It wasn't just Nixon and the gold standard. It's seldom one thing, but more like dominoes. Factor in the 1970s rise in shareholder primacy. Plus, in the 1970s, media outlets started reporting on CEO salaries. The intent was to shame them for taking such high salaries - 35X higher than a middle manager while shareholders made on average 5.9% investment. But it backfired and and CEO salaries skyrocketed. Can't remember which book I read that in, but the citations were awesome. If I remember, I'll share it.