Originally posted by Robtard
Who are you voting for, DDM?
Gary Johnson, of course. We strongly disagree on some political issues but we match up 86% of the time.
I think things like a gold backed standard are economically naive and dangerously sentimental. I do believe in a backed standard. But i call it a "diversified backed standard." That would hedge against extreme market fluctuations for things such as gold. It would be more resistant to market crashes, as well.
Right now, picture the US currency as a very moist cloud. It can be blown this way and that way without giving much resistance but it does have some mass which prevents it from just blowing away into nothing all of a sudden.
Picture a gold backed standard as a lincoln log cabin built next to a campfire and you have some spare logs in a fireproof bucket sitting off to the side, ready to build another one at any time. One wrong blow of the wind and your cabin can burn up...but it is less likely than the cloud and sturdier than the cloud...right? And it is easier and faster to rebuild because of that fireproof bucket you have on the side, right?
Picuture a diversified backed standard as a very large pool of putty. Very difficult to move one way or another and it would take a long time to take pieces of it away until your pool was empty. Moves very little when the wind blows and cinders and ashes don't change it that much. The negative is it is hard to move this putty into another pool or add dye to quickly change the color of the putty. But it can be done, methodically.
That's the visuals of how I view that particular economic policy.