Idle thinkings

[unitiontotter]

I've put about 30 seconds of thought into this so there will be holes to poke in this.

What if the world used a zero-sum monetary system?

Like, instead of the price of goods and services slowly climb due to inflation, and minimum wage raised to compensate, how about this: find a thing that will never change in value and constantly base everything

Comments

[shiver_raccoon]

Oxygen wouldn't be practical as a monetary standard on earth, as there is just too much of it. Consider that 75% of the planet's surface is water, from which oxygen can be extracted by electrolysis. Besides, O2 is hard to store, especially in any quantity which would have any value. It might work on the moon or mars.

But, what you're describing is the "gold standard", i.e. a currency that can be freely converted to/from gold bars or coins. It was phased out, as governments love to go to war, and such expensive wars would bankrupt a country unless they can print more money to fund them.

P.S. Have a look at the historical/forecast U.S. debt: scary, huh?