Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, January 17, 2012
Life You Can't Do This With Gold Coins, Ron Paul!
Posted by Eli Sanders on Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 12:25 PM
2
Most gold standards still use paper bills. "Under a gold standard, paper notes are convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold." (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standa…)
3
Ron Paul is vindicated though...
Stupid Fire gave away light and heat in exchange for paper money that's clearly worthless now.
Stupid Fire gave away light and heat in exchange for paper money that's clearly worthless now.
4
Well, if Mount Rainier actually went from Active to Erupting, the glacial cover would cause it to boil - enough to burn the flesh from your bones and bake you in seconds but not enough to melt gold, so technically you are correct.
But, if you had a zombie-proof gold snowboard you couldn't surf down the hot boiling mud wave to reach safety cause it would melt your boots.
Better stick with issues of the Stranger to burn - much cheaper.
But, if you had a zombie-proof gold snowboard you couldn't surf down the hot boiling mud wave to reach safety cause it would melt your boots.
Better stick with issues of the Stranger to burn - much cheaper.
5
Eli, you do know that we still used paper money even when we were on a gold standard, right?
Just in case anyone is unclear: gold standard means that the monetary authority offers to exchange any bill it issues for a fixed amount of gold, not that people carry around gold instead of bills. The US was on a gold standard from 1946 to 1971, that golden period of economic growth and equality that progressives like Krugman are so often lauding these days. The exchange rate was fixed at $35/ounce for that entire period.
Just in case anyone is unclear: gold standard means that the monetary authority offers to exchange any bill it issues for a fixed amount of gold, not that people carry around gold instead of bills. The US was on a gold standard from 1946 to 1971, that golden period of economic growth and equality that progressives like Krugman are so often lauding these days. The exchange rate was fixed at $35/ounce for that entire period.
7
@5 - The US was also on the gold standard during the Great Depression. Correlation doth not make causation, m'friend.
9
@5 - oops, read your comment wrong. Thought you were twisting this into a pro gold standard thing. Carry on.
10
Hand sanitizer & cotton balls make excellent fire starters. You still need an igniter, even a burned out lighter would work.
12
This business of people burning money to keep warm always makes me wonder if they are Thurston Howell III. Do you guys carry more than about 20 bucks hiking?
13
Take lots of air-activated hand/foot warmers with you when heading outdoors (or even on long road trips) in the wintertime:
http://www.rei.com/category/4500521
They're cheap and lightweight, work for ~8 hours each, and you won't have to burn your socks/sawbucks.
http://www.rei.com/category/4500521
They're cheap and lightweight, work for ~8 hours each, and you won't have to burn your socks/sawbucks.
14
@5: Although we were technically on a gold standard, you could no longer exchange your currency for gold, although silver coinage was still available. Gold coinage was withdrawn from circulation in 1934, and only numismatists (a broad and undefined category) were allowed to keep their coins.
16
@14,15 - The 'option' to use 'gold clauses' does not a gold standard make. Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1971 - why? Because there was a fundamental problem: the amount of created debt was going to exceed the amount of gold held. This would have devalued all US currency, and inflation would have gone through the roof bankrupting everyone.
What Ron Paul and "gold std" people don't understand is the actual value in the economy is the goods and services that are on offer in the marketplace. Relying on some essentially arbitrary metal as a "store" of value basically hands a small minority (bankers) high levels of control over the economy as a whole. (Eg. " he who can mine and process gold wins").
If we want control over the economy, we actually have to create our own currency with our own rules governing that currency. Which we can do.
What Ron Paul and "gold std" people don't understand is the actual value in the economy is the goods and services that are on offer in the marketplace. Relying on some essentially arbitrary metal as a "store" of value basically hands a small minority (bankers) high levels of control over the economy as a whole. (Eg. " he who can mine and process gold wins").
If we want control over the economy, we actually have to create our own currency with our own rules governing that currency. Which we can do.
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