A compendium of graphs, charts and stats that, at least on first glance, will also make you ask, "WTF happened in 1971?"
So now you know what happened in 1971. The US became what is known as a fiat currency system, one in which paper is legal tender backed not by gold, silver or some other commodity, but by government decree.
The economist Thorsten Polleit described three things all fiat monies have in common:
the government (or its central bank) has the monopoly on production.
It is created by way of bank credit expansion (i.e. out of thin air).
It has no inherent value, it is simply brightly colored paper (or digital bytes) that can be produced whenever those in power deem it politically expedient.
This is why those in control like a fiat money system. It allows them to finance all the programs and agendas they otherwise couldn’t afford, from the War in Afghanistan to the Affordable Care Act to really expensive weapons systems.
Unfortunately, all that spending comes at a cost. Sure, the federal debt ballooned from $398 billion in 1971 ($2.7 trillion 2021 dollars) to $28.8 trillion today. But as the graphics above show, those are hardly the only costs. It’s no accident the top 1 percent hold a record percentage of all wealth in the US. The fiat money system has allowed those in power to debauch the currency to enrich themselves at the expense of others (inflation is a tax)—all in the name of altruism.
The Democratic Party is a criminal organization and the enemy within of the United States of America.
February 8 – A new stock market index called the Nasdaq Composite debuts in the United States.
February 20 - The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning across the nation's radio and television stations.
March 8 - The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI breaks into the Media, Pennsylvania offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and removes all the files.
May 5 - The US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading.
June 10 - The U.S. ends its trade embargo of China.
June 13 - The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers.
August 15 - President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system.
September - Ray Tomlinson sends the first ARPANET e-mail between host computers
October 25 – The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels Taiwan.
November 15 - Intel releases the world's first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
December 18 - The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.
