How Is Switching to a Gold Standard Plausible?

Question

Some people suggest that we should switch to a gold standard. But this doesn't make any sense to me.

Our National Debt is about 16.41 trillion and our GDP is about 15.09 trillion. If we wanted gold to back all of that up, we would need 31.50 trillion dollars worth of gold, since the price of gold also represents the "price of the dollar."

Assuming gold is at $1662.78 per ounce (which it is, last time I checked), that would mean it would require 18,944,177,822.7 ounces in order to meet the 31.50 trillion dollar goal. The trouble is, that is 589,163,930.3 metric tons of gold, and there has only been about 130,000 metric tons of gold ever mind in human history.

Meaning, that the gold it would require to represent all of our National Debt and GDP while still keeping the value of the dollar the same, would be 453,203% of how much gold has ever been mined in human history.

So please, back up your proposal.

Answer 1

I don't see how it is. So there's no proposal on my part.





“I support the two party system… one on Friday night, and one on Saturday night.” -- HeeHaw



Republican since before she was born… and PROUD of it.

Answer 2

no person is switching to a gold backed distant places funds. it would cave in the economic device. absolutely everyone with a million/2 a recommendations and the smallest volume of economic understanding is common with of that. If Ron Paul is referred to as a proponent of that concept, then he’s a psychological case. George is rather authentic in asserting what he does. it rather is the susceptible recommendations that can not carry close the assumption of money. funds’s fee is in simple terms what all of us agree it to be. no longer something greater. human beings used to alter into attentive to silver as rather efficient, and now? What if the distant places funds device replaced into consistent with silver? How might that have long gone? And gold has no longer constantly maintained it’s fee. The Spanish empire minted plenty gold it became too devalued and the Spanish government defaulted 7 cases in one hundred years even nonetheless they had infinite gold. the reason being that gold, like each little thing else, in simple terms holds a perceived fee that's misplaced while human beings have too lots of it. no longer something holds fee if all and sundry could have it. At one time Aluminum replaced into the main respected steel in the international.

Answer 3

Anything is plausible, lets say they did want to do that, I for one would guess that the ones who would promote such an idea probably own a lot of gold because the only way gold could fulfil such a need would be to go up in value.

Answer 4

They then claim they just need to add other precious metals....the problem is even if you used every precious metal on the Planet, and crashed the worth of the Dollar the numbers are still cosmically short.