[agentultra]

It sounds to me like you believe in conspiracy theories about finance and banking and the threatening powers that control them. I suppose you also take Ezra Pound's later obscenities about global finance and the reasons for war to heart. And therein lies the problem with the goldbug: the path to fascism.

All inflation is bad is a highly reductive argument. It is much more complicated than that and most economic models indicate that a certain amount of inflation is a good thing for overall growth. This is why, in the US, the Federal Reserve targets 2% inflation. There are a lot of positive effects to inflation and trying to control it so that it grows moderately is a good thing. There are decades of research as to why this is the case even though I suspect it won't sway you I suggest you try reading it if you are seriously interested in educating yourself about what you're talking about.

Do I believe the current economic conditions are the result of a scheme among elite bankers? No. A conspiracy involving more than two people is not sustainable and not a conspiracy. Financial regulation is managed in most Western countries by democratic representation. In the US they created the Federal Reserve system. If you want to see what they get up to they publish their board meeting notes, research, reports, results of votes, etc. It's open information.

If Americans have a problem with the system they're free to vote for representation that will introduce laws that will change the way the Federal Reserve is run... although in my experience very few people even know what the Fed does or that they have a website.

I don't need the thought experiments of a long-dead banker who didn't live to see the formation of the Federal Reserve. The quote you're citing is antiquated. Banks today don't make money on deposits like they did in this Rothschild's day and people aren't worried about runs on a bank's reserves anymore.

Although if they're invested in crypto via Tether or any other stable coin they ought to be.

[fleddr]

I'd offer a less technical criticism on the economic and monetary system you defend.

At the end of the day, now matter what happens, somehow the system always calibrates to ensure that the typical human being is a wage slave for life. Spectacular improvements in productivity and technology are somehow never returned to the worker, the system then just increases the cost of living, or creates new jobs, many of no real purpose.

It's a system to both maximize work and consumption, which is as anti-economical as it gets. It's also a system that crashes when it doesn't grow. It's also a system that completely ignores every externality and wrecks everything in its path.

But yes, I'm sure you're right that from within this system, everything you say is technically correct.

[agentultra]

I'm not defending it as a perfect system.

I am criticizing the implication that the banking system is run by vast conspiracy and that the gold standard was a better system.

[rglover]

> For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.

> John F. Kennedy, 1961

[agentultra]

What does that presidential address have to do with goldbuggery?

Kennedy was talking about the Cold War and the need for and limits of secrecy in governance during times of war.

[rglover]

> It sounds to me like you believe in conspiracy theories about finance and banking[...]

Yeah, dude.

> Do I believe the current economic conditions are the result of a scheme among elite bankers? No.

You're their ideal customer.

> A conspiracy involving more than two people is not sustainable and not a conspiracy.

You, like many people, highly underestimate the role of hierarchy in a conspiracy. The people at the top don't have to tell you it's a conspiracy or explain why they're having you do what you're doing. They just say "hey, manager, go do this" (who wants to keep their job and will do something, even if it's irrational) and then that edict trickles down till you get to a lower-level worker who's only concern is "will I get my paycheck?"

It's why it's possible and why it works. Most people are timid cattle that are deathly afraid of their "superiors" and this logic enables psychopathic behavior quite well. Couple that with folks like yourself who are desperate to explain away evil in the world and you have a pretty kick ass machine for corruption.

> The quote you're citing is antiquated.

Who decides that? You?

[agentultra]

Decide for yourself. Mayer Rothschild died 100 years before the creation of the Federal Reserve. Banking in his time was extremely different.

Monetary policy in the US is federally regulated by the Federal Reserve. Their meeting minutes, votes, etc are all public information. We all benefit from this regulation. Because of it, banks are forced to disclose their finances as part of their SEC filings. Ever notice how they claim to care about the environment and the Paris Agreements and yet their investments in oil and gas have increased in the last couple of years?

Some people have because regulation does work some times.