The American Dream

[Luke9686]

Originally Posted by GregW

What is the problem with "play" money so long as everybody agrees it has value and represents some form of wealth? I can still buy gasoline, groceries and electricity with my Federal Reserve Notes or with just electronic records stored somewhere. If I desire I can buy real silver and gold coins or blocks of metal any time I want.

I realize that the recent housing bubble was fueled by a fervent desire by the banking industry to make certain everyone had a mortgage. They created laws that increased their customer base so they could lend more. They were making some very ill informed lending decisions but have somehow avoided owning their own losses.

The problem is less about the form of the currency but with the speculative gambling the holders of that currency are so fond indulging.

I also believe “the Great American Dream” was slowly strangled when previously less than desirable people, primarily blacks and Hispanics, started to realize the dream by moving to the white suburbs. The Dream was supposed to be for proper White folks. Off shoring of much of our industry with the loss of opportunity for an increasingly non white workforce may be at least partially assigned to this ingrained racism. Although I am ashamed of this behavior I will not deny it happened.

The problem with fiat money is you have some fat-cat up in Washington deciding it's worth. It has no value, and once the world figures this out we are doomed.

[slackjaw]

Originally Posted by Luke9686

It has no value, and once the world figures this out we are doomed.

I don't get this.

Look up the definition of value, if I can trade the green pieces of paper in my pocket for goods and services then they certainly have value. People kill each other and risk long terms of incarceration to acquire piles of them, why? Because they have value.

Gold is just a soft shiny rock that conducts electricity well, it has value too but that value is determined by market forces just like a dollar bill. Why is this rock worth twice as much now as a couple years ago? It didn't suddenly become more useful than before.

[hilgi]

Originally Posted by slackjaw

I don't get this.

Look up the definition of value, if I can trade the green pieces of paper in my pocket for goods and services then they certainly have value. People kill each other and risk long terms of incarceration to acquire piles of them, why? Because they have value.

Gold is just a soft shiny rock that conducts electricity well, it has value too but that value is determined by market forces just like a dollar bill. Why is this rock worth twice as much now as a couple years ago? It didn't suddenly become more useful than before.

You bring up some good points, I have long been in favor of the gold standard but lately I have been hearing some interesting reasons why it isn't the best solution either. The main thing is we need to remove money being issued as debt, that is the key problem. Here is a great video with a lot of good experts explaining what should be done.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U71-KsDArFM