The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute

Issue #35 15 November 2013 1

The Gold Standard
The journal of The Gold Standard Institute

Editor Philip Barton
Regular contributors Rudy Fritsch
Keith Weiner
Sebastian Younan
Occasional contributors Thomas Bachheimer
Ronald Stoeferle
Publius
John Butler
Charles Vollum

The Gold Standard Institute

The purpose of the Institute is to promote an
unadulterated Gold Standard

www.goldstandardinstitute.net

President Philip Barton
President Europe Thomas Bachheimer
President USA Keith Weiner
President Australia Sebastian Younan
Editor-in-Chief Rudy Fritsch


Membership Levels

Annual Member US$100 per year
Lifetime Member US$3,500
Gold Member US$15,000
Gold Knight US$350,000
Annual Corporate Member US$2,000
Contents
Editorial ........................................................................... 1
News ................................................................................. 2
Real Interest Rates and Gold ........................................ 2
Breakthrough of Trust Based Credit ........................... 3
An International Gold Standard Is No Gold
Standard At All ............................................................... 5
Difference Between Bank Notes and Government
Notes ................................................................................ 6
The American Corner: Were Building Stasi 2.0 ....... 7
Brusseles Pyongyang Not much difference left .... 8
Editorial
The continuing media coverage of the Indian
governments attempts to control the flow of gold
into the country describes a farce of light opera
proportions. Attempting to hold back the tide of
gold is problematic everywhere; in India it is akin to
Sisyphus trying to stop the rock from rolling back
down the hill.
Last month in Sydney, Australia, John Butler gave an
entertaining and informative speech at the Gold
Symposium. He believes that gold will make its 21
st

century debut on the international stage, by once
again being the only acceptable method of payment
between nations. It is one of those ideas that seem
obvious but only once someone has articulated it.
Mr Butlers book (The Golden Revolution -
reviewed in a previous The Gold Standard) does
this compellingly.
While the return of gold for international settlements
draws ever closer, which is why the central banks are
so strongly accumulating per the graph below, the
use of gold for intra-national settlement is likely to
be a harder and longer slog. Witness the Indian
governments continuing accumulation of official
gold, while simultaneously putting every impediment
in the way of their citizens right to do the same.

Governments are most reluctant to give up their
own internal exorbitant privilege to print and spend,
while actively trying to defend themselves against the
same action by others.
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 2

The return of gold for the settlement of international
trade will do little to spur economic activity. It is
hard to see how international trade can improve
without national economies improving. Govern-
ments are beginning to realize the wisdom and virtue
of building up national reserves in gold rather than
paper, but for as long as they are able, they will
refuse to accept the reality that the same truth
applies to individuals and businesses within their
own national boundaries.
Some countries will lag the momentum back to gold;
it is odd that a country like India, with such a long
and proud history with gold (and silver), looks like
being one of them. Other countries will not be so
reticent. Singapore is perfectly poised in Asia. Its
long-standing pro-business stance and its newfound
pro-gold stance are making it an attractive gold
centre. Those who resist the inevitable will suffer.
Those who go with the flow will be at the forefront
of leading the world back to prosperity.
Philip Barton
News
Forbes: Keith Weiners Forbes article

Business Standard: Bizarre story from India about a
sages dream of gold & also Times of India:
Historical precedent for Indias gold dig based on
the dream of a sage.

Armenpress: Beware more governments are
getting gold fever.

Colombia Reports: Beyond Eldorado a must see
for those in or near London

ABC News: Junk yard safe filled with gold and silver
coins

Zero Hedge: Chinas unstoppable appetite for gold

Space Daily: X-Rays to locate hidden gold

ABC: Gold found in Eucalypts

Real Interest Rates and Gold
With the latest "government CPI" (Australia) figures
coming in at 2.2% year-on-year, and the Reserve
Bank of Australia cash rate now at 2.5%, the real
cash rate above "government CPI" is now a measly
(2.5 - 2.2 = ) 0.3%.
For those who are not aware, historically, whenever
short term real interest rates are below 2%,
denominated in any currency, is the time to have
your savings in the monetary metals.
During the gold bear market from 1981 till 1999, real
short term interest rates (i.e. the central bank cash
rate minus CPI) were well above 4% in most of the
world's currencies. In the A$ during that timeframe,
real interest rates were well above 5%.
During the 1970's bull market in monetary metals,
and during the current bull market since 1999, real
interest rates around the world have averaged well
below 2%, and in most cases, well below 1%.
Currently, in the US, Europe, UK, Japan, China,
India, SE Asia, Oceania, North, Central & South
Americas, as well as Africa, real interest rates (i.e. the
central bank cash rate minus CPI) are mostly
negative, and all of them are below 1%.
The current monetary metals bull market, will not
cease until this condition changes back to a situation
where real interest rates are above 2%.
This does not mean we will not get massive
volatility, but it does mean that the prudent should
have a portion of their savings in monetary metals.
Jacq Ludwig
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 3

