[April 5 is the 90th Anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order banning private ownership of gold. In this selection from Part III of America’s Money Machine: The Story of the Federal Reserve, economist Elgin Groseclose shows how FDR’s executive order was part of a larger effort to deliberately debase the dollar, drive up prices, nationalize gold markets, and default on gold-based bonds.

[This piece is an excerpt from The Great Reset and the Struggle for Liberty.]

Since the Trump administration launched their trade war with China in 2018, “Trump tariffs” have continued to harm not only our international relationships but also the US economy and the pocketbooks of US consumers. Now as global relations with China intensify and we face a national economic downturn, it’s time for the United States to embrace a more cooperative approach to foreign trade and allow free markets to provide a remedy to our economic woes.

As evidenced by a number of recent policy changes in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil, the status of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency is under coordinated attack. Efforts to dethrone the dollar, however, will require time and luck in favor of antidollar forces. For now, however, the US dollar is the most preferred currency for foreign reserves and for settling international transactions.

A Nation So Conceived: Abraham Lincoln and the Paradox of Democratic Sovereignty
by Michael P. Zuckert
University Press of Kansas, 2023; 416 pp.

As America faces the twin threats of inflation and bank failures, three U.S. congressmen introduced a pivotal sound money bill that would enable the Federal Reserve note “dollar” to regain stable footing for the first time in more than half a century.