June 29, 2009
from
WashingtonsBlog Website
In a fascinating 22-page
study of money and currency, Christopher
Weber shows that every government - from Athens, to pre-collapse Rome,
to the Islamic countries in the Middle Ages - which stuck to the Greek
standard of coins has been stable and prosperous.
Specifically, the Athenian
Drachma contained 65.6 grains of silver.
Even after Greece declined as a superpower, its currency remained stable.
The,
-
Roman Denarius
-
Byzantine Bezant
-
Islamic Dinar,
...all copied the Drachma, using around
65.6 grains of gold or silver in their coins.
For the many centuries the Romans, Byzantines, and Islamic rulers left this
precious metal content alone, they had stable and prosperous money supplies
and nations.
But after the Romans and Byzantines started to whittle down the
precious metal content of their coins - and after the Muslims started
issuing paper money - their currency went down the drain, their prosperity
plummeted and their empires collapsed.
This may all sound like ancient history, except that Weber points out that:
The US dollar has been depreciating for
generations. Seventy years ago it was first devalued from $20.67 a gold
ounce to $35. Then 35 years ago the devaluation started gaining
strength. The dollar has lost over 90% of its gold value since
August 15, 1971.
History is repeating...
Sound money is again being trashed, which is
causing the collapse of the American empire.