Federal Reserve

Because of Germany's clout in the eurozone, it has the power to save the world by leading the way back to commodity money.

"In 1923 Germany experienced one of the world's worst cases of hyperinflation and the worst ever for an industrialized nation. The reichsmark was destroyed by its own central bank, plunging the German people into misery and desperation. Now, after only a dozen years of relative monetary discipline, the euro faces the same fate as country after country demands to be bailed out of its mounting debts by unlimited printing of money by the ECB. Because Germany is part of the EMU, it must accept these newly printed euros. This threatened monetary inflation of unlimited amounts has shaken German bankers to the core. It is the nightmare scenario that they feared when, against their better judgment, the German politicians agreed to give up their beloved deutsche mark and place the economic fate of the nation in the hands of a committee of foreigners not as concerned about monetary inflation. But Germany can put a stop to this destruction and save the world while it saves itself. It can leave the EMU, reinstate the deutsche mark, and tie it to gold."

"By leaving the EMU Germany would insulate itself from the consequences of the euro as a tragedy of the commons; i.e., monetary inflation by third parties would end, Germany would not experience higher prices due to the actions of third parties, and the capital-destroying transfers of wealth would end.
Yet Germany should go one step further. It should anchor the DM to gold. Germany is the world's fourth-largest economy, behind only the United States, China, and Japan. Furthermore, Germany owns more of the world's gold than any other entity except the United States, more than either China or Japan and more than any other European country. A prerequisite to market acceptance of any gold money would be confidence in the integrity of the sponsoring institution. Not only is the Bundesbank known for its integrity and reverence for stable money; Germany itself has a worldwide reputation for the rule of law, advanced financial architecture, and a stable political system. For these reasons, Germany would prove to the world that a gold-backed money is not only possible but desirable. Expect a cascade of similar pronouncements once Germany's trading partners realize the importance of settling international financial transactions in the best money available — which initially at least would be a golden DM."

I love this idea. This is the way to stop any more damage from being done. Obviously the US should immediately tie the dollar back to gold, but that's not going to happen. Germany might be our best hope.

Of course Dodd-Frank was a gigantic gift to the banks. The biggest corporations always benefit from tighter regulations because those regulations put their smaller, more nimble competition out of business.

"As many analysts and officials have explained, Dodd-Frank subsidizes large, influential Wall Street financial institutions, while imposing disproportionately heavy burdens on Main Street banks and the communities they serve. Even if we take President Obama, Senator Dodd, Representative Frank, and the rest of Dodd-Frank’s supporters at face value when they protest that they actually intended to rein in Wall Street banks, the laws they passed accomplish the opposite result. Intentional or not, a kiss is still a kiss."

Please. Have we forgotten how corrupt Chris Dodd and Barney Frank were? These regulations were designed to benefit the giant banks, and they do.  And let's not forget the big banks gave Obama more money than anybody else in 2008. As opensecrets.org shows, It's a myth that the big banks support Republicans more than Democrats, though in this election they support Romney over Obama.

Americans fear inflation more than unemployment.

"Journalists, politicians and economists all seem to agree that the biggest economic issue currently worrying voters is unemployment. It follows then that most believe that the deciding factor in the presidential race will be the ability of each candidate to convince the public that his policies will create jobs. It seems that everyone got this memo...except the voters.
According to the results of a Fox News poll released last week (a random telephone sample of more than 1,200 registered voters), 41% identified "inflation" as "the biggest economic problem they faced." This is nearly double the 24% that named "unemployment" as their chief concern. For further comparison, 19% identified "taxes" and 7% "the housing market" as their primary concern. A full 44% of women, who often do more of the household shopping and would therefore be more sensitive to prices changes, identified rising prices as their primary concern."

Funny how inflation is never mentioned as a problem.