US Dollar Purchasing Power Laboratory

1913 Federal Reserve Act to 2026 Baseline
"The US dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing power since the Federal Reserve was created. A $3 item in 1913 would cost $100 today."
Reported via @WatcherGuru Financial Intelligence Archive
97.0%
Total Purchasing Power Loss
$100.00
Cost of 1913's $3.00 Basket
Selected Historical Epoch
2026 CE
1913 $1.00 = $0.03 Value
MONETARY INFLECTION TURNING POINTS:
Purchasing Power Halving Decay (1913-2026) Base: 100¢
Visualizing real residual cents of purchasing power per 1913 fiat dollar
Staples Basket ($3 in 1913) Era: 2026
What exact commodities and labor that $3 bundle commanded:
Sound Money vs. Fiat Dilution Counterfactual (1913 Baseline)
How different monetary pegs preserved value versus consumer price expansion:
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX MULTIPLIER
33.3×
Cumulative expansion in official price level since 1913 ($3.00 goods now price at $100.00).
GOLD OUNCE PARITY
$20.67 / oz
1913 statutory rate of $20.67/oz vs current open market price (~$2,700/oz in 2026).
M2 LIQUIDITY DILUTION
~1,500×
Expansion of circulating M2 money supply from ~$13 Billion in 1913 to ~$21+ Trillion.

Saved purchasing-power anchor arithmetic

Read the explanation

Source endpoint assigns price multiple thirty-three point three three three three three for year twenty twenty-six. Multiply baseline basket three dollars and round cents to one hundred. Bars compare baseline and modeled basket at six pixels per dollar. This is a chosen calibration endpoint, not an independently verified CPI history or current basket. Source retained purchasing power divides one hundred cents by assigned price multiple. Endpoint yields about three cents. Bars compare baseline hundred and rounded retained three at six pixels per cent. Piecewise historical curve and its source assertions are unvalidated. Source loss fraction is price multiple minus one divided by price multiple, times one hundred, capped ninety-seven. At chosen endpoint rounded loss ninety-seven and retained three sum one hundred percent. Bars compare those complementary shares at six pixels per point. Complete native raw timeseries JSON and genuine slider-end restoration preserved; monetary history and policy interpretations unproved.

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