But is it?
A rising chorus of voices say that such statements represent a skewed point of view. For example, our 'fiat money' monetary system is no guarantee of anything, either--as we have seen first-hand in the shocking decline in the markets.
And with today's economic woes traceable in part to the government's penchant for merely printing more money to add into circulation, some economists are saying it is time to take a fresh look at the gold standard as a means of digging out of the current financial mess.
The Cato Institute, a highly respected libertarian think-tank, has done that very thing. Cato scholar Lawrence H. White, an economist of note, has published a major study on the feasibility of the gold standard.
Here are some of Dr. White's conclusions:
A gold standard does not guarantee perfect steadiness in the growth of the money supply, but historical comparison shows that it has provided more moderate and steadier money growth in practice than the present-day alternative, politically empowering a central banking committee to determine growth in the stock of fiat money. From the perspective of limiting money growth appropriately, the gold standard is far from a crazy idea.
The Cato Institute provides part of Dr. White's analysis, and a full-text of the study is available on a pdf file.
It is well worth the time to read it.
