July 3, 2012

Econ 201: Everything You Need to Know about Gold

Gold is in fashion these days thanks to uncertainty in the global economy and worries that the United States and other countries will devalue their debts through inflation. Gold is valuable, and it almost always has been.

Ron Paul, the Congressman and presidential candidate, has even suggested that the United States return to the gold standard, which would require backing each dollar issued by the Treasury with a fixed amount of gold. That might stop the government from minting tons of cash, but what else would it do to America’s economic future?

Economist Daniel Altman points out that it would leave our monetary policy vulnerable to random external events like the discovery of rich, new gold mines. It would tie our hands and deny us the flexibility we need to navigate the rapidly changing markets of the 21st century.

Daniel Altman on why the Gold Standard isn’t such a good idea:

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

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The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

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6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

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The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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