you want me to point some of them out? I'll just pick one then... 1. 'Money is just a generally acceptable token backed up with the legitamacy of government mandate.' No, that is what legal tender is. Real money needs no government mandate, legal tender does. Gold needs no (and indeed has no) government mandate, yet it trades as money on every major bank currency desk (not commodity desk note). Gold holds no counterparty risk (unlike fiat - every bit of which is only an asset as it is someone else's liability (its a claim on someone else) and that liability can be inflated away to zero, yeah!). http://www.hindecapital.com/docs/hil_rep\\... The market chooses gold as money, one of the reasons is its very high production stock. Infact I'll let the lady from Sesame Street make this point as I think she makes it better than I could: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla\\... Now then, think. I am an oil state. You are a western country that wants my oil. I care nothing for your legal tender laws as they mean nothing to me. I do not want my grandchildren in poverty because you have swapped our nation's oil wealth for your 'paper' that you have inflated away to nothing. Think me a fool if I did this? I am not stupid, I know the history of fiat money. I will trade you oil for gold though - and if you think me still a fool as you dig up gold from your soil and trade