Good to see you on Dominic, please give us two mins on gold vs bitcoin? Personally i can see bitcoin as either a ponzi scheme or an investment safehaven from governments, but the govt can never ban gold or switch it off? Thoughts appreciated rgds Paul
Dominic, I know the amount of gold that resides in the form of jewellery and inside disused electronic components and connections etc is pretty enormous. How would you quantify it, and what effect does this calculation have on golds present and future price...or not?
Bit of a niche one- are you in any way related to Terrence Frisby, the chap who wrote the sitcom “lucky feller” (for anyone who doesn’t know, a sitcom very much in the vein of only fools and horses and starred David Jason, although he played the “Rodney” character)
Hi Dominic! I already know your favourite Sir John James Cowperthwaite quote- but can you give people details of his story, his theories on government, and, most important of all, his resounding success?
With gold, Bitcoin, and other assets often pitched as “hedges” against state overreach, where do you see the most realistic opportunity for ordinary people to protect their wealth over the next decade?
Although "gold" is considered by many to be Spandau ballets finest song I am not sure why you think it has had such a huge impact on society? What is the "secret history" behind the song that you discuss in your book? ☺️
I remember from my economic history A level the Gold Standard that Britain withdrew from in 1931. Is there a 2020s argument to a return to a form of it?
In case he doesn’t answer your question I’ll have a go.
The point about a gold standard is that a currency note can be exchanged for physical gold. For instance, in 1914 you could show up to the Bank of England with a £5 note in your hand and receive 5 gold sovereigns in return.
That ended at the outbreak of the First World War and the British government printed money like all governments do during big wars.
By the end of the war there were about 5 notes in circulation for every 3 in 1914. Now you would have thought that the answer would have been to devalue the pound so that – if I’ve got my sums right – a £5 note would only buy you 3 gold sovereigns. But what they decided to do instead was go back to the old parity i.e. £5 = 5 sovereigns. They did this partly for reasons of pride but partly to pay off debts to the Americans incurred during the War. Old rate = higher exchange rate = cheaper debt. So, what was to prevent people swapping notes for metal? Two things, sky-high interest rates which led to the 1926 general strike and only the exchange of 400oz bars. These are the bars you see in vaults and are worth about £1m today. Obviously, most people didn’t have that sort of money lying about in note form. This was all the work of one Winston Churchill.
So, the gold standard of the 1920s was a bit of a fake. Combined with a depression and a Labour government it became unsustainable. Could we go back? I think we would have to go back a lot further, say to the 17th century, before the Bank of England.
There’s a lot more to the story but if you’re interested I suggest you watch Professor Barth’s series on money on YouTube. He explains it far better than I ever could.
Would you be willing and able to advise or even take part in a Reform government? Get yourself elected (it will be easy) and be a chancellor who can sing and tell jokes?
Hi there, I saw Dominic what feels like 20 years ago but was probably only a couple of years ago at a comedy show and I nearly threw up laughing at a song he did. Very funny guy
Why are the government so hell bent on taxing working people to within an inch of their lives? Is it to keep people of our class suppressed and prevent them from breaking glass ceilings and getting up the ladder or are they just utterly and hopelessly fiscally incompetent?
Good to see you on Dominic, please give us two mins on gold vs bitcoin? Personally i can see bitcoin as either a ponzi scheme or an investment safehaven from governments, but the govt can never ban gold or switch it off? Thoughts appreciated rgds Paul
Dominic, I know the amount of gold that resides in the form of jewellery and inside disused electronic components and connections etc is pretty enormous. How would you quantify it, and what effect does this calculation have on golds present and future price...or not?
Have you ever experienced the joy of panning for gold and finding flakes of the precious metal?
Bit of a niche one- are you in any way related to Terrence Frisby, the chap who wrote the sitcom “lucky feller” (for anyone who doesn’t know, a sitcom very much in the vein of only fools and horses and starred David Jason, although he played the “Rodney” character)
Hi Dominic! I already know your favourite Sir John James Cowperthwaite quote- but can you give people details of his story, his theories on government, and, most important of all, his resounding success?
With gold, Bitcoin, and other assets often pitched as “hedges” against state overreach, where do you see the most realistic opportunity for ordinary people to protect their wealth over the next decade?
Although "gold" is considered by many to be Spandau ballets finest song I am not sure why you think it has had such a huge impact on society? What is the "secret history" behind the song that you discuss in your book? ☺️
I remember from my economic history A level the Gold Standard that Britain withdrew from in 1931. Is there a 2020s argument to a return to a form of it?
https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/bank-of-england-the-gold-standard
In case he doesn’t answer your question I’ll have a go.
The point about a gold standard is that a currency note can be exchanged for physical gold. For instance, in 1914 you could show up to the Bank of England with a £5 note in your hand and receive 5 gold sovereigns in return.
That ended at the outbreak of the First World War and the British government printed money like all governments do during big wars.
By the end of the war there were about 5 notes in circulation for every 3 in 1914. Now you would have thought that the answer would have been to devalue the pound so that – if I’ve got my sums right – a £5 note would only buy you 3 gold sovereigns. But what they decided to do instead was go back to the old parity i.e. £5 = 5 sovereigns. They did this partly for reasons of pride but partly to pay off debts to the Americans incurred during the War. Old rate = higher exchange rate = cheaper debt. So, what was to prevent people swapping notes for metal? Two things, sky-high interest rates which led to the 1926 general strike and only the exchange of 400oz bars. These are the bars you see in vaults and are worth about £1m today. Obviously, most people didn’t have that sort of money lying about in note form. This was all the work of one Winston Churchill.
So, the gold standard of the 1920s was a bit of a fake. Combined with a depression and a Labour government it became unsustainable. Could we go back? I think we would have to go back a lot further, say to the 17th century, before the Bank of England.
There’s a lot more to the story but if you’re interested I suggest you watch Professor Barth’s series on money on YouTube. He explains it far better than I ever could.
Would you be willing and able to advise or even take part in a Reform government? Get yourself elected (it will be easy) and be a chancellor who can sing and tell jokes?
Hi there, I saw Dominic what feels like 20 years ago but was probably only a couple of years ago at a comedy show and I nearly threw up laughing at a song he did. Very funny guy
Why are the government so hell bent on taxing working people to within an inch of their lives? Is it to keep people of our class suppressed and prevent them from breaking glass ceilings and getting up the ladder or are they just utterly and hopelessly fiscally incompetent?
How do you see the future of investing, the economy, and the value of large corporations or small companies changing with the impact of AI?