Does any country use gold as their currency in everyday transaction? As far as I know, all countries have paper money, do they not? Just curious as I am not that versed on the currency worldwide markets. SteveD
There is a great book for you to read: The Great Wave : Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History. It will dispel this and many other illusions about the monetary system, gold etc.
gold kooks don't know that the real evil is fractional reserve banking. if you have a gold standard but still have fractional reserve banking then the booms and busts will be even worse, like they used to be, because you don't have the flexibility to print your way out of it. the real evil are legal tender laws. abolish all legal tender laws and all problems are solved instantly. there will be competing currencies and people are free to choose whatever they want.
Every single currency in the world is now un-backed fiat. Switzerland was the last nation to abandon their gold standard. The Swiss Franc had been partially backed by gold bullion reserves up until 2000.
That book is nothing here is the real scoop All of it http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936#
If you put a dollar in the bank in 1913, when the Fed was created, its purchasing power today would be only 6% of what it was back then. Whereas the purchasing power of 1 ounce of gold is broadly similar.