the result was over a quadrillion dollars (notional value) in unregulated derivatives. Don't get sucked in by the egg example. Oil has traded everywhere from $147 to $33 in the last four years. Stable Price? Supply and Demand? Price discovery? or casino capitalism? Are you trying to justify the three ring circus that is the currency market? You simply can't have price stability OR price discovery without stable currencies, and that means sound money. Like it or not, the Fed has a very simple, two-word mandate "Price stability." Not "Price discovery", not "targeted 2% inflation." Instructions don't get any easier. If you want to argue about changing the mandate, that's one thing, but when you misinterpret simple words(because you think you know better) , you just become another meddling clown. So long as people are free to set their own prices there will be price instability. While I think we are both aware of the long-term purchasing power erosion of fiat, there are many historical examples of hard-money regimes which have been deeply instable too. I don't want anyone centrally planning the money supply, whether that is a discretionary or nondiscretionary regime. I want competition in money so that individuals engaging in commerce can itself choose whichever means of payment -- commodity-backed paper, precious metals, government fiat, foreign government fiat, private fiat, cryptographic currencies -- best suits their purpose. The money supply, the nature of money, the value of money and the origin of money should be determined by market