[quote=4plexowner]I’m probably over-simplifying things but I don’t see how we can have a healthy economy that is founded on a fraudulent monetary system

we spend lots of time arguing about free markets, etc but almost never discuss the foundation upon which these markets are based

that foundation, our fiat monetary system, is at best a confidence game and at worst, outright fraud

how can we as citizens / business people make economic decisions effectively when the value of our currency is controlled by the whims of bankers and politicians?[/quote]

At it’s heart, any form of money is a fiat monetary system. Tying it to a commodity (like the gold standard) simply means that it inflates or deflates against the perceived value of that particular commodity, rather than the productivity of the nation as a whole (which I would think would be more stable than the perceived value of a single commodity). Certainly being on the gold standard wasn’t able to prevent the Great Depression, the bank runs in the early 1800’s, or any other historical serious depression/recession.