Once upon a time, the US Currency was linked to gold. But on August 15th, 1971, President Richard (I am not a crook) Nixon had the bright idea to close the gold window and take the US Currency off the Gold Standard, to which it had been linked since 1782. The rule was that we could only print up to four times the value of what was in our gold reserves.
By unlinking US Currency from Gold, Nixon effectively defaulted on our promise to foreign lenders to redeem dollars for gold. Now, we could simply print money whenever we felt like it. Need to pay for a new war? No problem, let's go down to the basement and print up some new trillion dollar bills and bomb the bejezus out of Iraq.
Some of our creditors aren't happy. "The Dollar cannot remain solely the problem of others," said Nicholas Sarkozy before a joint session of Congress in November, 2007. Nicky was referring to Nixon's Secretary of the Treasury, John Connally's remark that the Dollar was America 's currency "but your problem." Sarkozy said "monetary disarray could morph into economic war. We would all be its victims."
Did he have a Crystal Ball? Could Sarkozy, that Frenchman, have predicted this current economic meltdown that threatens our very large way of life? I mean, really, what happens when Governor Schwartzenegger cannot afford his Hummer, and has to actually take a fuel efficient car to work?
Whatever. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I'm stretched pretty thin at the moment. I have bills and sporadic income. Still, I have hope. Didn't Obama tell me to get hope? I did, I went to the store and got me some hope and took a tremendous leap of faith to work independently.
But if McCain pulls this election out of his ass and winds up in the White House, I'm going to sell my hope for gold.
thanks, Dcap
22 comments:
Oh that fucking Nixon...
Great post my Diva, great post.
And if John McCain ends up in the White House, we may need more than gold to help us.
You're gonna sock it to me?
I'm still trying to formulate my plans if McPOW gets in. I'm not a gun guy, so maybe I'll make some molotovs in the basement to toss as the thought police. That's kinda lefty, no?
I already warned my pal in France that she might have to put us up, heh.
Fran, if McCain gets in, we better all get "rapture ready."
Randal, my passport is ready. I love France. I'm willing to learn to speak French. Will that work?
I too love France and am working on my french. I hope she has room for all of us.
Hey we can all meet there then! France is my choice too! My friend is lending me his Rosetta Stone so I can relearn French (took French in H.S.).
But I think Obama may pull this one off. He won the first debate and Mooselini should really screw things up good in her debate.
Utah, I'm sure there's room at Randal's friend. If not, I can sleep in a sleeping bag.
Helen, from your mouth to the voting public's hands!
Everyone joining us is actually a good idea. My sometimes-better-half would probably assume I only picked that locale 'cause I'm trying to score. Parlez-vous français ? Non, j'étudie le français. Voyez, une pièce de gâteau.
As for what helen said, in a regular world I'd say she's right - seems that McFuck was especially jerky last night - but I remind you, my friends, this is America, land of the sorta free, home of the stupid. I'll believe it when I see the tall brother sworn in and the old cracker muttering to himself back in AZ.
I'm beyond stretched Jood!! But hell, wouldn't want to be a 'whiner'.
Gosh Darn, it's all gonna be OK cause Caribou Barbie and Suspension Ken have their umbrella all ready.
DivaJood, you rock, sister. You're soooo right. I went out and got some hope, too, not much, just enough to get me through to election day. If McCunt wins, we can trade in our hope for a ticket to Canada.
Crank up the money presses, guys! We can burn our cash to keep warm this winter. Unless Jood/Nunly win, that is, in which case: Our Ship Has Come In!
I don't think the problem is getting rid of the gold standard. That was a good idea.
The problems are huge deficits, deregulation, and corporate trade deals like NAFTA and the GATT agreement that created the WTO.
Ah Randal, if enough of us move to France, we can have a hippy French commune.
Dianne, I heard that Mooselini can hunt for all of us. She can field dress the meese, and feed us mice.
Katie, Canada, Paris, I don't much care. Someplace other than here. BTW, I have managed to avoid the Redondo Beach Lobster Fest all weekend so far.
Border, that's the ticket! We print our own cash! We can be rich, until someone figures it out.
Libhom, I've seen you around the interblogs, thanks for coming here! I don't know if dropping the gold standard was good or bad, I just know that it seems our dollar isn't worth the paper it was printed on. Sigh.
Canada might be sooner rather than later for us if this election gets close enough to steal and they do. The best thing I've read about McCranky's VP pick is Mad Dog Palin by Matt Taibbi. It's not only very funny but oh so true.
I forgot it was all Nixon's fault! There is a pattern emerging ... divorce the dollar from any independent measure, run up huge deficits, ramp up military agressiveness, artificially supress interest rates until inflation leaps sky-high, unemployment & homelessness soars .... yup, no one knows how to wreck the economy better than repubs. ps, I vote Australia because I am too old to learn French & I choose not to freeze in winter.
I like Cafferty's take.
Great post and links.
Susan, Matt Taibbi's piece gave me chills. And, a note is in the mail to you. I'm just floored by your gift.
DK, France, Australia, Canada - I don't care. I know Australia well, and have a ton of friends there, so we could have a good time.
Fran, Cafferty was smokin! Unbelievable.
Mathman, thank you!
New Zealand is supposed to be pretty great too. I do like the Australia idea, mostly because they have the COOLEST animals outside of Madagascar & Kenya. IMHO anyway. However, they also have the deadliest snakes.
diva
i have done a number of posts on monetary policy, the gold standard and how george bush basically fucked us big time with deficits
by goiing off gold -- a country's currency is basically worth the faith and trust of the government
bwahahahahahahaahhahaha
now we wonder why we are where we are
Helen, I can add New Zealand to the mix - all we have to do is print money in the basement.
Dcap, your posts on the monetary system are in-depth, brilliant, and make me look like the economic idiot I am. However, I know that linking the Wall Street Bailout to Health Care is absolute idiocy at a level even a natural blond like me can see.
Of course... if you ask a Republican, it was President Johnson's fault that Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard.
I blame the overabundance of edamame.
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