Putting the World on a Paper Standard
Half a century ago one of the most disastrous monetary policy decisions in US history was committed by Richard Nixon. In a television address, the president declared that the nation would no longer redeem internationally dollars for gold. Since the dollar was the world’s reserve currency, Nixon’s closing of the “Gold Window” put the world on an irredeemable paper monetary standard.
Richard Nixon during his televised speech on the “temporary” closing of the gold window (effectively a debt default). [PT]
The ramifications of the act reverberate to this very day. America’s current financial mess, budget deficits, the reoccurring booms and busts, the decline of living standards (particularly the middle class), all have their genesis with Nixon’s infamous decision in August, 1971.
Culmination of a Long-Term Plan
Abandoning the last vestiges of the gold standard was the culmination of a long-term plan of the banksters, politicians, financial elites, and deceitful economists. The first step was the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913 whose primary purpose was to allow its member banks to inflate the money supply without fearing the consequences – bank failures/panics, bank runs, recessions/depressions. The Fed could, and still does, through the control of the money supply enrich itself, the government, and its aligned financial elites at the expense of the public at large.
Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act in late 1913 – conveniently just half a year before WW1 breaks out.. [PT]
The next step on the road to monetary debasement was Franklin Roosevelt’s draconian measure of outlawing the private ownership of gold. This was not only an unprecedented and outrageous attack on private property, but it also eliminated gold redemption of dollars domestically, which gave the Fed unlimited power to print money without fear of its notes being redeemed.
FDR’s decree outlawing private gold ownership in the US. [PT]
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