I'm supposed to put this here with an edit rather than add a new reply.
Unthinking Majority, if the US keeps the debt at the current levels then there is always a chance that this level (which was unthinkable in 1982) is large enough for some group to attack the US using it.
The only way to avoid this is to pay the so-called national debt down a lot. But this can't be done the way MS economists imply, with tax revenues or spending cuts. [As I've shown above, this policy means a drop in incomes and GDP. There is NO WAY to avoid that with this policy.] It can't be done because the income drop would cause a EU like decades long period of sky-high unemployment.
That just leaves us with the pay it down some with newly created digital dollars. Right now the world wants US bonds. There is a shortage of them. Just like there is a shortage of German bonds because Germany is close to a surplus because of its exports. [Not all nations can have an export surplus at the same time. Some nation has to be importing the exports.]
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jimjam wrote:The US minted $20 gold coins (.9675 oz. gold) for circulation until 1932. These coins purchased $20 worth of goods & services. Today you will have to pay in excess of $2000 for a common date of one of these coins. That is called inflation and demonstrates very succinctly how politicians of all stripes rob American citizens.
I'm no expert but ---
1932 was 4 years into the Great Depression, one of the worst depressions in economic history. The one in about 1837 may nave been as bad.
So, what you could buy with a $20 gold coin in 1932 was skewed.
Besides I'm not sure what you meant there.
Did you mean that the $20 gold coin was worth just as much as a $20 bill?
IMHO, you need to compare 1928 with now.
You also need to discuss what a $20 gold coin could be converted into in paper money.
IIRC, the US had kept the exchange rate (gold to paper) the same for a while in 1928. It was $32/troy oz.
Today central banks have a target of 2% inflation.
I saw a 1903 Sears & Roebuck catalog many years ago.
At 2$/yr $20 would be changed to about $200 (=$198) from 1903 to 2020. So, a factor of 10. Compared to your factor of 100.
I was googling and found this link
https://theoldstonefort.org/Exhibits/vM ... 52%20weeks)%20are%20about%20%2413%2C000.
The method they used is to compare wages.
In 1903 they say wages were $1/day for 12hr day 6 day/week.
So, $1/day X 6 days/week X 52 weeks/yr =$312/yr less a few holidays and sick days might be the $300/yr; the site says.
The site then talks about today and says a min. wage worker working 40 hr a week will earn about $1300/yr.
My figures are $7.25 X 8 hr/d X 5 d/week X 52w/yr = $15080/yr, but we must deduct at least FICA tax = about $1090, so 15080 - 1090 = about $1400.
So, $1400 then less holidays and sick days might leave about $1300.
Then the site says that they use a rule of 50 to compare the 2 time periods.
So, $300/yr X 50 = $15000, compared to today's $13000.
Then it compared a old fashioned hand cranked coffee grinder then and now.
Then it cost (from the S&R catolog) $0.35 X 50 = $17.50
And now it costs $19.99 on Amazon + shipping.
So, wages are about the same then as now in terms of what you can buy with them.
The site does say that they compared the coffee grinder to get a "fair" comparison. That machine made or imported goods maybe different.
It's not really proper to compare gold then to gold now.
Holding gold pays no interest.
OTOH, holding gold is expensive. You have to pay to keep it safe.
Large amounts of gold can cost a lot to protect. Thieves love to steal gold.
If you just hide it, there is a chance it will disappear.
My dad had a soccer ball size bag of silver pellets from trading in silver certificates in the 60s. A burglar stole it.
The coffee grinder on amazon now costs about $20 ($19.99).
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