Something about the last few years has really brought out the kooks

[KrazyHorse]

The end of fractional reserve banking would do even more than that...

[Aeson]

A comprehensive approach: back our currency with greenhouse gases.

GREENbacks

[Egbert]

First, the governor of the Bank of England proposes eliminating fractional reserve banking

Then comes the possibility that everybody's favorite monetary wackjob will be chairing the House committee on domestic monetary policy

And most recently, the president of the World Bank advocates a gold standard



We are so ****ed...

Calls to revisit the gold standard are not new. Although I think the gold standard would be a very bad idea it does have the advantage that it prevents unrestrained printing of money. Zimbabwe went down the path of unrestrained printing which lead to hyperinflation. Printing all that money was one short term expedient after another with the end result of hyperinflation. This appears to be symptomatic of deeper problems in Zimbabwean political, economic and financial management. Anyway, I would dare to suggest that Zimbabwe may have been better off with the gold standard as this would have acted as a break on all that printiong of money. Apparently things have improved markedly since Zimbabwe "dollarised". The purpose of dollarising is to restore faqith in the currency by amonst other things removing the ability to senselessly prime the pump and tying the currency to something (US$) that is perceived to have value. Umh, that is the the rational behind the gold standard.

Although, I think, the gold standard would not be a good thing, there are worse alternatives. If you have a total lack of confidence in the prudence and integrity of your government and central bank then the gold standard starts to look relatively good.

We have a number of governments in financial distress who may be very tempted to do a spot of printing, and then a bit more printing, and a bit more....

I recall that the Basle Accords have been subject to criticism since even before Basle 1 was agreed. Thre argument about whether a banks first duty is to its shareholders or to its customers seems newish. It had seemed the answert was "the customers" but now I hear bankers claiming their first responsibility is to the shareholders. The debate about how big a "capital cushion" a bank should have may go on for ever and a day. Debate about the amount of risk a bank should be allowed to take with depositors money is valid hence the need to discuss how much regulation should be applied to banks.

[Elok]

It is a university. It hands out Master of the Universe degrees.

-Arrian

He-Man worked for Goldman Sachs? They should take advantage with a new ad series: "Let the Power of Greyskull work for your portfolio."

[N35t0r]

No. If you paid attention, it's HE-MAN and the masters of the universe. So no, he hasn't worked there.

[Elok]

Yeah, I really can't see myself trusting Orko with my money. Never mind.

[Hauldren Collider]

I'm not quite sure why the gold standard actually works. Does it work? It seems to me that the end result would be that gold becomes essentially like dollar bills except it can be used for a small handful of useful things other than exchange.

[Aeson]

Alchemy = Counterfeit