So what, we go back to the bartering system? It's difficult to trade my skills as a programmer for food directly.
Not sure what the rest of your statement is saying...
@21echoes covers everything else I wold add on this.
The US currency used to be backed by gold up until 1934 [1], as did several other countries[2]. But as times have moved on, there are several other minerals which have become more important, I think it would become too difficult to rely on just a single precious metal these days.
[1] http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12770.htm [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard
Did it never strike you as odd that when the robber barrons were deposed by the class of disenfranchised oligarchs they were awarded the Federal Reserve as compensation.. Yes they were quite pleased.
6000 Years of Debt is a book that can be recommended for information about that. It is not a very good description of the present, but it captures the past very nicely.
Another obvious problem: if we pin our money supply on gold, what happens if we find an asteroid made up entirely of gold - enough to triple the quantity of gold on earth? The person who grabs that gold now owns the whole planet and the entire economy is ruined, even though no actual production has occurred.
As with democracy, paper money is the worst possible system except for every other system anybody has tried.
[1] http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-...
what would you rather have controlling your inflation/deflation rates? the rate of mining of a metal from the ground? or, in the case of the US dollar, a specialist committee controlled by a democratically elected government? (and don't come back to me with bullshit fed conspiracies, here).
i mean this question quite honestly: sometimes, your government is so fucked up that yes, indeed, the mining process, if less controllable, is at least more reliable. however, in the case of most modern, powerful countries, this is far from true.
You ask what I would have controlling inflation / deflation. The free market is my answer. Study the history of inflation / deflation you will see that almost without exception inflationary shocks are caused by the control of money and its supply by a narrow self-serving elite. You ask what else I would favour when a much better question would be why, based on the historical record you would ever lend intellectual support to the status quo.
You mention "bullshit Fed conspiracies". Do you actually understand the Fed and its origins? I'm 100% sure that you don't. The robber barrons were never deposed. When the Rockefellers and Morgans were relieve of thier "monopolies" they gained the greatest cartel and monopoly that one can possess: The power to print the money. The won the central bank. That's no conspiracy. It's fact.
Your mention of mining is a bit confused, and I don't really understand what your getting at. You are aware that mining isn't cost-free activity?
Finally, before you repeat the asinine arguments as a peasant shill of their cartel how about asking yourself why the central banks of the world retain gold as their most prized asset while at the same time quite successfully employing you, for free to peddle the notion that only toilet paper has any utility in internet discussions.
- Your post is incoherent.
- why, based on the historical record,
- were relieved of their
- They won the central
- what you're getting at
- , for free,
I actually pointed out the mistakes, then worried that the malformed sentences would remain, and so I've posted the corrections instead.
Also, I think you might be responding to a troll. Or at least somebody with no hope of understanding or redemption, which is almost worse. Sigh, such is HN on matters of inordinate privilege.
It's especially a wonder that us hackers don't think it'll work, and that HN is so opposed in general (at least judging by the number of comments against it).
I wonder if this reflects the US-centrism of HN. I believe it's become a lot more popular in Europe (especially Germany, where Satoshi may well have been from).
