[hobobaggins]

> Just ditch it and let anyone move money around with no controls. I'm sure that would work out fine.

It did, for thousands of years. The only thing that's new is the ability to track every penny and person from cradle to grave and the incessant and ever-growing desire for those in power to control those who aren't.

[MattPalmer1086]

Hmmmm... I think carrying a lot of gold around and limited transport and security put certain limits on who could do that easily...

[roenxi]

One of the reasons people use gold is because carrying it around is actually pretty easy. Eg, wandering the streets with a few million in gold bars is no challenge. You can carry it in a bag and the odds of someone checking your bag for millions of dollars in hard assets is low.

Not to mention that if the gold is banked then it probably didn't need transport because it was being transported too and from a bank.

[rokkitmensch]

Ultra-infrequent use case. Hawala and European credit networks largely mooted it.

[MattPalmer1086]

Well, the OP did say thousands of years. But I take your point, money transfer without moving physical gold has been possible for hundreds of years for sure.

[madsbuch]

We are taxing more complex transactions (eg. VAT, income, profits, etc.). ie. the vector for laundering is much bigger.

no tax, no control (look at The Emirates).

However, as it gets easier and easier to accrue wealth on behalf of others, the taxing schemes are probably needed, and so is the control.

[namdnay]

> It did, for thousands of years

and for thousands of years the rich did pretty much what they wanted, and the rest of us lived barely above subsistence level.. fair taxation is one of the building blocks of modern society

[danaris]

> It did, for thousands of years.

That's like saying going without vaccinations, clean water, or adequate medical care "worked out fine" for thousands of years.

Sure, the human race survived. Many individuals even thrived. But I don't think it's really disputable that life with them is massively better than life was before we had them (or, in fact, than life is now for the far too many who still lack them in a reliable way).