Keith Weiner is a technology entrepreneur and president of the Gold Standard Institute USA.
He was the founder of DiamondWare, a Voice Over Internet Protocol software company, which he sold to Nortel in 2008. He is an Objectivist who is now studying at the New Austrian School of Economics for his PhD with a focus on monetary science.
Keith, who currently trades and analyzes precious metals and commodities, advocates a return to a proper gold standard and laissez-faire capitalism. He lives with his wife near Phoenix, Arizona.
Recently, I gave two lectures in Phoenix on this topic. In the first lecture (links below), I present the problem. Hint: bankruptcy.
In the second lecture (will be posted online soon), I present my proposed solution.
Irredeemable Currency Session 1, 1/2
Irredeemable Currency Session 1, 2/2
Dear Professor Keen,I am a monetary scientist and a fan of some of your work. I admire the courage it took for you to call the Australian housing crisis as early as you did, and to make a bet that you would be right. But I came across this video (), wherein you say: "...when a crisis hits, European governments will be forced into imposing austerity on countries that desperately need a stimulus."With all due respect, Dr. Keen, isn't this the same thing as saying that, "when the delirium tremens hits, the medic will be forced into imposing sobriety on a patient who desperately needs a fifth of vodka?"My analogy is imperfect in that the European Union is hardly a medic. They are the source of both the free vodka and the motivation to drink it to excess.There are many problems with the European Union. From a fiscal perspective, one can simply look at the tragedy of the common greens. Every country's politicians have a perverse incentive to outspend the other countries (with which spending they buy the votes of their
electorates). From a monetary perspective, they have the same flaw that the Federal Reserve has in the USA. The central bank holds assets to balance its liabilities. The assets are the bonds of the government, and the liabilities are the currency. But unlike in the USA, the euro is not backed by a single government's bonds but by the bonds of diverse and numerous member countries. It was a mechanism to (temporarily) prop up the lower credits of countries like Greece with the higher perceived credit of Germany, but ultimately to undermine the credit of Germany by forcing Germany to take on the liabilities of Greece. We shall see how it plays out, but there are no good outcomes that this economist can see.The only true solution to the increasing frequency and magnitude of financial crises is to go to the root. In a system based on irredeemable paper money, there is no mechanism to extinguish debt. So debt is merely pushed around until the inevitable crisis. In addition, irredeemable paper money systems have two other intractable problems: unstable interest rates and unstable foreign exchange rates. In their desperate attempts to "hedge" these un-hedgable risks, the banking system creates endless derivatives, and derivatives of derivatives. And this leads to the other problem. Markets increasingly become the casinos for speculators. Speculators push interest rates and foreign exchange rates to even greater extremes. And with every fluctuation, real damage is done to the real businesses that produce the goods and services necessary to feed us and keep our economy alive.We need a gold-based monetary system.Sincerely,
Keith Weiner,
President of the Gold Standard Institute USA
Vienna, AUSTRIA and Scottsdale, AZ USA (April 15, 2012)—The Gold Standard Institute is pleased to announce that Keith Weiner will be establishing The Gold Standard Institute USA to promote the gold standard in this large and important market. The Gold Standard Institute USA will work closely with The Gold Standard Institute in Vienna to further develop the high-quality journal The Gold Standard, a large international mailing list, and papers and quick-sheets explaining how a proper gold standard works. Further details will be announced soon.
A proper, unadulterated gold standard is not only necessary for the economy to coordinate the actions of millions of productive people, but it is the keystone. Today, people are suffering as the 40-year-old irredeemable paper money system is becoming unstable and approaches total collapse. The burden of debt is rising as the rate of interest falls, unemployment is rising, infrastructure is failing due to lack of capital to maintain it, and at the same time the productive class is being replaced by the speculator class and the government-crony class.
“I am excited to work with The Gold Standard Institute, which is the only organization that is defining and promoting a real gold standard. I think that there are millions of Americans who would be interested and it is now my job to bring them the knowledge and the tools to promote the gold standard in the US,” said Keith Weiner.
“We have been fortunate to have Keith Weiner as a friend and ally for several years, and we are very pleased that he has agreed to take up the task in the USA. Keith is a successful entrepreneur who understands both urgency and scalability, and the demands and work involved in promoting the gold standard,” said Philip Barton, founder and President of The Gold Standard Institute.
About The Gold Standard Institute
http://www.goldstandardinstitute.net
The Gold Standard Institute, founded in 2009, exists to disseminate the virtues of the gold standard widely and to establish gold as the basis of money. With the financial system heading towards collapse, and with gold forgotten and misunderstood, this is the most important mission in the world. The Institute publishes a monthly journal with gold-related news and articles about gold and money. The Institute is composed of people from all walks of life who cherish the ideals of liberty, prosperity and peace and who understand that sound money is a necessary component to achieve this.
About Keith Weiner
Keith Weiner has been a technology entrepreneur. He was the founder of DiamondWare, a VoIP software company, which he sold to Nortel in 2008. Keith is an adherent of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, and a student at the New Austrian School of economics, working on his PhD under Professor Antal Fekete, with a focus on monetary science. Keith is now a trader and market analyst in precious metals and commodities. Now that central planning has failed, he would like the world to return to a proper gold standard and laissez-faire capitalism.
For more information, contact:
The Gold Standard Institute Europe
www.goldstandardinstitute.org
Thomas Bachheimer
+43-676-3348-124
bachheimer@yahoo.de
The Gold Standard Institute USA
Keith Weiner
602-478-9275
weiner.keith@gmail.com
