William Simon

Ford Refuses NYC Bailout, "Drop Dead" Headline, Austerity Era Begins

| Importance: 9/10

At the National Press Club on October 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a speech refusing to provide federal assistance to New York City, which was on the verge of bankruptcy after losing nearly 600,000 jobs and hundreds of thousands of residents fleeing to the suburbs or Sunbelt. The New York …

Gerald Ford William Simon Alan Greenspan Donald Rumsfeld Hugh Carey +1 more economic-policy austerity neoliberalism financial-crisis
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William Simon Establishes Petrodollar Recycling System

| Importance: 9/10

US Treasury Secretary William Simon negotiated a pivotal agreement with Saudi Arabia that established the petrodollar recycling system, fundamentally reshaping global monetary dynamics. Simon convinced Saudi Arabia to sell oil exclusively in US dollars and invest oil revenues in US Treasury bonds, …

William Simon Ahmed Zaki Yamani Richard Nixon King Faisal Henry Kissinger +2 more petrodollar-system monetary-policy oil-politics financial-system international-finance
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