From: trestrab@GVSU.EDU (BETH TRESTRAIL)
Date: Thu, 5 May 94 07:57:14 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re:The Value of Money
Message-ID: <9404057681.AA768160604@GVSU.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Robert Hettinga writes:

>  GRABOW_GEOFFREY@tandem.com asked:
>
>>Didn't Nixon take the U.S. off of the gold standard?
>>
>I believe Nixon made two changes.  First, he decoupled the dollar from
>the price of gold, thus making the dollar more explicitly a
>part of the floating exchange rate mechanism (or more so,
>anyway).  Second, he started making it legal for americans
>to own gold again, something FDR outlawed during the
>depression.

The US$ was devalued from $35 to $38 /oz gold and the Treasury stopped
redeeming dollars from anyone other than central banks in '69.
This created a two tier market. The US devalued again in '70 (0r '71)
to $45 /oz, and then threw in the towel and stopped backing the
currency with anything other than "the full faith and credit of the
US government" [:)].
US citizens were permitted to own gold bullion again as of Jan '75,
under Ford.

          Jeff
          trestrab@gvsu.edu