re: #409 3 wood

With regard to the issue of returning to the gold standard, it is silly to even consider doing so.

1. You never tie your currency to the quantity of some substance such as gold or silver. To do so limits your ability to manage your money supply to your ability to increase or decrease the amount of that substance available.

2. You also then subject your currency and monetary system to the whims of other countries who may hold a supply of that substance and decide to crater your currency by dumping it on the market.

3. You run the risk of turning over you foreign and monetary policy to other countries by default, if those other countries hold a large supply of that substance.

The bold part always baffled me. Why can’t you just change how much an oz. of gold is worth in dollars? Doesn’t seem any worse than printing more money in the current system?

(clearly I’m light on finance-fu ;-)