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Gold never appreciates. The value of gold is invariant. A good suit always costs 1 ounce of gold, since there were suits and gold.

• JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > good suit always costs 1 ounce of gold This is clever. One can vary the value of "good" to fit any asset. Taken in good faith, I'm curious about the suit discounts I missed between 2013 and 2016, when gold lost value (relative to the dollar). > value of gold is invariant Axiomatic arguments work for anything. Bagel is invariant. All price relative to bagel. One breakfast sandwich always costs one bagel.
  • zaroth 5y ago
    It’s not supposed to be cute, but actually a useful historical fact. To be well clothed in any moment in human history would take the currency equivalent of roughly an ounce of gold. Since gold has been actual currency many times throughout human history (and is again in Russia as of a few weeks ago) it’s more useful than, for example, pricing in bagels. Also note that while the value of the dollar in real terms can vary minute to minute and swing percentage points day-to-day and many percentage points year to year, retail pricing will take time to catch up due to the length of the supply chain and the cost of repricing. Retail pricing is “sticky”. Keep in mind that over the last 100 years the US dollar has lost ~95% of its real value. It will most certainly do so again, and my opinion is that it won’t take nearly as long the next time around.