Diminishing purchasing power of the USDollar

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this graph may be worth several trillion dollars. Guess when the Federal Reserve Bank was established? Look where the US Dollar falls off the cliff. 1913 would be the correct eyeball guess.

In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt confiscated American citizens' private gold in exchange for $20.67/ounce, and then immediately reset the new price of gold at $35/oz. Americans who complied (non-compliance carried a $10,000 fine and 10 years in prison) immediately took a 40% loss in their cash holdings as a result. And thus, Ft. Knox was created.

Fast forward to 1971, when Richard Milhouse Nixon removed the USDollar from the gold standard completely, as the Treasury couldn't meet redemption demands, due to large deficits run up by the Vietnam war.

Hence, we have a nice trajectory for our graph--that is, if you like ski slopes.