In reality there is no such thing as a safe asset - Gold Dollar Plender

The nearest the world has come to one was a British gilt-edged security during the gold standard era. 

But then in the 20th century Britain abandoned the gold standard, demonstrating that super-safety in gilts was illusory.

Before the financial crisis, these global creditors also invested in supposedly safe private assets, namely triple-A rated mortgage-backed securities. Their claim to safety was blown in the credit crunch of 2007. 

Richard Nixon, then president, break the dollar’s link with gold — a de facto sovereign default.

John Plender FT 18 april 2022

https://www.ft.com/content/0603172c-7eae-4e18-ad80-a21b3559f18d

Englands beslut att lämna guldmyntfoten 1931 framkallades av att det rådde myteri inom Royal Navy, ett myteri framkallat av de lönesänkningar som regeringen beslutat om.

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2013/10/hur-det-kom-sig-att-england-overgav.html

On August 15, 1971, US President Richard Nixon announced in a televised address that he was “closing the gold window.”

By ending the dollar’s convertibility into gold (at an official rate of $35 per ounce), Nixon severed the millennia-long link between money and precious metals.

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2021/08/we-are-approaching-50th-anniversary-of.html