Jing Pan
8 min read
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It’s been more than five decades since President Richard Nixon took the U.S. dollar off the gold standard. Yet former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul says he remembers that moment vividly — and is now issuing a fresh warning.
“I can remember it precisely,” Paul said in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, referring to August 15, 1971 (1). “One Sunday night I was sitting in front of the television watching the news come in and oh, a special news clip. And they put up President Nixon and all of a sudden, boy, did my eyes open.”
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In that televised address, Nixon announced he had directed then-Treasury Secretary John Connally to suspend the dollar’s convertibility into gold — a move that effectively ended the Bretton Woods system.
“And I said, ‘This is a big deal… It might be one of the biggest things that ever happened in monetary history,’” Paul recalled.
In hindsight, the decision marked a turning point. Since 1971, the U.S. dollar has operated as a fiat currency, meaning it is not backed by a physical commodity like gold. And because the Federal Reserve can essentially print money in unlimited quantities, Paul believes the system is fundamentally flawed and warns that serious consequences now lie ahead.
“We’re approaching that time when bad stuff will really be happening to us because you just can’t print money and lie to the people forever. It’s all based on a lie and it’s fraud, it’s counterfeit money,” he said.
Paul argued that when a central bank creates excessive amounts of currency, the value of that currency inevitably declines — a dynamic economists associate with inflation. Americans have already felt that impact firsthand; according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, $100 in 2025 has the same purchasing power as just $12.58 did in 1971 (2).
The good news? Throughout history, savvy investors have long found ways to protect their money from inflation’s bite.
When it comes to preserving wealth and fighting inflation, few assets have stood the test of time like gold.
