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Cruz and Paul Rightly Seek to Limit the Fed by Floating Gold Standard

November 17, 2015

By Daniel Mitchell

Since I recently criticized presidential candidates Rand Paul and Ted Cruz for inserting value-added taxes into their tax reform plans, it may seem odd that I’m now going to praise them. But they deserve credit for criticizing the Federal Reserve.

Cruz took aim at the Fed’s “philosopher kings” at the recent GOP debate, while Paul has been a long-time critic, as illustrated by his proposal to “audit the Fed.” This irks some folks, who seem to think Fed critics are knuckle-dragging rubes and yahoos with a superstitious fealty to the gold standard. Writing in The Atlantic, Gillian White mocks the two senators.

Both Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have broached the idea…as part of their monetary policy in the past few months. …the gold standard is a bad idea. …In the short term, linking dollars to gold quantities can produce a currency that’s pretty volatile. …why is this rejected plan popping up…?

White actually answers her own question. The dispute isn’t really about a gold standard, but whether the Federal Reserve should have lots of discretionary power.

The conversations about gold in recent years are perhaps less about the belief that it’s actually smart policy and more about condemning and rejecting the power of the government, through the Federal Reserve, to control the printing of money and the setting of interest rates. …Many economists see the power to manipulate policy in reaction to the ups and downs of the economy as the natural evolution… The purpose of this power is to ward off or lessen financial disasters through keeping rates artificially low or introducing more money into the system, or doing the opposite to rein in inflation during periods of growth.

This is a fair debate. On one side are the advocates of Fed discretion, which is basically the monetary component of Keynesian economics. Proponents explicitly want the Fed to fine-tune and micromanage the economy. This is why we get endless navel-gazing speculation about whether Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen might decide to raise interest rates.

Read the full article at The Federalist: Cruz And Paul Rightly Seek To Limit The Fed By Floating Gold Standard

Issue Categories : Finance & Banking, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz