Are there any major currencies still on the gold standard? Not a rhetorical question, I haven't looked it up. YOu asked for one that "stood the test of time". The C$ has survived 2 world wars, ? prime ministers (several of them fools), the Korean War, FLQ crisis, huge debt and deficit, Y2K, Maxime Bernier's homones and more.

I have a tough time grasping how we would go to a gold standard, where a government would have to have a significant % of it's currency backed by gold in a vault somewhere. How would a government raise the money to buy the tons of gold required to meet this commitment? If lowering interest rates (which would increase money supply) to ease a recession was deemed a good idea, they would first have to go out and buy gold. It could be extremely benefitial for the POG, but to what end? An ounce of gold generally buys about 9 bbls of oil if memory serves. If gold went to $20,000 as the author mused, would we have oil at $2000/bbl? What about wheat? If gold is worth 90 bushels of wheat now, would wheat be $200 a bushel? Or would other commodities stay the same and only gold go up? Would our economy or society benefit from this quantum leap in gold prices?

Over the last century our economy has increased exponentially and our money supply has increased with it. Too fast? Maybe, but going to an antiquated system to fight inlation (which in my opinion has not been a big problem overall) seems like a backwards step.

Any more posts on this subject I'll make on the off topic forum where it belongs.