Breakthrough of Trust Based Credit
In my recent article Entrepreneurial Magic, I
discuss the topic of trust based credit or how to
make money without money. I discuss how trust
based credit reduces the cost of doing business... any
business. In todays Gman dominated world, only
fringe businesses can benefit from using trust based
credit. These benefits should be available worldwide
to all business. Indeed these benefits were available
under the Classical Gold Standard; as observed by
Natural Philosopher Adam Smith.
Adam Smith saw that the heavy lifting in world
trade was accomplished not by the circulation of
money (Gold and Silver coin) but mainly by the
circulation of Bills of Exchange. Indeed, some
people call this observation The Real Bills Doctrine
of Adam Smith... as if Adam Smith had invented
this doctrine.
Like any true natural philosopher, Adam Smith
observed reality, saw what was happening with clear,
unbiased vision... and then proceeded to write up the
observations and hypotheses based on his
observations. Quite unlike todays mainstream
science; where observations are selected to support
current dogmas.
In any case, Adam Smith saw the almost magical
qualities of Real Bills... aka Bills of Exchange. If you
missed the last couple of articles, Real Bills are
commercial bills drawn against urgently needed
consumer goods delivered to retailers, with terms...
that is, the bills have an extended due date... unlike
retail bills that need to be paid cash on the spot.
Until their due date when they must be paid in full,
Real Bills carry the value of the merchandise they
were drawn against, and will circulate as a means of
payment... increasing the efficiency of Gold and
Silver money virtually without bounds. They are
called Bills of Exchange because they change hands
in clearing payments.
They are also called Real Bills because they are
drawn against real goods already delivered. These
goods are in urgent demand by consumers...
consumers who will pay for the merchandise in Gold
coin, thus allowing the bill to be paid in time by the
retailer... indeed, perhaps paid before due date if
consumption is brisk; prepaid at a consideration.
This consideration for pre-payment is the origin of
the discount rate. Unlike interest that originates as
the cost of (borrowed) money, the discount
originates as the consideration offered for early
payment of Real Bills.
As discussed in my last article Trust Your Neighbor-
Tie Your Camel, the cost of doing business by
borrowing to pay for inventory is very high... around
50% of net realized profits go to pay the cost of
funds...! To see how detrimental this is to
employment, consider the idea of the Marginal
Productivity of Labor...oops, bit of economic jargon
slipped in here... but the idea is simple once you look
at it more closely.
Margin is the line dividing two things... like the
border of two countries for example. The
productivity of labor is simply how much value an
hour of work creates... whether the labor is shoveling
coal, doing brain surgery, or cutting the patrons hair.
All work is called labor. Margin is the line between
labor that is profitable... and labor that is not
profitable. This is the Marginal Productivity of
Labor; the line dividing profitable from non-
profitable (loss making) economic activity.
Suppose the work of digging up 100 Lbs. of potatoes
creates value of $20.00. That is, from a hundred
pounds of potatoes in the ground to one hundred
pounds of potatoes in a sack ready to ship creates
(adds) value of $20.00. Now suppose an expert can
dig 100 Lb. in one hour... ($20 worth) while a less
experienced or less motivated picker digs 75 Lb. per
hour ($15 worth), and a rooky, wimpy picker bags 50
Lb. ($10 worth).
Our expert creates value of $20.00 per hour, the
journeyman creates value of $15.00, and the rooky
creates $10.00. Assume the overhead cost of the
potato digging business is $10.00 per hour, and the
minimum wage is $5.00... Overhead is an indirect
cost, wages are a direct cost. Overhead is the cost of
doing business. It includes costs of capital,
compliance costs, taxes, etc... Direct cost is the
payment made to the worker; paid directly for the
work of potato digging.
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 4

