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Imagine how red 100 years of economists faces will be when the world ends up back on a gold backed currency. Probably only takes 2 years before they start inve

Imagine how red 100 years of economists faces will be when the world ends up back on a gold backed currency. Probably only takes 2 years before they start inventing abstractions on top of it and this kicking off the eventually next economic disaster.

vkou 9mo ago
There were, of course, no economic disasters back when the world operated on gold-backed currencies. The goldbugs won't be red in the face, though, because they are never wrong and are constitutionally incapable of feeling any shame.
- cjbgkagh 9mo ago
  I’m pretty sure no-one has argued that a gold standard would prevent economic disasters. That sounds like a straw man. My understanding is that there would be more of them but the individual and cumulative impact would be far less. You can still have fractional reserve banking with the gold standard so the gold standard alone is not sufficient to prevent that.
  - throw0101c 9mo ago
    > I’m pretty sure no-one has argued that a gold standard would prevent economic disasters. That sounds like a straw man. My understanding is that there would be more of them but the individual and cumulative impact would be far less. Contrary to popular opinion, the historical record shows that gold does not actually bring price stability; see "Why the Gold Standard Is the World's Worst Economic Idea, in 2 Charts": * http://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ http://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archi... Most of the claimed benefits of gold-backed currencies are myths: * https://archive.is/https://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5900297/case-against-gold-standard https://archive.is/https://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5900297/cas... Before what we call "The Great Depression" (of the 1930s), that label was applied to another years-long economic malaise, which was in part caused by using gold-backed currency (as was the 1930s Great Depression): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression You'll find that US economic downturns became less frequent as the US went off the gold standard, and the Fed gained more and more independence: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GDP_growth_1923-2009.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GDP_growth_1923-2009.jpg * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_Unit...
    - cjbgkagh 9mo ago
      Many things work just fine right until they stop working, our current strategy of blowing ever bigger economic bubbles has worked for a long time and I expect it will continue for long time. It has the very stable property of enriching the already wealthy. But it will not last forever and I do expect to see the end of it within my lifetime. It is this calamity that I'm interested in diminishing and it is on this basis that I think a weaker federal reserve would be less damaging. Since the federal reserve obscures the true state of the economy uncovering the true state will coincide with a weakling of the federal reserve and will appear causal. I'm not a gold bug, I don't own any of it, I do own some bitcoin but my main asset is my software company.
      - throw0101c 9mo ago
        > Many things work just fine right until they stop working, our current strategy of blowing ever bigger economic bubbles has worked for a long time and I expect it will continue for long time. It has the very stable property of enriching the already wealthy. The enriching of the already-wealthy is happening because of non-progressive policies (taxes, and others). Plenty of countries have fiat currencies and independent central banks, and yet don't have inequality rates like that of US currently has. In fact, the US used to not have inequality rates that the US currently has. This is a phenomenon that has a fairly definitive starting point, with particular policies that (US) society has "accepted" and can 'simply' choose to start rejecting: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_doctrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_doctrine The current US rates are the same as during the Gilded Age, and just like they were reversed post-GA, they could also be reversed now.
        cjbgkagh 9mo ago
        The US is a completely different country compared to what it was 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago, and economic policy is not the only thing that has changed. It appears that you see ‘progressive solutions’ as an answer which I would expect to arrive in the form of tax normalization which alongside monetary inflation constitutes the much coveted wealth tax. I am in disagreement with progressives that this would result in a decrease of inequality, for one the state will be completely reliant on the wealth of the wealthy increasing, as opposed to the income of the middle class increasing. I see inflation as a regressive tax, the poor will pay a higher percentage in tax but a lower in relative terms due to the increase in inequality caused.
delfinom 9mo ago
Works until we have someone mining asteroids for gold. Then the gold backed currency collapses overnight.
- symbogra 9mo ago
  No that's a good thing actually, because then we get asteroid mining spaceships
  - throw0101c 9mo ago
    Beltalowda unite!
RealityVoid 9mo ago
I'd rather go back to crypto than be chained to a piece of stupid metal.
- carlosjobim 9mo ago
  You take that back now. Gold is the best thing which has ever existed. Name one thing in the world which can even compete.
  - freeone3000 9mo ago
    The literal idea of value.
    - carlosjobim 9mo ago
      Gold have existed and thrived long before there were any ideas, and will continue to do so long after the last idea is dead.
      - RealityVoid 9mo ago
        Hah. This is merely your lack of imagination speaking. It could be that reality plays out that you are right, but what a sad, constrained world of ideas that would be.

