David's Reviews > American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle over Gold

OK, so this book isn't for everyone, I'm not even sure it was for me. The author makes an interesting case that not so long ago the US government simply reneged on a bunch of its debt contracts, retroactively removing the gold clause (that is, the payment was to be made in gold equivalent) from its outstanding bonds. Who knew?

Why did they do this? The deflation has to do with deflationary pressures, exchange rates, and the monetary system. Not a terribly complicated story, but not a sound byte, either.

Did the Supreme Court go along with this? Yes, but not exactly. Not so long after the "nine old white men" gave the FDR Administration a lifeline on this maneuver, "Black Monday" came along and ruled large swaths of the New Deal unconstitutional.

So what was all of this about? Does it matter today? That's the subject of the book, and the event and conditions surrounding it are so unbelievable that I felt compelled to finish the book. Not exactly scintillating writing or a page-turner of a story, but as far as economic history narratives go, I'm glad I read it.

Have the Greeks dumped the Euro yet?