Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.
The number one problem in today’s generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy.
But rules cannot substitute for character.
I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said.
When trust is lost, a nation’s ability to transact business is palpably undermined.
The process of innovation is, of course, never ending.
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.
Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the ‘hidden’ confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights.
The need for values is inbred. Their content is not.
The arts develop skills and habits of mind that are important for workers in the new economy of ideas.
I do not deny that many appear to have succeeded in a material way by cutting corners and by manipulating associates, both in their professional and in their personal lives. But material success is possible in this world and far more satisfying when it comes without exploiting others.
Credit-default swaps, I think, have serious problems associated with them.
Remember what we’re looking at. Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency, that no fiat currency, including the dollar, can match.
Anyone willing to do what is required to become president of the United States is thereby barred from taking that office. I’m only half joking.
All taxes are a drag on economic growth. It’s only a question of degree.
If you think you understand what I am saying you do not understand what I am saying.
Productivity is notoriously difficult to predict.
Amateurs want to be right. Professionals want to make money.
Since I’ve become a central banker, I’ve learned to mumble with great incoherence. If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said.
We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power.