That leaves the third option, to “adopt a modernized international gold standard, as proposed in the 1960s by Rueff and in 1984 by his protégé Lewis E. Lehrman … and then-Rep. Jack Kemp” (whose eponymous foundation I advise). To this one should add, as Forbes.com contributor Nathan Lewis has shrewdly observed, the removal of tax and regulatory barriers to the use of gold as currency.

As I have repeatedly observed Donald Trump shows a strong affinity for gold. He has also shown a keen intuitive grasp of how the gold standard was crucial to having made America great:

Donald Trump: “We used to have a very, very solid country because it was based on a gold standard,” he told WMUR television in New Hampshire in March last year. But he said it would be tough to bring it back because “we don’t have the gold. Other places have the gold.”

Trump’s comment to GQ: "Bringing back the gold standard would be very hard to do, but boy, would it be wonderful. We’d have a standard on which to base our money."