London Conference Sees Return to Sound Money as Inevitable in the Face of Currency Collapse

Experts from around the world predict the collapse of the international currency system — with gold and silver increasingly looking set to reclaim their historic role as money.

A conference held by the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) in London 4th to 6th August saw nearly 400 people from 38 countries gather to hear presentations from world-leading experts on precious metals and financial affairs, many of whom maintained that the world is headed for an unprecedented collapse in the currency system.

In addition to GATA board members — chairman and founder Bill Murphy, secretary and treasurer Chris Powell, Adrian Douglas, and Ed Steer — conference panelists and speakers included, amongst others: Jim Sinclair, world-famous gold trader, Chairman of Tanzanian Royalty Exploration, and founder of the MineSet; Hugo Salinas-Price, founder, Director and Honorary President of Grupo Elektra, and founder and President of the Mexican Civic Association Pro Silver; James Turk, founder and chairman of GoldMoney, editor of the Free Gold Money Report and author of The Collapse of the Dollar; James G. Rickards, Senior Managing Director of Tangent Capital Partners and Senior Managing Director for Market Intelligence at Omnis; Eric Sprott, Chairman, CEO and founder of Sprott Asset Management; and Ben Davies, co-founder and CEO of Hinde Capital.

GoldMoney founder James Turk delivering
his presentation at GATA Gold Rush 2011.

The essence of what was said at GATA Gold Rush 2011 can be boiled down to the following: Expect the price of gold and silver to rise dramatically as the debasement of the world’s currencies picks up pace — therefore everyone should own precious metals to protect against a tsunami of inflation that can be expected in the near future as money printing goes into hyperdrive.

It was likewise alluded that with the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency and the monetary policies employed by the U.S. and most other countries set to continue on a path of self-destruction, there seems to be no policy change in the cards to avert calamity.

GATA has gained growing recognition for its tireless work to expose a shady price suppression scheme in the gold and silver markets orchestrated by a cartel of bullion banks, some large international banks and other major entities in the financial markets, with financial authorities and central banks turning a blind eye if not actively participating. The scheme has succeeded in keeping gold and silver underpriced for more than a decade by surreptitious manipulation of the markets through trading activities designed to create a grossly inflated impression of the supply of gold and silver.

As was pointed out by several presenters during the GATA conference at the Savoy Hotel in London, the price suppression scheme now appears to be falling apart due to the unexpected level of demand for physical metal from buyers around the world.


Silver Dollar for the Americans: Meanwhile, with no link to hard assets in place to put the brakes on currency expansion in the world of monetary policy, recklessness has accelerated since the closing of the gold window in 1971. With political leaders unable to curb unbridled deficit spending in such a corrupt environment, insurmountable sovereign debt has been allowed to accumulate for decades, eventually to the point of triggering fear and alarm in the markets.

“There was much interest at the conference in comments made by geopolitical analyst James G. Rickards about the possibility of something approaching martial law being declared in the United States and confiscation by the U.S. government of gold and silver,” Mr. Powell correctly noted shortly after the conference.

“Rickards’ comments confirmed GATA's correspondence with the U.S. Treasury Department in 2005 about invocation of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.”

That correspondence referred to can be found here.

Earlier this year in the U.S., Utah became the first of a number of states to clear the way for the use of gold and silver as ordinary means of payment by eliminating fiscal barriers.

According to some precious metals analysts, the question now is not if but when growing pressure from the state level will induce federal lawmakers to discontinue the capital gains tax that currently makes it practically impossible for the Americans to use gold and silver as money.

“Why not re-monetize the silver dollar?” asked Mr. Salinas-Price at the GATA conference in London, suggesting a similar solution as the one he is advocating in Mexico: gradually introducing sound money by allowing silver coins to be used alongside the existing paper currency. Whilst ultimately paving the way for the gold standard, he argued, such a move would mitigate the pain that must accompany the transition to sound money.

Mr. Salinas-Price said: “This program would return the silver dollar and its subsidiary silver coinage of half-dollars, quarters and dimes to the American people in such a way as never to disappear again: all rises in the price of silver would be matched with rises in the quoted monetary value of the silver dollar and by derivation, of its subsidiary coinage: the silver half-dollar, the quarter and the dime.

“This program would not cost the Federal Government — or the taxpayers that support it — one single cent! And yet, it would constitute the greatest gift to the American people that any US Congress could possibly invent, next only in importance to the return of the Gold Standard. The restoration of the silver currency of the United States to circulation, in parallel with the fiat FRN [Federal Reserve Note], can be considered the prelude to the revived Gold Standard.

“By paying the Treasury a premium of 15% over the bullion price of silver, the American people would actually be subsidizing the Treasury’s work of monetization. This cost would be a one-time cost of obtaining real money of permanent value and utility, independent of the Fed and the banking system.”