Essay On Social Class - 1227 Words

Joshua A. Clark Dr. Benjamin Sword English 1302 22 September 2017 Empathy Relies on Social Class If it is suggested that class has anything to do with how people live their lives or treat each other in America people adamantly refuse to believe it. The thought that here, in this country built by revolutionaries and self-made men, people cannot be whatever they want with hard work and perseverance is intolerable. The truth is social class does exist and does influence how people see and treat each other. These revelations are not unique to one person, in fact, several people have touched on these points including, Paul Fussell the son of a millionaire who, based on his observations, wrote a piece explaining class distinctions and some of†¦show more content†¦Contrary to that view, the lower classes see themselves as simply being on the wrong side of fate. This leads to the lower classes lacking some of the drive and ambition that characterizes the upper self-made classes, because if fate is against them what hope do they have. Because of this difference in viewpoints, th e worldviews of these classes tend to be different as well, including how they see and respond to misfortune. The lower classes tend to be more empathetic towards each other because they either have, or know they could, go through the same thing any day. On the other hand, the higher classes see other’s misfortunes as partly their own fault and wonder why they did not prepare better and why they do not pick themselves up and keep going. These differences are due in part because of the imbalance of money between the two classes. One has plenty, and in many cases, has always had plenty, and so is not worried about the what ifs of life (Fussell 6-7). On the flip side, the lower or working classes are often living paycheck to paycheck, so they are constantly aware of what could happen. This makes them much more understanding and wiling to help when something does happen (Williams 40). The rich are not without empathy, they can still hurt when others hurt, and rejoice when others rejoice, it is just rarer than those of the lower classes. The lower classes are much closer together, and so are much more awareShow MoreRelatedEssay on Social Class1002 Words   |  5 Pages1. Discuss the importance of subcultures in segmenting the market for food products. Identify a particular product and show how it should be marketed differently to different ethnic groups. 2. Foxtel is marketing pay television services in Australia. What approach should it take to households where the main decision makers are: a) Baby boomers b) Generation X c) Generation Y? 3. 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Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others. Free Essays

string(147) " state as it has been said that one allele would be incapable of encoding and identifying all the relevant information necessary \(Henrich 2001\)\." Identify some of the factors that make people help others. Who helps the most, and in what cases (whom) are they especially likely to help? Illustrate your answer with examples. Giedrius Statkus Department of Psychology, Keynes College, CT2 7NP Identify some of the factors that make people help others. We will write a custom essay sample on Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others. or any similar topic only for you Order Now Who helps the most, and in what cases (whom) are they especially likely to help? Illustrate your answer with examples. Many different factors have been shown to influence people’s willingness to help others. The motive behind certain type of help can be certain rewards for helping however other types of help do not always appear to have a clear motive. This was noted by Comte (1875 as cited in Batson Shaw 1991, Baumaister Bushman, 2011) who studied the question of helping others, philosophically and suggests that there are two key types of help displayed by people. He describes these as either Egoistic Helping (EH) or Altruistic Helping (AH). The former refers to the type of help where an individual is clearly aware of a reward for performing the help, such as can be seen in some volunteers workers, whose clear reward is experience and recommendations. The latter however refers to situations where an individual’s willingness to help is unaided by any conscious reward. AH behaviour can be seen in such examples as helping a broken down stranger fix a car tyre on a road (Pomzal Clore, 1973 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011). The factors influencing the latter type of help are the ones mainly considered throughout this essay. However these factors have a varied effect on different people, this variation can be based on gender, age and other individual differences. It has been suggested that one major factor influencing the willingness of people to perform AH is empathy (Batson, Batson, Slingsby, Harrell, Peekna Todd, 1991). The theory suggests that individuals witnessing someone in need of help, as they are displaying distress or pain, will experience similar feelings themselves. This is supported by many studies (Baumaister Bushman, 2011) however of key importance are studies conducted via observing the process of empathy in the brain using Functioning Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) (Singer, Seymour, O’Doherty, Kaube, Dolan Firth, 2004). In their study participants were subjected to electric shocks while undergoing an fMRI scan, after that they had to watch as their spouses undergo the electric shocks. The scans showed that the brain’s responses were similar, for both conditions, and that witnessing the shocks and receiving them affected the same areas of the brain. Other