4 ms·

There was a time before the soft-money fiat system. Not really that long ago. It was also marked with many boom/bust cycles. The business cycle was probably fir

There was a time before the soft-money fiat system. Not really that long ago. It was also marked with many boom/bust cycles. The business cycle was probably first formally named and studied by Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi and described in the 1819 book, "Nouveaux Principes d'économie politique"[1]. I would suggest that the cycle is not necessarily bad. During good times ideas are tried that would not be otherwise and people with little experience can get jobs and show their competence. Then some bad year forces some tightening and a serious evaluation of investments of all types. The big downfall with recessions is that people with little or no savings can end up in a very bad place economically. Not sure how or if our consumer culture could change to a saving culture, but I'd be interested in reading a book that compares the two. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cycle

haskellandchill 8y ago
Savings culture has beat me into submission, it only took a couple near death experiences from hitting zero in the bank account. So now what? My life is boring, fine. I accept I am a simple piece of human meat. Save for enough years and I suppose I can dream again.
yuhong 8y ago
IMO it really became bad after US left the gold standard in 1971 and the petrodollar was invented.
- Latteland 8y ago
  there seem to be serious problems with the gold standard because of what attracts people, that it is rigid and unchanging. If the us economy grows a lot, how do we get more gold? what if a ship with a lot of our gold on it goes down in the middle of the ocean? What problems would it improve? if we have a recession, how would the govt help keep things going (ie print dollars)? Most people wouldn't have been better off if most large banks had failed then.
  - yuhong 8y ago
    The point would be to not print more and more dollars to "boost" the economy and run more trade deficits, especially using debt. With the gold standard trade deficits would result in less money being printed.

haskellandchill 8y ago

Savings culture has beat me into submission, it only took a couple near death experiences from hitting zero in the bank account. So now what? My life is boring, fine. I accept I am a simple piece of human meat. Save for enough years and I suppose I can dream again.

yuhong 8y ago

IMO it really became bad after US left the gold standard in 1971 and the petrodollar was invented.

Latteland 8y ago
there seem to be serious problems with the gold standard because of what attracts people, that it is rigid and unchanging. If the us economy grows a lot, how do we get more gold? what if a ship with a lot of our gold on it goes down in the middle of the ocean? What problems would it improve? if we have a recession, how would the govt help keep things going (ie print dollars)? Most people wouldn't have been better off if most large banks had failed then.
- yuhong 8y ago
  The point would be to not print more and more dollars to "boost" the economy and run more trade deficits, especially using debt. With the gold standard trade deficits would result in less money being printed.