[WildcatClan]

Sounds like the Russians and Paul are on the same page.

[dblshot]

This is my kind of gold standard

[Cheetahcat]

the Dollar is in trouble if this happens.

[DesertRhino]

Did i wake up in Bizzaro world? *Russia* says the gold standard should be observed while an American President seizes the means of production, nationalizing the private industries?? Sweden is warning us against socialism? China is lecturing us on fiscal discipline? Canada won’t let Bill Ayers and George Galloway into their great nation, but they can both stroll into our white house at will?

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, or check my coke for LSD.

[EBH]

Gee and Iran is invested in Venezuela’s gold mines.

So, the question is:

Are the conspiracy theorist correct in that there is no gold in Fort Knox and hasn’t been for decades?

http://moderate.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/gata-to-federal-reserve-wheres-the-gold-in-ft-knox/

[SandWMan]

Gold...what a novel concept.

Hmm, you think that if gold was such a good idea our founders would have put it into the Constitution...

[Thunder90]

The Russians and OPEC want oil and other things to be paid for in something that will not inflate rapidly and become worthless. Same with the Chinese.

[Reflex]

I dont see how Gold and silver could cause a Depression, the founders didnt think it would.

“No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts;

[sanchmo]

2012 may not be the end of the world.

But it’s beginning to look like it will be the end of the world we know today.

[Oldpuppymax]

The left already did away with the gold standard so it could print more worthless money. Now I wonder what the odds are that they’ll bring it back??

[Oldpuppymax]

Say, this could provide quite an opening for Hussein! Decide to go back on the gold standard, rule (yes, rule) that all private ownership of gold bullion is illegal, demand that all American citizens turn their gold over to Big Brother for, say, 10 cents on the dollar value and after a couple years of confiscation, breaking down doors, putting non-compliant citizens in jail, decide the whole thing just won’t work. Hussein will have tons of gold and the value will have risen to 2500/ounce! ACORNs offices would all be 24ct!

[Oatka]

Russia has become the first major country to call for a partial restoration of the Gold Standard

That's like being partially pregnant. The Gold Standard is a merciless master because you can't print it. That's why the governments dropped it.

Roosevelt went off the gold standard as far as citizens having the ability to trade the government IOUs for the real thing. He did allow foreigners to redeem them though as there wasn't much chance of that during the 1929 Depression. (Prior to that paper money was, in reality, nothing more than a warehose receipt stating that a certain amount of gold "has been deposited in the Treasury of the U.S., payable to the bearer on demand.") Afterward, I remember the saying was "The dollar is as good as gold" - and it was - as long as it was backed by the stuff.

There used to be something like a 4-1 ratio of fiat currency to gold. Johnson upped the ante and upped it again until he made the foreign holders of dollars nervous - they started cashing them in for gold.

The government then talked them into turning in their dollars for silver, sucking out the silver certificates ahead of the citizens who were doing the same thing because of the rise in silver. ("Wooden Nickels" by Wm. Rickenbacker is a good read). When silver ran out, Nixon shut the window and, with no controls, we have REALLY been inflating ever since.

Chinese and Russian leaders both plan to open debate on an SDR-based reserve currency as an alternative to the US dollar at the G20 summit in London this week, although the world may not yet be ready for such a radical proposal.

No they aren't. We'll first have the catastrophe of a Depression, then hyper-inflation, than a reality check - and all good citizens will be forced to turn their gold over to the governments.

[palmer]

A gold standard will prevent the next crisis, but would do nothing to solve this current one. The pile of credit must shrink because it cannot be paid from current income streams. Another problem is that that big banks have large amounts of credit instruments as assets and they are insolvent. A third problem is many of those same banks plus companies like AIG have credit derivatives that have become toxic as credit based securities have crashed.

Right now a gold standard would prevent the Fed from printing money to monetize debt which would greatly increase interest rates. This would be good in the long run because it would properly value capital and properly price risk, right now rates are ridiculously low. But at the same time the rises in rates would dissolve the revenue model for the banks, particularly the immense profits from borrowing short and lending long. Would sink GMAC and all of the other companies that engage in that ridiculous practice.

But once that problem is solved by a very large default, the new gold-backed currency could be instituted on the remaining financial entities. Productive capacity would very quickly grow from the ability to make long term investments without any inflation and bubble penalties. Consumption would wind up matched to that productivity rather than be driven by the whim of credit creation.