this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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United States | News & Politics

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President Trump showed off a draft of a letter firing the chair of Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, during a meeting with roughly a dozen House Republicans on Tuesday night, polling them as to whether he should do it and indicating that he likely would, according to two people briefed on the meeting.

The NYT contains several quotes from the CBS story ,but skips much of the name calling Trump uses against Powell.

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[–] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mean that's all cool, but what, are we just gonna toss the dollar and trade gold bullion?

[–] moody@lemmings.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The gold standard is about basing the value of the dollar on the amount printed/minted vs the amount of gold the government physically controls.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Right, but as it sits, the USD is extraordinarily inflated compared to the price of gold. I really hope Trump and his goons don't try to say, "as of today, the USD is now worth $x," because that won't fly with the rest of the financial world.

[–] moody@lemmings.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Isn't gold basically at the highest it's ever been, even in relation to USD?

[–] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

Indeed, $3,340/oz as of the time of this comment.

Historically, a bank note was the equivalent to a fixed amount of gold. However this fell apart due to the volatility of gold once it became traded as a commodity on stock exchanges, as well as when other nations abandoned their own gold standards. Iirc the reason virtually no countries peg their currencies to gold is due to the fact that doing so limits the ability of governments to enact flexible monetary policy (ie QE) in times of economic hardship, or to influence the stability of a given economy (as Powell is doing niw by keeping interest rates up to prevent hyperinflation). It also severely disadvantages nations that do not have gold deposits, and limits the global economy as a result.

Note: I'm an armchair economist, everything here is as far as I understand it and could be wildly wrong, but I try to read/listen to proper economists and not yahoos spouting off in TV.