I have linked to so many Jim Grant op-eds and columns that I've labeled "must-read" that I won't do so again. They're all well worth our time. And I will repeat something I've said lots of times previously -- that Grant is the best financial writer around. And that reading his writing is enjoyable even if you don't agree with his point of view.
Grant's latest op-ed is found in The Wall Street Journal, mourning the loss of the gold standard. Not the last remnants that President Nixon abolished in 1971. But the classic gold standard ending in 1914.
A key bit:
As for the Great Recession, the Bernanke method itself was a leading cause of our troubles. Constrained by the discipline of a convertible currency, the U.S. would have had to undergo the salutary, unpleasant process described above to cure its trade deficit. But that process of correction would—I am going to speculate—have saved us from the near-death financial experience of 2008. Under a properly functioning gold standard, the U.S. would not have been able to borrow itself to the threshold of the poorhouse.
That's just one of many, many great things in this piece. Read it in its entirety.
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