Discussion

What happened when Nixon took our money off the gold-backed standard is that we went from an objective value to a subjective value. That is why homes that went for X are now 10X. That is why a loaf of bread went from $0.25 to $2.50.

Another dumb thing the government has done is the minimum wage. They make the entry level worker feel like they are on their side to get votes. The cost of this is just passed right back to the consumer by the employer companies.

Ok, what gold standard is was clear, why it was left and how that impacted the economy too, what not is clear and I think is important to know is why it was so easy to make? And how the rest of the world accepts this opposing little resistance? All right, U.S. is a powerful nation but, it looks extremely easy.

Before in Colombia all of us was reading in bills: 100 “pesos oro” (gold pesos) it means that the peso that a grab in my hand was supported in gold, someday the government changed that and lay that support in the US dollar, now I know that the peso that a have represent some value in US dollars, when Nixon made that change it represents that a US dollar means what? You say the promise by U.S. taxpayers to pay the bills of the United States, but it is absolutely subjective, what was the Nixon’s explanation to the world?

And I have other doubt: Why you say the FED is not federal and not even American?

I understand what you have written, but that is because I have already read about the gold standard and how it works. I think perhaps explaining how the gold standard works, why it is important to back your money with gold would be in order. If I didn't already understand it I would be lost. I also think that talking about FDR making the possession of gold illegal during the Depression and how people had to turn in their gold to FT. Knox would be beneficial, unless you are getting to that.

But I do think further explanation of the gold standard, what it means and how it works is in order.

Some time ago, I read your article on Yahoo! Finance. I believe that this article summarized these factors that have led to the financial crisis as well as anything I have read.

The major problem here is not only that people are not sufficiently educated on these issues, but also that they have a tendency to focus to much on the immediate problems instead of looking back to see the bigger picture. The media has focused largely on the subprime mess, but they have continued to ignore the larger issues. The end result is that these problems will be pushed off and become bigger and bigger.

I think, to put it simply, your main message here is that the rich (so to speak) have used the government to create these massive entities that could potentially bankrupt our nation. Then, when we take a closer look at these problems, the rich are not willing to do what's necessary to correct these issues. Rather than taking responsibility for these issues, the rich are crying for big brother to come to the rescue. Thus, the situation is further proliferated.

Hence the rules of the game have changed, and rather than let ourselves strike out of the game. It's time to change the way we play.

One of the big issues here with the gold standard (which by the way is made perfectly clear in your remarks)is complacency. There are many things that have been made clear to the general public over the years but the big money has done a great job of making average Americans complacent and lazy. You can offer up all the definitions you want for problems but as long as people have an attitude of entitlement and can drive through and get their meals served to their failing unhealthy bodies they aren't going to care about their financial health either. It is still an elite group of people such as us who are reading and being proactive and it won't change the vast majority without mass changes in attitude and education. My money is backed by me and my use of it and not it's use of me. Unfortunately it won't matter what you back the American dollar with until the majority of people quite blaming parties and regulations and taxes etc........and start taking their future into their own hands.

The gold standard was a real value placed upon the dollar or a "note". For every dollar their was gold backing up that dollar so there was real wealth (or value) behind each note.
When taking away the gold standard our money became nothing more than a piece of paper that has a value that we agree upon. Once we stop believing that the pieces of paper have value there is going to be complete chaos.
The printing of dollars at break-neck speeds only brings inflation and waters down the value of the dollars that we all currently have. Because there are more dollars out there that are backed by no real value it takes more of those dollars to buy the same thing. Material possessions are not "worth" more...There are just more dollars out there making those possessions seem to be worth more.

Robert -
A good reference to this that may be useful to explain this issues may be the online movies "Zeitgeist" or "Zeitgeist Addendum".

In my opinion dollar with or without gold back up are not much differences. It is all about trust. Even if dollar is still related to gold, no one will certainly know whether each single dollar is backed by the gold. When everybody knows it has been too late.
The most profoundly impacted our current economy condisiton is the human mentality and morality. Thief is thief. I agree we have to learn about money and currency so we can provide ourselves with powerful weapon from being robbed by thieves.

...my only comment is that the gold statement doesn't explain why the conspiracy of the rich was completed due to the abandonment of the gold standard; that's a pretty bold statement to make. Needs just a little support :-)

what bothers me is that gold is also a resource that can be depleted, so what will happen if a single country controls all of the gold? having all the gold in the world would require a lot of responsibility..

and thats what important in our leaders, Pres. Obama is setting a new standard when he tries to bring back responsibility in govt, we surely hope every leader in the world would follow thru..