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The dollar went from gold to denim off-cuts. Makes you think what a dollar is worth. Edit: No discourse on Bretton Woods, quantitative easing etc. intended! S

The dollar went from gold to denim off-cuts. Makes you think what a dollar is worth. Edit: No discourse on Bretton Woods, quantitative easing etc. intended! Sometimes it can be fun and helpful to look at things for what they are rather than what they represent. For instance, 'That sounds like a lot of recycled denim!' is a more light hearted way of saying 'you're ripping me off!'

forgottenpass 13y ago
I know, right? Denim isn't even shiny. How can a society collectively agree on assigning value to something to use as currency and not use shiny things we dug up!
- ch4s3 13y ago
  I think you summed up my statement better than I did.
ch4s3 13y ago
No it doesn't. The gold standard is and always was ridiculous. Pegging a currency to an arbitrary rare metal limits the tools of monetary policy that now prevent inlfation spikes and worse. the rapid deflationary cycles common 100 years ago. Without the gold standard, we are able to add more money supply when demand for our currency spikes, this prevents spikes and crashes in prices. In case you aren't familiar with business planning, large price fluctuations are bad, very bad. If prices are falling, people stop buy (counter intuitive right?) because they put off purchases until they can get a cheaper future price. Then demand slacks, and companies lay off workers. Then demand slack further due to unemployment. Contemporary monetary policy allows us to constrict money supply and adjust interest rates to prevent price collapses. A gold standard arbitrarily prevents these actions. TL:DR; The gold standard is an arbitrary limitation on an already abstract system, that offers us nothing. Historical revisionism is the only reason the gold standard looks appealing. *edit for readability
mpyne 13y ago
Same thing it was worth before, I would imagine. Money, like anything else, is worth exactly what people think it's worth, nothing more or less.

forgottenpass 13y ago

I know, right? Denim isn't even shiny. How can a society collectively agree on assigning value to something to use as currency and not use shiny things we dug up!

ch4s3 13y ago
I think you summed up my statement better than I did.

ch4s3 13y ago

No it doesn't. The gold standard is and always was ridiculous. Pegging a currency to an arbitrary rare metal limits the tools of monetary policy that now prevent inlfation spikes and worse. the rapid deflationary cycles common 100 years ago. Without the gold standard, we are able to add more money supply when demand for our currency spikes, this prevents spikes and crashes in prices. In case you aren't familiar with business planning, large price fluctuations are bad, very bad. If prices are falling, people stop buy (counter intuitive right?) because they put off purchases until they can get a cheaper future price. Then demand slacks, and companies lay off workers. Then demand slack further due to unemployment. Contemporary monetary policy allows us to constrict money supply and adjust interest rates to prevent price collapses. A gold standard arbitrarily prevents these actions. TL:DR; The gold standard is an arbitrary limitation on an already abstract system, that offers us nothing. Historical revisionism is the only reason the gold standard looks appealing. *edit for readability

mpyne 13y ago

Same thing it was worth before, I would imagine. Money, like anything else, is worth exactly what people think it's worth, nothing more or less.