Mises Wire

In a “post-totalitarian” period, power does not simply originate from a singular dictator, but rather conscripts the population into its very structure.

Nixon’s closing the gold window should be seen as the end of the last remnant of the gold standard, not some kind of market failure. Governments controlled most of the gold and set its price.

It's not just the civilian politicians. For twenty years, the military itself pressed for more war, endlessly claiming that victory was right around the corner. 

Most Egyptians have lived their whole lives in a country where the government heavily subsidizes bread prices. But now the deeply indebted Egyptian state faces some tough choices, and Egypt's poor may suffer the most.  

On Friday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a link to Rothbard's essay "Anatomy of the State."

“We crossed the Rubicon in 2008. We crossed a different Rubicon in 2020. And we're never going back. And so, recessions are not allowed." The money mandarins will do everything they can to prop up asset values. Forever.

In 1971, David Rockefeller favored a “new international monetary system with greater flexibility” and “less reliance on gold.” Seeing an opportunity to expand his own power, Richard Nixon enthusiastically embraced the scheme. 

Modern economies produce a seemingly endless supply of goods. But without the "subsistence fund," built on saving and investment, the mountain of goods we take for granted would be impossible. 

In 1971, Nixon used a fiscal crisis to justify severing the dollar's last connection to gold. It was the same old story: "we must vastly expand government power because of a 'crisis.'" The government never gives up these new powers. 

Nixon's decision to end the gold redeemability of the greenback was probably the most comprehensive act of monetary expropriation of modern times.