[throw0101c]

> Today gold have some advantage over bitcoin in that it has some intrinsic value.

For humans, the only things that have 'intrinsic' value are air/oxygen, shelter, water, food. (Notwithstanding things like joy/happiness and being loved by others.)

Anything else is an arbitrary / psychological trick, or sociological agreement, that we do amongst ourselves. Rocks are just part of this latter mechanism, regardless of whether they are shiny or not:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones

> The maximum supply is capped at some number.

A fixed money supply is a bug, not a feature. The historical record shows this:

* https://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/arch...

* https://www.moneyandbanking.com/commentary/2016/12/14/why-a-...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression

[nodoll]

That article has a chart which shows some price fluctuations and follows that gold standard did not prevent it. But that would require the price fluctuations are only caused by changes in money supply. Which I have a hard time agreeing with.

I get the drawbacks of gold backed money. But I think it dwarfs when compared to a debt based money. Basically I think debt based economies tend to foster rampant exploitation. Yea, I think inflation is really exploitation and thievery. There is no other way to see it. Debt based economies cannot work in a fair way without a way for the community to extract values from the entities that are indebted. It might be a government, or it might be a person. When a bank gives out a loan, it can ask for some collateral. But what collateral does a government provide when it issues a bond?

So in short, a gold backed economy might hinder progress or slow it down, but it won't actually enable thievery and exploitation. But the modern economies does that, and so they are a much bigger evil than a gold backed one.

[throw0101c]

> Yea, I think inflation is really exploitation and thievery. There is no other way to see it.

CPI<0 is deflation, and history has shown how badly things go with that. CPI>>0 has had recent examples and people don't like it. CPI=0 is practically impossible, as you have measurement error and can easily slip into CPI<0 territory.

So we're left with CPI≳0, which is what most monetary policy aims for:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_targeting

> So in short, a gold backed economy might hinder progress or slow it down, but it won't actually enable thievery and exploitation.

The era of the gold standard was the Gilded Age, when wealth inequality was at its highest. The US has reached that peak again by some measures—while other countries have not, which probably says more towards other social policies that are probably more important than currency regime.

Further, the gold standard causes deflation, which is a terrible burden for those that have debt, like most farmers, and anyone who has a mortgage. It can grinds down wages.

There's a reason why many regular folks hated the gold standard back in the day:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Gold_speech