Yea nothing is constant I know. Asking more like why don’t we measure the value of things with someone that holds its value better like gold? It’s physically scarce and cannot be manipulated because it’s verifiable at an atomic level, and will always be in demand.
I’m not saying we adopt gold as a currency, I’m thinking we should try using it more often to measure the value of things. I’m considering working on a web application that allows users to easily determine the price of something in gold by weight. It’s a fun thing to think about. Even with supply shocks from a new reserve, that is absolutely nothing compared to the inflation of the money supply.
I’m not saying we should have a gold standard again, there were obviously bad downsides. I’m questioning why we measure everything in money which loses its value over time due to inflation. Can’t we measure things in something that has a more stable value while also not having a gold standard?
But what’s the point in having an extra conversion? Like this would take extra effort and need to regularly be updated as the price of gold vs the local currency changes so there would have to be some advantage. Like having the price change over time is annoying but because your income and expenses are both tied to the same thing ideally it shouldn’t cause any thinking (it hasn’t because income hasn’t kept up with inflation)
Yea nothing is constant I know. Asking more like why don’t we measure the value of things with someone that holds its value better like gold? It’s physically scarce and cannot be manipulated because it’s verifiable at an atomic level, and will always be in demand.
Gold can be manipulated. Reserves can be made available or unavailable by the wealthy. You can also have supply shocks if new reserves are discovered.
Also, most banking problems stem from issues with the reserve ratio affecting the money supply. That doesn’t go away with a gold backed currency.
I’m not saying we adopt gold as a currency, I’m thinking we should try using it more often to measure the value of things. I’m considering working on a web application that allows users to easily determine the price of something in gold by weight. It’s a fun thing to think about. Even with supply shocks from a new reserve, that is absolutely nothing compared to the inflation of the money supply.
It would only really be a thing after the depegging of the dollar after 1970.
Everyone used to tie their money to gold. Not anymore.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/04/27/135604828/why-we-left-the-gold-standard
https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2017/november/why-us-no-longer-follows-gold-standard
I’m not saying we should have a gold standard again, there were obviously bad downsides. I’m questioning why we measure everything in money which loses its value over time due to inflation. Can’t we measure things in something that has a more stable value while also not having a gold standard?
But what’s the point in having an extra conversion? Like this would take extra effort and need to regularly be updated as the price of gold vs the local currency changes so there would have to be some advantage. Like having the price change over time is annoying but because your income and expenses are both tied to the same thing ideally it shouldn’t cause any thinking (it hasn’t because income hasn’t kept up with inflation)
What for?