(*Note: This is a Vintage Dangerous History Podcast from 2014, reissued on the public DHP feed for a limited time. Please cut the poor audio quality some slack!)

Finally, we conclude our non-consecutive series on the history of the history of the US dollar with part 5, looking at the story of the dollar following the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system. (This podcast was actually recorded over the course of 2 commutes — the first half in the morning commute to work, and the second one in the afternoon commute home.)

Join CJ as he discusses:

How the ending the ‘gold window’ in 1972 led to high inflation, which led to negative consequences (including some not purely economic) for society

The approaches of the Ford and Carter administrations to dealing with inflation

How, under first Carter and then Reagan, Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker (appointed in 1979) used high interest rates to staunch (though not completely stop) the erosion of the US dollar’s value in the early-1980s

The reasons that the dollar still (mostly) operates as the world reserve currency despite its obvious flaws and vulnerabilities, including the meaning of the term ‘petrodollar’

How things will go wrong, sooner or later, with this system, and how the remedy used previously by Volcker (high interest rates) could not realistically be used today by the Fed, even if they wanted to do so

A few thoughts on ways to prepare for this eventuality

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External Links

US Debt Clock

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