Showing posts with label gold standarad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gold standarad. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Why I am not a White Nationalist — Where They Are Wrong Economically

Why I am not a White Nationalist — 

Where They Are Wrong Economically

Thomas Allen


White Nationalists advocate adopting highly invasive, liberty-destroying, and immensely destructive economic and monetary programs. A discussion of some of them follows.

Managed economy. White Nationalists have a low opinion of the free market, free enterprise economic system; like most people, they confuse it with capitalism. (See “Capitalists and Socialists” by Thomas Allen.) Even those who do not confuse it with capitalism have an especially low opinion of it. Since White Nationalists have more trust and confidence in bureaucrats than they have in the people, even White people, they prefer a governmentally managed economy to a free market, free enterprise economy.

Communist threat to capitalists. Contrary to what many White Nationalists believe, capitalists do not have to be threatened with communism. Few White Nationalists know that if it were not for capitalists’ succor, communism would have died a stillbirth. (See “Soviet Union” and “China” by Thomas Allen.)

Welfare. Although White Nationalists oppose Martin Luther King’s social justice (discrimination against Whites and special privileges for Blacks and other nonwhites), they not only want to implement his economic justice but also expand it. Like King, they are proponents of the welfare state. They seem to admire President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society (except the civil rights and immigration parts of it). Their primary objection to the Great Society is the recipients of the benefits. The principal problem that White Nationalists seem to have with King’s economic justice is that he did not go far enough. Like King, they have no qualms about forcibly taking property from producers and giving it to nonproducers.

Most White Nationalists advocate a welfare state for the benefit of the working and middle classes. Contrary to what many of them believe, mostly the working and middle classes will pay for this welfare state. Moreover, the welfare state benefits the oligarchs more than anyone else since it makes the working and middle classes more dependent on the government, which the oligarchs control. When a person is receiving financial benefits from the government, he is less likely to object to governmental actions even if they are detrimental to him because he fears losing his benefits. Some White Nationalists find such control desirable.

Protectionism. Like many statists, White Nationalists are proponents of protectionism. They want to protect politically favored industries from competition. Thus, they are enamored with government-business partnerships, i.e., corporate welfare; protectionism is just a form of corporate welfare.

Protectionism may give workers in the protected industry higher pay, but it does so at the expense of other workers with higher prices, which lowers their standard of living. Protectionism is of little benefit to construction workers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, medical faculty workers, teachers, hospitality workers, and most service providers. Often, protectionism adversely affects workers in the protected industries. Owners of the protected industries are the primary beneficiaries. (For more discussion on protectionism, see “Questions for Protectionists,” “Do We Really Need to Return to Hamilton,” and “A Letter: Tariffs” by Thomas Allen.)

Instead of giving politically favored industries special advantages with tariffs and quotas at the expense of consumers, a more prudent approach that would save taxpayers money and encourage manufacturers not to build their plants overseas should be used. This approach ends all subsidies that encourage them to locate their factories overseas. Moreover, the US armed forces would not be used to protect their property in foreign countries. Also, reducing regulations on domestic manufacturers would reduce the incentive to move outside the country. One thing that most people forget is that imports are bought with exports. The more a country imports, the more it must export. (Currently, a major export of the United States is the fiat US dollar.)

Interest. Some White Nationalists want to outlaw interest. When the government suppresses the rate of interest, the country consumes its capital. As a country uses its capital for consumption, its economy deteriorates and poverty grows. Eventually, all its capital is consumed and it returns to the hunter-gatherer stage. (For a more detailed discussion on interest, see “Usury” and “Questions for Anti-Usurers” by Thomas Allen.)

