Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Dollars, Money and Legal Tender

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Cleo

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury

4. Dollars, Money and Legal Tender

There is no subtler, or surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debase the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which only one man in a million is able to diagnose. ~ John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946, Economist

We think that the slip of paper that says “One Dollar” (or coin, in Canada) in our wallet is actually a dollar but we are mistaken. The one-ounce silver ingot the author has on his desk is actually a dollar. Why? Well, let’s see where the dollar came from ……

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Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?: Inflation

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Cleo

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury

3. Inflation

You have to choose (as a voter) between trusting the natural stability of gold and the honesty and intelligence of members of the government. And with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Supply and Demand: Who will first reach that clump of grass?

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Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Tanstaafl, the Romans and Us

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Cleo

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury

2. Tanstaafl, the Romans and Us

The question, whether one generation of men has the right to bind another, seems never to have been started …. [I believe] no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence …. The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time. ~ Thomas Jefferson

During the 1970s and early 1980s, many western countries experienced double-digit inflation. Even Japan had double-digit inflation. Double-digit inflation means that each year prices are rising at 10% or more. So, for example, if a coffee cost $1.00, it would cost $1.10 the following year. Inflation this serious and far-reaching had not happened in the U.S. since the country had become a nation. However, we have an example from Roman times of where this type of inflation occurred and we can see the trouble it caused.

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