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Bill Sardi explains in LewRockwell.com how the Roman used debasement of their currency to control conquered lands. He writes (abridged):
The Roman Emperor was to be worshiped. He ruled by executive orders. Conquer other lands, then issue a new currency, in this case a silver denarius, said to be worth a day’s wages at the time, and force the conquered to pay homage (taxes) and you control and subjugate the people. Then shave silver off the edges of the silver coins, something called debasement, akin to inflation with modern paper dollars. Eventually the silver content of a denarius fell to zero. Shrewd Roman soldiers reportedly refused to accept debased silver coins as payment for their services.
So readers can roughly assess the rate of inflation over the centuries, the Bible says Jesus fed bread to 5000 which would have cost ~200 denarii or a half-year’s pay at the time. A denarius would be worth ~$2.60 today. A $1 slider (small hamburger) would cost $5000 or 1,923 denarii to feed those five-thousand today.
Back in the day, a Roman denarius could buy a male slave (500 denarii), a female slave (2,000-6,000 denarii) or an apartment (48-288 denarii/year).
TheIf you had to increase Social Security checks pegged to the real rate of inflation (not the published rate of inflation), the average $321 Social Security check in 1980 would be $7611 today (ShadowStats.com inflation calculator), when in fact the average SS check today is only $1437.
According to ShadowStats.com the real current rate of inflation is 13%, not the central bank’s target rate of 2%. You get the picture. Today’s money is not worth yesterday’s money.
Meanwhile, the price of a 1-ounce gold coin is ~$1800 today when adjusted for inflation from $850 in 1980 to the present, it would be $21,900.
Bill Sardi
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