studies have also found empathy between emotional states such as happiness or sadness and other situations (Singer, Seymour, O’Doherty, Kaube, Dolan Firth, 2004). Therefore this confirms Batson’s et al. (1991) suggestion that if an individual is witnessing someone in distress, he also experiences some distress and therefore helping that person would be the fastest way to relieve it. There are many other factors playing roles in influencing willingness to help, however many of them may also be explained via empathy. As these other factors may increase or decrease empathy which could result in increased willingness to help. The fact that reward in AH is not obvious is not to say that it does not exist. As mentioned previously the relieving of distress may be one form of reward experienced through AH. Other rewards to be considered may be the need for praise or some sort of award (Batson, et al. 1988 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011). Another motivation may be fear of punishment, often in the form of social disproval, the fear of people knowing you could of helped, but did not. This can aid understanding of AH on an evolutionary and survival basis. As in some cases AH may mean less resources or putting oneself in danger (Dawkins 1988 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011) it can be said that such behaviour is counterproductive to survival. Except in clear cases of close family AH, where the help would favour the survival of the helping individual’s genes either way. However modern human survival, and therefore chance of reproduction, is highly dependent on social acceptance (Coie, Dodge Coppotelli, 1982). Therefore avoidance of punishment, in the form of social disproval is often a sufficient reward for AH. Empathy can be seen as a major aspect of other factors influencing willingness to help too, for example it has been shown that people feel more empathy for people similar (Frans, 2008) and are more willing to help based on similarity between them and the person needing help, such as similar clothes (Eimswiller, Deux Willts, 1971 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011), personal values (Batson, Duncan, Ackerman, Buckley Birch, as cited in Batson Shaw, 1991) and other features. This may be because people are more likely to experience empathy for people who are ore like them instead of someone who is very different. This can be seen in Batson’s et al. (1981 as cited in Batson Shaw, 1991) study where participants who believed a person undergoing electric shocks held personal values that were very different to the participants’ values, were less likely to take the victim’s place and receive shocks instead of them. This is supported by the green beard theory, a term coined by Dawkins (1976 as cited in West Gardener, 2010) in reference to a theoretical gene that would encode the information of a green beard and make green bearded people more likely to help others with a green beard. In this theory the green beard is an example of an obvious visual feature. Although just a theoretical principal for which the relevant genes have only been observed in the study of micro-organisms (West Gardener, 2010) and other far less genetically complex, than humans, life forms (Fostner, Wensler Ratnier, 2006). It is suggested that a much more complex system may be a viable genetic explanation for the way in which AH is influenced by people with similar features. Although the theory is criticised in its current state as it has been said that one allele would be incapable of encoding and identifying all the relevant information necessary (Henrich 2001). You read "Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others." in category "Papers" This however led others (Jansen Baalen, 2006) to suggest that, instead, a number of genes could encode some features of appearance, or a â€Å"visable tag† (West Gardener, 2010, p. 1344), and a separate, gene would encode the ability to recognise similarity and influence AH when it is recognised. For example it has been shown that people empathise more with close members of their family (Frans, 2007). As well as being more willing to help them (Burnstein, Crandall Kitayama, 1994). This was especially true for close members of the family such as siblings. The willingness to help was found to decrease as the family ties grew weaker. In all cases people were three times more likely to help close family members such as siblings than nephews and cousins, they were even less likely to help strangers or friends. This was especially true if the sibling in question is a monozygotic twin of the individual (Burnstein, Crandall Kitayama, 1994). The willingness to help for un-identical twins was considerably lower, by up to half as willing, suggesting that AH is an important behaviour for successful evolution and survival as it favours identical genes. This staggering difference between identical gene siblings and dizygotic twins could also be related to the green beard theory mentioned earlier. As the perfect visual tag for an altruistic gene to identify would, in the case of monozygotic twins, be a completely identical appearance. AH was also found to be dependent on age (Baumaister Bushman, 2011). For example Burnstein et al. (1994) found that people’s willingness to help young children of age 1 was identical to the amount of willingness seen at age 25. Overall, willingness to help was found to quickly reach a peak at the age of 10 and then steadily decrease as people get older. For the final recorded age, of 75, willingness to help had decreased by a quarter when compared to age 1. People’s health was also noted as an important factor in influencing willingness to help. It was found that people