Ron Paul's Farewell Speech to Congress: The End of a Cult Figure

[rvg]

This value your talking about is not fixed though it's merely an agreement between two parties.

So what? Every commodity is worth whatever it can be sold for.

Any increase or decrease in the amounts of gold changes the variables of the two parties and so changes the price of gold.

As it should be.

Changes in the price of gold would severely hurt an economy no matter how robust or diversified it's industrial base.

That has yet to happen...

[HoreTore]

That has yet to happen...

lol, what?

The price of grain is more stable than the price of gold.

[rvg]

lol, what?

The price of grain is more stable than the price of gold.

Its fluctuation has yet to bring down an economy.

[HoreTore]

Its fluctuation has yet to bring down an economy.

The availability of the metal has, however.

And more importantly, the economy is prone to crashing and burning no matter what the status of gold is. Gold really is irrelevant to an economy. Back in the days it served as the perfect trade item, but now we have better options. So, thankfully gold went out the window.

[rvg]

Back in the days it served as the perfect trade item, but now we have better options. So, thankfully gold went out the window.

It still can be. There's no reason why it needs to be, but it can be if we run out of options. When things go South, people still turn to gold.

But your not trying to allow it to float so it can be sold RVG you saying you want to fix a value to a currency. Therefore increase/decrease of the denominated notional commodity be it energy, gold or oil will change value of your currency.

So what? currency fluctuates all the time. Dollar rises and dips every day. That doesn't mean that prices follow it. Prices only follow long term trends.

[gaelic cowboy]

It still can be. There's no reason why it needs to be, but it can be if we run out of options. When things go South, people still turn to gold.

there isn't enough gold for all the dollars in the world never mind all of the other world currencies, and if you did go back on a gold standard everyone would have to do it or it would fail in a year.

[Sir Moody]

Its fluctuation has yet to bring down an economy.

The Gold standard is considered one of the contributors to the great depression

[rvg]

The Gold standard is considered one of the contributors to the great depression

That's hardly a universal view.

there isn't enough gold for all the dollars in the world never mind all of the other world currencies, and if you did go back on a gold standard everyone would have to do it or it would fail in a year.

Sure there is. The currencies just need to be devalued according to the availability of gold.

[gaelic cowboy]

That's hardly a universal view.

it's a fact that rigidly sticking to a universal standard at a time of economic weakness lengthened the recession.

Sure there is. The currencies just need to be devalued according to the availability of gold.

but that's the point you couldn't devalue it as it would be worth X gold, instead you would have to stop money creation through high interest rates and you would need to deflate the economy instead.

[rvg]

it's a fact that rigidly sticking to a universal standard at a time of economic weakness lengthened the recession.

A fact? Highly debatable at best.

but that's the point you couldn't devalue it as it would be worth X gold, instead you would have to stop money creation through high interest rates and you would need to deflate the economy instead.

Something's gotta give. If the currency is to be static, the printing presses must be stopped.

[gaelic cowboy]

So what? Every commodity is worth whatever it can be sold for.

But your not trying to allow it to float so it can be sold RVG you saying you want to fix a value to a currency. Therefore increase/decrease of the denominated notional commodity be it energy, gold or oil will change value of your currency.

That has yet to happen...

Well that's cos no one has been daft enough to fix there currency to gold since the disaster we had the last time it was done.

However if you want to see what a gold standard style recession looks like then check out the euro crisis, once you tip into recession you cant print money leaving only deflation of the economy.