Stable exchange rates among the currencies I also see as good and necessary; it’s the stability that competition generates. You’re also right though, that adopting currencies of other national banks would be a terrible idea for exactly those reasons – unless they allow our currency in as well. Then both would have an incentive to keep their currency stable.

The problem now is that we don’t have stable currencies, and that’s the problem that competition fixes.

You can have a system where a single country has several different currencies that compete against each other but inevitably end up following all of the same waves in the economy because the public WILL demand low transaction costs between the various forms of money, making them virtually indistinguishable from each other aside from name and pictures (assuming they’re physical dollars).

Or you can allow a system where say the Euro is also accepted as a national currency along with the dollar. This sounds like a HORRIBLE idea because now decisions by the European Banks are more directly affecting the US. The various member nations in the EU are already discovering the issues associated with banks in Germany making decisions that affect Italy in an effort to help Spain or France. We wouldn’t even be a member. It’d be a disaster.

I can see it evening out the curve SLIGHTLY in the first system. However I don’t think it would be significant enough to overcome the negatives.

We could tie the currencies to different commodities (one to gold, one to silver, one to platinum) but that would face a whole OTHER world of possible disasters. There’s a reason we don’t operate under the gold standard anymore…

And yea, I entirely agree that the bundles of positions usually called nakedly “Liberal” and “Conservative” are pretty incoherent.

It’s explained very easily by a girl in high school who I told I was an independent. I told her I was far too moderate for any single party and she rolled her eyes and said, “you’re just a fence sitter, pick a side already!”

While not incredibely helpful in an academic sense, the terms are quite helpful for understanding the masses more informally.

Also I would say that the naked terms conservative and liberal SHOULD be useless terms, however people have a strong tendency to pigeon hole themselves.

How is it reasonable that there exists so many people that are fiscally conservative, anti-gay marriage, pro-gun rights, care less about the environment, think flag burning should be illegal, etc. etc.