Text 10171, 58 rader
Skriven 2009-03-14 05:36:00 av Bob Klahn (1:124/311)
     Kommentar till en text av Bob Ackley
Ärende: Money
=============
 DD>>> Money is the modern convenience that enables commerce.
 DD>>> Modern money (not backed by actual commoditites such as
 DD>>> gold, silver, platinum or even salt [as was used in ancient
 DD>>> times]) is simply a fiat currency that depends on people
 DD>>> believing that the debt and claim on the issuing entity it
 DD>>> represents will be honoured. As such it it what allows our
 DD>>> Keynesian world economic picture to continue to prosper.

 BK>>  Yep. And it prospered very well, until the conservative side got
 BK>> control.

 BA> Actually, in the long run fiat currency has *never* worked
 BA> well.  The British pound of today isn't worth nearly what
 BA> it was 200 years ago, or even 20 years ago;  FTM the US
 BA> dollar isn't worth nearly what it was 20 years ago either.
 BA> It's not so much that prices are going up as it is that the
 BA> value of the dollar is going down.

 Which is essentially the same thing. In fact, it is rising
 prices that cause the value of the dollar to decline.

 As I said years ago, inflation is a normal part of a healthy
 economy. Lack of inflation accompanies a stagnant or falling
 economy.

 BA> The value of even some commodity based currencies have been
 BA> destroyed by traders who found the same commodity elsewhere
 BA> on the planet at much lower prices and imported it (South
 BA> Pacific cowrie shells are one example cited in most
 BA> economics texts).

 And discovery of gold has much the same effect. All the
 inflation with no real benefit to those who are not discovering
 gold.

 If you look at the economy before the removal of the gold
 standard you find the ups and downs as we have today. With more
 and bigger downs than we have had since the 1929 depression.

 BA> Some people also chip or shave the metal from the edges of
 BA> coins made of some valuable metal (gold, silver, etc.).
 BA> FYI that's why the edges of US coins are fluted (have
 BA> grooves around the edges) except for the nickel and penny -
 BA> and one reason why the edges of ancient coins are so
 BA> ragged.  Of course now that US coins themselves are
 BA> essentially worthless (have no intrinsic value, they've
 BA> become a metal fiat currency) the fluting isn't necessary.

 That part I am aware of. It was also an element in a SF story
 long ago. But I knew it from other sources. Including the
 fluting part.

BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

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