MacLorry -
Here are some links that you requested. The second link is a very good history lesson on banking and the history of money. It is about an hour long but you only need to listen to the first 39 minutes. After that the content is opinion, not history. The first 39 minutes is well worth your time and will give a good basis to understanding how we got to where we are today. All the links have some good content.
http://worldhistoryclass.com/2011/04/the-dollar-as-the-worlds-reserve-currency/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DhrbTzRs0chttp://silvercoincommerce.com/2010/03/20/history-of-world-reserve-currencies/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6860923.../t/central-banks-shift-reserves-away-us/"The part many miss is that all paper or computer currency is fiat currency, even if it's backed by gold because the government establishes the exchange rate by fiat. Don't think so, check out this link to the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. You'll find that gold went from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35 by law (fiat). Once you understand that then it shouldn't be surprising to learn that all gold backed money ever devised by man has likewise failed. So what are you suggesting, that we go back to caring coins around? It's going to be real hard to order something on the internet with only physical money." The only reason gold backed money has ever failed is because of the hunger for power by politicians and big bankers. In short, gold backed currencies never fail on their own. They are abandoned by our leaders, and every time it has ever been tried, the experiment has failed.
"I hear that a lot, but it's too simplistic. Our economy is complex and in some ways like a living organism. A hard enough blow would collapse the economy just like a hard enough blow can kill a living organism. All the same elements that were in place prior to the hard blow are still there, but once the process is stopped the economy collapse just like the organism dies. Better to spread out the hard blow to tolerable levels so that economy can survive, heal, and grow just as with the living organism."We just have to agree to disagree on this one.
