Book Review: 'War and Gold' by Kwasi Kwarteng
Why gold? Because it's money, or used to be money, and will likely one day be money again.
In the past 12 months alone, the world's top five central banks have conjured up $1.4 trillion. They called it into existence as a sorcerer might summon the spirits. No wand, no printing press was required; taps on a keyboard did the heavy lifting.
"War and Gold" is a chronicle of fiscal ruination and redemption, with the emphasis on the former. In ages past, observes the historian and politician Kwasi Kwarteng, governments printed currency and levied taxes to fight wars. Now they materialize the money on computer screens to jolt their underachieving and overindebted economies back to life (so far without notable success). Customarily, sound finance resumed with the peace. What's new is that, starting about 1919, the taxing and inflating has kept right on going even after the shooting stopped.
See the full review by James Grant in the Wall Street Journal by clicking here (subscription required)