Since 1971 · since1971.org
The yardstick shrank.
Wages did not stagnate. The unit of measure shrank.
In 1913 the United States created a central bank. In 1971 the last link between the dollar and gold was cut. Since then, money is created by keystroke, without limit, and every unit already in your pocket pays for it.
of the dollar’s purchasing power, gone between 1913 and 2026, measured by the BLS Consumer Price Index. Measured against gold: roughly 99 percent.
The mechanism, in the system’s own words
"Whenever a bank makes a loan, it simultaneously creates a matching deposit in the borrower's bank account, thereby creating new money."
Bank of England, Quarterly Bulletin Q1 2014, Money creation in the modern economy.
What that did to a working life
| 1971 | Now | Factor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours of median work to buy 1 oz of gold | 9.9 | 93 | 9.4× |
| Years of median household income for a median home | ~2.8 | ~5.1 | 1.8× |
| Years of median income for a 4 year degree (public, in state) | 0.60 | 1.24 | 2.1× |
| Health care spending per capita as % of median income | 4.3% | 18.1% | 4.2× |
Where it ends when it runs
56 hyperinflations are documented in recorded history (Hanke and Krus, Cato Institute, 2012). Every one happened in paper or in credit money a state could expand at will. Not one happened under a commodity standard.