CATO’S 29th ANNUAL MONETARY CONFERENCE — MONETARY REFORM IN THE WAKE OF CRISIS — will address the fundamental issue of how to prevent another global financial crisis — not by tinkering with the present government discretionary fiat money regime but by fundamental reform. The first step is to rethink the role of government and central banks in the existing system, and then consider alternatives — such as the gold standard — that would substitute rules for discretion, increase choice in currency, and allow markets to determine the optimal quantity of money. After nearly a century of U.S. central banking, it’s time to reconsider whether the Federal Reserve’s monopoly status, discretion, and growing regulatory powers are more a source of crisis than a cure.

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