Comment on Drop your unpopular opinions here because c/unpopularopinions is filled with popular opinions
arotrios@lemmy.world 3 days agoYou’re missing the point, and the unemployment stats are in the table at the end of the text from the link here . Gold isn’t an ideal currency, I agree, but it’s better than a fiat currency tied to an arbitrary value.
As to the chronology it goes like this:
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1971 - Gold standard abandoned - Nixon/Ford
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1973 - 1975 OPEC oil embargo in push to jack price against the dollar, which has lost its connection to real wealth (gold) - Carter
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1979 - Iranian revolution (in direct relation to the Shah’s use of the suddenly exploding oil wealth) - Reagan uses this in hostage crisis against Carter in the 1980 election and wins
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1980 - 1982 recession - Reagan. Massive erosion of worker rights during this period (Air Traffic controllers strike, etc).
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1991 recession - Bush - war in Iraq to maintain Kuwaiti oil supply and thus keep Iraq from being able to devalue the dollar (which at this point is tied more to oil than to gold)
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1992 - 1999 - Clinton - best economic years in American history, but at the same time, significant erosion of labor capital with NAFTA and various neo-lib policies. Union membership drops further. Manufacturing begins to leave the US, further eroding the labor market.
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2000 - Dotcom crash, preceded by the Asian market crash (I was actually working in the market around this time. It was not fun). Bush, 2nd Iraq war and Afghanistan, all ostensibly about oil, and propping up the dollar. Manufacturing accelerates its movement out of the US.
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2008 - 2009 the degradation of labor capital comes full circle with the Great Recession, permanently displacing a significant portion of the middle class and beginning a homelessness crisis we’ve yet to resolve. You can see this in frozen minimum wage, the inflation we now grapple with, and the current collapse of the economy.
Right now, the dollar is holds its value based on faith in the American empire. When that faith in America is too tarnished to hold a shine, the dollar will fully collapse, and with it, the empire.
Gold won’t. It will always be used as a measure of wealth, regardless of a particular currency’s collapse. This is why Trump wants to “take a look” at Fort Knox. Even if he earns billions, a dollar collapse would wipe out his empire, but if he has a huge pile of gold, well…
TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 3 days ago
Ahh I found the peak unemployment column, but they do not support your argument. Both the great depression and the recession in 37 are well above COVID. Plus we started recovering from COVID in like 2 months
First, the value of currency is largely set on people trusting the American government to pay their bills via Treasury bonds.
Secondly, gold itself is more arbitrarily valued than the dollar and is much more subject to inflation. Just look at the volatility in the gold market.
And what was the reason we abandoned the gold standard…
Gold can and will eventually become devalued if it ever becomes the standard once again. There has only been little over 200k tons in circulation throughout history. There is about half that of proven and currently economically minable gold known right now, there’s about an additional 100k tons of unknown or currently uneconomically recoverable gold in the earths crust. There’s also millions of tons suspended in the ocean, more than that in the core, and lords knows how much in space.
If gold becomes the end all be all standard of value then someone will find a way to increase supply. Money has always been about trust, value is completely subjective.
arotrios@lemmy.world 3 days ago
And thus effectively imaginary, proving the point in my original post. And like all imaginary things, it only holds power over us if we believe in it.
As to gold vs. fiat, if I offer you a currency backed by gold or the same amount in a fiat currency back by the faith in a nation-state, which would you choose, all other things being equal? Which is the more stable investment? Which will hold value after the nation-state collapses?
Hint: it’s not fiat.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 3 days ago
Yes, but you went on to make claims that gold is somehow inherently different. Which it is not. Gold is only valuable valuable because you believe it is as well.
Fiat… The nation is less likely to have a massive depression and more able to recover from one of it does happen. I don’t think you understand that it doesn’t matter if a currency is backed by gold or not. You are still trusting the country to pay you that gold, or to release the gold at the price you originally bargained for… That doesn’t happen in a recession.
Why do you think the US made people turn in their gold during the depression and then cease all redemptions?
Stable… Again, fiat currency. Value after the collapse of a nation state? Who the hell knows? At this point if we experienced a complete collapse I would probably rather have the value in guns and ammo. However, i’m not betting on the world to end any time soon.
Dymonika@lemmy.ml 3 days ago
I thought that was only gold from criminals or certain people, not the general populace.