Thomas E. Woods writes here about FDR’s gold seizure of 1933.
Among the many public policy disasters of the New Deal, leaving the gold standard has perhaps had the worst long-long effects of them all. Having to back up its money with gold put government spending on a short leash. Politicians ever since FDR’s destruction of the gold standard have been able to spend on a vast array of foolish boondoggles because they don’t have any real constraints.
