

Comparing and Contrasting the Great Depression With the Current US Economic Crisis - simitpatel
http://www.informedtrades.com/237417-comparing-great-depression-crisis-2008-a.html

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sdurkin
Grrr... Austrian economics.  The ultimate value of a currency has never been
shiny metal, even when we were on the gold standard.  The value of a currency
is that it allows you to invest in companies in a particular country.  That is,
if you think there are a lot of companies in the US that are going to return
high profits, you need to exchange your money for the USD. 

This line is laughable: "It is easiest to define "real value" as the price in
gold."  Why is this any more valid than the price in silver, corn, wheat,
dollars, yen, or cocoa puffs? 

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ConradHex
Is it because the supply of gold is, in theory, somewhat stable? 

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sdurkin
It is, but not only is that not true in practice, its irrelevant.  Gold is an
industrial good, just like anything else.  Its price fluctuates for a variety
of reasons, including simple changes in taste. 

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lionheart
"Moreover, unlike Japan and like Argentina and Iceland, the US is a debtor
nation -- not a lender.  This increases the likelihood of a run on the
currency, which will result in significant currency devaluation." 

I'm confused.  Isn't Japan's national debt about 120% of its GDP?  And our is
about 75%.  Doesn't that make Japan more of a debtor nation than us? 

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mattchew
I'm guessing, but the article is probably talking about total debt, public +
private.  IIRC Japan has lots of govt debt, but private savings.  U.S. has high-
average govt debt and also lots of private debt. 

The sentence is certainly arguable, I agree. 

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ojbyrne
Last line: "Disclosure: Long gold and silver."  That was about as predictable
as winter in December in Canada. 

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s_baar
Austrian BCT ftw!  Well, at least China's not going to put up with it.  They're
grumbling for a new reserve currency, and hopefully that will be backed up by
something of stable value and finite quantities.