#249/Architect Myron Goldfinger + Musical Guest Victoria Vox

Auric Goldfinger was one of most memorable evil villains in the James Bond 007 series. Played by Gert Frobe in the 1964 movie named for him, Goldfinger, this criminal mastermind created a scheme to corner the gold market by exploding a radioactive bomb over Fort Knox, the US gold supply housed in Kentucky. That was back when the nation's debt was a mere $311 billion and was backed by this gold, kinda like putting up your house as collateral for a loan. Goldfinger's plan to make the gold radioactive, and therefore inaccessible, would make his own gold ten times more valuable. Bond foils this brilliant plan and lives to have some of his well-loved martinis by the time the movie ends. A few years later in real life there will be another villain, President Nixon, who said "hey, we're not going to put up our gold any more as collateral," and whoo-doggies we've uber-borrowed our unsecured selves all the way up to $29 trillion dollars, more if you count unfunded Medicare and Social Security. Even James Bond cannot save us now. Goldfinger remains one of the most famous names in film, and joining us today is, like James Bond, the suave and sophisticated architect Myron Goldfinger, a classic name in mid-century Modernism, who's experiencing a new following in his 80's. Later on, special music with Victoria Vox.