SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: fedhead who wrote (51733)12/28/2000 1:13:52 AM
From: Don Lloyd   of 436258
 
Arindo -

I thought one reason the wrld went off the gold standard was because there was not enough gold in the ground to support the growth in economic activity. (At least thats
what they say in text books). How would returning to the
gold standard solve that problem ?

What you can read in the text books is every bit as credible as what you can read in the Sunday Supplements or hear on the network news, just delayed by decades.

Actually, any reasonable amount of gold can support any reasonable level of economic activity. A true gold standard, including 100% backed and trustworthy gold certificates and non-gold tokens would simply adjust in goods exchange value to reflect the balance of the desire to hold gold claims for future purchases and the desire to make present purchases.

The opponents of the gold standard alternately make the contradictory claims that gold would be too scarce and then that it would be too abundant. The test of any monetary standard is that it not be subject to arbitrary short or long term political manipulation. No monetary standard is ideal and any hope of a long term precise store of purchasing power is utterly impossible, even if it could be measured.

If it were true that gold could not be mined fast or cost effectively enough to keep its purchasing power from rising, the perceived problem of falling prices of goods expressed in ounces of gold is simply a parallel effect to that of the ever increasing unit productivity of goods production in a healthy economy, offset by the entry of new goods into the market. The problem with this perceived 'deflation' is not in the monetary system itself, but rather in the government intervention in the labor markets which ossifies wage levels through the agency of minimum wage legislation and union preference laws, forcing real wages above a market clearing price, and shutting down one labor intensive industry after another, creating unemployment in its wake.

Regards, Don
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2026 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News