I recently completed reading “The Death of Money”, which is a fascinating book that explores the Global Monetary System and the dangers inherent in the current system of Fiat Currencies.
I found the book to be entertaining, informative, and in some cases, frightening. I am very pessimistic about the current stability and sustainability of our Global Financial System, and I genuinely believe that the past century has witnessed a number of terrible economic decisions which have led directly to our current unstable “house of cards” monetary system. I continue to be amazed at the resourcefulness of the US Fed and other Central Banks to keep the house of cards from collapsing. However, I am also convinced that the fundamental problems that led to the 2008 Global Economic Crisis have yet to be addressed or resolved, and the day of reckoning has merely been postponed.
James Rickards argues quite effectively for a return to the Gold Standard. He successfully debunks the assertion that the Great Depression was caused by the Gold Standard. He clearly explains that the monetary system at the time of the Great Depression was not based on the Gold Standard, but in fact was based on the “Gold Exchange Standard”, which was “at best, a pale imitation of a true gold standard and, at worst, a massive fraud. …”
Rickards explains that “A gold standard is the ideal monetary system for those who create wealth through ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and hard work. Gold standards are disfavored by those who do not create wealth but instead seek to extract wealth from others through inflation, inside information, and market manipulation.”
I highly recommend this book to executives and managers who have any interest or curiosity in our current global monetary system.