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It seems to me with all the various monies around the world, folks who want to exchange one for the other must make elaborate calculations. Moreover, the value each monetary unit changes as the governments balance their exchanges with each other and and its internal needs.
This is easy since money
no longer has an intrinsic value as it once had. A dollar was once related to a specific weight in gold of a certain purity. Now, the dollar is only related to other dollars and consumers have to figure out how much of a commodity the dollar can purchase from various vendors. The consumer also takes the risk when earning money, that it will retain value when purchasing things later a downside to savings.. Removing the intrinsic value from money is convenient for the government since it owns the monopoly on the money printing and minting processes and produces money as it wishes and will throw competitors into jail. The system is designed to make it very difficult for the average working bloke who earns money but falls behind when the money no longer buys what it used to as the Government can print more to cover its needs.
This problem is recently clearly evident with the fast rising price of oil, or gasoline in the car, as we all experience recently with a jumping multiples of its former value in just months.
Since the developed world is now dependent upon gasoline, I suggest that we are developed sufficiently to adopt a new, useful and universal standard for money.
I propose that we adopt the GOG. The GOG is exactly equal to value of one gallon of gasoline purchased at the pump. No longer will we work for dollars, euros or whatever; we will now earn GOG’s. We will spend GOG’s for food, clothing, rent, and our other needs as well. As we earn we immediately know how many gallons of gasoline it represents. As we spend, we know immediately how many gallons of gasoline the shirt, or dinner costs in terms of gallons of gas in the tank. Moreover, it can be spent around the world, where ever a motor vehicle exists that needs gasoline.
The only inflation that could occur is when there is more gasoline produced than consumed. I can’t think of a better way to keep the government out of our pockets and let the common folk go on with its business, productively and happily.
Zimbabwe Dollar
http://en.wikipedia...lar#Second_dollar_3
[hippo, Aug 06 2008]
Quite forward thinking [el dueno]
http://www.mg.co.za...urrency-in-zimbabwe
To quote: "...Now we are selling in litres not in dollars" [4whom, Aug 07 2008]
Gog - co-guardian of the City of London.
http://en.wikipedia...nd_Magog_in_Britain
[coprocephalous, Oct 15 2008]
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You've just taken the control of money out of the hands of one entity nobody trusts (the government) and put it in the hands of another (big oil). [-] |
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So, to reduce the confusion and complexity of converting between all those different currencies, you propose ... inventing yet another currency? [-] |
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[+] Bun! But this can't work in the real world being that the FTC will prohibit the GOG being in our economy. I am sure that if the GOG was traded worldwide, it would really destroy the US economy. |
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You've just invented the first currency that will deflate. |
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Who guarantees the currency? OPEC? What do they get out of it? |
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How do they guarantee the currency when there are only a billion barrels of oil left but 10bn GOG's? |
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erm.. barrels, gallons... |
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//I am sure that if the GOG was traded worldwide, it would really destroy the US economy.// |
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Oil is already traded worldwide (and by association, petrol) There's nothing stopping anyone from converting their salary into oil, and reconverting whenever it's convenient in order to pay using more standard currency units. |
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One thing that's interesting about the dollar is how it seems to have an inverse correlation when compared to the price of oil. When Oil goes up (in USD), the dollar tends to drop against other currencies. |
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Finally, while linking a currency to something tangible kind of makes sense, it means that any economy that's coupled to that commodity will be limited in terms of growth to the prevailing supply and demand of that commodity. So it's best to choose something whose price is fairly stable under most conditions. |
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// So it's best to choose something whose price is fairly stable under most conditions // |
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£10? That's very nearly an armful! |
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//So it's best to choose something whose price is fairly stable under most conditions// This is (sort of) the idea behind The Economist's "Big Mac Index", which looks at the cost of a standard widely-available commodity (the Big Mac) around the world in various currencies to determine whether those currencies are under- or over-valued. |
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I wonder whether Big Macs are more or less expensive in countries where the population is mostly vegetarian. |
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And mightn't a Burger that comes served wrapped in worthless currency be termed a Freddie Mac? |
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(Either that, or a Freddie Mac might be a burger that contains hundreds of tiny pieces of a number of other burgers, reformed into a seemingly reliable and nourishing foodstuff - until of course, someone reveals that some of the original burgers were actually turds) |
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If all currencies were quoted in Zimbabwean Dollars, just think how much richer every day we'd all feel... (During July the Z$ went from 12,226,034,516 to 69,484,070,056 to the US$ - see link - if you say to someone that you spent the morning investing hundreds of billions of dollars in a frenetic commodities trading session, it could just mean that you went out and spent Z$100bn on a coffee) |
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(Soyled burgers are made of POO!?) |
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OK, i voted against but you have interested me, thus: |
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Why gallons? Almost all of the world uses litres. To me, that would make it a US/British system rather than a global one, and it would be perceived as such by the majority of the world. |
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There was once a political movement, technocracy, which proposed the replacement of money by units of energy used, distributed by a central authority. Your idea reminds me of that. |
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Finally, some people regret the loss of the Gold Standard, and of those, many would say that the price of gold is still the real monetary value of everything, so it doesn't fluctuate but money does. Again, similar to this i think. |
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//The GOG is exactly equal to value of one gallon of gasoline// |
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The last thing you want is a unit of currency that's so volatile. |
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[HegelStone], i get cheap clothes by going to charity shops and free clothes by picking them up from skips and washing them. I would only rarely consider buying new ones, but yes, i agree, an example from my work being Manuka honey. However, there's also the fact that myrtle oil from Europe costs many times tea tree oil from south east Asia because it's from countries with a relatively high or at least existing minimum wage. Then there's the rather interestingly high cost of locally available invasive weeds repackaged as herbal remedies. For some reason, people will pull up weeds and burn them, then go down their local health food shop and buy the same plants for several quid each because they're in a pretty bottle. A bit odd that. |
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I would say that what the market will bear is a very important factor as well. Also, people literally pay for their own lack of time and knowledge. |
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I could tell that this was going to fuel a debate. |
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The gas standard or the gold standard- What's the difference? |
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Rose absolute. As in car. As in [grayure]. |
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see link for real life application. |
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Grams of Grapes! Guns of Generals! Gallows of Gangsters! Gangs of Grifters! Groins of Grime! Groups of Gropers! Gills of Grouper! |
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And I thought this was going to tie money to the value of Google stock and that really woulkld have been better. |
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This is a horrible idea because you are handing you fortunes over to two different entities who aren't to be trusted, Big Oil and Governments who tax the GOG. Here in the US that includes individual states like NY who adds on $.25 to every GOG. |
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And what happens if tomorrow someone produces solar cells at $.01 per 10 Watts, or perfects hydrogen storage or mass produces the enzyme to convert grass clippings to alcohol or a cheap way to convert oil shale into oil or a dozen other things I haven't heard of? |
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At least pick a stabile commodity that has intrinsic value like gold that has been valued for thousands of years. The only other things I can think of that qualify are "sex" and "life". For sex there are two main denominations, the "V" which is worth about $100,000 and the "P" which is worth about $.01. As for "life", it gets confusing the countries with socialized medicine, but an extra "Day" could be valued somehow. |
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I thought of one other commodity, clean water. |
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//The only inflation that could occur is when there is more gasoline produced than consumed//
Or if other commodities become harder to obtain. Or if someone prints more GOGs. Incredibly naive. (-) |
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I would suggest liters of petrol or LOP to be more globally accepted. |
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