An allegation of plagiarism, which is a serious charge, has been made against me.
Writing about my paper (The Unadulterated Gold Standard, Part III), Hugo Salinas Price, a respected thinker in the gold and silver community, published an article on Christmas Eve (Keith Weiner plagiarizes).
He states: “The intellectual work of Prof. Antal E. Fekete, Dean of the New Austrian School of Economics, has been plagiarized by Keith Weiner…”
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an act of plagiarism means to: “v. Take (the work or an idea of someone else) and pass it off as one’s own.”
Mr. Salinas Price continues: “Not one word of recognition is afforded to the author [emphasis added], by Weiner.”
This implies that Professor Fekete is the author of my paper.
Mr. Salinas Price does not quote either from Professor Fekete’s paper or my own nor does he provide evidence.
Even if Mr. Salinas Price means that I do not credit Professor Fekete as my teacher in monetary science, this charge is also untrue. Until Professor Fekete awarded my degree, my bio stated I was “a student at the New Austrian School of Economics, working on his PhD under Professor Antal Fekete”. Now, it says “he has his PhD from the New Austrian School of Economics”.
In numerous papers, from the first I published (Fractional Reserve Banking) to my dissertation (A Free Market for Goods, Services, and Money) to the most recent on Dec. 22 (Reflections Over 2012), I credit Professor Fekete and cite his papers. This includes my submission to the Wolfson Economics Prize (Gold Bonds to Avert Financial Armageddon).
I clearly, openly, and repeatedly state that I am an Objectivist, which means that I credit Ayn Rand for my philosophy including ethics and my view of capitalism. I also acknowledge Professor Fekete as integral to the development of my thinking in monetary science. The ideas of both Rand and Fekete are obvious in my writings.
I hope this statement clarifies this issue and demonstrates that I take what I write seriously. However, under the circumstances, because he has presented not a shred of evidence to support his inflammatory charge of plagiarism, I think Mr. Salinas Price should apologize.
Meanwhile, the world faces a grave threat. The monetary system is moving inexorably towards collapse (When Gold Backardation Becomes Permanent). Those who love civilization have serious work to do.
Keith Weiner Economics 