Great essay.

Was it ever truly a “gold standard” though? (apart from nerd “technically/achtuwally”). A gold peg for price anchor, yeah, but was not the claim on gold bullion always over-subscribed? And the government scorepoint was still fiat. If anyone came in hoards to claim the gold they’d drop the peg, just like Nixon. Not just because they’d want to, but because they’d have to, thus revealing the farce.

It (sate currency) has thus has really always been a labour standard, which is the correct way to interpret Marx (and not worry about Marx’s flawed conception of the “gold commodity form”). Just imho. A labour standard but with artificially imposed austerity to keep the plebs in line (literally too, in the unemployment queue).