WTF Happened In 1971?

@Taco Gratis Well, several of your charts, starting with the second one, contain a clue.

 

Interesting charts. Makes sense. Why did we go away from the gold standard? Is it because it is a finite commodity and it was holding us back from funding each party’s pet projects?

Edit: not looking for the crab man Bilderberg group or Bohemian Grove explanations. I am sure there was an element of “rich want to be richer” but how was it sold to the public as a good thing?

 

Basically, yes. We had just passed "The Great Society" stuff into law and had to pay for it, then Vietnam was our first war paid for with unfunded debt, then the final straw was the French basically made a "margin call" on us and demanded we exchange their US held dollars for physical gold. We reneged, effectively declaring bankruptcy, and it's been off to the races ever since.

 

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for gold standard BLUF!

 

Ever read about the Silver Republicans of 1896?

Silver Republican Party - Wikipedia

Voteview | Parties > Silver Republican Party

Republican Party Platform of 1896 | The American Presidency Project

 

That’s pretty interesting. I had not heard of them. Funny how politics changes over time - “bimetalism” was enough to cause a major rift in a political party.

 

Another key element of the productivity vs wage charts nearer the top of the OP is quite simpler to explain.….TECHNOLOGY......Think about what has driven the most gains in the stock market over the last 40-50 years. It's the new "gold"....

 

Me neither. It was actually a numismatic article I read a few days ago. Then chuckled when I saw this thread. It's always the same shiit over and over again when it comes to politics.

I'll post some highlights of that article:

In 1896, and to a lesser extent 1900, coins played a major role in the presidential election campaigns. The major issue was what role would silver play in our nation’s monetary system? The Democrats, lead by William Jennings Bryan, advocated the free coinage of silver, in unlimited quantities, at a ratio of 16 parts silver to one part gold. The Republicans, with William McKinley carrying their banner, pushed to have the country remain on the Gold Standard.

These two campaign pieces illustrated the kind of money that each side wanted. For the Democrats, it was a Morgan Dollar and for the Republicans it was a gold dollar. As coins, it’s much easier to find a Morgan Dollar than a gold dollar, but between these two political pieces, the Morgan Dollar stud is much scarcer.


Although the two parties were fairly well united, each of them had splinter groups that did not agree with the monetary policies of their central committees. Outgoing president, Grover Cleveland, supported the Gold Standard and was appalled at the direction his party had taken. A small faction, who called themselves “The National Democratic Party” agreed with him. They were informally known as the “Gold Democrats.”

The Gold Democrats supported the Gold Standard, but they did not agree with the protectionist tariff policies that the Republicans had supported for many years. They called for smaller government and a sound currency. They labeled the free silver position that the main Democratic Party had taken as reckless and irresponsible.
The National Democrats held a convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. There were delegates from 41 of the 45 states and three territories. They nominated John M. Palmer of Illinois for president and Simon P. Buckner from Kentucky for vice president.

Palmer was a most interesting 19th century political gadfly. He began his political career as a Democrat, but switched to the Republican Party when it was formed to oppose admission of Kansas and Nebraska as slave states. During the Civil War he served in the Army raising to the rank of brigadier general in the regular Army and a major general in the volunteer service. He returned to politics after the war and was elected Governor of Illinois.

In 1872 he opposed the nomination of U.S. Grant for a second presidential term and joined the ranks of the Liberal Republicans who supported Horace Greeley for president. Ultimately, he returned to the Democratic Party and served one term in the Senate from 1891 to 1897. He died in 1900 at the age of 83. His running mate, Simon Buckner, was also a general during the Civil War, but for the Confederacy. He also served as Governor of Kentucky after the war.

In the general election, the National Democrats polled only 134,635 votes, which was less than 1% of the total. They had an influence in the outcome of the election, however. Between their votes and the disaffected Democrats who stayed home, the total might well have cost Bryan the 1896 presidential election.



Although they were far rarer birds, there was also a silver faction in the Republican Party. At 1896 Republican Convention, the party platform called for the Gold Standard. It could only be modified if there were an international agreement to change it. That agreement, which would have to be among the leading industrial nations of the world, would have called for the adoption of the bimetallic monetary system. While the Republicans stated that enacting such an agreement would be a priority, they knew that there was no chance that the other industrial powers would agree to it. Therefore, it was a hollow pledge.

Senator Henry Teller of Colorado offered an amendment. It called for the unrestricted and independent coinage of gold and silver at the U.S. mints at the ratio of 16 parts silver to one part of gold. The platform committee leadership moved to table Teller’s motion which, in reality, killed it. The convention nominated William McKinley for president.

