The last few months, people have been talking about the US government repricing its gold to <rolls dice> $20,000 or so per ounce. Then a lot of the basically infinite debt could be paid off, or — as some of the presidential candidates are saying — used to buy a bitcoin reserve.
Most people have been so hypnotized their entire lives that they don't see the fantasy aspect of this. They don't recognize that the gold doesn't change but the USD loses 90% of its value overnight. They don't see that it's merely a difference of degree compared to what the dollar has done continually. They nod their heads when someone like Kamala Harris says food prices are the fault of grocery stores, while not even knowing that the M2 money supply is one third larger now than it was in 2020, and probably not even aware of what that means for prices.
This latest plan follows on the (serious!) proposals that have come and gone over several years to "mint a trillion dollar platinum coin" and pay off the debt. Unconscious nods and "good idea"s come forth, but do they think "why platinum?" or "why a trillion dollars?". The government can say anything is worth any number of dollars. That trillion dollar coin would be indistinguishable from the $100 platinum coin minted currently. Hey, it doesn't cost any more to make it say ten trillion.
But saying that comes with consequences. I haven't heard anyone mention that the day after the US says that gold is $20,000 per ounce, that OPEC would say "oh, by the way, oil is now $800 per barrel".
This mindset, that people don't even know they have, is what comes from growing up in an environment of fantasy "money" produced by the government.
299 words for Brevity Quest 2024