> the US never had gold reserves that matched the dollars in circulation. Not once. Ever. This cuts both ways. Proponents of "sound money" and the gold standar

> the US never had gold reserves that matched the dollars in circulation. Not once. Ever. This cuts both ways. Proponents of "sound money" and the gold standard ignore this unwinding of the relationship. So pointing to the roaring 20s or the economic booms of the late 19th century as evidence of the power of sound money really say nothing of the sort. Proponents of the "gold standard caused the Great Depression" also ignore that this relationship was tenuous at best. This article is typical of that mindset -- it wasn't the gold standard per se, but it was gold-standard-era-thinking that caused the Great Depression. The only people who are offering a coherent story here are the MMTers who really take a look at the role of the state (and, probably more importantly, the law) in the story of money. While I disagree with many of the policy proposals from MMT proponents, I think that view is descriptively accurate for the most part. Where I think they fall short (and I am working hard to challenge my own views here) is in their picture of inflation, which I feel is very incomplete.