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Originally Posted by erect
2 questions
1> What's wrong with a silver or other "hard asset" dollar base system
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Nothing from the perspective of the citizen. From the perspective of politicians and special interests, it makes it very hard to transfer wealth from main street to wall street, or for government to conduct wars, build welfare states or deficit spend in general. In an MP3 I linked to (Peter Schiff) he explains that hard money is like a government chaperone. They have to tax to spend. They can't just inflate the money supply if it is tied to a commodity, because hanky panky risks a default. When FDR defaulted, the Depression carried on another 4 or 5 years. When Nixon defaulted, you had the stagflation of the 70s and early 80s. Eventually these dollar bubbles have to burst and when they do, you get bad economic times.
It also means the banks can't cheat either. They can't leverage on leverage on leverage. They have to be accountable to their depositors or they will go bust.
Quote:
Originally Posted by erect
2> What's the likelihood that the gold is still in Fort Knox after what FDR did?
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Not good. I believe most of it is classified as "deep reserve" but is assumed to be loaned out to foreign governments (off the books).
I know that any attempt to audit the physical gold is blocked. Ron Paul has been trying since the 80s to get one done.