Quote from: Jaime Frontero on June 30, 2011, 03:50:27 AM

and yet, a declaration that gold is worth $32/oz (which existed for a few decades) has essentially the same inflationary result - if the fractional reserve requirements for gold and silver (when either backed the dollar) changed, based on how much money the gov't wanted in circulation.

but again, i was speaking practically. i don't think it ever much mattered to the population at large. there weren't a lot of people who showed up at the treasury ("This certifies that there is on deposit at the Treasury of The United States of America One Dollar in silver payable to the bearer on demand" ~ from a silver certificate i'm looking at) asking for metal...

Im not for a gold standard, I support competing currencies, but this is not true.

While the gold standard was regularly violated, specially during the Bretton Woods era, the different ties of the dollar to gold had some restraining effect on the government. Since the last tie with gold was broken in the 70's, monetary inflation on the USA has gone to some levels that had never been seen before.

So, while the gold standard is not perfect and is easily abused by the government, it offered some level of restrainement compared to the present situation.