Nixon Wealth Analysis

The Gold Standard was the framework by which the value of cash was characterized in terms of gold, for which the money could be traded. The Gold Standard ended up being deserted in the Depression of the 1930s. Friedman felt that,“The gold standard is not feasible because the mythology and beliefs required to make it effective do not exist. This conclusion is supported not only by the general historical evidence referred to but also by the specific experience of the United States” ( “The Gold Standard:Please Stop”).Economists who contradict the Gold Standard may perceive what must be accomplished with a specific end goal to make a centrally controlled paper standard better than a decentralized Gold Standard. Milton Friedman poses the key question: "How can we establish a monetary system that is stable, free from irresponsible tinkering, and

America’s role in the international arena during the 1900s is best captured in the poem by Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” and had been clearly articulated in the speeches of Roosevelt and Beveridge. The American government believed that it is the American duty to interfere and be an influential power in the civilizing of nations that American’s perceived as unable to rule over themselves or as savages, illiterate, and the cause of chaos which ultimately affects the America’s vision of successful world commercial activities. However, it must be clarified that this goal is characterized by conflicted opinions within the American nation itself. Some believed that America should not interfere with the fate of other nations and argue for their

American foreign policy during the 1890s was based on many factors that each acted as an individual justification for our country’s behavior as a whole. Racism, nationalism, commercialism, and humanitarianism each had its own role in the actions America took against other nations.

With the late 19th century came a great change in the ideas of expansionism in the United States, but also a continuation of its ideals. The idea of imperialism, where the United States would extend its power around the globe, stood in contrast with the original Manifest Destiny ideal of the 1840s and 1850s when America was expanding west from ‘sea to shining sea.’ However, the inherent social and cultural sentiments were still present in the late 19th century expansionism, though the economic and political purposes had changed.

By the year 1901, the United States possessed one of the largest navy’s in the world, a growing empire, and the respect of the world as a growing power. It gained these achievements by being involved in the growing imperialism of this era along with Britain, France, Germany, and Japan. However America did not gain its power spontaneously. During the Gilded Age and prior America established policies and precedents that would lead America into the discussion as a world power. Although the United States expansionism in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries was a continuation of the social and cultural continuation of the past, it was also resulting from the departure from the methods of the past in the government’s pursuit of new economic and political endeavors.

Prior to the 1890’s, the United States followed a foreign policy of seclusion to worldly matters. This idea stemming from George Washington’s Farewell Address to “avoid entangling alliances” became the foundation for American seclusion and detachment, a policy which resulted in this country being able to overcome tremendous internal difficulties facing the rising, fast-changing state of America. The Manifest Destiny enlarged American borders and created speedy industrialization, which made the nation powerful. New interests and concepts also began to change our foreign policies such as social Darwinists, which stressed the significance of forte and evolution, while others assimilated the “little brown brothers” who needed to be taught responsibly. {1-2 sentences on the economics of the Gilded Age before 1898: Panics, economic growth after the Civil War, 2nd Industrial Revolution} Urged by economic benefits, people wanted new markets for their goods, while others ravished the riches of new land. Due to the America’s strive to become the Worlds greatest nation throughout history, the American economy was able to benefit after the Spanish American war and World War II, as opposed to the inflation and lead up to the Great Depression which World War I inflicted on the economy.

The Isolationist policy in the United States is more seen in the twentieth century with the outcome of the second World War. Hemispherism is a term that could be used to describe the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries because it was a time when the United States wanted complete opposite from the Old World to the New World. In George Washington’s Farewell Address, he told America to refrain from alliances. He realized that America was in a vulnerable state and was too weak to participate in the European power game. Washington thought the most useful option for the United States was to stay neutral so we could gain strength and be able to fight in war. As hemispherism was born and the United States rejected the structure of power that existed in

Numerous motivating factors contributed to US overseas imperialism, but the fundamental underlying cause was the fact that powerful men within the US government, military and business strata craved power, expansion, wealth, and most of all, world dominance. It began subtly, as prominent businessmen like Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan began to realize that US consumership alone would not sufficiently sustain the growing industries, volume of production and produce generated within the US. In order to achieve the expansion and exponential growth of wealth they aspired to, a larger market was needed; a market capable of absorbing the abundant surplus. The solution, they believed, was expansion into foreign markets around the world.

