The Trouble with Gold Bugs

If it's socialism for government to fix the price of copper, how is it libertarianism for government to fix the price of gold?

... is splendidly summed up in today's House testimony by Lewis Lehrman.

A dollar convertible to gold would provide the necessary Federal Reserve discipline to secure the long term value of middle income savings, to backstop the drive for a balanced budget.

Well guess what: The dollar is convertible to gold. Any time of the day or night. As I write, gold can be purchased at 1397.20 per ounce.

What Lehrman wants is not for the dollar to be convertible into gold - but for the dollar to be convertible into gold at a fixed price. My question: If this is a good idea, why not extend the policy? We could say that the dollar be forever convertible into oil at $100 a barrel, that it be forever convertible into copper at $4 a pound. Ditto for wheat, soybeans, etc. Can you imagine what they'd say if Nancy Pelosi proposed such an idea? But if it's socialism for the government to fix the price of copper, how is it libertarianism for the government to fix the price of gold?

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