Do you think our money is backed by gold or silver reserves?

Answer 1

NO! US saving bonds & our military might plus once a leader in advance technology! all these factors are being challenge by other countries currently! We have silver & gold reserves but not equal to what is in circulation or way shy of what is in print & unaccounted for. FDR change that long ago.

Answer 2

No - the paper money says "Federal Reserve Note".
The old "Gold certificates" & "Silver Certificates" were made illegal.
I think even the coins stopped containing silver in 1964. I think the reason was that the price of silver was higher which made a quarter melted down worth more than $0.25.
The same thing happened to the pennies were each penny had more than 1 cent worth of copper in a penny.

Answer 3

There's not enough gold and silver in the world to back all the U.S. currency floating around. It's all based on the good faith of the U.S. government - which, by the way, is not worth much these days. Our paper money is nothing more than I.O.U.s - and someday (probably within the next generation or two), that money will be worthless, our economy will collapse, and China will take over as the #1 economic, military and cultural superpower on the planet. -RKO- 04/18/07

Answer 4

Officially our money is backed only by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, i.e. fiat money.

And that would be the correct answer on an econ 101 test.

But the masters degree ansswer is a bit different and could be considered contradictory.

By law, every dollar issued by the Federal Reserve must be collaterilized, i.e. exchanged for something of value.

The usual way for that to occur is for the Fed to buy T-Bills on the open market. Currently they hold $781B in T-bills.

But there is $849B in currency issued. Which means there is roughly $70B backed by something else.

And a look at the Fed balance sheet (ref: http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/ ) shows us what else backs U.S. currency. And this includes:

$11B in gold stock
$38B in "Treasury currency" (i.e. metal coins)

So you may be able to win a bar bet from someone who says there is no gold backing whatsoever to our currency.

Answer 5

It is estimated that in the history of man, that 110,000 tonnes of gold have been mined.

At todays price of gold ( $688.00 per ounce )

Thats only 2.6 trillion dollars worth of gold mined in human history.

There is actually less silver than that mined.

With the American economy being around 13 trillion annually.

There is just no way we could go back to being on the gold standard.

Answer 6

Of course not. WE were taken off the gold standard decades ago.

Answer 7

Not anymore.... it was decades ago.

It is now just backed by the good word and security of the US Government.

Answer 8

Neither. They changed that years ago. Right now they just print money when they need it.

Answer 9

Not anymore!

Answer 10

no not any more