but inflation-adjusted no. $20 bought a heckuva lot more in 1800 than now.
Going back just to the 1940’s when I was a kid, a New York subway ride cost a nickel. I remember when it went up to a dime. It’s now about $2.25 or $2.50. A new car cost $1,200 instead of $25,000.
The price of gold was $19.84 in 1816.
It was $20.67 in 1916 (didn’t change much in 100 years)
In 1948 when I was a kid it was $42 (when a subway ride was 5 or 10 cents). Now it’s $1200 so it’s gone up 30 times (just about kept up with inflation more or less). That’s not counting storage costs on the gold each year.
The S&P 500 for instance closed 1948 at 14.83. It’s now at 2050. That’s up 138 times. It’s not counting dividends on the stocks, compounded.
Saul