"If a country had gold but no food, what would you do? I remember a long time ago when I was four years old and my father asked me this, to which I replied that I would trade gold for food. It seems like a simple question, trading money for sustenance but is actually a more complex question as I understood it. The whole thought process written out in text form behind the question is as follows: If you were in charge of a country that had gold, but for some reason, drought or other, did not have enough food during a harvesting season, would you trade gold bars from the treasury for food from another country, while keeping in mind that if you do so, then you would be able to print less money, because a country can print only as much money as the amount of gold [bars] in its treasury without causing inflation at any given time. I guess it would make the country poorer but would feed the country when it doesn't have enough food, so I said that I would trade. He passed away recently but would probably like to be remembered through this question and my reply to it. I guess this explains a bit about Europe, in a way. You see, in Europe we speak very little, or write very little, but discuss multitudes through our speech and writing. And besides, if another country were to trade food, past its surplus, it would need an incentive to do so, because food would be more expensive in that country temporarily due to there being less of it during a season."