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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 2224795, member: 27832&quot;]Hmm.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Two out of four ain&#039;t bad, I suppose.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sure, shooting quotes from the archive isn&#039;t much more sporting than shooting fish in a barrel. But the point I&#039;m trying to make is that all the canards about &quot;a silver dime/quarter has always bought a loaf of bread&quot; and &quot;an ounce of gold has always bought a fine toga/suit&quot; strike me as silly. I can go to Kroger today and find a loaf of bread priced at $0.99 (I assume -- I know eight-packs of burger buns are $1.00). I can also find loaves priced at $4.29 (but I usually buy them when they&#039;re on sale at half that), and I&#039;m sure that I could find some on the top shelf or in the organic section that are even higher).</p><p><br /></p><p>If &quot;the price of a loaf of bread&quot; is anywhere between $1 and $6, it&#039;s easy for you to pick out a loaf of bread that&#039;s equal to the melt value of a silver dime (or, today, a silver quarter). It&#039;s also easy for me to pick out a loaf that costs (today) four or five silver dimes. It&#039;s a weak benchmark.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the decades I&#039;ve paid attention, I&#039;ve seen bread prices (denominated in dollars) go up, mostly gradually, and only very rarely go down at all. I&#039;ve seen silver prices go <i>all over the place</i>. I&#039;ve seen it go up to nearly $50/oz twice. I&#039;ve also seen it languish near $5/oz for nearly 15 years (1990-2005). If you bought during that time, it&#039;s done a good job of preserving value. If you bought during 1980 or 2011, it&#039;s done a <i>terrible</i> job. If you buy today, how much of your value will be preserved next year, or in 2020, or in 2040? I wish I knew.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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