As I’ve been digging around and bringing together some of the posts I’ve made in the past number of weeks and months, the major culprit keeps popping up.
Today, someone mentioned a 1967 Galaxie XL Convertible they were considering buying for $29,000 that was low miles (41,000) and in excellent shape. So just for grins I got on the website https://www.in2013dollars.com/ that was apparently started in 2013. They have a built in calculator that figures inflation at a flat rate of about 3.92% per year. How EXACTLY accurate that is, is anyone’s guess. But I did find some rather interesting numbers that have me wanting to ask my readers what they think.
In 1967 the Galaxie in question would have cost about $3250. According to the website, that $3250 translated into todays’ “dollars” is equivalent to $29,110.85 today. So if the man thinking about buying the car for $29,000 were to buy it, the owner would only be loosing about $110.85 in purchasing power if he had bought it new in 1967. PLUS he was able to drive it for 40,000 miles in the deal. The purchaser would be buying a very nice antique automobile for about the same price he would have had to pay for it in 1967 if his inflated $29,000 were converted back into 1967 “dollars”. Not a bad deal actually.
But now I really started thinking. I started thinking a bit farther back to 1964. Three years difference, but there was something that went on that year that I will get into a bit farther on. What was the wages my father made in 1964 when he was working supporting my mother, brother and myself? Well he was making according to what I remember, about $150 a week clear as someone who fixed two way radios and related equipment. That comes out to $7800 for 52 weeks.
According to this website, you would have to be making $75,275.03 today to have the equivalent purchasing power. Taking that 3.92% inflation rate into consideration. What does the average working stiff make these days? I personally don’t know of hardly anyone making $75K a year. Most are making less than $50,000. No wonder no one is getting ahead and can’t afford a new home. And why the price of used cars has gone up so much because people can’t afford new ones.
But here is the real question. Based on the 3.92% increase caused by “inflation”, we have a dilemma I’m having a problem with. Because in that same year, 1964, silver coinage was removed from circulation and a nickel copper “sandwich” coin was brought into circulation in 1965. I’m going to talk about the price of gold here, so let’s just say that my Dad had insisted in being paid in gold in 1964 instead of Federal Reserve notes and let’s just say that he didn’t have ANY expenses because of an inheritance or something. My Dad would have been paid with a bit more than 222 one ounce gold coins for the equivalent of the $7800 in fed notes. That’s right TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO OF THEM because gold was $35 an OUNCE back then. Now let’s ask ourselves this…if that $7800 translates into $75,000+ today, then the inflation rate of 3.92% would be correct, right? But you see, it really DOESN’T translate into $75,000 does it? Because the inflation rate was based on what goods and services had increased by and what the average rate was. REALITY is that REAL MONEY, which was gold and silver had done this:
$7800 swapped for gold equaled 222 one ounce gold coins. TODAY that is just about $444,000. YES, you read that right. TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO one ounce gold coins at $35 converted into todays’ Fed “Note” equivalent is right about FOUR HUNDRED FORTY FOUR THOUSAND Fed “Notes”!
So was inflation only 3.92% in REALITY? Maybe it was that for butter, or eggs, or chicken or meat, or maybe even a house. But I think that the house wouldn’t be a good comparison either because he paid $15,000 for our house back then and it was a CBS construction of about 1500 square feet three two bath house with a huge living area and enclosed porch. That would be about a $144,759.68 new house today.
But here is the thing…REAL money, definition being, durable, divisible and a store of value went from being worth $7800 in 1964 to being worth $444,000 in 2023. So what was the REAL inflation rate? How much PURCHASING power was lost between the difference of $444,000 and the $75,000 you need to make today to come out “even” with your 1964 wages?
Now, after reading the above, I realized I have to add this…that same $7800.00 in 1964 would have bought you SEVEN THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED ounces of silver. Or at least 90% which is what the half dollars of silver were back then. So now do that math. At todays rates, what would you have to pay for two half dollars of silver? Right about $21 in Fed “notes”. Multiply that by $7800 and you get $163,800. A far cry away from what you would have gotten for 222 one ounce gold coins but obviously a lot more than you might expect. It apparently is about TWICE as much plus some compared to what they claim inflation is. $75,000 vs $163,800 is more than double. So again, if you had kept silver you would have $163,800 today. If you had kept gold you would have $444,000 today. That is the difference between REAL money and FIAT fake “money”.
REAL money is the answer. The Federal Reserve needs this to happen to it…
It will be a real year of Jubilee!
Just added 6/20/2024. The Federal Reserve Song by my friend the late Carl Klang.
This one below was posted at Lew Rockwell on the weekend of 9/23-24/2023. It’s another THANK YOU FEDERAL RESERVE you sacks of human garbage!
Almost Half of all Young Adults in the United States are Living With Their Parents ~ Michael Snyder.
One of my commenters sent me a link to this documentary. It’s a bit long but it explains more in the three hours than you will get in a 4 year degree in “economics”. Added 9/2/2024
Great analysis. Bottom line, we are being screwed, every which way AND loose.
"That would be about a $144,759.68 new house today."
I about busted my gut! In California, where I live (not even near S.F., L.A., O.C., or Sacramento), that 1500 sq. ft. home (ours is 1464 sq. ft.) is worth $740,000, even if it's 16 years old, like our house! Your family home was also probably on a decent size lot, enough for a big vegetable garden and a play area for the kids. Ours is 7500 sq. ft. and the property taxes are almost $6,000 per year. Add in "landscape & lighting district," "city sewer and trash" fees, and we're being extorted to the hilt.
Don't get me wrong: I am filled with gratitude to our home. It is plenty big for my small family and a small pet or two. But this economic robbery is *insane*!
How do we end this nightmare? How, really? When most people are entertained to death and have become inured to being slaves to crap jobs just so they can stay entertained. Can 3% of the adult population truly rise up and destroy the destroyers? That's just in the US. What happens when the wayward wizards and their cushy-job-keeping career clowns from Canada, Mexico, and our old (same old) "friends" from the UK send in their goons? Do we have enough real men? Do those men have the fire-power? The stamina? The psycho-spiritual maturity?
The biggest con job (the Fed, that is) in US history, until WWI, and then WWII, and then all the rest of it, right up until THIS ONE, which I just call "Covid."
We are not just in a war for our own lives, but for HUMANITY and the future of our species, a lot of other species, and maybe even the planet.
TIME FOR SERIOUS RESPONSE IDEAS.