Yield Purchasing Power

Last Update: August 2021

Most people think in terms of purchasing power. How much can one’s cash buy? I reject this view on two grounds. One, it encourages a liquidation mindset. If your life savings consists of 100,000 dollars in the bank, plus a house and some shares of AAPL and INTC, how many years’ worth of groceries can you buy?

If the grocery-value goes up, people cheer.

Life savings is not supposed to be about liquidation. People used to be able to earn a yield on their money. We should think of an estate as a business, with assets that generate income (as people once did). In this view, you don’t think of selling the business every minute of every day, cheering when its price goes up.

You think of its profits. You think of how many groceries you can buy–by operating a business to generate profit.

You don’t think of the purchasing power of the business, but its Yield Purchasing Power.

The conventional purchasing power paradigm paints a rosy picture. That may help explain why apologists for the regime of the irredeemable dollar promote it.

The yield purchasing power view shows something altogether different.

Below are links to articles I have written about Yield Purchasing Power. I also gave a presentation on it, at the American Institute for Economic Research. You can view the video below.