I referred to gold in the 1933 Executive Order because world trade was then, and until Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, a world standard for trade. Hence

I referred to gold in the 1933 Executive Order because world trade was then, and until Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, a world standard for trade. Hence FDR's action having measurable effects of all sorts (and I'll add that the major virtue of something like a gold standard is that it makes it obvious when the government decides to start cheating the people). As for where I got my specific figures, the notorious "Rand Paul/Zero Hedge" site known as Wikipedia, a link to which I included, specifically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 for prices (and this matches my memory from other, independent sources, including the history that got brought up when Ford signed a bill in 1974 allowing us to again own gold): Executive Order 6102 required all persons to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, all but a small amount of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve, in exchange for $20.67 (equivalent to $376.58 today[4]) per troy ounce.... [ Exemptions. ] The price of gold from the Treasury for international transactions was thereafter raised to $35 an ounce ($587 in 2010 dollars). The resulting profit that the government realized funded the Exchange Stabilization Fund established by the Gold Reserve Act in 1934. Click through the latter link for the value I then plugged into http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm to get 2015 dollars.