are more willing to help healthy individuals than those suffering from ill-health. This may be due to survival reasons as healthy individuals are much more likely to help the person in return and therefore increase their rate of survival. In cases of AH, it can be said that, the evaluation of ability to reciprocate may be performed unconsciously. The same concept applies to old and very young individuals who are also less able to reciprocate the help they receive. The attractiveness of an individual is also a recognised factor in one’s willingness to help (Harrel, 1978 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011). This is often hard to explain in regards to evolution and survival theories. One aspect considered is that attractiveness may be evaluated as health, as attractiveness and health evaluations have been shown to positively correlate (Taylor and Brown, 1988). However a study by Juhnke et al. (2001) found that attractiveness does not necessarily rely on physical features. He found people dressed more attractively are also more likely to receive help. A possible critique of this finding could be that in this case the more attractive people were seen as richer, and therefore their ability to reciprocate would be higher. This would however contradict Burnstein’s et al. (1994) finding, which demonstrates that people would be significantly less likely to help rich people than poor people across every situation. And although based on participants’ conscious evaluation of their willingness to help, the results are consistent across all participants and therefore suggest that Juhnke’s et al. (2001) findings were related to attractiveness, if not as the sole factor than at the very least more than the effect of a ealthy appearance. This finding is also more supported by the survival via reproduction theory since in some cases it appeared to have a sex specific effect, (Pomzal Core, 1973 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011) where male participants were found to be more likely to help females than males, especially if the female is attractive. They also report that males are more willing to help than females overall which is an important finding as this slightly contradicts Batsonâ₠¬â„¢s et al. 1991) theory, of empathy being the most important factor in AH as Davis (1980) has pointed out that females display a much higher level of empathy across many different AH related situations. This may be related to Dawkin’s (1989 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011) theory. He proposes that willingness to help is directly affected by the loss incurred in the process of helping. Therefore although women may want to help more than males, as they feel higher empathy, they may be prevented by fear of loss. This is because most AH requires a form of loss of resources, time or putting oneself in danger (Batson Shaw, 1991) as only in cases of unconscious and reflex powered reactions are people willing to put their survival over the person in need of help. This sort of behaviour is most often seen in combat situations and almost never occurs if people are able to consider the threat posed to them (Batson Shaw, 1991) Individuals’ willingness to help people is affected by many factors as discussed. This can be seen in many forms. Some forms of help are motivated by feelings of distress caused through empathy. This coupled together with unconscious reward seeking and punishment avoidance influences people in making the decision of whether to help or not. Although empathy may be the predominant factor it is also important to mention that it is heavily influenced by other factors such as age, gender, family ties and physical or mental similarities. However empathy at times is affected by other factors such as the cost of helping someone. For example men are less likely to be helped, however are more likely to be willing to help than females. Females, although experiencing higher empathy and therefore maybe higher willingness to help are said to be more aware of fear of loss. This may also be influenced by the fact that males feel higher social expectations, to help, than females. Although another reason may simply be survival as the people most likely to be helped are often the same people who are most capable of reciprocating the help. In the case of 10 year old children and young adults receiving more help than elderly people or young children it may be because they can be said to be evaluated as having more chance of reciprocating this help. Same can be said for the health bias influencing willingness to help. Healthy people are more likely to receive help as they are more likely to have the ability to return the help. The fact that attractive people are more likely to be helped than less attractive people is thought to be highly linked to peoples’ willingness to help healthy people. Helping close family is also affected by health although the predominant factor here is the closeness of the family relationship. Children and parents are as willing to help each other as siblings who are significantly more willing to help each other than they are willing to help nephews, cousins or other family members. The only group more likely to help each other are identical twins, this evidence fits in with the selection of kin theory of evolution and therefore is most likely based on survival of the genes. Genes appear to be the most likely explanation for the fact that people are very likely to help individuals who appear similar to them. As suggested by the theory that certain genes may help their own survival by creating visual tags in people who share the same genes or by encoding recognition of similarity. This visual tag would be recognised