Rome's debasement was different in kind. The coin was not the ounce of metal it was purported to be. Clipping edges was a reduction in mass but sold as a full coin. This is different than printing because the gold coin still exists and was not a facsimile of another molecule of gold. The dollars are facsimiles of other dollars meant to represent a claim to money. The debasement is similar but the mechanism is different. Eventually the small six0ze of the coins would betray their mass and show the debasement very obviously.

The meddling will continue, we can be confident of that. It won't be perfect, but maybe letting the Syrian people decide their fate without outside interference is a good thing.

The meddling will continue, we can be confident of that. It won't be perfect, but maybe letting the Syrian people decide their fate without outside interference is a good thing.

I'm well aware of what USD was vs what it became.

Rome was diluting precious metal with low value metals millennia ago, whether you want to call it "printing" or not is irrelevant, it did exactly the same thing.

Money vs Currency is a word game.

I'm well aware of what USD was vs what it became.

Rome was diluting precious metal with low value metals millennia ago, whether you want to call it "printing" or not is irrelevant, it did exactly the same thing.

Money vs Currency is a word game.

You mean like a coffee shop, or a library, or a hotel, or a different ISP, or your neighbors WiFi.

Functionally barter is when you trade a consumable or commercial good for another. Money has no consumable value. Its only function is to be an intermediary to represent the value of a consumable good. So the distinction between barter and monetary commerce is that very difference.

"Money printing" isn't a thing. One main property of money is that it can't be counterfeited or printed. Currency is a claim to money which can be manufactured and only the bearer of the money can decide if that claim is a valid one. The confidence game of the USD is not due to them "printing" gold claims. It is literally a fiat or by decree claim that dollars are money (they are not).

That is all beside my point which is Gold is heavy and necessitates a lighter exchange medium. That is the flaw Gold has had to deal with for 5000 years and has cause scores of countries to debase their currency. Which simply means removing the nominal peg to Gold. The economic actor decides what claims to value are valid. USD is issued by the state which has the incentive to debase the currency. When local and regional banks set their own currency pegs (prior to the savings and loan regulations added in the 90's) their incentive was to be a good custodian for their community. Anyway I hope this was edifying.

As an aside, it is all barter, whether advanced or primitive, you can barter with something that retains value or something that doesn't.

With all due respect you might be naïve to how money scales. That paper you denegrate is actually a tool for commerce. The paper is gold's security flaw not an invalid claim to it. Again the Tokenization is a service that allows commerce with gold, not an inherent scam.

And everyone knows if you are using it as money there won't be much of any precious metal, that's the point.

Money printing isn't new, only its methods change.

You want to make sure you have the full value then it is by weight & purity.

With all due respect you might be naïve to how money scales. That paper you denegrate is actually a tool for commerce. The paper is gold's security flaw not an invalid claim to it. Again the Tokenization is a service that allows commerce with gold, not an inherent scam.

Which means you are really talking about paper not gold.

Which means you are really talking about paper not gold.

yes, and you don't issue currency pegged to your gold either so, you know, that's the whole point I was making.

Being an economic nerd, audit ability is more important on a base layer money. Layer 2s are usually where financial privacy is implemented. In gold terms(prior to 1971) a bank would HAVE to know to whom the gold belonged. But the layer 2 (dollars) would add the anonymity. Plus the pseudononymous nature of bitcoin actually is way more private than gold ever was.

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