Part of the argument that is made to support a gold standard is that money should be tangible. That will never fly today for nobody knows what constitutes even the money supply. During the 1960s, if you bought a US savings bond, you could not go to the bank and borrow on it, This was a clear dividing line between debt and money. What took place in 1971 was more than closing the gold window. Debt became money! Today you can post TBills as collateral for trading with an exchange. Central banks hold reserves in notes and bonds. If someone in China wants to invest in the US, they simply buy dollars electronically at a bank. There is no printing. The Federal Reserve does not create that money. So there is a whole new world of money creation beyond what the Fed does and beyond fractional reserves in banks. The true full scope of the money supply is simply unknown and far beyond the control of government. This is why I say returning to a gold standard is pointless. If I had bonds, I would immediately redeem them and take the gold. That is precisely what was taking place and caused Nixon to close the gold window. We will NEVER be able to control anything without first tackling the ability to borrow for that is where the bulk of today’s money is created – not at the Fed. And then almost 70% of the outstanding debt went to interest – not even social programs. The debt has been welfare for the bankers. But it gets worse. As Andrew Mellon said, “Gentlemen Prefer Bonds“, and thus the bulk of money in pension funds is invested in bonds. Yes, during the Great Depression the stocks fell to 10 cents on the dollar. But many bonds went to zero, We have to face the fact that the pension funds would be wiped out and that will cause tremendous civil unrest. There is a whole lot more to this crisis that the superficial discussions of what is money.We need an international monetary conference with a global debt restructuring. Government have to stop this borrowing with no plan of paying anything back, for debt has become simply money that pays compound interest.
