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The relative decline of US imperialism
- simonblack 5y agoSince Nixon’s momentous announcement, the US dollar has declined in value by 20% – maybe a good barometer of the relative decline of the US economy (but an underestimate because of the reserve currency factor). A truer indicator of the depreciation of the dollar is what it will buy. Back in 1970, before the dollar was taken off the 'gold standard', a Rolex Oyster cost $210, or 6 ounces of gold. Today, a Rolex Oyster will cost about $8000, or about 5 ounces of gold, in other words, more or less the same in relative terms. That means that the value of the US Dollar has not dropped by 20%, but by roughly 97% since 1970. Or looked at in another way, to buy what one 1970 US Dollar would give you, you would need to spend Thirty-Eight 2021 US Dollars.