4 ms·
The article omits an important fact: The public's gold was exchanged at $20.67 per troy ounce, but months later, the official price of gold was raised to $35.0
by bitcartel 14y ago
The article omits an important fact:
The public's gold was exchanged at $20.67 per troy ounce, but months later, the official price of gold was raised to $35.00 per troy ounce. Essentially, the public were not properly compensated for turning in their gold.
"In 1934, the government price of gold was increased to $35 per ounce, effectively increasing the gold on the Federal Reserve's balance sheets by 69 percent. This increase in assets allowed the Federal Reserve to further inflate the money supply."[1]
[1] http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-takes-united-states-off-gold-standard http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-takes-united-...
EDIT: The article also fails to mention that "violation of the order was punishable by fine up to $10,000 or up to ten years in prison, or both." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
- shardling 14y ago> Essentially, the public were not properly compensated for turning in their gold. I known pretty much nothing about economics or the history here, but I don't see how this follows. The value of the dollar (in terms of what it would buy aside from gold) didn't suddenly shift. Are you saying that the shift in the worth of gold would have happened even if the government hadn't moved off the gold standard? If so, how is it that the government "set" it? And if not, then how did folk lose anything?