Why Its Pointless To Argue With Global Warming Believers 2039
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A gold-backed currency inserts the supply of an arbitrary commodity into the system that regulates the money supply, which makes about as much sense as having your thermostat take the price of Apple stock into account when determining how much to heat your house.
The recent rise in the price of oil has a lot to do with futures trading, and almost nothing to do with whether or not the USD is backed by gold.
Actually, Saudi money has been paper money since 1959. I'm pretty sure Saudi Arabia has cheap oil mostly because it's the largest oil producer on the planet.
But they *don't* do that. They borrow money from the private sector or from foreign governments. Which they could also do with gold-backed currency. I'm not sure why...
Anyway, looking the Saudi Arabia as a guide for how to run a modern economy is a pretty whacky thing to do. Because it's governed by Islamic law, it doesn't even allow borrowing.
ZnU It kept the tax and spend bureaucrats in check. Now they can just print up more money, causing inflation. It...
Look, the goal for a monetary supply is to have it track the amount of real wealth as accurately as possible. Tying the monetary supply to the supply of gold doesn't do this. At all. It doesn't even really have a chance of doing it. But well managed banking systems, in conjunction with paper money, come pretty close.
-- "Those who enter the country illegally violate the law." -- George W. Bush in Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 28, 2005