From the publisher
"This brilliant book is The Federalist Papers for a gold standard. It succinctly, dazzlingly - and convincingly - makes the irrefutable case for re-linking the battered dollar to gold. Alexander Hamilton would have been impressed - and you will be, too." - Steve Forbes "Classics of the editorial writing genre - just in time for the reckoning over the dollar. Couldn't be more timely." - David Stockman "Persuasive, imaginative, and unfailingly entertaining" That's how James Grant, in the introduction to "It Shines For All," describes the four dozen editorials on the gold standard that make up this volume from The New York Sun. "They constitute . . . a unique record of America's monetary struggles - and of the world's - in the first decade of the 21st century." When scientists discovered that the official kilogram, a cylinder of platinum that had been locked away for more than a century, has been losing mass, only the Sun asked this question: Why not float the kilogram, just like we float the dollar? When Sarah Palin was ridiculed for questioning Ben Bernanke's policy on the eve of the summit in Korea, the Sun was the first newspaper to defend her - sketching, in "Sarah Palin's Seoul," what sound money would mean for the international financial crisis. When the greenback started to collapse, the Sun published an editorial called "The Bush Dollar." And when the Democrats gained control of Congress and the dollar plunged further, it was the Sun that proposed changing the name of the national unit of account to "The Pelosi." *** "The position of the Sun is that there are three circumstances when it makes sense to move to a system of sound money. One is when a currency is collapsing. Two is when it is steady. And three is when it is appreciating. What one really wants, at any point, is the confidence that the dollar will remain exchangeable for gold over a long period and that people will have confidence in that." - From "The Moment for Gold" "For Mr. Bernanke to appear before Congress in a week in which the value of the dollar plunged to the lowest point in its history, meaning a week in which the price of an ounce of gold has risen to its highest nominal price in history, and assert that consumers don't want to buy gold, well, it's just breath-taking. Marie Antoinette, telephonez votre bureau." - From "The Eclipse of Ben Bernanke" "We have met Congressman Paul only in journalistic settings. But we have covered him on monetary matters for three decades. He sees the struggle for sound and honest money as not just a constitutional matter but as a moral question, and we agree with him. Let those who feel he doesn't deserve our support step forward themselves to compete for the leadership in the campaign for the kind of monetary system our country deserves and the Founders envisioned." - From "The Ron Paul Question" "There was a time, back during the Bush Boom, when the rise in the gold price was being attributed to the boom itself, to the need for gold in manufacturing. To what is the rise in the gold price - pardon, the collapse in the value of the dollar - being attributed now? The one thing that seems clear is this: None dare call it inflation." - From "None Dare Call It Inflation" "We are not in the camp that believes a vast conspiracy has stolen America's gold. But neither are we in the camp that sees any harm to an audit. . . . It strikes us that it would not be a bad thing were an audit to keep our national mind focused on our gold holdings - particularly at a time when the value of the dollar has collapsed to less than a 1,200th of an ounce of gold." - From "The Gold Audit"
About the author
ABOUT THE NEW YORK SUN The New York Sun is a daily newspaper published at New York City. Between 2002 and 2008, it was issued in both print and digital formats and is now issued online at www.nysun.com. Its founders picked up the flag of The New York Sun that had been issued at New York between 1833 and 1950. ABOUT DAVID PIETRUSZA David Pietrusza, a contributing editor of The New York Sun, is the author of, among other books, 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents and Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit & Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge. His Judge and Jury received the CASEY award; his Rothstein was a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award. He resides at upstate New York. ABOUT JAMES GRANT James Grant is the editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer. His books include Bernard Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend, John Adams: Party of One, Mr. Market Miscalculates, and, most recently, of Mr. Speaker: The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed, the Man Who Broke the Filibuster. He resides at New York City
