Funny..Day before yesterday I gave a “lesson” on the value of paper money.
I took a 5 gram gold bar, and a 1950 20 dollar note that was backed by the gold and silver standard and 14 2010 20 dollar bills in which represented the value of the 5 gram bar-about 280 dollars in that days money.
I asked the fellows what they would sooner do. Work for 20 dollars an hour, and work one hour for one of these?-being the 1950 note, or work 14 hours for 14 of these?-being the 2010 notes. The value of the gold backed 20 dollar note was worth 14 of the 2010 notes. I held the notes right smack up in their faces.
You should have seen the look on their faces.
It is interesting when you go back before the Fed and take NY city for example back at the turn of the century a $20 gold coin could buy a nice a suit.
100 years later that same $20 gold coin can buy a nice suit but $20 can’t.
case closed :)
If the seller had asked to be paid in silver certificates, cashed them in, and buried the silver in the back yard, the seller would have $1,134,750 worth of silver at the noon spot price (plus more for the copper, less smelting charge).
Despite all the "gains" and the "wealth" tied up in this house and land, there is a very good chance that the seller would be ahead on the deal. Add in taxes and expenses, and the seller is massively ahead.
And for DannyTN: As John Maynard Keynes famously said when challenged about the long run consequences of debt-based money, "In the long run, we're all dead".
Of course as a gay man, Keynes had no interest in posterity. But most of us do.
In the example above, to be specific - the grandchildren of the imaginary seller would be better off than the grandchildren of the owner of the house in question.
THAT is what honest money is all about. It is a keystone in the blessings of Liberty, which we are supposed to be preserving for our posterity.