Kudos to Danny Vinik, with his shiny 2013 degree in economics and public policy from Duke University, for wanting to push Janet Yellen to address what he calls the GOP’s “implicit” support of a gold standard in its party platform. The last of four questions he wants Democrats to pose to Yellen when she appears before Congress is: “How dangerous would it be to return to the gold standard?”:
Senator Rand Paul has made news recently as he has barnstormed around the country promoting his “Audit the Fed” bill. A number of Fed officials have vehemently criticized Paul’s bill. But the Kentucky senator and presidential hopeful wants to do more than that. Just a few weeks ago, he said it would be ‘great’ if we got rid of the Fed. Paul has also spoken approvingly of the gold standard.
Krugman and his many acolytes want to put monetary policy into the 2016 campaign mix. Kudos we say again, and bring it on. Among other things, Yellen would explode the myth of an apolitical Federal Reserve. And an honest examination of the record of economic growth since Nixon de-linked the dollar and gold would not look good for the current monetarist regime.
