A History of the Gold Standard
This history of the gold standard explains why there's a growing group of advocates calling for its return...
President Herbert Hoover made a statement in 1933 that rang true for centuries and still rings true today for many: "We have gold because we cannot trust governments."
Hoover was talking about how governments have never been able to resist the temptation to inflate the amount of paper money issued until that paper money becomes nearly worthless. Gold, meanwhile, has been a reliable preserver of wealth for literally centuries.
Some nations have tried to meld the two together - gold and paper money - through the use of what is called the gold standard.
A gold standard is a monetary system where paper money is directly convertible into a fixed amount of gold. In other words, the value of paper money is backed by gold.
England was the first country to adopt such a monetary system in 1822 and its use soon spread around the world, including in the United States.
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