us stopped backing dollar with gold in 1933.
when did us stop backing dollar with gold?
1933
in the bretton woods system put in place in 1944, us dollars were convertible to gold. in france, it was called "america's exorbitant privilege" as it resulted in an "asymmetric financial system" where foreigners "see themselves supporting american living standards and subsidizing american multinationals". as american economist barry eichengreen summarized: "it costs only a few cents for the bureau of engraving and printing to produce a $100 bill, but other countries had to pony up $100 of actual goods in order to obtain one". in february 1965 president charles de gaulle announced his intention to exchange its us dollar reserves for gold at the official exchange rate. he sent the french navy across the atlantic to pick up the french reserve of gold and was followed by several countries. as it resulted in considerably reducing us gold stock and us economic influence, it led us president richard nixon to unilaterally end the convertibility of the dollar to gold on 15 august 1971 (the "nixon shock"). this was meant to be a temporary measure but the dollar became permanently a floating fiat money and in october 1976, the us government officially changed the definition of the dollar; references to gold were removed from statutes.
charles de gaulle
stop watching us









































stop watching us was a protest effort against global surveillance that culminated in rallies on october 26, 2013.









































section::::open letter.









































the movement featured an open letter to the members of congress. it argued that "this dragnet surveillance violates the first and fourth amendments of the u.s. constitution, which protect citizens' right to speak and associate anonymously, guard against unreasonable searches and seizures, and protect their right to privacy."









































the letter calls upon congress to:









































according to the stop watching us website, over 500,000 people have signed the petition.









































section::::public service announcement video.
stop watching us