Far too many people in the world stake their future and indeed the future of their families on the illusion known as paper or fiat currency which is popularly known as legal tender . Paper money , which isn ’ t backed or under-girded by anything , is nothing but an accident waiting to happen . There was a time when printed paper money was backed by Gold and it was called the Gold standard . For every $ dollar of printed money that was in circulation there was a $ dollar ’ s worth of Gold set aside to guarantee it .
The American government gradually removed the $ dollar from the Gold standard until they abolished it completely . Today the $ dollar is not backed by anything , and with America ’ s debt situation spiralling out of control with debt figures approaching £ 20 Trillion $ dollar ’ s , it is only a matter of time before the dollar crashes completely .
The only reason why the dollar has not collapsed is because it is still the currency of international trade , but even that has not shielded it from the economic quagmire of devaluation and diminishing buying power which as clearly demonstrated in the table below .
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Table showing the devaluation of the American dollar over a 100 year period