WTF Happened In 1971 ?!!!

Posted by Aeronca 1 day ago to Economics
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In short, this is a visual argument that "everything broke in 1971" because the US abandoned the gold standard, with a large gallery of charts to illustrate the supposed before-and-after divergence across many indicators.

The central point and thesis of this website is that 1971 marked a major inflection point where many positive long-term trends (productivity-wage growth alignment, affordable housing, stable inequality, shorter workweeks, family formation, etc.) reversed or stagnated, leading to many of the perceived problems of modern society. The site presents dozens of overlaid graphs where trends were relatively smooth or improving for decades/centuries prior to ~1971, then sharply bend, flatten, or worsen afterward.

The primary cause it highlights is President Nixon's 1971 decision (the "Nixon Shock") to end the convertibility of the US dollar into gold, effectively terminating the Bretton Woods system and ushering in the era of fully fiat currency (unbacked paper money with no gold standard constraint).

The site demonstrates that removing this monetary anchor enabled unlimited money printing, inflation, financialization, wealth inequality, wage stagnation relative to productivity, skyrocketing asset prices (housing, stocks), and broader societal issues like declining marriage/birth rates, longer work hours, and more.
SOURCE URL: https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/


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  • Posted by mccannon01 7 hours, 54 minutes ago
    A TREASURE TROVE of information! Just thinking, but the "Great Society" of 1968 is in close proximity to 1971. A double whammy on US society and financial change.
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    • Posted by freedomforall 6 hours, 9 minutes ago
      Money printing started in 1913 when the banking cartel was given legal authority to create fiat for themselves.
      That said, FDR, WW2 (which became a ww because of the banking cartels' greed), and LBJ expanded fedgov spending immensely and inflation resulted.
      Without the federal reserve act and income tax, inflation would not have occurred, gold might still back the dollar, and ww2 might have never happened.
      (War is extremely expensive. The banking cartel created money from thin air to fund both sides.)
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    • Posted by 7 hours, 25 minutes ago
      +100

      There is a time-lag from when government policy takes effect to the time it impacts society. So the combination of the government policies in both 1968 and 1971 is an even greater indication of how these trends took off. Thanks, General, I didn't think of that!

      "Culture is downstream from politics." ---Quisling Bongino.

      Despite his unfortunate status of quisling, he is correct. (In politics, a "quisling" is now a common noun meaning a traitor, collaborator, or puppet leader who aids an occupying enemy force...such as the Deep State?) I used to listen to him on the radio, YouTube or podcasts, but...

      "But that was a priceless Steinway!!!"

      "Nit anymooore." ---(Chief Inspector Cluesoe) :D
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