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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: long-gone who wrote (68454)	4/30/2001 8:43:49 AM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116779

<The "proccess" came about because LBJ started the "War on Poverty" This began an industry which is made up of Democrats being reelected to continue fighting the war. For there to exist any "War", there must be an enemy. In this war the Democrats will simply redefine the level of poverty so as to assure there are poor which can be bought with more newly printed paper.> You are absolutely wrong, Politico. The process started in 1922, at the Genoa Conference, where the United States gained co-equal global standing with the then British Empire. The U.S. Dollar was made as good as the British Pound. It was made clear to all other nations that they now had the choice of holding either the British Pound, or the U.S. Dollar (or both), or Gold as their reserves. It was also firmly stated (between the lines) that were they to choose Gold, they could wave goodbye to free trade. British Imperial preferences and U.S. tariffs ensured that the post WW I period was an endless cycle of devaluations (for export advantage) and tariffs (for protection against cheap imports). That ensured that the inter-war period was a period of trade wars. In 1925, the British chose to return the Pound to its pre-war Gold content. The result was to make most British goods uncompetitive on world markets. The U.S. chose a huge internal credit expansion, leading to the stock market bubble that burst in 1929, as well as huge external loans to enable U.S. exports to surge past British exports. After the crash of 1929, to support U.S. manufacturing and, therefore, employment, the U.S. raised tariffs further. That made it impossible for the nations most in debt to the U.S. to export to the U.S., and as a consequence, they could not earn the money with which to service their debts to the U.S. In 1931, the debt defaults began, led by Austria's Credit Anstalt. These defaults then spread across Europe, in the end so undercutting the U.S. banking and financial system, that all U.S. banks closed in early 1933. There followed a global depression only lifted by the outbreak of war. Through the early part of the Second World War, Great Britain stood alone. In doing so, Britain used all its liquid, or near liquid, global financial assets and investments. Most of these were sold to the U.S. during the period of U.S. neutrality. First, there was "cash and carry". Then, when Britain ran out of cash, there was "lend lease". From that point onwards, Britain had an unlimited line of credit with the U.S. and their debts to the U.S. grew hugely. The price was paid by Great Britain at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. From that date until this past weekend's G-7 Summit in Washington, the U.S. Dollar has stood alone and supreme all over the world. PS Study History.