The Future of the US Dollar and a World in Debt

PAST EVENT VIDEO

Jeffrey Garten joins Thomas Friedman to link lessons from the 1971 decoupling of the gold standard to today’s challenges for a public conversation, followed by a private Q&A with Council President’s Club and leadership members.

Madison Kaminski

Speakers

Jeffrey Garten
Thomas Friedman

Event Date

July 14, 2021

About This Event

With today’s global interconnectedness, geopolitical competition, unprecedented government spending, and money-printing to spur economic recovery, the US dollar is facing an uncertain future. Today’s reality calls back to a secret meeting at Camp David in 1971 when President Richard Nixon broke the link between the dollar and gold. This signaled the end of the Bretton Woods era of international economy and the beginning of American retrenchment in world affairs. Fifty-years later, former Undersecretary of Commerce Jeffrey Garten and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman discuss the “Nixon Shock,” the impact it carries on today’s dollar, and the Biden administration’s future engagement with the world.

Copies of Jeffrey Garten’s new book, Three Days at Camp David: How a Secret Meeting in 1971 Transformed the Global Economy, are available to purchase through our local book partner, The Book Cellar.

*Note:

Members at the President’s Club level and above are provided exclusive "Green Room" access before the public broadcast, via Zoom, to chat with Jeffrey Garten, Thomas Friedman, and fellow members, as well as an off-the-record Q&A following the public discussion. Zoom call details will be shared upon registering.

Event Schedule

Time	Agenda
11:45 am CDT	Green room access opens for President’s Club members and above*
12:00 pm	Public program begins
12:30 pm	Public program adjourns
12:30 pm	Private, off-the-record Q&A with President’s Club members and above
1:00 pm	Adjournment

About the Speakers

Jeffrey Garten

Dean Emeritus, Yale School of Management

Jeffrey Garten teaches courses on the global economy at the Yale School of Management, where he was formerly the dean. He has held senior positions in the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Clinton administrations, and was a managing director of Lehman Brothers and the Blackstone Group on Wall Street.

Thomas Friedman

Foreign Affairs Columnist, New York Times

Thomas Friedman is an author, reporter, columnist, and the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes. Since 1995, Friedman has written for the New York Times Foreign Affairs column, but also served as the Beirut bureau chief, Jerusalem bureau chief, Washington diplomatic correspondent, and the White House and economic correspondent.