1971 Not backed by Gold.
This was a drain to the U.S. and in the summer of 1971, President Nixon therefore refused to exchange hundreds of millions of dollars from the Bank of England for gold. He decided to `close the gold window.`
This decision is seen as a U.S. default, since it no longer could fulfil its 1944 obligations. Since 1971 the U.S. dollar although held by most countries for trade purposes, has been backed by `nothing,` just America`s promise to pay yet with more unbacked
