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Worldview

For architecture, the result is visibly obvious; we prioritise quarterly profit (to capture 'value' and survive in this fiat environment) at the expense of enduring beauty, which takes more time, consideration and effort to create. Consider the shoddy, uninspiring landscapes that developers have thrown up for the last 40+ years, all in the name of the quick sale. And now contrast with some of the Art Deco masterpieces that we still revere decades later. Is it just coincidence that the 1920s represented the last hoorah of the gold standard, and the start of our path towards flimsy money?

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Politics

Your Money's no Good Here!
July 30, 2021
All is not what it seems, especially when you develop a strange fascination with assets, Nixon and monetary history. Jack attempts to settle his bill with a dollar from 1980 (when the film was released). But the barman, a figment of the 1920s, does not equate Jack's money with his own. How so? The clue is in the name; The Gold Room. The barman cannot accept 1980 dollars because they are a very different beast to 1920s dollars; they are no longer redeemable in gold.
2 mins
Welcome to Nixonland
June 3, 2021
So what is his legacy? It is more significant, and more subtle, than you might think. The Watergate scandal etched his name in history. 'Nixon Goes to China' was a political masterstroke. But the key decision, one that is touched only briefly in the book, took place in 1971. In that tumultuous year Nixon decoupled the US dollar from gold.