Faster Please

20 Replies to “Faster Please”

1. Why not a physical currency, redeemable in gold?
   Can people really be this dumb? Nixon changed the Greenback from gold-backed to fiat currency with the stroke of a pen. You can do that to digital currency with the push of a button, or, at worse, editing a few lines of code.
   I call this “the thin end of the wedge.”

2. You can’t back anything with gold. There isn’t enough gold in the world to cover 60% of one year’s GDP in the USA. Plus how is a gold-backed digital currency more private than any other digital currency?

   1. Currency is already digital. When was the last time you redeemed a paycheck for cash at a bank? When was the last time you made a mortgage/car/credit card/property tax payment with either paper currency or even a cheque? If everyone in the country decided that they wanted to redeem the money in their accounts for paper bills, there wouldn’t be anywhere near enough currency to do it.

      1. But, but, but those are special, state-sanctioned 1s and 0s!
         All hail the state, and uni-matrix 1.0!

      2. I always pay property tax by cheque.
         I sometimes pay the mortgage with cash or cheque, but not always.
         I’ve tried to limit use of credit card and instead now use cash instead.
         I’ve even convinced better half to do some transactions in cash.

   2. OK, so we add rhodium and other precious metals to the mix, not to mention copper, silver and so on.
      What do you suggest we back our currency with, unicorn farts and faery dust, with a dusting of political promises?

      1. We live in a fiat world, where $1 gets you $20 ($19 borrowed). There is nothing that can back such a world. I’m happy to live in a world where you can’t borrow money, but I like to garden.

         You can’t back a world with copper or any other metal that gets sold by the pound. You couldn’t mine and/or store enough of it to back a currency.

         China buys about 20 tonnes of gold per month. Annual world production is about 3,000 tonnes. There are about 35,200 ounces of gold per tonne. A tonne of gold is worth about USD $70 M. You just can’t produce enough gold anymore, the fiat economies are too big. You could partially back a currency with gold, say 5%. Buy then gold becomes a fiat currency itself. You could inflate the price of gold, thus rewarding major producers like China and Russia and hurting countries like Japan, but this is just another fiat currency.

         Do the math. It can’t be done.

         1. All that fiat money is fake. Even if the whole thing topples, food will still grow, water will still flow downhill, oil will still exist. Taking the gluebag from a huffer is always a good thing.
            You seem to be suggesting that nothing is better than something to back currency, just because we are run by insane and corrupt bankers.

            1. As you rightly point out, the current system which is backed by nothing, is working.

            2. “Working”
               LOL!

            3. That everyone is willing to accept any currency as a medium of exchange is how it works or does not work, mutual acceptance.

   3. there are already a number of gold backed cryptocurrencies of varying quality

      https://coincentral.com/top-gold-backed-cryptocurrency-tokens/

      now, there is always the question of trust, but the various countries and bankers are burning their built up trust at an accelerated rate

3. The reality that your money doesn’t really exist is a bad one.. Thank the Federal banks for spending like drunken sailors on their pet projects.. Paper backed with nothing is still nothing.. Digital nothing is worse..

   1. Our money has not existed for many decades. Its only now that fact is becoming apparent.

4. Makes sense to me.
   Given the obvious determination of the Federal Politicians to make the US dollar worthless every day and the levels of corruption such wanton spending creates,hello welfare state..
   Why should a State not look to replacing the current “unit of exchange” with one that has a more stable value..So that long term deals remain possible.
   Trade will continue,the use of an agreed upon unit of exchange expedites said trade and such ease encourages more trade.
   The US dollar,thanks to the dishonesty and ideology of the US Government is no longer a trusted unit of exchange.
   Texas is scheming to save its ass.
   Alberta had better pay attention.
   For the 40 cent North American Peso ain’t going to help.

   1. Wooden nickels for wooden people. Both weigh more than a duck. Deal with it.
      Free samples for your peace of mind, only $9.95!

5. No digital currencies, including those tagged “ gold backed “

   Whoever controls the network, controls your digital “ currency”, not you. Didn’t everyone see enough of this tyranny when the truckers banking was frozen?

6. We should use tradition money and move to a wompum based currency. In some areas you could get rich having a clam boil.

   1. I note that professional wrestling converted to a whomp-’em based system some time ago. But “clam boils” sounds painful.

      1. It’s all a shell game anyway.