles

7 COMMENTS

  1. This would prove disastrous, especially for the Republican’s tendency towards military adventurism. Any serious look back at inflationary rates during wartime during the nation’s metallist period will reveal this. Heck, we don’t get the Louisiana Purchase territory from France, had Spain gone bankrupt for a lack of gold and silver…

  2. Hi Louis,

    You’ve put forward a lot of food for thought in this article.

    On this commission itself, I am pretty doubtful the GOP is really serious about exploring gold as an alternative currency option. Mitt Romney has been making a serious outreach effort to try to rope in Ron Paul voters, and I think this is primarily a token gesture aimed at their constituency. I expect the current commission to turn out more or less similar to the way the last one did.

    It is possible Gingrich is a bit more serious than Romney about the idea but he is out of the running as a presidential candidate and his career as a politician is basically over.

    I agree that the gold standard itself is not a patina for our financial problems with the dollar, unless we actually moved to a hard currency system where there was no “dollar” and gold and silver were used directly in day to day exchanges. I see this as even less likely than the US going back on the gold standard.

    I think what is more likely to happen is your idea of gold serving as an alternative reserve currency, or (as I favor) perhaps a basket of gold, silver, and platinum. I also think this state of affairs will be forced on us rather than politicians voting for it in Congress or the people voting for it in some referendum. I just don’t think enough time remains for the government to change course before some kind of crash comes.

  3. It’s a joke, everyone. The GOP can’t be that stup… oh wait, they’re serious?

    Let’s not give up the ability to control our economy to the possession and world valuation of a metal. It didn’t work out so well in the past for modern economies and it would be a total worldwide disaster now.

  4. Thanks to CO and everyone else for their contributions. I agree it is unlikely the GOP will actually move very far on this, but it does show how views on gold are changing. And apparently the platform caused quite a stir in Wall Street circles.

        • Louis,
          I used to be a Republican, a county President of my area’s Young Republicans, and a Chairman of my (pop. 87,000) city’s Republican City Committee. No Republican Party I’d recognize would go down this asinine “gold standard” rathole. But then again, I switched to Democrat PRECISELY because of the economic idiocy of the modern Tea Party / Paulite movement. They are, to me, clinically insane.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

PCGS Set Registry

L and C COIN New Coins

David Lawrence Rare Coins Auctions