Talk:Bretton Woods system/Archives/2015

Missing Criticism Section

Is the BWS free of accusations or objections? Let me know of some places to start and I will donate some research time. Gabefair (talk) 18:45, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Please do just that research time and start with my thoughts just reseasearched inconclusively by myself. Nick Rowe writes a post glorifying Milton Friedman declaring that “we are all Friedman’s grandchildren” and that New Keynesian economics owes more to Friedman than to Keynes. He also takes some shots at John Kenneth Galbraith saying that he “lost” to Friedman. Nick is right.  Friedman has influenced economics tremendously over the last 40 years and the world is slowly digging its way out of his mistakes.  After all, while Friedman might have won the economic battle of the 70’s, he’s losing the economic war. RGVC Says they will never dig USA out of his greatest mistake. In turning against his mentor & Beliefs of Keynesian 100% Friedman made the mistake most Americans do of selling his principles for the mighty UD $$$ Power of a National Leader and developing the "Nixon Shock" 1971 Bretton Woods #2 moves diametrically opposite and destroying John Maynard Keynes designed 1946 Bretton Woods #1. post-war recognition of Sterlings failing power due to gold & Money moved to USA during the war. Recognizng that they didn't have the gold to back their Gold standard Sterling Trade currency, but USA did have gold sufficient for a USD World Trade Gold-standard trade dollar the "Petro Dollar a sibling for Saudi Oil soon after). By that JMK & later the Saudi 'Petro dollar' finalized that link pegging a Trade currency to a gold & IMF as a backing peg, their fallback guarantee for settlements.

Wikipedia claims "In theory, the reserve currency would be the bancor (a World Currency Unit that was never implemented), suggested by John Maynard Keynes; however, the United States objected and their request was granted, making the "reserve currency" the U.S. dollar. This meant that other countries would peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, and—once convertibility was restored—would buy and sell U.S. dollars to keep market exchange rates within plus or minus 1% of parity. Thus, the U.S. dollar took over the role that gold had played under the gold standard in the international financial system.[21] Meanwhile, to bolster faith in the dollar, the U.S. agreed separately to link the dollar to gold at the rate of $35 per ounce of gold. At this rate, foreign governments and central banks were able to exchange dollars for gold. Bretton Woods established a system of payments based on the dollar, in which all currencies were defined in relation to the dollar, itself convertible into gold, and above all, "as good as gold". The U.S. currency was now effectively the world currency, the standard to which every other currency was pegged. As the world's key currency, most international transactions were denominated in US dollars.[citation needed]" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system> RGVC Says I don't know when this was if if fully correct, as I understood gold had, (from Bretton Woods #1 1946 till the $35 USA peg agreement gold) run $25-$55/oz and "Saudi Petrodollar deal cemented the $35 peg) I'll study that next. But one particular point USA had forced into JMK System was that IMF had as a member if IBRD the final control over Gold peg prices. Viz., Wiki says "Officially established on 27 December 1945, when the 29 participating countries at the conference of Bretton Woods signed its Articles of Agreement, the IMF was to be the keeper of the rules and the main instrument of public international management. The Fund commenced its financial operations on 1 March 1947. IMF approval was necessary for any change in exchange rates in excess of 10%. It advised countries on policies affecting the monetary system and lent reserve currencies to nations that had incurred balance of payment debts." ..[…].. Although attended by 44 nations, discussions at the conference were dominated by two rival plans developed by the United States and Britain. As the chief international economist at the U.S. Treasury in 1942–44, Harry Dexter White drafted the U.S. blueprint for international access to liquidity, which competed with the plan drafted for the British Treasury by Keynes. Overall, White's scheme tended to favor incentives designed to create price stability within the world's economies, while Keynes' wanted a system that encouraged economic growth. The "collective agreement was an enormous international undertaking" that took two years prior of the conference to prepare for – it consisted of numerous bilateral and multilateral meetings to reach common ground on what policies would make up the Bretton Woods system. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system> RGVC Says this was a real cunning USA rule as they held a Veto Power in IBRD/IMF World Bank throughout. Again Wiki says in another page " Under the Bretton Woods system established after World War II, the value of gold was fixed to $35 per ounce, and the value of the U.S. dollar was thus anchored to the value of gold. Rising government spending in the 1960s, however, led to doubts about the ability of the United States to maintain this convertibility, gold stocks dwindled as banks and international investors began to convert dollars to gold, and as a result the value of the dollar began to decline. Facing an emergingcurrency crisis and the imminent danger that the United States would no longer be able to redeem dollars for gold, gold convertibility was finally terminated in 1971 by President Nixon, resulting in the "Nixon shock" Wiki = <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar#Dollarization_and_fixed_exchange_rates> . RGVC Says I am still not satisfied when that $35 fix was finalized as inflexible. I am now convinced by Wiki & it's source references that peg was set at $35 by Bretton Woods # 1. JMK for Europe & Truman 1946 for USA at the $35 peg. Still I am aware the free market had floated Gold from $25-$55 I read elsewhere but can't find source evidence, I am now satisfied it was 1946 BW #1 set and 1971 Nixon Shock betrayals of delinking and later rises 1773 actions by USA caused all the strife we have today in 2015 with ongoing economics and World Trade dollar some demand change to PRC Yuan of IMF SDR & My thinking PRC is cornering gold now to Gold Back Yuan and thus destroy USA Trade fiat Dollar and Economy for a century or longer. Viz:- Wiki says "The design of the Bretton Woods System was that nations could only enforce gold convertibility on the anchor currency—the United States’ dollar. Gold convertibility enforcement was not required, but instead, allowed. Nations could forgo converting dollars to gold, and instead hold dollars. Rather than full convertibility, it provided a fixed price for sales between central banks. However, there was still an open gold market. For the Bretton Woods system to remain workable, it would either have to alter the peg of the dollar to gold, or it would have to maintain the free market price for gold near the $35 per ounce official price. The greater the gap between free market gold prices and central bank gold prices, the greater the temptation to deal with internal economic issues by buying gold at the Bretton Woods price and selling it on the open market." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system> --103.234.88.134 (talk) 05:58, 22 January 2015 (UTC)- Jan 21th 2015 from abroad in SRV.