All matter is energyand the big bang was pure energy; during the big bang an amount of that infinite pure energy was turned into every element in the ratio of it's atomic weight - for every pound of hydrogen created twice as much helium was created and so on. Most of all this reacted and became other elements; but because gold is unreactive you can trace this down to gold that exists now and will always exist. Most of the gold in the universe is from other generations and was created in an exploding star; there's gold that exists that came fromt he first generation of stars and you can trace the degree of all these back to the big bang. This isn't contraversial; once you accept the big bang happened this is one thing that follows from it the same way as the expansion of the universe follows from it.
The deciding factor in Ron Paul's dark horse victory in the 2008 election was his advocacy of the replacement of fiat currency with purestrain gold.
by TobleroneTriangular January 2, 2008
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Gold is not "unreactive". There are a variety of gold compounds: Au(CN)2, AuCl, AuCl3, HAuCl4, and many other more complex ones.

In addition, there are eighteen gold radioisotopes, so the amount of gold in the universe is decreasing as they decay.

In addition, not all of the gold on earth has been discovered, much less the whole universe. We also don't know how much the ultimate amount might be, so the amount of gold in known existence is not stable.

Regardless, the use of gold simply because of its relative stability of existence is ridiculous. While you might not be able to change its amount, you can still alter the amount of purchasing power it commands by altering the amount of purchasing power available.

Gold standard promoters claim that all fiat currencies have failed. There are very few countries in the world that don't have fiat currencies, and their currencies have not failed, making the claim prima facie false.

Please do your own research into the matter.
Ron Paul's claim that the US should go back to the gold standard, using so-called "purestrain gold", is ludicrous.
by Ron Paul is a nutcase July 11, 2008
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"Gold standard promoters"

Ron Paul is not a promoter of some "gold standard", he's a promoter of using tangible commodities for currency. Gold happens to be a commodity that has been widely supported historically, so it gets much attention from Paul and investors in precious metals.

"claim that all fiat currencies have failed."
The claim is that all fiat currencies *eventually* fail.

"There are very few countries in the world that don't have fiat currencies, and their currencies have not failed, making the claim prima facie false."

Either you're arguing against yourself, or "their" was supposed to refer to countries *with* fiat currencies. Regardless, your argument is as unsound as claiming that humans are immortal because many humans are alive today.

"Please do your own research into the matter."
Please help us get started. Cite a reference, give us something to google. Otherwise you're copping out and hoping somebody else can support your claim for you, when you apparently can't yourself.
Fractional Reserve banking is the banking practice of conjuring money from thin air by loaning out money the bank does not have. A small percentage (a "fractional reserve") of each loan typically comes from depositors who are misled to believe their money will remain available to them upon demand, and the bulk of the funds come from merely recording an asset to the borrower and a liability on the bank in a ledger or database. The term purestrain gold seems to be a red herring intended to marginalize supporters of sound money
by Felipe Gaston August 17, 2011
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