2006-10-25 09:12:17 · 9 answers · asked by MizTeri47 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
The total value of the US economy is about 1,000 times as much as all the money in the world. Put anther way there is not enough gold in the entire world to pay for the dollar value of the US.
As a second part it was to avoid people hording gold needlessly driving up the price of gold.
2006-10-25 09:16:46 · answer #1 · answered by my_iq_135 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We didn't go off the gold standard until the early 1970s, and it was Nixon not FDR who did that. It just made more sense for the U.S. economy to back the dollar rather than a commodity whose value fluctuated across the globe.
2006-10-25 17:04:21 · answer #2 · answered by Overt Operative 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm pretty sure it was Nixon who took the Dollar off the gold standard, not FDR
2006-10-25 16:24:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He didn't. All he did was to make it illegal for American citizens to own gold. He forced them to turn in their gold, which he paid for in Federal Reserve Notes at the rate of $28 per ounce. Then, he declared that gold would be valued at $32 an ounce. So what he did was to perpetrate a rip-off of American citizens, by devaluing their money by about 15%
It was Nixon who took the dollar off the gold standard. He did it because the US was printing more money than it had gold. So foreign countries started cashing in their dollars, taking our gold at a rate of $32 per ounce. Tons of gold started flowing out of the country. So Nixon said, "Hey, guys, tough luck. I'm not exchanging the dollar for gold, any more."
So, in effect, what Nixon did was declare the USA to be bankrupt. If we hadn't simultaneously forced/bribed the Arab oil-producing countries to only accept US dollars in exchange for their oil, nobody would want dollars, at all. The dollar, which has fallen in value by 90%, since the 20s, would be absolutely worthless.
2006-10-29 11:06:09 · answer #4 · answered by Larry Powers 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Simple. We did not have enough gold to cover the amount of currency we had printed. If another country had called for gold to cover the cash they had we would have been in deep trouble. With the country in a depression, that was a very possible event.
2006-10-25 16:16:51 · answer #5 · answered by Ranger473 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly , J,F,K, was the one who took us off of the gold standard, remember when our paper money was backed by gold or silver J,F,K, put us on the federal reserve note, and fort Knox was stripped of most of its gold,
2006-10-25 16:26:47 · answer #6 · answered by jim ex marine offi, 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We didn't have enough gold? I'm not sure, it may have even had something to do with the value of gold possibly going down suddenly, and that would plunge our economy. Then again, it would have almost surely slowed down inflation.
2006-10-25 16:15:24 · answer #7 · answered by sethle99 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gold is more valuable as a commodity.. the value in those years was $32.00 an ounce. Fixed!
2006-10-25 16:20:24 · answer #8 · answered by mrcricket1932 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe it had something to do with the federal reserve causing the great depression.
2006-10-25 16:15:32 · answer #9 · answered by stephaniemariewalksonwater 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