2013-04-23 Ron Paul slams stability of U.S. dollar and Bitcoin in pro-gold rant

[MoonShadow]

I created a public response to Dr. Paul.  Here it is.  I would be really happy if he could see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDyD-cmSD50

Excellent video Mike, but there is one thing that you might be able to improve on your identity+rock=realestate_owner analogy.  You said that no society would ever do this, but once upon a time, the British had a system of sovernign gold debt using sticks.  What they would do is when the king/government desired to borrow gold (usually to fight a war) he would require that goldmongers (early bankers) exchange the gold for a stick that has been etched on both ends with the debt amount, and then broken in half.  The treasury kept the long end, and the "lender" kept the short end as the record of the "exchange".  Theoretically, anyone who had the short end of the stick could come to the treasury in London after the repay date and claim the gold in deposit by matching up the broken ends of the stick.  In practice, the king just declared ursury illegal and ordered the treasury sticks burned.

But a society would, indeed, do something like this.

EDIT:  BTW, that is where we get the term, "left holding the short end of the stick".

EDIT:  Any gold bug worth his salt, and  particularly Ron Paul himself, should know this history, BTW. 

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[jimhsu]

A better analogy would be a deed, actually. It is a piece of paper that can fit in your pocket (Casascius coin, private key) granting a privilege (a claim to some value of bitcoins held at a public key) to an owner (you) that has a record of ownership (transactions). It's the best analogy I can think of, actually.

[davidgdg]

Although I agree with his views, Bitcoin has made me realize how difficult it is to use PM's as an actual currency, even without government suppression.

That's not right. You  are mixing up money and payment mechanisms. Most payments in the 19th century did not involve bags of gold changing hands anymore than most payments in the 20th century involve bags of cash changing hands. It is just as easy in principle to have a bank account denominated  in gold as it is to have an account denominated in dollars.
 
Of course BTC has the great advantage of having its own built-in payment mechanism. That gives it an advantage over both gold and fiat, but given the choice between gold and fiat, gold wins every time.

[iddo]

I created a public response to Dr. Paul.  Here it is.  I would be really happy if he could see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDyD-cmSD50

Nice video, thanks.