If we take $10.00 (overhead) and add $5.00 (wages)
we can see that the net value created by the expert is
$5.00 ($20.00 -$15.00 = $5.00). This net value pays
profits... or bonuses, or expansion of the farm, or
whatever. On the other hand, the journeyman digger
creates net value of $15.00 - $15.00 = $0.00... Break
even!
There is no room for profit, or bonuses, or growth
of the farm... this is the margin... the marginal
productivity of labor in the potato digging business
is $15.00 per hour. Finally, the rooky who produces
$10 of value per hour, will not create any NET value;
indeed, $10 - $15 = -$5.00 ... a five dollar per hour
loss. The farmer cannot afford to hire the rooky; he
is sub marginal.
So what can we do to improve the situation? Clearly
the liberal stance of increasing the minimum wage
will put more workers out of work... as an increase in
the cost of doing business raises the marginal
productivity of labor; more workers will become
sub-marginal. If the minimum wage is pushed to
$10.00, the expert will become marginal. This wage
increase will put the expert out of a job, and force
the farmer out of business... or cause an uptick in the
cost of potatoes to compensate for the increase in
costs.
On the other hand, the conservative stance of
getting rid of minimum wages may put more
workers to work... but at starvation wages. Neither
liberal nor conservative views are complete; the real
answer is to reduce the cost of doing business... or,
the same thing, to lower the marginal productivity of
labor; make it profitable to hire less productive
workers.
Suppose overhead costs are reduced from $10.00 to
$5.00... by reducing the cost of capital (through the
use of trust based credit instead of bank borrowing)
and by reducing compliance costs and taxes; now the
journeyman worker indeed produces a net positive
value. $15 - $10.00 = $5.00 of net value. The expert
picker would also produce more net value; $20.00-
$10.00 = $10.00. Why, the expert may even get a
raise.
And our rooky? He produces $10.00 value per hour;
overhead costs are $5.00... so he may sneak in at
wages of $5.00 per hour... The rooky is now the
marginal labor, instead of the journeyman. A new,
lower margin (break even) at $10.00 per hour has
been established. If the minimum wage is reduced to
$4.50, we can be pretty sure the rooky will be in a
position to be hired... and be in a position to learn,
to upgrade his skills, soon to become a journeyman
who easily picks 75Lb per hour.
Now play this very same scenario out over ALL
business, all jobs, and ALL workers worldwide... and
it becomes very clear why there was no structural
unemployment under Gold. Borrowing costs were
replaced by Real Bill profits. Under a fully developed
Bill market, there is no need for the retailer to pre-
pay his bill to get a discount; he simply buys other
merchants bills as his till fills with the consumers
Gold coin... and earns profits on these Bills as they
appreciate.
If you think this can be compared to the retailer
using a savings deposit or a CD to earn income on
surplus cash, you miss the point; the money the
retailer gets for his CD or deposit is more than offset
in the economy at large by other borrowers, who pay
the banks a much higher interest rate. The money
the retailer earns by buying Bills is never borrowed,
does not reduce any other merchants profits... rather
flows strictly from the propensity of consumers to
spend.
Remember, both the retailer and wholesaler, that is
both the acceptor and initiator of a Real Bill benefit;
the retailer gets merchandise on consignment (at no
cost) and the wholesaler gets to sell more
merchandise. Both parties benefit... else they would
not make the deal. Neither borrowing nor lending is
involved.
The structural unemployment we suffer from will
not go away on its own. Dole payments are no
substitute for wages and profits honestly earned. The
World economy will never turn around as a result of
more borrowing, more spending... but it will indeed
turn on a Dime... if the Dime is real Silver, and if
Real Bills that mature into Silver and Gold circulate
freely once again.
Rudy J. Fritsch
Editor in Chief
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 5

