Should the Federal Reserve be abolished and a gold-and-silver standard reinstituted?

[Kelley1]

America has not always had a central bank and in fact, the three precursors of the Fed — the Bank of North America, the First Bank of the United States, and the Second Bank of the United States — were all abolished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It happened then, and it can happen again.

[SixFootSexy]

Our dollar is fiat, but it is backed by nukes and aircraft carriers. If we were trustworthy, and we spent that money on social good instead of pointless wars, we might be a lot more popular, globally. Instead of the economic bullies we are.

If the US were to replace the dollar, it would accelerate efforts by many other countries, including BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), to establish alternative currencies or financial systems. This process is already underway to some extent, with efforts to reduce dependence on the US dollar in international trade.

Going back to the gold standard would create massive deflationary pressure, which is not what the powers that be want. We live in a debt-based economy, the Federal Reserve system creates a cycle of perpetual debt for both the government and citizens. They want control, taxation, obedient wage-slaves who police their own thoughts like in 1984.

[Surely]

It is amazing that a nongovernmental establishment can print numbers on cotton paper with fancy pictures. Then “loan” it to the United States for the value shown on the paper. Then charge interest on it.
The Feds should go!

[Surely]

Thank you for the MHO!

[SugarSugarplum]

Why did we go off the gold standard to begin with?
Because anyone with a $20 bill can show up at a bank and demand the gold. Foreign countries were raiding the treasury.

And before you say, "Oh, the paper is 'worth' gold, but you can't have the gold", that's exactly what fiat currency is. Like we have now.

[Daniela1982]

I thought that was only possible with Gold Certificates. They also stopped honoring Silver Certificates because they feared the price of silver would rise. The Hunt brothers almost cornered the silver market at one time. Plus the US started giving aliens our gold to fuel their space craft.

[Messianic_Monk]

Abolishing the federal reserve? I think there SHOULD be some sort of centralized banking system. Perhaps at a minimum a re-organizing of the bank would probably be best.

As for putting our dollar back on gold and silver? This is what I have to say to that:

[Daniela1982]

In order to do that the US would have to call back all gold like they did years ago, and make private ownership illegal.

[MisterWack]

No, apparently the gold standard & silver standards were stripped away due to fixed exchange rates which led to inflexibility which contributed to the downfall of the system as a whole. We need to keep our more flexible monetary policies for the good of our economy!

[TheRealPepperPotts]

That would destroy the US. I get the thought behind it, but it's more complicated than that. @Syntosi was spot on.

Here's an excellent research paper on the topic:

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R41887.pdf

[Syntosi]

While there are a lot of things wrong with the federal reserve, going back to a gold or silver standard is out of the question. Simply put, the modern economy has advanced past such things and having USA go back to it would put it at a massive disadvantage against the rest of the world. The gold/silver standard did not die because of some conspiracy, it died because an economy that was based on it simply could not compete against one with a fiat currency.

[Kelley1]

Fiat money is good for government and horrible for people. Gold is good for people and not so good for government. All fiat money goes to zero in 100+ years. However, Gold is forever.

[Syntosi]

Even if that is true (its not) its still a bad argument.

Lets rephrase it. Fiat is good for parents and horrible for kids. Gold is good for kids and not so good for parents. At what point would children thrive when their parents struggle? Having a successful government is sort of a prerequisite for a successful society.

Also USA is a super power. The taller they are the harder they fall so to speak. Messing up the economy by going to a gold/silver standard would probably hit USA the hardest of any country.

Lastly you are a bit confused on what a fiat currency is backed by. A gold standard is backed by the value of gold, which is actually a commodity and theoretically we could mess with the supply but that is besides the point. A fiat currency however is backed by trust, in this case trust in the US government.

As long as there is trust in the US government then the dollar has value and since USA is the super power it has virtually infinite amount of trust. The value of the dollar is much safer as a fiat currency than it would ever be as gold backed. Of course safe does not mean invulnerable. If you intentionally screw it up then it would still be ruined but there is basically zero chance for it to happen accidentally.

[MrGSpotHer]

I'm not American but I definitely think it should, it's bad news to have money that's not actually worth anything. It's basically an i owe you note it's why most places avoid trade on the dollar..

[exitseven]

America needs to take a break from printing money. We have a spending problem and need to get it under control. It will be hard to get back on the gold standard. Gold is $2350 an ounce.

[Juxtapose]

Get Andrew Jackson back on the case and he will clean these fuckers up.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Hope you like deflation.

[Kelley1]

Deflation is good. That means you could save your money and you would not be penalized with your money buying less than when you saved it.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Haha, ask Japan how they feel about deflation. No seriously, you have a very simplistic understanding of economic policy if you think deflation is good for the economy.

[Kelley1]

At least I'm not going to falsely claim that Japan has deflation. Compared to the price of gold, real money, in the last 20 years prices have increased from 5000 to 40,000 per ounce.
goldprice.org/.../20-year-gold-price-history-in-japanese-yen-per-ounce

Over the same time, the Yen has even lost value compared to the US Dollar going from 106 to 160 yen per US Dollar. Even someone like you that is ignorant about economics should know prices are increasing in the USA

[BoopBoopBeep]

No, I'm not going to falsely claim it either. That gold has gone up in price in Japan has nothing to do with the deflationary struggles they've had. There's more that people buy than gold. Gold hasn't been real money in quite some time. What was the last thing you bought with gold? You have once again confused "store of value" with "money"... as all your kind do.

www.economist.com/.../japan-ends-the-worlds-greatest-monetary-policy-experiment

foreignpolicy.com/.../

www.reuters.com/.../

Japan's battle with deflation and negative interest rates isn't a matter of opinion, it precedes your ability to walk.

Your major is social science and you're "hoping to graduate with your MRS." If I needed to know what the Kardashians are doing for holiday I'll seek your opinion. For global monetary policy changes I tend to favor The Economist and Foreign Policy.

[ohsheeT]

Good heads up Trump just took over the Federal Reserve and we're all screwed now

[Dargil]

It should be debated. There might be alternatives like a standard based on GNP.

[elaphe]

You do know that by posting that graphic you are broadcasting your own opinion and potentially influencing people's answers, don't you?

[Jennz6]

They are going to use “Bitcoin”

[Kelley1]

That would be a huge improvement but they won't because they can't increase the quantity. In other words, they would no longer be able to counterfeit money like they do US dollars. The same reason they don't like gold. However, they might create digital money that they control and can create at will.

[animesenpai]

No one uses a gold standard. If you tried to do thay it would literally destroy the US economy

[Dongie]

Maybe Trump will do this.

[gorydetails]

yes 100%

[shortster]

That would be nice