You could argue minimum wage should be about $50-$60 if it followed historical norms.
In 1964 minimum wage was $1.25/hr, that was 5 x US Quarters... so about 0.9 oz of silver.
Current silver price is $65/oz
Economist will push back and say that you can't compare the two because current silver demand is driven by IT / electronics / solar / industrial and that is true, however remember the incredible structural demand that coins represented in 1964.
There were no credit cards, electronic money, etc. Everything you did day-to-day required coins. Meals, drinks, pay phones, bus fares, parking meters, etc etc. Even if you paid with paper dollars you still got metal coins in change. Moreover the actual quantities of silver were huge....meaning that yes your iPhone may have silver in but, it has like 0.3gram of silver.. whereas a single 1964 US Quarter would supply maybe 20 phones.
You could argue minimum wage should be about $50-$60 if it followed historical norms.
In 1964 minimum wage was $1.25/hr, that was 5 x US Quarters... so about 0.9 oz of silver.
Current silver price is $65/oz
Economist will push back and say that you can't compare the two because current silver demand is driven by IT / electronics / solar / industrial and that is true, however remember the incredible structural demand that coins represented in 1964.
There were no credit cards, electronic money, etc. Everything you did day-to-day required coins. Meals, drinks, pay phones, bus fares, parking meters, etc etc. Even if you paid with paper dollars you still got metal coins in change. Moreover the actual quantities of silver were huge....meaning that yes your iPhone may have silver in but, it has like 0.3gram of silver.. whereas a single 1964 US Quarter would supply maybe 20 phones.