In the video below (HT2LRC), Ron Paul asks Fed Chairman Bernanke whether there are any plans to replace the "dead fiat dollar system" with one based on gold. Now I realize a lot of his fans may have seemed silly in their over-the-top enthusiasm during the primary; I understand why habitual smirkers were amused. But c'mon folks, can you even believe that there is a Congressman who talks like this to the Fed chair?! This is awesome.

Now what is really interesting is that Bernanke says that he and other central bankers never even discuss the possibility of switching over to gold in the case of a collapse in the fiat system, even though (as Paul claimed) central banks right now own some 15% of the world's stockpile of gold. (I guess they plan on doing a lot of tooth fillings.) So I don't know whether to think Bernanke is lying or just incredibly incompetent. I mean, doesn't the US military have contingency plans to take over France, just in case? So you're telling me the Federal Reserve, with its legions of economists, doesn't even think about what to do if, say, China decided to dump its dollar holdings and that caused a global run?