Naked Capitalism Link of the Day

Today's link: Ron Paul's Next Committee Hearing on Inflation and Commodity Prices is 100% Gold Bug, at Rortybomb:

PBR cans at the bar across the street from where I live just went from $2 to $2.50. So now would be a great time for a government panel to gather experts to discuss the relevant issues surrounding commodity inflation;  what is important and not important in understanding how inflation is calculated, the ways it can bias, the relevant experiences of unorthodox monetary policies in other countries, how China and other emerging markets’ demand for commodities are effecting prices, whether we need a higher inflation target, the disinflationary impact of the foreclosure crisis, etc. etc. etc.
Now I wonder who is in charge of the committee that would hold a hearing on this?   Oh I know.  Ron Paul.
As part of Obama’s post-politics era, Ron Paul kicked off his first hearing into monetary policy by putting someone whose recent research was “unmasking” President Lincoln as modernity’s first dictator. That guy did not like the Federal Reserve.
So tomorrow, March 17th, 10:00am, Ron Paul is chairing “The Relationship of Monetary Policy and Rising Prices.” That page now has links to the testimony of the three witnesses and oh. my. god. This is not me cherry-picking, these are the main arguments of the panelists. All of them are gold bugs.
First up, Mr. Lewis E. Lehrman, Senior Partner, L.E. Lehrman & Co:

If the defect is inflation and an unstable dollar, what is the remedy?
A dollar convertible to gold would provide the necessary Federal Reserve discipline to secure the
long term value of middle income savings, to backstop the drive for a balanced budget. The gold
standard would terminate the world dollar standard, by prohibiting official dollar reserves, and the
special access of the government and the financial class to limitless cheap Fed and foreign credit.

I can still find cans of PBR for $1, so I am living in deflationary paradise.  I like the idea that we need to go on the gold standard to protect the long term value of middle income savings.  What middle income savings?  About the only middle income savings would be home equity, and inflation increases the equity by making the amount owed smaller.  Inflationary environment favors debtors, which most of America is.  Deflationary environments forestall economic activity, as prices continue to fall, and wages fall too.

When it comes down to returning to the gold standard, who benefits?  The answer would be gold bugs.  They are the ones with gold purchased in "overvalued" dollars, so when the dollar is pegged to gold, either the dollar is devalued or gold multiplies in price by 100 fold.  No wonder they think we ought to return to the gold standard.