funkshen
dvds didnt exist in 1991
not necessarily. it's entirely a thought experiment. and it depends what kind of gold standard anyone means (is it a system with notes 100% backed by a fixed amount of gold, or less?). its more likely to be a mixed metal standard anyways considering gold and silver prices behave differently to economic conditions, or a basket of goods (far more likely since any gold standard will involve an internationally negotiated regime and the IMF loves commodity baskets). also it wouldn't result in regained glory. the glory of the united states was built on the back of non-gold standard (bretton woods wasn't a gold standard)Yes but they have some sort of chance to regain their former glory if they reign in their spending and fix up their debt and blah blah blah. Wouldn't a gold standard weaken them to a point that they can't control?
it could be beneficial in that it would contribute to price stability, restore confidence in both domestic and foreign investors, discourage fiscal profligacy (and ipso facto waging war around the world)
it could be harmful in that politicians have never been able to manage a gold standard system adequately, it is a terrible idea during debt deflation, many of profound opinion think it might result in worse outcomes. it can also be argued that the behaviour of commodity prices in the last 20-30 years indicate that a gold standard would have made this period a lot worse (compared to the 19th century when it made a fair bit of sense).
its pretty likely to have massive negative repercussions in the short and medium term for politicians and average joes, so yeah, its unlikely. if you think a gold standard is imminent, buy all the gold you can considering, in light of this, it is currently grotesquely undervalue. this is a disadvantage in itself as there would be massive price level shocks - it might be like a meteor hitting earth. after a while the dust would settle, but the dinosaurs would be extinct. the idea of a gold standard is pretty dumb, there are better ideas out there like robert hall's 'ANCAP Standard' (ammonium nitrate, aluminium and plywood). an indication of the unlikely implementation of the gold standard is that ron paul's position is to legalise competing currencies, not institute a gold standard.
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