follow the money (the FED 1945-1977)

... all calculations use yearly CPI figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ... http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm ...

it just so happens that since the US Federal Reserve issued it's first Federal Reserve Notes with Benjamin Franklin's picture on them ($100) there have been exactly six 16-year blocks coinciding exactly with four presidential terms each.
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FED monetary policy, through the baby-boom, suburban segregation, the first half of the cold war, the atomic age, television, the beginning of the race into space, and plastic, resulted in an increase of 61% more currency needed in 1961 than was necessary in 1945 (concurrent with the US economy accounting for nearly half of the world's gdp and over half of US manufacturing labor represented by unions)
from 1913 to 1961, prices tripled, an uncompounded increase rate of 4.6% per year for 48 years.

FED monetary policy from 1961-1977 doubled prices again (from 1913 a six fold increase, uncompounded rate of 8% increase per year for 64 years... or to put it another way, it took $100 in 1977 to purchase what $16.34 would buy in 1913)... through the 'guns and butter' policies of VietNam and the 'Great Society' and their inflationary aftermaths, and the cultural revolutions in sex, race, and age, one now required over twice as many dollars in 1977 as needed in 1961 for the same amount of goods.

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up next... the age of deficits, re-deregulation, personal computers, and de-unionization via global 'free-trade' policies ...
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