Consumers Reports Seeks Bailout

Actually, what ended in 1973 was the Silver Certificate (the gold
standard was ended in the '30's).
from Wikipedia:
"In March 1964, Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon halted
redemption of Silver Certificates for Silver Dollars. In the 1970s,
large numbers of the remaining silver dollars in the mint vaults were
sold to the collecting public for collector value. Silver Certificates
were abolished by Congress on June 4, 1963 and all redemption in
silver ceased on June 24, 1968. Paper currency is still valid legal
tender without the Silver Certificate, instead being backed simply by
the perceived strength of the U.S. economy. According to the U.S.
treasury, "The notes have no value for themselves, but for what they
will buy. In another sense, because they are legal tender, Federal
Reserve notes are 'backed' by all the goods and services in the
economy."[1]"

But you have a point -- currency is no longer backed up by an offer of
direct exchange for a specific commodity.
Although, one might say that the Federal Reserve backs up currency by
accepting it from banks in exchange for electronic funds, and you can
use currency to purchase Federal securities.
So what's the point of putting it under your mattress? It has no
intrinsic value, as noted above, which was MY point.
If the economy goes under (and it's becoming apparent that if the US
economy goes under so will the rest of the world) we'll be left with
barter. What can you stash that someone else would take in exchange
for food?

 

The reason one might stash cash under the mattress is to protect it from
creditors of bust banks.

As a number of the major 'high/main' street banks in the UK are now largely
under government ownership the risk of default is reduced, plus the major
creditor would be the taxpayer...

DAS

To send an e-mail directly replace "spam" with "schmetterling"

 

I could not find Consumer Reports requesting a congressional hearing
in any news story. Please provide a link. Thanks, Dave

 

Perhaps this will get you started on understanding what has happened:

http://tinyurl.com/yjm842

 

Nope. What ended in the '30s was the legality of owning gold in the US.
Gold was a controlled substance for 40 years -- and when FDR imposed the
rule (by executive order, not law), he did it on a Saturday when the
banks were closed, and had federal agents open and raid every safe
deposit box in the US, take the gold, and leave paper money in its place.

But foreign governments continued to be allowed to redeem dollars for
gold at the official price of $35/ounce until 1973, when Nixon "closed
the gold window".

Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Harry Browne and Howard Ruff wrote
books about it that are.

 

"Ruff's Little Book of Big Fortunes in Gold & Silver: A Middle Class
License to Print Money"
lends all sorts of confidence, man.

 

This is all rather off topic, but ....
The gold *standard* ended with the foundation of the Federal Reserve
(anathema to John Galt ;-) in 1914.
The fact that the Treasury was willing under some circumstances to
exchange gold for foreign currency does not make it the standard for
the dollar.
The Britannica has a good article on it.

 

3 cheers!