[PLUG-TALK] Re: [PLUG] Sounds good to me ;)

Miller, Jeremy JMILLER at ci.albany.or.us
Mon Jun 17 19:05:09 UTC 2002


> Thank you.  I finally understand what you are talking about.  
> Believe it or
> not, I can recall 2 different teachers in two different public school
> systems explaining this to me, but not with the same terms.  
> The problem I
> see is this.  How can we get out of the fiat system?  It seems like an
> unsolvable problem.  Once we entered this system, it seems 
> like a one way
> trip.  Would it really be possible to mine the gold and 
> silver required back
> up all the paper money that is in circulation?  I doubt it.  
> What about all
> the electronic money?  Most of us are living on money that 
> only exists in
> computer memory.


I read it too.  I felt it was almost a little too alarmist for me as far as
writing style goes, and had too many places with gaps in the giving
reasoning.  (Instances of "because of this and that... this other thing"...
where I felt the relationship between the components was a little weak, and
jumps in logic a tad far.  I also was looking for footnotes/references, and
not seeing them.)

But don't get me wrong here... I'm whining about the writing style and gaps
in the arguement, not neccessarily the content or conclusions. :)  From what
I can tell, this looks like an overly condensed version of this guy's
writing, or perhaps a transcription of a speech?  That's what it reads like.
(A political speech designed to pull at emotions, rather than a cold factual
arguement.)  This guy is a constitutional lawyer or something, so I'm sure
his published papers are more to my taste.  I would be more interested in
reading those.  It is a fascinating subject, and an argument that has been
going on for a LONG time.  (Although it is odd that it isn't very prevalent
in the public mind the way it used to be.)  All of a sudden I can't get
"Follow the Yellow Brick Road" tunes and other Oz stuff out of my head for
some strange reason. :)


Of course, he's dead on correct, as far as the workings of our current
economic system, and potential shortcomings.  (And the historical
performance of other govts, too.)  I'm not so sure about the "conspiracy
theory" style explanations and "sky is falling" predictions.  I think I like
what he has to say, but think it'd be stronger and more effective without
all of that stuff.

I'll admit to being somewhat noncommittal as far as picking a side of the
arguement goes... and to not knowing economics well enough to feel I could
argue either side even If I was.  (Though I do lean in the general direction
of this guy... I'm more of a history nut, and history IS more on this guys
side. :)  But it really is good interesting stuff.


More good stuff:

1.  How do we fix it, once everyone is in agreement that it needs fixing?

2.  The reason for using gold/silver as currency is for it's traditional
perceived value, combined with an element of scarcity.  Does that value
still hold today?  (When you get down to it, like anything else it is
valuable because we collectively think it is.  Could that change?)

3.  With technology advancing the way it does, what happens if we solve the
scarcity problem?  (I'm sure there'd be sufficient motivation to invest in
modern alchemy, especially if it'd give the guvmnt back the control over
supply they have now.  Isn't that a scary thought? :)


Cheers,

Jeremy




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