Re: James Baker's commodity index

From: Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@BERKELEY.EDU)
Date: Tue Nov 16 2004 - 20:04:07 EST


At 11:14 AM -0800 11/16/04, Michael Perelman wrote:
>Where can I read more about this?

The quote from Baker is in Woodward's book on Greenspan. But that
Greenspan may have been chosen to run surreptiously Baker's modified
gold standard--hardly a radical idea, I would think, given
Greenspan's own gold bug past--is not an idea that has been developed
in print as far as I know in recent years--there are those fifteen
year old articles from the WSJ and NYT. Perhaps this is the reason
that it is having a chilly reception here on OPE-L.
On and off for the last two years, I have been putting the idea
forward as an answer to Fred's question of whether there is any sense
in which money is a commodity today. I of course think my answer is
the most plausible, albeit only partially, affirmative answer.
Rakesh


>On Tue, Nov 16, 2004 at 10:59:18AM -0800, Rakesh Bhandari wrote:
>>  Just to clarify why I sent summaries of Baker's ideas from 1987,
>>  though their relevance should be obvious.
>>
>>  In 1987, Reagan seemed ready to reappoint Paul Volcker as Fed
>>  Chairman, when Treasury Secretary James Baker convinced him to give
>>  the job instead to Greenspan.  Baker gloated ''We got the son of a
>>  bitch'' after maneuvering Paul Volcker out of the Fed.
>>
>>  Greenspan was chosen--I am arguing--to run monetary policy in
>>  accordance with what can be called Baker's modified gold standard.
>>
>>  Rakesh
>
>--
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 530-898-5321
>E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu


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