Paul Keating Quotes

When a nation devalues its currency, it, in effect, increases its tariffs.

If inflation-adjusted interest rates decline in a given country, its currency is likely to decline.

All money is a matter of belief.

We believe in fair exchange rates and Japan doesn't practice that. They have massive U.S. dollar reserves, and they use them to intervene regularly.

The government, in my judgment, cannot create money; the government can give its note, like an individual, and the prospect of its being paid determines its value.

The power to regulate the value of money does not involve a power to dilute the value of money by inflation, an absurd and self-serving rendering.

Leaders often associate strong currencies with national strength and thus view declining currencies as insults to their prowess.

China must voluntarily cut back on exports to America otherwise American politics will become unmanageable.

Money can never circulate freely and actively unless there be absolute confidence in its value.

The chief duty of the National Government in connection with the currency of the country is to coin money and declare its value.

The most important quality of a currency is its stability.

It is not repeated large Emissions [printing] of a base Paper-Currency, but our Imports exceeding our Exports, that occasions Silver to be ship'd off in Ballance

If raising or allaying [revaluing or devaluing] the Money could add to its Value, or have any good Effect on Home or Foreign Trade; Then no Nation would want Money [from that nation.]

Some Countries have rais'd Money in the Denomination, when others have lower'd it; …. Some have prohibited the Export of Money under the severest Penalties, when others have by Law allowed it to be exported; Some thinking to add to the Money, have obliged Traders to bring home Bullion, in proportion to the Goods they imported. Most Countries have try'd some or all of these Measures, and others of the same Nature, and have tryed contrary Measures at one time, from what they us'd immediatly before, … that since the Method used had not the effect design'd, a contrary would: Yet is has not been found, that any of them have preserv'd or increased Money; but on the contrair.

The Power the Magistrat [head of government] has to alter the Money in its Denomination or Fineness, takes away the chief Quality for which Silver was made Money

Silver being capable of a Stamp, Princes, for the greater Convenience of the People, set up Mints to bring it to a Standard, and Stamp it; Whereby its Weight and Fineness was known, without the Trouble of Weighing or Fyning; but the Stamp added nothing to the Value

If, when Money is rais'd [inflation or devaluation], Goods keep the Prices they had before. Then all Goods exported are sold for a lesser Value abroad, and all Goods imported are sold dearer.

The currency of any country, whether it be coin or bank-notes, cannot be increased beyond the mercantile wants of that country, without producing a depreciation in the parts which compose the currency.

Many of the worst crises occur when there is a financial collapse in a country with pegged exchange rates. Both successful and unsuccessful defenses of a pegged exchange rate require large expenditure of foreign exchange reserves that could be used for investment or consumption. Both also require strong deflationary measures that severely reduce income, wealth, and living standards.

The largest annual U.S. trade deficits since 1980 have been accompanied by the largest annual job-creation numbers in recent memory. The reason is simple: stronger economies tend to have stronger currencies, and the increased economic activities in these stronger economies and exchange-rate differentials lead inevitably to trade deficits

it is obvious that there is only wanting to the fiscal prosperity of the Government the restoration of an uniform medium of exchange … it is essential that the nation should possess a currency of equal value, credit, and use wherever it may circulate. The Constitution has entrusted Congress exclusively with the power of creating and regulating a currency

Economic aggression can have no other offspring than war. It is dangerous as it is futile.

It does not mean of course that the pound here in Britain in your pocket has been devalued .

A stable currency and an excessive external debt are incompatible. A similar relation holds as between a country's currency and an excessive internal debt

With the increasing relative scarcity of gold as compared with money requirements, the general tendency will also be toward a smaller gold basis or "cover" for currency, even among those nations which are "on a gold basis.