About now I’m wishing I used a theme that supported Asides, because I just heard a fascinating bit of trivia for the first time. As far as I can recall, anyway. I’m using that qualifier more and more as I realize that at my age, there’s a good chance I have heard such-and-such before — and just don’t remember.
Anyway, to the point:
All the gold ever mined in history would fill only three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Google it, and some sources will say only one or two pools. But still … that’s ALL? All that gold in Fort Knox? All those Egyptian treasures? The California Gold Rush? All the jewelry in the world? All of it in just three pools?
Okay, that’s all. Just thought I’d mention that.
It’s simple almost insignificant facts such as this that should have provided a missing link to John Maynard Keynes’ and his acolytes when he asserted and contrived a mathematical connection between the benefits of debt based consumption and the soundness of legal tender mandated fiat currency. Hypocritically – the last time the US government feared that the dollar might crash, it stole it’s citizens gold because the government (alone?) realized that the only real money is gold and silver. Fort Knox and the New York branch of the FED house the largest, or nearly the largest cache of gold on Earth. When Keynes (with the help of congress and the president) finally destroys the dollar, who do you think will still have the most REAL money?
At the risk of sounding like a woman who is barely awake and still savoring her first sips of coffee, I’d guess the U.S. government will still have the most real money (aka gold), and I think that’s a good thing, since they issue our currency. Is this a trick question? Because I’m not awake enough for trick questions.