An International Gold Standard Is No
Gold Standard At All
Since 1971 the irredeemable monetary system has
been in a constant state of paralysis. Over the last
decade this state has only further deteriorated
bringing global trade into unchartered and dangerous
territory, crippling the global economy and
desolating entire cities (Detroit is only one such
tragedy). For the astute readers of this journal, the
ills of the irredeemable monetary system are of no
mystery, thanks in part to this publication which has
relentlessly crusaded to intellectually illuminate this
shadowy field. Yet it would be intellectually
dishonest to make the claim that this publication is
the only one. There are in fact many groups which
advocate a gold standard; the Rothbard 100%
backers are just one example of the diverse array of
gold standard advocates.
It is no secret that the Gold Standard Institute (GSI)
advocates a particular type of gold standard,
specifically an unadulterated gold standard which
rests on the principle of the separation of state and
economics. Yet unfortunately there is much
confusion amongst our contemporaries concerning
the kind of gold standard which will alleviate our
monetary troubles.
One such group have been those commentators
calling for an international gold standard to settle
trade between countries and corporations as a relief
to the dollar standard. The idea is a neo-Bretton
Woods Agreement where countries would tie their
currencies to gold and simply balance each account
quarterly in gold bullion. This is a peculiar
proposition in the realm of monetary history based
upon unsound and impractical economics.
The first obvious flaw is the expression
international gold standard. Money as a concept is
universal to man irrespective to his geographical
location. As pointed out in previous articles in this
publication, gold is money. Prior to the
dismantlement of the classical gold standard, if one
held US Dollars and exchanged them for British
Pounds, the exchange rate was merely the ratio of
US Dollars to gold relative to Pounds to gold. There
were no political trade agreements in place
sanctioning such a trade except the laws of nature (in
this case the ratio of currency to a weighting of
gold).
Since gold is money, by its very nature it has to be
the most marketable good meaning it must be
international- or universally accepted. Hence the
advocates of an international gold standard are
merely advocating a monetary cartel of sorts. The
term international should be interchanged with
exclusive as all are not are allowed to freely
participate. This means that an international gold
standard is just an exclusive arrangement between
various entities for purposes more attune to political
favour than economic virtue.
Such a monetary system contradicts the entire
philosophical case for a gold standard; the defence of
individual rights a la laissez faire capitalism. An
international gold standard which is currently being
advocated ignores the principles of a free market by
its exclusive nature. Money is a tool strictly
developed by the free action of man. Advocating a
gold standard outside and apart from a free market is
an entirely pointless affair. It reduces the status of
gold to any other commodity, whether it is coal, oil
or pork-bellies.
Nevertheless, setting the philosophical aspect aside,
such a monetary arrangement will not work as it flies
in the face of elementary economics. An
international gold standard is an ill-conceived and
highly problematic proposition for the same
fundamental reason as the current monetary
arrangement: One central planners policy for
another. Bretton Woods collapsed as a result of the
arbitraging forces between the fixed currency ratios,
or price, to a weight of gold. To advocate a neo-
Bretton Woods agreement would be akin to
advocating just another type of disaster. Keeping in
mind that Bretton Woods collapsed before high
speed trading algorithms were off the ground, if a
neo-Bretton Woods agreement were to be
formalised and introduced, its greatest achievement
would be for the agreement to survive longer than a
month.
The practical virtue of an unadulterated gold
standard is not the control of the quantity of money
but rather stability of interest rates a point almost
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 6

entirely lost in economic academia. The quantity of
money is almost immaterial to the stability of an
economy or currency. An international gold
standard has no answer to the issue of interest rate
stability which has brought the global economy to
financial ruin. Conceivably such a monetary
arrangement would require assiduous interest rate
fluctuation to balance out the excessive arbitrage and
overcome speculation between gold, the currency in
question and every other currency something
which no man or superman would be able to do
leading to the systems eventual cannibalism.
Governments would be forced to devalue their
currencies to gold, most likely at an ever increasing
pace, in order to preserve their own gold reserves.
The entire affair would alleviate none of the present
problems and only advance the case of those
adversaries of gold and a free market.
An unadulterated gold standard is the ideal, one
which the GSI strives to champion. Yet the process
of realising and implementing an unadulterated gold
standard is not a Sunday night presidential broadcast.
It requires meticulous attention and transparency -
not in managing it, but in introducing it. That is no
small task.
Sebastian Younan
President the Gold Standard Institute Australia
Difference Between Bank Notes and
Government Notes
Today, governments notes serve as money. They are
issued either directly by governments or, more often,
indirectly through their central banks. Notes issued
by central banks are often called bank notes, but they
are functionally the same as government notes.
However, some significant and important differences
exist between bank notes under the gold standard
and government notes.
As long as bank notes represent newly manufactured
consumer goods (goods expected to be sold in less
than 91 days to the final consumer), they are wholly
beneficial in their effect. They replace a
corresponding amount of gold in the form of coin
and reduce the cost of distribution. On the other
hand, government notes are wholly maleficent in
their effect; they are an unmitigated evil. The worst
effect of government notes is that they impoverish
the masses by transferring their wealth to the wealthy
few resulting in economic stagnation.
When properly issued, bank notes always evidence
capital that provides the means for their retirement.
They represent the gold value of merchandise that
will be sold in less than 91 days thus, providing
the means for their retirement. They are instruments
of distribution and facilitate trade. A person
exchanging the bill of exchange for bank notes pays
the bank a discount on the bill. Bank notes maintain
a direct relationship between money and production
and consumption. (Production produces the money
needed for consumption of the products produced
under the real bills doctrine.)
The holder of bank notes can convert them to gold
on demand. Thus, bank notes circulate at par with
coin. At least two parties, the maker and endorser of
the bill discounted, guarantee the notes issued to buy
the bill. Bank notes are not legal tender and can
circulate without being legal tender. They respond to
and serve the needs of the commerce. When their
work is done, they are removed from circulation.
When the bill representing the merchandise that a
bank has converted to bank notes is paid, the
payment extinguishes the bank notes.
Their use largely increases the amount of coin in a
country, from the powerful influence they exert in
enlarging its production and trade, the coin, and paper
representing merchandise of equal value, circulating
side by side in proportions to suit the public
convenience.
1

