Well, many years ago when I was at the University, in econ class they said that since Roman times that an ounce of gold was worth four hundred loaves of bread. That supposedly stayed constant until modern days. My wife does the shopping, so I am not sure what bread is going for now days.
A currency tied to the value of a metal is hard to debase. After the government confiscated the country's gold in 1932 and only paid twenty dollars an ounce for it, our currency was still backed by silver. And it so stated on the bills.
In 1965 that changed. Lyndon Johnson was fighting a war in south east Asia, or rather guys like me were doing to fighting, Johnson was just paying the bills and doing the talking. At the same time he launched a supposed war on poverty with a plethora of dubious social welfare programs. He needed cash, so the silver went out of circulation and they turned on the printing presses. They have been running ever since.
In 1962 my mother bought a new Rambler automobile. She paid $2,200 for it, all in one dollar bills. Took a whole afternoon to count it out. To buy a new car today would probably run about $30,000. That is inflation.
By way, buy a new car in cash today, and you get reported to the IRS.
I have a ton of old Chinese money. The bills are worthless, but the silver coins are worth about thirty dollars a piece.
