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| tom66:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on March 18, 2023, 03:02:56 am --- --- Quote from: nctnico on March 18, 2023, 02:47:10 am ---That is a bad idea and exactly why gold (or whatever) backed systems don't work. If you print extra money, you can get people to work on military stuff and improve (increase) the economy which in turns backs the value of the extra money. Government debt is only a problem when people stop to work so there is some carefull planning required (and why we have a limit on the debt versus GDP ratio in the EU). In a way you can even doubt government debt is an actual debt; more likely bookkeeping to show how much money was printed. --- End quote --- Be careful playing the Modern Monetary Theory game [...] --- End quote --- Hung on my living room wall, my father grew up in Rhodesia (to Dutch/South African parents) and left just after it became Zimbabwe. He left it in his will to me. (He may have had a few, err, "opinions" about Mr Mugabe.) |
| tooki:
--- Quote from: vad on March 18, 2023, 02:57:27 pm ---Correct me if I am wrong. US dollar was pegged to gold when Great Depression began, was not it? --- End quote --- Well yes, it was, but it was pegged to gold for decades before and after, too. (1900-1971 pegged to gold, 1792-1900 pegged to a mix of gold and silver.) |
| coppice:
--- Quote from: nctnico on March 18, 2023, 03:32:24 pm ---Keep in mind that gold being valuable is just an imprint in western culture. Like a religion obsessing over a tangible object instead of an imaginary deity. --- End quote --- If you think the west is obsessed with gold you've never been to the east. In the east it has to be 99.99% pure to interest them. Its not just a value thing. Its a purity thing too. I think the only people without an interest in gold are remote tribes who have never encountered it. That said, its a funky form of stored value. Although it has had an unmatched level of stability over the centuries, changing uses or massive discoveries could change that at any time (e.g. the rapid influx of plundered gold from South America to Spain). Remember when the rich served dinners on aluminium plates to show off that they were not the kind of paupers who would use gold? |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: nctnico on March 18, 2023, 03:32:24 pm ---Keep in mind that gold being valuable is just an imprint in western culture. Like a religion obsessing over a tangible object instead of an imaginary deity. --- End quote --- Has there ever been a culture that didn't value gold? Even if people didn't find it attractive it's incredibly useful stuff. If it was cheap all kinds of stuff would be gold plated to prevent oxidation. |
| nctnico:
--- Quote from: james_s on March 18, 2023, 04:52:07 pm --- --- Quote from: nctnico on March 18, 2023, 03:32:24 pm ---Keep in mind that gold being valuable is just an imprint in western culture. Like a religion obsessing over a tangible object instead of an imaginary deity. --- End quote --- Has there ever been a culture that didn't value gold? --- End quote --- Has there ever been a culture that didn't worship some kind of god? AFAIK the Azteks and similar cultures didn't assign monetary value to gold. They used it for creating items for worshipping purposes. For use as money, gold and other rare materials (some cultures used seashells as coins for example) are nothing more than means to prevent counterfeiting. Nowadays that is no longer necessary due to better printing & fabrication techniques and (digital) wire transfer. |
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