The Supply Issue Goldbugs Don't Address

Space is full of the stuff. And it's about to become radically more accessible.

by Rod D. Martin
April 4, 2006

Some friends of mine published an article online today stating that the gold standard is necessary both economically and Biblically. The argument is (very briefly) that since the Bible requires honest weights and measures, our modern system of floating currencies is inherently sinful, and only gold can fix this.

Now I certainly have any number of problems with our monetary system, most notably its chief distinguishing feature: the government monopoly on money through the central planning agency of the Federal Reserve. Opposing this sort of socialist boondoggle is something of an ancient national avocation in America, attracting (with varying degrees of heat) men from Milton Friedman to Andrew Jackson to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (Jackson had the joy of actually killing one of the Fed's predecessors, the second Bank of the United States).

But the current system is really not the point. The gold standard is an extremely bad idea. And there's one very …