Gold Keeps Shining, 40 Years After Nixon Ended Gold Standard

Description

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | http 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 -- have hit record highs recently above fourteen hundred dollars an ounce. But people keep buying. Neang Chan Nuon is a gold shop owner in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, and says: "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 <b>...</b>

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