document_title: Gold standard

question_text: when did the usa leave the gold standard

question_tokens: when did the usa leave the gold standard

text: Gold standard

text: History

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text: Origin

text: The gold specie standard arose from the widespread acceptance of gold as currency.[5] Various commodities have been used as money; typically, the one that loses the least value over time becomes the accepted form.[6] The use of gold as money began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor.[7]

text: During the early and high Middle Ages, the Byzantine gold solidus, commonly known as the bezant, was used widely throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. However, as the Byzantine Empire's economic influence declined, so too did the use of the bezant.[8] In its place, European territories chose silver as their currency over gold, leading to the development of silver standards.

text: Silver pennies based on the Roman denarius became the staple coin of Mercia in Great Britain around the time of King Offa, circa CE 757–796.[9] Similar coins, including Italian denari, French deniers, and Spanish dineros circulated in Europe. Spanish explorers discovered silver deposits in Mexico in 1522 and at Potosí in Bolivia in 1545.[10] International trade came to depend on coins such as the Spanish dollar, the Maria Theresa thaler, and later, the United States trade dollar.

text: In modern times, the British West Indies was one of the first regions to adopt a gold specie standard. Following Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704, the British West Indies gold standard was a de facto gold standard based on the Spanish gold doubloon. In 1717, Sir Isaac Newton, the master of the Royal Mint, established a new mint ratio between silver and gold that had the effect of driving silver out of circulation and putting Britain on a gold standard.[11]

text: A formal gold specie standard was first established in 1821, when Britain adopted it following the introduction of the gold sovereign by the new Royal Mint at Tower Hill in 1816. The United Province of Canada in 1853, Newfoundland in 1865, and the United States and Germany (de jure) in 1873 adopted gold. The United States used the eagle as its unit, Germany introduced the new gold mark, while Canada adopted a dual system based on both the American gold eagle and the British gold sovereign.

text: Australia and New Zealand adopted the British gold standard, as did the British West Indies, while Newfoundland was the only British Empire territory to introduce its own gold coin. Royal Mint branches were established in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth for the purpose of minting gold sovereigns from Australia's rich gold deposits.

text: The gold specie standard came to an end in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire with the outbreak of World War I.

text: Silver

text: From 1750 to 1870, wars within Europe as well as an ongoing trade deficit with China (which sold to Europe but had little use for European goods) drained silver from the economies of Western Europe and the United States. Coins were struck in smaller and smaller numbers, and there was a proliferation of bank and stock notes used as money.

text: United Kingdom

text: In the 1790s, the United Kingdom suffered a silver shortage. It ceased to mint larger silver coins and instead issued "token" silver coins and overstruck foreign coins. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Bank of England began the massive recoinage programme that created standard gold sovereigns, circulating crowns, half-crowns and eventually copper farthings in 1821. The recoinage of silver after a long drought produced a burst of coins. The United Kingdom struck nearly 40 million shillings between 1816 and 1820, 17 million half crowns and 1.3 million silver crowns.

text: The 1819 Act for the Resumption of Cash Payments set 1823 as the date for resumption of convertibility, which was reached by 1821. Throughout the 1820s, small notes were issued by regional banks. This was restricted in 1826, while the Bank of England was allowed to set up regional branches. In 1833 however, Bank of England notes were made legal tender and redemption by other banks was discouraged. In 1844, the Bank Charter Act established that Bank of England notes were fully backed by gold and they became the legal standard. According to the strict interpretation of the gold standard, this 1844 act marked the establishment of a full gold standard for British money.

text: United States

text: In the 1780s, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton recommended to Congress the value of a decimal system. This system would also apply to monies in the United States. The question was what type of standard: gold, silver or both.[12] The United States adopted a silver standard based on the Spanish milled dollar in 1785.

text: International

text: From 1860 to 1871 various attempts to resurrect bi-metallic standards were made, including one based on the gold and silver franc; however, with the rapid influx of silver from new deposits, the expectation of scarce silver ended.

text: The interaction between central banking and currency basis formed the primary source of monetary instability during this period. The combination of a restricted supply of notes, a government monopoly on note issuance and indirectly, a central bank and a single unit of value produced economic stability. Deviation from these conditions produced monetary crises.

text: Devalued notes or leaving silver as a store of value caused economic problems. Governments, demanding specie as payment, could drain the money out of the economy. Economic development expanded need for credit. The need for a solid basis in monetary affairs produced a rapid acceptance of the gold standard in the period that followed.

text: Japan

text: Following Germany's decision after the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War to extract reparations to facilitate a move to the gold standard, Japan gained the needed reserves after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. For Japan, moving to gold was considered vital for gaining access to Western capital markets.[13]

text: Bimetallic standard

text: US: Pre-Civil War

text: In 1792, Congress passed the Mint and Coinage Act. It authorized the federal government's use of the Bank of the United States to hold its reserves, as well as establish a fixed ratio of gold to the U.S. dollar. Gold and silver coins were legal tender, as was the Spanish real. In 1792 the market price of gold was about 15 times that of silver.[12] Silver coins left circulation, exported to pay for the debts taken on to finance the American Revolutionary War. In 1806 President Jefferson suspended the minting of silver coins. This resulted in a derivative silver standard, since the Bank of the United States was not required to fully back its currency with reserves. This began a long series of attempts by the United States to create a bi-metallic standard.

text: The intention was to use gold for large denominations, and silver for smaller denominations. A problem with bimetallic standards was that the metals' absolute and relative market prices changed. The mint ratio (the rate at which the mint was obligated to pay/receive for gold relative to silver) remained fixed at 15 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold, whereas the market rate fluctuated from 15.5 to 1 to 16 to 1. With the Coinage Act of 1834, Congress passed an act that changed the mint ratio to approximately 16 to 1. Gold discoveries in California in 1848 and later in Australia lowered the gold price relative to silver; this drove silver money from circulation because it was worth more in the market than as money.[14] Passage of the Independent Treasury Act of 1848 placed the U.S. on a strict hard-money standard. Doing business with the American government required gold or silver coins.

text: Government accounts were legally separated from the banking system. However, the mint ratio (the fixed exchange rate between gold and silver at the mint) continued to overvalue gold. In 1853, the US reduced the silver weight of coins to keep them in circulation and in 1857 removed legal tender status from foreign coinage. In 1857 the final crisis of the free banking era began as American banks suspended payment in silver, with ripples through the developing international financial system. Due to the inflationary finance measures undertaken to help pay for the US Civil War, the government found it difficult to pay its obligations in gold or silver and suspended payments of obligations not legally specified in specie (gold bonds); this led banks to suspend the conversion of bank liabilities (bank notes and deposits) into specie. In 1862 paper money was made legal tender. It was a fiat money (not convertible on demand at a fixed rate into specie). These notes came to be called "greenbacks".[14]

text: US: Post-Civil War

text: After the Civil War, Congress wanted to reestablish the metallic standard at pre-war rates. The market price of gold in greenbacks was above the pre-War fixed price ($20.67 per ounce of gold) requiring deflation to achieve the pre-War price. This was accomplished by growing the stock of money less rapidly than real output. By 1879 the market price matched the mint price of gold. The coinage act of 1873 (also known as the Crime of ‘73) demonetized silver. This act removed the 412.5 grain silver dollar from circulation. Subsequently silver was only used in coins worth less than $1 (fractional currency). With the resumption of convertibility on June 30, 1879 the government again paid its debts in gold, accepted greenbacks for customs and redeemed greenbacks on demand in gold. Greenbacks were therefore perfect substitutes for gold coins. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the use of silver and a return to the bimetallic standard were recurrent political issues, raised especially by William Jennings Bryan, the People's Party and the Free Silver movement . In 1900 the gold dollar was declared the standard unit of account and a gold reserve for government issued paper notes was established. Greenbacks, silver certificates, and silver dollars continued to be legal tender, all redeemable in gold.[14]

text: Fluctuations in the US gold stock, 1862–1877

text:
US gold stock

1862
59 tons

1866
81 tons

1875
50 tons

1878
78 tons

text: The US had a gold stock of 1.9 million ounces (59 t) in 1862. Stocks rose to 2.6 million ounces (81 t) in 1866, declined in 1875 to 1.6 million ounces (50 t) and rose to 2.5 million ounces (78 t) in 1878. Net exports did not mirror that pattern. In the decade before the Civil War net exports were roughly constant; postwar they varied erratically around pre-war levels, but fell significantly in 1877 and became negative in 1878 and 1879. The net import of gold meant that the foreign demand for American currency to purchase goods, services, and investments exceeded the corresponding American demands for foreign currencies. In the final years of the greenback period (1862–1879), gold production increased while gold exports decreased. The decrease in gold exports was considered by some to be a result of changing monetary conditions. The demands for gold during this period were as a speculative vehicle, and for its primary use in the foreign exchange markets financing international trade. The major effect of the increase in gold demand by the public and Treasury was to reduce exports of gold and increase the Greenback price of gold relative to purchasing power.[15]

text: Gold exchange standard

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text: Towards the end of the 19th century, some silver standard countries began to peg their silver coin units to the gold standards of the United Kingdom or the United States. In 1898, British India pegged the silver rupee to the pound sterling at a fixed rate of 1s 4d, while in 1906, the Straits Settlements adopted a gold exchange standard against sterling, fixing the silver Straits dollar at 2s 4d.

