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Gold Keeps Shining, 40 Years After Nixon Ended Gold Standard

The best example of something is often called the “gold standard.” It sets the standard against which other things are measured. In economics, the term describes how major trading nations once used gold to set currency values and exchange rates. Many nations continued to use the gold standard until the last century. In the United States, people could exchange paper money for gold from the eighteen seventies until nineteen thirty-three. President Richard Nixon finally disconnected the dollar from the value of gold in nineteen seventy-one. Some politicians from time to time call for a return to the gold standard. But in nineteen seventy-eight the International Monetary Fund ended an official gold price. The IMF also ended the required use of gold in transactions with its member countries. Since that time, gold prices have grown, but unevenly. Prices – uncorrected for inflation – have hit record highs recently above fourteen hundred dollars an ounce. But people keep buying. Neang Chan Nuon is a gold shop owner in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, and says: “Some of my customers have even bought more as they believe the price will probably go higher. I sell more gold at these higher prices.” Some people are “gold bugs.” These are investors who say people should buy gold to protect against inflation. People have valued gold for thousands of years. The soft, dense metal polishes to a bright yellow shine and resists most chemical reactions. It makes a good material for money, political power – and, more recently, electrical power. If you own a device like a mobile phone or a computer, you might own a little gold in the wiring. The gold standard was the subject of one of the best-known speeches in American political history. It took place at the eighteen ninety-six Democratic National Convention in Chicago. William Jennings Bryan wanted the country to use both gold and silver as money. The idea was to devalue the dollar and make it easier for farmers to pay their debts. Bryan said: “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” The speech made William Jennings Bryan famous. He was a presidential candidate three times. But he never won.

Apartheid

Apartheid was a system of racial segregation enforced through legislation by the National Party (NP) governments of South Africa. In this system, which lasted from 1948 to 1994, the rights of the majority black inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and white supremacy and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained. South West Africans were also victims of apartheid as this country was administered by South Africa under a League of Nations mandate until it gained independence as Namibia in 1990.

Apartheid as an official policy was introduced following the general election of 1948. New legislation classified inhabitants into four racial groups (“native”, “white”, “coloured”, and “Asian”), and residential areas were segregated, sometimes by means of forced removals. Non-white political representation was completely abolished in 1970, and starting in that year black people were deprived of their citizenship. The government segregated education, medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people.

Apartheid sparked significant internal resistance and violence as well as a trade embargo against South Africa. In addition to the unrest resulting from the internal protests, the sanctions placed on South Africa by the West made it increasingly difficult for the government to maintain the regime. In 1990 President Frederik Willem de Klerk began negotiations to end apartheid, culminating in multi-racial democratic elections in 1994, which were won by the African National Congress under Nelson Mandela.

Why Wal-Mart Won a Big Ruling in S*x Discrimination Case

In the American legal system, people generally bring civil claims as individuals. But if a lot of people have similar claims, they may try to bring a class action lawsuit.

Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf says a class action “allows a large group of people to bring their individual claims together as a group.” But groups need permission to bring a class action, and that can be denied. That happened to a million and a half current and former employees of America’s largest private employer. The women accuse Wal-Mart of discriminating against female employees in its stores. But the United States Supreme Court voted to block a huge class action against Wal-Mart in federal court. The women were seeking billions of dollars. They say men were given more pay and more chances to move up in the company. They accuse Wal-Mart of violating part of a federal law, the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty-four. The case started about ten years ago. A federal district court in California agreed that the case could go forward as a class action. Wal-Mart again lost in a federal appeals court. But, on June twentieth, Wal-Mart won its appeal in the nation’s highest court.

Professor Dorf — who was not involved in the case — says the justices disagreed about whether there was a “common question.” He says most of the justices found that Wal-Mart was not being accused of one kind of discrimination or one policy, but many different acts. “The key to being able to bring a class action here, and the issue that divided our Supreme Court, was whether all of these different claims — by over a million people — had enough in common to justify a single class action.” Wal-Mart has a policy barring discrimination. But the women accused the company of unfair policies and permitting bad behavior by some store managers.

The court was divided five to four in its ruling. Yet all nine justices agreed that the case could not go forward. The women needed to meet additional legal requirements because they were seeking payment for harm they say was done. All the justices agreed these requirements had not been met. Boston University law professor Michael Harper says the decision was widely expected. He says the class action failed because it did not target a single action or policy by Wal-Mart. But the ruling does not bar the women from bringing individual cases. They can also seek class actions at the state level.

Bonds are issued by public authorities, credit institutions, companies and supranational institutions in the primary markets. The most common process of issuing bonds is through underwriting. In underwriting, one or more securities firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy an entire issue of bonds from an issuer and re-sell them to investors. The security firm takes the risk of being unable to sell on the issue to end investors. Primary issuance is arranged by bookrunners who arrange the bond issue, have the direct contact with investors and act as advisors to the bond issuer in terms of timing and price of the bond issue. The bookrunners’ willingness to underwrite must be discussed prior to opening books on a bond issue as there may be limited appetite to do so.