[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember conspiracy theories that Fort Knox has no real gold, but fake gold to fool the public.

The Constitution says only GOLD and SILVER was real money.
In the Civil War, Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase declared “Greenbacks” to be legal currency.
When Salmon P. Chase became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in 1869 he declared only GOLD and SILVER are true currency.

Now we are loaded with “monopoly money”. $1 in 1880 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2.90 in 1960, an increase of $1.90 over 80 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.34% per year between 1880 and 1960.

Now, since 1960 prices have risen so high I can’t keep up with it. Today’s prices are 10.48 times as high as average prices since 1960

https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1880?endYear=1960&amount=1

[Verginius Rufus]

You could probably get a cup of coffee in a diner for 10 cents in 1960. Can you get a cup of coffee for $1.05 in a diner now?