text: Around the start of the 20th century, the Philippines pegged the silver peso/dollar to the U.S. dollar at 50 cents. This move was assisted by the passage of the Philippines Coinage Act by the United States Congress on March 3, 1903.[16] Around the same time Mexico and Japan pegged their currencies to the dollar. When Siam adopted a gold exchange standard in 1908, only China and Hong Kong remained on the silver standard.

text: When adopting the gold standard, many European nations changed the name of their currency, for instance from Daler (Sweden and Denmark) or Gulden (Austria-Hungary) to Crown, since the former names were traditionally associated with silver coins and the latter with gold coins.

text: Impact of World War I

text: Governments with insufficient tax revenue suspended convertibility repeatedly in the 19th century. The real test, however, came in the form of World War I, a test which "it failed utterly" according to economist Richard Lipsey.[5]

text: By the end of 1913, the classical gold standard was at its peak but World War I caused many countries to suspend or abandon it.[17] According to Lawrence Officer the main cause of the gold standard’s failure to resume its previous position after World War 1 was “the Bank of England's precarious liquidity position and the gold-exchange standard.” A run on sterling caused Britain to impose exchange controls that fatally weakened the standard; convertibility was not legally suspended, but gold prices no longer played the role that they did before.[18] In financing the war and abandoning gold, many of the belligerents suffered drastic inflations. Price levels doubled in the US and Britain, tripled in France and quadrupled in Italy. Exchange rates changed less, even though European inflations were more severe than America’s. This meant that the costs of American goods decreased relative to those in Europe. Between August 1914 and spring of 1915, the dollar value of US exports tripled and its trade surplus exceeded $1 billion for the first time.[19]

text: Ultimately, the system could not deal quickly enough with the large balance of payments deficits and surpluses; this was previously attributed to downward wage rigidity brought about by the advent of unionized labor, but is now considered as an inherent fault of the system that arose under the pressures of war and rapid technological change. In any case, prices had not reached equilibrium by the time of the Great Depression, which served to kill off the system completely.[5]

text: For example, Germany had gone off the gold standard in 1914, and could not effectively return to it because War reparations had cost it much of its gold reserves. During the Occupation of the Ruhr the German central bank (Reichsbank) issued enormous sums of non-convertible marks to support workers who were on strike against the French occupation and to buy foreign currency for reparations; this led to the German hyperinflation of the early 1920s and the decimation of the German middle class.

text: The US did not suspend the gold standard during the war. The newly created Federal Reserve intervened in currency markets and sold bonds to “sterilize”[vague] some of the gold imports that would have otherwise increased the stock of money.[citation needed] By 1927 many countries had returned to the gold standard.[14] As a result of World War 1 the United States, which had been a net debtor country, had become a net creditor by 1919.[20]

text: Gold bullion replaces gold specie as standard

text: The gold specie standard ended in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire at the outbreak of World War I, when Treasury notes replaced the circulation of gold sovereigns and gold half sovereigns. Legally, the gold specie standard was not repealed. The end of the gold standard was successfully effected by the Bank of England through appeals to patriotism urging citizens not to redeem paper money for gold specie. It was only in 1925, when Britain returned to the gold standard in conjunction with Australia and South Africa that the gold specie standard was officially ended.

text: The British Gold Standard Act 1925 both introduced the gold bullion standard and simultaneously repealed the gold specie standard. The new standard ended the circulation of gold specie coins. Instead, the law compelled the authorities to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price, but "only in the form of bars containing approximately four hundred ounces troy [12 kg] of fine gold".[21][22] John Maynard Keynes, citing deflationary dangers, argued against resumption of the gold standard.[23]

text: Many other countries followed Britain in returning to the gold standard, this was followed by a period of relative stability but also deflation.[24] This state of affairs lasted until the Great Depression (1929–1939) forced countries off the gold standard. In September 19, 1931, speculative attacks on the pound forced Britain to abandon the gold standard. Loans from American and French Central Banks of £50,000,000 were insufficient and exhausted in a matter of weeks, due to large gold outflows across the Atlantic.[25][26][27] The British benefited from this departure. They could now use monetary policy to stimulate the economy. Australia and New Zealand had already left the standard and Canada quickly followed suit.

text: The interwar partially backed gold standard was inherently unstable, because of the conflict between the expansion of liabilities to foreign central banks and the resulting deterioration in the Bank of England's reserve ratio. France was then attempting to make Paris a world class financial center, and it received large gold flows as well.[28]

text: In May 1931 a run on Austria's largest commercial bank caused it to fail. The run spread to Germany, where the central bank also collapsed. International financial assistance was too late and in July 1931 Germany adopted exchange controls, followed by Austria in October. The Austrian and German experiences, as well as British budgetary and political difficulties, were among the factors that destroyed confidence in sterling, which occurred in mid-July 1931. Runs ensued and the Bank of England lost much of its reserves.

text: Depression and World War II

text: Great Depression

text: Some economic historians, such as Barry Eichengreen, blame the gold standard of the 1920s for prolonging the economic depression which started in 1929 and lasted for about a decade.[30] In the United States, adherence to the gold standard prevented the Federal Reserve from expanding the money supply to stimulate the economy, fund insolvent banks and fund government deficits that could "prime the pump" for an expansion. Once off the gold standard, it became free to engage in such money creation. The gold standard limited the flexibility of the central banks' monetary policy by limiting their ability to expand the money supply. In the US, the central bank was required by the Federal Reserve Act (1913) to have gold backing 40% of its demand notes.[31] Others including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman place the blame for the severity and length of the Great Depression at the feet of the Federal Reserve, mostly due to the deliberate tightening of monetary policy even after the gold standard.[32] They blamed the US major economic contraction in 1937 on tightening of monetary policy resulting in higher cost of capital, weaker securities markets, reduced net government contribution to income, the undistributed profits tax and higher labor costs.[33] The money supply peaked in March 1937, with a trough in May 1938.[34]

text: Higher interest rates intensified the deflationary pressure on the dollar and reduced investment in U.S. banks. Commercial banks converted Federal Reserve Notes to gold in 1931, reducing its gold reserves and forcing a corresponding reduction in the amount of currency in circulation. This speculative attack created a panic in the U.S. banking system. Fearing imminent devaluation many depositors withdrew funds from U.S. banks.[35] As bank runs grew, a reverse multiplier effect caused a contraction in the money supply.[36] Additionally the New York Fed had loaned over $150 million in gold (over 240 tons) to European Central Banks. This transfer contracted the US money supply. The foreign loans became questionable once Britain, Germany, Austria and other European countries went off the gold standard in 1931 and weakened confidence in the dollar.[37]

text: The forced contraction of the money supply resulted in deflation. Even as nominal interest rates dropped, inflation-adjusted real interest rates remained high, rewarding those who held onto money instead of spending it, further slowing the economy.[38] Recovery in the United States was slower than in Britain, in part due to Congressional reluctance to abandon the gold standard and float the U.S. currency as Britain had done.[39]

text: In the early 1930s, the Federal Reserve defended the dollar by raising interest rates, trying to increase the demand for dollars. This helped attract international investors who bought foreign assets with gold.[35]

text: Congress passed the Gold Reserve Act on 30 January 1934; the measure nationalized all gold by ordering Federal Reserve banks to turn over their supply to the U.S. Treasury. In return the banks received gold certificates to be used as reserves against deposits and Federal Reserve notes. The act also authorized the president to devalue the gold dollar. Under this authority the president, on 31 January 1934, changed the value of the dollar from $20.67 to the troy ounce to $35 to the troy ounce, a devaluation of over 40%.

