Price comparisons

[olegvolk]

Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.

Just an idle thought: from 1900 to 1933, US dollar was worth roughly a pennyweight (1/20 troy ounce or 1.556 gram) of gold. As of today, gold trades for just under $43/gram. A dollar today buys about 67 times less gold than it did in 1925. Do we earn 67 times more? A more

Comments

[wombat_socho]

Local fruit and veggies are still available within an hour's (automobile) ride of major cities for very low prices in season. As for meat and dairy, I think zoning ordinances and economies of scale have had more to do with those being exiled to rural areas from the suburbs than the FDA.

[jordan179]

We are currently in a repeat of the Great Depression, and like the first Great Depression, it is being protracted by interventionist government policies which are directly blocking the recovery by preventing the clearance of malinvestment. Unfortunately, based on our growing denial of the historical lessons of the 1930's, it looks like we are also heading toward a repeat of World War II, with Iran and other Islamist terror states cast as the "New Axis" and Russia auditioning for a reprise of its 1930's role as the Power to enable the evil which eventually attacks it. The silver lining is that the "Axis" of today is not as potentially strong relative to us as was the Axis of the 1930's. The lightning bolt coming from the black cloud is that this future war will almost certainly be nuclear, so even against a weak enemy, we could take some damaging blows.

[anonymous]

Regarding government “cures” of economic downturns:

It's worth remembering that every dollar the government spends in 'stimulus' actually represents about $1.60 taken OUT of the productive economy in the form of taxes.

Regarding goods:

Compare the 1925 Alfa-Romeo 6C-2500-Touring at the link to a 1925 Ford Model-T... yikes! But I suppose that's like comparing a Ferrari 458 to a Ford Fusion today...

Interestingly though; a typical family sedan has been pretty consistent at 10 to 12 ounces of gold, which I suppose speaks to golds utility as a store of value if not as an investment.