During the 1920s, the United States was believed to have followed a foreign policy of isolationism that led to the Great Depression and World War II. However, this is a historical misconception known as the myth of isolationism because the U.S. followed a foreign policy in the 1920s called independent internationalism, which was a new idea to promote economic diplomacy through peaceful relations and non-military intervention. In Jeremi Suri’s Opt-Ed article, Trump is repeating the isolationism that led to the Great Depression and WWII, he argues that Donald Trump is following similar foreign policies of isolationism such as the increase on tariffs, restriction on immigration, and the dismembering of alliances, that mirror what occurred in

(Kaufman, pg 17). Isolationism’s key ideals are to resist conflicts and not get involved with other countries, and to stay cut off from the rest of the world. Although there has been times of isolationist sentiments, namely in the years following the Revolutionary War, it is incorrect to say that the United States was completely isolated because they have always, since colonial times participated in intercontinental commerce. They however stayed politically distant in that time period. Therefore these three values connect in this way:

In the 1890s, nationals of the United States were starting to look outward to world issues. Some old issues kept on discovering articulation, for instance, hatred of Great Britain's money related and maritime force, and exertions to win Irish-American votes by upbraiding British colonialism. Different issues were new. Numerous Americans were stunned, in 1896, by the slaughter of many Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Even with the European powers' inaction, ought to the United States represent helpful closures? Assuming this is the case, how? A few Americans contended that the nation, as a developing streamlined force, required to secure crude materials and customer advertises abroad. Others reviled such methodologies as profiting just a couple of, and inclining to an European-style "domain." Debates over U.S. expansionism were in this way tangled up with cash approach, the tax, and

As seen through Progressivism, the corruptions of large industries were exposed to the Commonwealth. Progressivisms brought out a true change to how America began to function, and through this purification, the United States began to focus on one main objective: international affairs. As the U.S. began to take over weaker nations in a plan to extend its own power through a military force, imperialism began to spread. This meant that other nations, along with the U.S, began to demonstrate their immense powers, and America wanted to become prominently dominant. A principal justification for America’s imperialism was the policy of Social Darwinism. It stated that the powerful nations, such as America, was destined to help less powerful nations because we were a dominant force, and we must provide aid. Through this process, both self-interest and idealism were important driving forces in American foreign policy from 1895 to 1920. Starting in 1895, President William McKinley showed the aspect of self-interest through his actions. On the other hand, in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson used idealism.

During the 1920’s, the economy of America was thriving. The First World War had created new jobs and industries; members of society, such as women, were becoming more profound in society and their roles were becoming redefined. The United States was emerging as the industrial giant of the world. To protect the American consumers from imported goods from Europe and encourage American products, the government of the United States imposed high tariffs. Essentially, the United States no longer desire to maintain ties with Europe. The tariffs imposed by the American government were instrumental in the efforts made by the United States to stay out of European affairs. The concept of “Manifest Destiny” drove the United States into connections

At the end of World War Two, the Bretton Woods system was established for world currencies. This system involved countries fixing their currencies to the US Dollar, which in turn was tied to the value of gold at a fixed exchange rate of $35 per ounce. As this was a fixed exchange rate system it effectively forced countries to pursue a certain monetary policy, in order to keep their currency pegged to the Dollar and in turn the value of gold.

One of the characteristics of gold standard defined by Temin is that the adjustment mechanism for a trade deficit country was deflation rather than devaluation, that is, a change in domestic prices instead of a change in the exchange rate. In the event of a balance-of-payment deficit, countries on the gold standard could not devalue their currencies or expand the money supply to stimulate domestic demand, because by doing so would push up good prices, encourage more gold exports, and weaken the currency. Instead, they could only tighten monetary conditions with the goal of reducing domestic prices and costs until international balance was restored. “Critical to this process was the effort to reduce wages, the largest element in costs.” That is to say, the gold standard system must be maintained at the expense of the welfare of ordinary people, which they must either experienced wages fall or unemployment. This mechanism worked well to facilitate trade and exchange before the First World War, the reason,