From: positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas)
Subject: Re: Gold Standard? No!
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 06:05:53 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <lit3diINN315@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM> kris@bsg8.Corp.Sun.COM writes:
>> As someone who's played the commodity markets for years, I can tell you
>> that there's a very, very important difference between dollars as a
>> commodity and gold or bellies as a commodity.

>As someone who's played the commodity markets for years you should know
>that the Fed does not increase the money supply by printing money,
>refer to the previous post.

No, you are entirely correct, the Fed does not print money. The Treasury
Department does. And if you think that the Treasury does not increase
the amount of currency by printing more than it destroys, you are sadly 
mistaken.

The Fed's manipulation of the money market is, of course, a different
matter. I didn't mention the Fed, nor did I hear anyone else mention
it, so I don't know why you brought it up.

>Also, when someone starts pulling up their crudentials you know they
>are losing ground.

Please enlighten me here... what is a crudential? Does it refer to the
ability to spout crud? If so, I bow to your obvious gifts in this area.

Or if the word you were looking for was "credentials", you seem to be
unaware that credentials are often used to lend weight to the words
of their holder. If someone says, "The economy is in a slump," you
wouldn't necessarily pay him much heed. If, on the other hand, he says,
"I hold master's and doctorate degrees in economics, I have fifteen
years of experience as an economic adviser, and I've spent the last
year compiling data on the state of the economy right now, and I say
that the economy is in a slump," naturally, you'd listen more carefully
to what he had to say. You mentioned commodity markets, so I thought
I'd let you know that my experience in the markets is much greater
than the average person's, and, I'll wager, much greater than yours.
I don't hear _you_ bringing up _your_ credentials.

>> Inflation of 5% / year is considered _good_. Think about it! 
>
>If the gold standard were a cure for inflation this statement might
>have merit, refer to the previous post.

Well, let's run through this again. People with half a brain, who got
the point long ago, you can skip this part. Kris, read on.

I concede that the gold standard isn't a magic formula that will eliminate
inflation. However, the surest way to drive down the price of a commodity
is to produce more of it. If all of our trading were done in gold (or the
paper equivalent thereof), it would be pretty difficult to inflate
currency by producing more of it. While the Fed does its share of causing
inflation, the Treasury certainly does its share too.

>> Are you the same guy I criticized a couple of days ago for making sweeping,
>> all-encompassing statements like this one with absolutely no evidence to
>> back them up? Until this discussion started on alt.politics.libertarian, I
>> didn't even _know_ that the gold standard was in the Constitution, and I
>> have always been very much in favor of the gold standard.

>Isn't the net great. I've learned a lot of great things here too. Maybe you
>should read the constitution sometime. It will take you 30 mins. max.

I have read the Constitution, many times. As you should know if you've
read it yourself, it's a pretty dry document. Let's face it, it was written
by lawyers. It's easy to forget parts of it. As it happened, I didn't know
that the gold standard was in the Constitution, so sue me. I brought up
the point to counter your ridiculous, groundless, foolhardy statement
that the only reason Liberatarians [sic] favored the gold standard was because
it was in the Constitution.

>Sorry to humiliate you in public.

Let me assure you of something, to relieve you of your sorrow. It is beyond
your capacity to humiliate me. In order to humiliate someone, that
person must first do something humiliating.

-- 
__/\__  Jonathan S. Haas         | Jake liked his women the way he liked
\    /  University of Michigan   | his kiwi fruit: sweet yet tart, firm-
/_  _\  positron@engin.umich.edu | fleshed yet yielding to the touch, and
  \/                             | covered with short brown fuzzy hair.