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Cheese-eating surrender monkeys Open Thread | 39 comments (39 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: "Currency board linked to gold" (none / 1)
If water was as intrinsically valuable, would national mints be the only people entitled to run desalination plants?

i don't think so.  but it's not illegal to pan for gold either, is it?

but i guess my question wasn't about finding some commodity to base currencies on, but rather about why gold has so long had this special, almost sacral value in  human societies, and as the ultimate basis for and/or fall-back as money.  (not sure how universal that is, though.)

as for commodity-based currencies, how about "energy dollars" or "carbon dollars"?

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.

by marco on Fri Nov 9th, 2007 at 08:57:14 PM EST
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Re: "Currency board linked to gold" (none / 1)
Well panning for gold you're only going to ever discover insignificant ammounts. whereas a desalination plant will produce your money equivalent in industrial quantities might have noticeable financial effects.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Nov 10th, 2007 at 04:43:38 AM EST
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Cheese-eating surrender monkeys Open Thread | 39 comments (39 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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