Hi Old Joe,

I am not going to pretend to be the guy with a whole lot of answers.

But I will offer some of my perspective on paper vs a tangible asset.

(FIAT Money vs Gold or some other tangible asset such as silver)

Granted in a FIAT system economic growth is much faster. The last few decades are definitely a testament to that but;

The current system is flawed right from it's very foundation in my opinion, THE CENTRAL BANKS. CB's are not a government institution. They are private institutions controlled by very few powerful people that do not have the interest of the masses at heart, only their own. Try to convince them to change their suspect policies Joe!!!

Not that I have to remind you of this but the government does not receive it's country's monies free of charge, each dollar it has the CB's print comes to the government (therefore it's people) with debt tied to it. So automatically the government (therefore the people it serves) is in debt to the CB's (or the very few men who control them).

The CB's control the the money supply and they control the interest rates the money is lent out at. Thus, they control the value of the governments currency as well. It seems to me that he who controls the printing press (prints the money) is the ruler of all who come before him. This would include the government. Why do you think the American Revolution occurred? Mainly because England banned the American Colonies from using there own government issue notes. You know, the ones that had no debt tied to them.

The real kick in the pants here, is where is the government and it's people going to get the money from to pay for the current debt tied to each dollar lent out now? Yes, from the CB's @ interest (Debt). The ultimate money making scheme with a never ending cycle.

This is where the gold standard comes in. If every dollar printed is backed by a tangible asset (such as gold/silver) it automatically regulates the money supply according to real growth. This growth would occur at a much slower rate but it is real growth and can not be ripped away by a few powerful bankers after many years of inflating growth (the money supply) like happened at the beginning of the 30's.

I know this is very simplistic but it is about all I can spew out at one shot. Please forgive any spelling errors.

Deno