Monty Pelerin's World

Economics, Finance and Politics Through The Prism of Classical Liberalism

Stocks Down About 80% from Peak

Stocks are off about 80% from their peak, at least as measured in ounces of gold.

This chart shows the Dow priced in ounces of gold. Currently, it takes just under 10 ounces of gold to “buy” the Dow. Over time, this ratio has ranged from 1 to over 40. Some investors use this relationship to determine the relative attractiveness of stocks versus gold.

Others believe that measuring things in gold is a better reflection of inflation than deflating nominal prices by the CPI index. Unfortunately, both methods have deficiencies. Using gold as the deflator, investors who held stock since the 1920s would have lost money, at least in terms of gold. While this might seem unlikely, remember that the value of the dollar today is only worth about 4 cents when compared to

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