by the other individuals carrying the same genes and therefore AH would be increased. When all the discussed factors are considered it can be seen that people’s willingness to help and their choice of whom they help, is motivated and influenced by many factors which all interact in a complex manner. References Batson, C. D. , Batson, J. G. , Slingsby, J. K. , Harrel, K. L. , Peekna, H. M. , Todd, R. M. (1991). Empathic Joy and the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 413-426. Batson, C. D. , Shaw, L. L. (1991). Evidence for Altruism: Toward a Pluralism of Prosocial Motives. Journal of Psychological Inquiry, 2(2), 107-122. Baumeister, R. F. , Bushman, B. J. (2011) Social Psychology and Human Nature (2ed. ). Belmot, California: Wadsworth. Burnstein, E. , Crandall, C. , Kitayama, S. (1994). Some Neo-Darwinian Decision Rules for Altruism Wighting Cues for Inclusive Fitness as a Function of the Biological Importance of the Decision. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(5), 773-789. Coie, J. , Dodge, D. K. , Coppotelli, H. A. (1982). Dimensions and Types of Social Status: A Cross-Age Perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(4), 557-570. doi:10. 1037/0012-1649. 18. 4. 557 Davis, M. H. (1980). A Multidimensional Approach to Individual Differences in Empathy, JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85-104. Foster, K. R. , Wenseler, T. , Ratnieks, L. W. (2006) Kin Selection is the Key to Altruism. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 21(2), 57-60. Frans, B. M. (2008). Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy. The Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 279-300. Henrich, J. (2001) Cultural Group Selection, Coevolutionary Processes and Large-Scale Cooperation. Journal of Economic Behavior Organization, 53, 3–35. Jansen, V. A. , Baalen, M. (2006). Altruism Through Beard Chromodynamics. Nature, 44(30), 663-666. Juhnke, R. , Barmann, B. , Vickery, B. , Cunningham, M. , Hohl, J. , Smith, E. , Quinones, J. (2001). Effects of Attractivness and Nature of Request on Helping Behaviour, Journal of Social Psychology, 127(4), 317-322. Singer, T. , Seymour, B. , O’Doherty, J. , Kaube, H. , Dolan, R. J. , Frith, C. (2004). Empathy for Pain Involves the Affective but not Sensory Components of Pain. Science, 303, 1157-1161. Taylor, S. E. , Brown, J. D. (1988) Illusion and Well-Being: a Social Psychological Perspective on Mental Health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193-210. doi: 10. 1037/0033-2909. 103. 2. 193 West, S. A. , Gardener, S. (2010). Altruism, Spite, and Greenbeards. Science, 327, 1341-1344. How to cite Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others., Essays

Gold Standard free essay sample

The ever-decreasing power of the dollar has made many an advocate of the gold standard and in-fact many want to return to the gold standard as a monetary system. Over the past 2 years alone the purchasing power of the dollar has decreased 30%. In the exact same time frame, the price of gold has increased by over 100%. Throughout this paper I will try to prove why the use of the gold standard in modern day society would not be better than paper money thru various analysis and logic. Definition of the Gold Standard What exactly is the gold standard? The gold standard is a monetary standard under which the basic unit of currency is defined by a stated quantity of gold. Typically this standard was used in the 1800’s into the early 1900’s as a means of currency. This currency today no longer exists; our current currency is called the fiat system, which is merely paper money that is printed in to existence. Introduction Using the gold standard in today’s society would be ludicrous; totally changing the way governing bodies would be able to conduct business. The gold standard is not a good monetary system for this day and age, though proven to be more stable in someway it lacks the ability to be readily available as the paper money is, in addition to acting as a line of credit to the government when needed. In order for the gold standard to exist, gold would need to become a fixed price commodity or asset. All debt that the government has would need to be paid off and the paper money would have to become inconsistent. The return to the gold standard would inherently deplete the worlds gold reserve because the amount of paper money in circulation in comparison to that of gold is not evenly yoked. Not to mention the increasingly numerous proponents of a gold standard persuasively argue that budget deficits and large federal borrowings would be difficult to finance under such a standard. Again, heavy claims against paper dollars cause few technical problems, for the Treasury can legally borrow as many dollars as Congress authorizes. † (1) â€Å"With unlimited dollar conversion into gold, the ability to issue dollar claims would be severely limited. Obviously if you cannot finance federal deficits, you cannot create them. However, the restrictions of gold convertibility would profoundly alter the politics of fiscal policy that have prevailed for over half a century. † (1) â€Å"In years past a desire to return to a monetary system based on gold was perceived as nostalgia for an era when times were simpler, problems less complex and the world not threatened with nuclear annihilation. But after a decade of destabilizing inflation and economic stagnation, the restoration of a gold standard has become an issue that is clearly rising on the economic policy agenda. † (1) The Constitution of the United States explains that the gold and silver standard was to be the only currency per the constitution. Figure 1 is the exact verbiage found in the Constitution of the United States, which at no point prohibits the printing of un-backed paper money. