Warren Buffett’s Father, Gold, And Liberty

Is there a connection between Human Freedom and a Gold Redeemable Money? At first glance it would seem that money belongs to the world of economics and human freedom to the political sphere.

But when you recall that one of the first moves by Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler was to outlaw individual ownership of gold, you begin to sense that there may be some connection between money, redeemable in gold, and the rare prize known as human liberty . [emphasis mine]

– Rep. Howard Buffett, 1948

So said the Honourable Howard Buffett (1903–1964), the father of none other than the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett. Were these just the flowery words of a politician, geared at nothing more than garnering votes?

No. These were the thoughts of a statesman, whose concern was only for his own constituents, explained in a well-reasoned essay. Buffett begins his argument:

In a free country the monetary unit rests upon a fixed foundation of gold or gold and silver independent of the ruling politicians. Our dollar was that kind of money before 1933. Under that system paper currency is redeemable for a certain weight of gold, at the free option and choice of the holder of the paper money.

That redemption right gives money a large degree of stability. The owner of such gold redeemable currency has economic independence. He can move around either within or without his country because his money holdings have accepted value anywhere.

Economic liberty sounds nice, but is it really useful or necessary? As our leaders continually tell us, ourliberties get in the way of their “War on Terror,” which is why they have already found it necessary to eliminate many of those liberties. Buffett continues:

The subject of a Hitler or a Stalin is a serf by the mere fact that his money can be called in and depreciated at the whim of his rulers.

Here, we require greater elaboration, as many readers may not see the connection between the ability of rulers to depreciate currencies at their whim, and the transformation of citizens into serfs. A familiar quote from a more famous monetary authority sheds some light:

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation.

– Alan Greenspan , 1966

When you depreciate a currency, you create inflation. They are two sides of the same coin. Devalue a currency by 10%, and prices increase by a commensurate amount. It’s what charlatan economists call “inflation.” Give a Hitler or a Stalin (or a Greenspan or a Bernanke) the unlimited capacity to devalue currencies and create inflation by printing paper currency, and you give these Tyrants the unlimited capacity to steal wealth – our wealth.

Howard Buffet warns that citizens can be reduced to serfs (via penury), through the mere whim of our corrupt leaders choosing to devalue our paper currencies. Sir Alan Greenspan, a central banker knighted for his purported sagacity, warns us that without a gold standard there is nothing to prevent corrupt governments and corrupt central bankers (like himself) from confiscating (stealing) our wealth, by deliberately manufacturing inflation by devaluing our currencies.