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American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle over Gold
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<p>[QUOTE="calcol, post: 24492426, member: 77639"]I read the whole thing and learned more than I needed about FDR’s monetary policy in the early 1930s. Pretty well written and very well documented. But unless you’re a student of monetary policy and its history, it’s tedious. A tipoff to this is that the reviews on the cover are all by university professors!</p><p><br /></p><p>There never was a real default; it was a devaluation. FDR was unnecessarily overzealous in going off the gold standard. It had to be done sooner or later. No way money today could be backed by any precious metal … the sum total of the PM holdings of all governments is way less than the money supply. Precious metals are pipsqueaks compared to the huge world economy.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, the economy in the 1930s would have improved just as fast, maybe faster, if the gold clause in existing contracts and bonds had been left intact and only prohibited in the future. Gold certificates and coins when voluntarily deposited in banks or paid to the government would be exchanged for fiat dollars. All new printed currency would be in fiat dollars. And no need to confiscate gold. The gold-based economy would have withered without the prolonged, distracting and expensive legal and political battles that took place.</p><p><br /></p><p>Going off the gold standard was only part of the resolution effort by FDR, there were many other programs … some of which were helpful, some not. I give the guy credit though that he was willing to experiment because something had to be done. Trying different new things was better than doing nothing. The book repeatedly discusses FDR’s obsession with agricultural commodity prices. This is explained by the fact that over half the labor force was employed in agriculture in 1930; it's less than 5% today.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just as important was creating new laws and regulations to address the main cause of the depression which was unregulated and uninsured lending by banks and brokers. Wasn’t addressed or enforced adequately which led to the great recession of recent times.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cal[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="calcol, post: 24492426, member: 77639"]I read the whole thing and learned more than I needed about FDR’s monetary policy in the early 1930s. Pretty well written and very well documented. But unless you’re a student of monetary policy and its history, it’s tedious. A tipoff to this is that the reviews on the cover are all by university professors! There never was a real default; it was a devaluation. FDR was unnecessarily overzealous in going off the gold standard. It had to be done sooner or later. No way money today could be backed by any precious metal … the sum total of the PM holdings of all governments is way less than the money supply. Precious metals are pipsqueaks compared to the huge world economy. However, the economy in the 1930s would have improved just as fast, maybe faster, if the gold clause in existing contracts and bonds had been left intact and only prohibited in the future. Gold certificates and coins when voluntarily deposited in banks or paid to the government would be exchanged for fiat dollars. All new printed currency would be in fiat dollars. And no need to confiscate gold. The gold-based economy would have withered without the prolonged, distracting and expensive legal and political battles that took place. Going off the gold standard was only part of the resolution effort by FDR, there were many other programs … some of which were helpful, some not. I give the guy credit though that he was willing to experiment because something had to be done. Trying different new things was better than doing nothing. The book repeatedly discusses FDR’s obsession with agricultural commodity prices. This is explained by the fact that over half the labor force was employed in agriculture in 1930; it's less than 5% today. Just as important was creating new laws and regulations to address the main cause of the depression which was unregulated and uninsured lending by banks and brokers. Wasn’t addressed or enforced adequately which led to the great recession of recent times. Cal[/QUOTE]
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