Why Conservatives Like The Gold Standard — The Worst Economic Idea In The World

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http://www.businessinsider.com/why-conservatives-like-the-gold-standard-2012-8



We can safely say there's zero chance that Mitt Romney will preside over a return to this system, but there is a distinct faction within the GOP that sees eliminating our current system of fiat money and establishing a system of hard money as a major policy goal.

This was the bedrock of the Ron Paul campaign. Influential conservatives like Larry Kudlow and Steve Forbes have championed the same thing. Even Paul Ryan has in the past favored some kind of hard money alternative to the current monetary regime.

Naturally this minor bone being tossed to the party's gold wing has been the subject of (well deserved) mockery.

Paul Krugman said in a post that the gold standard would destroy the economy, and he pointed out that under a gold regime, the US had financial panics in 1873, 1884, 1890, 1893, 1907, 1930, 1931, 1932, and 1933.
The first chart shows the CPI during June 1919 to March 1933. The CPI swings wildly.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-conservatives-like-the-gold-standard-2012-8#ixzz24ppxGPpg

[Capt. Obvious]

1. These people are idiots. We need a return to silver!

You will not crucify me on this cross of gold.

[quaker bill]

2. There is not enough gold on the planet

to redeem the dollars that currently exist at current spot prices. The entire US gold reserve would cover well less than 10%. There is alot more currency out there which while not dollars currently, is exchangeable for dollars. The Euro, for an example would gain an implicit gold redemption rate once the dollar is pegged to this comodity. If you redeem all dollars in gold, you end up using all the gold on the planet before you get to the first Euro.

I enjoyed the notion posited the other day about using a U235 standard instead. The upside is that once you get to a hoard of 20 to 30 pounds, a spontaneous nuclear explosion occurs, which would seem to inhibit the drive toward excess wealth accumulation.

[Blue_Tires]

3. +1000

[HopeHoops]

4. There's no way to return to it. It was abandoned for a good reason - NO STABILITY!