Return to Gold

[mikediamond]

One last point. A return to the gold standard would be a recipe for massive deflation. The supply of gold won't grow to any significant degree and therefore the money supply can't grow. Economic growth would be stifled. As the economy stalls, the value of gold grows as does the value of any currency based on it. Since the currency grows ever more valuable, nobody will be willing to spend it. This is exactly what happened during the early years of the Great Depression. The Depression hit rock bottom in 1933 and the economy began to recover only after Roosevelt took us off the gold standard.

[mojaveblue]

From the little I know and have read, I think you are right Mike, about returning to a gold based currency. And I didn't think about it that way how physical gold and silver are much like the paper construct we have today, only being much more historically accepted as a form of barter.
Instantly I was gonna reply that gold is different from paper in that it is universally accepted as having value, but then thought, well the current global reserve currency is the US dollar, so it is also accepted, at least currently.
Without question, we can improve the tax system and other parts of our government. I being a little person in the scheme of things wish that they would get it right.

[eagames]

Coin forum chat is biased toward PMs.
The people like gold-silver and coins. Getting an unbiased opinion isn't likely. It's like taking a survey in a bar "what do you like beer or tea?"

People justify PMs will rise because the gov prints trillions of dollars. Most of that inflation already occurred before 2008 when real estate and investments bubbled. The public lost wealth on real estate and their 401Ks and IRAs and investments. Now the government prints trillions but it doesn't even replace that lost wealth. It redistributed that lost wealth more than being inflationary.

It will be interesting to see what gold & silver do from here on. I tend to think they're in a bubble.
What do others think?

[Dick]

You have a point, Mike! It is pure conjecture to think that a return to the gold backing, would help.
Actually the real value of the gold, and silver is in the US, mostly, based on the US dollar.
It is common knowledge that the dollar has lost a huge amount, in the last several decades, and if the actual valus of the precius metals were known,,and accepted globally, they would be a whole lot lower than they are today: against the dollar.
Look at "Worthington Ford". He used to say it is the home of the $1795 Dodge pickup. Prices todat ten times that,, and the same vehicle is the same as before, with a few bells, and whistles. The Gold value, then, at that price would be $140/OZ. So where is the value? Inflation, any way you put it Things were hard, after the {"Great Depression", but things were not so inflated as to be worthless, when it comes down to brass tacks..
While the loss of all those jobe is very hard, the housing market, is more like the realistic values, than what they were, before, "OBAMA".