The demise of Bretton Woods in 1971 is also documented history. Since it’s economic history it may escape the attention of those who don’t study the dismal science.
Scrapping Bretton Woods had the effect of stoking the fires of inflation. That caused all prices in the United States to rise. That includes oil. If there had been no Yom Kippur War and no Arab oil embargo the price would still have risen to to its long term trend in real, inflation adjusted dollars. Which oddly enough is where the price of oil settled.
“And yes, we have over 100 Trillion in unfunded mandates, from Social Security, to Medicare, to pensions, to welfare. Look that up as well. “
It’s your claim, you get to provide the evidence to back it up. What’s important is the ability to cover any payments due out of current income and not its sheer number. That’s the nature of the funded public debt as set up by Alexander Hamilton and continued to this day. The US Treasury has never once missed a payment through all the wars, depressions, whatever. If that 226 year record is about to end I’d like to see the evidence.
One way to measure economic risk is to look at the interest rate demanded of a borrower. A high risk client will have to pay a high interest rate. Last time I looked the Treasury isn’t paying much for the money that the Congress borrows. Evidently the market doesn’t agree with you that the sky is about to fall.
It’s your claim, you get to provide the evidence to back it up.
$205 Trillion in Unfunded Liabilities
There are various estimates on the exact number, but sure.
And don't forget about this:
I absolutely agree that Bretton Woods contributed to the 70's oil crisis, because oil was (and is) sold in dollars. But it is also fact that OPEC retaliated against the west for support of Israel.