this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
783 points (98.5% liked)

Political Memes

5447 readers
336 users here now

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civilJokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformationDon’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memesRandom pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotionFollow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 14 points 7 months ago

Before, if you didn't get a raise, the minimum wage would at least keep up with inflation since it was tied to gold

That's.....just not true at all. Commodity based currency is just as prone to inflation as fiat, the only thing it does is introduce volatility to your currency if the commodity market faults.

Gold does not have a definitional inherent worth, meaning if the government wants to "print" more money while on the gold standard, they just change the monetary value of gold, as Roosevelt did in 33'

In the United States, prior to 1933 for example, $1 meant 1/20th of an ounce of gold. In 1933, in the depths of the Depression, President Roosevelt redefined $1 to mean 1/35th of an ounce of gold. That is, a $1 bill was now worth less gold, about 60% less. In other words, the government was able to expand its supply of paper bills by 60% without changing its reserve of gold. This single act resulted in a significant decline in the purchasing power of paper money and shows how it is possible to generate inflation even under a gold standard.