text: Other factors in the prolongation of the Great Depression include trade wars and the reduction in international trade caused by barriers such as Smoot–Hawley Tariff in the US and the Imperial Preference policies of Great Britain,[40] the failure of central banks to act responsibly,[41] government policies designed to prevent wages from falling, such as the Davis–Bacon Act of 1931, during the deflationary period resulting in production costs dropping slower than sales prices, thereby injuring business profits[42] and increases in taxes to reduce budget deficits and to support new programs such as Social Security. The US top marginal income tax rate went from 25% to 63% in 1932 and to 79% in 1936,[43] while the bottom rate increased over tenfold, from .375% in 1929 to 4% in 1932.[44] The concurrent massive drought resulted in the US Dust Bowl.

text: The Austrian School asserted that the Great Depression was the result of a credit bust.[45] Alan Greenspan wrote that the bank failures of the 1930s were sparked by Great Britain dropping the gold standard in 1931. This act "tore asunder" any remaining confidence in the banking system.[46] Financial historian Niall Ferguson wrote that what made the Great Depression truly 'great' was the European banking crisis of 1931.[47] According to Fed Chairman Marriner Eccles, the root cause was the concentration of wealth resulting in a stagnating or decreasing standard of living for the poor and middle class. These classes went into debt, producing the credit explosion of the 1920s. Eventually the debt load grew too heavy, resulting in the massive defaults and financial panics of the 1930s.[48]

text: World War II

text: Under the Bretton Woods international monetary agreement of 1944, the gold standard was kept without domestic convertibility. The role of gold was severely constrained, as other countries’ currencies were fixed in terms of the dollar. Many countries kept reserves in gold and settled accounts in gold. Still they preferred to settle balances with other currencies, with the American dollar becoming the favorite. The International Monetary Fund was established to help with the exchange process and assist nations in maintaining fixed rates. Within Bretton Woods adjustment was cushioned through credits that helped countries avoid deflation. Under the old standard, a country with an overvalued currency would lose gold and experience deflation until the currency was again valued correctly. Most countries defined their currencies in terms of dollars, but some countries imposed trading restrictions to protect reserves and exchange rates. Therefore, most countries' currencies were still basically inconvertible. In the late 1950s, the exchange restrictions were dropped and gold became an important element in international financial settlements.[14]

text: Bretton Woods

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text: After the Second World War, a system similar to a gold standard and sometimes described as a "gold exchange standard" was established by the Bretton Woods Agreements. Under this system, many countries fixed their exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar and central banks could exchange dollar holdings into gold at the official exchange rate of $35 per ounce; this option was not available to firms or individuals. All currencies pegged to the dollar thereby had a fixed value in terms of gold.[5]

text: Starting in the 1959–1969 administration of President Charles de Gaulle and continuing until 1970, France reduced its dollar reserves, exchanging them for gold at the official exchange rate, reducing US economic influence. This, along with the fiscal strain of federal expenditures for the Vietnam War and persistent balance of payments deficits, led U.S. President Richard Nixon to end international convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold on August 15, 1971 (the "Nixon Shock").

text: This was meant to be a temporary measure, with the gold price of the dollar and the official rate of exchanges remaining constant. Revaluing currencies was the main purpose of this plan. No official revaluation or redemption occurred. The dollar subsequently floated. In December 1971, the “Smithsonian Agreement” was reached. In this agreement, the dollar was devalued from $35 per troy ounce of gold to $38. Other countries' currencies appreciated. However, gold convertibility did not resume. In October 1973, the price was raised to $42.22. Once again, the devaluation was insufficient. Within two weeks of the second devaluation the dollar was left to float. The $42.22 par value was made official in September 1973, long after it had been abandoned in practice. In October 1976, the government officially changed the definition of the dollar; references to gold were removed from statutes. From this point, the international monetary system was made of pure fiat money.

text: Production of gold

text: An estimated total of 174,100 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, according to GFMS as of 2012. This is roughly equivalent to 5.6 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 9,261 cubic metres (327,000 cu ft), or a cube 21 metres (69 ft) on a side. There are varying estimates of the total volume of gold mined. One reason for the variance is that gold has been mined for thousands of years. Another reason is that some nations are not particularly open about how much gold is being mined. In addition, it is difficult to account for the gold output in illegal mining activities.[49]

text: World production for 2011 was at 2,700 tonnes. Since the 1950s, annual gold output growth has approximately kept pace with world population growth of around 2x[clarification needed],[50] although far less than world economic growth of some 8x[clarification needed],[51] or some 4x[clarification needed] since 1980.[52]

text: Theory

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text: Commodity money is inconvenient to store and transport in large amounts. Furthermore, it does not allow a government to manipulate the flow of commerce with the same ease that a fiat currency does. As such, commodity money gave way to representative money and gold and other specie were retained as its backing.

text: Gold was a preferred form of money due to its rarity, durability, divisibility, fungibility and ease of identification,[53] often in conjunction with silver. Silver was typically the main circulating medium, with gold as the monetary reserve. Commodity money was anonymous, as identifying marks can be removed. Commodity money retains its value despite what may happen to the monetary authority. After the fall of South Vietnam, many refugees carried their wealth to the West in gold after the national currency became worthless.[citation needed]

text: Under commodity standards currency itself has no intrinsic value, but is accepted by traders because it can be redeemed any time for the equivalent specie. A US silver certificate, for example, could be redeemed for an actual piece of silver.

text: Representative money and the gold standard protect citizens from hyperinflation and other abuses of monetary policy, as were seen in some countries during the Great Depression. Commodity money conversely led to deflation and bank runs.

text: Countries that left the gold standard earlier than other countries recovered from the Great Depression sooner. For example, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had a silver standard, almost entirely avoided the depression (due to the fact it was then barely integrated into the global economy). The connection between leaving the gold standard and the severity and duration of the depression was consistent for dozens of countries, including developing countries. This may explain why the experience and length of the depression differed between national economies.[54]

text: Variations

text: A full or 100%-reserve gold standard exists when the monetary authority holds sufficient gold to convert all the circulating representative money into gold at the promised exchange rate. It is sometimes referred to as the gold specie standard to more easily distinguish it. Opponents of a full standard consider it difficult to implement, saying that the quantity of gold in the world is too small to sustain worldwide economic activity at or near current gold prices; implementation would entail a many-fold increase in the price of gold.[citation needed] Gold standard proponents have said, "Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income."[55] While prices would necessarily adjust to the supply of gold, the process may involve considerable economic disruption, as was experienced during earlier attempts to maintain gold standards.[56]

text: In an international gold-standard system (which is necessarily based on an internal gold standard in the countries concerned),[57] gold or a currency that is convertible into gold at a fixed price is used to make international payments. Under such a system, when exchange rates rise above or fall below the fixed mint rate by more than the cost of shipping gold, inflows or outflows occur until rates return to the official level. International gold standards often limit which entities have the right to redeem currency for gold.