Fiat money. Like all statists, White Nationalists adore fiat money and abhor commodity money (gold and silver). (For the difference between fiat money and commodity money, see “What Is the Difference Between Commodity and Fiat Money” by Thomas Allen.) Unlike the founding fathers, who trusted the people and left control of the money supply directly in the hands of the people, White Nationalists trust politicians and bureaucrats to regulate and control the money supply. Under the gold coin standard contained in the US Constitution, the people decided how many gold coins were needed by the quantity of gold they brought to the mint for coinage and the quantity of gold coins they melted for nonmonetary uses. (See "Constitutional Money" by Thomas Allen.) The same is true for the silver standard. (For more on the gold standard, see “What is the Gold Standard?” by Thomas Allen.) Moreover, gold extinguishes debt, while fiat money merely discharges debt by passing it to another. (See “Extinguishing Debt” by Thomas Allen.) A major reason that fiat money adherents hate the true gold-coin standard is that the government cannot control the money under the gold-coin standard.

When accompanied by the real bills doctrine, enough money is created to clear the market of newly produced goods. Most of the money created under the real bills doctrine goes initially to the workers and suppliers of material used to manufacture the products. Further, when money created under the real bills doctrine has done its work, it is automatically removed from the market and does not cause inflation. A chief flaw of all fiat monetary systems is a lack of a mechanism to remove excess money from the economy; consequently, fiat monetary systems nearly always have problems with inflation. (For more discussion on the real bills doctrine, see “Real Bills Doctrine” by Thomas Allen.)

Social credits. Some White Nationalists prefer the social credit fiat monetary system. This system is highly flawed and will fail to do what its supporters claim it will do. It is highly invasive and greatly swells the ranks of governmental bureaucrats. Moreover, it demands enormous amounts of record-keeping, reporting, and data analysis. Nevertheless, most White Nationalists probably know nothing about the social credit system, and many have never heard of it. (For a detailed discussion of the social credit system, see “Analysis of Richard Cook’s Monetary Reforms as Presented in We Hold These Truths” by Thomas Allen.)

Central bank digital currency is ideal for the social credit economy because it makes tracking private spending transparent and, therefore, easier. Further, it reduces the time between collecting and analyzing data and the injection of new currency. Also, it can be used to force people to spend by directly stealing their savings. (Most social credit advocates despise savings.)

Moreover, since the social credit economy requires an administrative state, it is compatible with an administrative state. (An administrative state is a state ruled by experts and technocrats for the benefit of the oligarchs.) Most other fiat monetary reform schemes also require an administrative state. Furthermore, the administrative state eliminates checks and balances by merging the executive, legislative, and judicial functions into one agency, which is what many White Nationalists seem to want.

Guaranteed income. Like King, White Nationalists promote a guaranteed annual income. A guaranteed annual income is the foundation of the social credit system.

Economic summary. The difference between the monetary and economic system that White Nationalism promotes and that fascism and socialism promote is difficult to distinguish. (Since the United States have adopted at least 80 percent of the planks in the Communist Manifesto, distinguishing between the US government and a communist government is often difficult. See “Are the United States a Communist Country?” by Thomas Allen.) All want to use the government to force people, ultimately under the penalty of death, to do what most people do not naturally want to do. 


Conclusion

Many White Nationalists seem to overlook the necessity of a firm moral foundation. Christianity used to provide this foundation. However, between World War I and World War II, it began earnestly to be phased out. During the civil rights era, this foundation has been nearly eradicated as Christian denominations replaced the gospel of Jesus with the gospel of King and wokeism. To replace dying Christianity, a few White Nationalists promote paganism, especially Nordic paganism. Yet, paganism offers no firm moral foundation. Various forms of paganism are prominent in America today; the three most popular are the worship of Hermes (sports), Gaia (climate change), and Moloch (abortion). Most White Nationalists seem to want to replace Christianity with the welfare state and the worship of the state.

Only a few White Nationalists seem to realize that the political and economic policies and programs that they advocate lead to despotic tyranny even if the country is entirely White. Although they deplore totalitarianism, their worship of the state and their proposed economic system leads to totalitarianism.

