Chapter 69 8. Ronald Reagan: A bullet just one millimeter from the heart shattered the last hope of the gold standard

Although the gold standard has been completely abolished in the world, except for a few countries such as the Swiss gold franc, gold has no connection with banknotes at all, but the most disturbing thing for international bankers is that the price of gold in the seven As the decade continued to rise, preventing a return to the gold standard was the highest priority for international bankers. On January 1, 1975, in order to show the world that gold is just a common metal and increase people's confidence in the pure paper dollar, the US government decided to lift the 40-year-old gold holding ban on the American people.Other countries impose heavy taxes on gold to reduce people's demand for gold, and some even impose a gold value-added tax of up to 50%.Forty years after gold disappeared, Americans are already very unfamiliar with gold. Coupled with the cumbersome and inconvenient purchases, the lifting of the gold ban did not produce the expected tension. International bankers finally breathed a long sigh of relief.When the later Federal Reserve Chairman Paul.Volcker saw the former central banker John.When playing with the gold coins in Exter's hands, he couldn't help asking curiously: John, where did you buy your gold coins?

Ernest.In his book "Why Gold", Wilke pointed out the essence of international bankers suppressing gold: Beginning in 1975, with the cooperation of the major members of the IMF, the United States embarked on a journey to suppress the world gold market.The purpose of suppressing the price of gold is to convince the people of major countries that paper money is better than gold.A successful operation (controlling the price of gold) would ensure that the process of issuing excess paper money could continue indefinitely. Economists also agree that gold will prove to be of little value in the absence of official government buying demand.Some even believe that twenty-five dollars an ounce is the intrinsic value of gold.

In August 1975, in order to further eliminate the influence of gold, the United States and Western industrial countries decided not to increase their gold reserves, and the IMF needed to sell 50 million ounces of gold to lower the price of gold.However, the price of gold remained strong, and reached $430 an ounce in September 1979. At this time, the price of gold had risen more than ten times compared to the price when the Breton system collapsed in 1971. The U.S. Treasury Department began its first gold auction in January 1975. Later, the auction volume increased from 300,000 ounces to 750,000 ounces, and it was still difficult to resist the buying of gold.Only when the Treasury Department announced an unprecedented auction volume of 1.5 million ounces in November 1978 did market prices retreat slightly.On October 16, 1979, the U.S. Treasury Department finally couldn't hold on anymore and announced that the regular auction was changed to an accidental auction.

The gold price of $400 is generally believed to reasonably reflect the fact that the U.S. dollar has been issued in excess since 1933, and should be a stable and sustainable price. But the Iranian hostage crisis that broke out in November 1979 changed the long-term price trend of gold.After the outbreak of the crisis, the Federal Reserve quickly announced the freezing of Iran’s gold reserves in the United States. This move caused a chill in the hearts of central banks around the world. If Iran’s gold can be frozen, everyone’s gold in the United States will not be safe.As a result, countries have bought gold and shipped it directly back to their countries for storage.Iran even frightened and frantically bought gold in the international market. Iraq also joined the ranks of super buyers, and the price of gold jumped to the cloud of $850 an ounce within a few weeks.

After witnessing all these vicissitudes, President Reagan became convinced that only by restoring the gold standard could the U.S. economy be saved.In January 1981, when Reagan took office, he asked Congress to establish a gold committee to study the feasibility of restoring the gold standard.This move directly violated the restricted area of ​​international bankers. On March 30, 1981, Reagan, who had only been in the White House for 69 days, was shot by a groupie named Hinckley. The heart is only one millimeter.It is said that this person did this to attract the famous movie star Judy.Foster's attention.Of course, like most assassins who assassinate the president of the United States, this person is considered to have mental problems.

On March 30, 1981, Reagan was assassinated. This shot not only made President Reagan clear, but also shattered the last hope of restoring the gold standard.In March 1982, the 17-member Gold Committee rejected the idea of ​​restoring the gold standard by a margin of 15 to 2, and President Reagan quickly followed suit. Since then, no American president has ever dared to touch the gold standard.