LOL. Armored up to the hilt, too, I’m sure.

I’m sure there are holes in a gold standard but it has had much longer stability and fewer holes than the overly complicated (by design) system being played out these days. If the real money had been backed by something with real value we could pay our debts easier and then start again without as many problems we now face.

I still don’t know where the real money went to or why it isn’t now used to fix the problems. I trust no government, no lawyer, and no so called expert in the field of finance. So for now I am unconvinced that an alternative to a gold standard is the better way.

Utter nonsense! A currency is backed by a nation’s economy. The government establishes it as legal tender, payment that can’t be refused in settlement of a debt. If a broad majority of the population accepts that, then the value of the currency is determined by the usual process of supply and demand. Taxes only play a very indirect and minor role in this. Instead, the most important factor is how many goods and services an economy can produce. And then, an efficient central bank can control the amount of money and the inflation rate, to a certain degree. It’s a system that works well as long as the government and the financial institions follow a reasonable policy, and outside forces don’t have a higher leverage.

However, the problems of the gold standard became obvious in the decline of the Bretton Woods system. But it looks like the author at vold.org hasn’t learned anything from history.

I’d like to see more Icelandic authors published over in the west. Literature is an export to exploit right now perhaps.

Alda, I certainly don’t know enough about economics to grasp all of the issues but I do understand a real value based currency like a gold standard vs the a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-card_Monte” title=”3 card monte”>3 card monte that we’ve been using for a while. To me this is a mutually exclusive factor that makes the more complicated factors irrelevant. We can make jokes about a Cod Króna but it makes more sense than what we have now.
I don’t yet read Icelandic so I can’t know what the rest of vald.org’s sentiments and philosophies are but that one English story is spot on IMHO.

http://www.handknit.is/en/user/home

– and of course, just buy lots of Icelandic lamb and skyr and chocolate in Whole Foods!

And thanks everyone, for your links – I don’t have time to look at them all, at least not now, but I really appreciate your input … and if not for me, at least for other readers.

I was taught as a child that the money in my pocket was backed by gold or some other standard. It made sense then and still does. We’ve moved away from that model and this is what we get for that.

What will Iceland do with the loan money? I’m watching what the U.S. banks/wall street have already done with their bailout $ and this gives me even less confidence in the system, if that is possible.

In the 1980s and 1990s government activities expanded rapidly, with erosion control and recreation as the main objectives.”
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/Y2795E/y2795e09a.htm

Well, Alda, I guess this makes it understandable how a business traveller to Rejkjavik could get the impression that there weren’t any trees. The reforestation only started seriously in the 60s, and trees don’t grow that fast.

Fantastic, how Google provides answers – if you care to look for them.