TITLE:
Mine, All Mine
VALIDITY:
Gold standard, but not autarky AND planned economy as well.
DESCRIPTION:
Adopting the gold standard has fixed some problems but has distorted the @@DEMONYM@@ economy, resulting in an over-allocation of national resources to gold mining, and a vulnerability of currency value to fluctuations in the global market value of gold.
OPTION 1
"The problem isn't basing currency on a tangible commodity, but rather on a commodity of unstable supply," explains Cecil Highways, of the De Bears Group. "Tie the gold standard to an underlying diamond standard. You can be sure that the value of diamonds will always remain steady, we've kept it that way for centuries, sheltered from so-called market forces of supply and demand. Gold shines, but diamonds are forever."
OUTCOME:
the nation prefers hard currency
OPTION 2
"No, that's over-complicating things," argues your Minister of Elegant Simplicity, who has attended the meeting in a plain gold-coloured jumpsuit, with gold-dyed hair, gold lipstick, and who is rumoured to enjoy showering in gold. "If you want to avoid over-mining, then don't allow over-mining. If you want the price of gold to be steady, then fix the price of gold. Of course, this will mean a planned centralised economy, strict control of trade of goods, and absolute disconnection from global markets of currency and goods. But then we will be golden."
OUTCOME:
the faithful proclaim that only @@LEADER@@ can see The Golden Path to a perfected future
OPTION 3
"There's another solution, perhaps, where we could say how much the currency is worth directly," muses your Minister of Policy Reversals. "We can still have 1 @@CURRENCY@@ be worth a fixed value of gold, but it could be theoretical gold, rather than needing to be gold in our vaults. Call it 'fiat gold', which exists because we say it exists. We could then borrow freely, without any need for gold reserves, and meet our public spending obligations, and by saying how much this fiat gold is worth, we'd avoid being tied to commodity value fluctuations. I know, I know, it's a crazy idea, but I've got a feeling it might actually work..."
OUTCOME:
people know the price of everything and the value of nothing