DJ Thoughts on The "Gold Standard" 7-31-2023
DJ: DID YOU KNOW?
The expectation of the GCR brings with it the understanding that the U.S. will have to go back to the gold standard. In the U.S., as well as most other countries, this requires an act of legislation. In the past five years, spanning four congresses, the bill to go to a gold backed currency has been introduced four times.
H.R 5404—115th Congress (2017-2018), introduced 03/22/2018. Title: To define the dollar as a fixed weight of gold and for other purposes. H.R. 2558— 116th Congress ( 2019-2020) Introduced 05/07/2019. Titled the same. H.R. 9157—-117th Congress (2021-2022) Introduced 10/07/2022. Titled the same.
And recently, in the 118th Congress (2023-2024). The latest bill , H.R. 2435, was introduced 03/30/2023. At which time additional verbiage was added to the text of the bill as well as a title change. Titled the “ Gold Standard Restoration Act”.
The bill requires the Department of the Treasury to define the Federal Reserve note dollar in terms of a fixed weight of gold, based on that day’s closing market price.
Federal Reserve Banks must exchange Federal Reserve notes with gold at this price and create processes to facilitate exchanges between banks and the public. If a Federal Reserve Bank does not do this, Treasury must make any exchange and place a corresponding lien on the assets of the bank. In addition, Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve must report on U.S. gold holdings.
Within the text of the bill ( Google H.R. 2435 text) it states : “To enable the market and market participants to arrive at the fixed Federal Reserve note dollar-gold parity in an orderly fashion, during the 24-month period following the date of enactment of this Act” in other once signed into law it take will 24 months before it’s enacted.
In Sec 4 of the bill ( Disclosure of Holdings) Paragraph (1) the Secretary and the Federal Reserve shall each make publicly available, in both electronic and published format, all holdings of gold, with a report of any purchases, sales, swaps, leases, and any other financial transactions involving gold, since the temporary suspension on August 15th, 1971, of gold redeemablity obligations under the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944
In today’s financial environment the President does have some authority over economic policy and monetary matters through executive actions, but significant changes to the overall monetary system, such as establishing or abandoning a gold standard, would typically require legislative approval.
In the case of Nixon’s actions in 1971, the move away from the gold standard was achieved through executive authority without formal approval from Congress.
It was one part of a bigger economic plan that would later be dubbed “The Nixon Shock”. And was actually the suspension of the U.S. dollar’s convertibility into gold for foreign governments and central banks, as well as the implementation of wage and price controls, and implementing a 10% surcharge on imports.
The point being is, everyone has to be realistic about what it means to go back to a gold standard and how the process actually works. This is NOT an overnight thing when it does happen. This flood of nonsense that one day, very soon, the GCR will be implemented literally overnight just doesn’t jive with reality. Follow the processes, not the rumor mill.
DJ