What if the United States maintained a silver backing for the dollar, which it abandoned in 1964?
How much things cost in 1933 vs today if we still had a silver backed dollar ($21.60 price conversation).
Average Cost of new house $5,750.00
Today $124,200
Average wages per year $1,550.00
Today $33,480
Cost of a gallon of Gas 10 cents
Today $2.16
Average Cost for house rent $18.00 per month
Today $388.80
A loaf of Bread 7 cents
Today $1.51
A LB of Hamburger Meat 11 cents
Today $2.37
Plymouth 6 Car $445.00
Today $9,612
Campbells Vegetable Soup 10 cents
Today $2.16
Average Laborers Wage $20.00 per week
Today $432.00
Of course this doesn’t take into account technology reducing prices over the years, which would make this comparison even more stark.
By the mid-1960s inflation of everyday goods and services is notable yet still restrained.
If we were still backing the dollar with silver, does anyone doubt that we would have a higher standard of living in this country today?
H/t Michael Gray
https://www.carnegie.org/interactives/foundersstory/#!/ Quote:
“Andrew Carnegie’s birthplace, Dunfermline, was Scotland’s historic medieval capital. Later famous for producing fine linen, the town fell on hard times when industrialism made home-based weaving obsolete, leaving workers such as Carnegie’s father, Will, hard pressed to support their families. Will and his father-in-law Thomas Morrison, a shoemaker and political reformer, joined the popular Chartist movement, which believed conditions for workers would improve if the masses were to take over the government from the landed gentry. When the movement failed in 1848, Will Carnegie and his wife, Margaret, sold their belongings to book passage to America for themselves and their sons, 13-year-old Andrew and 5-year-old Tom.
Andrew Carnegie’s family decided to settle in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh where they had friends and relatives. Their ship landed in New York City, which he found bewildering: “New York was the first great hive of human industry among the inhabitants of which I had mingled, and the bustle and excitement of it overwhelmed me,” Carnegie wrote in his autobiography. Next the family traveled west by canal and steamboat, arriving in Allegheny three weeks later (a 370-mile, six-hour trip by car today). They moved into two rooms above a relative’s weaving shop, which his father took over, but the business ultimately failed, putting the family once again in need of money.
At the age of 13, Carnegie worked from dawn until dark as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill, carrying bobbins to the workers at the looms and earning $1.20 per week. A year later, he was hired as a messenger for a local telegraph company, where he taught himself how to use the equipment and was promoted to telegraph operator. With this skill he landed a job with the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he was promoted to superintendent at age 24. Not just ambitious, young Carnegie was a voracious reader, and he took advantage of the generosity of an Allegheny citizen, Colonel James Anderson, who opened his library to local working boys — a rare opportunity in those days. Through the years books provided most of Andrew Carnegie’s education, remaining invaluable as he rapidly progressed through his career.
“It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive… as the founding of a public library.”
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic career began around 1870. Although he supported myriad projects and causes, he is best known for his gifts of free public library buildings, beginning in his native Dunfermline and ultimately extending throughout the English-speaking world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1887, Carnegie married Louise Whitfield of New York City. She supported his philanthropy, and signed a prenuptial marriage agreement stating Carnegie’s intention of giving away virtually his entire fortune during his lifetime. Two years later he wrote The Gospel of Wealth, which boldly articulated his view of the rich as trustees of their wealth who should live without extravagance, provide moderately for their families, and use their riches to promote the welfare and happiness of others. This statement of his philosophy was read all over the world, and Carnegie’s intentions were widely praised.
One of the most tangible examples of Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropy was the founding of 2,509 libraries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of these libraries, 1,679 were built in the United States. Carnegie spent over $55 million of his wealth on libraries alone, and he is often referred to as the “Patron Saint of Libraries.”
It is said that Carnegie had two main reasons for supporting libraries. First, he believed that in America, anyone with access to books and the desire to learn could educate him- or herself and be successful, as he had been. Second, Carnegie, an immigrant, felt America’s newcomers needed to acquire cultural knowledge of the country, which a library would help make possible.
Carnegie indicated it was the first reason that mattered most to him. Growing up working long hours in Pittsburgh, he had no access to formal education. However, a retired merchant, Colonel Anderson, loaned books from his small library to local boys, including Carnegie. As he later wrote in praise of Anderson, “This is but a slight tribute and gives only a faint idea of the depth of gratitude which I feel for what he did for me and my companions. It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to boys and girls who have good within them and ability and ambition to develop it, as the founding of a public library in a community.”
“Andrew Carnegie sold his steel company to J.P. Morgan for $480 million in 1901. Retiring from business, Carnegie set about in earnest to distribute his fortune. In addition to funding libraries, he paid for thousands of church organs in the United States and around the world. Carnegie’s wealth helped to establish numerous colleges, schools, nonprofit organizations and associations in his adopted country and many others. His most significant contribution, both in money and enduring influence, was the establishment of several trusts or institutions bearing his name, including: Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Foundation (supporting the Peace Palace), Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Carnegie UK Trust.”
““Whoso wants to share the heroism of battle, let him join the fight against ignorance and disease and the mad idea that war is necessary.””
Andrew Carnegie
Vast wealth can be used for good or for evil purposes. It can be used to benefit future generations, as the giant Andrew Carnegie from Scotland did, or for evil purposes to foment constant war and destruction of humanity and the planet itself as many other rich people promote today. Pray or hope for more “Andrew Carnegies” to populate the world instead of evil destroyers of the human race and planet. It is much easier to destroy than to build. Winfield J. Abbe, Ph.D., Physics
Too bad all the silver has been stolen, and the gold