In signing the Gold Standard Act of 1900, President William McKinley declared that gold, not silver, would underlie the U.S. monetary system. That Act didn’t last long, predictions to the contrary notwithstanding, and today, our nation’s economy is based on only two things expected from Washington, D.C.: promises and trust. The former is found in great quantities, while the latter is definitely a dissipating asset!
So much for the lasting effect of legislative solutions. In the same year gold was anointed, L. Frank Baum published his classic, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Some scholars (unlike children content with its simplicity) ...