Back Towards the Gold Standard?

[sailingaway]

It is one thing when a newbie politician like incoming Kentucky Senator Rand Paul calls for a return to the gold standard. It is more of a shock when an establishment figure like Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, warms up to gold. Zoellick brings it up in a Financial Times piece ahead of the Group of 20 meeting in Seoul.

Zoellick writes:

“The system should also consider employing gold as an international reference point of market expectations about inflation, deflation and future currency values.”...

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/david-brancaccio-economy-blog/2010/11/back_toward_the_gold_standard.html

[Mattsa]

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/david-brancaccio-economy-blog/2010/11/back_toward_the_gold_standard.html

The BIG problem that goldbugs never seem to understand is the IMF and central banks own virtually all the gold in existence so although you may personally be protected against hyperinflation for the time being, the outcome of a future gold standard is going to be miserable as hell for most people out there.

[MyLibertyStuff]

The BIG problem that goldbugs never seem to understand is the IMF and central banks own virtually all the gold in existence so although you may personally be protected against hyperinflation for the time being, the outcome of a future gold standard is going to be miserable as hell for most people out there.

Interesting point. Gold is the bankers money.

[Mattsa]

Interesting point. Gold is the bankers money.

Obviously

They know damn well it has value.............unlike the shit they force us to use.

Gold is great form of money if there is enough of it in circulation to service the needs of the people and the economy.

Obviously, that ain't gonna happen as long as THEY own it all.

The British Crown forced the colonists to pay their taxes in gold. They deliberately kept it out of circulation so the people had to sell their assets to pay their tax bills. They British also counterfeitted the Colonial Script fiat money being used by the the colonists to devalue it.

That's what started the American Revolution.

Donchya just love those British bankers huh!

And to this day, the Rothschilds still own a slice of the Fed

[ctiger2]

The BIG problem that goldbugs never seem to understand is the IMF and central banks own virtually all the gold in existence.

The IMF and central banks do NOT own virtually all the Gold in existence. Not sure where you got that one... A Silver standard would be ideal. They don't own any of that. :D

[TheHumblePhysicist]

I am absolutely against a gold standard, and will fight tooth and nail against it.

The supply of gold in the market is relatively homeostatic. If the price of gold goes up, new gold is mined and drives the price down. If the price of gold goes down, mines close down and wait for the economy to pick up the slack. As time goes on, gold gets harder and harder to get, because we have to dig deeper and deeper to get it, however this is offset by increases in technology.

This is all well and good, but it ignores the final point: There is a limited supply of gold in the world. This means that in the long run, the economy is doomed to an eventual and eternal deflation under a gold standard. This effectively caps the size of the economy, when the gold runs out, the economy is no longer allowed to grow.

In a free market, the minute gold entered diminishing returns, silver would pick up the slack. So if there was not enough gold to maintain a strong economy, people would start trading silver instead. If there was too much gold, like during the gold rush, people would just trade a less scarce commodity, silver. If silver began to enter diminishing returns, people would trade copper. After copper, the next metal on the list.

In a free market "money" does not exist. People trade whatever they want to as an intermediary between goods. Rice, shells, coins, whatever. But when the government declares that gold and ONLY GOLD is money, it sets up a monopoly on the medium of exchange, and dooms the economy, and establishes a base of control.

A rational farmer might decide to trade a horse for four cows. But the government says he must pay in gold, now he can be easily taxed on the gold value of the animals. This could be called a "gold tax".

So in summary let me proclaim my conclusion:

WE NEED FREE MONEY, NOT GOLD MONEY!!!!!

[Kotin]

I am absolutely against a gold standard, and will fight tooth and nail against it.

The supply of gold in the market is relatively homeostatic. If the price of gold goes up, new gold is mined and drives the price down. If the price of gold goes down, mines close down and wait for the economy to pick up the slack. As time goes on, gold gets harder and harder to get, because we have to dig deeper and deeper to get it, however this is offset by increases in technology.

This is all well and good, but it ignores the final point: There is a limited supply of gold in the world. This means that in the long run, the economy is doomed to an eventual and eternal deflation under a gold standard. This effectively caps the size of the economy, when the gold runs out, the economy is no longer allowed to grow.

In a free market, the minute gold entered diminishing returns, silver would pick up the slack. So if there was not enough gold to maintain a strong economy, people would start trading silver instead. If there was too much gold, like during the gold rush, people would just trade a less scarce commodity, silver. If silver began to enter diminishing returns, people would trade copper. After copper, the next metal on the list.

In a free market "money" does not exist. People trade whatever they want to as an intermediary between goods. Rice, shells, coins, whatever. But when the government declares that gold and ONLY GOLD is money, it sets up a monopoly on the medium of exchange, and dooms the economy, and establishes a base of control.

A rational farmer might decide to trade a horse for four cows. But the government says he must pay in gold, now he can be easily taxed on the gold value of the animals. This could be called a "gold tax".

So in summary let me proclaim my conclusion:

WE NEED FREE MONEY, NOT GOLD MONEY!!!!!



The answer is to legalize competition in currencies..

[RileyE104]

I am absolutely against a gold standard, and will fight tooth and nail against it.

The supply of gold in the market is relatively homeostatic. If the price of gold goes up, new gold is mined and drives the price down. If the price of gold goes down, mines close down and wait for the economy to pick up the slack. As time goes on, gold gets harder and harder to get, because we have to dig deeper and deeper to get it, however this is offset by increases in technology.

This is all well and good, but it ignores the final point: There is a limited supply of gold in the world. This means that in the long run, the economy is doomed to an eventual and eternal deflation under a gold standard. This effectively caps the size of the economy, when the gold runs out, the economy is no longer allowed to grow.

In a free market, the minute gold entered diminishing returns, silver would pick up the slack. So if there was not enough gold to maintain a strong economy, people would start trading silver instead. If there was too much gold, like during the gold rush, people would just trade a less scarce commodity, silver. If silver began to enter diminishing returns, people would trade copper. After copper, the next metal on the list.

In a free market "money" does not exist. People trade whatever they want to as an intermediary between goods. Rice, shells, coins, whatever. But when the government declares that gold and ONLY GOLD is money, it sets up a monopoly on the medium of exchange, and dooms the economy, and establishes a base of control.

A rational farmer might decide to trade a horse for four cows. But the government says he must pay in gold, now he can be easily taxed on the gold value of the animals. This could be called a "gold tax".

So in summary let me proclaim my conclusion:

WE NEED FREE MONEY, NOT GOLD MONEY!!!!!

A Gold Standard FOR THE GOVERNMENT is what would be best.

Gold is supposed to be used to restrict the government from runaway spending.

As the poster above me said, it would be best to legalize competing currencies.

But I would rather have the Government bound by gold than an endless amount of paper.

Have you not noticed that in the past whenever the government wanted to go to war, their first action is eliminating the gold standard?