The most perfect monetary system humans have yet created was the world gold standard system of the late 19th century, roughly 1870-1914.

FORBES: The 1870-1914 Gold Standard: The Most Perfect One Ever Created

With monetary stability assured by the gold standard system, bond yields fell everywhere to very low levels.

FORBES: The 1870-1914 Gold Standard: The Most Perfect One Ever Created

When I started at the Richmond Fed in August 1968, what they are now calling currency manipulation was the standard, accepted international monetary system.

FORBES: Currency Manipulation

So it was on August 15th, 1971, that President Nixon radically changed the global monetary system by nixing the gold standard.

FORBES: Dead 40 Years Ago, the Gold Standard Is Back

Unlike today, these rock-bottom yields were not obtained by every sort of central bank manipulation imaginable, but reflected the long history and expectation for monetary and macroeconomic stability that the gold standard system provided.

FORBES: The 1870-1914 Gold Standard: The Most Perfect One Ever Created

Even Alan Greenspan now agrees that the world gold standard of the late 19th century was the Most Perfect Monetary System Ever Created.

FORBES: We Are Happily Beyond The Days Of Ron Paul's Lonely Crusades

The third basic type of gold standard could be called the Bretton Woods system (after the monetary system that was used from 1948 to 1971).

FORBES: Stop The Madness: Make The Dollar As Good As Gold

Since then we have not had a president who understood the monetary system the way he did, let alone appreciated the workings of the gold standard.

FORBES: Reagan's Monetary History