Jim Grant: The Current Monetary System Is "Collectivist Top-Down Tyranny"

05-09-2011 • BusinessInsider.com/

Jim Grant has backed a return to the gold standard in comments made at a debate last night in New York, saying, "American needs a debit card, not a credit card" (via the New York Sun). Grant was backed in the debate by David Stockman, former Reagan OMB director, said, "The gold standard wouldn't have allowed forty years of deficits." And while Edward Chancellor, of GMO, and Richard Sylla, an NYU professor, both expressed doubts over a return to the gold standard, Grant argued its superiority. From the New York Sun: Mr. Grant likened those who oppose the gold standard because of its temporary readjustments to the man who said, “I detest music because I don't like Lady Gaga.” He considered the 1920s gold standard to be not a true gold standard. He called the current monetary system a “collectivist top-down tyranny . . . The clever and the nimble play this system for what it is worth.” Gold he referred to as “the people’s money” and the dollar as “America's credit card.”