“Whenever I fire a linguist, the system gets better.”

For a while at least her opinion pieces appeared regularly on Praag.  By and large I recall that I could not find much fault with them but that was a while back. I did find the articles rather tediously lengthy.

I am not sure why she uses the surname Mercer as her dad's name is Isaacson: Her married name perhaps?

The articles on Robert Mercer, while revealing, are so hostile and credit Trump with little sense. OK, you say he does not have much!! The conspiracy theory is rather thin in duration as Mercer initially backed Cruz and probably only shifted when Trump prevailed. On the other hand, I can  imagine that they agree on many points.

Regarding a gold standard I am not sufficiently clued-up to make any definitive pronouncements.  There is a link-up with Bitcoin as mentioned in one of the articles. I can see that the current monetary system allows more leeway (for better or worse) than a  gold-backed system.  The primary advantage of a gold-backed system is that it ensures financial discipline on the part of the authorities. As Bitcoin shows, the backing needs not be gold. To denounce the idea of a gold-backed system as hysterically as is done in the articles, is unwarranted, I think. Should one not at least consider the  possibility? As for banks lending out part of their assets, it does create the dangers associated with runs on banks. It should allow them to pay interest and charge lesser fees than otherwise. Some justification for this is found in the long banking tradition . Then one might as well find justification for a gold -backed system in tradition.

What is often not mentioned about the unilateral scrapping of the gold system by the US, is the fact that this was done by that *scoundrel*, Nixon!

"While Nixon's actions did not formally abolish the existing Bretton Woods system of international financial exchange, the suspension of one of its key components effectively rendered the Bretton Woods system inoperative. While Nixon publicly stated his intention to resume direct convertibility of the dollar after reforms to the Bretton Woods system had been implemented, all attempts at reform proved unsuccessful. By 1973, the Bretton Woods system was replaced de facto by a regime based on freely floating fiat currencies that remains in place to the present day."



I always thought that I err on the side of caution but I am probably an anarchist at heart since the present turmoil gives me great joy!!

In your link there is a somewhat concealed reference to her marriage:

"Ilana was born in South Africa, which her father, Rabbi Ben Isaacson, decided to leave pursuant to harassment by the South African security police on account of his anti-apartheid preaching and activism. (Ilana herself fought petty apartheid tirelessly.) The family departed in the 1960s for Israel, where Ilana spent her formative years. She returned to South-Africa in the 1980s, married and had a daughter. The family emigrated to Canada in 1995, and then went on to settle in the US."

Perhaps you should ask Dan Roodt (*only half jokingly*!)

Great, thanks. That they share the name is almost certainly a coincidence, then.