Saturday, October 11, 2008

The Fed Explained By An Australian

This is funny...

9 comments:

Chris said...

Unfortunately, the gold wasn't worth anything to begin with. It is only the real value of commodities and products that gave gold its value, just as it give real value to paper currencies.

Josh said...

Paper has no intrinsic value. A gold coin could still be melted into another form, another object and still have value. A dollar bill you rip in half and all value is gone. There's a significant difference.

Chris said...

While it is true that gold has ornamental value and value as a commodity in terms of caps for teeth and parts for computers, beyond those values, gold has no inherent value as a medium of exchange. It is the real value of the commodities and products and services that a medium of exchange is suppose to represent that gives it its value. Inflation occurs when more dollars are printed or the weight of a gold coin is reduced clandestinely, because the number of representations of the value of products, the number of dollars, has increased, but the real value of products HAS NOT.

Josh said...

"It is the real value of the commodities and products and services that a medium of exchange is suppose to represent that gives it its value"

I don't disgree and a currency represents the value of commodities, products and services, however is should also have intrinsic value.

Douglas Porter said...

Nope. If it had intrinsic value, then it would not be able to represent the commodities and products as an exchange medium. It would INFLATE the value of those commodities in relation to its intrinsic value and subsequent demand for that intrinsity.

Josh said...

Gold has been used as currency since 643 BC. Lets see how long paper lasts, and what kind of long-term prosperity it will bring.

Chris said...

That's not a legitimate response to my argument. Are you proceeding on Faith?

Josh said...

Proceeding on history. I don't have enough understanding yet to proceed on anything else.

Chris said...

Bartering lasted longer than gold. Shouldn't we use it, because it was used longer?