Their love of statism, support of the welfare state, and the proposed monetary and economic system disqualify me from being a White Nationalist. Nevertheless, they are generally correct in their solution to racial problems and many other social issues. However, their ignorance of economics knows no bounds. As abysmal as the current monetary and economic system is in the US, the proposals of White Nationalists are far worse.

Further, the primary difference between the typical White Nationalist and the typical left-winger is racial and social issues. Other than these issues, they mostly agree on other issues at least in principle although they may differ in details.

In summary, the foreign and social policies of White Nationalism are excellent. However, its political and economic policies are horrendous.


Copyright © 2025 by Thomas Coley Allen.

 Part 2

More political articles.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Do Bank Notes Cease Representing Merchandise?

Do Bank Notes Cease Representing Merchandise?
Thomas Allen

    Under the gold standard, banks often use bank notes to buy real bills of exchange.[1] That is, banks convert real bills of exchange (commercial credit money) into bank notes (bank credit money). Thus, these bank notes represent the merchandise that the bill represents.
    Many opponents of the real bills doctrine admit that when a bill is converted into bank notes, these bank notes represent the merchandise represented by the bill. However, they also claim that as these bank notes pass to other hands, this representation is lost. They represent merchandise to the person receiving them via selling the bill to the bank. However, when the person to whom the bank gives the bank notes spends them, these bank notes cease representing merchandise. They are now merely currency representing nothing — neither merchandise nor specie. This is true even though these bank notes are convertible in gold or merchandise.
    (If these opponents of the real bills doctrine are consistent, the same argument is true when a person sells gold to a bank for bank notes, i.e., converts specie to bank notes. These bank notes represent gold to the person receiving the bank notes from the bank. However, when he spends the bank notes, these bank notes cease representing gold and begin representing nothing although they can be used to buy gold from the issuing bank [redeemed] or merchandise in the markets.)
    To the contrary, these bank notes continue to represent merchandise no matter how often they are spent or how many hands through which they pass. That duty is never discharged until they are returned to the issuing bank. Then they are retired. All bank notes not lost eventually return to the issuing bank.
    Bank notes issued for a particular bill may continue to circulate for months after that bill has been paid and extinguished. However, that does not make these bank notes inflationary. An equivalent amount of purchasing media (gold, other bank notes, or checkbook money) has been removed from circulation to pay the bill.
    Opponents of the real bills doctrine who use this argument never describe the process by which bank notes cease representing merchandise. They do not because they cannot. They cannot because bank notes never cease representing merchandise. To do so, they have to transmute bank notes from something into nothing.
    Much of the confusion about bank notes comes from observing the actions of  government notes and nonconvertible bank notes issued by a central bank for its government. These notes are not tied to merchandise and do not represent merchandise. They represent nothing except the government’s credit, i.e., the government’s ability to force its subjects to surrender their property to it, commonly called the government’s ability to tax. Because no relationship exists between government notes and new goods entering the markets, government notes are inflationary. (Under the real bills doctrine, bank notes are directly tied to new goods entering the markets and can only increase as the quantity of new goods increase.) Being inconvertible, government notes lack quality and trade at a discount to gold coin.
    Additional confusion comes from observing bank notes issued by banks that have suspended convertibility. All the checks offered by convertibility are lost. Banks can over issue bank notes deliberately (e.g., buying treasury bills and bills of accommodation) or accidently (e.g., buying bills that are not paid). Like government notes, these bank notes lose quality and become inflationary, i.e., trade at a discount to gold coin.
    If the gold standard and convertibility into gold remains, bank notes issued to buy real bills of exchange represent merchandise and maintain the same quality as gold coin. They never cease representing merchandise and are not inflationary regardless of their quantity.

Endnote

1. Most of the time banks buy real bills of exchange by crediting the seller’s checking account with the amount of the purchase. This checkbook money is functionally the same as bank notes. They are both forms of bank credit money. Both represent merchandise. The only real difference is that bank notes often pass through more hands before returning to the issuing bank for cancellation.

Copyright © 2014 by Thomas Coley Allen.

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