Better UTAH founder and board chair, Josh Kanter, took to the editorial pages of the Salt Lake Tribune over the weekend to talk about the follies of trendy legislation. Specifically, Josh takes to task the legislature’s past attempts at codifying the gold fever of popular conservative radio hosts like Glen Beck.
Much of the interest in gold was propelled by radio celebrities like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. These gold bugs encouraged their listeners to buy and hoard the precious metal, and would have the state Legislature do the same with public money. Their thesis? Gold is inflation proof and a sure defense against the debasement of the U.S. dollar by the Federal Reserve.
Historical trends in the price of gold have since shown that gold fever was a seriously troubling policy choice.
In April 2011, shortly after the end of the 2011 legislative session, gold hit its all-time high in dollar terms at $1,923 per ounce. But rather than continue to set new highs, as we enter the 2014 Legislative Session, gold stands at about $1,250 per ounce — a drop of more than 35 percent in under three years.
Professional investors call that a bear market. Ordinary people who decided to follow the lead of those such as Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Hilton, Palmer and the litany of legislators who encouraged the anti-dollar gold rush, call this a thrashing.
Read the whole op-ed by clicking here.
