The US suppressed oil and gold prices worldwide after WW2, and after overspending in Vietnam this suppression stopped working. LBJ stopped allowing other countries to trade dollars for gold while he was still President, Nixon followed suit, and finally announced the policy in '71, and this was recorded as "Nixon slammed shut the gold window".
This "end of suppression" caused the major repricing of gold and oil in the 70s, and this the major cause of the 70s inflation. How Burns handled it, well, he didn't have many tools, and Volcker didn't either. Pinning all of the 70s price action on the Fed is... very wrong.
I would have to disagree partially. The argument that it was not fully the Fed's fault might somewhat be explained. Nixon's policies, gold, and oil have been factors too.
However, inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. If not for the Fed and Burns being pressured by Nixon to slash and keep lower rates to finance massive budget deficits then inflation would have never spiked so much.
The US suppressed oil and gold prices worldwide after WW2, and after overspending in Vietnam this suppression stopped working. LBJ stopped allowing other countries to trade dollars for gold while he was still President, Nixon followed suit, and finally announced the policy in '71, and this was recorded as "Nixon slammed shut the gold window".
This "end of suppression" caused the major repricing of gold and oil in the 70s, and this the major cause of the 70s inflation. How Burns handled it, well, he didn't have many tools, and Volcker didn't either. Pinning all of the 70s price action on the Fed is... very wrong.
I would have to disagree partially. The argument that it was not fully the Fed's fault might somewhat be explained. Nixon's policies, gold, and oil have been factors too.
However, inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. If not for the Fed and Burns being pressured by Nixon to slash and keep lower rates to finance massive budget deficits then inflation would have never spiked so much.