Matt O’Brien — the anti-gold standard columnist ofThe Washington Post — at last has struck back at Ted Cruz for his advocacy for a “rules-based monetary supply, ideally tied to gold.” O’Brien’s reactionary blast was fully expected and somewhat overdue.
As I wrote in my Forbes.com column last November 1:
We know that Sen. Cruz struck gold from the reaction [to his call for the gold standard]. Immediately the Empire — which is to say the left — struck back. Soon the Sith Lords at the New York Times and Washington Post — hello Paul Krugman, hello Matt O’Brien! — will launch their TIE fighters against Jedi Master Cruz as his X-Wing nears the Death Star, which Cruz has called a “Star Chamber,” the Fed.
On February 23rd, O’Brien published a WaPo column: “This might be Ted Cruz’s worst idea.” Therein, with characteristic wit and élan, he attacks Cruz for gold standard advocacy:
Now, it usually only afflicts people wearing bowties…
This characterization of gold standard proponents (hello Larry Parks!) is delightful. Full disclosure: I myself only wear a bow tie when wearing black tie. That said, point well taken! Alas, though, O’Brien, an often bright (and sometimes even brilliant) analyst is an obsessive anti-gold standard denier which occludes his usual good judgment.
O’Brien’s column’s first indictment of the gold standard is founded on the volatility of the price of gold. Of course gold, as a demonetized commodity, is volatile. This is completely irrelevant, and even antithetical, to how gold (or, to be more precise, the dollar) behaved, and would behave, under the classical gold standard.
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