Why don't we use gold/silver as money anymore?

Question

The idea totally makes sense to me. I am curious as to why we don't bother doing so anymore.

Answer 1

You can't manipulate gold or silver's value. But this current system is kind of good in a way. You can lend more money out to people and help them. With gold and silver you can only help so many.

Answer 2

Because if the governments around the world did use gold and silver then they couldnt impose the inflation tax on its population and debase the coinage. Governments cant create new gold and silver but they can create more paper. This is why Im not holding US dollars anymore. The Federal Reserve and the banks are debasing the currency and doing it on puropse. Inflation is the most regressive tax there is. Tennessee used the inflation tax to fund the State government in the 1830s. They imposed no direct taxes during this time. The entire State budget was finance through inflation. This is why we dont use gold and silver. It all about the ability of the banks and the government to monitize debt and tax people through inflation.  

Answer 3

Because printing a lot of paper bills is easier than gold.

Plus, if you don't have access to gold or silver, you wouldn't be able to make currency. In todays modern society, things like interest literally create money out of thin air, so new bills are printed all the time.

Gold is impractical, it's annoying to come by, doesn't really allow for small quantities of money to be used, and you can't make things like bills of 500 without having a much too large coin.

Answer 4

During the 30 years after the end of the Civil War leading to 1896, the United States experienced deflation. Gold supplies were low and the government was decreasing the supply of money. By 1896, people who did not have much money wanted the government to increase the money supply. This was especially true for farmers, who were getting low prices for the crops they were selling. Because the supply was limited by the amount of gold available, they wanted the government to use both silver AND gold. This idea was called the Free Silver Movement. People who felt this way were called silver bugs or free silversides.

People who had money wanted to keep the gold standard and not increase the money supply. If silver was also used, they thought that inflation would happen. They thought their money would be worth less and that they would not be able to buy as much. They were called gold bugs.