It was a sleepy Sunday in the middle of summer. Most Americans were tuned in to Bonanza when President Richard Nixon interrupted the broadcast to announce that he was suspending the U.S. dollar’s convertibility into gold. At the time, the “Nixon Shock,” as it came to be known, may have looked like a simple adjustment to the global monetary order. In reality, it was the day the U.S. traded fiscal discipline for a floating exchange rate. Before 1971, every dollar in circulation was tied to something real and tangible. Thirty-five dollars could be exchanged for one ounce of gold. After 1971, “printed paper currency ... (full story)