QUESTION: Marty, I know you will not say who you advise, but we know you were the only Western analyst called in by China during the Asian Currency Crisis. People have also seen you in India at that famous hotel that the terrorists attacked. China even issued a white paper on how their central bank uses Capital Flow Analysis, which you invented. That said, my question is: The BRICS had everyone expecting a gold-backed currency if that failed. You also said in an interview that the new BRICS currency would not displace the dollar. Would you comment on why a gold-backed BRIC note would fail since they seem to have taken that position from you?
QB
ANSWER: The BRICS currency was created for geopolitical reasons when the Neocons transformed the SWIFT system into an economic weapon and even threatened China that they would do the same to them if they supported Russia. Once that occurred, the Neocons transformed the entire world’s monetary system into a weapon of war. That is why we have the BRICS. It had nothing to do with killing the dollar or backing their currency with gold.
Many hoped for an official announcement regarding a gold-backed currency, which failed to materialize. Look—a gold-backed currency would be massively deflationary. The money supply could not expand with the population or in times of need without new discoveries. Just because a currency is gold does not eliminate inflation or deflation. All the gold discoveries during the 19th century in California, Alaska, and Australia caused havoc economically. Then there were wars. The fact that gold was the currency did not prevent inflation.
Spain defaulted 7 times. All the gold and silver they brought back from the New World caused massive European inflation. Those who preach that a gold standard is the answer know nothing about history.
They blame “fiat currency” as if this will solve all the problems by eliminating it. There were booms and busts throughout ancient times long before there was paper money. ALL currency is fiat, even when it is gold. I have shown that Southern India routinely imitated Roman gold coins because they had a premium over gold – fiat. Northern India and the Kushan Empire did issue their own coinage mainly because they traded more with China. Southern India stuck imitation Roman gold coins for about 250 years. That confirms that the Roman coinage was worth more than the metal content.
BRICS Will Not be a Gold-Backed Currency or a Dollar Killer
They made the same claims about the Euro. That, too, did not work out well. Why? The value of a currency is the productive capacity of its people—not its gold reserves. Japan and Germany lost the war and rose to the top of the economic food chain because their people were productive. The United States has the largest CONSUMER-BASED economy, so everyone needs to sell their products here. That means that they must sell in dollars. The US is also strong militarily. That also adds to the foundation of the currency.
It is time we abandon all of these old, stupid economic theories, leftovers from the 18th and 19th centuries. The economy has evolved since then. The Neocons are destroying the dollar. They are undermining the future of the United States, and when we lose another one of their endless wars, the financial capital will shift from New York to Beijing. Just as war killed Britain, so will it kill the dollar and the United States.
