I think the worlds oldest profession has offered a case study in this speculation for quite some time. It's been answered via so much history and through civilizations that it should be a law. Something like the Perverts law.<p>The Romans went as far has having sex, act like the gold standard on the Spintria. With all the recent talk about the gold standard, maybe the Romans had it right, all the flexibility of a fiat currency with a tangible asset that most any man would see in a matter of seconds, there where probably not many who question the value of those coins, anyone who saw what they could get would immediately value the coin in their mind. Further because it was based on an act, it was not as constrained by physical resources. Maybe we should back the dollar in the same way, we may see a quick repatriation of the dollar and a sharp drop in oil prices.