From your comment:<p><i>This represents a problem: if the total amount of currency available for use in transactions does not maintain rough parity with the total amount of goods and services available to be exchanged in those transactions, then the imbalance will lead to wild price fluctuations.</i><p>I strongly recommend reading "What Has Government Done to Our Money?" by Murray N. Rothbard (<a href="http://mises.org/money.asp" rel="nofollow">http://mises.org/money.asp</a>). It's short---easily read in one sitting. It's also lucid---easily <i>understood</i> in one sitting. You are clearly smart enough to get it, and you obviously care. Reserve the right to change your mind---you just might surprise yourself.