Its Weight in Gold: The Real Prices of Things
By Charles Vollum, Casey Research

Fiat currencies the world over are being manipulated by central banks, which is distorting asset and commodity prices. Successful investing requires that investors have a good idea of what things cost and what they are really worth – and using the world's oldest and most stable form of money, gold, to compare prices is one way to get that insight.

To that end, below is a sampling of current prices measured in grams or milligrams of gold. Price comparisons are against prices as of June 10.



The month of May was rough for all the currencies, with the EUR and JPY making new all-time lows on the 24th and 25th, respectively, while the USD made a new all-time low on June 6th. Since then, they have all been struggling to regain the lost ground. Last week, the much-beleaguered euro made the most headway, followed by the JPY. All of the currencies are down significantly from their year-ago levels, but the USD has fared much worse than the others, down 20%.



U.S. Treasuries have been a terrible investment for at least the last eight years. Since 2002, shares of the ETF SHY have lost 76% of their value, despite an apparent increase of 29% when measured using dollars. The long bond ETF TLT is just as bad, down 70% since 2002, despite a smoke-and-mirrors “gain” of 66% when measured in dollars. While Treasuries ticked up about 1%, following the lead of the USD, they remain down about 19% from a year ago.



Major stock indices have been falling for the last ten years. The Dow, for instance, hit its all-time high around 1,400 gold grams in 1999. It has since lost over 80% of its value. For the last two years, major indices have been pretty flat after bouncing off their March 2009 lows. As with bonds, nominal prices have risen as currency values have fallen, leaving investors with lost purchasing power and huge tax liabilities.

Don't be fooled by bogus government currency shenanigans! Keep track of your investments' true values, using gold.