Harold Wilson Quotes
From now on, the pound abroad is worth 14 per cent or so less in terms of other currencies. That doesn't mean, of course, that the Pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.
Wilson, Harold. Television and Radio Broadcast, 19 Nov. 1967. The Times, 20 Nov. 1967, p. 1.
The assumption was that money would always be backed by gold or silver. In effect, raising or allaying the money was to change the amount of gold or silver that a particular denomination of money would be able to be exchanged for. This is one of the interesting proofs that these processes did nothing economically—for if they could, no one would want the money. This has always been a weakness or a strength—depending on one’s political point of view—of a gold standard.
What the Prime Minister was trying to say is that the buying power had not been diminished suddenly for local and non-imported items.
The exact phrase has not been found in Gresham's writings but the idea appeared in a 1558 letter to Queen Elizabeth I. The expression has come to be known as Gresham's Law.
While devaluation may have been intended to have the effect of stimulating exports and inhibiting imports, many countries have populations which feel “cheapened” by the process—that they are worth less as laborers and their raw materials are valued less in the eyes of the world.
This is the first major history of banks written in the United States.
“Pegged” exchange rates are a country’s money where the Government sets the value of the money in terms of some other currency—usually American dollars. The advantage of a pegged currency is that it is stable and does not fluctuate day to day. The disadvantage is that people realize that the value is artificial and other countries will not accept the pegged currency. Worse natives try and get as many dollars as they can because the fear that the Government will devalue and change the rate of exchange of the pegged currency.
England compromised. They did not give up their own currency—the Pound, but they did make the Euro legal tender, so both currencies can be used in England.
This was a very astute prediction. At the time, the United States gold mining production was second only to South Africa and American currency was based on the gold standard which seemed to all to be permanent. Half a century later, the U. S went off the gold standard.
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. Wilson was the Leader of the Labour Party from 1963 to 1976, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1983.
