The 1971 break

For a generation after the Second World War, other countries could present dollars and receive gold. That was the Bretton Woods deal. It put a leash on how many dollars the world could be asked to hold.

On 15 August 1971 President Nixon closed the gold window. The dollar became a promise with no metal behind it. Average gold that year was about $41 an ounce. In 2026 live spot is in the thousands. The multiple is the story: not that gold “went up,” but that the unit of account was diluted.

Wages in dollars went up too. Houses in dollars went up. University fees in dollars went up. If you only watch the paper number, it looks like the world got more expensive. Restate the same items in ounces and many of them barely moved — or got cheaper in metal.

Use the ledger. Pick 1971, or the year you were born, or the year you bought a car. The app looks up gold and silver for that year and shows the ounces. That is the comparison 1971 made unavoidable.

Nothing here is a forecast. Paper can rally. Metal can fall. The break still happened, and every purchase after it is easier to read in ounces than in the currency that was cut loose.