Teller and 33 others bolted the Republican Convention and formed their own party. At first the Silver Republicans nominated Teller for president, but he refused to embrace the offer. At the Silver Republican Convention, which run simultaneously with Populist Party Convention, the Silver Republicans nominated William Jennings Bryan for president. The Populists, who had first come on the scene in 1891, also nominated Bryan, but they offered an alternative candidate for vice president. The Democrats had selected company owner and Maine shipbuilder, Arthur Sewell, for the second spot. The Populists rejected the business man and nominated former congressman, lawyer and radical newspaper publisher, Thomas Watson, instead. Bryan had the endorsement of three parties and two running mates.

In the general election, William McKinley won the presidency with 7.1 million popular votes and 271 votes in the Electoral College. Bryan received 6.5 million popular votes and 176 votes in the Electoral College.

People who supported William McKinley and the Gold Standard were called "gold bugs." Those who supported William Jennings Bryan and the call for the bimetallic 16 to 1 policy were called "silver bugs." The two images were commonly seen on 1896 campaign items.

These "bugs" had mechanical wings that flew out when a button was pushed. The gold bug featured William McKinley and his running mate, Garret Hobart. The silver bug only has a picture of Bryan and “16 to 1” on the other wing because Bryan had two different running mates. The "silver bug" is a much scarcer piece.

 

I'll throw in another precious metal monetary policy piece to read. The Bland Allison Act. Also known as the Crime of 73. (1873 that is)

All these politicians do is help whatever industry their best friends are in. In this case, the silver miners and banks that stuck their necks out too far in the panic of 73. Sounds familiar.

https://u-s-history.com/pages/h718.html

The Brand-Allison Act

Bland–Allison Act - Wikipedia

 

Couldn't Boomers, more women entering the workforce and growth of computerized technology/automation be a part of this as well? At very least a contributing factor?

 

@bradgator2 Your articles combined with my daughters interest in panning for gold sent me down a long rabbit hole about ghost towns, precious metals, and valuation. I was looking into all the abandoned mining towns in Colorado and found that while gold is consistently among the highest value metals, it is constantly passed by others. Supply/demand, etc.

Tungsten, for a short while in WW1, was more expensive and led to a mine and town just up Boulder Canyon that is now a ghost town. Driven by it many times but did not realize what it was until I saw this article. In fact, many of the “Front Range” towns were founded to support mining towns up in the mountains.

The five most expensive metals and where they are mined This article was particularly interesting. Walks through the most expensive metals and gives a brief explanation of why they are so expensive.

 

I find the "Wild West" silver rush fascinating. More so than the San Francisco gold rush.

The 4th coinage Act in 1873 ended the bimetallic standard. Prior to that, you could bring your raw silver to the US Mint and they would mint it into some coins for you for a fee. Can you imagine? But the price of "free" silver dropped which led the Panic of 1873.

1890 was the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act which forced the Treasury to buy 4.5 million troy ounces... per MONTH from the mines.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act - Wikipedia

What the hell we were we going to do with that many silver dollars? We were making 2 million silver dollars per month for decades. Oh I know... let's melt them!! Only the US government would turn around and melt 350,000,000 silver dollars that were stored in the treasury.
Pittman Act - Wikipedia

I have a book at home that links all the silver mine owners to all these politicians.

Up until 1964, US citizens could redeem paper money for silver dollars. On demand. People started to grab all they could. When low and behold... millions of bags of silver dollars were found hidden away in the treasury vaults. This led to GSA Morgan Dollar release in the mid 1970s. What a bunch of government ass holes to turn around and now sell them at a premium. The freaking government made $107 million in revenue from that release. (I do own some)
Numismatic History - The GSA CC Morgan Silver Dollar Coin Hoard

Read up on the Comstock Lode:
Comstock Lode - Wikipedia

The Carson City Mint:
Minted: The Storied History of Coin Press No. 1 | Visit Carson City

 

Now... how all this relates to the fascinating original post by Taco.... I have no idea

What I do know is our government wastes more money than we can even wrap our heads around. Take the penny of today. It costs 2.06 cents to make each penny. Taxpayers lose 85 million dollars a year due to making pennies. Freaking genius.

 

We make it up on volume with Quarters... they are a profit center because they cost less than $0.25 to make!

 

What is the world’s least valuable coin?

What’s the Worlds Least Valuable Coin?