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Show The Paper That Dares To Take A Stand August 7, 1975 The Utah Independent Page 3 No-Wo- rk TREASURYS GOLD FIASCO Hon. Larry McDonald And the T reasury claims to be Congressional Record 711475 concerned about budget deficits. Although not widely reported in the U.S. press, the following article from the Sunday Telegraph of London makes it clear that the Treasury Departments recent sale of 500.000 ounces of gold was a complete failure. Designed as means to allow American buyers to purchase gold here instead of importing it, huge sums instead went to European banks and bullion dealers including N.M. Rothschild & Son. Envisioned as a means of bringing much-neede- d revenue into the Treasury, the sale raised $82.4 million about $ 1 million less than could have been obtained on the open market. My reasons for calling attention to this are neither partisan nor political. In fact. 1 have found myself in agreement with many of the goals Treasury Secretary William Simon has been fighting for, particularly with respect to controlling Federal spending and balancing the budget. What does concern me. however, is that Mr. Simon is apparently continuing the policy set dawn by Henry Fowler, John Connally, and especially Paul Adolph Volcker, of considering barbarous relic and attempting to eliminate its use as a monetary standard in international exchange as well as totally separating it from the U.S. dollar. It is clear why statists of all persuasions want to gold a ize gold: gold possesses all the necessary characteristics to serve as money and cannot be printed at will by the Government. Thus with gold serving as a monetary stan- dard. the statists are unable to finance their welfare-stat- e programs through inflation. In short, gold forces politicians to be honest. History has shown that with no objective monetary standard, governments sooner or later are unable to control the money supply. Europeans, having more directly experienced the ravages of inflation than Americans, are well aware of the dangers of paper money unbacked by gold. Thus Treasurys goal of eliminating gold from international exchange is probably doomed to failure. And such measures as gold auctions achieve the exact opposite of their intended purpose the Europeans make-o- ff with most of the gold. And why not? The U.S. Treasury is. in effect, offering them a subsidy: gold at a price under the free market level. Thus instead of increasing pressures for elimination of gold from international exchange, the inTreasurys policy has probably creased pressures for its retention. And when, in the near future, gold reserves are revalued by countries around the world, the United States will be minus 500,000 ounces of gold suddenly worth about four times its previous value in international exchange. Putting this on the personal level, no individual would sell off his assets at less than market price if he knew these same assets were soon to be more valuable. Why should we be following just such a disastrous course at the national level? Auctioning gold now is comreserves parable to selling gasoline 25 cents per 2 years ago at about gallon. GOLD FIASCO : U.S. MAY DROP SALES Last Monday's gold auction fiasco in the United States, in which the European banks scooped the pool of the U.S. Treasurys 500,000 ounces of gold on offer, is likely to make the American Government drop any future plans to hold gold sales. U.S. Secretary Treasury William Simon has ordered a top-lev- el confidential review of last weeks sale in an attempt to discover why the auction blew up in the Americans faces. to the Treasury Secretary say privately that the Americans could well abandon such auctions and that the Simon review could lead to the Ford Administration dropping its crusade to drive gold out of the international monetary system. Aides What upset the Treasury is that only eight of the 758 bidders made off with nearly of the 500,000 troy ounces of official U. S. gold at a price of $2 below prevailing world market levels. Most of the lucky eight bidders were European banks and bullion dealers including N.M. Rothschild and Son, which only added to Mr. Simons pique. And not the least of Mr. Simons annoyances is that the government received $82.4 million in revenues from the sale about million less than if the $1 A mer icons had sold the gold on the open market, writes Lewis James in Washington. Publicly, of course, Mr. Simon put up a brave front after the auction. The sale, he noted, of one represented only two-tentU.S. the official gold percent of the And Treasury yes, holdings. sell more to gold from planned time to time. But when pressed he said the time, conditions and amount of gold that might be offered, will depend on market conditions at that time. Aides to Mr. Simon stressed to me in private conversations that both the Secretary and President Ford remain committed to the policy that golds role in international monetary affairs must be diminished. Moreover they added that the bulk of Treasurys policy staff also clings to the theory that periodic gold sales by the U.S. of its 25 billion ounce stock not only help curb gold imports but add pressure to the metals attractiveness as an official reserve. At the core of the Treasurys concern, however, is dismay that the Agency should have misread both the level of domestic demand for gold by American buyers as the well as underestimating determination of Europeans to support bullion. three-quarte- rs . hs And some of the em- understandable since Treasury officials from Simon on down had bragged last week that the auction was a cant lose plan in which the world enthusiasm for gold was bound to be dampened. The strategy of the Treasury was for American dealers to come in to bidfor what gold they wanted at the price they wanted and barrassment