RobbZer0 wrote:
So doesn't that mean that the money printed is essentially backed by nothing, has no real value, and is in a sense printed out of thin air?
Yes, it may well be that money is backed by "nothing," and is printed "out of thin air."
Value, however, is a separate issue. On the "value" question, I would reiterate something I wrote in another forum a long time ago:
Anyone who really believes his or her Federal Reserve notes are "valueless" is invited to mail any and all such notes to me personally as a "valueless" gift to me -- and I will be happy to keep and spend those "valueless" notes on such valuable things as music CDs, movie tickets, lunches with friends, and anything else of value I can find to spend them on. It is incorrect [ . . . ] to say that Federal Reserve notes have no "redeemable value." Obviously, if you turn in two fifty dollar bills and receive, in return, a single one-hundred dollar bill, that $100 bill has value. You can still take that one-hundred dollar bill to a restaurant or store and obtain products or services that most people would think are worth - oh, about a hundred bucks. The mere fact that what you receive when you redeem a Federal Reserve note is another Federal Reserve note does not change the fact that all such notes have VALUE IN EXCHANGE FOR VALUABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't try to tie the value of my dollars to some sort of nebulous "backing." I don't care about "backing." Indeed, nothing that I own is valuable to me because of some sort of "backing." My TV set is valuable to me because of its intrinsic value - I can turn it on and use it to obtain information and entertainment. My TV set is not "backed" by gold or silver or anything else. My couch is valuable to me because I can sit on it. My couch is not "backed" by gold or silver. The real estate I own is not "backed" by anything. The merchandise inventory held by a merchant for sale to customers is not "backed" by anything. The inventory is valuable to the merchant because the merchant can exchange that inventory for MONEY, which money can THEN be used to acquire whatever else is desired by the merchant.
Money is valuable to me because it is (1) a store of value, (2) a measure of value, and (3) a medium of exchange. All I really need is for someone else to
accept my money when I want to obtain food, or gasoline, or a haircut, or electricity, or whatever.
Money increases and decreases in value for a variety of reasons, regardless of whether money is "backed" by "something else" or not.
Just as an aside: The primary value of money is derived not from its intrinsic value (the value of the paper and ink) and not from its "backing" (if any) by gold or silver. Money is instead valuable primarily with respect to the benefit I can receive when I
exchange money.
Further, even if my money were "backed" by gold or silver -- even if its official value were ostensibly or "officially" pegged to the value of some quantity of gold or silver, that would not change the fact that the real value of money would fluctuate.
First, the exchange values of gold and silver fluctuate.
Second, the quantity of available goods and services within any economy is continuously in flux. The ongoing change in the quantity (and therefore the value) of non-monetary assets (i.e., goods and services) is, by definition, a change in the value of money, unless the money supply can somehow be constantly and precisely adjusted (without regard to its "backing" by gold or silver) to reflect the exact change in the quantity (and therefore the value) of all non-monetary assets. Such precision is unlikely to be achieved.
Third, the subjective wants and desires of all persons who participate in the economy are in a constant state of flux - so that even if the quantity of money AND the quantity of non-monetary assets (goods and services) were to remain exactly constant, there would still be a continuous fluctuation in the real value of money.
The effect, if any, on the value of money that is related to its
not being backed by gold, or by silver, or by hoola hoops is a separate issue.
"My greatest fear is that the audience will beat me to the punch line." -- David Mamet