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Why a silver standard is superior to a gold standard.

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Sebastien

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Here I will argue that a silver standard is superior to a gold standard.

Ayn Rand is silent regarding the gold standard. It is Greenspan who advocates gold as a protection of laissez-faire economics, in Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal.

Both gold and silver serve the same purpose: to increase the soundness, stability, and confidence in the dollar.

But given the current price of gold, and given the general range of prices of commodities, a little bit of gold goes a long way, but a little bit of money does not.

Imagine if we had to pay for a Danielle Steel book using gold. We would have to trade a fraction of a gram.

Most people do not have enough wealth to deposit gold against which to draw checks.

If gold is desirable for Laissez-Faire, it certainly is not universal.

Silver, on the other hand is cheap, but it is highly desirable. Under a silver standard, it would be possible to go to the bank with fifty dollars and acquire a beautiful silver one ounce coin.

The general price of commodities reflect a compatibility with silver. And this will continue to be true, so long as the price of gold remains so high.

Gold makes sense for international trade. But not for everyday use.

Imagine how happy everyone would be if they could all own perhaps ten beautiful silver coins.

Imagine how happy investors would be if they knew that their money was based on a sound, and highly liquid currency that meets the needs of everyday purchases.

Silver is superior to gold. Even Ayn Rand's new books are colored with silver.

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Furthermore, if money was silver, everyone would have more money,

when compared to how much gold they would own.

If $2500 can only buy you one gold coin,

but can buy you 50 silver coins,

if you have 50 silver coins,

in terms of pure abundance, you have more money.

Edited by Sebastien
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  • 4 months later...

In Atlas Shrugged Miss Rand penned,  "You would not be able to desire . . . the money that had not been devised, as exchange for goods that did not exist. . ."

The silver: gold ratio has fluctuated in terms of fiat dollars over a range of 15:1 to over 100:1. Extrapolate your 50 coins to 50,000 silver coins versus 1,000 gold coins. Would it be easier to transport 70 pounds of metal, 1.5 tonnes, or have a writ of deposit you could redeem at another participating repository?

Does investing in gold or silver provide the potential return on investment of the untried, i.e., the new?

If the quantity is desired, why not cast your lot in copper?

If honest money is the objective, why not include platinum, palladium, and rhodium into the mix? What about Bitcoin? It is a devised approach to a  decentralized store of value in the world. 

Abundance can be the number of grains of sand on the beach, the number of drops of water in the ocean, or the abundance of value found in a Rembrandt or the amount of liberty provided by a constitutionally limited republic.

 

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