Don't Believe This

How A Middle Class War Born

People often misjudge another person's position due to having different definitions for the words in use. Few people agree on what socialism really is and the same goes for capitalism. The following is what I define as capitalism, probably more accurate would be laissez-faire capitalism: "an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from any form of government intervention such as regulation, privileges, imperialism, tariffs and subsidies. Proponents of laissez faire argue for a complete separation of government from the economic sector."--Wikipedia definition.

I have spent a lot of time studying the history of money itself which gives me a unique view of historical events. I have always approached problems/issues by trying to break down the issue to the most basic element, otherwise no complete or near-complete understand of a subject is possible. In my opinion the lifeblood of any economy is the actual money itself. We have all been raised in debt-based, fiat money through central banking. It was not always this way.

The claim made by Marx was capitalism was actually an impediment to the growth of an economy. I'm not sure what life was like in England in 1850 where Marx was, however let me introduce you to government data from time of the Robber Barons. I would say the data shows that laissez-faire capitalism actually created the middle class. I know of no other 60-year time frame in history where the standard of living for Average Joe increased this much. Let me know if you have other data. The data isn't abundant, however it's quite obvious that from 1850-1900 most jobs increased in pay by 100-171% while prices dropped. I would bet almost everyone reading this has never seen this data mentioned anywhere. You be the judge. (Pages listed for data are from Historical Statistics of the United States Colonial times to 1970, or History of Wages. Link below).

USA 1850-1910

Environment:

Population

1850--25 million

1860--31 million

1880--50 million

1900--77 million

1910--91 million

Labor Force:

1850--7.7 million

1860--10.5 million

1880--17.4 million

1900--29 million

1910--37 million

Percentage of labor in agriculture:

1850--63%

1860--58.9%

1880--49.4%

1900--37.5%

1910--31%

Gold--$20/ounce 1850-1910

Introduction of paper money with Lincoln Greenbacks, eventually retired, some sporadic printing of US Notes. All notes were redeemable in gold, otherwise why take the note?

1873--Silver dropped from bimetalism system establishing gold standard.

Taxes:

Federal Government operated almost entirely on Import Duties and Excise Taxes. Direct taxes allowed if apportioned by the census. If anybody is aware of an example of a direct tax from the 19th century please share.

Zero Income Tax

Zero Sales Tax

Federal Government:

2.5-3% of GDP except during war time. Today it's 20%.

Wholesale Prices:

	Unit	1850	1880	1910

Flour	100 lbs	5.550	8.890	4.690	-15.00%	Page 225 of part 1
Sugar	1 lb	0.074	0.099	,05	-32.00%
Cotton	1 lb	0.123	0.120	0.150	22.00%
Wool	1 lb	0.883	0.081	0.084	-91.00%
Cotton Sheeting	1 yard	0.073	0.073	0.081	11.00%
Coal	1 ton	3.640	4.530	4.810	32.00%
Steel Rails	100 lbs	47.870	67.520	28.000	-42.00%
Nails	50 lbs	3.710	3.680	1.888	-49.00%
Copper	1 lb	0.215	0.215	0.129	-40.00%
Turpentine	1 gallon	0.334	0.383	0.683	104.00%
Brick	1000	4.850	6.840	5.720	18.00%

Wages: Notice that all labor is figured as daily pay, 6 day work week. My dad was born in 1912 and said everybody worked 6 days a week, that was life back then. There was that much work to be done. The demand for labor more than doubled even while the work force at least tripled. Note also that even with wages doubling the standard workday dropped from 9 or 10 hours per day to 8.

Labor		1860	1880	1900
						Page 192 history of wages

Hod Carriers	Pennsylvania	1.13/day 54 hours/week	1.62/day 57 hours/week	2.42/day 48 hours/week		Figued at 6 day weeks
		12.5 cents/hour	17 cents/hour	30 cents/hour	171.00%
Carpenters and joiners		1.75/day 60 hours/week	2.28/day 60hours	2.8/day 48 hours/week
		17.5 cents/hour	22.8 cents/hour	35 cents/hour	100.00%
Bricklayers		2/day 54 hours/week	2.22/day 57 hours/week	4/day 48 hours/week
		22 cents/hour	0.230 cents/hour	50 cents/hour	127.00%
Marble Cutters	NY	2.04/day 60 hours/week	2.4/day 60 hours/week	4.22/day 48 hours
		20.4 cents/hour	24 cents/hour	53 cents/hour	165.00%

Manufacturing						20 year increase
	Average	1.620	2.260			37.00%	Page 182
	Blacksmith	1.640	2.310			41.00%
	Carpenter	1.650	2.150			30.00%
	Engineers	1.610	2.170			35.00%
	Machinists	1.610	2.450			52.00%
	Painters	1.610	2.210			37.00%
	Laborer	1.030	1.320			28.00%	Page 185

Public School Teachers: 1890--$256/year 1910--$492/year 92%

Most of the data in the linked articles are "indexed" for one reason and one reason only, inflation due to paper money. The data I've focused on is nominal, not indexed. In other words in actual dollar prices since the value of the dollar did not change from 1850-1910. An ounce of gold was $20 fixed by law, a $20 gold piece in 1850 was exactly the same as a $20 gold piece in 1910. Prices for goods and labor rose or fell mostly because of supply and demand. Prices continually rising for almost all things today is almost entirely a result of vastly increasing the money supply artificially with paper debt, not possible when the value of money did not fluctuate and was actual gold.

Finally, "Unemployment" data was not even collected before 1912. In spite of the population tripling, and labor force almost quadrupling, wages went up usually more than double while prices dropped with zero taxation other than property tax to run local government. Of course there was no Social Security, no welfare, no large standing army. Average Joe never gave a dime to the federal government unless he paid an excise tax like on tobacco or alcohol. Privacy was actually a real thing. Never a sales tax or fill out any tax form whatsoever. Especially with railroads connecting the oceans the economy absolutely boomed. From 1876-1894 there were 3 years with tiny trade deficits, then zero trade deficits until 1970. To call today's economy the best ever is an absolute joke, if data and history matter to you. I've found that to most people it does not matter, what matters is their belief which must be defended. Which is why you should never believe me.

History of Wages in the United States from Colonial Times to 1928--US Dept. of Labor

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106007458745&view=1up&seq=5

Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Part 1

chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/histstatus/hstat1970_cen_1975_v1.pdf

Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1957

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1949/compendia/hist_stats_1789-1945.html

Chart of US Population 1790-2000