What's so great about the Gold Standard?

I meant successful as in currently exists.

And the US didn't leave the gold standard in 1972. It left the gold standard in 1934. It officially eliminated any convertibility to gold in 1971.

And fiat is superior because it applies structure and organization. People using whatever currency they want is a disaster. No developed countries in the world have private currencies that people can choose to use. It has nothing to do with force, it has to do with structure.

If you don't want organization and maximum productivity than having a free for all would be perfect for you. But some of us like being the world hegemon and we like structure and organization.

 

Then you'd have to explain why it's relevant.

And the US wasn't successful prior to 1934?

You assert that superiority of a particular form of money comes from structure and organization. Prove it. Or, perhaps, you assert that all things are made better by more structure and organization, in which case, you can explain why you are not in favor of fascism. Or, maybe you are. You certainly are when it comes to monetary policy.

It is? Name one country that wasn't successful because their government didn't demand that they use one form of money and enforce that demand through police powers.

I can name lots of countries that have suffered greatly due directly to the failure of fiat currencies. I doubt you can show a single one that has suffered greatly due directly to the lack of a command economy in money.

This is the no true scotsman fallacy. You make it repeatedly, but it's irrelevant. Until last year, there was no country in the world that did not lock up users of certain illicit substances. Should we take that to mean that the war on drugs has been a smashing success?

There's not a country in the world that has not been involved in conflict of some type at some period in history. Should we take that to mean that conflict is good and right because all countries have done it?

I don't want organization and "maximum" productivity (Whatever that means. Do you mean forcing people to be productive? I bet you do) imposed by government violence. People have the right to choose their own forms of organization and whether they will be productive and to what extent they will be so.

The heart of your argument is that fiat currencies are superior because they can be used for social engineering and enforcing (your) moral order on people.

 

That wasn't my point. My point was, is that the gold standard was not successful in terms of being used in the present. Somewhere along the way the gold standard became obsolete to the entire world. The question is why? Most economists know why, it seems that you guys think all the economists are wrong.

America is my proof. Prove that no structure and no organization is superior. If you can prove that every developed nation in the world does not know what they are doing economically you would be a multimillionaire. So please prove it!

What?

Because when command economies fail they become fiat.

Non sequitur. We are talking about economics not drug use.

Non sequitur. That is foreign policy not economic policy

I want maximum productivity. That explains why you don't care about other people suffering. If you don't care about other people other than yourself than this argument is meaningless because the goal of economics is to achieve the highest standard of living for ALL members of society.

I don't care about poor people. My economic philosophy has nothing to do with helping poor people out. My economic philosophy is about maximizing productivity. That means that we need as many people as possible with USD going around purchasing goods or services so that the rest of us continue to get wealthy. I don't compare myself to people on welfare or unemployment. If you do, than you have problems.

 

uhmmmmm...you really are clueless aren't you?

The merchants sell stuff to the US.....the US pays in dollars....the merhcants then give those dollars to the chinese government as they need yuans to pay employees and suppliers....so in order for the chinese government to buy those dollars from the merchants they need to issue new yuans.

PS....this is common knowledge....are you sure you understand economics?

 

governments love fiat currencies for obvious reasons as it allows them to issue all the money they want. The gold standard puts discipline on them which they rather not have!

How you can have faith in a little piece of paper is beyond me. Its the linear affect....paper money is all you know and so thats all you understand...talk to people in latin america ....they will tell you how much they trust fiat money!

 

You said "the rest of the globe keeps buying treasuries by issuing more of their own currency effectively importing america"s inflation"

I thought you were implying that they pay for treasuries with their own currency. But you can't blame me for thinking that you do not understand simple things.

 

Please, right this second show me a country that uses a gold standard! Thanks!

 

I know for a fact that both canada and singapore are issuing their own currency and using that money to buy treasuries to slow down the rise in their currencies...this in turn has resulted in domestic inflation to rise as there is more money in circulation. And yes.....this is also how the US is exporting its inflation.....to china, japan, canada, brazil, singapore, and whoever else is buying treasuries!

