Article Highlights
- A quarter today is worth approximately three cents in 1964 purchasing power.
- Because the consumer price index has increased 7.5 times since mid-1946, a $10,000 salary then would now take $75,000 to match.
- The Federal Reserve and all the other central banks have in these days declared their absolute commitment to perpetual inflation.
To the Editor:
As Randall W. Frosyth said in “One Born Every Minute” (Up & Down Wall Street, July 8), “The quarter, which was made of silver until 1964, used to be worth something. Not so much these days.” Yes, quarters used to ring if you dropped them on a table, but now they go clunk, and a quarter today is worth approximately three cents in 1964 purchasing power. Put the other way round, to equal an old ringing quarter now takes $1.88. And because the consumer price index has increased 7.5 times since mid-1946, a $10,000 salary then would now take $75,000 to match.
The Federal Reserve and all the other central banks have in these days declared their absolute commitment to perpetual inflation. That this is the best policy is far from proved. To have trusting faith in central banks requires that you be among those people about whom P.T. Barnum allegedly observed that these is one born every minute.
Alex J. Pollock
Resident Fellow
American Enterprise Institute
Washington, D.C.
