Restoring economic stability

William Rees-Mogg in The Times today has an interesting article, here, on the present chaos referring back to the lessons of 1931, to which I posted the following comment with very limited space: "Fannie Mae was an attempt to cure the Great Depression and is arguably a spark for the greater one now developing. Fixed exchange rates cannot be defended following decades of incompetent governance. Restore stable monetary values against finite items such as land. That alone can offer security." I have commented often on this blog regarding Fannie Mae and more detailed thoughts on economic solutions to the present ongoing disaster in particular in the posting of 7th August, linked here, titled "Needed - A new Bretton Woods Agreement", from which comes this: Hard-working and comparatively vacation-starved US families who became used to watch their work rewards grow through their 401(k) pension schemes before the Clinton stock market bust have now watched with dismay as the alternative calculator of land and property values rapidly head south as accentuated by the plight of the formerly solid institutions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The crying need for a stable calculator for value for America's hard-working families could surely not be any clearer or yet more urgent than with the coming election. In spite of the WTO, Nixon's precedent of a temporary import surcharge will not be something to be easily ignored. George W Bush, whose Presidency already appears likely to be viewed by history as far more successful than contemporary pundits might ever have imagined now has the chance to leave a legacy of a secure and strengthened dollar as his overarching achievement for posterity. Fixing a value for the dollar requires no international agreement, it can be accomplished by the best brains and economists from across the parties, political spectrum and diverse interests of the nation. With modern vast number crunching computing power it could be as complex and regularly reviewed as any might wish or as simple and eternal as the value of gold or the wheat yield of land. Anything is possible - anything is essential. In spite of the posting's title what I was proposing was something quite different from the original Bretton Woods agreement and initially only involved the US Dollar, I quote again: Fixing a value for the dollar requires no international agreement, it can be accomplished by the best brains and economists from across the parties, political spectrum and diverse interests of the nation. With modern vast number crunching computing power it could be as complex and regularly reviewed as any might wish or as simple and eternal as the value of gold or the wheat yield of land. The same solution could be available for the Pound Sterling, but a fixed currency demands honest politicians, while the incoming Obama administration might offer Americans such a prospect, none such seem to exist in the UK!