The Boy lost his first tooth yesterday, and I wanted to get him something special, instead of just dropping a quarter under his pillow. So I went out today and and got him a 1964 Kennedy half dollar. Now ,1964 is special because it’s the last year that the U.S minted coins for circulation using silver.
Fiat currency versus metals standards versus specie is not a sexy subject for most people. However, a great deal of the financial and political problems that we have today have their roots in the federal government’s abandonment of the gold standard. One of the original reasons for printing paper money instead of coining hard currency in gold or silver was portability, a pocket full of paper weighs a lot less than a pocket full of Gold Double Eagles, but this is no longer an issue. Most of our transactions are electronic. It’s as easy to transfer metal electronically as it is paper. Politicians can’t just up and mint a trillion dollars in gold coins to ”stimulate” the economy, and therein lies the problem.
In my book, The Light of Day, precious metals become the standard currency, as societies are rebuilt after the world’s governments move everyone underground to save the environment.
Yeah, I’m not sexy.