James Turk

Who is he: James Turk has specialized in international banking, finance and investments since graduating in 1969 from George Washington University with a B.A. degree in International Economics. In 1980 Turk joined the private investment and trading company of a prominent precious metals trader. He moved to the United Arab Emirates in December 1983 to be appointed Manager of the Commodity Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a position Turk held until resigning in 1987.

It is Turk's view that everyone should rely upon the free-market process, namely, one which operates under a consistent rule of law instead of under the conditions of the way the 'market' now exists, which is being battered by the whims and capriciousness of politicians. Governments destroy free markets long before they ever understand how the market process works.

Governments have usurped the power to create currency. Money is power and when you can create currency out of thin air as governments now do, they increase their power; that is, until people stop accepting their currency. The experience in recent decades has been one of more controls and more government interference in the market process – not less. The bottom line, according to Turk, is that each individual has to protect himself and his family and be prepared for the inevitable collapse in the US dollar. The way to do that, of course, is to own gold and silver and avoid the dollar.

The world needs to return to the basic concept that money is a product of markets, not a creation of governments. There is no one willing to admit that the US is on the wrong road, even though polls show that a vast majority of Americans – around 80% – instinctively understand and acknowledge that the US is headed in the wrong direction.

Background: James Turk has written several monographs on money and banking and is the co-author of The Coming Collapse of the Dollar, which has been updated for a paperback version entitled The Collapse of the Dollar. Turk is also the founder of GoldMoney.com a convenient and economical way to buy and sell gold online using a digital gold currency. Turk believes the West, and especially America, have economic structural problems that result in inflation, bank failures, currency debasement, exchange controls, etc.

Turk believes, as well, that for decades the US dollar has been adversely impacted by one or more of these monetary ailments, and this has placed gold in an uptrend. The purchasing power of the dollar – and for that matter, other national currencies – has been falling. A barrel of crude oil presently costs 2.2 goldgrams, which is more or less the same price since the end of WW II and for the most part only looks as if it is getting more expensive when its price is measured in terms of national currencies

According to Turk, the world is troubled because of the misplaced reliance people have placed on government. They mistakenly think government can solve all the world's problems by passing laws or redistributing wealth. Government leaders and policymakers of course believe that, too, or at least tell us that they do because this unthinking reliance on government by the masses enhances politicians' power, which ultimately is derived from people willing to do what government tells them to do.

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