The Case for Gold
Minority Report of the U.S. Gold Commission
by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman


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BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book was the Minority Report of the U.S. Gold Commission, a federal government-appointed study from the early 1980s. The Minority Report (which means it was not the policy adopted by the majority and hence by Congress) was written by Rep. Ron Paul. The book was reprinted in 2010 as part of Rep. Paul's presidential campaign.

The book gives a detailed history of paper money and a detailed history of gold as money, coming out in favor of gold-based money. The majority of the Gold Commission came out in favor of paper money. The purpose of the Gold Commission was to study the effects of President Nixon's "floating the dollar" in 1973, which means he decoupled the dollar from the gold standard. That decoupling has become permanent.

Rep. Paul's point is that we should go back to the gold standard. He says on the campaign trail and in this book's introduction that if we had followed the Minority Report's recommendations in the 1980s, we would not have had the 2008-2010 recession. Rep. Paul's popular support in the 2012 presidential primaries implies that his viewpoint is at last getting a fair hearing.

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, March 2012

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Budget & Economy     All great inflations end with gold replacing paper money.     Alternative to gold standard: legalize competing currencies.     No return to gold standard; forward to modern gold standard.     Monetarism is unworkable; feds cannot control money supply.     Market values currency in terms of gold, regardless of rates.     Gold standard is superior to any form of paper standard.

Government Reform     Politicians dislike gold standard--it disallows dishonesty.

Jobs     Unemployment caused by artificial "full employment" policies.

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• Ron Paul