text: Advantages

text:
Long-term price stability has been described as one of the virtues of the gold standard.[58] The gold standard makes it difficult for governments to inflate prices through expanding the money supply. Under the gold standard, significant inflation is rare, and hyperinflation is essentially impossible because the money supply can only grow at the rate that the gold supply increases. High inflation under a gold standard is seen only when warfare destroys a large part of an economy, reducing the production of goods, or when a major new gold source becomes available.[59] In the U.S., inflation occurred during the Civil War, which destroyed the economy of the South.[60] Inflation also followed the California Gold Rush that made large amounts of gold available for minting.[61] Historical data shows that the magnitude of short run swings in prices were far higher under the gold standard.[62][58]
The gold standard provides fixed international exchange rates between participating countries and thus reduces uncertainty in international trade. Historically, imbalances between price levels were offset by a balance-of-payment adjustment mechanism called the "price–specie flow mechanism".[59] Gold used to pay for imports reduces the money supply of importing nations, causing deflation, which makes them more competitive, while the importation of gold by net exporters serves to increase their money supply, causing inflation, making them less competitive.[63]
A gold standard does not allow some types of financial repression.[64] Financial repression acts as a mechanism to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors, particularly the governments that practice it. Financial repression is most successful in reducing debt when accompanied by inflation and can be considered a form of taxation.[65][66] In 1966 Alan Greenspan wrote "Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard."[67]

text: Disadvantages

text:
The unequal distribution of gold deposits makes the gold standard more advantageous for those countries that produce gold.[68] In 2010 the largest producers of gold, in order, were China, Australia, U.S., South Africa and Russia.[69] The country with the largest unmined gold deposits is Australia.[70]
Some economists believe that the gold standard acts as a limit on economic growth. "As an economy's productive capacity grows, then so should its money supply. Because a gold standard requires that money be backed in the metal, then the scarcity of the metal constrains the ability of the economy to produce more capital and grow."[71]
Mainstream economists believe that economic recessions can be largely mitigated by increasing the money supply during economic downturns.[72] A gold standard means that the money supply would be determined by the gold supply and hence monetary policy could no longer be used to stabilize the economy.[73] The gold standard is often blamed for prolonging the Great Depression, as under the gold standard, central banks could not expand credit at a fast enough rate to offset deflationary forces.[74]
Although the gold standard brings long-run price stability, it is historically associated with high short-run price volatility.[58][75] It has been argued by Schwartz, among others, that instability in short-term price levels can lead to financial instability as lenders and borrowers become uncertain about the value of debt.[75]
Deflation punishes debtors.[76][77] Real debt burdens therefore rise, causing borrowers to cut spending to service their debts or to default. Lenders become wealthier, but may choose to save some of the additional wealth, reducing GDP.[78]
The money supply would essentially be determined by the rate of gold production. When gold stocks increase more rapidly than the economy, there is inflation and the reverse is also true.[58][79] The consensus view is that the gold standard contributed to the severity and length of the Great Depression.[80][81]
Hamilton contended that the gold standard is susceptible to speculative attacks when a government's financial position appears weak. Conversely, this threat discourages governments from engaging in risky policy (see moral hazard). For example, the U.S. was forced to contract the money supply and raise interest rates in September 1931 to defend the dollar after speculators forced the UK off the gold standard.[81][82][83][84]
Devaluing a currency under a gold standard would generally produce sharper changes than the smooth declines seen in fiat currencies, depending on the method of devaluation.[85]
Most economists favor a low, positive rate of inflation of around 2%. This reflects fear of deflationary shocks and the belief that active monetary policy can dampen fluctuations in output and unemployment. Inflation gives them room to tighten policy without inducing deflation.[86]
A gold standard provides practical constraints against the measures that central banks might otherwise use to respond to economic crises.[87] Creation of new money reduces interest rates and thereby increases demand for new lower cost debt, raising the demand for money.[88]

text: Gold standard and Bitcoin

text: According to research produced by the Bank of Canada, the emerging Bitcoin economy has many similarities with the economy based on gold standard, in particular:[89][90]

text:
limited and predictable supply of the anchor of the monetary system
no central bank or monetary authority controls the supply
low or non-existent inflation
virtually no arbitrage costs for international transactions
Governments have less control over their domestic economies
Governments lose seigniorage revenues that they obtain from the ability to almost costlessly create money

text: Edward Hadas and Michael Hiltzik noted that monetary systems based on Bitcoin and gold have some similar disadvantages:

text:
independence from government[91][92]
price declines[91]
less spending during crisis times[91]

text: George Gilder, a proponent of gold standard, proposed breaking "the government monopoly on money" by using a combination of Bitcoin for the internet and treating gold in tax terms as currency.[93][94]

text: Advocates

text: A return to the gold standard was considered by the US Gold Commission back in 1982, but found only minority support.[95] In 2001 Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad proposed a new currency that would be used initially for international trade among Muslim nations, using the Islamic gold dinar, defined as 4.25 grams of pure (24-carat) gold. Mahathir claimed it would be a stable unit of account and a political symbol of unity between Islamic nations. This would purportedly reduce dependence on the US dollar and establish a non-debt-backed currency in accord with Sharia law that prohibited the charging of interest.[96] As of 2013[update] the global monetary system continued to rely on the US dollar as the main reserve currency.[97]

text: Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan acknowledged he was one of "a small minority" within the central bank that had some positive view on the gold standard.[98] In a 1966 essay he contributed to a book by Ayn Rand, titled "Gold and Economic Freedom", Greenspan argued the case for returning to a 'pure' gold standard; in that essay he described supporters of fiat currencies as "welfare statists" intending to use monetary policy to finance deficit spending.[99] More recently he claimed that by focusing on targeting inflation "central bankers have behaved as though we were on the gold standard", rendering a return to the standard unnecessary.[100]

text: Similarly, economists like Robert Barro argued that whilst some form of "monetary constitution" is essential for stable, depoliticized monetary policy, the form this constitution takes—for example, a gold standard, some other commodity-based standard, or a fiat currency with fixed rules for determining the quantity of money—is considerably less important.[101]

text: The gold standard is supported by many followers of the Austrian School of Economics, free-market libertarians and some supply-siders.[102]

text: US politics

text: In the United States, strict constitutionalists object to the government issuing fiat currency through central banks. Some gold-standard advocates also call for a mandated end to fractional-reserve banking. Many similar alternatives have been suggested, including energy-based currencies, collections of currencies or commodities, with gold as one component.

text: Former congressman Ron Paul is a long-term, high-profile advocate of a gold standard, but has also expressed support for using a standard based on a basket of commodities that better reflects the state of the economy.[103]

text: In 2011 the Utah legislature passed a bill to accept federally issued gold and silver coins as legal tender to pay taxes.[104] As federally issued currency, the coins were already legal tender for taxes, although the market price of their metal content currently exceeds their monetary value. Similar legislation is under consideration in other US states.[105] The bill was initiated by newly elected Republican Party legislators associated with the Tea Party movement and was driven by anxiety over the policies of President Barack Obama.[106]

text: In 2013, the Arizona Legislature passed SB 1439, which would have made gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debt, but the bill was vetoed by the Governor.[107]

text: In 2015, some candidates for the 2016 presidential election advocated for a gold standard, based on concern that the Federal Reserve’s attempts to increase economic growth may create inflation. Economic historians did not agree with candidate's assertions that the gold standard would benefit the US economy.[108]

text: Critics

text: In 2012 a poll of 40 U.S. economists in the IGM Economic Experts Panel found that none of them agreed with a claim that a return to the gold standard would result in "price-stability and employment outcomes [that] would be better for the average American." The panel of polled economists included past Nobel Prize winners, former economic advisers to both Republican and Democratic presidents, and senior faculty from Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, MIT, and other well-known research universities. (The specific question posed to the economists was: "If the US replaced its discretionary monetary policy regime with a gold standard, defining a 'dollar' as a specific number of ounces of gold, the price-stability and employment outcomes would be better for the average American.") [3]

text: The economist Allan H. Meltzer of Carnegie Mellon University presented arguments against Ron Paul's advocacy of the gold standard since the 1970s. He sometimes summarizes his opposition by stating simply, "[W]e don’t have the gold standard. It’s not because we don’t know about the gold standard, it’s because we do."[109]


document_title: Climate of Vancouver

question_text: how many rainy days in vancouver per year

root

text: Climate of Vancouver

text: General conditions[edit]

text: The climatology of Vancouver applies to the entire Greater Vancouver region and not just to the City of Vancouver itself. While Vancouver's coastal location serves to moderate its temperatures, sea breezes and mountainous terrain make Greater Vancouver a region of microclimates, with local variations in weather sometimes being more exaggerated than those experienced in other coastal areas.

