Regular readers are familiar with a quotation from Alan Greenspan, which has been used in a number of previous pieces, dating back to 1966:
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation.
Standing alone, the quote appears profound, perhaps even heroic, given the sea of paper-pushing, banker dogma which surrounded that quote, and continues to surround it to this day. Indeed, many readers may have asked themselves: how could 1966 Alan Greenspan have ended up as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, just over twenty years later?
How could the same, supposed, man-of-the-people who “warned us” about the evils of inflation (i.e. banker money-printing) have ended up as the High Priest of Inflation, and thus the principal thief responsible for “confiscating” the wealth/savings of people all around the Western world?
The answer to that question is that Alan Greenspan is, literally, the farthest thing from a “man of the people.” More specifically, when Greenspan uttered his prophetic words, he was not warning us. This becomes apparent as soon as we expand upon Greenspan’s 1966 quote, by adding further context. The paragraph (near the end) which starts with the quote above, ends with this sentence:
The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. [emphasis mine]
Suddenly, our Hero takes on a different complexion. His “warning” was intended only for “the Owners of wealth”, i.e. Greenspan’s warning was intended exclusively for the Wealthy. Of far greater importance, isfrom whom Greenspan believed that the Wealthy required their “protection” (via the gold standard). We see this clearly in the first two sentences of the next paragraph.
This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists’ tirades against the gold standard. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth.
