Thursday summary: Shlaes defends the gold standard; Ron Paul criticizes central banks; Malpass on Romney's diversion from growth.

From Bloomberg, Amity Shlaes defends the gold standard against critics.

In The FT (free registration required), US Rep. Ron Paul (TX) lambasts central bankers.

At Forbes, Louis Woodhill highlights declining business investment.

On The Kudlow Report, David Malpass analyzes Mitt Romney’s focus on issues other than growth:



On his show, Rush Limbaugh tutors a college student on supply-side economics.

At Forbes, Steve Forbes reviews Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II.

Market Watch reports China’s intention to accelerate yuan reform.

In Commentary, Abe Greenwald notes the violent plans of some members of the Occupy crowd.

On Kudlow, a newly bearish David Goldman discusses declining business investment and predicts lower job growth:



From Alhambra Partners, John Chapman analyzes the debate over Glenn Hubbard’s recent deficit and debt analysis.

In The WSJ, Stephen Moore analyzes the Republican chances of losing the House. Undiscussed is the House GOP’s focus on budget balancing rather than strong growth measures.

Wednesday round up: Moore and Kudlow applaud the Ryan plan; Bernanke opposes the gold standard; Domitrovic rebuts Romer on supply-side economics.

US Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) advocates his budget and tax plan:



In The WSJ, Stephen Moore applauds Ryan’s proposal.

On NRO, Larry Kudlow emphasizes the Ryan plan’s supply-side tax cuts.

Reuters reports Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke criticizing the gold standard.

The NY Sun responds to Bernanke.

On CNBC, Larry Kudlow discusses Mitt Romney and Bernanke’s remarks:



In Forbes, Brian Domitrovic rebuts Christina Romer’s critique of supply-side economics.

On Bloomberg, Robert Mundell advocates greater US fiscal discipline.

At Fitsnews, Ralph Benko reports South Carolina’s consideration of gold and silver as legal tender.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury highlights the Fed’s move away from QE3.

At a press conference, US Rep. Eric Cantor (VA) announces the House Small Business Tax Cut Act to provide a tax deduction equal to 20% of their active business income.



Rush Limbaugh applauds Mitt Romney’s more pugnacious economic message but wonders if he means it (h/t: Jerry Bowyer).

From Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal argues the eurozone’s problems stem from the euro’s similarity to the gold standard. He fails to consider that under an international gold standard, the euro would not be pushed so high by the low dollar.

On Forbes, John Tamny suggests the blockbuster Hunger Games book and film is an anti-government parable.

Wednesday round up: Tamny on Operation Twist; Reynolds says Marx would oppose Keynesian spending; Pethokoukis, Limbaugh, and O'Grady discuss Christie.

From RCM, John Tamny explains that the Fed’s Operation Twist doesn’t change the facts of production.

At The Daily Caller, Alan Reynolds notes Karl Marx opposed Keynesian-style stimulus.

In The Intercollegiate Review, Lew Lehrman outlines the problems caused by the floating dollar.

On The Kudlow Report, James Pethokoukis and Stephen Moore discuss Gov. Chris Christie (NJ) and Herman Cain:

 

In The WSJ, Charles Schwab advocates dropping tax hikes and government spending stimulus in favor of eliminating “all hurdles that create disincentives for investment in business.”

At Cato, Steve Hanke suggests Basel III’s higher capital/asset ratios may cause another market crash.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein argue gold’s sharp fall indicates tighter monetary policy and is good for the economy.

The WSJ reports US Rep. Paul Ryan’s (WI) new health care reform proposal to replace Obamacare.

From The WSJ, Mary Anastasia O’Grady says Chris Christie’s big speech last night was reminiscent of Reagan:

 

On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh expresses skepticism of Christie, saying he hears John McCain in some of his comments.

From NPR's Marketplace, David Frum disses gold and calls for more quantitative easing. His blog features several negative commentary on gold.

Wednesday summary: The gold/oil ratio suggests a correction; The WSJ opposes QE3; Jenkins advocates breaking up the eurozone.

Nasdaq reports gold passed $1,800 today, while oil hit $82, a 21:1 ratio. This divergence from the historical 15:1 relationship suggests a substantial correction one way or the other. Assuming a dollar upswing, gold would need to fall to near $1,200 to reestablish the normal relationship, reigniting the deflationary concerns emanating from the euro/dollar exchange rate foreseen by supply-side guru Robert Mundell. Fear of a sharp dollar rise may explain the market’s positive response yesterday to Goldman-Sachs’ report that Fed Chairman Bernanke was preparing a third round of quantitative easing. When Reuters clarified this morning that the report was speculation rather than inside information, markets tanked. (On this last point, hat tip to Rush Limbaugh.)

