Why was the gold-backing of $USD discontinued during the Nixon presidency?
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It was way too expensive. The problem with a gold backed currency is that you need a huge amount of gold. That means some place to store it. The Willy Horton rule says that place is now super desirable to rob, so you have to spend a lot of money guarding it. All this cost, all this work, and 0 return – it’s just not a good thing to do.
Oh yes, and gold is actually valuable, for electrical circuits and jewelry and other decorative items. Having the government horde it means that there is less for the industries that need gold to make their products.
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