tag: p

text: Predicting precipitation in the Greater Vancouver area is particularly complex. It is a rule of thumb that for every rise of 100 m (330 ft) in elevation, there is an additional 100 mm (3.9 in) (1.2 in (30 mm) per 100 ft (30 m)) of precipitation, so places such as the District of North Vancouver on the North Shore Mountains get more rain. Snow is problematic for meteorologists to predict due to temperatures remaining close to freezing during snow events.

text: Temperatures[edit]

text: The annual average temperature in Vancouver is 11.0 °C (51.8 °F) downtown and 10.4 °C (50.7 °F) at the airport, in Richmond, amongst the warmest in Canada. It is located in a USDA plant hardiness zone of 8,[1] similar to other coastal or near-coastal cities such as Seattle, Portland, Amsterdam and London, as well as places such as Atlanta, Georgia and Raleigh, North Carolina, far to the south. The mild climate allows plants such as the Windmill Palm to sustain. Vancouver's growing season averages 221 days, from March 29 until November 5. This is 72 days longer than Toronto's, and longer than any other major centre in Canada.[2]

text: Despite normally mild winters resulting from the onshore flow over the North Pacific Current, occasional arrivals of cold arctic outflows (sinking cold continental air that flows down through the Fraser Valley coastward) in winter can sometimes last a week or more. These arctic outbreaks occur on average about one to three times per winter. In an extreme case, the coldest month on record at Vancouver International Airport was in January 1950 when an arctic air inflow moved in from the Fraser Valley and remained locked over the city, with an average low of −9.7 °C (15 °F) and an average high of only −2.9 °C (27 °F), making for a daily average of −6.3 °C (20.7 °F), 10 °C (18 °F) colder than normal. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was −17.8 °C (0 °F) on January 14, 1950 and again on December 29, 1968. The coldest temperature across Metro Vancouver, however, is −23.3 °C (−10 °F) recorded on January 23, 1969.[3]

text: With snow being an infrequent occurrence over a typically mild winter, many cold hardy flowers remain in bloom and are common in gardens and office exteriors throughout the winter. The arrival of spring is often first noticed in February with slightly milder temperatures and the return of flowering perennials. It's also not uncommon for cherry blossoms to begin blooming later in the month, as was seen prominently during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

text: The Greater Vancouver region is also subject to significant variations in summer temperatures, which can differ by as much as 5–10 °C (9–18 °F) between inland areas of the Fraser Valley and the ocean-tempered coastal regions when localized on-shore breezes are in effect. Conversely, winter temperatures tend to be cooler inland by a couple of degrees.

text: Daylight[edit]

text: The relatively high latitude of 49° 15′ 0″ N (e.g. like Paris, France) means sunsets as early as 4:15 pm and sunrises as late as 8:10 am. From November to February, at the sunshine measuring station at the airport in Richmond, on average more than 70% of the already short daytime is completely cloudy. The percentage of cloudiness is higher in Vancouver and especially the North Shore because upslope winds going up the mountainsides lead to the development of clouds.

text: Summers, in contrast, are characterized by a nearly opposite weather pattern, with consistent high pressure and sunshine. July and August are the sunniest months. For several nights near the summer solstice, there are less than 7.5 hours between sunset and sunrise, with twilight lasting past 10 pm.

text: Statistics[edit]

text:
[show]Climate data for Vancouver International Airport (Richmond), 1981–2010 normals, extremes 1898–present[a]

Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year

Record high humidex
17.2
18.0
20.3
23.9
33.7
33.9
38.3
35.9
33.0
27.2
21.1
16.1
38.3

Record high °C (°F)
15.3
(59.5)
18.4
(65.1)
20.0
(68)
26.1
(79)
30.4
(86.7)
33.3
(91.9)
34.4
(93.9)
33.3
(91.9)
30.0
(86)
25.0
(77)
20.1
(68.2)
15.0
(59)
34.4
(93.9)

Average high °C (°F)
6.9
(44.4)
8.2
(46.8)
10.3
(50.5)
13.2
(55.8)
16.7
(62.1)
19.6
(67.3)
22.2
(72)
22.2
(72)
18.9
(66)
13.5
(56.3)
9.2
(48.6)
6.3
(43.3)
13.9
(57)

Daily mean °C (°F)
4.1
(39.4)
4.9
(40.8)
6.9
(44.4)
9.4
(48.9)
12.8
(55)
15.7
(60.3)
18.0
(64.4)
18.0
(64.4)
14.9
(58.8)
10.3
(50.5)
6.3
(43.3)
3.6
(38.5)
10.4
(50.7)

Average low °C (°F)
1.4
(34.5)
1.6
(34.9)
3.4
(38.1)
5.6
(42.1)
8.8
(47.8)
11.7
(53.1)
13.7
(56.7)
13.8
(56.8)
10.8
(51.4)
7.0
(44.6)
3.5
(38.3)
0.8
(33.4)
6.8
(44.2)

Record low °C (°F)
−17.8
(0)
−16.1
(3)
−9.4
(15.1)
−3.3
(26.1)
0.6
(33.1)
2.2
(36)
6.1
(43)
3.9
(39)
−1.1
(30)
−6.1
(21)
−14.3
(6.3)
−17.8
(0)
−17.8
(0)

Record low wind chill
−22.6
−21.2
−14.5
−5.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
−11.4
−21.3
−27.8
−27.8

Average precipitation mm (inches)
168.4
(6.63)
104.6
(4.118)
113.9
(4.484)
88.5
(3.484)
65.0
(2.559)
53.8
(2.118)
35.6
(1.402)
36.7
(1.445)
50.9
(2.004)
120.8
(4.756)
188.9
(7.437)
161.9
(6.374)
1,189
(46.811)

Average rainfall mm (inches)
157.5
(6.201)
98.9
(3.894)
111.8
(4.402)
88.1
(3.469)
65.0
(2.559)
53.8
(2.118)
35.6
(1.402)
36.7
(1.445)
50.9
(2.004)
120.7
(4.752)
185.8
(7.315)
148.3
(5.839)
1,153.1
(45.4)

Average snowfall cm (inches)
11.1
(4.37)
6.3
(2.48)
2.3
(0.91)
0.3
(0.12)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.1
(0.04)
3.2
(1.26)
14.8
(5.83)
38.1
(15)

Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)
19.5
15.4
17.7
14.8
13.2
11.5
6.3
6.7
8.3
15.4
20.4
19.7
168.9

Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)
18.4
14.7
17.5
14.8
13.2
11.5
6.3
6.8
8.3
15.4
19.9
18.4
165.2

Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)
2.6
1.4
0.9
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.03
0.8
2.8
8.73

Average relative humidity (%) (at 1500 LST)
81.2
74.5
70.1
65.4
63.5
62.2
61.4
61.8
67.2
75.6
79.5
80.9
70.3

Mean monthly sunshine hours
60.2
91.0
134.8
185.0
222.5
226.9
289.8
277.1
212.8
120.7
60.4
56.5
1,937.5

Percent possible sunshine
22.3
31.8
36.6
45.0
46.9
46.8
59.3
62.1
56.1
36.0
21.9
22.0
40.6

Source: Environment Canada[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

tag: table

text:
[show]Climate data for Vancouver Harbour CS (1971-2000)

Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year

Record high °C (°F)
15.6
(60.1)
16.4
(61.5)
19.1
(66.4)
23.9
(75)
32.7
(90.9)
30.0
(86)
31.7
(89.1)
31.7
(89.1)
28.5
(83.3)
24.2
(75.6)
17.0
(62.6)
15.0
(59)
32.7
(90.9)

Average high °C (°F)
6.8
(44.2)
8.4
(47.1)
10.6
(51.1)
13.5
(56.3)
16.8
(62.2)
19.6
(67.3)
22.0
(71.6)
22.3
(72.1)
19.0
(66.2)
13.9
(57)
9.3
(48.7)
6.8
(44.2)
14.1
(57.4)

Daily mean °C (°F)
4.8
(40.6)
5.9
(42.6)
7.6
(45.7)
10.0
(50)
13.2
(55.8)
15.9
(60.6)
18.1
(64.6)
18.3
(64.9)
15.4
(59.7)
11.1
(52)
7.1
(44.8)
4.8
(40.6)
11.0
(51.8)

