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I paste below a new article to be published soon; xxxxxxxxxxx by Ralph Benko, Contributor

Occupy Wall Street: Contempt Of Political Class

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2011/10/10/occupy-wall-street-contempt-of-political-class/

Last Wednesday, Occupy Wall Street, known at Twitter as #OWS, surged, thanks to a boost from MoveOn.org, to 15,000 souls. That same day, former White House Green Jobs Czar Van Jones rallied hundreds at the Capitol. Smaller demonstrations have been reported in 50 cities. Also on Wednesday the Heritage Foundation commenced an effort to tackle the underlying cause of the uneasiness manifesting in the streets of America, both Wall and Main, and the world. If the populist left and the populist right align, as they well may, we may be on the cusp of a Constitutional Realignment, or, stated plainly: really throwing the bums out. One of the protesters’ most clearly defined complaints is wealth inequality. Wealth inequality is described at length by then Federal Reserve Bank President (now Board Vice Chairman) Janet Yellen and, more recently by former President Bill Clinton. Keynes prophesied in The Economic Consequences of the Peace something very much like #OWS (and the whole world of protests) and addressed the underlying cause of the resentment: Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. …” By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some. The sight of this arbitrary rearrangement of riches strikes not only at security, but at confidence in the equity of the existing distribution of wealth. Those to whom the system brings windfalls, beyond their deserts and even beyond their expectations or desires, become ‘profiteers,’ who are the object of the hatred …”. [Emphasis added.] Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose. Keynes anticipated the dynamic we witness. Although Keynes was (on and off) opposed to the gold standard of his day, Lord Robert Skidelsky, his definitive biographer, astutely noted in the Financial Times that “Keynes’s famous dismissal of the gold standard as a “barbarous relic” does not quite capture his opinion of the metal, which he thought would be useful as a constitutional monarch but disastrous as a despot.” Bravo to Heritage for being that one in a million able to diagnose. More lead-footed “Keynesian” dogmatists than Skidelsky are horrified that the right is rallying to monetary reform and, especially, to the gold standard. TheWashington Post’s Steve Pearlstein, The New York Times’ Paul Krugman, ThinkProgress’ Matt Yglesias and Marie Diamond, The Washington Monthly‘s Steve Benen and Michael O’Hare and The Roosevelt Institute’s Mike Konczal, Prof. Barry Eichengreen and Thomas Frank all have noted (with alarm), that, in the words of Krugman, “Gold bugs have taken over the GOP.” Reagan, from Heaven, must be cheering on his fellow gold bugs’ takeover! And #OWS is by no means an isolated event. On Sept. 28, the New York Times devoted more than half of its front page, above the fold, to an article datelined Madrid, titled “As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around the Globe: Many Are Driven by Contempt of Political Class.” Contempt of the political class? Sounds like … the Tea Party Patriots…. Welcome to the party, #OWSers! Center-right and libertarian monetary policy conferences are beginning to come at a blizzard pace. Over the course of just this autumn at least six especially notable ones: The Utah Monetary Summit (with international attendees) coordinated by the potent Larry Hilton (UtahSoundMoney.org) and supported by the American Principles Project (with which this writer is professionally associated); Cato; Atlas Foundation, James Grant, and the granddaddy of monetary conferences, xxx gap xxxxxxxxxxxx No contortions are needed to cross Keynes’s bridge between the profiteer-hating #OWS and the sober reformers gathered in monetary conclave by Heritage Foundation. The official website of Occupy Wall Street contains an entire forum dedicated to the gold standard. While by no means unanimous (please read it, and comment on it, here), a theme emerges that elegantly is summarized by one of the activist/commentators there: “Gold and silver. Been honest money since the dawn of time. The only money that’s ever worked….” Onward to gold! xxx Best, Dave R.