Although the quantity of bank notes can fluctuate
greatly, their issue and retirement do not lead to
price inflation or deflation because they represent
new goods being sold in the market. As long as bank
notes are issued only for real bills, bank notes can
never be over issued. They will not cause prices to

1
Henry V. Poor, Resumption and the Silver Question: A Hand-Book
for the Times (1878, Rpt. 1969), p. 11.
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 7

rise because they disappear as the merchandise that
they represent is sold. They will always remain at par
with gold.
Government notes function entirely differently than
bank notes. As government notes do not represent
anything being offered for sale, they lose value and
raise prices. When used to buy goods, they continue
to exist and can be used multiple times to buy
consumable goods. They are completely independent
of commerce. They do not evidence capital. To the
contrary, their purpose is to transfer capital to the
issuing government.
The government is always a borrower of money and
wealth and never a lender. Government notes are
not automatically retired; they are retired at the
prerogative, whim, and discretion of the issuing
government. The government does not issue its
notes to discount bills, and they do not represent
anything that is immediately available for sale for
specie.
No interest or discount is connected to the issue of
government notes. Because the government cannot
pay its notes in specie on demand, its notes are never
made payable on demand. (If it could pay on
demand; it would not have to issue notes.) Not
representing capital, they become instruments of
excess consumption that leads to price inflation.
Government notes destroy the relationship between
money and production and consumption. Once
issued, government notes never disappear until the
government decides to retire them. If they were not
legal tender, they would have difficulty circulating.
As they are always the last resort of exhaustion and
incompetency, they are always made legal tender in the
discharge of contracts equally with coin as a necessary
condition of getting them into circulation. Otherwise no
one would receive them as money. Such provision may
for a time give them a high value, but can never raise
them to the value of coin, for the reason that they can
serve only one function of coin the payment of debts.
. . . They lose a considerable portion of their value so
soon as the debts existing at the time of their issue are
discharged, as no one will contract to receive them at a
future day as the equivalent of coin. Their value,
consequently, comes to depend upon the time that, in
public opinion, is to elapse before they are paid.
2

Government notes promise to pay with no provision
for payment. They are debt payable at the pleasure of
the issuing government. Such payment is almost
never made.
Economics drives the issue of bank notes and
determine the quantity in circulation. Politics drives
the issue of government notes and determines the
quantity in circulation. Government notes are low
quality currency. As long as the real bills doctrine is
followed and the gold standard is maintained, bank
notes are high quality currency.
Thomas Allen
The American Corner: Were Building
Stasi 2.0
Before the Edward Snowden story broke, I watched
a movie about East Germany. It was set in the time
when East Germany was a communist dictatorship
walled off from the world, like a huge maximum-
security prison. The Lives of Others is a gripping drama
that shows what that life was like. To say it was
dehumanizing, that there was no justice, that people
lived in constant terror of the secret police - the Stasi
- does not even begin to describe it. For example,
the Stasi had forensic information on every
typewriter in the country. They could find the author
of anything they didnt like, and disappear him.
See the movie. By the way, the lead actor was hated
in East Germany after the movie came out. Even
years after communism collapsed, many of its
victims are so scarred that they would prefer to blank
it out. This is testimony to how horrific it was.
I normally write about gold and economics, but
Edward Snowden has brought to the attention of
Americaand the whole worlda different issue.
We advocates of the gold standard are, at root,
fighting for freedom. So we should pay attention to

