The argument over what that decision ultimately cost has never really ended. Domestic inflation, already rising from the mid-1960s, was being exported through the fixed-rate system and intensifying pressure on the dollar. The final trigger came in early August when Britain requested roughly $3 billion in gold “cover” for its dollar holdings, following earlier French […] The post Nixon Abandoned the Gold Standard: Both Sides of the Coin appeared first on StoneZone .
The argument over what that decision ultimately cost has never really ended. Domestic inflation, already rising from the mid-1960s, was being exported through the fixed-rate system and intensifying pressure on the dollar. The final trigger came in early August when Britain requested roughly $3 billion in gold “cover” for its dollar holdings, following earlier French conversions. On the weekend of August 13–15, Nixon and a small group of advisers met in secret at Camp David and chose to act. Closing the gold window was necessary. It ended the Bretton Woods system that had governed international money since the end of World War II and launched the modern era of pure fiat currency. A brief attempt to restore modified fixed rates…Open
The Iran war brought global economic momentum to a halt, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, providing new projections for slower growth and higher inflation. Why it matters: It is the latest major economic institution to warn about stagflation-like global economic fallout from the war. The conflict upended what was shaping up to be a solid year for the global economy. - The IMF joins the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which last month scrapped a planned upgrade to its own forecasts in the wake of the Iran war. What they're saying: "Prior to the war, we were poised to upgrade our global growth forecast," the IMF says in its latest World Economic Outlook, pointing to a tech investment boom, easing…
The economy was flashing stagflation signals — tepid growth and high inflation — even before the Iran conflict added an oil shock to the mix. Why it matters: What happens when geopolitical turmoil clogs up the world's oil supply chain, against a backdrop of a U.S. economy losing momentum amid sticky inflation? - We're about to find out. Driving the news: A revision to fourth-quarter GDP shows the economy grew at only a 0.7% annualized rate in the final months of 2025, half as much as the 1.4% growth rate originally estimated. - Real final sales to private domestic purchasers, an underlying measure of growth that sums up consumer spending and private investment, rose at a 1.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter — a downward revision…
A potential new inflation headache is forming from the Strait of Hormuz to America's farm fields — threatening to ripple into food supply and grocery prices months from now. Why it matters: The Iran war could reignite the one form of inflation voters feel most directly — in the grocery aisle — just as midterm campaigns ramp up. The big picture: Not long after our last bout of food inflation — caused partly by the increase in commodity prices from the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war — we're staring straight in the face of a similar chain reaction. - The Strait of Hormuz — which has been effectively shut down due to disruption from the war — ferries about one-fifth of the world's oil and about 25%-35% of fertilizer…
With shipping traffic at a near halt at the Strait of Hormuz , the possibility of prolonged disruption to supplies of oil and other important commodities has grown. The big picture: If the military situation doesn't change soon, it will create a moderate stagflationary drag on the U.S. economy and a substantial one on Europe and East Asia. - If oil prices spike substantially further, it would likely create a recession in major oil importers and do meaningful damage to U.S. economic prospects. - Those are the implications of forecasters modeling a more sustained period of elevated prices. State of play: Iran is prepared to attack commercial ships that try to pass through the strait, 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and surrounded on…