Any ideas as to what would/should happen to the gold held by the FRB if the Fed was ever abolished?
Say we went back to a gold backed currency.
I have read arguments using this as a reason why we shouldn't go back to a gold standard. Not sure why though.
Bernanke said that they have been selling gold. They probably won't have any left before long.
Inflation can occur without a central bank, but only a central bank can inflate to such a catastrophic extent as the Federal Reserve and other worldwide central banks. Inflation can occur in free banking, but banks are constrained to a severe extent in their ability to inflate. Inflation can occur via coin debasement, but obviously in a fiat money system that is a moot point.
Only a 100% reserve banking system with commodity currency and a prohibition on debasement would be inflation resistant.
But anything would be better than central banking.