Executive Vice President of Commercial, Hf Sinclair
Search every verified Steven Ledbetter interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2017 interview with Kitco, James Ledbetter discussed his book *One Nation Under Gold* and expressed skepticism about returning to a gold standard, calling such a move "tremendously disruptive to the financial system." He argued that "we can't really grow an economy if all you do is buy and trade with gold" and noted that "there's not even agreement on what a gold standard is." Ledbetter stated that he is not personally invested in gold, though he acknowledged it can be "a viable part of a portfolio." He criticized the 20th-century prohibition on gold ownership as "wrong" and described a secret Johnson administration program called "Operation Goldfinger" that sought to find gold using Treasury funds without legislative debate. Ledbetter also compared gold to digital currencies like Bitcoin, calling them "complete opposites" but noting both appeal to people skeptical of central banks and paper currency. He expressed doubt that blockchain-based "digital gold" would become a large-scale trading method, calling it "more of an intellectual experiment." He concluded that gold "has a place in the monetary system... but it's just not at the center."
“I don't see a return to a gold standard making any sense either for the United States or for the world economy; first of all, it would be tremendously disruptive to the financial system, and some people see that as a feature not a bug, but responsible governments have to take that into consideration.”
“We can't really grow an economy if all you do is buy and trade with gold.”
“There was a gold commission in the 1980s that studied this question and one of the things we learned is there's not even agreement on what a gold standard is; there are lots of different ways to define it and the people who care most about it often hate the other guys the most.”
“I'm not personally invested in gold; it just doesn't appeal to me, though it's certainly a viable part of a portfolio and most experts will tell you to keep your holdings under 5% for safety.”
“The prohibition against owning gold, which occupied about 40 years of the 20th century, was wrong and a policy that should never have been in place for that long.”
“In the 1960s, the U.S. government under the Johnson administration embarked on a secret program called Operation Goldfinger to find gold where it had never been found before, using a slush fund from the Treasury without legislation or debate.”
“I can't imagine central banks moving away from having gold in their vaults anytime soon; gold has a place in the monetary system both in the United States and globally, but it's just not at the center.”
“Bitcoin and gold are complete opposites: one is physical and an embodiment of money, the other is completely non-existent in the real world, but both appeal to people skeptical about central banks and paper currency.”
“There are some interesting proposals to apply blockchain technology to Bitcoin users for some form of digital gold, but I doubt it will become a large viable way for many people to trade officially or unofficially.”
A gold standard would just not work today, at least that's what author and Inc. editor James Ledbetter thinks. Speaking with Kitco ...
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