Patrick Elliott wrote:
> Actually... not likely. Shipping the stuff would be too risky, 

Um, have you looked at the logo for Wells Fargo lately?

> which is 
> another reason not even the banks probably *want* to have to do it. 

Of course not. And I don't want to have to pay my taxes, either.

> Moving data is a lot less costly, harder to steal,

Easier to steal.

> Even back when there "was" a gold standard, we **still** 
> opted to keep it all safely locked in a central location, and just trade 
> slips of paper around, which specified who "owned" it.

No, that's the point. It wasn't in a central location. It was in banks, 
which were all indepdenent.


>> (This, basically, is exactly what FDR did when they set up the federal 
>> reserve.)
>>
> Yep. And, again, if you never move it, all you have is the "keepers" 
> promise that it still exists, and a bit of paper claiming you can come 
> and get it, if you need to.

Except that each individual bank was independent. So if you wanted to 
change banks, they *had* to give you the gold.

> Private vaults = The presumption that 5,000 independent places won't 
> ever collude to steal, personally steal, cheat, get robbed, or otherwise 
> "lose" the valuable thing their entire solvency is supposed to be based 
> on. Come again?

Except that puts them out of business, so they have an incentive to 
avoid it, just like companies nowadays have an incentive in general to 
avoid having all their assets stolen at the cost of the stockholders.

>> Cause it's the same thing.
>>
> Umm. Cash can't "lose" value, 

See Iceland. Why do you keep ignoring the fact that it's happening, 
right now, what you keep saying can't happen.

Plus, have you heard of "inflation"?  See Zimbabwe.

> Or, to put it another way, it doesn't matter whether the "money" I have 
> says Franklin, or Starbuck's, if people don't want to take it, or value 
> it as what it says on the damn paper, both are ***just as worthless***.

Yep. That's just my point. Except people have been taking gold and 
silver since like before the roman empire. You can dig up roman coins 
and they're still worth a lot of money even if you melt them down into a 
puddle.

Name me one fiat currency that has lasted over 1000 years and retained 
its value, and I'll believe you when you say it works.  The only reason 
people value Franklins is because people will come with guns and beat 
you up if you don't.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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