2
Poor, p. 12.
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 8

this front in the same battle. There are many
similarities with the fight for a free market in money,
the unadulterated gold standard.
One of them is that the old notions of liberal and
conservative seem almost inapplicable. It used to
be that conservatives in the U.S. were in favor of
more freedom and less government, at least
nominally. But today, thats not necessarily so. Wall
Street is generally conservative and they are for a
central bank, and its endless acts of Quantitative
Easing.
Similarly, Republicans and conservatives are now
coming out in favor of the National Security Agency,
and defending its spying on American citizens. They
do this in the wake of pervasive abuses that
Snowden has disclosed. The Stasi could never have
dreamed of some of the capabilities used against
every American every day by the NSA, such as mass
scanning of emails and phone calls, much less
automatically building a list of contacts for each
citizen or tracking everyones whereabouts in
realtime.
Support for the NSA fits with conservatives strong
support for homeland security. This term has been
completely perverted, in a way that would make
George Orwell proud. It is now about subjecting
citizen-serfs to every conceivable inconvenience and
intrusion, especially when they dare to travel by
airplane, talk on the phone, send an email, get health
care, or pay taxes. Instead of protecting the rights of
the people, security agencies now exist to attack
them.
Those who would defend the security establishment
and the nascent police state may be conservative
but they are no friends of mans rights or of
freedom. Some are blind ideologues, others are
ignorant dupes, and many are just profiteering
government contractors. It doesnt matter; they are
defending the indefensible.
It is shocking that people who grew up in a free
country would staunchly support fundamentally
transforming America into tyranny. And thats what
its about, tyranny and ultimately murder. There is no
other reason to build a surveillance machine capable
of watching everyone constantly, a healthcare system
in which government bureaucrats make every life or
death decision, a tax agency that knows what you
think and who you voted forand a militarized
police force.
Its a good thing that information disclosed by
Edward Snowden has roiled the American electorate.
He just may have gotten through to people with a
wake-up call. I hope it is in time to change course.
The fight against surveillance, censorship, and
pseudo-security has another similarity with the fight
against fiat currency. If we lose the battle, its lights
out. Our civilization will collapse into a new Dark
Age.
The fight for honest money is linked to the fight
against the police state. A police state will destroy the
productivity that still props up the debt that backs
the dollar. Alternatively, a dollar collapse will drive
desperate, hungry people into the streets. This would
provide cover for a crackdown and dictatorship.
Liberty had better achieve victory on both fronts!
Dr. Keith Weiner
Dr. Keith Weiner is the president of the Gold Standard Institute USA,
and CEO of Monetary Metals where he write on the basis and related
topics. Keith is a leading authority in the areas of gold, money, and credit
and has made important contributions to the development of trading
techniques founded upon the analysis of bid-ask spreads. Keith is a sought
after speaker and regularly writes on economics. He is an Objectivist, and
has his PhD from the New Austrian School of Economics. He lives with
his wife near Phoenix, Arizona.
Brusseles Pyongyang Not much
difference left
During the last few months my report on Europe
featured antidemocratic tendencies, growing Brussels
attempts at centralising the finance and banking
industry, openly announced and partially
implemented expropriations of savings accounts
(Cyprus) and not least the bizarre events around the
German general elections with its close result. A
result which saw all euro-critical parties fail by a
whisker and now gives eurocrats free reign in the
German Bundestag.
This month again, I cannot spare the noble reader
the ignoble shenanigans of Europes political plebs.
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 9

