Echoes of 1934 are thundering with increasing intensity.
In 1934, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt outlawed the private ownership of gold. People who refused to turn their gold over to the government went to jail. With the same presidential order Roosevelt shocked the world by devaluing the dollar. The cost for an ounce of gold, previously set at $20.67, henceforth cost $35.
President Roosevelt told the country that it was a radical effort to stimulate America’s economy. A cheaper dollar would make America’s exports less expensive and help American companies sell more products to the rest of the world, he said. More money would flow into America, and more jobs would be created.
It did those things. And it also marched the world another giant step closer to war.
Global Geopolitics 