Free Republic

Over the past century, monetary systems change about every 30–40 years on average. Before 1914, the global monetary system was based on the classical gold standard. Then in 1944, a new monetary system emerged at Bretton Woods. Under that system, the dollar became the global reserve currency, linked to gold at $35 per ounce. In 1971 Nixon ended the direct convertibility of the dollar to gold. For the first time, the monetary system had no gold backing. Today, the existing monetary system is over 50 years old, so the world is long overdue for a change. I’ve written for years...

May 18, 2010 Colleague Says Blumenthal Claims Grew Gradually By MICHAEL BARBARO and DAVID M. HALBFINGER Former Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut found it puzzling: over time, his friend Attorney General Richard Blumenthal kept revising how he talked about his military service during the Vietnam War. At first, in the 1980s, he was humble. He played it down, Mr. Shays recalled, characterizing it as humdrum desk work. Over the last few years, however, more sweeping claims crept into Mr. Blumenthal’s descriptions, he said: that Mr. Blumenthal had served in Vietnam and had felt the sting of an ungrateful nation as...