Soros seeks new global system at Bretton Woods

Billionaire investor and currency speculator George Soros is holding a conference to reform the world’s economy at the same site where today’s system was once agreed to.

Kicking off in Bretton Woods, the conference is bringing together world leaders in business, humanitarianism, academics and economics. Soros’ objective is to find a new way forward, arguing that the old system and status quo are faltering. Peter Schiff, the president of Euro Pacific Capital said the event should focus on the global economy, specifically the US dollar and reinstating the gold standard.However, the conference is unlikely to do so, as most in attendance favor a monetary system which resembles the current one, not one of the past. The US is printing money and issuing the global reserve currency irresponsibly, Schiff argued. When gold was the standard this was not possible and the economy was in a better place. “The dollar has no intrinsic value on its own. Prior to the dollar becoming the reserve currency, gold was the reserve. Gold has intrinsic value,” he argued. “The only solution is to jettison the dollar and to re-in-place gold as the reserve.”Returning to gold would stabilize the economy and interest rates, he explained, preventing market bubbles and massive deficits to forms. If the dollar was no longer the reserve, the entire system would be more stable, Schiff contended. “There is such a lack of understanding amongst the hierarchy or elite about economics,” he said, explaining why so many leaders and experts refuse to re-adopt the gold standard. “You have this conventional wisdom that is wrong.”Schiff said that a structure based on a metal with intrinsic value would prevent the world from falsely propping up the US dollar. With the dollar as the reserve, the world is forced into thinking they must lend and alter the markets to keep the dollar strong because it has no natural value. If gold were the standard again, all of these problems would be solved, he contended.