Between 1792 and 1912, the United States saw inflation at an average rate of 0%

[Martinus]

Well, socialism means social ownership and control of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy.

I would say that the definition is social ownership OR control/regulation, not AND control/regulation.

And therein lies the critical difference between socialism that gets people all bonkers, and socialism that every western country engages in as a matter of course, and yet people still pretend like it doesn't happen.

I think definition uses the term control in the sense of "ability to direct" and not in the sense of "ability to supervise", though.

[Razgovory]

I'm not sure what the point is.  Small amounts of inflation is a good thing.

[Valmy]

I don't understand.  Between 1792 and 1912, the US inflation rate is 0%.  So what?  I am quite sure the US economy in 1912 is much better compared with 1792.  What is the point?

Gold standard was awesome and Federal Reserve sucks I guess.

The Gold Standard was introduced as a reaction to the Panic of 1873.

[The Brain]

Sweden's economy went to hell a few years after implementing Socialism, and emergency reforms in the early 90s were necessary to save the country.

[The Minsky Moment]

Here are the average annual growth rates of the US economy, on a decade by decade basis, during 1870-2000, ordered from the lowest to the highest:

(1) Average Growth Rate 1921–1930: 1.27%
(2) Average Growth Rate 1911–1920: 1.28%

These two decades being the lowest seem very counter intuitive to me.

Because the last year in the sequence happens to be a very recessionary year.  Classic example of how choice of endpoint can bias results.

[The Minsky Moment]

Notice the wild swings in inflation/deflation given in Ti'm's link. There was a deflationary trend in the 19th century interrupted by gold rushes that increased the money supply. Without the gold rushes there would have been stagnation.

This is the key point
A gold standard (or any commodity money) should give close to zero inflation over a long period, but short term instability can be a problem.

[The Minsky Moment]

Also good point from Yi - the banking system matters too.  From the Jacksonian era to Civil War, the US was on an effective gold standard in theory; however there was freedom of note issuing banks.  Thus the currency was not stable despite the theoretical commodity peg.

[Razgovory]

Picketty, right or wrong, is the big idol of the European left because he gives -at the very least- an excuse of thinking that the radical left was actually right, and the socialist experience failed not because it is inherently wrong, but because it was not done right.

It is rather hard to disprove an experiment about lightning by making a conclusion about pond scum, so he's not wrong that you can't conclude socialism failed given our examples of it.  Though humans are hierarchical by nature and not communal, so it is handwaving away the obvious problem that "successful" socialism is unnatural and so virtually impossible to implement.

The blatant racism/arrogance inherent in the "socialism can work if done by the right people" just adds to the enjoyment, BTW.

I've heard it from many conservatives in this country on this board as to why we can't have socialism in the US.  It boils down to "we have black people here".

[MadImmortalMan]

I've heard it from many conservatives in this country on this board as to why we can't have socialism in the US.  It boils down to "we have black people here".

You seem to talk to a lot of terrible people. Either Missouri is full of them, or you should find better friends. 

[Admiral Yi]

The Gold Standard was introduced as a reaction to the Panic of 1873.

You sure about this?  I thought the dollar was fixed to gold from the beginning.

[Valmy]

The Gold Standard was introduced as a reaction to the Panic of 1873.

You sure about this?  I thought the dollar was fixed to gold from the beginning.

No it was bi-metal prior to that.

[The Minsky Moment]

Bimettalism is inherently unstable - unless the mint ratio very carefully tracks fundamental values of the metals, then the cheaper metal tends to dominate via Gresham's Law.  In the antebellum period, changes in the mint ratio and gold strikes out west tended to keep gold relatively cheap so there was a de facto gold standard.

[Admiral Yi]

How did it work?  Was a paper dollar convertible for a fixed quantity of silver or gold, and the holder could choose the one he wanted?

[The Minsky Moment]

How did it work?  Was a paper dollar convertible for a fixed quantity of silver or gold, and the holder could choose the one he wanted?

I'm not entirely sure how redemptions worked, but I assume it was always possible for a bank to satisfy its redemption obligation with coins.  Which would effectively mean bank's choice.

[MadImmortalMan]

So there would have been a dollar-gold-silver carry trade. 

I'm for any currency system I know how to manipulate, and that one sounds awesome.