Advantage 3 – No gold standard

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The meek will inherit the earth – but not the mining rights.«

–      Jean Paul Getty

American oil industrialist and billionaire

In turbulent times the call for the allegedly good old gold standard becomes loud again. The gold standard prevents wars, it is claimed, because the existing amount of gold is not sufficient to fund the immense costs of war. A far-fetched argument, for there have been wars since the beginning of history – in spite of the gold standard. When Columbus persuaded his Spanish masters to finance the fleet with which he wanted to reach India in a westward direction he promised them gold. The sad truth was that he and his successors kept their promise and the Incas were exterminated for their gold – and not only the Incas but almost the entire indigenous population of America.

Greed for hoards of gold in other countries has often been the cause of wars, maybe not the officially stated reason for war but a decisive motive. It is simply absurd to claim that gold assures peace.

Today there are still gold mines for wresting the last gold treasures from the earth. The modern form of gold mining leaves disastrous environmental damage behind it. What is the point of this insane destruction? Why do we need gold at all? We do not need it for jewellery since only fakes are usually worn for security reasons. We seldom need it as a raw material for industry and medicine, maybe for high-quality electronic gold contacts or dental prostheses. There are many other possibilities for means of exchange and value storage, for example computer figures.

Besides that, the gold reserves are distributed in the same way as the other ownership conditions. By reintroducing the gold standard we would only further cement the existing ownership conditions. Anyone who has a lot of gold would then have a lot of money. A gold standard is certainly not the tool of choice for achieving worldwide prosperity in peace and in harmony with nature. The Natural Economy of Life does not need a gold standard. The gradido is covered by the most valuable good we have – life itself.