I tried to read this, but I failed.
S-99: Every currency in use in international trade these days is a fiat currency. There are no currencies in use right now that are backed by a gold standard (wiki).
Even if you were to convert all your money to gold, you wouldn't have "left the economy", as you would still be interacting with people who participate in it (Unless, of course, you decide to retreat from modern society completely, in which case I shall wish you good luck in your new career as a crazy person living in the wild).
All you'd accomplish is to make yourself into a giant pain in the ass for everyone you want to deal with, as your gold is pretty much worthless as a means of wealth exchange.
The problem is this: Gold, like any other fiat currency, only has the value we give it. For me, gold has a rather low value, because there's little I can do with it, given that there are no stores who accept it as an exchange medium. The value of money is determined by what I can do with it. Whether I can redeem it for $PRECIOUS_METAL or not is of little consequence to me, all I care about is "Can I get food/housing/clothing/luxuries with it".
While there are risks involved with fiat currencies, there are just as terrible risks associated with backed ones (The risk of deflation if the money supply cannot keep up with economic demand among them). I'd rather take my chances with the system we have now than with the system that brought us the first great depression.
Leaving your economy for a different one while bringing said economy's profits you've made with you in a form that loses value slowly or doesn't lose value (my government doesn't like people doing this). Move from the american economy to some other country's. I can see where this would be handy. None of us have the need to do so, but that doesn't get rid of it's usefulness. Of course, it can be accomplished with more than gold, guns, other metals, etc. Usually something is chosen for long term storage and staying value compared to cash.
But, i guess you will try to spend gold directly as currency? That's not how it works. You're right, you did fail. Gold, other metals, etc., stuff that keeps it's value over the long term, is a great investment for storing your money, not spending it. If you want to spend any of your money in a different form, you have to get it converted to cash. Any precious metal dealer will buy gold back from you at market price, even if it's the same place you bought it from. What really helps is if there actually is a precious metal dealer anywhere around. But, anyone investing in gold, is unlikely to need to turn that gold into cash again (mostly the rich do any kind of serious investing in the metal, your average person may have a gold coin that their grandfather gave them or something).
Turning all of your money into gold however is only hypothetical. Not a life or career choice chosen by me or suggested for others.
But, again, these are literally currencies for different purposes. All money has extrinsic value, some money's extrinsic value is intrinsicly valued more compared to other forms. That's what you're getting at. The extrinsic value of cash and gold is undeniable. However, different purposes for different currencies in this case. You intrinsicly value cash more than gold because of the fact that it's excepted anywhere. Gold is not excepted everywhere, but gold is a great way to store money. Different currencies for different purposes. I wouldn't give gold a lower value intrinsicly because of this. The value of money is more than determined by just what you can do with it.
Again, i don't hate fiat currencies. I just don't like the ones that scam people the most compared to the ones that scam people the least. And i'm getting at more than the backing of fiat currencies too. I wasn't talking about for one second wanting a return to the gold standard. I was talking about how my government used gold it's people had to **** them over with. And then questioning what actually backs my money? What actually is my money worth? Who's assigning the value?
Yes there are risks with fiat currencies. But, again, i didn't say they were all bad currencies if they are fiat. Some will scam you more than others. This has a lot to do with what people didn't understand earlier such as what is my money actually worth? who's assigning the value? and lastly, what actually gives it value (is it more than words that gives a piece of paper value or something else, and is that value good enough). People who assign the value what the damn bills in a currency are worth is where a lot of the scamming comes from. Whether you or not can directly convert your bills to gold at your treasury i know is of no consequence to you, it's even of no consequence to me. Again, showing something off as useless just because it's useless to you doesn't mean it is for others. And it wasn't about the usefulness of how people could convert their dollars to gold that i was getting at. What i was getting at was what did this represent to people, the government, the world with the nixon shock of 1971 by ending direct gold convertability? And what were any consequences or benefits of actually doing so? This was something that directly happened to a currency to affect it's value. The nixon shock was a good example of a government ****ing with their fiat currency in the area of high questionability (was this a bad or good ****ing with, for who did it actually benefit, were people scammed when this happened) other than knowing why it happened in this case (to officially move away from the gold standard). Executive order 6102 was purely just an example of a government scamming people through their fiat currency (what the currency was backed by in 1933 was not the focus).
I'm not saying at all, stay away from fiat currencies. It's all about diversifying your investments and money. I'm recommending being careful and being aware. I would be an idiot not to think about my government defaulting on it's debt and what it means for my money if it does. Being careless with this realistic possibility is not recommended.
But, all you can focus on is living in the woods as removing yourself from an economy for no reason, trying to spend gold at the closest gas station for some hot dogs. Again, there's moving to other economies when you remove yourself from one. That's the evolution of thought i had, you had something else for the purpose of showing uselessness. Just because you don't have a use for something and can't evolve the thought of it doesn't mean that other people will be the same.
But, if you couldn't think about storing your money. Simply just that since i was getting at storing money as gold (which is still intelligent, and storing all money as gold was only something to think about what would actually happen if people did, but not to actually do it). Do you think that storing money is bad? Do you live from paycheck to paycheck? All i know is i was heavily misunderstood.
And no, not all currencies are fiat. And no, not all currencies have to be coins and bills. Yes, international trade happens with fiat currency. That's fine, i was also getting at that international trade also happens with gold. Between banks, governments, and other big stuff which even happens with fiat currency.
