What do you think of Ron Paul?

[Voerdeland]

I agree with his opinions on foreign policy and drugs, states' rights aren't that bad either, but considering his economic views.... NOPE.

[Revolutopia]

Did you even look at the graph in question? In that it directly shows that even during the period when we were on the gold standard that we faced rapid inflation and deflation.

it still went up and down, albeit less.

maybe we need to get a new standard, like diamonds or something

um what?

(Image)

The pre-fiat period was much worse regarding inflation and deflation.

[Neu Leonstein]

the euro is what caused their problems

Hehe. And what, pray tell, is the difference between pegging your currency to price of a euro rather than the price of an ounce of gold?

[The Forsaken Wilderness]

it still went up and down, albeit less.

maybe we need to get a new standard, like diamonds or something

um what?

(Image)

The pre-fiat period was much worse regarding inflation and deflation.

all of these periods were closely preceded by the american revolution, the war of 1812, and the world wars. governments want inflation then, because they can pay of their war debt more easily

[Hydesland]

it still went up and down, albeit less.

maybe we need to get a new standard, like diamonds or something

Maybe people can stop buggering precious materials and come up with more original and less ridiculously arbitrary monetary systems. Free banking is at least academically more thorough (even if in reality implementing it might mean Raj Rajaratnam's views on Goldman Sachs are no longer hyperbolic), and that's acceptable to a lot of Austrians right? You should all be pushing for free banking.

[The Forsaken Wilderness]

it still went up and down, albeit less.

maybe we need to get a new standard, like diamonds or something

Maybe people can stop buggering precious materials and come up with more original and less ridiculously arbitrary monetary systems. Free banking is at least academically more thorough (even if in reality implementing it might mean Raj Rajaratnam's views on Goldman Sachs are no longer hyperbolic), and that's acceptable to a lot of Austrians right? You should all be pushing for free banking.

what is free banking

[Hydesland]

Maybe people can stop buggering precious materials and come up with more original and less ridiculously arbitrary monetary systems. Free banking is at least academically more thorough (even if in reality implementing it might mean Raj Rajaratnam's views on Goldman Sachs are no longer hyperbolic), and that's acceptable to a lot of Austrians right? You should all be pushing for free banking.

what is free banking

Free Banking

[New Conglomerate]

Maybe people can stop buggering precious materials and come up with more original and less ridiculously arbitrary monetary systems. Free banking is at least academically more thorough (even if in reality implementing it might mean Raj Rajaratnam's views on Goldman Sachs are no longer hyperbolic), and that's acceptable to a lot of Austrians right? You should all be pushing for free banking.

what is free banking

Something the US tried from 1837-1864, and it was awful.

[The Forsaken Wilderness]

what is free banking

Free Banking

so the currency would be based on itself? wouldn't it be safer to have it based on something that everyone in the world knows the worth of?

other than that, it just takes the gov't out of the equation

[Zirconim]

*shrugs* He's the best option we have right now. I dislike Obama, but I'd rather deal with him than most of these other Republican candidates.

[Hydesland]

so the currency would be based on itself? wouldn't it be safer to have it based on something that everyone in the world knows the worth of?

There could be multiple currencies based on multiple things (or lack there of).

[New Conglomerate]

Free Banking

so the currency would be based on itself? wouldn't it be safer to have it based on something that everyone in the world knows the worth of?

other than that, it just takes the gov't out of the equation

Gold's value fluctuates. A lot.

Fiat currency is valued based on the total worth of a nation's production.

[Hydesland]

I'm not really into free banking myself, I'm just saying that there is no reason to think that the gold standard is a free market solution or even has anything to do with free markets.

[Kazomal]

Some good ideas, but I can't tell what's real and what's lies, as he double-talks and doesn't walk the walk time and time again.

[The Forsaken Wilderness]

Some good ideas, but I can't tell what's real and what's lies, as he double-talks and doesn't walk the walk time and time again.

when has he done that?

[Revolutopia]

Some good ideas, but I can't tell what's real and what's lies, as he double-talks and doesn't walk the walk time and time again.

when has he done that?

We the People Act

earmarks in the fiscal year 2010

This has been shown only a couple pages back.

[Robert Magoo]

so the currency would be based on itself? wouldn't it be safer to have it based on something that everyone in the world knows the worth of?

other than that, it just takes the gov't out of the equation

Gold's value fluctuates. A lot.

