Some people...got t' have it I'll start off blunt: I've always thought (well, since I started thinking) the idea of a "gold standard" -- or any commodity-based backing for currency -- is wrongheaded; not primitive, per se, but certainly not advanced beyond the industrialization of the 19th century. It's for concrete-bound, barely conceptual (in a financial sense) people who lack imagination, and, really, a fundamental notion of human potential and that most human of attributes: risk taking. Gold-backed money is for people who want essentially no risk tied to their currency. OK, and if the State didn't force a monopoly on it, they could invent a currency backed by whatever, and see if it takes off. But given the reality of the matter, the problem is the State's monopoly, not the structure or fundamental methodology of the currency itself. And, you have options. You can go buy gold (or whatever). You can do it in the form of stocks, funds, ETFs, or just call up a dealer and buy physical precious metals (the safest way). My grandfather was this sort of man. In addition to the stockpiles of rice, beans, and other hermetically sealed staple foods, he owned lots of...