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call it $8,000.

So a one ounce coin is worth $8,000. So how do I go to the bank hand in my $10 and demand payment in gold? That is one 800th of an ounce. A speck of gold dust. 1$ worth of gold at $8000 and ounce becomes just as theoretical a creation as the Fed funny money we have now. When we were on a metallic standard a Morgan silver dollar was 26.73 grams of metal. That was real money.

For a properly backed currency the minimum unit should be something you can hold in your hand, and know that you are holding it. When the pound sterling came into use it was worth, one pound of sterling silver. A pound of silver is something I can wrap my mind around. So is a board foot of lumber or a cubic foot of coal. But 1/8000th of an ounce is a bit small.

So how do I go to the bank hand in my $10 and demand payment in gold? That is one 800th of an ounce. A speck of gold dust. 1$ worth of gold at $8000 and ounce becomes just as theoretical a creation as the Fed funny money we have now.

Consider paper money with embedded physical gold foil of 0.1 gram (about what a silver dime is worth - ~$3). One tenth gram is a centimeter square, 1/5th mm thick (about the thickness of two post-it notes together).

Keep in mind that an 800th of an ounce will typically be good for small purchases like a cup of coffee or a newspaper ($2 today).

If you want a paper money for smaller transaction ($0.20 - but why?) your gold foil strip could be 1 mm by 1 cm. Sealed in a nice clear hologram window.

I agree that 1/8000 of an ounce of gold is not a practical measure - yes, it could be done, but think about the cost of making it into thin strips and embedding it in money: its just not practical.

Here’s what you do: Declare that gold is now valued at $8,000 per ounce and silver at $500/oz. (restoring the old 16:1 ratio). That backs the currency and stops the chaos of the moment, thereby allowing the economy to begin to recover by restoring confidence. Concurrently, you announce that at a date certain, say 3 or 6 months later, ALL current US currency and coinage will cease to be currency (though they will likely be collectible), but that they can be turned in for [name of new currency] at a ratio of 1:387. Effectively, you will have a gold- and silver-backed currency with the gold in it valued at $20.67/oz. and the silver at $1.29/oz. (exactly where they were before FDR seized the gold in 1933). Additionally, all bank, brokerage and other financial balances (including our debts) will be adjusted in the same manner. Finally, ALL contracts will be modified to reflect the change in currency (and people will automatically have the right to state future contracts in terms of ounces of gold or silver).

As an aside, all new currency and coinage would be barred from having the image of any person born after 1800 on it to remove politics from that area - use Founding Fathers or a generic Lady Liberty as was done for much of our history, and go back to changing the coinage every 25 years to keep collecting a vibrant hobby that would earn lots of seignorage for the government as older coins were removed from circulation and replaced with newer ones.

There would be an end to speculation in gold and silver, as they’ll have a stable value in terms of the new currency...and there would necessarily have to be an end to taxes on any gains on the sale of gold or silver. Gold and silver will be money, and you couldn’t be taxed on the exchange of them for cash or each other any more than you can currently be taxed for exchanging a $10 bill for 2 $5 bills.

What does all of this do? Well, it backs your currency with gold and silver, just as the Founders wanted. Second, it restores practicality to the use of the physical currency - silver can be used for smaller transactions, and we can once again have gold coins. Ironically, all of the old “junk silver” coinage and the common date gold coins from yesteryear could once again be used as circulating coinage (though I think it likely that most would still stay in closets and vaults as collectibles). Initially, since this would necessarily be done after a currency/financial crisis, people will hoard the new coins - but eventually it will become inconvenient and people will revert to using paper bills, cards and electronic transactions (just like now), with the only difference being that we’ll have a stable currency and (necessarily) limited power for government.

Yes, I know, doing a “reverse split” on the dollar would look Turd World. But face facts, we ARE Turd World when it comes to our finances. Going to a gold/silver standard would restore fiscal sanity, and it is completely practical.