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. Figure1: Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 Historical Gold Overview From 1833 – 1890 the price of gold was approximately $20. 65 per ounce of gold. This price only fluctuated roughly $0. 01 in these 57 years. From 1891 to 1930 the price of gold was approximately $21. 32 per ounce. With this being said from 1833 to 1930 the price of gold ranged from $20. 58 $21. 32 per ounce. During the great depression (1931) the U. S. economy took a turn for the worst, the price of gold struck an all time low; with the price of gold being a dismal $17. 06 per ounce, which essentially means the value of the gold decreased. Similarly, the way the U. S. dollar has decreased in value today the gold standard did they same thing during the Great Depression, when the economy was not doing well. Figure 2. Inflation Adjusted Gold Price If you look at figure 2, it shows the inflation of gold prices from 1914 thru 2007. In comparison if you look at figure 3, you will notice very similar trends. Since approximately 2001 the price of gold has began to increase at which time the dollar also started to decrease. This fluctuation is a direct result of the economy’s instability. If you look at figure 2, you can witness how around the 1980’s the price of gold hit an all time high with a rapid declination on the lat 1980’s on in to the early1990’s. Figure 2, 3, and 4 all show graphically how thru inflation the dollar lost its value, the price of gold rapidly increased, and how the price of gold matches up to the US dollar. Figure 3. U. S. Dollar vs. Gold Due to inflation, the price of gold and the US dollar, appear to be growing in two different directions. This growth equates to inflation. Figure 4 shows percentage of how much the US dollar is inflated. Figure 4. Cumulative Inflation Chart (1913 – 2007) Fiat System In a fiat system, there is no non-monetary demand for the money at all; it typically consists of pieces of printed-paper, and the supply is determined by a printing press controlled by whoever issues it. (Its value is maintained entirely by its monetary demand. ) This seems paradoxical, since the existence of a monetary demand for it is dependent on its having value. In practice, the problem has usually been solved by gradually creating a fiat system out of an existing fractional reserve system, eventually eliminating entirely the banks obligation to pay in the commodity. It could also be created out of a commodity system by gradually increasing the senior age at a time when monetary demand is increasing, and allowing the monetary demand to raise the price of the coin to a large multiple of the value of the commodity it contains. Once created, fiat systems have proved astonishingly stable; the convenience of using the same money as everyone else is apparently so great that people continue using a fiat money (instead of making their transactions in terms of some convenient commodity, such as gold) even when it is rapidly losing value. 2) In terms of producing stable and predictable prices, a fiat system is at the same time the best and the worst alternative. It is the best alternative because it is possible, by following some simple monetary rule (such as keep the amount of money in circulation constant), to make the supply of money perfectly predictable, or by following some slightly more complicated rule (print money when the price index goes below 1 , burn it when the price index goes above 1) to make (average) prices almost perfectly predictable, automatically accommodating the supply of money to the demand. It is the worst of systems because it is possible to expand the money supply virtually without limit (the cost being the cost of adding additional zeros to the newly printed bills to convert tens into hundreds, or hundreds into millions). (2) Presently in the United States we use the Fait System or â€Å"paper† money. This system has been in use formally since President Nixon and has been stable prior to the last few years. Only recently has this become a topic of controversy, whether to revert back to the Gold Standard or continue to operate using the fait system. Analysis of International Monetary Reserves in Current Monetary Cycle Figure 5 shows why examination of the phases in the development of the World Monetary system since Bretton Woods in 1944 in terms of International Monetary Reserves may be a guide to the future. (3) Figure 5. International Monetary Reserves (Gold at Market) Billion of SDRs In Phase One, total International Monetary Reserves (IMRs) grew at an average of 2. 8 per cent from 1952 to 1969. This first phase was therefore one of monetary stability via a US Dollar/Gold exchange standard where the World Monetary Base grew more or less in line with the World economy at approximately 3 per cent annually. Phase Two followed from 1969 to 1980 when World IMRs grew on average at 23 per cent annually. It was impossible for the World economy to grow as quickly, so this was a phase of acute monetary and price inflation. To accommodate such a development, the Bretton Woods Agreement was abandoned in 1971 in favor of the Smithsonian Agreement in which the US government ended its commitment to maintain the price of its Currency relative to Gold and all Currencies were obliged to float, thus terminating the official commitment to fixed exchange rates. This destructive phase was replaced by Phase Three in 1981 with a US led Central Bank commitment to â€Å"quantitative† stability in terms of the World Central Bank Monetary Base but no â€Å"qualitative† guarantee of stability through linkage to Gold at a fixed exchange rate. Since then and until