Luke Gromen: U.S. bondholders faced major challenges following 1896 gold speech - Traders Union
Luke Gromen: U.S. bondholders faced major challenges following 1896 gold speech - Traders Union
Source: Traders Union
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DW NOTE
Gromen's analogy is precise: McKinley won in 1896 on a gold standard platform, then bondholders watched inflation erode purchasing power anyway as new gold from South Africa and the Yukon expanded the money supply faster than output. Today's version: the 10-year Treasury yields 5.11% while official CPI runs at 3.4% and oil has doubled in a year. Real yields are thin, getting thinner, and bondholders are repricing the same lesson — that nominal safety isn't safety at all when the state needs inflation more than it needs their confidence.