Yes, I understand that virtues of a commodity currency that cannot be inflated and balances international trade and yadda yadda yadda.
But, the problem is, if the President woke up tomarrow and decided that fiat currencies were a bad thing, millions of people would go broke. Most people do not have silver or gold. If the President decided that only silver and gold are money, it would mean a massive transfer of wealth to a few billionaires (mostly the FED and foreign central banks).
Rather than loudly call for the reestablishment of silver or gold as official currency, we should instead quietly buy silver and gold and hide it in our homes.
Well, if a commodity money were to emege it would do so not by government dictate, but by market demand, and it would probably emerge at a slow enough rate that instantly one’s paper savings don’t become worthless. However, to be frank, there is really no other feasible alternative for sound money other than through money based on commodities.
The govt itself is one of the largest holders of gold and silver in the world. It could just distribute all its holdings back to the people for whatever paper money they have. The value of both commodities would have to go up tremendously since there isn’t enough at current prices.
Money is a commodity. The only thing is that if it is backed or is an actual physical real commodity then the government can’t counterfit it.
I see no reason to oppose a commodity backed currency. The only reason to oppose it is so you can counterfit & inflate the money supply. Reasons for an elastic money supply are unsupported if you have a free banking system not controlled by a cartel.
The government of the United States did exactly that, in 1873 – forced the nation back to gold standard. The result: the amount of money in circulation went from $60.00 to $3.50 per person; 20 years of disaster followed. The interest-free national debt, represented by non-interest-bearing legal tender treasury notes, owed to the citizens of the United States, became interest-bearing bonded indebtedness, owed to large banks/bankers.
Even back then there was hardly enough gold and silver in existence to facilitate the business transactions in the United States
Please read senator Jones’ speech on the Seanate, on the subject http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/jones/jones_01.html
Today there are a lot more people. Why not copper currency, or wheat or land based currency ?
In any case, the problem is not with the currency, be it paper or sea-shell, but with the government and the managers of that currency. As long as criminals are in charge of the currency, be it gold or silver, people will always end up on the short end of the stick…