Ye Olde Waffle Shop, on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, recently celebrated the 35th anniversary of their opening by bringing back their original 1972 prices for a day. The differences in prices are absolutely shocking (graphic courtesy of The Daily Tarheel).
The answer lies in the Federal Reserve, our privately owned and mostly privately operated central bank. When it was created by Congress in 1913, $1 was worth… $1. Now, that $1 is worth four cents, due to the inflation that the Federal Reserve stimulates in our economy. The Fed has been working especially overtime since the 1970s, when we went completely off the gold standard and the Fed could print up as much money as it wanted to.
Here’s a display of how the Federal Reserve works, in Legos…
Tags: Federal Reserve, inflation, inflation since 1970s, Ye Olde Waffle Shop Chapel Hill, Federal Reserve inflation, Ron Paul Federal Reserve
Inflation predates the Federal Reserve; IIRC, farmers in the 19th century agigated for inflation to reduce the real value of their outstanding debt.
At least some of the food price inflation is due to US policy of turning food into motor fuel, which is of course subsidized by the taxpayer at every step.
Engineer-Poet
January 29th, 2008
s/agigated/agitated/
Oh, for a preview button!
Engineer-Poet
January 29th, 2008
Sure, the Fed hasn’t caused all inflation in history. However, it has caused most of it since 1913, and the sharp decrease in the dollar’s value since then is no coincidence to me.
The food inflation due to ethanol production is a pretty recent phenomenon (although a real one) seen mostly in the last year or so.
We would be so much better off buying sugar ethanol from Brazil– as it is, we pay more for ethanol, more for food due to our ethanol subsidies (which cause farmers to use their corn for ethanol rather than for food) and sugar subsidies (which make high fructose corn syrup a part of most processed food instead of more expensive sugar, and it’s a product made from corn also), then make food prices worldwide go sky-high. Then, we send (now more expensive) food aid to poor countries so they don’t starve. It’s madness.
libertariangirl
February 3rd, 2008
Perhaps I can work on incorporating a preview feature! LibertarianGirl.com 2.0.
libertariangirl
February 3rd, 2008
If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out of it but tomfoolery
But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine, is somehow enobled and no-one dares criticize it —
Pierre Gallois
There Ought to be Limits to Freedom! — George W Bush, commenting on gwbushcom (05/21/1999)
Real punks help little old ladies across the street because it shocks more people than if they spit on the sidewalk —
Unknown
inverse wanderer
February 21st, 2008