I learned more by studying the recent history of US money through the eyes of the author, a true keynesian who served on the Fed and in direct economic counsel to president Clinton. I found myself butting heads with the author, wishing the Fed, the Treasury or he himself would take more responsibility for causing massive problems in the economy and the livelihood of Americans. Those pages never came, but they allowed me to form my own opinions. This is heavily contrasted to the typical BTC-maxi-end-the-fiat-world content that blasts my headphone speakers and flips my chapter books.

Keynesian economics dominated the political minds of the day. With few exceptions, fiscal policy was used only to ease and stimulate the economy. The job of tightening conditions and cooling down the economy was left solely to the Federal Reserve.

Milton Friedman and the rise of monetarism - Friedman argued against Keynesian by shifting focus from government policies to the money supply. It was the Federal Reserve, he argued, that exacerbated to the boom/bust cycles, instead of protecting us against them. His book published with Anna Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960, used mathematical models to explain the past economic events. Up until this point, economics had been almost entirely theoretical models, without many formulas at all. Milton Friedman's official stance on inflation-

WTF happened in 1971? Other than the US divorcing itself from the gold standard, and for the first time allowing its currency to free fall against hard assets, Nixon introduced widely unpopular executive orders. For example, he decreed a freeze on wages for 4 months. He made it illegal for any public or private entity to increase the pay for employment during this time. While the author accounts the inflation data during the 70's, it's unfortunate that he shifts the blame to OPEC supply shocks for raising the price of oil, which raised the price of everything else. 12.3% CPI was the high of the mid 70's only to be eclipsed during the late 70's when the next wave of inflation measured 13.3% at its peak. All told, the average inflation rate of the decade was 7.25%.

Gerald Ford, replacing Nixon and quickly granting him a full pardon for Watergate, had his own ideas for fighting inflation. Whip Inflation Now, WIN, was a pledge for Americans to only spend what they need, and not purchase anything from those selling goods for high prices. He and his wife famously signed the pledge on TV, proudly adorning the red slogan buttons, hoping this would save the nation from inflation. After a few unsuccessful years, the campaign was scrapped.

The Fed was in charge of cleaning up the inflation mess of the 1970's. Enter Paul Volker, the Fed chairman who hiked interest rates to near 20% by the early 80's. This of course, put pressure on those who had purchased long dated government debt at lower rates. As such, the Savings and Loans businesses turned out to have no Savings, only Loans. These insolvent institutions were unable to meet the demands of their customers and required government bailouts.

//sticking with the 70's for now