What is the Gold Standard? - Learn Liberty

Before 1974, U.S. dollars were backed by gold. This meant that the federal government could not print more money than it could redeem for gold. Learn more: http://bit.ly/1HVAtKP. While this constrained the federal government, it also provided citizens with a relatively stable purchasing power for goods and services. Today's paper currency has no intrinsic value. It is not based on the value of gold or anything else. Under a gold standard, inflation was really limited. With floating value, or fiat, currency, however, some countries have seen inflation reach extremely high levels—sometimes enough to lead to economic collapse. Gold standards have historically provided more stable currencies with lower inflation than fiat currency. Should the United States return to a gold standard? SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/1HVAtKP FOLLOW US: - Website: https://www.learnliberty.org/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LearnLiberty - Twitter: https://twitter.com/LearnLiberty - Google +: http://bit.ly/1hi66Zz LEARN LIBERTY Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://bit.ly/1UleLbP

Comments

1. This guy is totally inaccurate. There never was a gold "standard". The US dollar was always and still is a one oz silver coin. The Bretton Woods agreement after WW2 was a contract between US and other countries that the US would redeem the Federal Reserve Note. As the speaker correctly points out, it was illegal for US citizens to own gold so how could it be "the standard"? The dollar STILL was a one oz silver coin. They still mint them.
2. GREAT GREAT GREAT PRESENTATION. I COMMEND YOU SIRS!~
3. Abolish the fed
4. "Don't you see how irrational it is to have a currency backed by nothing? Yes, we obviously need to base our value on a shiny rock that can become worthless in a microsecond because it's only uses are genetic embedding, or making special semiconductors.."
5. The gold standard is the best
6. since US off the gold standard,
   US economy more strong, even the world prefer to buy usd and use usd, rather than gold.
   which is literally just a rotten paper and junk, but could beat gold. amazing
7. A gold standard is not freedom, it is a government imposed rule. This always leads to other problems and dropping the gold standard. This should not be interpreted as being against gold, but the market should decide what it wants to use as money.
8. That's how the elite control this society. All this money is completely worthless. It's backed by nothing. Complete illusion.
9. without question gold is more stable and less prone to negative inflation than what we have now (I say negative because inflation itself is not necessarily a bad thing when it is equal to demand for goods and services, which explains why some like a fractional reserve system although....)
   
   The problem with gold standard is the same problem with our current monetary system - it relies on government intervention and regulation. I'm pretty sure one of the main kickoffs for leaving the gold standard in the US was upon the arrival of new gold from Europe the currency did not inflate even though this new gold represented new productivity - what ensues is there's not enough money to circulate this productivity and both Europe and US fall back before the productivity line of the new gold.....All a failure of central bodies and authorities - trusted to run it all
   
   Right now you can redeem your money for gold - it's called buying gold. The problem is taxation, being taxed on anything is perverse and taxing on gold is criminal. But the smart will purchase gold with their money to hold value and liquidate it when necessary.
   
   A gold standard is moving away from liberty not towards it. We do not require some national currency or centralised body - multiple competing currencies, especially crypto currencies gives all the benefits of fiat and gold while (in the case of bitcoin) throwing off the negatives. Let there still be a dollar just let that dollar compete with everything else - and keep the governments dirty little fingers off of my gold - don't forget that all a gold standard really is is the government price fixing gold, how does price fixing ever work out - also currency itself is a commodity should we judge the price of milk by the price of eggs and does it really provide any stability? I guess for those that partake in both milk and eggs on a regular basis.
10. Btw do you know where I can find graphs supporting the gold standard stability, I need it for a school project.
11. Wouldn't the limited money supply because of the gold standard prevent the fed from giving below market level interest rates which caused banks to keep borrowing without control and yet that didn't happen?, is there something I missing?
12. I just have a question, what about the Great Depression where years before fdr took us away from the gold standard we were already having money supply and inflation problems due to low interest rates?
13. Jesus Christ, the gold standard is like the creationism of libertarian lunatics at the mises institute.
    
    Poll after poll given to the top economists from both sides of the political spectrum from every major university show that there is almost unanimous agreement amongst economists that returning to the gold standard wouldn't fix any of the price stability problems we already have.
    
    The Gold Standard won't fix inflation. Look at CPI charts from the early 20th century.
14. wouldn't the economy fluctuate erratically since gold is traded globally now?
15. Gold standard makes sense to me
16. Libertarians truly are idiots if they think returning to the gold standard would help the free market: it would destroy it but making capitalization almost impossible.
17. Isn't there a way to combine both the gold standard and the fiat system?
18. It's hard to take a video seriously when the lighting is so awful.