Re:The US Is a Banana Republic: The 1% Own More Wealth Than ...
by Jedd on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @08:54AM
(#28851477)
> It's really weird watching people declare the gold standard to be the way to prevent a boom-and-bust cycle.
Au contraire.
I don't think a gold standard prevented such a thing.
I do think that it was irresponsible to lurch into the current (post 1970s) arrangement without more thoughtful preparation, or at the least, higher expectations than 'more of the same, slightly ameliorated'.
Claims regarding previous boom-bust cycles (under vastly different socio-economic structures) and wealth inequality (Rockefellers, Carnegies, etc) to my mind fall under the category of whataboutism.
If we've just risen above the worst possible scenarios, it's only due to a poverty of expectations.
We should have done much better.
Usually there's at least some question of viewpoint, or value judgment, or some other way where two people can reach different conclusions from the same facts, especially in economics. But there's simply no way to know anything about American history and believe that the gold standard solidified its economy.
It's like flat-earthing for economics. I'd have thought that impossible for such a vague and poorly-defined field.