The gold standard protects the monetary system from the influence of governments as the quantity of gold in existence is utterly independent of the wishes and manipulations of government officials and politicians, parties and pressure groups.
Krugman explained that the horrible trade wars of the early 1930s were the fault of — you guessed it — the gold standard.
"The gold-exchange standard establishes a system, in the name of gold, which in reality manages to install coordinated, international, inflationary, paper money."
It makes no sense to say that the major dislocations of the world's economies in the 1930s could have been solved simply by printing up pieces of paper.
India's ancient and deep religious traditions, combined with a plethora of historical, cultural, and practical reasons, have fostered an unflinching desire to acquire gold as a means of protecting one's wealth.
Recorded at the Mises Circle in Greenville, South Carolina, 3 October 2009. Sponsored by Ron Wilson, and Professional Planning of Easley, LLC.
"Inflation worked as a tax on those further removed from government spending."
The excellence of the gold standard is to be seen in the fact that it makes the monetary unit's purchasing power independent of the arbitrary and vacillating policies of governments, political parties, and pressure groups.
The book contains an abundance of other arguments against our current monetary system.
While mining doesn't have much impact on the gold price, the reverse is not true: the gold price has significant influence on the mining industry.
