Originally published at: 1971: The year they broke money | Boing Boing
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I didn’t realize I’d clicked over to Infowars
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Video: They broke money!
Video Sponsor: Buy Bitcoin!
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For oldsters like me who are uncomfortable extracting knowledge from youtube, there’s this: Bretton Woods system - Wikipedia
I’d like to see a more concise listing of the pros & cons though…
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If reverently quoting the fascist Peter Thiel isn’t enough to put you off, the shilling for cryptocurrency will do it.
There’s a discussion to be had about the end of Bretton Woods and how it is correlated with the decline in real wages in America, but this ain’t it.
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Oh, great, a goldbug infestation. Someone get the DDT.
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Stopped watching after the first few minutes as I saw no discussion of the unsustainable US economic hegemony post WW2, the determined breaking of unions, and most importantly- the restructuring of taxes so the very wealthy pay nothing. Add in the breaking of social security, pensions and the hedge fundification of the economy while we’re at it.
There’s a very simple way to drive down inflation while lowering unemployment- raise taxes. On the rich, preferably.
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This is libertarian propaganda nonsense. Come on, @DevinNealy. The gold standard is a terrible idea and getting off it was the best thing every country did for their economy. Having a pointless artificial limit on the size of your trade volume is stupid beyond description and no economist thinks it’s a good idea. Inflation is not “slavery” and that’s a downright insulting analogy. It’s a tool that central banking has to minimize crashes and other calamities. People who think the system is bad have no knowledge of the history of the US economy. The entire 19th century was crashes and collapses and recessions of various kinds because of the gold standard and a lack of central banking.
This video is conspiracy theory nonsense and doesn’t belong on BB.
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Isn’t it obvious that if you’re concerned about inflation you’ll want to support “asset” classes that contribute less to inflation? The price of crypto has been incredibly stable.
Hmm…maybe it has if you include the thousands of crypto currencies that went belly up - dissolving value like a penny in acid.
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I’m not interested in the video (they lost me at “fiat currency”), but the use of the famous abolitionist image of an enslaved African is grossly offensive.
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They’re fine with inflation of an asset class’s value* as long as they’re already hodling (sic) a significant amount of it.
[* in fiat currency, mind you]
The whole post is an example of “you should know better than that”.
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The usual suspects.
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Inflation was insane in the early 1940s when the government took over the economy to win World War II. Inflation was considered a serious problem in the 1960s. Getting off the gold standard in 1971 was a good thing. It was high time to stop worshiping a fetish metal. It wasn’t the first time the US went off the gold standard either. That was the whole point of FDR’s manipulation of the gold price that made it possible to ameliorate the Great Depression.
The gap between the haves and the have-nots widened in the 1970s when the federal government stopped intervening in union busting and started cutting taxes. The Confederate right-to-starve-amid-plenty states took over manufacturing with help from the interstate highways. In the 1980s, union busting was the rule starting with Reagan breaking the first union to support his election. Then came the massive tax cuts and the shareholder value ideology that freed government chartered collectives to prey on Americans.
The gold standard had little to do with it. People don’t understand that with fractional reserve banking an ounce of gold can create any amount of money. Under 1930s rules, an ounce of gold could create $500K, but once the FDIC was in, the sky was the limit.
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I try not to post in the comments, but it seems the post I’ve written has offended people. I hear your concerns, and I will not post anything like this in the future, insha’Allah. I just found the video interesting and thought I would share. It wasn’t my intent to push a political perspective or agenda. I can own up to dropping the ball.
My bad, guys. I won’t post anything like this again. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday season.
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Thanks. We all make errors. I would respectfully suggest either pulling the original video from the front-page post (garbage like that doesn’t deserve Boing Boing traffic) and finding a more reputable source, deleting the entire FPP, or appending your comment to it. I can also close this comment topic if you’d like.
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I’ll give the editors a shout.
Thanks for the feedback. My main goal as a contributor on this site is to create posts that you guys enjoy and provide value. Discourse like this only gives me a greater understanding of how to do that.
You can leave the comments up. I’m all for people voicing their opinion. If I write something that stinks, let me know. Feedback is how we learn and grow.
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Thanks Devin…
I think one of the best channels out there for a solid analysis of the economy and how we got here is probably Robert Reich’s stuff on Inequality Media. He really knows his stuff…
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I appreciate your doing so here, but I also encourage you to do so at other times where it seems you could respond in a good way, including a fun way.
A great thing about BB is that most of the posters engage occasionally with us nuts in the peanut gallery.
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I dig that idea.
I’m gonna take you up on that offer. I’ve been a fan of BB for YEARS, and this is the first time I’ve ever considered commenting. Lol
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