What is your dollar worth?
Prescient question, no? Have you ever actually wondered what the worth of our money really is? At one point, not so long ago (about 200 years) a dollar used to be worth it's weight in gold - literally - about 17g of gold or between 371 and 416 grains of silver. We of course don't use dollars, we use Federal Reserve Notes and if you don't believe me then pull out a "dollar" from your pocket and examine the text on top. Yes, it also mentions the world dollar, but only because the Federal Reserve deemed it so - and the once equivalent 17g of gold is long gone. Although it is no longer backed by precious metal it is backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government, a hefty promise indeed. In more simple terms, it simply means that the Federal Reserve Notes are backed by you and other American's ability to produce and pay taxes. The problem arises when the full faith and credit of an institution is in question and regrettably the time has come.