Average low °C (°F)
2.7
(36.9)
3.4
(38.1)
4.6
(40.3)
6.5
(43.7)
9.5
(49.1)
12.2
(54)
14.1
(57.4)
14.4
(57.9)
11.6
(52.9)
8.2
(46.8)
4.8
(40.6)
2.8
(37)
7.9
(46.2)

Record low °C (°F)
−13.3
(8.1)
−6.7
(19.9)
−5
(23)
−1.1
(30)
1.1
(34)
2.8
(37)
2.8
(37)
5.0
(41)
1.7
(35.1)
−3.2
(26.2)
−9.9
(14.2)
−15.6
(3.9)
−15.6
(3.9)

Average precipitation mm (inches)
178.8
(7.039)
183.8
(7.236)
155.8
(6.134)
117.9
(4.642)
86.7
(3.413)
69.9
(2.752)
53.4
(2.102)
50.8
(2)
73.3
(2.886)
147.8
(5.819)
239.2
(9.417)
231.3
(9.106)
1,588.6
(62.543)

Average rainfall mm (inches)
143.6
(5.654)
173.5
(6.831)
153.1
(6.028)
117.0
(4.606)
86.7
(3.413)
69.9
(2.752)
49.1
(1.933)
48.3
(1.902)
71.0
(2.795)
131.9
(5.193)
219.5
(8.642)
211.5
(8.327)
1,474.9
(58.067)

Average snowfall cm (inches)
15.3
(6.02)
10.2
(4.02)
2.7
(1.06)
0.9
(0.35)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
2.7
(1.06)
11.8
(4.65)
43.6
(17.17)

Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)
18.3
16.4
16.6
14.9
12.9
11.6
7.6
7.7
9.4
14.9
19.8
19.1
169.1

Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)
14.8
16.3
15.9
14.2
13.2
10.7
6.7
7.8
9.8
12.0
16.8
16.2
154.5

Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)
2.8
1.9
0.89
0.24
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.05
0.88
2.9
9.6

Mean monthly sunshine hours
51.1
79.6
124.7
161.3
222.8
223.5
276.8
256.6
178.3
127.3
66.9
49.6
1,818.4

Source #1: Environment Canada[20]

Source #2: Environment Canada (sun, 1961-1990)[21]

text:
[show]Climate data for Oakridge, Vancouver (1981-2010)

Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year

Average precipitation mm (inches)
222.7
(8.768)
111.4
(4.386)
125.0
(4.921)
101.7
(4.004)
75.3
(2.965)
67.8
(2.669)
42.6
(1.677)
48.4
(1.906)
59.1
(2.327)
156.8
(6.173)
238.5
(9.39)
207.3
(8.161)
1,456.6
(57.346)

Average rainfall mm (inches)
207.0
(8.15)
106.8
(4.205)
122.5
(4.823)
101.7
(4.004)
75.1
(2.957)
67.8
(2.669)
42.6
(1.677)
48.4
(1.906)
59.1
(2.327)
156.7
(6.169)
233.5
(9.193)
190.9
(7.516)
1,412
(55.591)

Average snowfall cm (inches)
15.7
(6.18)
4.5
(1.77)
2.6
(1.02)
0.0
(0)
0.2
(0.08)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.1
(0.04)
5.0
(1.97)
16.4
(6.46)
44.6
(17.56)

Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)
19.9
14.5
17.3
15.8
12.7
10.9
7.0
7.1
7.6
15.6
19.6
20.2
168.2

Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)
18.4
13.9
16.9
15.8
12.7
10.9
7.0
7.1
7.6
15.6
19.1
18.8
163.7

Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)
3.1
0.9
0.6
0.0
0.07
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.06
0.8
3.1
8.6

Source: Environment Canada[22]

text: Precipitation[edit]

text: Rain[edit]

text: Vancouver is Canada's third most rainy city, with over 161 rainy days per year. As measured at Vancouver Airport in Richmond, Vancouver receives 1,153.1 mm (45.40 in) of rain per year. In North Vancouver, about 20 km (12 mi) away from the Vancouver airport, the amount of rain received doubles to 2,477 mm (97.5 in) per year as measured at the base of Grouse Mountain.[23]

text: Thunderstorms are rare, with an average of 6.1 thunderstorm days per year.[24] The weather in spring and autumn is usually showery and cool.

text: Grass-cutting season often begins in March and continues through October. Summers can be quite dry, and, as such, grass that has not been watered may not need to be cut for a month or even longer. Some summers may have no rain for five weeks or more, while others might have several very wet days in a row. In addition, Vancouver is one of the driest cities in Canada during the summer season, but the rest of the year the high pressure that locks in during the summer moves out and is replaced by the usual low pressure systems (rainy weather) by fall through to mid spring.

text: July is historically the driest month in Vancouver and, in fact, Vancouver International Airport recorded no rainfall at all during the whole month of July 2013;[25] the first time ever in recorded history. Many other Julys have recorded less than 1 mm (0.04 in) of rain in Vancouver.

text: Snow[edit]

text: Snow falls in the higher-lying areas of Greater Vancouver, such as Burnaby Mountain, Coquitlam, and North and West Vancouver, every winter. It is also common in places close to or at sea level, however in lesser amounts. There is a general misconception among visitors and residents of other parts of Canada that Vancouver does not receive any snow at all, but in fact there has never been a year in which traceable snow has not been observed at Vancouver International Airport. The year 2015 marked an entire year of no measurable snow; only a trace was recorded on December 17, 2015. Environment Canada has ranked Vancouver in 3rd place under the category of "Lowest Snowfall" among 100 major Canadian cities as the annual average of days with snowfall above 0.2 cm is only at 8.7 days.[26] Vancouver's coastal climate has nonetheless allowed it to be ranked in 59th place under the category of "Most huge snowfall days (25 cm or more)", placing it above cities like Calgary and Toronto as Vancouver averages 0.13 days annually with snowfall accumulations above 25 cm (within a calendar day).[27][24][dead link]

text: Snow in Vancouver tends to be quite wet, which, combined with typical winter temperatures rising above and falling below 0 °C (32 °F) throughout the course of the day, can make for icy road conditions.

text: Years or months with snowfall surpassing 100 cm (39 in) are not completely exceptional. Snowfall exceeding 100 cm (39 in) occurred twice during the 1990s, and, in January 1971 alone, there was more than 120 cm (47 in) of snow. The snowiest year on record at Vancouver International Airport was 1971, which received a total of 242.6 cm (95.5 in), and the greatest snow depth reported was 61 cm (24 in) on January 15 of that year.

text: Although the 30–60 cm (12–24 in) which fell across Greater Vancouver and the Lower Mainland in a 24‑hour period in November 2006 was out of the ordinary, snow has in fact accumulated at sea level in all months except for June, July, and August. However, even small amounts of snow in the Vancouver area can cause school closures, as well as produce traffic problems. The low frequency of snowfall makes it hard to justify the public works infrastructure necessary for more effective snow removal, as the city is usually in a thaw situation long before plowing of streets are completed. The City budgets $400,000 per year for the maintenance of snow removal equipment, for the purchasing of deicing salt, and for the training of staff, but the costs of actual snow removal are funded separately from contingency reserve funds, and vary widely from season to season. For example, $1.1 million was spent in 1998, compared to $0 in 2001.[28] Blizzards are extremely rare, but heavy snowfall events are more common. One such event in 1996 resulted in over 60 cm (24 in) of snow in Vancouver and was responsible for millions of dollars in damage.

