$ devaluation & 10¢ gas

It went as high as $1.50 when Carter was in office. Lines at the pump. Rationing. Riots. Oh, the good old days!

 

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A little history. Gasoline prices since 1919. Actual and in 2008 dollars.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boredzo/3045823858/

 

Read my post again. I was absolutely not drawing conclusions about anything except the price of automotive grade gasoline.

 

Remember, certain states, such as California have added extra taxes/surcharges for pollution control. Sat, I went to Arizona and reg. was 3.79 gallon, back in Ca. it was 4.17 at same chain.

Jim

 

The proof was posted right after your post. None the less, most authors on this subject don't realize the difference between fiat money and asset based money. (also known as lawful money in official government terms)

Until 1914-1933, US dollar was defined as a certain weight of silver or gold. The currency represented an actual asset i.e. the actual gold or silver in the coinage, or in dollar gold or silver certificates whose printing was limited to bullion on hand by the government. The currency was nothing more than a government backed assay of the metal. Because of this, the supply of dollars required an increase in the productive output of the USA. Hence inflation was practically nil. (~130 years) It only came into play when the government decided to print fiat currency. (most notably during wars)

For the last forty years, we have been using a completely different dollar. It no longer represents an asset, it doesn't represent anything. It is a piece of paper printed by the Federal Reserve that doesn't promise anything. The Federal Reserve can increase the supply of dollars at any time without any consideration for the economic output of the USA, consideration to the harm it does to people, consideration to anything except its own secret policies. it should be interesting to note that while millions of people have been put out of work over the last few years the supply of dollars has been increased substantially. This is what causes inflation.

To summarize, the dollar was once defined in terms of silver and gold. People were trading the value of the silver and gold. Government currency was only an assay of this metal. The dollar is now defined as a piece of paper provided by the Federal Reserve. By using the same name for both, all of us are witness one of the greatest obfuscations of the 20th century. It's been so complete that most people now simply refuse to believe it.

When authors decide to write on the subject they make the great jump to conclusions that the dollar from a century ago works the same as the dollar of today and this is where they always get tripped up. Hence, they come up with nonsense because they don't understand this fundamental difference.

 

Seems like the silver dime theory is over-simplifying it. But, let's just say, yeah, that is the case. What does that matter to the person who was making minimum wage when gas was $2 a gallon last year and is still making minimum wage without a raise, now that gas is $4 this year? Lets hope they don't have to drive to get to work.

Except, it applies to everyone, regardless of income. Fuel prices have just about doubled since last year. Nobody's salaries have doubled. Most haven't even gotten a small raise. Either at work or fixed income on social security.

So far in 2011, IL state income tax has went up 2% on us. Our utility bill had to permanently go up 25% Our car insurance went up 8%. Our home insurance went up 5%. (No claims to either.) Gas has doubled. Don't know how much food prices have went up. Thankfully the govt told me there's no inflation though.

Well, maybe this is just more realistic now. We just didn't realize how good we had it the year before. That's got to be it.

 

1928 $5 bill:



That's what they used to say. Then after the gold confiscation, the saying were slightly modified. Then down the road slightly modified again. If you'll notice, it was like a gradual phase out of the wording that caused them to be worth anything. And eventually nobody noticed.

Now it simply says, "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" and that is assumed to be adequate. There's no need to explain why or how anymore. It just is.