recently, IMR’s have grown by an average of only 6 per cent, the period characterized by broad stability but subject to occasional interruptions. Much of this period experienced a phase of general monetary disinflation, although there have been periods of misaligned exchange rates between the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen in particular. In the absence of a stabilizing Gold Standard the danger of Phase Four has come upon us monetary instability. This could be either inflationary or deflationary, depending on the nature of social, political and economic pressures at the time. Given the cumulative rise already observed in World Debt in relation to World IMRs, presently â€Å"instability† has taken the form of monetary inflation as Debt burdens bear down on the World economy and take their toll. (3) Overall the system proved to be more of an inflation hazard than help. Without the gold standard US used inflation as a tool to mitigate the risks the economy was taking and to reduce the amount of debt the country was in. As you can see from figure 4 above, this was a predictable event that one economist saw in the making. It is no surprise to those who follow the price of gold and from my research it will not be the last time the price of gold escalates and the power of the dollar descends. Historically, after the dollar begins to regain its strength the price of gold begins to decrease, though this is not an instantaneous event. Why not the Gold Standard The gold standard would not be impossible to reinvent however it would pose a variety of limitations on the way the entire world lives and functions. The overall growth of money would have to be limited and the credit would have to become backed by some form of payment other than good faith. The giant uproar of the gold standard reared its head when confidence in paper money began to decline, which lead to the high cost of gold. 1980’s saw similar trends. Gold reached a phenomenal $850 only to decline in 1999 to $252. Gold may be susceptible to adverse economic, political or regulatory development. The price of gold is subject to substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time and may be affected by unpredicted international monetary and political policies. † (7) If you look at figure 4 it shows exactly how much inflation the US dollar is presently operating in, 2071. 23%. This high inflation further prevents the US from being able to revert to back to the Gold Standard in addition to other factors. Figure 3 also clearly identifies how money now is not the same as it was 1980’s. When looking at figure 3, the red line clearly shows how in 1980 using the price of the dollar from 2007 the price of gold would have bee $2145 per ounce. While using the US dollar from the 1980’s during the 1980’s the price of gold was $850 per ounce, which is a difference of $1295. This is an astronomical figure, which indicates that in order to in order to revert back to the gold standard deflation of the dollar would have o occur, the circulation of paper currency would need to be limited and the United States would have to make a huge effort to regain the paper money that is in circulation overseas by more than half. Pro’s and Con’s of the Gold Standard Pro: Money becomes a commodity Fixed price of currency Limiting the government’s ability to increase the money supply could possibly prevent inflation Con: Credit will be limited for the US Treasury Cost of p roducing gold will become astronomical due to supply and demand Gold will not be able to be produced quickly enough Gold mining would become overly expensive Unstable prices due to vulnerable economies Government may have to maintain significant reserves of gold in order to provide liquidity for banking Summary In conclusion there is no viable way in our current economic state that we could revert back to the gold standard. Presently in this day and age we function as buy now pay later world. In essence the gold standard would force us to live more within our means as a society and would force the government to use less I-O-U’s as methods of payment. When there is mention of the gold standard and how much better the USA would be in addition to how much better the gold standard is over the fait currency is all speculation. In the lat 1800 – early 1930’s the gold only fluctuated approximately $74 and the gold standard was the method of payment. Speculators believe that in our current day and age the gold standard would not have fluctuated nearly as much as the price of gold has, which is totally erroneous. Due to so much economic trauma and the precious metal that gold is, it seems absurd to believe the price of gold would remain consistent. However fact remains that the gold standard is though of as more stable because a commodity backs it where paper money is just that, paper. Ultimately it is not the price of gold that has risen; it is the purchasing power of the dollar that has decreased. It is my belief that the Federal Reserve has made it appear as if gold is the determining factor for the price of the US dollar, when it is not; ultimately the price of the US dollar affects the price of gold. At the days end it would be better if an asset, such as gold or silver, backed paper money- however it is nearly impossible. As of 2005, over 760 billion USD were in circulation. Of this 760 billion USD in circulation, half to two-thirds are outside of the United States. By the definition of the constitutional dollar, one ounce of silver equals a silver dollar coin. Given this definition there is no feasible way that the United States can afford to back our monetary system in such a way with out depleting our reserve and the would of its natural resource.