Just finished a book about early 19th century economics, and I totally get why having currency tied to precious metals is a hinderance, but why do we keep the gold around?
Speaking kinda out of turn, but we keep it as a cautionary measure in case we need capital for anything. Plus, no one is sure if the gold is in there anymore l, since there hasn't been an audit on the vaults since the mid 70s. Edit- It is used to hedge gold prices and can be used in cases of emergency to offer capital for loans. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bullion_Depository