Nixon's Gold Standard Exit: How It Caused Inflation

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]It was August 1971. I was turning 10 years old. My father shared with me that our nation had just left the gold standard under Richard Nixon.

[00:00:09]In August 1971, the entire debt of the entire federal government was under $400 billion.

[00:00:15]It's 100 times worse today.

[00:00:19]It's It was constrained before 1971 because gold backed our money. So, if you were going to borrow money, you had to produce gold in order to back it up.

[00:00:29]Being the nerdy 10-year-old that I was, and my brother can can relate, he understands how nerdy I was, uh he can he'll tell you yes, he was that nerdy.

[00:00:39]Uh I I asked my dad, "Won't leaving the gold standard cause inflation?" And dad said, "Of course it would." And Richard Nixon set off a chain of events that allowed politicians free reign of deficit spending and mass debt accumulation under the exorbitant privilege of the dollar's reserve currency. The public voted for the politicians offering them the most free stuff. The dollar has lost 90% of its purchasing power from then till now. The wealthy can profit from inflation. The average American only suffers from it.