Barkeep, Bring Us Another Round!

I'm sure you've seen the western movies where the customer walks into the saloon and orders a round for everyone, he pays for it with a single coin, then continues to drink without adding additional payment. Or when Paw and his son head to the general store with the buckboard and load it up with supplies, They stack it high and the proprietor comes up with a total of like a dollar twenty three, better yet he puts the supplies on account. Actually this was grounded in historical fact! Hard backed currency or "specie" was limited, and as Americans ventured westward, there was hardly enough currency to supply the coastal towns, let alone the vast western territories. That's why a man could drink all day, and buy rounds for his friends on a single coin. Money had value! Gold and silver were the only measure of sure value, and some in power believed that these metals were prepared by the Almighty himself for exactly that purpose.

There is currently 147.3 million ounces of gold kept and guarded in Fort Knox. This used to be the standard we used to value our dollar in the world market. At today's gold prices, approximately $1300/ounce, America's net worth would be $1,914,000,000,000, right at two trillion dollars. Seeing as our debt is in the neighborhood of 14 trillion plus, you can see why we dropped the gold standard. It couldn't keep up with our demand to spend money on social programs. Gold would have to be valued at almost $10,000.00/ ounce for us to be on the gold standard.

Printing money without backing it with gold is a way of taxing you without your knowledge. That coin that brought a round of drinks for all and kept the cowboy in spirits all day, would have a hard time buying you a pack of gum, in today's world That my friends is inflation!

God Bless!
Capt. Bill