 

whats your point? so everybody decided to follow the US in jumping in the lake........misery loves company I guess LOL

 

The only way they can do that is if we give them our currency. You are acting as if Canada can just print their own currency to purchase treasuries. They NEED USD in order to purchase treasuries and the only way they can get USD is if we give it to them.

 

If the gold standard was superior countries would not have adopted our system. They would be much better off than us right now. Basically what you are saying is the entire world of academia is wrong and that you right. Even though everything you say has been proven wrong for decades. The only sources you have to back your claims are kook blog sites with people as crazy as you are. I listen to real world economists and professors rather than people like you.

 

"follow the US"??

We were one of the last nations to go off the gold standard, if not the last.

 

We were running a fiat system long before 1971

 

Fiat money with fractional reserve banking is a system that enriches both the government and its bankers, as such they both have very strong incentives for creating such a system. Then on top of this you have a horrendously bad education system that does not teach students correct economics and this creates a situation where even the general population doesnt know why gold is better as money than paper.

The fact that academia is generally anti-gold standard is also pretty irrelevant, academia is a government run industry these days, universities rely heavily on government funds and when the government pays the bills it will naturally always give preferential treatment to economists that support government getting more power.
Academics in general also tend to be anti-free market because if a free market in education was established most of these socialist idiots would lose their jobs because very few people are willing to voluntarily give these numb nuts any money since they speak gibberish and people dont pay money for theories they cannot understand. It is much easier for these fake intellectuals to earn a living if government is heavily involved in academia.

All these things conspire to make gold money defenseless in society because bankers, academics and government workers in general all have an incentive to be anti-gold, the only group that has an incentive to protect and support a gold standard is the general population and the general population is getting thoroughly brainwashed by the horrible semi-government run education system.

 

With the money I made, I can easily buy more now that the price has shrunk back down (although not to 6$ an ounce, more like 30$ an ounce). If it looks like it could head back to 50$ again I will just buy more then sell at the peak like last time.

 

uhhmmmm......what do you think foreign exchange centers are for? Any nation can buy USD with their own currency no differently than how you go and buy a foreign currency when you go on a trip!

 

Like I already said many times...its the government that hates the gold standard for obvious reasons!

 

who was first and who was last is irrelevant.......my point is that just because nations left the gold standard doesn't mean the fiat system is better!

 

the problem is picking the bottom and also the spread between bid and ask. A better way to trade silver is buying SLV as you are always paying close to spot price and there is no spread. Physical should be bought for the long haul!

 

I agree. However, I will play devil's advocate by pointing out some benefits of fiat currency. Fiat does encourage greater consumption as opposed to a gold standard. It is more conducive to a demand driven economy. It is also a great hedge against deflation, which does not happen often, but did occur during the 18th and 19th centuries due to contractionary monetary policies fueled by the scarcity of gold.

 

Financial instruments with metals as underlyings are risky in such an economy. The United States dollar is essentially inflating things like SLV or GLD ETF's for reasons of velocity and quantity. Unless you have a lot of disposable income, they are not wise investment options.

 

It is obvious the Govt hates their countries and wants to choose an inferior system so that their countries are not as good as they could be. It's just all a worldwide conspiracy of Govt's hating their people, lol.

 

governments are the tools of the perpetrators, filled with idiots and self serving individuals.

 

What about the entire world of academia whereas they have come to an agreement that the gold standard is a failure?

Other than a small minority of Austrian's, it's pretty much a universal agreement and they don't even argue about going back to a commodity based currency any more. This is like the 1-2 scientists that say evolution is not real whereas 99% of scientists say it is real.

You guys basically are hanging on to the gold standard on pure faith.

 

No it's just that Fiat Currency is great for debt. If you owe a million dollars and the dollar is not based in gold, all you have to do to pay off the debt is print a million $1 bills. That helps the government because if the government is going to be in debt, it's much easier to get out if your money is based on the printing press rather than the gold. You have to earn the gold. That makes it hard to inflate your way out of debt.