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 Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:55 am
I remember crossing the border into Canada in the late '90s... the currency exchange was about $1.30 Canadian for every $1 American. I was looking for some computer parts on ebay (the only place where these parts can be found anymore), and i saw one part i was interested in, with a current bid of $12.50 Canadian. So I thought to myself hey, $12.50 canadian... that must be like $10 US, but no. to my surprise and utter dismay, i saw that the price in US$ was $12.85. A quick google Calcualtor search revealed that we are indeed MORE inflated than Canada now: http://www.google.com/search?q=1000+CAD+in+USDwe are approximately 1.9% more inflated than Canada. You can thank the Federal Reserve for that one. ...And that's just one more reason we need to disband that organization.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:50 am
Yes, the governments control over the monetary system is a major problem. Basically, we exchange pieces of paper who's only value is that assighned by the government. While I am not a supporter of the Gold standard, I do believe we can do better.
I have long dreamed of starting a underground economy based on bartering, exchanging one item for another. No money would be involved, but I might trade out a dresser for a new table. Because no money changes hands, theres no income, which means its untaxable, at least as far as I know. I haven't found enough people in my community to start one up, but maybe we could start it up as an internet community or something. It's an idea, at least.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:51 am
High_Assassin Yes, the governments control over the monetary system is a major problem. Basically, we exchange pieces of paper who's only value is that assighned by the government. While I am not a supporter of the Gold standard, I do believe we can do better. Not even assigned by the government, actually. The Federal Reserve holds complete sway over the value of our money. Paradoxically, they're also who our growing national debt is owed to. The only interactions they have with the government is in that the Chairman, currently Ben Bernanke(sp?) is appointed by the President, and they collect the national debt from the government. Essentially, they're a good 90% of the reason taxes exist in such massive quantities these days. High_Assassin I have long dreamed of starting a underground economy based on bartering, exchanging one item for another. No money would be involved, but I might trade out a dresser for a new table. Because no money changes hands, theres no income, which means its untaxable, at least as far as I know. I haven't found enough people in my community to start one up, but maybe we could start it up as an internet community or something. It's an idea, at least. In many Universities, such economies exist unofficially. This was even briefly joked about in a particular episode of Ask A Ninja.
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Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2007 9:46 am
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:03 pm
man, i'm just glad they haven't adjusted ffxi subscription prices to make up for it.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:31 pm
I have been opposed to the Federal Reserve for quite some time now.
I am also quite firmly opposed to a gold standard, unless the entire world agrees to it.
Does anyone have a solution?
Or is our best solution to piss and moan?
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:46 pm
High_Assassin I have long dreamed of starting a underground economy based on bartering, exchanging one item for another. No money would be involved, but I might trade out a dresser for a new table. Because no money changes hands, theres no income, which means its untaxable, at least as far as I know. I haven't found enough people in my community to start one up, but maybe we could start it up as an internet community or something. It's an idea, at least. All paper money really does is convert things into "like terms." If I want to get a chicken and am willing to trade a duck, and the other guy wants to trade his duck but wants a turkey, we're both in a bind. Currency eliminates having to find someone who not only has what you want, but is also seeking out what you have. It's still feasible to have a tax without dollar bills or whatever, you'd just have to cede goods in the amount of whatever value is the equivalent of the tax.
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:53 pm
The Federal Reserve should removed.
One of the many problems with the federal reserve is that they can't actually control the value of the dollar; only the amount circulated. So, when the economy is doing poor, they print more money out of nowhere. Then people are happy because they have more money, but soon, the money they have is worth less than it was. This inflation almost neccesarily creates another economic crisis in a few years that they try to fix by printing more money. Also, people who have been saving money for years, are essentially having money taken from them because their money is always losing value.
The only reason the dollar is worth as much as it is now, is because the Chinese government is holding billions of U.S. dollars that they won't circulate. Smaller supply means it's worth more. This is because they have a lot of money invested in the United States, and they're trying to make it appear that the dollar is worth more than it is.
The gold standard is a good concept because gold is universally recognized as a valued currency. It's just impractical for a few different reasons. There are, however, ideas that we could tie paper money to other things with real world value. I don't have much of an answer for this one, but it's something to think about.
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