1971:
-Gold was $43/oz
-Average hourly wage was $3.70
-Time needed to buy one oz of gold: 11.6 hours
2026:
-Gold: $5,000/oz
-Average hourly wage: $28
-Time needed to buy one oz of gold: 179 hours
What does this mean?
Your time is literally less valuable today than it was 50 years ago. Look at it this way:
In 1971: Work 12 hours ➡️ get 1 ounce of gold
In 2026: Work 12 hours ➡️ get 0.07 ounces of gold
Gold is still gold. One hour is still one hour.
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Replies (23)
this is such a clear way to frame it
Thanks - I'll share this with people
🔄🙌🏽
Entrada massiva de mulheres no mercado de trabalho, redução dos salarios e taxas de natalidade.
Bitcoin is time
This data point only tells you that gold becaimore expensive, it doesn't tell you if the general cost of living became more expensive. For that you will need to create a basket of goods and compare between the two dates.
Add to this 1hr of work in 2026 should theoretically be more productive than 1hr of work from 1971 due to advances in technology.
Your math is technically correct, but the comparison is misleading. In 1971 the dollar was still officially tied to gold at $35/oz for governments — market forces were constrained and the dollar’s role was different. Once Nixon closed the gold window, gold was allowed to float and its dollar price shot up (to about $180 by 1974) as the dollar lost purchasing power.
So you're not wrong. The effects just have been less extreme.
when the ledger devalues your hours, you build your own currency. artists have known this for centuries. what happens when value flows peer to peer, through the work itself?
1971:
-Gold was $43/oz
-Average hourly wage was $3.70
-Time needed to buy one oz of gold: 11.6 hours
2026:
-Gold: $5,000/oz
-Average hourly wage: $28
-Time needed to buy one oz of gold: 179 hours
What does this mean?
Your time is literally less valuable today than it was 50 years ago. Look at it this way:
In 1971: Work 12 hours ➡️ get 1 ounce of gold
In 2026: Work 12 hours ➡️ get 0.07 ounces of gold
Gold is still gold. One hour is still one hour.
View quoted note →
Gold is no more valuable today than at any time in history. There are temporary fluctuations, but over the long term it's tracking relative monetary debasement.
The average hourly wage in 1975 was $6.03 * 12 hours = 0.402oz gold.
That's still far less than 0.07 oz gold you get for 12 hours today.
The Cantillon Effect is working as intended. 🧐
The Cantillon Effect is working as intended. 🧐
View quoted note →
But you are wealthier because you own a big TV full of blue light. All your ultra processed food is ultra affordable.
Yeah it really means that the timeline starts before the dollar was pegged to $35 an oz.
Nostr is great because instead of beimg mind blown over it the standard response is "I know, actually its worse than that."
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That is a very strong statement. What you are saying is that the demand for gold did not change. But how can you determine that?
Economists use the price system. But if you look at the dollar price you see that the price went up. The conclusion should be that the demand for gold (golds value) went up.
Or maybe the dollar went down?
To determine if gold retained it's value you need to o compare it to other products. For a certain basket of goods that cost X grams of gold Y years ago, how much gold do I need now to buy the same basket.
The problem is that after a long enough years you can't compare the baskets. In the 70s TV was black and white. In the 1920 transportation was by horse and buggy.
My point is that it's not as simple as you put it.
It is that simple with gold, which is actually less scarce (more above ground supply) every year by roughly a couple percent. The dollar denominator is being continually debased. Your home is a depreciating asset. The fact that it's worth more fiat currency just means it's depreciating slower than the dollar is being debased.
If you want to see some charts of various commodities, etc. priced in gold check the charts on the left column.
True Prices Measured in Gold
Right* column
It's as if the more advanced technology is, the less valuable your time (and by relation your life aswell) is 🤔
Now this is better!
This shows a variety of commodities and the difference between fian and gold.
Now the question is: are these commodities representing a typical persons spending?
I think the most interesting is US wages. Imagine 1.2oz gold being minimum wage again..
To me this shows why we went from a single average income being able to support an entire household, to where we are today.
Wages keep increasing, while real wages decline. Even "real wages" is a misnomer. It subtracts CPI, which is ~40% "estimated" prices and makes "hedonic adjustments" saying that your average $40k car is cheaper than your average $25k car 10 years ago because it's "better." Real wages should subtract the increase in M2 money supply aka monetary debasement. You can chart things against M2 on platforms like TradingView and see what I'm talking about..
US Wages