Gold Standard, In Context

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was interviewed about the economy by Emily Kolinski Morris at the National Association of Business Executives today, October 14, 2025. He referred to government data on inflation/unemployment as the gold standard.

Mrs. Morris: You used the term gold standard, and you didn’t use it in this context, but, I’m going to pivot here because there is a question from the audience that is getting a lot of upvotes; so, one of your predecessors, Alan Greenspan, used to view the price of gold as an indicator of inflation risk. So, in that context, how do you view the rally that we’ve seen in gold? And, if you want to throw in bitcoin, you can comment on that too.

Powell: I’m not going to comment on any particular asset price- including that one. We think of inflation as driven by fundamental supply and demand factors. It’s not something we look at actively.

For context, here are three quotes from Alan Greenspan.

“The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.” -Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), Meet the Press, Aug 7, 2011.

“We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power.” -Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Feb 16, 2005.

“Gold is a currency. It is still by all evidences the premier currency where no fiat currency, including the dollar, can match it.” -Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), in an interview for the Council on Foreign Relations, Nov 2014