Long weekend round up.

In The Financial Times, Robert Zoellick once again mentions gold as relevant to building a 21st century monetary system.

At New World Economics, Nathan Lewis explains why rate targeting is an unreliable method to manage a currency’s value.

On The Kudlow Report, Larry debates rising prices:




The WSJ notes no one is talking about deflation any more.

On CNBC, Ralph Benko examines state efforts to return to a gold-backed dollar.

At Forbes, David Malpass suggests the budget deficit is crippling the economy.

Cato’s Dan Mitchell argues for eliminating the corporate income tax:




On NRO, Larry Kudlow urges Wisconsin’s governor to stick to his guns.

Dick Morris notes Republican willingness to raise taxes to balance the budget (h/t: Vlad Signorelli).

From the Heritage Foundation, J.D. Foster explains the flaw of demand-side stimulus.

Bloomberg notes China’s efforts to rein in inflation.

At Fortune, Nin-Hai Tseng recounts that while China is growing fast, most Chinese are still poor.

Weekend update.

At The Daily Reckoning, Nathan Lewis explains gold’s rise is due to the dollar’s collapse.

On NRO, Larry Kudlow predicts low growth and rising inflation will hurt Democrats on Election Day.

CNBC reports that the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve are pursuing different strategies:




In Fortune, Nin-Hai Tseng chides China bashers for scapegoating an important trade partner.

At Super-Economy, Tino rebuts Paul Krugman’s claim that reduced revenue, not surging spending, accounts for the deficit:



At RCM, Harvard’s Jeffrey Miron explains why Keynesian stimulus is ineffective.

The WSJ editorial page analyzes the on-going malaise.

This [poor recovery] contrasts with all other recent recoveries, which climbed out of recession much faster to reach a new peak. Nearby we update our table contrasting the recovery of the early 1980s with the current one. We cite the 1980s because that contraction was comparably deep and the jobless rate reached an even higher peak of 10.8%. Yet after five quarters of recovery in the 1980s, the economy was roaring ahead at a greater than 8% annual pace. This time the rebound reached 5% for one quarter before decelerating to today's non-cruising speed.

The neo-Keynesians who designed the 2009 stimulus reject this comparison, saying that the recent recession was uniquely awful because it was rooted in financial distress. Whatever truth there is in this financial diagnosis, it also conveniently absolves Democrats from responsibility for the damage done by their policies. Never mind the uncertainty and costs imposed by ObamaCare, onerous new federal regulations on banks and other industries, record spending and deficits and the threat of cap and tax, union card check, and the huge tax increase looming on January 1. We are supposed to believe that none of this matters because a lousy recovery was foreordained by the financial crisis.

If the midterm election polls are right, the American public isn't buying this economic determinism. They don't like 2% growth and 9.6% unemployment, and on Tuesday they'll get a chance to declare what they really think about what we would call the new abnormal.

Tuesday updates.

At RCM, John Tamny pens a devastating critique of Fed Chairman Bernanke.

In The WSJ, David Malpass explains how the weak dollar damages the economy.

In reality, workers are being reallocated, and by the millions. Due to the mortgage shambles, they are not moving around as much as in past recessions. But the structural reallocation is clearly pushing older workers into long-term unemployment.

Meanwhile, there's also been a powerful rechanneling of credit away from small businesses. Corporate and government jobs are faring better than small business jobs, another major structural change that Fed purchases will exacerbate by channeling cheap credit to big entities.

Jobs are moving to Asia as Washington's weak-dollar policy causes trillions of dollars to move abroad to protect against the risk of U.S. inflation and dollar debasement. Investors put their money into foreign factories, mines and workers, creating a boom there. They avoid long-term job-creating investments here, instead buying short-term IOUs from our government.

At The Kudlow Report, David Goldman discusses the weak dollar:



On Forbes, Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein warn against ignoring gold.

At Carpe Diem, Mark J. Perry notes the dollar’s ten-year forex decline:

In Fortune, Nin-Hai Tseng suggests even if the lower dollar increases exports, it won’t heal the economy.

At Alhambra Investments, Joseph Y. Calhoun explains that dollar decline sends investment capital offshore.

The WSJ's Pepper...and Salt comments:



On MarketWatch, David Stockman outlines gold’s former role in restraining debt.

On Kudlow, Stephen Moore debates tax policy:



At Forbes, the estimable Reuven Brenner suggests an agenda to rebuild the middle class.

Also on Forbes, Steve Forbes warns states may default on their bonds.