Political Quotes

“I rise today to insert into the Congressional Record an analysis by the noted economist, Michael Evans. This information regards the poorly considered effort by the International Monetary Fund to sell all or part of their gold reserves to ostensibly help poor countries. Dr. Evans is a professor of economics at the Kellogg School at Northwestern University of Illinois. In this detailed analysis, Dr. Evan's reviews the history of recent gold sales and cautions that selling gold often degrades economic performance. Based on this empirical research, Dr. Evans states that countries that have resorted to gold sales have found their currency depreciated, their real growth rate down and their unemployment up relative to countries that did not sell gold. The IMF has established a policy to 'avoid causing disruptions that would have an adverse impact on all gold holders and gold producers, as well as on the functioning of the gold market.' The proposal that the IMF is now contemplating would directly conflict with this well-founded rule. In fact, the suggestion of gold sales has already adversely impacted gold holders and gold producers by causing an alarming drop in the price of gold. Currently, the price of gold is at its lowest point in twenty years. This is significant because the low price of gold is now nearing the break-even point for even the larger mines. Therefore, these mines will be forced to either operate at loss or shut down entirely.”