If you read many of the old English tales, the family inherited a set amount of pounds annually making them either independent or barely above poverty level. But never did their pounds buy less decade after decade as does our US$. The British pound, also referred to as the pound sterling, was asset based and held its value.
As this chart shows, Nixon's ending of the Bretton-Woods Agreement (44 allied nations agreed not to inflate,) unleashed inflation. Why would Nixon break an agreement that had brought us such economic growth and stability after WWII? Nixon needed inflation to mask the costs of his secret wars in Cambodia, for one. If you want to learn how the 'inflation tax' steals our wealth from the 99% and redistributes it to the 1% who are connected to the fiat currency or connected to government, google it.
