I'd like to take a few moments to talk about the Federal Reserve's latest act of irresponsibility in a continuing series of irresponsible actions (i.e., buying $300 billion in longer-term Treasurys, an additional $750 billion in mortgage-backed securities and -- just for grins -- $100 billion of government-sponsored-enterprise debt).
As a friend noted, Wednesday was the functional equivalent of Pearl Harbor for the U.S. dollar and fiat currencies in general. He said -- referencing that people might pay less for their mortgages -- that they'll pay much, much more for everything else. I would certainly agree.
I discussed this with my good friend Jim Grant, who is one of the foremost authorities on the history of central banking. Jim pointed out to me that when Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, it was a unilateral ending of the world's currency regime, whereas Wednesday marked the announcement of the intent to destroy the world's reserve currency.
Got gold?
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