It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

I have searched I cant find if any country is still on a gold standard

page: 2
0
<< 1   >>

log in

join
share:

posted on Mar, 15 2009 @ 06:55 AM
link   
reply to post by BASSPLYR
 




. . try Uruguay or Paraguay. I think one of those countries still has most of their treasury back with actual gold. It's not much of a treasury though but at least they are trying to do it sorta right.



Here follows exerts from the CIA World Factbook.

Uruguay.
Montevideo. 3.9 million. About 65,000 sq miles. Almost the size of the state of Washington. GDP per person $12,300. Accepted ICJ jurisdiction.

Paraguay.
Asuncion. 6.8 million. 150,000 sq miles. About the size of California. GDP per person $4,300. Accepts ICJ jurisdiction. Note: The United States rejects ICJ jurisdiction. Why is that?

The CIA does not say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ about the status of gold in their blips. Plainly, if you think Uruguay is POOR, then you must look at Paraguay. Statistically speaking, there is no apparent explanation why Paraguay is SO poor. I attribute that to EXCESSIVE religiosity as it is the only country in the world founded by the Jesuits. Even Mexico has a GDP per person of $14,400.
www.cia.gov...

MORE: You say “ . . they are trying to do it sorta right.” In the year 2000, I heard the US had $400 b. in printed money in circulation around the world. Just last week I heard as an off-hand remark that we now have $1 t. in circulation. China is concerned and its Finance Minister asked for US guarantees on the “value” of US bonds it held. The Chinese recall from history what happened in the 1920s Weimar Republic which gave the world Adolph Hitler. Yesterday President Obama gave China such assurance.



Obama also sought to reassure China, which expressed concern on Friday that massive U.S. deficit spending and near-zero interest rates would erode the value of China's huge U.S. bond holdings. (About $1 t., 9% of US debt. Ed). "Not just the Chinese government but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States," Obama said, noting that his comments applied to U.S. Treasuries as well as investments in the private sector.
news.yahoo.com...


Q.
Assuming more money is necessary to grow the economy, if we were on the gold standard - holding a fixed amount of gold - how could we have raised the amount of money in circulation so much in so short of time? Isn’t the gold issue either a NON issue or a DEAD issue? More like a trip to nostalgia land?


[edit on 3/15/2009 by donwhite]



posted on Mar, 15 2009 @ 07:20 AM
link   
reply to post by OBE1
 




Hi BASSPLYR. All Central Banks hold Gold as a % of official currency reserves. US = over 70%. Currency Reserves not to be confused with currency backing - convertablity - or mechanism for the settlement of international trade, i.e. The Gold Standard.



Excellent link to a website I have bookmarked. Thanks, Mr OBE1.

I also concur in your straightforward explanation distinguishing about HOLDING gold and being on the gold STANDARD. You might say your gold reserves are your NATIONAL CREDIT SCORE.

Note: Someone above said the US values its gold at $42 an ounce. The website used over $900 per ounce as the value of gold. I suppose that was the quote at the time of the writing? Also, the website guy who furnished the gold info is English. He spells his tons as "tonnes."


[edit on 3/15/2009 by donwhite]



posted on Mar, 15 2009 @ 07:33 AM
link   
I remember reading some where that Japan was thinking about switching over to the gold standard. Can not remember where I read that just now.



posted on Mar, 15 2009 @ 08:53 AM
link   
reply to post by fixer1967
 




I remember reading some where that Japan was thinking about switching over to the gold standard. Can not remember where I read that just now.



I believe Japan is still No. 3, after China, in national GDP. In per capita GDP among large countries, Japan’s $35,300, compares to No. 2 China's $6,100 and No. 4 India's $2,900.

Now, I can only express my skepticism that fixing a currency onto any finite metal is NOT compatible with currently understood economic philosophy. When we manage the economy according to the current model, we are in a position to speed up activity when desired and to slow down activity when indicated. I cannot visualize that being possible with a GOLD standard.

You need to address that issue before you urge a gold standard, IMO.

Trivia: Japan's population in 2008 is about the same as America's population was in 1940. 139 million.
www.cia.gov...
en.wikipedia.org...


[edit on 3/15/2009 by donwhite]



posted on Mar, 15 2009 @ 09:42 AM
link   
reply to
post by Desolate Cancer
 




Wow so that’s it huh? There are no modern day examples for us to explore to see how a gold standard works in today’s globalized economy. For all those of us who say bring back the gold standard we need a pilot program or example to show its superiority over fiat (if it is better, no way ot tell). So what do we do from here? Where do we go to prove that a gold standard works better, there are no modern day examples.



Correct. Or exactly.

This is not a new argument. As long ago as 1896, the issue of CHEAP money versus COSTLY money was the decisive issue of that year’s presidential campaign. If you watch politics, you know it was the Democrats on the side of CHEAP money and the Republicans on the side of COSTLY money. That is because those who HAVE money want it to be COSTLY for the poor to borrow and those who do not have money want it to be CHEAP to borrow. And that summarizes the GOLD standard argument. Dems say NO, Republicans say YES!



William Jennings Bryan (1860 - 1925) was the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 1896, 1900 and 1908. A lawyer and the 41st United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson. One of the most popular speakers in American history, he was noted for a deep, commanding voice.

Bryan was a devout Presbyterian, a supporter of popular democracy, a critic of banks and railroads, a leader of the silverite movement in the 1890s, a leading figure in the Democratic Party, a peace advocate, a prohibitionist, an opponent of Darwinism, and one of the most prominent leaders of Populism in the late 19th - and early 20th century.

Because of his faith in the goodness and rightness of the common people, he was called "The Great Commoner."

Famous. Bryan‘s “Cross of Gold” speech was a speech first delivered by William J. Bryan at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. The speech advocated bimetallism. At the time, the Democratic Party wanted to standardize the value of the dollar to SILVER and opposed pegging the value of the United States dollar to GOLD alone.

The inflation that would result from the silver standard would make it easier for farmers and other debtors to pay off their debts by increasing their revenue dollars [income]. It would also reverse the deflation which the U.S. had experienced from 1873-1896.

The speech gets its popular name from its ending, with its biblical allusions: “Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

The 1896 Popular vote, McKinley, 7,112,138; Bryan, 6,508,172.

Although Bryan lost the election, his coalition of "outsiders" would dominate the Democratic Party well into the twentieth century and would play a crucial role in the liberal economic programs of Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
en.wikipedia.org...



[edit on 3/15/2009 by donwhite]



posted on Mar, 15 2009 @ 01:05 PM
link   

Originally posted by donwhite
Note: Someone above said the US values its gold at $42 an ounce. The website used over $900 per ounce as the value of gold. I suppose that was the quote at the time of the writing?


Hi Don. Right - the author applied market value to one tonne (metric).

US Gold Reserves were revalued from $35 oz (Troy) - to - 42.22 oz - under Nixon.


The United States Bullion Depository Fort Knox, Kentucky

The gold is held as an asset of the United States at book value of $42.22 per ounce.

Text


Status Report of U.S. Treasury-Owned Gold

Reserves = 261,498,899.316 oz - - Book value = $11,041,058,821.09

GL




top topics
 
0
<< 1   >>

log in

join