When Mr. Duncan wrote: “Dollars backed by gold, limit the amount of dollars printed to the amount of gold held in reserve. This is why Richard Nixon took the U.S. off the Gold standard …” This statement is not true.
Until Nixon acted, foreign governments could redeem their greenbacks in gold although Americans could not. Our government paid out gold at $35 per ounce. Foreign governments would then take the gold and sell it on the open market for prices ranging from $65 an ounce to over $100. These governments could then take these greenbacks and do the same thing all over again. It was quite lucrative. Nixon stopped this practice, thank goodness.
Charles Moton
Lucerne
Originally Published:
