Thursday items: Benko, Calhoun and Woodhill on gold; Kudlow on the dollar; Tamny reviews When Money Dies.

From Daily Caller, Ralph Benko argues the gold standard is necessary to rejuvenate the economy.

At RCM, Joe Calhoun explains how stabilizing the dollar against gold would cause a rush of capital out of commodities into the productive economy.

On Forbes, Louis Woodhill suggests the true value of gold today is $218.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow links commodity volatility to the seesawing dollar.

On The Kudlow Report, a panel handicaps the GOP presidential candidates and agrees none of the contenders has a strong pro-growth message:




From RCM, John Tamny reviews Adam Fergusson’s When Money Dies, about Weimar Germany’s catastrophic devaluation.

Politico reports Republican attempts to reframe the Medicare debate.

On The Washington Post, progressive Ezra Klein attempts to show that tax rate increases wouldn’t retard economic growth.

At The WSJ, Daniel Rosen and Thilo Hanemann note rising Chinese investment in the U.S., but warn of political obstacles.

The shift of China's growth model toward domestic consumption and increasingly intense competition at home forces Chinese firms to upgrade their technology; capture the higher levels of the value chain they traditionally conceded to foreign partners; and augment their managerial skills and staff base to remain globally competitive. Investments abroad are a way to do all this.

China's gain could also be America's gain, as demonstrated by an earlier round of Asian investments. Japanese firms had a difficult start in the U.S. in the 1980s, as they were greeted with skepticism and fear. Today, Japanese firms employ almost 700,000 Americans with an annual payroll of nearly $50 billion.

Yet, as with Japan, the high growth of Chinese investment—albeit from a tiny base—is already sparking a political firestorm in the U.S. Recent controversies have flared around various investments by telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei, as well as steelmaker Anshan in a Mississippi rebar plant, and the acquisition of small aircraft maker Cirrus by a Chinese state-owned company.

From Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal notes the Government Accountability Office has ruled the Treasury can prioritize interest payments over other spending.

In The FT, Axel Merck reports on the euro’s recent strength relative to the weak dollar.

The Hartford Courant notes Steve Forbes advocates a stronger dollar as key to recovery.