Image Source: Pixabay

You hear about gas prices everyday. The President brags that per-gallon prices have dropped to $1.99 in some places. After paying over $4.00 here in Las Vegas, I wonder where he is talking about. He ran on bringing down prices at the pump, saying “drill baby drill” constantly at his rallies.  

But, in real terms, gas prices have gone down. A line from a Wall Street Journal piece illustrates the point. “Silver’s rally has made it worth the effort to sift through coin jars looking for old dimes, quarters and half dollars. The melt value of 25-cent coins minted from before 1965, when they were made of silver, is more than $6.50.”

I’m old enough to remember 25-cent gas. And, someone pumped the gas for you, checked your oil, and the air pressure in your tires. During lunch with an old friend, he told me his kids don’t know what cash is, let alone pre-1965 quarters. No wonder monetary matters don’t really matter to Americans, especially young folk. 

No one seems concerned about the constant devaluation of the dollar. They blame high prices on whoever is president or corporate greed. The idea that the problem is the constant creation of more money escapes them.

As Ludwig von Mises wrote, “What people today call inflation is not inflation, i.e., the increase in the quantity of money and money substitutes, but the general rise in commodity prices and wage rates which is the inevitable consequence of inflation. This semantic innovation is by no means harmless.”

The WSJ reports of people selling silver and some that are buying. 

“Daniel Herzner, who owns businesses that buy and sell estate jewelry in White Plains, N.Y., said his phone is ringing frequently with customers eager to sell jewelry and flatware that they inherited or no longer need.”

“They’d rather turn it into cash,” he said.

Cash that’s value will disintegrate.

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