thereby from abroad. by-pa- ss The Ethic is importing gold If the Americans A number of the great in America today non-worke- rs are ON COURSE because jobless they ethic, or because they dont like to work, or because they found the nine to five schedule a boring rat race or the available jobs too menial or not to their liking. For example, a.certified public accountant in Michigan lost his job in March and says he is in no hurry to find another. He believes there is more to life than just working. A resident of California, possessor of two college degrees, has had no job since he left the Peace Corps nine years ago, and he is not looking for work. He believes in the ethic and has been living for six years on federal education grants under the G.I. Bill of Rights, which continue even though his believe in the. 37-year-- no-wo- rk 4 attendance at classes is infrequent. A single woman in her thirties says she lost her job in December and is not interested in another one. I don't particularly like the idea of working, she explains. It is easier for such people to survive today because of extended benefits, unemployment Stamps, Food Welfare payments, and other sources of help provided by taxpayers who do work. In New York State, during one week this spring, 700,000 persons drew unemployment benefits. Of this number, 12,234 received their benefit checks in Florida, 7,939 in Puerto Rico, and 5,457 in California. Of the 187,000 receiving with no-wo- rk unemployment benefits in Florida last month, 32,000 were being paid by states other than Florida. -- The Review Of The News The average man's idea of a good sermon is one that goes over his head and hits a neighbor. bought out their auction, that was fine with the Treasury. But if the set price was, say, $5 off the world price, or if it was as the January auction was then they would giggle at the impact on world prices. The strategy came unglued when the American industrial users and bullion dealers entered bids last Monday that were both low in volume and spread over a wide range of prices generally on the low side of the current market undersubscribed Capt. Joe H. Ferguson EPA BUREAUCRATS ON RAMPAGE AGAIN Captain Joe H. Ferguson BANS TWO PESTICIDES A source within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently reported that the EPA is ordering an immediate ban on further production, sale and use of the pesticides chlordane and heptachlor. These two pesticides are widely used in household products, for termite control and on various agricultural products. The reason for the ban? The EPA made this drastic move on the basis that a citizen group had petitioned the EPA to ban these pesticides last fall on the grounds that they may carry the threat of cancer. so-call- ed EPA HAD NO PROOF There are several terrifying ramifications of the above action. In the first place, neither the EPA nor the petitioning group had any evidence that the use of these two pesticides would cause cancer. In fact, they did not even have any evidence to support the probability that they would cause cancer. They merely stated that they may carry the threat of cancer. Such irresponsible action is typical of Ihe irrational behavior continuously exhibited by the chief bureaucrats of the EPA. EPA ACCUSES, JUDGES AND SENTENCES CITIZENS WITHOUT PROOF OR TRIAL Not only did the EPA have no substantive evidence whatsoever that their action was beneficial regarding the environment, but their action epitomizes the worst of Hitlerian tactics. By banning the production, sale and use of the two pesticides, they have in fact accused, judged and levied penalties (of denial of use) against tremendous number of innocent citizens. The chemical companies, who have made a tremendous investment in the research and development of the pesticides are severely penalized. The chemical distribution industry is also severely penalized, and so are the farmers who would use the pesticides to protect their crops. And of course, who pays the price in the long run? Every consumer in the country in the form of higher prices for agricultural products. ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS A DICTATORSHIP The political ramifications of the above action also are frightening. If a handful of unelected bureaucrats can, any time, put any business out of business by merely making an accusation that their product might not be safe, we are in serious trouble. The fact is, they are doing so and we are in trouble. Smll wonder so many industries are bludgeoned to pay off to the political bosses ' in order to just stay in business. Yes, fellow Americans, it's time for a housecleaning in Washington. He who has imagination without learning has wings and not feet. -- Barthelemy Catherine Joubert price. The Europeans on the other hand, displayed pin-poiaccuracy $165-5167 in bracketing the range with such large volume orders that, while there were enough orders for 4.1 million ounces', there was room Salt Lake City Utah the most of hardy only for The Utah Independent Is published by the Utah Independent each TuesAmerican bidders. In all only 70 at 57 East Oakland Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115. Yearly U.S. orders were filled for only 41 day subscription rate Is $10.00 by surface mail In the United States, $15.00 firms out of 758 bidders. foreign. The Americans literally went Class Postage Paid at Salt Lake City Second to bed last Monday evening thinnd change ol address forms and correspondence lo king that the huge demand meant a successful sale to American users. They awoke Tuesday morning to 57 East Oakland Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115 discover that the Europeans had hit the market price range in such Utah's Largest and Fastest- - Growing Subscription Weekly force that the auction could not be canceled or cut. L nt Independent 4 |