> The other argument they make is that there is a finite amount of gold in the world, whereas currency could be essentially infinite. This is equally stupid, because it make economics a zero sum game. I agree, it is completely stupid to cap a nation's economy. Fiat within (sovereign) domain coupled with commodity based (e.g. Oil reserves) for trans-national trade, would be the sensible way to go, imo. The transnational commodity 'trade currency' would keep internal national funny money at bay. Thinking in the economic space has been stuck in usuary and flat (not fiat) currency since Sumer. The consequences have been known since then. (It is in the bible too.) I still haven't figured out how one would disentangle 'storable value' from 'unit of exchange'. That is what is required and regrettably no one apparently is working on finding a solution to that problem.
Trade, for as many problems as it creates vis-a-vis destruction of local culture and exploitation of populations, has inherent value in that it raises the standard of living for most of the people of a given nation. Gold hinders trade because of its limited quantity; that's why Nixon (a real socialist, right?) got us off the gold standard. Why Ron Paul and his ilk don't seem to understand this is far beyond me.