The Rise and Fall of the Gold Basis

Another fascinating article from Fekete. Please read in full.

"...the role of gold is to regulate the quantity, not so much of money, but of debt.

...I always looked at contango as bribe money, to induce people to take the promise instead of the real thing. It is remarkable and important that under the gold standard there was no need for bribes. People were happy to accept the promise at face value. The credibility of central bankers has in the meantime been reduced to a zero. They are the spinmasters of the "greatest fool" game. The greatest fool is the player who will hold the bag of worthless banknotes when the music stops. Gold futures trading has been introduced in order to make people believe that the possibility of hyperinflation has been eliminated for good.

...I advise my audience to ignore the siren song of the Quantity Theory of Money. Focus attention on the falling gold basis. It is a foolproof indication of the disappearance of monetary gold still available to the public as insurance against economic disasters. The fact is that the vast majority of the people lives in a fool's paradise."