Robert, how do you account for the simple concept of the time value of money from the standpoint of persons who wish to lend gold, and consumer preference on the part of those who wish to borrow it?
I myself am totally opposed to any debt which is not going to make me richer, and as a general rule of thumb try not to have any. But not everyone could be happy on so Spartan a lifestyle as I have chosen either (none of my ex-wives were, to be sure.) So, often people have a thing that they want (or even need) but cannot afford to purchase outright, and to them it is worth it to pay additional money to have that item sooner, rather than later. Others see this as a market-provided opportunity and go into the practice of lending gold in order to increase their own wealth, the tradeoff of course being that they no longer have use of that gold until it is paid back, and the risk that the gold will not be paid back at all. This is not an 'impossibility' as you put it, and certainly not in the manner in which you describe -- that at some point debts owed will exceed the amount of gold in circulation. Such fiduciary ledgerdemain is only possible in a fiat money system, where money is created from nothing and at the will of the state. Any such oversight in a gold-based economy would be the result of a severe accounting error, one which would be uncovered and punished (brutally, I should think) rather quickly. Frank --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
