Is the US Dollar a commodity money?

["James R. Olson, jr." <jhavok@xxxxxxxx>]

At 11:34 AM 6/6/98 -0500, Paul Davidson wrote:
>
>Thus it is not difficult to explain that although taxes are a small
>percentage of income (the usual basis for most government sponsored taxes
>-- rather than a head tax), in a society where legal contracts are used to
>organize almost ALL production and exchange activities, private agents --
>even those who do not pay taxes to the government -- e.g., Saudi sheiks,
>are willing to accept US llegal tender money AND US bank money for the sale
>of oil to anyone --  and since the US government does not own any
>refineries as far as I know -- Saudi sheiks never sells crude oil to the US
>government to earn dollars to pay US taxes!!

Is it possible that the dollar is a commodity money valued in barrels of
oil?

Remember the inflationary effects of the Oil Crisis, and consider the
possible effects of another successful effort to raise oil prices.  Or
consider the possible effects of the Saudis deciding to take yen instead of
dollars.

How would you distinguish the current situation from one where the dollar
actually was a commodity money with a variable peg to oil?