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Friday, March 1, 2013

Daily Wage in Silver During the Roman Empire


Posted by FerFAL at 5:32 PM
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good video. Martin Armstrong had something on the same lines recently. But it is funny to hear different people's interpretation. I agree more with you. He seems to think precious metals are not a great bet. But I tend to think 'at least it will always be worth something'. My wife's family have some stock in the Guantanamo Bay Sugar Company. I don't think they are getting their money back any time soon. If it would have been in gold or silver they would still have something to show for it.

March 2, 2013 at 3:45 PM
1043 ncygion said...

Ferfal didn't show it but Roman coins during the Empire stage show a clear progress of debasement.

There is nothing like looking at the coins from various time periods to show the decline.

In the Middle Ages, a late Empire coin of iron would have been worthless --whereas gold was still of great value.

Mel Tappan used to talk of how a $20 gold piece from 130 years ago could still buy a good firearm or a nice suit of clothes --same as originally. That it's value in real terms remained constant.

Many years ago my young son and I used to watch a TV show called "Forever Knight" -- about a coven of vampires who had lived for many centuries. Who in the course of their lives had watched several civilizations of Man rise and fall.

I remember that when I watch the emotional arguments on US Internet political blogs. So many of the politicans betray their followers -- and will soon be dust anyway.

Imagine someone who ignored Richard Nixon versus George McGovern in 1972 and instead focused on acquiring 1 oz gold coins at $35 per oz.

March 2, 2013 at 3:55 PM
Don Williams said...

By the way, olive oil and wheat flour at Costco are the real values, in Roman Terms.

Of course, that may change. The American Founders designed the US Constitution based on the mixed government theory of Aristotle (circa 350 BC) --as passed down by Polybius circa 130 BC.

But the Roman Republic --on which America was based -- collapsed into civil war and chaos roughly 70 years after Polybius wrote about its inherent strength.

Today , America is following a similar course -- its elites grow ever richer from a global empire while her middle class are being destroyed by the burdens of Empire and the import of cheap foreign goods and labor.

March 2, 2013 at 3:59 PM
Don Williams said...

The US court case "216 Jamaica Avenue, LLC vs S&R Playhouse Realty Co." illustrates
how the long view works not just for vampires.

In 1912, a lease for urban land in
Cleveland, Ohio had a clause that rent would be $10,000/year rising to Maximum of $35,000 per year by
1923. For a 99 year lease --renewable for a second 99 year to 2110 AD.

$35,000 was a fortune at a time when the USA had not yet fought WWI, WWII, the Korean War
and the Cold War to become a global power.

Obviously $35,000 today is not what it was in 1912. But the lease also had an interesting
anti-inflation clause -- that the rent would be payable in gold. That term became invalid in
the 1930s when the US Congress banned private ownership of gold --but the US Courts ruled
that it became valid again when Congress restored the right to trade in gold around 1975.
A decision that the landlord used to escape the ruinous $35,000 per year cap on the rent.

See http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0322p-06.pdf .

March 2, 2013 at 4:29 PM
Anonymous said...

There's really no 'magic' ratio between gold and silver.

Compared to the time of the Roman Empire, silver has depreciated in value vs. gold because:

1. massive "New World" discoveries of silver (e.g. Comstock lode)

2. silver's use in industry

a. short term it means more price volatility, depending on whether we're in a boom or recession

b. long-term industry tries to find substitutes for silver, or technological changes occur to reduce industrial demand

e.g. how much silver is used today in film processing vs. back in 1980?

March 4, 2013 at 12:42 PM
Anonymous said...

This idea could be correct, but what about this: maybe gold is too expensive today, not silver too cheap.

March 11, 2013 at 4:43 AM

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