Help me: I need historical info on commodities priced in gold

[Filthy Keynes]

I'm having a debate with a friend. He says: "Compare the dollar to the average price of goods, and it is roughly constant with small inflation. Now consider gold -- it has had massive fluctuations over the last half century. It doesn't matter the source of the fluctuations -- just the fact of them seems to me to make it unsuitable as a currency."

Can you help me find long-term charts of commodities priced in gold, vs priced in dollars?

He also says: "There were certainly boom-bust cycles while the dollar was tied to gold."

Well he's right about that from 1913 onwards, and that's because the gold was at a government "fixed price" (I'm thinking of the roaring '20's boom, followed by the great depression).

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

It's not the price of the gold that's changing, really - that stays the same. An ounce is an ounce is an ounce. It may also interest your friend to know that the term "Dollar" can only mean "A weight in gold or silver" according to black's law dictionary.

It's the value of the FRN that's changing. I'm sure you know all this already, but when They say "Gold increased $20 today" that's really just a fancy way of saying that the FRN got that much weaker compared to an ounce of gold.

If you go through Roman histories and stuff they talk about what a measure of gold will buy. It was the same in Roman times as it was in early America, for the most part.

As for the boom and bust cycles, those mostly had to do with the bank of the United States. Manipulation was common even when the currency was pegged to gold. It is ironic that gold doesn't stop this manipulation, it just forces them to manipulate different. After we went off the gold system, manipulation became even less work.

Look into the bust cycle that was initiated against andrew jackson specifically because he refused to end his war on the bank. Suddenly credit across the nation dried up, and they tried to blame it on Jackson. It was in a lot of newspapers back then. The banksters very plainly stated that there would be a bust cycle if jackson didn't stop, and they delivered on this promise. So you could argue that much of the economic depressions throughout recent history are partially a result of both sides refusing to just give up.

If you believe in manipulation today, it's easy to believe it in yesteryear too.

[platinumdude]

http://www.kitco.com/charts/historicalgold.html

[Filthy Keynes]

Thanks guys.

I think I found a good site along the lines for what I am looking for. Although it's not directly priced in gold, at least I can show that a dozen eggs back in 1908 is similar to the same price today in silver coins... I'll have to check it out:

How much did it cost in Morris County, New Jersey?
a survey of retail prices advertised in the Daily Record, July 1-15, 1908 - 2008
http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/prices/1908.html

[Filthy Keynes]

Here's my reply to him:



I think we need to take a look at prices of goods from a time period in American history before the Federal Reserve and after the Federal Reserve.

I did a lot of research and here is what I came up with. Go to page 46 for Colonial and Pre Federal statistics of prices in Philadelphia over a 55 year span. You can see the price fluctuations of various goods:
http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf


Now, take a look at this survey of retail prices advertised in the Daily Record, July 1-15, 1908 - 2008:
http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/prices/1908.html

Also, check this out. In 1960 it cost $0.30 for a gallon of gasoline. Today according to gasbuddy.com it costs $2.88 / gallon. Now, thirty cents is three silver dimes. According to coinflation.com the silver content of those three dimes is worth $5.19. So from 1960 to 2010 the price of gasoline in fractional-reserve debt-based fiat Federal Reserve Notes increased a whopping 860% whereas when priced in silver the same price of gasoline fell 45% (up until a couple of months ago (before this huge surge in silver demand) gas prices priced in silver and gas prices from 1960 were almost equal).

Anyway, I’m not feeling well at the moment. But I thought I’d send you that info. I think the data speaks for itself.