On this date forty years ago, President Nixon closed the gold window. You can read reams of information about this and how after this date the US dollar was no longer backed by physical gold. In my opinion, just as I stated above, it is a day that will live in infamy.
As usual, the Agora Financial folks and their 5 Minute Forecast have nailed it. I’ll let them expound:
“In today’s 5, we celebrate the 40th birthday of the Great Dollar Standard era, initially by quoting (liberally) from our own Empire of Debt:
On Aug. 15, 1971, the administration of Richard Milhous Nixon did something extraordinary. It slammed the “gold window” shut. Henceforth, foreign governments would not be able redeem their surplus U.S. dollars for gold.
Mention the late president’s name and the average person recalls the crime with which he is most associated: B&E (breaking and entering) at the Watergate. But while the public’s attention was distracted by Nixon’s fumbling sidekicks, another team of Nixon’s goons was pulling off the biggest heist of all time.
What was their crime? Breach of contract? Theft? Fraud? Counterfeiting? It was all of those things. The breached the solemn promise of five generations of U.S. Treasury officials and set in motion the worldwide credit bubble of the pax dollarum age.”
I really could not agree more. I remember vividly that date, because when my Mom heard the news on the Monday following this Sunday night surprise, she stomped around the house like a wet hornet! I remember it well – even as a 9 year old at the time! How did my parents hedge their bets during that gold bull run that went another 8.5 years from this day of infamy? They invested in gold coins and numismatic silver, of course! How to play it today, 40 years later in this “pax dollarum age”? Again buy gold coins and numismatic silver from Lear Capital, of course!