Fabius Maximus — Why do so many Americans want a gold-based currency?
Summary: Periods of economic stress tend to bring forth quack simplistic economic theories, like during the 1930s. We will see more of these if this slow period continues, more so if we have another recession before a recovery.
Not just gold, but other fringe ideas such as Ayn Rand and her mutant version of Marx’s labor theory of value (with “going Galt” as their form of collective labor action). Part one of two looking at the theory and the history of gold-based monetary systems.
17 comments:
Fabius,
Throughout history it has been not just gold but you can see the use of copper, silver and gold the 3 so-called "noble metals".
These all went on to occupy column 11 of the Periodic Table of the Elements.
This from wiki on these 3 metals:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_metal
"In physics, the definition of a noble metal is even more strict. It is required that the d-bands of the electronic structure are filled. Taking this into account, only copper, silver and gold are noble metals, as all d-like bands are filled and do not cross the Fermi level.[8] "
VERY unique properties in these 3 metals that have become the object of human love for many morons throughout human history.
(btw Ron Paul was so worried about the status of the US gold that Ive read he proposed legislation to audit Fort Knox to make sure all the US gold was safe. Much love and devotion to this metal from Ron Paul that is for sure.)
All the "d-bands" are filled in these metals and then coincidentally they happen to be the ones that moron humans can fall in love with. There is probably a connection here but cant tell so far... wish I knew more about d-band electrons...
rsp,
It's hard to overcome these biases. Look at the Olympics: they don't give out a paper fiat medal. Just gold, silver and bronze.
"All the "d-bands" are filled in these metals and then coincidentally they happen to be the ones that moron humans can fall in love with. There is probably a connection here but cant tell so far... wish I knew more about d-band electrons..."
I guess it's the higher albedo (in humanspeak: shininess) that comes with it. Photons have too little energy to change the band the electrons are on because on the given orbit all energy bands are filled. I may be wrong though.
To finish my thought: photons cannot be used to excite electrons (change their energy) so they are reflected. In metals where there are free energy bands on a given orbit electrons can get excited and the absorbed light energy shows as lower shininess.
Peter,
So then the photons bounce off and reflect back out towards the eye...
How does the color of the light change? ie is the EM frequency of the light modulated? or is the frequency otherwise changed so the 3 metals all have differing but individually unique colors..
rsp
In 1924 they made a horrible mistake, appointing Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Knowing nothing about finance — and that a strong currency is obviously and always good — in 1925 he repegged the pound to its 1914 value.
Wow. That’s all you’ve got? This Fabius is sure the sharp knife in the drawer. Has his gun loaded with gumdrops, I suppose. What’s all this about “repegging” the pound to its 1914 value? That’s the fault of gold? Going off gold to have a bloodfest in France and then going back on gold (sorta) and having some problems? Who knew?
So, the idea of gold is becoming more and more popular and you turkeys are still spinning your little wheels. I love it. John Carney says:
The other thing that is very odd here is O’Brien using the 1920s as evidence for what happens under a gold standard. Rothbard’s book on the depression very specifically argued that the 1920s was a time of massive monetary growth unbacked by gold. It was this nearly invisible monetary inflation, Rothbard argued, that eventually led to the boom-bust cycle that resulted in the Great Depression.
You can read Rothbard’s book at the Mises Institute’s website here.
http://mises.org/rothbard/agd/contents.asp
And I’m sure all you MMTers want to celebrate Rothbard’s "Man, Economy, and State" at 50.
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/rothbards-man-economy-and-state-at-50/
Bob,
Cant you see that we are busy here. We may be on the cusp of discovering a very unique electromagnetic phenomenon exhibited by these 3 metals.
If the EM is not absorbed due to a full outer band, and is completely reflected only now it is modulated, the modulated EM waves could contain an information signal that is affecting certain human's brain functions.
We may be soon recommending actual tinfoil hats and dark sunglasses for those caught up in metal love.
We need more time to explore this for now though, stay tuned...
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000510317/polls_ron_paul_tin_foil_hat_256x300_2443_657824_poll_xlarge.jpeg
rsp,
Matt i wonder if "Rob Bobbies" i our guest commentators name or is it his occupation :)? If he live in England i guess he is in constant trouble with Scotland Yard :).But it blend well with his Anarchist views.Just a thought,but back to nobel metal question.
Matt,
:-)
Matt,
It is not really EM modulation but cutting out some discrete wavelengths. This is how color comes about in general: all things are lit by more or less white sunshine and they absorb different energy photons differently. Those that absorb red light show up as blue (red deficiency), those that absorb blue show as red etc. If an atom can have an electron absorb energy E to jump to a higher orbit, and then it cascades down in 2 steps emitting back say E/3 and then 2/3E this changes the color: the photons of energy E are not reflected but absorbed, but there is a surplus of photons with energies 2/3E and 1/3E (I am making up these numbers). Copper and gold probably absorb some red and blue photons and this leaves the surplus of yellowish, with copper absorbing more blue then gold (copper is more red as a result). You get the drift.
Peter,
Im somewhat familiar with that I believe it is called "subtractive color".
But if the bands are full, then I would perhaps think that no EM could be absorbed (completely elastic collision), but yet the color does change as you have pointed out.
That may mean that the EM is modulated to account for the color change while retaining the energy in the previous full spectrum radiation..???
ie can the perceived color change due to modulation vs absorption???
Resp,
I believe the face shields on the helmets that astronauts use has a thin coating of gold (or at least once did).
http://www.lasergold.com/laser_intro.ssi
Seems like if you want full reflection of EM you would use gold....
rsp
Some data on it's reflectivity:
http://www.lasergold.com/laser_properties.ssi#reflectivity
99% at only 10 microns...
Matt,
I found reasonably smart sources:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/golden_glow/
http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/9.html
Here you can pay $35 to read a scientific article on "why gold is colored and silver is not". Annoyingly, they only accept $s, not gold in payment for the article...
https://pubs.acs.org/action/ecommerce?backUri=%2Fdoi%2Fabs%2F10.1021%2Fed076p200&offerId=17800%2C10.1021%2Fed076p200&addToCart=true
Why do so many americans watch fox news (and actually think that it's a good news channel)?
Same answer.
You guys are only talking about the properties of the metal...
What about the properties of our eyes/brains?
We don't see all the colors produced by "white" light. Some of us are blind while others are color blind. There was a good Radiolab podcast that demonstrated this.
http://www.radiolab.org/2012/may/21/
Put on a pair of polarized sunglasses.
Less glare/more detail.
Retina Display(tm)... (resolution)
It is all in our heads.
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