Gold Standard Restoration Act

When I authored the Metaculus question about the Gold Standard Restoration Act, I was mocked! The community remains adamant that there is no possible way that the US government would ever be so foolish as to attempt to return to the Gold Standard. In their view, nothing would destroy the US economy faster.

My counterargument is that it is my job, as a futurist, to examine wildly improbable events and present them in context with events that are more likely to happen.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that history is best understood as a series of “Black Swan” events, rather than merely a gradual continuation of existing trends. Therefore, it is incumbent on us to at least consider the possibility (no matter how small) of the Gold Standard Restoration Act.

Did you know about this legislation proposed in 2023 by Representative Alexander Mooney?

If we accept that the Gold Standard Restoration Act is highly unlikely to ever pass, can we nevertheless imagine the extreme conditions that might motivate such a policy?

Read on to find out!