Fascinating back story to the Nixon gold default in August 1971. thanks for the shove @LukeGromen

Take aways. For Nixon is was all about politics and how to win in 1972. He didn't appreciate or care about the inflation implications or the moral implications. The Author is a statist and Keynesian. To wit: "In any event, the debate over the gold standard was becoming moot

by the summer of 1971. There just wasn't enough of the precious metal in central banks to support the rapid increase in global commercial transactions, and no one could figure out what kind of collateral would take gold's place. The great risk of backing the currency with gold

or another metal is that there won't be enough supply of that commodity to support the expansion of commerce. The situation could constrain the growth of the world economy and lead to deflation. When you have deflation, prices go down. Investors stop investing because they worry

about diminishing returns. Consumers stop buying because they think prices will be cheaper tomorrow. The entire economic machine stops working." J. Garten. LL:
BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT. There is plenty of metal available at the proper price. Deflation is good.

We had it in the 1800's. It was a good thing. Cheaper prices are good. Not bad. Furthermore, deflation is inevitable as my friend Jeff Booth @JeffBooth has pointed out. Furthermore, with technology it is inevitable. A credit based system which requires inflation is the

problem. Not the solutions.

Other interesting points in the book: if you are in a political scrap you could do worse than to have Govenor John Connally on your side. I hate what they did, but Connally certainly worked to put America first. Great quotes: Connally at a

conference. "We had a problem and we are sharing it with the world, just like we shared our prosperity". Or this gem: at the Club of Rome: "the dollar is our currency, but it is your problem". You know you are doing something right when Kissinger is pissed off at you.

Also, thanks for friend Ronnie Stoeferle @RonStoeferle for first recommending the book.

Full Connally quote: "We had a problem and we are sharing it with the world, just like we shared out prosperity. That's what friends are for".

Another point, at no point in the book did the author call what the US did a DEFAULT. He argued that what happened was good and necessary. I would argue that is was bad and dishonest, and not necessary. It was the beginning of the end for fiat. We now see the end game.