Wednesday update: Melloy on the true inflation rate; The Post reports from Bretton Woods; Tamny critiques Rep. Ryan's plan.

From CNBC, John Melloy notes that inflation is near 10% using 1970s methodology.

The Washington Post reports from the monetary conference in Bretton Woods, NH.

From the archive, Richard Nixon ends the Bretton Woods agreement by suspending dollar convertibility (h/t: Free Banking):


On NRO, Larry Kudlow counsels concern but not panic over the weak dollar.

At RCM, John Tamny critiques the Ryan plan:

So while the falling dollar since 2001 and the certain cruelty the latter foists on the vast majority of Americans (Ryan, quite unlike Reagan, made no mention of the dollar in his Wall Street Journal piece promoting the plan) remains the unsung factor when it comes to an unhappy electorate, high levels of spending loom large, and a return to 2008 levels reveals a Republican leadership still well out of touch with the an increasingly skeptical base.

But if we move away from spending for now, it should be noted that seemingly like all other Republicans who've made promises of fiscal prudence ahead of large advances in government, Ryan is committing the fatal error of bringing deficit reduction talk into a discussion that shouldn't include it. To mention deficits is to implicitly suggest a problem of revenues, but there's no such problem. We have deficits because Republicans (including Ryan) and Democrats have been spending way too much for way too long.

In talking up deficit reduction Ryan gives the Democrats the opening they need to bring "revenue enhancers" into the discussion; meaning marginal tax rate increases.

At Bloomberg, Amity Shlaes suggests the alternative to tax increases is the Ryan plan.

In The WSJ, Stephen Moore reports on the budget debate.

On The Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore debates the President’s tax hike proposal:



At TGSN, Ralph Benko notes the Founding Fathers’ preference for precious-metal backed money.

From Café Hayek, Russ Roberts counters Joseph Stiglitz’s comments on the wealthy.