That’s not a typo. Having printed fiat currency for years with nothing but political pressure to guide them, the fed has inflated the dollar absurdly. Do I know that it’s a factor of ten? No. Is it larger than a factor of five? Almost assuredly. That’s the attraction of tying the dollar to metal, it restrains the fed. There is always enough gold or silver to back the dollar but it does tie the dollar to it’s real value.
We think we are so sophisticated in this country, especially our “elites”. Supply & Demand, however, works as assuredly for us as it does for any other nation.
When we first went to Uganda in 1980, the exchange rate was 7.5 Uganda Shillings to the US Dollar. At one point, the Official exchange rate was 5,000 Shillings to the Dollar. The “street rate” was 25,000 to the dollar. However, a policeman or school teacher was still earning 6,000 shillings/month.
I had to exchange some dollars to buy a team of oxen & a plow. After leaving the bank with a briefcase packed full of bank notes, I was paranoid carrying this huge stash of dough! 2 MILLION shillings! When I walked into the bank I had $400 in my wallet and now I’m a multimillionaire! (If I’d changed it “street rate” I would have had 10 MILLION!)
When I was a kid, a haircut cost $0.25, Gas was $0.25 to $0.29, with Gas War prices hitting $0.17. When I was in college, IIRC, a 289 Cobra was $4,995, an XK-E was $6,300 and a 911 was $6,995. When we were first married, a Ferrari 275GBT4 was about $14,500. (our new Datsun 510 was $2,254)
Inflation, brought on by fiat money and our politician’s practice of buying our votes with our kid’s & grandkid’s money.
And we allow them to continue to do so. Payback is coming for all of us.