Thank you for the excellent answer Brian. I'm replying to you not because I have anything very intelligent to say, but because your effort deserves at least a response on my part.

Your explanation does indeed make sense to me. In the back of my mind I know all this is true, with respect to gold-based currencies. It seemed pretty strange that the US even got off the gold standard. We may be seeing now exactly how big a mistake that was, with the government given free reign to print whatever they want.

I think where my viewpoint differs from yours, is your statement "...paper backed by nothing!" What is gold worth? I'm probably just upset because I'm a stakeholder frustrated by a depreciating asset (oil) that is undervalued. You made my case for me with the analogy of the bushel basket being worth more than the German Marks it could carry. Could you carry the Marks with a bar of gold? Of course not. At least the basket is functional. If you had a bar of gold, what would you do with it?

I wrote some of this in jest, no offense intended. For example I was thinking if I had a bar of gold, I couldn't put it on display in my front yard, because it would most certainly disappear (making your point probably). I wonder what it costs taxpayers each year just to store the hunks of metal. It reminds me of Styx's song The Grand Illusion. Apparently everyone everywhere agrees gold -- for whatever reason -- has an inherent value.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday.

-bbq