Restoration Roundtable


America's Crumbling Foundation And The People Who Might Fix It

A golden adventure (in currency)

By Catherine Hollander  //  April 27, 2012 | 4:23 p.m.
A little Friday fun here, courtesy of Reuters' Felix Salmon, that attempts to answer the question of whether gold is a currency in the United States: 

Salmon attempts to spend a gram of gold in New York City. Initial attempts to purchase beer and a toy are rebuffed ("If I change it with you... I'm fired!") and ("That's a Guest Services question"), but he eventually succeeds at a small business selling... lobster rolls. Salmon gets three for his gold. 

"The most surprising people turn out to know how much a gram of gold is worth, with an astonishing level of accuracy," Salmon writes of his experience.  

But, he concludes, "Gold is not a currency. I'm reasonably sure that Andrew, the guy behind the counter at Snack Box, would not have accepted my gram of gold unless his boss was telling him too." 

Still, a fun experiment, especially as the debate over gold rears its head from time to time. Just ask Ron Paul how he feels about it (see 4:59 here). 


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About Restoration Calls

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his first inaugural address, told a country struggling under the weight of the Great Depression that the nation needed to take action to rebuild and rejuvenate itself. He said: "Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now." It was a time not unlike our own, where misbehavior on Wall Street fed a widespread credit and confidence crisis that swept like a tornado through the U.S. and global economy. And as in 1933, Washington again faces the time-sensitive task of diagnosing how its institutions are ill-equipped to fix the nation's problems, and then building a new system responsive to America's new needs. This project will tell that story, through the eyes of the Americans affected.

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