Comments on: The Clear and Present Danger Chronicles: Goldbugs, GOPsters, The Ryan, and Oh Dear FSM Are They Really That Dumb? http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/the-clear-and-present-danger-chronicles-goldbugs-gopsters-the-ryan-and-oh-dear-fsm-are-they-really-that-dumb/ science and the public square -- by thomas levenson Sun, 19 May 2013 17:09:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: What would a gold-backed currency do to America? « Fabius Maximus http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/the-clear-and-present-danger-chronicles-goldbugs-gopsters-the-ryan-and-oh-dear-fsm-are-they-really-that-dumb/#comment-10054 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 01:06:23 +0000 http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/?p=5685#comment-10054 [...] The Clear and Present Danger Chronicles: Goldbugs, GOPsters, The Ryan, and Oh Dear FSM Are They Real…, Thomas Levenson (Prof Science Writing, MIT), The Inverse Square Blog, 25 August 2012 [...]

]]> By: Why do so many Americans want a gold-based currency? « Fabius Maximus http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/the-clear-and-present-danger-chronicles-goldbugs-gopsters-the-ryan-and-oh-dear-fsm-are-they-really-that-dumb/#comment-10024 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:03:03 +0000 http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/?p=5685#comment-10024 [...] The Clear and Present Danger Chronicles: Goldbugs, GOPsters, The Ryan, and Oh Dear FSM Are They Real…, Thomas Levenson (Prof Science Writing, MIT), The Inverse Square Blog, 25 August 2012 [...]

]]> By: jre http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/the-clear-and-present-danger-chronicles-goldbugs-gopsters-the-ryan-and-oh-dear-fsm-are-they-really-that-dumb/#comment-9515 Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:12:52 +0000 http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/?p=5685#comment-9515 The best and clearest explanation I have read of why a fiat currency is a good idea, and a commodity-backed currency a stupid idea, is given in George Cooper’s excellent The Origin of Financial Crises.

Just to establish Cooper’s nerd-cred, let me mention that he likens the role of a central bank to that of an engine governor, then includes Maxwell’s groundbreaking 1868 paper On Governors as an appendix!

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