The above chart shows the S&P 500, from January 2000 to present. The blue line shows the index value as usually reported. Pretty horrific. The red line shows the index's value in terms of gold ounces.
The difference is currency debasement, or government theft. This is of course before taxes. By the way, capital gains taxes are not indexed for inflation, so you're screwed even further.
I'll comment more later on why gold is a much better (objective) way of looking at value. In the meantime, I highly recommend an exploration of the Measuring Worth site.
I will be updating this chart to go further back in history, as well as periodically making it current. There are a few charts like this out there, but only a few, and none that I could find are regularly updated. View the full-sized chart here.
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_bpoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_euoz_2.gif)
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