Hey Pickle!

[Nephew Twiddleton]

This is not a call out, just a wake up in the middle of the night and go, "Oh yeah, that didn't get discussed, did it?" sort of realization.

We were to discuss the purpose behind the gold standard thing.

I know this is dragging you back into AI at a time that is probably not convenient for you, but I think that I am having a bit of a political shift (in a not surprising direction) but some of it does involve economy, which leads me back to the question- what's the point of basing currency off of an element that can be put to better, industrial use?

[Disco Pickle]

Completely missed this in my casual browsing the last week or so, sorry about that Twid.

First, I do not think a return to the "gold standard" is a good idea, for all of the reasons that have been put forth against it since Bretton Woods fell apart in 71. 

That being said, I do think there should be SOMETHING behind the value of the dollar besides the collective debt of treasury bills and the "promise to pay" of future generations of Americans that is currently used. 

I won't get on a diatribe about the booms and busts caused primarily by central banking monetary policy and the paper money they print, though it is deserved.  There are more dedicated and well cited pieces available elsewhere on the net if you choose to read them.  I'd be glad to link a few if you want. 

Gold can be put to a good industrial use, certainly.  It is one of the most useful metals on the planet.  More reason it should not be used as a currency again.   

My primary concern with modern currency is one of inflation.  We've had all of the worst of Keynesian economics, and none of it's "best practices" for..  decades.  The people in the Treasury did not learn anything from the 70's recession, and are perpetuating the 10% (lol) unemployment level with loose monetary policy out of the Fed.

We're going to have to see a sharp rise in interest rates that forces banks to offload their properties to people with capital and "clear their books" or "get rid of the bad paper" and it has to happen soon.  There's a lot of debt that needs to be written off, and companies like AIG need to go under for selling bets on the dark side.

Got off on a tangent there.  Sorry bout that.

I've been made a project engineer, working with people from our new company, and that means that instead of just having the possibility of fucking up someone else's job if I'm not paying close attention, I now have to be sharp enough to not fuck up jobs I have to sign my name to.

Designing and overseeing the building of equipment that, if wrong, could kill someone, is a hell of a time consumer.  I do love it though.  That, and the logistics of getting to mexico this winter have me pretty busy.

As much as I love this place, I just don't have the time at the moment.  I'll try and drop back in next week and reread the mush that must be the above post, and any reply you have written.