Jim Rickards – Gold Standard Coming, Fed’s Hoenig Correct

Fed Governor Hoenig shocked many observers yesterday when he stated, “The gold standard is a very legitimate monetary system…We’re not going to have fewer crises necessarily. You will have a longer period of price stability or price level stability, but I don’t know that you’ll have lower unemployment, I don’t know that you’ll have fewer bank failures.” King World News immediately interviewed Jim Rickards who has worked with both the Fed & US Treasury, and who also has a background in national defense as well as consulting with government directorates around the world.

Jim, you said that battle lines would be drawn on this debate and this is the second major figure who has joined with World Bank President Zoellick openly discussing the use of gold in the monetary system. What is your take on this development?

“What Hoenig has done, as Robert Zoellick did before him, is to legitimize the debate. This is not the last word on gold and there is a long way to go both intellectually and mechanically before we get to a gold standard. What is important is that the discussion is now out of the shadows and in the main arena and it will take on a life of its own from here with participation from many sides. Hoening may have lost his vote on FOMC but he has not lost his voice.”

With regards to the battle lines, how do you think Fed Chairman Bernanke will feel about this?