From The Rude Awakening Newsletter (Wednesday, October 20, 2004): The IMF was conceived in July 1944 at an international conference held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. John Maynard Keynes and Harry White, according to the exhibition in the IMF’s main foyer, envisioned the IMF “helping each county set a fixed but changeable exchange rate for it currency BASED ON GOLD.” After WWII, the U.S. already held most of the world’s money in the form of dollars and gold reserves. But by 1947, the U.S. had accumulated 70% of the world’s gold reserves. Today, the U.S. Gold Reserve is just over 8,000 tons - which is less than a quarter of the world’s official reserves. It is worth about $100 billion, or 1.5% of the U.S. national debt.
The U.S., the IMF and Gold