text: According to Environment Canada (2011), Vancouver now has a 20% chance of a White Christmas (up from 11%).[29] Vancouver experienced a White Christmas in 2008 after weeks of record breaking cold temperatures and four consecutive snow storms, leaving over 60 cm (24 in) of snow on the ground across Metro Vancouver. New snow also accumulated on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day giving it the title for Canada's whitest Christmas in 2008 with 41 cm (16 in) on ground (48 cm (19 in) at one point on Christmas Eve). Snow was also present for Christmas 2007, when 1 cm (0.39 in) was measured at the Vancouver International Airport. The previous official White Christmas occurred in 1998 when 20 cm (7.9 in) of snow was on the ground on Christmas Day following 31 cm (12 in) of snow and 20 mm (0.79 in) of rain. Despite higher frequency of snow during certain periods of the season (pattern unknown), generally, annual winter snowfall has decreased over the last 20 years.[30]

text: Severe weather[edit]

text: Gales are unlikely during the autumn months in Greater Vancouver. Three wind storms in the city's history have knocked down large swathes of trees in the forest of Stanley Park, the first having occurred in October 1934, with a blizzard the following January compounding its impact.[31] The second wind storm to hit Stanley Park was the remnant of Typhoon Freda in 1962 that levelled a 6-acre (24,000 m2) tract of forest. This is now site of the park's miniature railroad.[32]

text: Fall-winter 2006 storms[edit]

text: In November 2006, the Greater Vancouver region experienced above-average levels of rainfall and snowfall, breaking the previously established record of 18.1 cm (7.1 in) when 25.5 cm (10.0 in) of rain fell within the first 16 days of the month.[33] The heavy rain washed sediment into the city's reservoirs, and, as result, many businesses were advised to stop serving beverages prepared from tap water due to water contamination.

text: At Vancouver International Airport 28 cm (11 in) of snow was recorded from the night of November 25 to the morning of November 27. The temperature dropped to −12 °C (10 °F) on November 28, 1.8 °C (3 °F) higher than the record low for the day, which was set in November 1985. On November 29, 10 cm (3.9 in) more snow fell on the city. The snowfall resulted in the closure of a number of public institutions and caused power outages throughout Surrey and Langley.

text: The Hanukkah Eve Wind Storm of 2006 swept through Greater Vancouver on December 15, 2006 with winds reaching from 70 to 125 km/h (43 to 78 mph). In Stanley Park, it damaged or uprooted over 5,000 trees, and caused mudslides, one of which destroyed a section of the seawall.[34][35] Insured damages throughout the province were expected to reach CA$40 million and repairs to Stanley Park were expected to cost $9 million.[36][37]

text: Notes[edit]

text: Jump up ^ 1981–2010 normals are for Vancouver International Airport, while extreme high and low temperatures are from Vancouver PMO (October 1898 to May 1945),[4] and Vancouver International Airport (January 1937 to present).[5]

tag: ol


document_title: The Man with the Golden Arm

question_text: where was the man with the golden arm filmed

text: The Man with the Golden Arm

text: Plot[edit]

text: Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra) is released from the Lexington Federal Medical Center with a set of drums and a new outlook on life, and returns to his run-down neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. A drug addict (the drug is never named, but heroin is strongly implied), Frankie became clean in prison. On the outside, he greets friends and acquaintances. Sparrow (Arnold Stang), who runs a con selling homeless dogs, clings to him like a young brother, but Schwiefka (Robert Strauss), whom Frankie used to deal for in his illegal card game, has more sinister reasons for welcoming him back, as does Louie (Darren McGavin), Machine's former drug dealer.

text: Frankie returns home to his wife Zosh (Eleanor Parker), who is supposedly wheelchair-bound after a car crash some years earlier that was caused by Frankie driving drunk. Zosh is secretly fully recovered, but pretends to be unable to walk in order to keep making Frankie feel guilty so he will stay with her. Frankie comments on the whistle she wears around her neck, a device she used in Frankie's absence to summon a neighbor, Vi (Doro Merande), when needed.  With Frankie home, Zosh smothers her husband in their small tenement apartment and hinders his attempt to make something of himself. He thinks he has what it takes to play drums for a big band. While calling to make an appointment, he bumps into an old flame, Molly (Kim Novak) who works in a local strip joint as a hostess and lives in the apartment below Frankie's. Unlike Zosh, Molly encourages his dream of becoming a drummer.

text: Frankie soon gets himself a tryout and asks Sparrow to get him a new suit, but the suit is a stolen one and he ends up back in a cell at a local Chicago Police Precinct. Schwiefka offers to pay the bail. Frankie refuses, but soon changes his mind when the sight of a drug addict on the edge becomes too much for him. Now, to repay the debt, he must deal cards for Schwiefka again. Louie is trying to hook him on drugs again, and with no job and Zosh to please, pressure is building from all directions.

text: Soon Frankie succumbs and is back on drugs and dealing marathon all-night card games for Schwiefka. Molly sees he is using drugs again and runs away from him. He gets a tryout as a drummer, but spends 24 hours straight dealing a poker game. Desperately needing a fix, Frankie follows Louie home, attacks him, and ransacks his house, but can't find his drug stash. At the audition, with withdrawal coming on, Frankie can't keep the beat and ruins his chance of landing the drumming job. When Louie goes to see Zosh to try to find Frankie, Louie discovers that Zosh has been faking her paralysis and can walk. Zosh, scared of being found out, pushes Louie over the railing of the stairwell to his death, but things backfire when Frankie is sought for Louie's murder.

text: Initially not realizing he is a suspect in Louie's death, Frankie goes to Molly hoping to get money for a fix. After learning that Captain Bednar and the police are looking for him, Molly convinces Frankie that he must go cold turkey if he is to stand a chance with the police. Frankie agrees and is locked in Molly's apartment where he goes through a grueling withdrawal to clear the drugs from his body. Finally clean again, he tells Zosh he is going to leave her, start anew and stand trial. In her desperation to keep Frankie from leaving her, Zosh once again gives herself away, standing up in front of Frankie and the police. She runs, but can get no farther than the outside balcony. Trapped, she blows the whistle and throws herself off the balcony to her death. A police ambulance then arrives to remove Zosh's lifeless body and drives away, while Frankie watches in dismay. He then walks away, with Molly following.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Frank Sinatra as Frankie "Dealer" Machine
Eleanor Parker as Sophia "Zosh" Machine
Kim Novak as Molly Novotny
Arnold Stang as Sparrow
Darren McGavin as "Nifty Louie" Fomorowski
Robert Strauss as Zero Schwiefka
John Conte as Drunkie John
Doro Merande as Vi
George E. Stone as Sam Markette
George Mathews as Williams
Leonid Kinskey as Dominowski
Emile Meyer as Captain Bednar
Shorty Rogers as himself (bandleader at audition)
Ralph Peña as himself (bassist at audition)
Shelly Manne as himself (drummer at audition)[3]

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Screen rights to Algren's novel were first acquired in 1949 on behalf of John Garfield, who planned to star in the film version. However, production was delayed because the Production Code Authority (PCA) refused to approve the script, with Joseph Breen stating that the basic story was "unacceptable" because of the Code's prohibition on showing illegal drug trafficking and drug addiction. The ability to obtain PCA approval was critical because at that time, many movie theaters would not show films that had not received approval. The PCA further predicted that the subject would also be unacceptable to the National Legion of Decency (a Catholic film censor board), Federal authorities, and state and local censor boards in the United States and abroad. Garfield died in 1952 and director Otto Preminger acquired the rights from his estate.[3]

text: Preminger had previously released The Moon Is Blue (1953), which succeeded at the box office despite being denied the Production Code seal of approval due to its sexual subject matter.[5] He told Peter Bogdanovich why he was attracted to Algren's novel: "I think there's a great tragedy in any human being who gets hooked on something, whether it's heroin or love or a woman or whatever."[8] Although United Artists (UA) had a distribution contract with Preminger, a clause in the contract allowed them to withdraw if a film failed to get Code approval. Preminger stated that in that event, he would set up his own company to handle distribution of The Man With The Golden Arm. Preminger continued to have problems with the PCA during the making of the film.[3]

text: Although the novel's author, Nelson Algren, was initially brought to Hollywood to work on the screenplay, he and Preminger did not get along, and he was quickly replaced by Walter Newman.[9][10] Preminger and Newman went on to make significant changes to Algren's original story,[11]  and the film was eventually released as "A Film By Otto Preminger".[12] In 1956, Algren sued Preminger and others seeking an injunction to keep Preminger from claiming authorship of the film, but had to drop the suit because he could not afford the legal fees.[12]

text: Frank Sinatra jumped at a chance to star in the film before reading the entire script. The script was given to Marlon Brando around the same time as Sinatra, who still harbored some anger at Brando for beating out Sinatra for the lead role in On the Waterfront.[13] To prepare for his role, Sinatra spent time at drug rehabilitation clinics observing addicts going cold turkey.[14] He also learned to play drums from drummer Shelly Manne.[3] The picture was shot in six weeks at RKO Studios in Hollywood from September 26 through November 4, 1955.[15]

