"Thanks in large part to the hype surrounding Ron Paul's candidacy within the Republican Party, the notion of a US return to the Gold Standard has enjoyed renewed popularity as of late. Mr Paul supports the dissolution of the United States Federal Reserve and a return to the Gold Standard. Others in his ideological camp would take the matter yet further, and some have gone so far as to suggest that the United States do away with paper currency altogether and return to the practice of using coins minted from actual precious metals as currency. Like many of the solutions seized upon by hobbiest libertarians, these monetary policies are concise, simplistic, and - unfortunately - completely wrong." Continue reading at NowPublic.com: Debunking The Gold Standard: The Myth of Legality | NowPublic News Coverage http://www.nowpublic.com/debunking_gold_standard_myth_legality#ixzz1I0KhqR1m
The dollar itself is a commodity the US sells to the rest of the world. To engage in international trade all countries are forced to buy US currency which on the other hand, forces them to trade directly/indirectly with United States Companies & individuals. Over the past decades, actually since President Nixon broke the gold/dollar ratio in 1971; the US has experience a huge monetary expansion and the rise of "Finance Economy". Using Gold directly would solve many problems in the long run, but it would take away a key advantage the US has by using the dollar. I on the other hand propose that the value of the dollar be tied to a basket of commodities to properly ensure its value and prosperity while keeping the world buying US dollars.
FWIW, Ron Paul DOES NOT want to return to the Gold standard. What he DOES want is to allow currencies to compete with the dollar. That would allow the dollar's true value to be more transparent. Just thought I would make this correction.
"to engage in international trade all countries are forced to buy US currency" in a number of your posts you have exaggerated the power and the influence of the US. furthermore you extrapolate into the future that the US will maintain the same level of power and influence. while being patriotic may be noble in itself your viewpoint does not necessarily correspond to the reality. the US is no longer capable or willingly, at least under obama, to protect the free world. until american government admits that the country is bankrupt and takes the necessary steps to restructure its debts standard of the living in the US will decline. as to the dollar in US trade it is not difficult to price goods in other currencies or basket of currencies if the dollar is perceived to lose value at an accelerating pace.
Martin Armstrong, and I agree with him, is against the gold standard and favours our current system and gold's role in it as it exposes mismanagement by politicians and (central) bankers. The notion of any kind of 'standard' or 'system' being able to get rid of human nature influencing society and economics is just ridiculous in my view. When there was a gold standard often they just forged gold bars passing them for real. How would they stop this? Systemic and 100% proof control by professionals.... Who work for the central bank itself... Why not put in law there can be no inflation... or deficits are illegal...
A democratic welfare state cannot be managed with a true, genuine commodity money such as gold. Democracy requires a leak, or a way to balance the unrealistic demands of both the state and the public, such that discreet defaults can gradually occur over time without such an event actually occurring (inflation).
Yeah, I guess Ron Paul is idealistic and wrong. Thank goodness for the Federal Reserve which has already devalued the dollar by over 96%! That's the right way to do it. Trick people into trading the valuables for paper money, and then make the paper money worthless. This is the best way to do it.