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Gold Keeps Shining, 30 Years After Nixon Ended Gold Standard | Business | Learning English/*
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RSS FeedGold Keeps Shining, 30 Years After Nixon Ended Gold Standard??14 April 2011
Photo: APA person in Jammu, India, choosing gold jewelry Share ThisDiggYahoo! BuzzFacebookdel.icio.usStumbleUponTO DOWNLOAD the MP3 of this story, click on the MP3 link in the upper right corner of the page. Double-click any word to find the definition in the Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
The best example of something is often called the "gold standard." It sets the standard against which other things are measured. In economics, the term describes how major trading nations once used gold to set currency values and exchange rates. Many nations continued to use the gold standard until the last century.
In the United States, people could exchange paper money for gold from the eighteen seventies until nineteen thirty-three. President Richard Nixon finally disconnected the dollar from the value of gold in nineteen seventy-one. Some politicians from time to time call for a return to the gold standard.
But in nineteen seventy-eight the International Monetary Fund ended an official gold price. The IMF also ended the required use of gold in transactions with its member countries.
Since that time, gold prices have grown, but unevenly. Prices -- uncorrected for inflation -- are now at record highs. The current price is above fourteen hundred dollars an ounce.
But people keep buying. Neang Chan Nuon is a gold shop owner in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
NEANG CHAN NUON: "Some of my customers have even bought more as they believe the price will probably go higher. I sell more gold at these higher prices."
Some people are "gold bugs." These are investors who say people should buy gold to protect against inflation.
People have valued gold for thousands of years. The soft, dense metal polishes to a bright yellow shine and resists most chemical reactions. It makes a good material for money, political power -- and, more recently, electrical power. If you own a device like a mobile phone or a computer, you might own a little gold in the wiring.
The gold standard was the subject of one of the best-known speeches in American political history. It took place at the eighteen ninety-six Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
William Jennings Bryan wanted the country to use both gold and silver as money. The idea was to devalue the dollar and make it easier for farmers to pay their debts. Here is Bryan reading his speech much later, in nineteen twenty-one.
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."
The speech made William Jennings Bryan famous. He was a presidential candidate three times. But he never won.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. ?I'm Steve Ember.
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Contributing: Pich Samnang
Listen? Email? Print? Comments?Comments (11)15-04-2011JeanThe price of gold is now at record high. People swarm to buy gold because of some different reasons. I think the most important one is to fight inflation. I want to take action, too, but I'm also afraid that it might be another bubble.
15-04-2011AmyWu(China)I watched a TV said that now human can make diamond in lab of America, can you make golden in lab too?
15-04-2011Tr?n V?n Quy?t(Vietnam)In Vietnam, Gold prices increases higher because vietnam's money inflation.Gold prices is higher than world's prices
15-04-2011JUHWAN, GAM / MR.(KOREA, REPUBLIC OF)DEAR SIRS/MADAME,GOOD MORNING, SIRS/MADAME!COULD YOU LET ME KNOW 'THE RADIO FREQUENCY OF VOA' IN THE AREA OF KOREA(SOUTH).
15-04-2011Autumn Leaf(Vietnam)The price of gold has increases higher and higher. Through a lot of disasters from around the world, inflation has happened every where, money has become devalued, those reasons make people's psychology unstable, they are worried about keeping money, they rush to buy gold. That leads to the higher price of gold. However, the poor do not care much of the price of gold. They just want to have enough money for their food and accommodations in their daily life.
15-04-2011sam(china)people who have money to buy gold are rich people, they are not worried about. i am very concerned that inflation is make cilivians to lose what they have but they just can do nothing. what a strong power behind inflation.
15-04-2011hien(vietnam)i love VOA news
15-04-2011drac(China)as gold is unique and little, it seems to get close to the point of the perfect on this planet. only if he's mankind, he recognizes its value. it simply proves it. gold has its own rich history which this article also mentioned, yes , i admire this: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
15-04-2011Winsorthank you,
15-04-2011JOI(HJ)GOOD
15-04-2011hao(vietnam)now the price of gold have decrease in vietnam but the price everything is increasing
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