text: Saul Bass designed the crooked arm symbol used in the film's advertising campaign, which Preminger liked so much that he threatened to pull the picture if an exhibitor changed the advertisements. Bass also created the animated title sequence for the film, the first of many such sequences that he created for films by Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, and others.[16]

text: Controversy over release[edit]

text: Preminger decided to release the finished film prior to submitting it for a Code seal of approval.[3] He contended that his film would not entice any viewers to take drugs, since drug use was depicted as having severely negative consequences.[5]  United Artists, which had invested $1 million in the film's production, opted to distribute the film, even though doing so could result in the company being fined $25,000 by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).[3] The president of United Artists, Arthur Krim, expressed the company's hope that the PCA would make an exception to its usual rules and grant the film approval because of the film's “immense potential for public service.”  The film received several advance bookings in November and early December 1955, before the PCA had made a decision on whether to grant a Code seal.[3]

text: However, in early December 1955, the PCA denied the film a Code seal, and the decision was upheld upon appeal to the MPAA. As a result, United Artists resigned from the MPAA that same month (although the company re-joined a few years later). The National Legion of Decency also showed disagreement with the PCA ruling by rating the film as a "B" meaning "morally objectionable in part for all", instead of a "C" meaning "condemned", which was the rating normally given to films that were denied a Code seal. Large theater circuits including Loews also refused to ban the film and instead showed it despite the lack of a Code seal. As a result of the controversy, the MPAA investigated and revised production codes, allowing later movies more freedom to deeply explore hitherto taboo subjects such as drug abuse, kidnapping, miscegenation, abortion, and prostitution.[3][5][17]

text: In the end, The Man With The Golden Arm finally received the Production Code seal number 17011 in June 1961, which permitted the film to be reissued and sold for television broadcast.[3]

text: Reception[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2016)

text: The Man with the Golden Arm earned $4,100,000 at the North American box office and the critical reception was just as strong; Variety magazine stated: "Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm is a feature that focuses on addiction to narcotics. Clinical in its probing of the agonies, this is a gripping, fascinating film, expertly produced and directed and performed with marked conviction by Frank Sinatra as the drug slave."[18][19]

text: Differences from the novel[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: After replacing novel author and original screenwriter Nelson Algren with Walter Newman, Preminger proceeded to change the plot and characters extensively from the original novel, which led to feelings of bitterness from Algren. When photographer and friend Art Shay asked Algren to pose below the film's marquee, he is reported to have said, "What does that movie have to do with me?"[9][20]

text: Even though the first draft of the novel did not even deal with drug addiction (it was only added later),[21] this became the singular focus of the film. In the novel, Frankie served in World War II and became addicted to morphine following treatment for a war injury. There is little mention of Frankie's film counterpart serving in the war, and he tells Molly that he started drugs "for kicks."

text: In Algren's novel, Frankie is a blond-haired man in his late 20s, and as a poor veteran he often wears a torn Army jacket and brogans. Played by Sinatra (who was nearly 40 years old at the time), the film's protagonist has dark hair and normally wears slacks and a dress shirt. In the film he is given a drum set and almost lands a job as a big band drummer, but in the novel he only has a practice pad, and his dream of being a drummer is only a fleeting aspiration.

text: The novel implies that Zosh's paralysis is a psychosomatic symptom of her mental illness, but in the film she is deliberately deceiving Frankie and is fully able to walk.

text: The novel's version of Violet ("Vi") is an attractive young woman and Sparrow's love interest. In the film, she is played by Doro Merande, who was in her 60s at the time. The movie combines the character of her spouse, "Old Husband" Koskozka, with that of the landlord, "Jailer" Schwabatski.

text: Frankie's employer, Schwiefka, is a relatively neutral character in the novel, but in the film he is a villain and Nifty Louie's partner.

text: In the novel, Frankie inadvertently kills Nifty Louie during a fight, while in the film, a walking Zosh pushes Louie to his death.

text: Algren's novel ends with a cornered and hopeless Frankie committing suicide, but in the film Zosh is the one who dies, while Sinatra's Frankie and Novak's Molly survive the end of the film together.

text: Preservation[edit]

text: The Academy Film Archive preserved The Man with the Golden Arm in 2005.[22]

text: Musical score and soundtrack[edit]

text:
The Man with the Golden Arm
Soundtrack album by Elmer BernsteinReleased
Mid February 1956[23]Recorded
September & December, 1955Hollywood, CAGenre
Film scoreLength
45:22Label
DeccaDL 8257Elmer Bernstein chronology

The Eternal Sea(1955)

The Man with the Golden Arm(1956)

The Ten Commandments(1956)

text: Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAllmusic[24]

text: The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Elmer Bernstein, and the soundtrack album was released on the Decca label in February 1956.[25] Allmusic's Bradley Torreano called it "one of the finest jazz soundtracks to come out of the '50s" and said that "on its own it still shines as an excellent example of how good film music can get. Bernstein's control over the smallest details of the music is what gives it the energy it contains; his blustery horns and deep percussion are only the front while some gorgeous orchestration happens almost unnoticed behind the music."[24]

text: The theme was recorded by many other musicians including Billy May & His Orchestra who had a #9 hit in the UK in May 1956; Jet Harris, who released it as a single in 1963,[26] Sweet, who covered the theme on their album Desolation Boulevard, and Barry Adamson, who released a version on his 1988 album Moss Side Story. A vocal version of the theme called "Delilah Jones", with lyrics by Sylvia Fine unrelated to the subject matter of the film, was released by the McGuire Sisters on Coral Records in 1956.[3][27]

text: A vocal version of Bernstein's composition "Molly" with lyrics by Fine, entitled "Molly-O", was also recorded by a number of artists, including The Gaylords, Dick Jacobs and his orchestra, and others.[3][28][29]

text: An alternate theme song, "The Man With the Golden Arm", was composed by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, and recorded by Sinatra backed by Nelson Riddle's orchestra. However, the song was ultimately not used in the film and did not appear on the soundtrack album. Although Sinatra's recording appeared on some bootleg albums, it remained officially unreleased until 2002, when it was included in the box set Frank Sinatra in Hollywood 1940–1964. Sammy Davis Jr. also recorded a version of the Cahn/ Van Heusen theme, which was released on Decca in 1955.[3][30][31]

text: Track listing[edit]

text: All compositions by Elmer Bernstein

text:
"Clark Street: (a) The Top; (b) Homecoming; (c) Antek's" - 4:58
"Zosh" - 4:28
"Frankie Machine" - 4:57
"The Fix" - 3:30
"Molly" - 4:53
"Breakup: (a) Flight; (b) Louie's; (c) Burlesque" - 3:42
"Sunday Morning" - 2:49
"Desperation" - 2:47
"Audition" - 2:42
"The Cure: (a) Withdraw; (b) Cold; (c) Morning" - 5:57
"Finale" - 4:13

text: Personnel[edit]

text: Orchestra conducted by Elmer Bernstein featuring:

text:
Shorty Rogers - flugelhorn
Conte Candoli, Pete Candoli, Buddy Childers, Bob Fleming, Ray Linn, Cecil Read - trumpet
Albert Anderson, Harry Betts, Milt Bernhart, Jimmy Henderson, George Roberts, Frank Rosolino, Ray Sims - trombone
Joe Eger, Arthur Frantz, Dick Perissi- French horn
Martin Ruderman, Sylvia Ruderman - flute
Nick Fera, Mitchell Lurie - clarinet
Jerome Kasper, Bud Shank - alto saxophone
Bob Cooper, Bill Holman, Jack Montrose - tenor saxophone
Jimmy Giuffre - baritone saxophone
Arnold Koblenz - oboe
Fowler Friedlander, Jack Marsh - bassoon
Sam Rice - tuba
Israel Baker, Anatol Kaminsky - violin
Philip Goldberg, Milton Thomas - viola
Armand Kaproff – cello
Chauncey Haines - novachord
Pete Jolly, Lou Levy, Ray Turner - piano
Abe Luboff, Ralph Peña - bass
Shelly Manne  - drums
Milt Holland, Lee Previn - percussion
Fred Steiner - orchestration