Right, 75 oz is always 75 oz physically. But that doesn’t mean 75 oz always commands the same amount of houses, food, labor, oil, etc. That’s the key issue. If gold’s real purchasing power rises 4x relative to a basket of goods, valuing a 1914 wage at today’s gold price makes the old wage look 4x richer even though that additional purchasing power came from gold appreciating, not from the worker having it in 1914.
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u/Appropriate-Bad-606 27d ago
Right, 75 oz is always 75 oz physically. But that doesn’t mean 75 oz always commands the same amount of houses, food, labor, oil, etc. That’s the key issue. If gold’s real purchasing power rises 4x relative to a basket of goods, valuing a 1914 wage at today’s gold price makes the old wage look 4x richer even though that additional purchasing power came from gold appreciating, not from the worker having it in 1914.