The WSJ opposes QE3 as positive wealth effects likely will be offset by negative income effects due to higher commodity prices.

On The Kudlow Report, David Malpass analyzes the health of banks and the economy:




In The Telegraph (UK), Garry White notes the August 15 anniversary of the Nixon dollar shock.

At TGSN, Kathleen Packard reports on President Nixon's decision to close the gold window 40-years ago. (Continued here, here and here.)

At an NRO symposium on the debt downgrade, former Kemp staffer John Mueller suggests demographics caused the market to peak a decade ago and that debt and currency issues will be solved by a return to the gold standard.

In The WSJ, Holman Jenkins, Jr. advises Europe’s solvent nations to leave the eurozone.

The euro was a noble idea—actually two noble ideas, one of which made sense: that a common currency might be a force for competitive adjustment across Europe. Alas the noble idea that captivated Europe's elites and was sold to the man in the street was a different one: The euro would solve "the German problem," never mind that "the German problem" had already been solved by the invention of nuclear weapons.

Hans-Olaf Henkel, as reputable a German business spokesman as you can find, a former head of IBM Germany, a former leader of his country's main business federation, once fervently supported the euro but now calls on Germany and its solvent neighbors to exit the euro system in favor of a new currency (a Deutsche mark in all but name).

In The WSJ, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and former Gov. Jeb Bush (TX) advocate a new grand strategy focused on long-run growth, but omit currency reform from their analysis.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein see reason for optimism on the economy.

At Forbes, CEI's Wayne Crews argues the logic of Say’s Law refutes Keynesian demand-side analysis.

On Squawk Box, US Rep. Ron Paul (TX) predicts the end of the dollar standard and links currency to violence in England, protests in Israel, and revolutions in the Arab world:




The WSJ suggests hooliganism and weak policing, not commodity prices and economic austerity, caused the British riots.

From Tax Notes, Bruce Bartlett examines revenues lost from the Reagan tax cuts (click the download box).

At Yahoo Finance, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz promotes more Keynesian spending stimulus:

Monday round up.

On NRO, Larry Kudlow counters Charles Krauthammer on the tax cut deal.

Rush Limbaugh notes the attacks on supply-side economics.

At The Kudlow Report, Larry discusses Fed policy:




On Forbes, John Tamny profiles the producer of the forthcoming Atlas Shrugged film.

At New World Economics, Nathan Lewis analyzes government spending.

In i view magazine, Ermira Kamberi examines Robert Mundell’s call for a global currency.

On MSNBC, Joe Scarborough sees the tax agreement as a victory for “Jack Kemp style supply-side economics,” but bemoans the deficit.

At The WSJ, Stephen Moore reports some conservatives may oppose the tax deal over higher estate tax rates.

On RCM, Benn Steil explains how floating currencies create bubbles and break down the global economy.

Consider first how the United States and China would interact under a classical gold standard. If the United States sent a dollar to China, China would have to redeem that dollar for American gold. A fall in the U.S. gold stock would necessitate a rise in U.S. interest rates, which would reduce credit growth, reduce prices, and reduce the trade deficit. This is the mechanism by which the gold standard automatically corrected global imbalances.

Compare this with today's actual monetary structure. When the United States sends a dollar to China, China immediately returns it in the form of a low-interest-rate loan. That dollar is then recycled through the U.S. financial system, causing further credit growth and, critically, no countervailing Federal Reserve action.

The bubbles and imbalances that have marked the past decade-as they did the 1920s-are features of a monetary regime which operates in precisely the opposite fashion as the one which operated during the great globalization of the late nineteenth century. America is not, as Fed chairman Ben Bernanke would have it, a passive victim of "a global savings glut." It should not, therefore, be surprising that bubbles will continue to emerge in one asset market after another, and will continue to burst with damaging consequences.

From Cato, Greg Mills suggests that Africa is poor because its economies are illiberal.

On Bloomberg, Kevin Hassett argues Ireland should be allowed to default.

AEI’s resident floating currency advocate says – surprise! – the euro in its present form is doomed, because it restricts nations from devaluing their currencies and therefore defaulting on their debt.

In The Washington Times, Patrice Hill reports on economists who say the US-China current account deficit costs America jobs.

From earlier this year, on the Freeman, David Henderson explains trade deficits are irrelevant.