45年前,，也就是1971年8月15日,，美國總統(tǒng)理查德·尼克松宣布不再采用此前30多年一直主宰美元乃至全球貨幣價(jià)值的貨幣體系。對(duì)大多數(shù)美國人來說,，這條被稱為“尼克松沖擊”的消息實(shí)際上并無沖擊力,。越南戰(zhàn)爭消耗了美國的資源，國際貨幣市場(chǎng)投機(jī)盛行,，美國在20世紀(jì)70年代出現(xiàn)了歷史上最高的赤字,。

尼克松在新經(jīng)濟(jì)政策講話中表示：“在過去七年中，平均每年都會(huì)出現(xiàn)一次國際貨幣危機(jī),。那么誰從這些危機(jī)中獲利了呢,？不是勞工階層，不是投資者,，不是真正的財(cái)富創(chuàng)造者,。獲利的是那些國際貨幣投機(jī)者。他們大發(fā)危機(jī)財(cái),，因而在制造危機(jī)方面起了推波助瀾的作用,。最近幾周，這些投機(jī)者正在全力攻擊美元,。一國貨幣的實(shí)力取決于其經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)力,，而美國經(jīng)濟(jì)目前仍是世界最強(qiáng)的。相應(yīng)的,，我已經(jīng)命令財(cái)政部長采取必要措施來保護(hù)美元,，抵御這些投機(jī)者?！?/p>

采取什么措施呢,？“暫時(shí)停止將美元兌換為黃金?！?/p>

尼克松宣布此項(xiàng)決定時(shí),，《時(shí)代》周刊解釋了為何會(huì)采取這樣的行動(dòng)：

“美國政府表示，將不再用聯(lián)邦黃金儲(chǔ)備兌換外國人持有的美元,，從而切斷了美元和黃金的聯(lián)系,。1944年，也就是現(xiàn)行貨幣體系在新罕布什爾州布雷頓森林鎮(zhèn)確立以來,，美元一直是國際上唯一跟黃金掛鉤的貨幣,。從技術(shù)上講，黃金是國家用于償還債務(wù)的資產(chǎn),。但實(shí)際上,，按照從布雷頓森林會(huì)議發(fā)展而來的國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）的118個(gè)成員國制定的規(guī)則，美元其實(shí)是國家之間進(jìn)行債務(wù)結(jié)算的匯兌媒介,。這個(gè)體系得以運(yùn)行是因?yàn)槊绹?cái)政部承諾以35美元1盎司的價(jià)格將美元兌換為黃金,。這項(xiàng)承諾讓IMF成員國相信，無論什么時(shí)候想把用于償債的美元兌換成黃金,，這些成員國只需要向美國財(cái)政部開口,。

過去10年中，美國在七個(gè)年頭里出現(xiàn)了國際收支逆差,，這造成美國黃金儲(chǔ)備穩(wěn)步下降,。看到1971年上半年的國際收支情況時(shí),，尼克松知道需要采取重大措施,。美國商務(wù)部在一周前公布，1971年上半年美國國際收支逆差達(dá)到創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的116億美元,。按照這樣的速度,，年底這個(gè)數(shù)字將達(dá)到320億美元。外國人持有的美元是美國黃金兌換能力的三倍,。同時(shí),，由于開始對(duì)美國掌控經(jīng)濟(jì)的意愿和能力失去信心，他們的黃金需求越來越大,。為防止聯(lián)邦黃金儲(chǔ)備遭到擠兌,，尼克松宣布美國不再承擔(dān)美元換黃金的義務(wù)。

這就意味著美元不再等同于黃金,。因此,，外國人被迫不惜代價(jià)地在貨幣市場(chǎng)拋售美元,。由于全球美元供給已經(jīng)過剩，這些賣家的期望不會(huì)太高,。這實(shí)際上已經(jīng)令美元貶值,。”

盡管尼克松特別說明這是“臨時(shí)”措施,，實(shí)際上已經(jīng)沒有回頭路可走,。在隨后的幾十年里，美國和世界經(jīng)濟(jì)一直在沒有黃金提供幫助的情況下起起伏伏,。不過,，甚至是在幾十年以后，黃金依然吸引著眾多所謂的“拜金者”,。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Charlie

審校：詹妮

It was 45 years ago, on Aug. 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon announced that the decades-old monetary system that had controlled the U.S. dollar—and thus the world’s currency values—for more than three decades just wasn’t working anymore. To most Americans the news, known as the “Nixon shock,” wasn’t actually shocking. War in Vietnam had drained America’s resources, world currency speculation was rampant and 1970s saw the?biggest deficit?thus far in U.S. History.

“In the past seven years, there has been an average of one international monetary crisis every year,” Nixon said in his?speech?outlining his new economic policy. “Now who gains from these crises? Not the workingman; not the investor; not the real producers of wealth. The gainers are the international money speculators. Because they thrive on crises, they help to create them. In recent weeks, the speculators have been waging an all-out war on the American dollar. The strength of a nation’s currency is based on the strength of that nation’s economy—and the American economy is by far the strongest in the world. Accordingly, I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to take the action necessary to defend the dollar against the speculators.”

That action? To “suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold.”

When Nixon announced what was coming, TIME explained?why the move was on its way:

“Washington cut the dollar’s tie to gold by serving notice that it will no longer cash in foreign-held dollars for gold bullion held at Fort Knox. Ever since 1944, when the present monetary system was devised at Bretton Woods, N.H., the dollar has had a special and internationally unique relationship to gold. Technically, gold is the asset by which nations pay their debts to one another. But practically, under the rules of the 118-nation International Monetary Fund, which evolved from the Bretton Woods conference, dollars are actually the medium of exchange through which nations settle those debts. The system was made possible by a promise from the U.S. Treasury to redeem dollars for gold at $35 an ounce. Because of that promise, IMF member nations had been assured that whenever they wanted gold in exchange for the dollars that they held as payment of debts, all they had to do was ask the Treasury Department in Washington.

U.S. gold reserves have dwindled steadily as a result of the nation’s balance of payments deficits in seven out of the last ten years. When Nixon got a look at the figures for the first six months of this year, he knew that drastic action was necessary. Last week the Department of Commerce released those figures: the U.S. ran a record first-half deficit of $11.6 billion. At that rate, the deficit would be $23 billion by year’s end. Foreigners held three times as many dollars as the U.S. was capable of redeeming in gold, and they were demanding more and more gold because they were losing confidence in the U.S.’s will or ability to whip its economy into order. To prevent a run on Fort Knox, the President thus declared that the nation would no longer exchange dollars for gold.

That meant that the dollar was no longer as good as gold. Thus foreigners had to sell their dollars in money markets for whatever they could get. Since a surfeit of dollars was sloshing around the world already, they could not expect to get much. In effect the dollar had been devalued.”

There was, essentially, no going back, despite Nixon’s “temporarily” caveat. In the decades that followed, the U.S. and world economies would rise and fall and rise and fall, without the help of gold. Even decades later, however, the?lure of gold?still calls to many so-called goldbugs.