.. a glimpse into the future .. ross

An article I found interesting is A Glimpse into the Future by Robert Ross. It's at http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/rross080108.html


The following is an excerpt from it.

.... Studying past civilizations may however, shed a more commanding light on our own future. Looking to ancient Rome, the clues are uncanny, as to what could lie ahead for us. Monetary policy and civilizations walk in lockstep. A culture with a sound monetary system will inevitably survive longer and suffer fewer degradations than a culture that debases its currency. Monetary debasement, political decline and moral deterioration often travel the same road at the same time.

For example, in Rome, 277 BC, the denarius was born. It was a silver coin, and for the first 250 years its silver content declined only modestly. The modest decline corresponded with Rome’s rise to become an empire. From the original 66 grains of silver, the value had only declined 10% to 60 grains, by the time of Julius Caesar (49 BC). But soon afterwards monetary tumult commenced in earnest.




Denarius circa 193 AD

(JFI - I actually have 2 of these.dub)

The “aureus” - a gold coin - was created by Julius Caesar. It was to be 125 grains of gold. Gold was used to pay the army and support the Emperors, silver - the denarius - was used for international trade, and of least value, the copper coins were used by the common people .

In 54 AD Emperor Nero started to inflate and debase the value of Rome's money. Nero took 14.3% of the silver out of the denarius coin and 11% of the gold out of the aureus coin, replacing the precious metals with base metals. If we flash forward to the U.S. in the 1960s, we find that, in one fell swoop, all of the silver was taken out of our coins and replaced with base metals. Are we Rome on steroids???

(Same thing happened in Australia in the 1966 with the switch to decimal currency. Last silver-containing Oz currency was the 1966 50cent piece. dub)

As Rome continued on its moral, political and monetary decline, by 193 AD, the denarius had only 26 grains of silver - a 61% devaluation from the original 66 grains. Shortly thereafter, Rome’s denarius stopped being accepted in trade by the rest of the world. By 268, the denarius was nothing but base metal with a thin silver coating

Coming back to America in 1971, Richard Nixon ordered the dollar to be taken off the gold standard. From that moment forward, the dollar was, and is, backed by nothing, other than the “good faith” of the U.S. government. The U.S. managed to do, with the stroke of a pen, what it took the Roman’s decades to accomplish - eliminate any credible backing to their currency. ....

dub