vkou 9mo ago

There were, of course, no economic disasters back when the world operated on gold-backed currencies. The goldbugs won't be red in the face, though, because they are never wrong and are constitutionally incapable of feeling any shame.

cjbgkagh 9mo ago
I’m pretty sure no-one has argued that a gold standard would prevent economic disasters. That sounds like a straw man. My understanding is that there would be more of them but the individual and cumulative impact would be far less. You can still have fractional reserve banking with the gold standard so the gold standard alone is not sufficient to prevent that.
- throw0101c 9mo ago
  > I’m pretty sure no-one has argued that a gold standard would prevent economic disasters. That sounds like a straw man. My understanding is that there would be more of them but the individual and cumulative impact would be far less. Contrary to popular opinion, the historical record shows that gold does not actually bring price stability; see "Why the Gold Standard Is the World's Worst Economic Idea, in 2 Charts": * http://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ http://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archi... Most of the claimed benefits of gold-backed currencies are myths: * https://archive.is/https://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5900297/case-against-gold-standard https://archive.is/https://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5900297/cas... Before what we call "The Great Depression" (of the 1930s), that label was applied to another years-long economic malaise, which was in part caused by using gold-backed currency (as was the 1930s Great Depression): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression You'll find that US economic downturns became less frequent as the US went off the gold standard, and the Fed gained more and more independence: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GDP_growth_1923-2009.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GDP_growth_1923-2009.jpg * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_Unit...
  - cjbgkagh 9mo ago
    Many things work just fine right until they stop working, our current strategy of blowing ever bigger economic bubbles has worked for a long time and I expect it will continue for long time. It has the very stable property of enriching the already wealthy. But it will not last forever and I do expect to see the end of it within my lifetime. It is this calamity that I'm interested in diminishing and it is on this basis that I think a weaker federal reserve would be less damaging. Since the federal reserve obscures the true state of the economy uncovering the true state will coincide with a weakling of the federal reserve and will appear causal. I'm not a gold bug, I don't own any of it, I do own some bitcoin but my main asset is my software company.
    - throw0101c 9mo ago
      > Many things work just fine right until they stop working, our current strategy of blowing ever bigger economic bubbles has worked for a long time and I expect it will continue for long time. It has the very stable property of enriching the already wealthy. The enriching of the already-wealthy is happening because of non-progressive policies (taxes, and others). Plenty of countries have fiat currencies and independent central banks, and yet don't have inequality rates like that of US currently has. In fact, the US used to not have inequality rates that the US currently has. This is a phenomenon that has a fairly definitive starting point, with particular policies that (US) society has "accepted" and can 'simply' choose to start rejecting: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_doctrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_doctrine The current US rates are the same as during the Gilded Age, and just like they were reversed post-GA, they could also be reversed now.
      - cjbgkagh 9mo ago
        The US is a completely different country compared to what it was 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago, and economic policy is not the only thing that has changed. It appears that you see ‘progressive solutions’ as an answer which I would expect to arrive in the form of tax normalization which alongside monetary inflation constitutes the much coveted wealth tax. I am in disagreement with progressives that this would result in a decrease of inequality, for one the state will be completely reliant on the wealth of the wealthy increasing, as opposed to the income of the middle class increasing. I see inflation as a regressive tax, the poor will pay a higher percentage in tax but a lower in relative terms due to the increase in inequality caused.

delfinom 9mo ago

Works until we have someone mining asteroids for gold. Then the gold backed currency collapses overnight.

symbogra 9mo ago
No that's a good thing actually, because then we get asteroid mining spaceships
- throw0101c 9mo ago
  Beltalowda unite!

RealityVoid 9mo ago

I'd rather go back to crypto than be chained to a piece of stupid metal.

carlosjobim 9mo ago
You take that back now. Gold is the best thing which has ever existed. Name one thing in the world which can even compete.
- freeone3000 9mo ago
  The literal idea of value.
  - carlosjobim 9mo ago
    Gold have existed and thrived long before there were any ideas, and will continue to do so long after the last idea is dead.
    - RealityVoid 9mo ago
      Hah. This is merely your lack of imagination speaking. It could be that reality plays out that you are right, but what a sad, constrained world of ideas that would be.