Ya, I’m always called a simpleton for saying ditching the gold standard was a mistake. But somehow a system where banker bros can just print money for each other is better?
Why should that dollar I have in my bank account be worth less year after year? Why should the 1% have access to a system of near limitless loans, allowing them to buy up and monopolize every aspect of life, from food, to housing, to healthcare?
The problem with the gold standard was that it was already dead when Bretton Woods ended. America, fuelled by post-war growth and their consumerist brand of imperialism, had printed dollars like crazy and by the 1970s there was just no way in hell the US could honour the worth of the dollar in gold if people started actually claiming their rights. This was not just an American problem, as other currencies were guaranteed not in gold directly but indirectly through the dollar. Printing more money than you have gold is fine in times of growth, but once markets lose trust and people start claiming their gold the system collapses.
The gold standard is not compatible with the model of infinite growth and IMF style capitalist imperialism. This doesn’t make it a bad idea—probably on the contrary—my point is just that Bretton Woods could not really be saved by the time it died. Killing it off was the only option because it had already been abused to death in a period in which America saw huge economic growth.
Ya, I’m always called a simpleton for saying ditching the gold standard was a mistake. But somehow a system where banker bros can just print money for each other is better?
Why should that dollar I have in my bank account be worth less year after year? Why should the 1% have access to a system of near limitless loans, allowing them to buy up and monopolize every aspect of life, from food, to housing, to healthcare?
Shits fucked if you ask me.
The problem with the gold standard was that it was already dead when Bretton Woods ended. America, fuelled by post-war growth and their consumerist brand of imperialism, had printed dollars like crazy and by the 1970s there was just no way in hell the US could honour the worth of the dollar in gold if people started actually claiming their rights. This was not just an American problem, as other currencies were guaranteed not in gold directly but indirectly through the dollar. Printing more money than you have gold is fine in times of growth, but once markets lose trust and people start claiming their gold the system collapses.
The gold standard is not compatible with the model of infinite growth and IMF style capitalist imperialism. This doesn’t make it a bad idea—probably on the contrary—my point is just that Bretton Woods could not really be saved by the time it died. Killing it off was the only option because it had already been abused to death in a period in which America saw huge economic growth.