I’ve never had a job that paid in gold, not many other people around the world do either.
What is the price of oil against California Real Estate? If you want to cherry pick comparisons, we can go back and forth. But to claim oil has not risen in price is rather foolish. It has risen far more than the average expense for the past 8 years or so.
I have, back when dollars were redemable in gold (pre 1963ish).
In order to compare prices you need something of constant value. The most accepted something is gold, gold however is not perfect since it too is subject to supply/demand inflation/deflation however it is the best benchmark of real wealth we've got so I think I will use it until a better benchmark comes arround.