Interested people outside Europe must know how
civil liberties and rights are today dealt with in these
parts.
Shortly after the waves of the German elections have
calmed down, Europes centralisers have begun to
tighten the noose around the neck of the people
again.
Conditions of use
First, there was the news that from 2016 onwards
the maximum wattage of vacuum cleaners is to be
900 W. This is only apparently harmless, since it
constitutes a serious curtailing of consumer choice.
On it goes with a future limit on toilet flushing. For
urinating, 0.5 litres of flushing water should suffice,
for number two the limit is 5.5 litres. Initially, this
would be a voluntary ecological label, later on, a
binding regulation. After regulating the shape of
cucumbers, the colour of tomatoes, banning light
bulbs and smoking, the Brussels centralistas are
marching on in broad daylight, not meeting with any
significant resistance. This way, European people are
mellowed down and formed into the ideal of an EU
citizen. Unfortunately, this is not all: there are
massive incursions into civil rights in the making.
Ban on euro criticism
Even in the election loser FDP, euro-friendly
elements won the day. The former FDP member of
the Bundestag, Frank Schffler, used to be the best
known and most profound critic of the euro in the
Bundestag. As a true liberal thinker he knows exactly
which way Europe is moving. Because of his
Euro/Europe critical statements he was asked to
leave the party by no lesser person than the elder
statesman Hans-Dietrich Genscher. He who was
crucially involved in freeing the Eastern bloc
countries could certainly not be expected to act like
this.
After Helmut Schmidt, the Europaths have managed
to turn around another great, formerly liberal
German politician. This fits in nicely with the fact
that Germany, the land of thinkers and poets, has
lost no less than two presidents since 2010. Khler,
one of the fathers of the no-bail-out rule, did not
want to sign the first round of Greek aid money.
Khlers successor Christian Wulff criticised the
euro rescue in August 2011, five months later he was
chased from his office. Officially, of course, they had
to resign for other, personal reasons.
Curtailing freedom of opinion:
In autumn 2013, The European Parliament is
discussing a motion that would oblige governments
to check on suspect citizens. Officially, this goes
by the innocent-sounding title: European Framework
National Statute for the Promotion of Tolerance).
The draft says: Members of endangered or disadvantaged
groups enjoy additional protection exceeding the general
protection the government grants all people living in the
country.
The aim is to prohibit antifeminist and
islamophobic statements, as it says in the
document. This means that all criticism of feminism
or the Islam would be regarded as incitement of the
people.
In fact this calls for restricting the European peoples freedom
of opinion so that the additional rights of minorities should
not be impaired by intolerant statements. This also includes
making fun of such groups which practically renders satire
impossible . (Paul Joseph Watson)
Lest you be mistaken: the author does not think of
criticising or making fun of women or believers in a
different faith. Nevertheless, the freedom of opinion
and free speech is the ultimate principle of
democratic culture and must remain unhampered.
This undertaking makes me angry and speechless
since it so clearly demonstrates the goal of EU
politics: creating a uniform person as in Pink Floyd
The Wall.
Ban on dissenting parties
If you believe it can get no more brazen, read on.
Already in May 2013, the media have reported on a
European Parliament plan to fine parties that do
not respect the values of the European Union.
This is supposedly meant to make sure there are no
extremely right-wing or xenophobic parties in the
EU Parliament. The EU Commission plans to fine
The Gold Standard The Gold Standard Institute
Issue #35 15 November 2013 10

parties should they deviate from the basic values as
defined by the EU. Further, the EU Parliament plans
to bar parties that do not follow EU values from
subsidies (surely a joke!).
A ban on certain opinions that is underpinned by sanctions
will above all lead to curtailing thinking. One of the
advantages of democracy is that everybody can
voice their opinion and political groups may form freely
within the rule of law. says Deutsche
Wirtschaftsnachrichten. I unanimously support this
interpretation of events.
One of our readers of Hartgeld.com has taken a
definition of fascism and put actual events in ():
Fascism today means all anti-liberal and anti-socialist
totalitarian ideologies. Main cachet: fascism does not tolerate
any other world view (e.g. EU and climate change hysteria).
True to the Fhrer (leader) principle all in their thinking and
actions have to bow to the rules postulated by the Fhrer
(personified by EU institutions and national block parties).
The Fhrer principle is to be enforced by any means necessary.
The use of force (including denigration of dissenters!) is thought
perfectly legitimate. As equally legitimate goes forceful
assumption of power, since fascists believe in their "natural"
entitlement to power. Afterwards, power needs to be secured
permanently. Freedom of opinion (absence of political
correctness), democratic structures (referenda on important
issues), a functioning opposition or truly free elections (free of
manipulation) are not thinkable in such a system.
I would like to close this report with a quote, which
in the light of recent events (especially the European
Framework National Statute for the Promotion of
Tolerance), can be almost called clairvoyant. After all,
the author Ignazio Silone died in 1978:
When fascism returns it will not say: I am fascism, No, it
will say: I am antifascism.
And this really nails it. Under the cloak of
antifascism, fascistic rules are made by a central
body. The people look on impassively and will only
start to complain when it is too late.
Thomas Bachheimer
President The Gold Standard Institute Europe