I recently came across a 43 year-old piece from Time, De Gaulle vs. the Dollar. While De Gaulle had an ulterior motive in his reasoning, his rationale for returning to the gold standard is laudable: to keep government spending in check (thus limiting the foreign influence exerted by the US federal government).
From Time:
There was Charles de Gaulle last week proclaiming that the primacy of the dollar in international dealings was finished, calling for an eventual return to the gold standard –which the world’s nations scrapped 50 years ago — and practically inviting other countries to follow France’s lead and cash in their dollars for gold.
[...]
France converted $150 million into gold last month, plans another $150 million conversion soon. Following that lead, Spain has quietly exchanged $60 million of its dollar reserves for U.S. gold–the biggest such transaction of the Franco era. To free more gold to meet rising demand, a congressional committee last week approved President Johnson’s proposal to eliminate the 25% gold backing now legally required for deposits held in the Federal Reserve System.
Note: Remember, this is when gold was artificially pegged at relatively low value (around $35/ounce). See also: Petrodollars and Inflation.
{ 1 comment }
he had Jacque Rueff on the payroll
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