Fiat currency is valued based on the total worth of a nation's production.

Gold's value tracks the value of the dollar. It fluctuates because the dollar fluctuates.

Obviously it isn't 1:1, but it's pretty stable.

[Hydesland]

Gold's value fluctuates. A lot.

Fiat currency is valued based on the total worth of a nation's production.

Gold's value tracks the value of the dollar. It fluctuates because the dollar fluctuates.

Obviously it isn't 1:1, but it's pretty stable.

Gold's value fluctuates in response to almost every single shock to any major economy anywhere in the world, it is particularly responsive to demand from emerging market economies, there is absolutely no reason why the US needs its central bank to fix its exchange rate to the price of gold, it doesn't actually provide any benefit. Why don't people realise it is political, people like Ron Paul only support that because they don't like central banking, and a gold standard prevents (a little bit) discretionary monetary policy, it has nothing to do with gold being some sort of fundamental lifeblood of the world economy.

[Laissez-Faire]

ending the gold standard is what caused problems in the first place! the economy needs to be anchored to something.

Did you even look at the graph in question? In that it directly shows that even during the period when we were on the gold standard that we faced rapid inflation and deflation.

And you think government's intervention was out of the gold market?

[Xsyne]

Gold's value fluctuates. A lot.

Fiat currency is valued based on the total worth of a nation's production.

Gold's value tracks the value of the dollar. It fluctuates because the dollar fluctuates.

Obviously it isn't 1:1, but it's pretty stable.

My God, the dollar increased in value sixfold over the past decade?!

e: or would that be decreased

[Moral Libertarians]

Gold's value tracks the value of the dollar. It fluctuates because the dollar fluctuates.

Obviously it isn't 1:1, but it's pretty stable.

My God, the dollar increased in value sixfold over the past decade?!

e: or would that be decreased

No... cheap credit caused speculative bubbles to froth over all across risky asset classes, driving up prices. In more general terms, while the dollar has weakened, and will continue to do so - all Western fiat currencies will, at the rate we're going - it definitely isn't a sixth of its 2001 value.

[AiliailiA]

Gold's value tracks the value of the dollar. It fluctuates because the dollar fluctuates.

Obviously it isn't 1:1, but it's pretty stable.

My God, the dollar increased in value sixfold over the past decade?!

e: or would that be decreased

Decreased relative to gold.

If it had been tied to the gold price all that time, the US dollar would be much stronger now*. Great for consumers of imported goods, terrible for US exporters.



*EDIT: ...relative to other currencies. Including those of trading partners.

[Grave_n_idle]

Did you even look at the graph in question? In that it directly shows that even during the period when we were on the gold standard that we faced rapid inflation and deflation.

it still went up and down, albeit less.

maybe we need to get a new standard, like diamonds or something

Nonsense. Tying currency to material possessions always has the same problem - it's incredibly easy to manipulate through behaviour.

i.e. one person holding a lot of gold creates a shortage in the market, driving the theoretical 'value' of gold up. Or one person releasing a lot of gold simultaneously into the market creating an instant spike, driving the theoretical 'value' of gold through the floor.

In order to stop the value of your currency from exploding and contracting wildly, some agency then has to regulate the amount of the product in the market - a job which usually ends up falling to government - by buying or selling the material.

On topic (perhaps) Ron Paul read his history books. He knows about the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893. He knows that a gold standard can't work, and doesn't work.

[Wikkiwallana]

Think what you want of my support of Ron Paul.

And you don't? Well let's take a look at some common sense. You don't think individuals and corporations wouldn't want to take their capital out of the country if the US economy started going down? It's already begun. Population shift is returning to Mexico. If it reaches a certain point, the US government may act to force people to stay. If it had a border fence, it would certainly help.

....fence it off 100 meters shy of the actual border and mine what is in between. Snipers posted every 400 meters along the continguous border to keep the troops busy between deployments.

Holy unnecessary expenses, Batman!

[Wikkiwallana]

Graph came off of wikipedia, all I did was add the red line to indicate when we stopped being the gold market's bitch.

Your line is false. The Gold Reserve Act took us off the gold standard as we knew it. Nixon just completely finished all ties to gold.

I'm so sorry I couldn't hit the exact spot on a graph that only had year marks every half century. Oh wait, no I'm not, that's why is used the word "approximately".