3 ms·

According to the chart below, housing, food and beverage and other costs are up > 56% over the last 20 years. Granted, for many things in society, prices have d

by Empact 7y ago

According to the chart below, housing, food and beverage and other costs are up > 56% over the last 20 years. Granted, for many things in society, prices have declined thanks to manufacturing advances and trade, etc. The difference is between those who held dollars and had a 56%+ loss of value over 20 years, vs those who held the same in assets which appreciated at the same rate as the general increase, and so did not lose value over time. https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century/ https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century/

notahacker 7y ago
Who pays for their housing, food and beverages out of a stash of dollar bills accumulated 20 years ago though? The same chart shows the wages they buy their food and beverages with actually rising faster on average, and people saving their wages for a house in future or a pension fund for their future food and beverages tend to put it in places which pay interest. Granted, you're a lot worse off if you need to pay a hospital bill or go to college, but I don't think any serious person argues that the real structural problem there is lack of a Gold Standard...
- fuzzfactor 7y ago
  >Who pays for their housing, food and beverages out of a stash of dollar bills accumulated 20 years ago Very few people could afford to do this, but in some markets for home ownership those would be the only type that could actually afford to own a home any more. The gold standard has always been there for thousands of years and is likely to remain for many forseeable lifetimes to come. The structural problems (from the citizens' point of view) are a result of how & when the US declined to participate any longer. Not much different than anyone else over the centuries who could once afford a little gold but no longer any at all. Remember since the US dollar was always tied to gold (after foolishly withdrawing from additionally constitutionally mandated silver in an earlier century), then when that was later tied to the confiscation of gold from the citizens, that allowed the dollar to be more powerful than gold as long as US taxpayer's assets were strong, making the USA actually relatively affluent as a nation. Therefore the gold price worldwide could be stabilized at $35 per ounce for decades, indefinitely if the taxpayer's assets would have been truly worth preserving by the regime. This was as long as the dollar remained tied to gold, even though citizens had not been allowed to hold gold of their own for most people's lifetime by then. With income taxes skyrocketing beyond the "temporary 1 percent tax on income" needed to pay for wars, tremendous wealth was transferred to the federal government over the decades and held as gold, until the fed had more wealth than the citizens which is the opposite of how the US actually grew as a free country, back when prosperous stuff could just pop up anywhere without federal interference. Then one day Nixon comes along and offers the US gold to the rest of the world for $36 per ounce. Citizens still not allowed to participate, but the Saudis for example being some really big ones having a faster appreciating asset that sizable took great interest because they could actually afford to trade a portion of their faster-appreciating asset for one with less forseeable upside at the time. Then Nixon "opens up China" so there can sooner be a new lower living standard to decline towards, gradually of course which is generous because the taxpayers can be put into free-fall at any time without a parachute since then.

by Empact 7y ago

notahacker 7y ago

Who pays for their housing, food and beverages out of a stash of dollar bills accumulated 20 years ago though? The same chart shows the wages they buy their food and beverages with actually rising faster on average, and people saving their wages for a house in future or a pension fund for their future food and beverages tend to put it in places which pay interest. Granted, you're a lot worse off if you need to pay a hospital bill or go to college, but I don't think any serious person argues that the real structural problem there is lack of a Gold Standard...

fuzzfactor 7y ago
>Who pays for their housing, food and beverages out of a stash of dollar bills accumulated 20 years ago Very few people could afford to do this, but in some markets for home ownership those would be the only type that could actually afford to own a home any more. The gold standard has always been there for thousands of years and is likely to remain for many forseeable lifetimes to come. The structural problems (from the citizens' point of view) are a result of how & when the US declined to participate any longer. Not much different than anyone else over the centuries who could once afford a little gold but no longer any at all. Remember since the US dollar was always tied to gold (after foolishly withdrawing from additionally constitutionally mandated silver in an earlier century), then when that was later tied to the confiscation of gold from the citizens, that allowed the dollar to be more powerful than gold as long as US taxpayer's assets were strong, making the USA actually relatively affluent as a nation. Therefore the gold price worldwide could be stabilized at $35 per ounce for decades, indefinitely if the taxpayer's assets would have been truly worth preserving by the regime. This was as long as the dollar remained tied to gold, even though citizens had not been allowed to hold gold of their own for most people's lifetime by then. With income taxes skyrocketing beyond the "temporary 1 percent tax on income" needed to pay for wars, tremendous wealth was transferred to the federal government over the decades and held as gold, until the fed had more wealth than the citizens which is the opposite of how the US actually grew as a free country, back when prosperous stuff could just pop up anywhere without federal interference. Then one day Nixon comes along and offers the US gold to the rest of the world for $36 per ounce. Citizens still not allowed to participate, but the Saudis for example being some really big ones having a faster appreciating asset that sizable took great interest because they could actually afford to trade a portion of their faster-appreciating asset for one with less forseeable upside at the time. Then Nixon "opens up China" so there can sooner be a new lower living standard to decline towards, gradually of course which is generous because the taxpayers can be put into free-fall at any time without a parachute since then.