100 years is also the anniversary of the Federal Reserve. If you want to see currency debasement, look at the purchasing power of 1 dollar over the last 100 years.
Conservatives have to learn - the cornerstone of progressive government IS the nationalization of the money supply and bureaucratic control of interest rates. If you have that - you can fund any social-engineering scheme you want through debt, printed money, and inflation.
Just Imagine — what the US Government would look like if the Feds had to compete with the citizens for hard money, could only spend what they could collect in taxes, and had to pay REAL interest on debt they incurred?
Craig Smith mentions that the current median American income is about $53,000USD. If the collectivists had not devalued the Dollar that number would be about $330,000.