Posted on 09/01/2021 9:15:35 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Fifty years ago this August, United States President Richard Nixon went on TV right before Bonanza, a popular western series starring Canadian Lorne Greene, and shocked the world.
Nixon unhitched the U.S. dollar from the value of gold. The move changed the global monetary system almost overnight. The eventual result was the floating international exchange rates we still use today.
(Excerpt) Read more at financialpost.com ...
And today the dollar is worth less.
Thanks Dick
What choice did he have? As a practical matter. The die was cast long before he became president.
He did say it was “Temporary”. Ha!
Results don’t lie. Thanks for helping accelerate America’s decline, Dick.
“What choice did he have?”
There’s always a choice. Nixon could have been a leader and said “American will preserve a true and stable currency, even if that means our economy must suffer in the short term.” But politicians don’t usually make the hard choices for long term benefits that people won’t appreciate until they are out of office.
At this point, China will probably put the world on a Lithium standard after they corner all rare earth deposits!
He literally sealed the entire civilized world’s fate. All they can do is come up with ever more creative ways to kick the can further down the road. But each time it does less and eventually they will hit the end of the road.
When that happens I hope your canning skills are sharp.
dipshit went to china too
RN was not afraid of bold decisions. He screwed up with wage and price controls, however. His winding down of Vietnam involvement was artful. We had to get out without causing unnecessary political reaction.
President Nixon: The Man Who Sold the World Fiat Money
By Ron Rimkus, CFA Institute
https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2013/03/13/president-nixon-the-man-who-sold-the-world-fiat-money/On 15 August 1971, President Nixon announced to the world that the United States was closing the gold window in a move known as the Nixon Shock. You can watch it here:
The Nixon Shock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcnhF09QN78
Wow. Heady stuff. The American dollar was a “hostage in the hands of international speculators“? Hmmm . . . let's get back to that. Note the sense of urgency he is creating with his language. “We will press for the necessary reforms to set up an urgently needed new international monetary system.” He then goes on to declare, “I am taking one further step to protect the dollar, to improve our balance of payments, and to increase jobs for America.” So, Tricky Dick (as he was known in politics) presented himself as a protector of the dollar, a warrior against inflation, and a jobs creator. That was his sales pitch. In reality, Nixon was doing the exact opposite, and, according to an analysis by Burton A. Abrams and James L. Butkiewicz of the University of Delaware, Nixon knew it. Thanks to the Nixon Tapes from the White House, we have a looking glass that gives great insight into Nixon's true thoughts and feelings — and how they differ markedly from what he said publicly.
For instance, despite calling himself a Keynesian, he was also a monetarist — at least to the extent he thought it might help him get elected in 1972. He believed that easy monetary policy could reduce unemployment in the short run and knew that presidents have a hard time getting reelected when unemployment is high. On 26 July 1971, Nixon was captured on tape stating, “I've never seen anybody beaten on inflation in the United States. I've seen many people beaten on unemployment.” When Nixon took office, unemployment was only 3.4%, but after the recession in 1969–1970, unemployment rose to 6%, where it remained. Given that Nixon had publicly stated that he would improve employment, he was committed to getting the number down by election time. Even the great Milton Friedman, who is on tape urging caution to the president over his desire for easy money, couldn't persuade him. The tapes further reveal that Nixon arranged credible threats to the then-Fed Chairman Arthur Burns’ power as head of the Federal Reserve, including: adverse leaks about Burns to the public; the appointment of easy-money, pro-Nixon doves to the Fed board; and threats of Burns not being reappointed at the end of his term.
Well no, this is the point. He didn’t have any choice. Congress spends, all those outlays and appropriations weren’t going away. The presidency is a powerful position, but had he somehow been able to get around that, the fact was that foreign central banks were redeeming their dollars for gold and that was not going go stop.
Nixon was not my favorite president, not by a long shot. But it is foolish to single him out, it was only a matter of time.
FDR actually outlawed gold for Americans, and also confiscated several thousand tons of gold coinage. Also notably though less well known they defaulted on government gold bonds, and forbade gold clause contracts which were common for real estate lease agreements. Technically speaking the US was actually on a silver standard, the dollar being defined as a specific quantity of silver. The point though, Nixon simply formally severed the last remaining vestige to any objective standard or defined unit of account.
It will end badly, as it always does. Like what we’re witnessing now. None of the Bizarro World idiocy would have ever been possible without the confetti-buck phony balogna currency being spewed far and wide. Like a dog returning to his vomit...
You know when you say it was just a matter of time, Nixon should have had the balls to say “not on my clock!”
Lithium is not rare, neither are rare earth minerals. They are abundant on Earth and everywhere. Mining them is difficult and environmentally a problem. We had an abundance of mining in Southern California supplying the world before environmentalists shut it down.
Gold and other precious metals are a better bet to prop up currency.
Ping
What happened to Jackson?
Don’t know, but my guess is that under the current circumstances, JFK is a better fit for the $20.
Specifically, JFK’s intention to tear the CIA into a 1000 pieces into the wind (or words to that effect).
And, JFK’s intention to wrest back sovereign control of the financial system.
BOTH, IMHO, playing into his murder.
..... And the forreign central banks would have drained the remaining gold from Ft. Knox.
I’m not smart enough to know exactly what “should” have been done necessarily, but there’s no use in blaming Nixon.
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