"...Minimum wage advocates seek to solve a legitimate problem facing American workers: their dollars buy less and less every year. But simply mandating employers fork over more dollars is a little like putting a band-aide on an amputation. It doesn’t do anything to address the underlying problem.
Does earn today, spend tomorrow, conflict with borrow to spend today
and hope to earn enough tomorrow, or that someone else does?
...when the government debases currency, a dollar no longer buys the same amount of stuff it once did. Quantitative easing debases the currency and the Federal Reserve has engaged in the practice for years.
...the minimum wage stood at $1.25. To put it another way, a minimum wage worker earned five silver quarters for every hour worked. Today, you can’t even buy a cup of coffee with those five quarters.
But the silver melt-value of those five quarters today stands at over $15.
There’s your $15 per hour minimum wage.
Regardless of the dollar price involved,
one ounce of gold would purchase a good-quality man's suit
at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War,
the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, and today.
Peter A. Burshre
This vividly illustrates currency debasement. In terms of purchasing power, the value of the silver remains relatively stable, but the value of a dollar shrinks.
...Today, it takes 60 quarters to make up the $15 minimum wage advocates want. If you paid that in 1964 silver quarters, the value of the metal would be something in the neighborhood of $175!
...The politicians and central bankers claim their policies stabilize economies and protect the people from currency debasement. But in truth, these policies only enrich the politically well-connected"
http://schiffgold.com/key-gold-news/we-dont-have-a-wage-problem-we-have-a-money-problem/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=psgn-weekly&utm_campaign=16-06-10
Athenian money…defined a pattern
which was to repeat in other empires which were to follow,
dominance of trade, influx of gold to balance exports, public wealth,
liberty, overconfidence, the discovery of loosely managed money
as a stimulating solution to stagnation in an economy near its zenith…,
before finally the emptiness of the monetary promise was exposed,
leading to rapid national collapse.
Paul Tustain
Why did the Roman Empire reduce currency size and silver content
to increase the quantity of money during war against Hannibal?
Where under the [Roman] Principate the strategy had been
to tax the future to pay for the present,
the Dominate paid for the present by undermining the future’s ability to pay taxes.
The Empire emerged from the third century crisis,
but at a cost that weakened its ability to meet future crises.
Joseph Tainter
Did Spanish money become worth less
after the Emperor borrowed against 100 years of future tax revenue
to pay for war against England?
Did France execute relatively the same strategy
with similar consequences not long after?
By the time the great bullion inflow had ended in the mid-seventeenth century,
the Spanish crown was deep in debt, with bankruptcies in 1557, 1575 and 1597.
Like high cost oil producing regions of today
The country entered upon a long decline.
…one might draw a moral: Easy money is bad for you.
It represents short-run gain
that will be paid for in immediate distortions and later regrets.
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations
Why did the Continental Congress issue paper money
backed by anticipated tax revenues to pay for war against theocratic England?
